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Nowadays, with the rise of the electronic game industry, in order to allow players to have a further gaming experience in an increasingly modern environment, various pure game-carrying devices have also emerged, such as PlayStation series, Xbox series, and Switch series.

The biggest difference between these devices and PCs and mobile terminals is that their only function is to allow you to play games, so their design does not need to consider too many other factors, and the gaming experience they provide is also more comfortable. Among them, Switch series is smaller and is a more portable device. Although this makes it unable to load large games like PS4/5, portability itself is a significant advantage.

Since the release of the first generation of Switch in 2017, the series has been enthusiastically sought after by players, and then the lighter and more fancy Switch Lite was launched in 2019. But no matter which one it is, it has been more than 5 years since now, so the birth of a new Switch is imperative-fortunately, Switch 2 will indeed meet you soon! The current release date is June 5, 2025.

Once the game console is released, it is bound to cause a carnival among players. If there are games that can be launched on the platform in the first batch at this time, it will definitely bring a wave of popularity to the game itself. As one of the most popular ARPGs in recent years, Rod Fergusson, one of Diablo 4 leaders, recently hinted that the game may get a Switch 2 port after Switch 2 is released.

So how feasible is the cooperation between Switch 2 and Diablo 4? Can this game console, which is still mainly characterized by portability, carry a game like Diablo 4 that requires a large amount of memory? Let’s analyze it.

There Seems To Be No Problem With The Hardware

Generally speaking, in order to run Diablo 4 smoothly and ensure that the picture quality and sound quality of the game are not compressed, large devices from PC or PlayStation series will be better. Because if the devices do not meet the requirements, it may even cause you to encounter freezes during the battle, so that you lose some Diablo 4 Gold due to bugs during the post-war settlement.

Fortunately, despite Switch series being a small game console, this aspect should not cause you too much trouble. In fact, Diablo 3 and Diablo 2: Resurrected have both been available on Switch in the past, and are expected to be playable on Switch 2 via backward compatibility.

From this result, if Diablo 4 is launched on Switch 2, there should be no technical problems such as lag caused by overload, but at the same time, another question is also in front of you, that is, can Switch 2 provide reliable online services? After all, Diablo 4 requires a network connection to run.

Can Switch 2 Provide Reliable Online Services For D4?

The portability of Switch series is reflected in all aspects, one of which is that it is mainly operated by inserting game cartridges. Usually, this only requires you to connect to the network for a while when you just start the game, and then you can play offline at any time and place without worrying about network problems.

The tricky thing is that although Diablo 4 does not require you to team up with other players all the time, it is a MMORPG after all, requiring you to stay online, and you will always meet other online players in the game. This is undoubtedly contrary to the design concept of Switch series.

Therefore, if Diablo 4 and Switch 2 want to achieve perfect cooperation, the latter must ensure stable online services. We will not talk about how well the first generation and Lite versions of Switch do in this regard, but as the latest product, Switch 2 should not be difficult to provide more stable online services while ensuring the basic advantages of the series, and it is said that Switch 2 does introduce more optimized content.

To be honest, from the player’s perspective, as long as you choose to experience Diablo 4, you can’t avoid the key issue of online services, which is not the advantage of Switch series. Therefore, based on ensuring network stability, it is a bit difficult to ask too much of Switch 2.

Can Cooperation Achieve A Win-Win Situation?

Not long ago, Diablo 4 released a roadmap for 2025. The game will bring Season 8 Belial’s Return on April 29, and will release new seasons at regular intervals after that. It is expected that the second DLC may be released next year-all this shows that the game is still determined to expand the number of players and influence.

As for Switch series, the new game console Switch 2 will maintain a high popularity for at least one or two years after its launch. Besides classic games suitable for playing on Switch (such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons or The Legend of Zelda series), many new games will also want to log in to Switch 2 and use the popularity of the game console itself to open up their own market.

Although Diablo 4 already has a large number of loyal fans, the expansion of the experience platform is always a good thing, which means that you can choose the way to play Diablo 4 more freely, and it will also attract a group of new players who focus on Switch.

On the other hand, if Diablo 4 is available on Switch 2 and does a good job in online services, other games similar to Diablo 4 and their fans will have more confidence in the development prospects of Switch 2 and will tend to cooperate with Switch 2 to expand the game library of Switch 2. Naturally, more players will be willing to choose Switch 2 as their first choice of gaming device.

However, all this will be gradually confirmed after the official release of Switch 2. Before that, all you have to do is manage your new character of Diablo 4 Season 8 well, or prepare to compete for the pre-order qualification of Switch 2! Good luck!

As a rich ARPG, Diablo 4 has its own huge item system, in which each item will play its own specific role to help you progress smoothly in the game. Among them, the rarer and more important items include unique items and legendary aspects.

These two types of items play different roles, but there is no doubt that they can both help your Diablo 4 battles. In order to ensure that you can make full use of these two item systems in each Diablo 4 season, the game will add new specific content to some seasons in addition to the universal unique items and legendary aspects.

There is less than a week left before the release of Season 8. In order to enable you to farm and use the new legendary and unique items in time, we will introduce them to you.

What Is Unique Item?

The main function of unique items is to provide effective assistance to your character through the four gear affixes they have, as well as some special powers that cannot be provided by other methods or items. Not only can make you get enough XP to complete the upgrade faster, but also earn a lot of Diablo 4 Gold.

Among all the unique items, there is a rarer one called Mythic Uniques or Uber Uniques. You can only get them by defeating Tormented Bosses (lair bosses in Season 8), and Duriel and Andariel among these bosses have twice the chance of dropping Mythic Unique items than other bosses. In addition, Ancestral Uniques have an item power 800 and at least one Greater Affix.

What Is Legendary Aspect?

You can think of Diablo 4 Legendary Aspect as a unique modifier. Its function is to significantly enhance the ability of your character by turning your equipped rare items into legendary items. There are currently two ways to get this type of item in the game. The first is the most traditional way: by completing quests or clearing dungeons, waiting for it to drop while killing enemies. You will also receive XP and gold as regular rewards in the process.

The second method is more like a shortcut, by obtaining Codex of Power to directly imprint the effects of the legendary aspect onto your gear. Although this method is easy, on the one hand, it does not include some really powerful aspect effects, and on the other hand its aspect effect value is always the lowest value.

Season 8 New Legendary Aspects And Unique Items

Since each season has its own exclusive seasonal power and mechanics, in order to allow your character to combine class skills, weapons, unique items and legendary aspects with these new mechanics after entering the new season, to play a better synergy, Diablo 4 sometimes adds new unique items and legendary aspects to some seasons.

Since there are 6 classes in the game, and each class has different characteristics, in addition to the universal Legendary and Unique Items, these classes have their own exclusive items. In Season 8, Diablo 4 adds a unique item and a legendary aspect to each class. Let’s take a look at what they do.

1. Barbarian

Unique Item: Bane of Ahjed-Den (Gloves)

This item detonates a pulse every 12 seconds, causing fire damage and 400-600% bonus damage to enemies when you use your next Mighty Throw. The corresponding affixes include:

• +4-6 Ranks of Mighty Throw
• +114-150% Critical Strike Damage
• +7-10 Fury Per Second
• +8-12.5% ​​Cooldown Reduction

Legendary Aspect: Aspect of Delayed Extinction (Offensive Aspect)

The effect is that your Mighty Throw and Iron Grip can gain damage multipliers, and the damage caused can be increased by an additional 125-250%.

2. Druid

Unique Item: Gathlen’s Birthright (Helm)

Allows your character in human form to use Nature Magic to deal 400-200 critical strikes to the enemy, and then you can also gain Anima of the Forest that lasts for 15 seconds. After injecting it, you will gain Perfect Storm and Earthen Might as key passive skills. The corresponding affixes include:

• Inherent: Anima of the Forest Grants 15% Attack Speed
• +10.5-15% Willpower
• +224-296 Armor
• +2-3 Ranks of Humanity
• +17.5-23% Movement Speed ​​While in Human Form

Legendary Aspect: Aspect of Impending Deluge (Offensive Aspect)

Storm Strike attacks twice as many enemies as it can, and increases the damage enemies take from other spells by 30-50% for 6 seconds.

3. Necromancer

Unique Item: Sanquivor, Blade of Zir (Two-Hand Sword)

Allows summons to deal damage to enemies while still being affected by Vampiric Curse. Consuming corpses also contributes a soul to Vampiric Curse, which can now stack up to 20 souls. Then have Army of the Dead release these souls, and each soul releases 15-25% more damage to enemies. The corresponding affixes include:

• Inherent: +60% Summoning Damage
• +32-50% Chance for Army of the Dead to Deal Double Damage
• +214-242 Intelligence
• +1,060-1,142 Maximum Life
• +2 Ranks of Skeleton Warrior Mastery, Skeleton Mage Mastery, and Golem Mastery

Legendary Aspect: Aspect of Service and Sacrifice (Offensive Aspect)

Skeleton Warriors explode on death, dealing 200-300% physical damage.

4. Rogue

Unique Item: Band of Ichorous Rose (Gloves)

Poison Trap deals full damage over 3 seconds, and all upgrades increase its effectiveness by 50-100%. The corresponding affixes include:

• Inherent: +4 Maximum Poison Traps
• +10.5-15% Attack Speed
• +3-5% Maximum Poison Resistance
• +41.5-55% Poison Resistance
• 18.5-27.5% Chance for Poison Trap to Cast Twice

Legendary Aspect: Aspect of Contamination (Offensive Aspect)

Poison traps deal 150-250% poison damage when they burst, and if the burst is a critical hit, you can continue to deal 20-40% poison damage for 5 seconds.

5. Sorcerer

Unique Item: Hail of Verglas (Helm)

Ice Shards not only expand two additional shards, but each time a shard damages an enemy, the actual damage you deal will increase by 1-1.5%, up to 50-75%.

• Inherent 1: 7.5% Maximum Cold Resistance
• Inherent 2: 50% Cold Resistance
• +10.5-15% Intelligence
• 13-17.5% Maximum Life
• +10.5-15% Attack Speed
• +4-6 Ranks in Ice Shards

Legendary Aspect: Shivering Aspect (Offensive Aspect)

Adds up to 35-55% more damage to enemies depending on how frozen or staggered they are and apply an additional 15% more Frozen effect.

6. Spiritborn

Unique Item: Sunbird’s Gorget (Amulet)

Pick up a Storm Feather and create a firestorm around you for 8 seconds, dealing 200-400% Fire damage every 0.5 seconds. The firestorm becomes 100% stronger for every 5 additional Storm Feathers picked up.

• Inherent: +30% Resistance to All Elements
• +16-25% Movement Speed
• +2-3 Ranks of Potent
• +2-3 Ranks of Furnace
• +2-3 Ranks of Acceleration

Legendary Aspect: Rip and Tear Aspect (Offensive Aspect)

Increases the damage of Rushing Claw by 10-30%, and will gain more enhanced effects, such as dealing more damage or providing healing, depending on the number of charges it has when it is cast.

The above is the relevant information we provide you about the new Legendary and Unique Items in Season 8. I hope it can be helpful to you. Thank you for reading.

In the content we have introduced about Diablo 4 Season 8, the new concept of “lair boss” has been mentioned to you more than once. No doubt, this is enough to arouse your curiosity and attention, and make you realize that this will be an important mechanism in Season 8.

Before Season 8, lair boss was called endgame boss. Although the name has changed, in essence, lair boss still refers to those dangerous bosses that appear in the endgame stage. What is really worth your attention is that the unlocking of lair boss encounters and the way to obtain loot will change greatly from Season 8. If you still use the old strategy to deal with these bosses, you are likely to lose everything in Diablo 4 Season 8.

In order to avoid this situation and allow you to welcome the arrival of the new season with the most relaxed attitude, we will introduce you in detail how to earn loot through lair boss.

What Is Lair Boss?

Since a few seasons ago, some players have always felt that Diablo 4’s endgame difficulty and loot drop settings are not good enough. The development team has fully learned from the lessons and started relevant reforms starting from Season 8 - lair boss is one of the results.

Compared with previous endgame boss battles, lair boss battles are expected to be more difficult, more challenging, and require longer battles, and have higher situational awareness requirements. However, correspondingly, after defeating these bosses, you will be able to earn more Diablo 4 Gold and unique items with a more stable drop rate.

What Is Special About The Lair Boss Mechanism?

In addition to the difficulty upgrade and more guaranteed loot quality, the special features of this new boss mechanism are mainly reflected in two aspects:

First, unlocking the lair boss no longer requires you to collect summoning materials in advance. I believe that in the past, after entering the endgame, you always ran between various areas on the map to collect boss summoning materials. Although you were happy when you got the loot, this preparatory work was indeed a bit troublesome, not to mention that you might collect the materials but still fail to defeat the boss.

As for the second feature, it is actually closely related to the first one, that is, there are very few loot you can pick up directly after killing the boss. You must collect the corresponding lair keys to open the boss’s hoard to open more loot. This change adjusts the summoning materials to lair keys, and changes the time node for investing additional materials from before the battle to after the battle, so that the process of obtaining loot can still be challenging while avoiding material waste.

How To Participate In The Lair Boss Mechanism?

When you enter Diablo 4 endgame stage and unlock Torment difficulty, you can challenge the lair boss at any Torment difficulty level. All lair bosses are divided into 3 levels, from low to high:

• Initiate Lair Bosses: Beast in the Ice, Grigoire, Lord Zir, Varshan, and Urivar.
• Greater Lair Bosses: Andariel, Duriel, and Harbinger of Hatred.
• Exalted Lair Bosses: Belial, Lord of Lies.

It is worth noting that Belial is the final boss newly added in Season 8, while Urivar and Harbinger of Hatred are new bosses from DLC Vessel of Hatred, which means that if you want to challenge the latter two bosses in Season 8, you must have DLC.

Lair Boss Keys

The number and type of keys required to unlock the hoards of lair bosses of different levels are also different, as follows:

• Initiate: 12
• Greater: 3
• Exalted: 2

Exclusive Keys

• Malignant Heart: Varshan
• Living Steel: Grigorie
• Distilled Fear: Beast in the Ice
• Exquisite Blood: Lord Zir
• Judicator’s Mask: Urivar
• Shard of Agony: Duriel
• Pin-Cushioned Doll: Andariel
• Hatred Hearts: Harbinger of Hatred
• Betrayer’s Husk: Belial, Lord of Lies

Comparatively, the drop rate of the exclusive key of the greater lair boss will be lower. In order to balance this setting, the game allows you to obtain Stygian Stone that may drop when killing the Initiate lair boss. This item can be used to exchange for the greater lair boss key.

In addition, since the above items are set as lair boss keys, their drop rates in the corresponding channels also need to be increased to meet the needs of the system. For this reason, Diablo 4 has made the following adjustments:

• Helltide Chests will drop more Living Steel.
• Nightmare Dungeons will drop more Distilled Fear.
• Blood Maiden will drop more Exquisite Blood for each contributed Baneful Heart.
• Legion Events drop more Exquisite Blood.
• World Bosses drop more Exquisite Blood.
• Random Boss Keys are more likely to be a key other than Malignant Heart.

How To Find Lair Boss?

Diablo 4 Season 8 has set up unique icons for lair bosses on the map to make them easier to distinguish. Once you find these marks, you can use the new teleport function to teleport directly to the boss to challenge them. In addition, to ensure that you can open hoards in time after winning, the description of each lair boss will list the type of lair key required for the boss and tell you whether you have enough keys.

It is expected that after Season 8 is officially launched, there will be more details about the lair boss mechanism waiting for you to discover, which can help you farm these bosses more efficiently. Good luck!

Since the launch of Diablo 4, the battle pass has been a major bonus system alongside season blessing and season journey, and their purpose is to reward you based on your progress in the game to keep you moving forward.

However, just like the gameplay and season content need to be updated regularly, these bonus systems also need to be updated to keep up with the times if they need to continue to cooperate smoothly with the game. Take the battle pass as example, while it has not been a bad performance so far, it would be better if it gave you more autonomy and ensured that you could explore Diablo 4 more freely.

So with Season 8 approaching, Diablo 4 has made an important announcement that the battle pass will add Reliquaries as a new built-in reward system. So what can this new system reward you with, and how can you unlock it? We will tell you one by one.

What Is Reliquary?

First of all, after the update, you will no longer have to unlock and obtain battle pass rewards in order as in the past, but you can choose the order in which to obtain rewards. This means that you can use the battle pass as one of your shortcuts to accumulate Diablo 4 Gold in the early stages of the new season, without having to work hard to farm because of the restrictions on the order of rewards.

As for the new Reliquaries system, it is actually a reward catalog that can be divided into two parts, namely Battle Pass Reliquaries and Event Reliquaries, of which the former is more closely related to the daily operation of the game. Battle Pass Reliquaries contain four independent Reliquaries that can provide you with different rewards. Taking Season 8 as an example, the four Battle Pass Reliquaries options provided in this season are Belial’s Return, Weapons, Beasts, and Armor.

Most Reliquaries must be exchanged for Platinum, but Belial’s Return is a non-premium Battle Pass Reliquary. Not only can it be obtained without Platinum, it can even reward you with a large amount of Platinum that can be exchanged for other Reliquaries! Weapons, beasts, and armor are premium Reliquaries, which can be redeemed by Platinum or obtained as part of the battle pass bundles.

When Season 8 is officially released on April 29, you can check your Platinum inventory at any time in the game to decide how to use it. It is worth noting that each season’s Battle Pass Reliquaries are only available during the current season, so be sure to redeem Reliquaries you want within the specified time. Any unclaimed Reliquaries rewards will disappear after Reliquaries expire.

Event Reliquaries are basically the same as Reliquaries in the battle pass in terms of function, except that its rewards are set according to special events and IP collaborations, such as Berserk crossover event that will meet you soon. This type of Reliquary is usually open for a short time, so in order to avoid missing out on rewards, you need to check its status in time.

How To Unlock Reliquary?

You need to kill monsters or complete tasks in the game to earn red round tokens called Favor Tokens, which can be used to redeem Reliquary items. At the top of Reliquaries’ system menu is a progress bar that shows how close you are to getting the next Favor Token. You can hold up to 99 Favor Tokens at a time, and you must use some to get more.

Each Reliquary contains cosmetic rewards, and some Reliquaries have specific themes, and the new battle pass system no longer restricts the order in which you can get rewards, which means you can decide which types of cosmetics to get for your Diablo 4 character first. In addition, if you can use Favor Tokens to unlock all the items in a Reliquary, you will receive an additional reward. This reward item will be marked with a star icon and can be claimed without consuming Favor Tokens.

All Season 8 Reliquaries Rewards

This season offers 4 Battle Pass Reliquaries: Belial’s Return, Weapons, Beasts, and Armor, each of which contains a part of Guise of the Deceiver armor set as an additional reward. And in each of the 3 premium Battle Pass Reliquaries, a non-premium weapon cosmetic is available for free.

• Belial’s Return: A mixed bag containing a town portal cosmetic, weapon cosmetics, horse cosmetics, and Platinum. Gloves belonging to Guise of the Deceiver armor.
• Weapons: Weapon cosmetics applicable to all classes. Boots belonging to Guise of the Deceiver armor.
• Beasts: Mounts, mount cosmetics, and a pet. Legs belonging to Guise of the Deceiver armor.
• Armor: Decorative armor sets and town portal decorations applicable to all classes. The chest and helm belonging to Guise of the Deceiver armor.

Other Notes

Perhaps you will want to ask, will the old battle pass tokens be directly abolished after the release of Season 8? The good news is that they will be automatically exchanged for the new Reliquary tokens on April 28:

• Premium Battle Pass Token = Reliquary Premium Battle Pass Token
• Accelerated Battle Pass Upgrade Token = 1,800 Platinum

In addition, since unclaimed Reliquaries rewards will disappear after expiration, please check the exchange period of all Reliquaries through the countdown timer in each Reliquary in the function menu or the details pane in the upper left corner of the corresponding Reliquaries’ menu.

The above is all the information we have brought to you about the New battle pass system Reliquaries. In order to make full use of it, be sure to prepare it before Season 8 goes online! Have fun!

With more and more games, movies, and anime, crossover events between them are no longer a new thing. When crossover events first appeared, it was certain that they would benefit both works, but now there are more factors to consider in order to make crossover events successful.

As one of the classic ARPG series, Diablo has not held many crossovers in general. This may be because the popularity of Diablo 1-3 in the past was very good, and there were not many anime or movies with a similar style to Diablo series. But in 2025, Diablo 4 may have its first crossover with the classic Japanese anime Berserk!

Not long ago, Diablo 4 announced its 2025 roadmap. Although most of the content seems unremarkable, it has to be said that the news that it will crossover with two IPs is really worth your excitement. What you didn’t expect is that the first crossover object was announced so quickly! This may mean that Diablo 4 has long been planning to hold a crossover.

Generally speaking, the new content that Diablo 4 crossover event may bring mainly includes new weapons or cosmetics, or limited events that can provide both Diablo 4 Gold and limited-time rewards. However, considering that you may not know Berserk and its derivative works, we will introduce you to the overview of the crossover event between Berserk and Diablo 4, and analyze whether this crossover can be successful on this basis.

Introduction To Berserk

Berserk is a popular comic work created by Japanese cartoonist Kentaro Miura in 1988, with a strong dark fantasy style-although the world view is not exactly the same, this style coincides with Diablo 4. Unfortunately, the original author Kentaro Miura died in 2021, but his friend and fan writer Kouji Mori did not let this work come to an abrupt end, but instead allowed the creation of Berserk comics to continue in accordance with his friend’s wishes and creative habits.

Since its birth, in addition to the basic comic original, Berserk has also launched two animation adaptations, a trilogy of animated films, three video games, a derivative novel, and even a collectible card game based on comic content. And Diablo 4 is not the first game it has cooperated with - the crossover with Dragon’s Dogma was also a great success.

Why Did Diablo 4 Choose Berserk For Crossover?

Except for the linkage with World of WarCraft, Diablo 4 rarely held crossovers with other works before (it and World of WarCraft even come from the same company), which shows that Diablo 4 has stricter requirements for crossover objects.

As a classic Japanese anime work, Berserk has a certain degree of popularity worldwide. Although it may not be as popular as Naruto or One Piece, it has its own exclusive audience, and the overall age of fans is older, which can match the fan group of Diablo 4.

The second is the specific story content of the two works. Berserk author Kentaro Miura draws inspiration from many works, and describes a series of stories with both dark and fantasy styles, with the adventure and growth of the protagonist Guts as the main line. In Diablo 4, as a player and “protagonist”, you also need to complete a series of adventures in this world starting with Sanctuary, and you will also face various powerful enemies.

In a sense, you as a Diablo 4 player and Guts as the protagonist of Berserk have certain similarities in fate, which means that when the two works hold a crossover event, you can play Diablo 4 by wearing Berserk-style armor or experiencing events that Guts may have experienced, and feel the trajectory of Guts’s fate.

Although “heat” is the main purpose of holding crossover events between various works, if they can be more closely matched in many aspects, then the crossover event is not just a tool to attract more players or fans, but a truly successful cooperation.

When Will This Crossover Be Launched?

First of all, Berserk’s crossover targets include Diablo 4 and Diablo Immortal, as did the previous crossover with World of Warcraft. In the crossover event with World of WarCraft, Diablo 4 only launched some store accessories, while Diablo Immortal hosted more in-game events, such as unique challenges and boss battles, as well as free rewards.

Although the details of this crossover with Berserk are still unclear, judging from the trailer, you should be able to get the iconic weapons and armor used by Guts in Diablo 4. In addition, considering that the 2025 roadmap does not bring any surprises, and the industry competition pressure in the first half of 2025 is not small, the crossover between Diablo 4 and Berserk is likely to be different from World of WarCraft crossover, and will bring a lot of new playable content, rather than just providing accessories.

If Diablo 4 can really do this, it will definitely break the long-standing criticism of the dullness and boredom of the game by players, at least ensure that the playability of Diablo 4 rises to a new level during the crossover event. From this point of view, this crossover is definitely likely to be a great success, otherwise it would be a waste of Berserk’s very attractive story, right?

As for the release date of the crossover event, Diablo 4 has not yet announced it, but considering that Season 8 will begin on April 29, in order to continue the heat of the new season, the start date of this crossover event is likely to be May or June 2025. Before that, Diablo 4 should announce more relevant information, so let us wait and see!

As you all know, Diablo 4 Season 8 will officially take over Season of Witchcraft on April 29, 2025. Of course, a series of new content and balance additions are naturally indispensable, but the return of an evil in S8 has still aroused heated discussions among many players, that is Belial, the Lord of Lies!

Belial’s return is the undisputed highlight of Season 8. He will lead his group of bosses to become the new Pinnacle Boss in Boss Ladder. Although this sounds quite exciting, from a plot perspective, is Belial wasted as a seasonal boss? More importantly, based on the developer’s initial setting, is it really reasonable for Belial to be stronger than other bosses in the latest season?

Here, we explore the position of Belial boss in Diablo 4 Season 8, some of his character plot and background, and whether he is wasted by the plot as a seasonal protagonist instead of appearing in future expansions.

Boss Ladder System Changes

That being said, let’s first look at Season 8, where the developers are completely revamping Boss Ladder system and introducing Belial to the top of the ladder. The arrival of the new boss not only improves the problem that the endgame that players have criticized before is too boring, but also brings players more opportunities to earn Diablo 4 Gold and Unique items, and can also better improve the main storyline.

Admittedly, it is a good thing that Diablo 4 enables more powerful characters to advance the seasonal narrative, and the stories of the previous Season 5 and 7 are very exciting and really expand the world of Sanctuary, especially Season 5, which helps advance the baseline story about Mephisto.

Still, while we have yet to see the seasonal journey and how the story will play out, I am a little skeptical whether it was a wise choice to have Belial, the Lord of Lies, one of the seven Great Evils, become the seasonal Pinnacle Boss in Season 8, or if he would be better suited for an expansion?

Why Did The Master Of Tricks Become Pinnacle Boss?

Firstly, the last time we saw Belial was in Act 2 of Diablo III, where he disguised himself as Emperor Hakan II of Caldeum, thoroughly manipulated the citizens, and drove the former Royal Guards out of the King’s estate.

Now, one thing we have to admit about Belial is that as Lord of Lies, he is more known for his ability to manipulate, deceive, and disguise himself than his actual physical strength and combat abilities, which makes me a little skeptical as to why Belial is considered the strongest boss encounter in Season 8.

More importantly, we can clearly see that in the boss rankings, Andariel, and especially Duriel, are actually superior in terms of actual physical threat in combat.

Belial did have two different forms in Diablo 3, a low form and a very large and intimidating form, so perhaps Belial’s return in D4S8 with a shocking form is enough for us to consider him as a formidable opponent. But overall, I still think it’s a bit puzzling that a master of deception would headline the strongest boss fight in Season 8.

Potential Reasons For Belial’s Return

Now, let’s take a quick look at Belial’s backstory. He and another Lesser Evil, Azmodan, the Lord of Sin, are considered the smartest and most cunning bosses among Lesser Evils, and Belial himself is second only to Mephisto in his ability to manipulate and deceive.

In fact, it is said that Mephisto took Belial in as an apprentice and taught him most of his knowledge, so judging by the story of Diablo 4, it makes sense that Belial would appear in some form during the main quest centered around Mephisto.

However, I feel like Belial would be narratively wasted if he were just a seasonal boss in Diablo 4, since he not only has full voice acting, but also a whole scene dedicated to him.

Perhaps we can go out on a limb and speculate that perhaps in Season 8 someone will help convince the populace that Akarat is back, even though he is actually Mephisto. Then, Belial would be disguised as his right-hand man, possibly as one of Akarat’s followers, helping to further the story of Akarat’s return and the corrupt Zakarum faith being restored to its former glory.

Of course, at some point, I’ll be skeptical of them again. Considering the story of the previous season was pretty good, hopefully Season 8 will have a wonderful narrative that allows one of the seven Great Evils to become the main villain, rather than just giving him a standalone space in the expansion.

Especially considering that Belial is one of the masterminds of Burning Hells, and he originally helped banish the three Prime Evils: Diablo, Lord of Terror, Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, and Baal, Lord of Destruction, from Hell to Sanctuary. In fact, if Belial and Azmodan hadn’t turned on each other to become the sole lord of Hell, they would have been completely defeated and become the masters of Hell.

So, what do you think of Belial’s role and setting in Season 8? Is he more suitable for the narrative as an antagonist in the full expansion? Whether Belial’s return is a wise move to fill in the plot gaps and increase gameplay or a wrong move that will lead Diablo 4 to the abyss, we will have to wait and see!

From the moment you enter Diablo 4, you enter a game world with its own characteristics. Although it is virtual, when you play a role in becoming a part of this world, you must abide by the rules of this world, just like you need to abide by the law in the real world.

Of course, Diablo 4 does not prohibit you from killing your enemies, but if you want to complete certain events, you must do it according to the guidance of the system. For example, if you want to earn Diablo 4 Gold, you need to win the battle, and if you want to craft elixirs or incense, you must find an Alchemist to proceed-each mechanism and NPC has its necessity. And this time I want to introduce you to Occultists.

What Are Occultists?

Although Diablo 4 may increase or decrease the number of NPCs as the season changes, this is usually for those NPCs related to the main storyline. There is also a kind of NPC that is actually closely related to your life and battles in the game and will not be easily changed, such as Occultists.

Occultists are located in all the major towns of Sanctuary, marked on the map by a clover-like icon. If needed, you can find the nearest Occultist for help based on your location. Currently, the in-game services that Occultists can provide include:

• Imprint Aspects
• Salvage Nightmare Sigils and Infernal Compasses and Craft Nightmare Sigils
• Enchant Items
• Seasonal Crafting

It should be noted that since the release of DLC Vessel of Hatred, Infernal Compasses are no longer a craft-able item, but can only be dropped as a rare loot after completing the battle under Torment difficulties.

Unlocking Aspect Imprinting

When you first enter Sanctuary in Diablo 4 Season 8 and obtain Codex of Power Aspect by completing the first dungeon, you will automatically unlock Extraction and Imprinting quest. Completing it will unlock the aspect imprinting ability of Occultists.

As you know, you can earn gear and legendary aspects in Diablo 4 through combat or other means, and the latter exist to make the former stronger - in the form of imprinted aspects. These aspects can add different benefits to your gear based on their own characteristics, such as increased damage, class abilities, or passive effects. But you can only imprint specific legendary aspects on specific gear.

When you find items with higher aspect rolls, you can recycle these items. Recycling them will unlock specific rolls of aspect values ​​for you, and the legendary aspects and their associated power levels will be automatically stored in your Codex of Power, allowing you to apply legendary powers to the corresponding items an unlimited number of times. In addition, when a new power level is unlocked, it will directly replace the old one.

Aspects can be imprinted on other legendary items to overwrite their existing legendary aspects, or imprinted on rare items to upgrade them to legendary items (unique items cannot be modified). Although you can imprint legendary aspects on rare items, rare items will ultimately only have 2 affixes.

Unlocking Sigil Crafting

As you know, fighting in dungeons is one of the main gameplay of Diablo 4, and it is also the main source of your game resources and gold. The dungeons in the game include normal dungeons, as well as nightmare dungeons, The Pit of Artificers, and Infernal Hordes in the endgame.

The way to open the nightmare dungeon is to farm Nightmare Sigils to convert a normal dungeon into a nightmare dungeon. This item can be dropped by Tree of Whispers caches, world bosses, and monsters in Nightmare Dungeons, or it can be directly crafted at Occultists-prerequisite that you have completed Sigil Crafting quest.

Each Nightmare Sigil actually corresponds to a specific dungeon, and Sigils also come with Dungeon Afflictions that can customize the dungeon by affecting your or the enemy’s status and the surrounding environment, so you need to craft Nightmare Sigils according to your own abilities and needs. If you accidentally create an unwanted Nightmare Sigil, you can also convert it into Sigil Powder to craft new Sigils.

Enchant Items

Enchanting is essentially replacing a selected affix on a rare or legendary item with a randomly generated affix. Although this feature only allows you to replace one affix at a time, the affixes can be rolled over indefinitely until you find the affix effect you want most. However, the more times you roll, the more gold you need to consume, so it is recommended that you do your best.

Although Greater Affixes can only be obtained through combat drops, the item strength of the affix regenerated through enchanting is always better than the previous one. In addition, you can view the affixes that may be generated by a specific item to get a deeper understanding of which items are worth enchanting when optimizing a specific combination.

Seasonal Crafting

Usually when a new season is launched, Occultists will provide new sigils or items crafting services for that season to improve the seasonal content. Since Season 8 has not yet officially launched, it is not clear what changes will be made in this regard in this season.

The above is all the information we can provide about Occultists in Diablo 4 Season 8. It has to be said that they still play a very important role in the new season, so please be sure to pay attention to them!

Do you remember what it was like to experience Spiritborn class for the first time in Diablo 4 DLC or Season 6? New classes always bring you freshness, and it is normal that Spiritborn, which is different from the old class in every aspect, will be welcomed by players.

Although Spiritborn has been weakened to a certain extent since Season 7 due to design problems, this does not mean that it has become worse, but it is just not too superior to other classes to ensure the balance of the game. So you may be curious whether those Spiritborn builds that performed well in the previous seasons can still play a role in the upcoming Season 8? Based on this, this time we will take Touch Of Death Centipede Build as an example for analysis.

Touch Of Death Centipede Build

The design and use of this build is based on the high continuous damage effect brought by Touch of Death, and combined with Insatiable Aspect to trigger a huge explosion in battle to form a good clearing effect. This also makes this build not only able to deal with bosses, but also easily helps you complete Diablo 4 Gold farming in various dungeons, or complete other important tasks.

As the main skill of this build, Touch of Death has been adjusted according to the needs of the build. With just a simple operation, you can make this skill release a huge range explosion of poison to the enemy, causing the enemy to be infected with a large amount of poison damage. Even after Touch of Death is upgraded, it can ignore the cooldown by consuming Vigor, which means that as long as there is enough Vigor generated, you can use this skill continuously.

On this basis, if you can combine it with the passive skill Noxious Resonance, you can make your critical hits trigger poison damage on the enemy, causing damage within the range and eliminating the poison effect, forming a perfect match with Insatiable Aspect.

Since the combination of Touch of Death, Noxious Resonance and Insatiable Aspect is very compact, the role of the rest of the build is to enhance the damage value of the main skill Touch of Death or provide you with defensive capabilities. It is not difficult to set up overall.

Best Skills

In addition to the main skill Touch of Death and the key passive Noxious Resonance that we have already highlighted, other skills suitable for this build include the following:

Basic

• Rock Splitter: 1/5
• Enhanced Rock Splitter: 1/1

Core

• Vigorous: 3/3
• Balanced Exertion: 3/3

Focus

• Ravager: 1/5
• Enhanced Ravager: 1/1
• Measured Ravager: 1/1
• Mirage: 1/3
• Focal Point: 1/3
• Diminishment: 3/3
• Apex: 3/3

Defensive

• Armored Hide: 1/5
• Enhanced Armored Hide: 1/1
• Adaptable Armored Hide: 1/1
• Scourge: 1/5
• Enhanced Scourge: 1/1
• Adaptable Scourge: 1/1
• Endurance: 1/3
• Perserverance: 3/3
• Antivenom: 1/3
• Nourishment: 3/3

Potency

• Touch of Death: 5/5
• Enhanced Touch of Death: 1/1
• Poised Touch of Death: 1/1
• Resilient: 3/3
• Vehemence: 3/3
• Potent: 3/3
• Ravenous: 3/3
• Oppressive: 3/3

Ultimate

• The Seeker: 5/5
• Harmonious Seeker: 1/1
• Exalted Seeker: 1/1
• Resolution: 3/3
• Initiative: 1/3
• Spiritual Attunement: 1/3
• Supremacy: 3/3

You can also swap Rock Splitter for Vortex, if you can solve the resource generation problem. You’ll still need to invest two points in the basic skill category, though. Another thing to remind you about Spirit Hall selection is that the best Spirit Hall combination for this build is primary-gorilla and secondary-jaguar.

In actual combat, the gorilla buff provides damage reduction and turns all your other skills into gorilla skills, further stacking the damage buff. Jaguar Spirit Hall increases your maximum Ferocity and stacks it when you kill an enemy, so that it always remains in this state.

Best Gear & Stats

Touch Of Death Centipede Build requires you to obtain and use many unique items for it, because this makes the build more lethal and stronger by forming good synergies with other parts of the build. Among them, Harmony of Ebewaka is indispensable for almost every Spiritborn build.

Jacinth Shell can quickly recharge your skills, but this is based on the consumption of your health. Fortunately, because of the synergy effect of the centipede skills, the rest of the build contains a lot of health regeneration and recovery capabilities, so using Jacinth Shell will not cause any substantial loss of your health.

If you also have Yen’s Blessing, its special effect will allow you to use Armored Hide, Vortex, Ravager, and Scourge at the same time in rare cases, and activate both effects at the same time, thus increasing your survivability while also increasing your damage output.

To summarize, after using Focus, Sunstained War-Crozier Unique Quarterstaff will provide a very high damage bonus to Touch of Death, and Jacinth Shell and Yen’s Blessing can effectively reduce your skill cooldowns, making it easy to maintain the damage output of the build by frequently using all skills and gear.

• Helm: Harmony of Ebewaka
• Chest: Jacinth Shell
• Gloves: Fell Soothsayer’s Aspect
• Pants: Aspect of Binding Morass
• Boots: Yen’s Blessing
• Amulet: Insatiable Aspect
• Ring 1: Aspect of Unyielding Hits
• Ring 2: Starlight Aspect
• Weapon: Sunstained War-Crozier

How To Use This Build?

After crafting this build, to use it in combat, first have your character stay in Ravager mode as long as possible with the blessing of Jacinth Shell, and use Touch of Death to deal heavy damage to normal enemies, and use Scourge to deal with stronger enemies. In between using Touch of Death, it is best to use the ultimate skill The Seeker at the same time to apply multiple passive effects to deal with more damage.

In addition, Ravager can use Touch of Death to teleport you to the nearest enemy, which improves the overall mobility of the build. In fact, it is also necessary to use dodge or mount to increase the movement speed.

After our introduction, do you know how to give full play to the power of this build in Season 8? If the answer is yes, it proves that our work is valuable! Thank you for reading!

Under the mysterious story background and complex game system presented by Diablo 4, there are countless game characters, NPCs and game mechanisms. It is their existence that builds this ARPG, allowing you to read interesting game plots while having a smooth game experience.

When you play Diablo 4, in addition to the game plot itself, other gameplays are basically centered around the element of “battle”: you can get Diablo 4 Gold, gear and various items through battles, and these props will also help you complete the next more difficult battles. But in fact, there are some items that can provide gains that do not require you to defeat any enemies, but can be made by yourself, provided that you go to the corresponding NPC-Alchemist.

As one of the most important NPCs, Alchemist can provide you with services such as upgrading health potion, crafting elixirs and incense, which are very useful for improving your combat efficiency. Based on this, we will introduce to you in detail what they can bring to you in Diablo 4 Season 8.

What Is Diablo 4 Alchemist?

You can think of Diablo 4 Alchemists as a type of NPC in the game. They are located in the five main towns of Sanctuary, and are shown on the map as mortar and pestle icons, which can be used as a marker to find them.

Currently, the services that Alchemists can provide include healing potion upgrades, elixir crafting, transmutation, and incense crafting. However, it should be noted that all of these services require you to invest materials and gold, so if you want to make full use of Alchemists, be sure to prepare in advance.

Upgrading Health Potions

When your character reaches a certain level, an upward arrow will appear next to Alchemist icon on the city map to prompt you. At this time, you can find an Alchemist to further upgrade your health potions. Different health potions have different functions and require different amounts of crafting materials and gold to upgrade. In addition, you can also charge health potions by earning renown in Sanctuary.

• Weak Healing Potion-Level 1
• Tiny Healing Potion-Level 10: Requires 10 Bundled Herbs, 5,000 Gold
• Minor Healing Potion-Level 20: Requires 30 Bundled Herbs, 10000 Gold
• Light Healing Potion-Level 30: Requires 50 Bundled Herbs, 5,0000 Gold, 10 Angelbreath
• Moderate Healing Potion-Level 40: Requires 80 Bundled Herbs, 150,000 Gold, 20 Angelbreath
• Strong Healing Potion-Level 50: Requires 130 Bundled Herbs, 5,00000 Gold, 50 Angelbreath
• Greater Healing Potion-Level 60: Requires 200 Bundled Herbs, 1000000 Gold, 80 Angelbreath
• Major Healing Potion-Level 60: Requires 300 Bundled Herbs, 3,000,000 Gold, 90 Angelbreath
• Superior Healing Potion-Level 60: Requires 50 Bundled Herbs, 5,000,000 Gold, 100 Angelbreath

Crafting Elixirs

In Diablo 4, elixirs temporarily enhance your stats, and only one type of elixirs can be activated per battle. Although different elixirs enhance different stats, what they all have in common is that they all increase XP you gain after the battle.

Quest Elixir

• Elixir of Antivenin
• Elixir of Hollow Unmaking

Basic Elixirs

• Elixir of Cold Resistance
• Elixir of Fire Resistance
• Elixir of Lightning Resistance
• Elixir of Poison Resistance
• Elixir of Shadow Resistance
• Elixir of Iron Barbs
• Elixir of Fortitude
• Elixir of Resourcefulness
• Elixir of Destruction
• Elixir of Advantage
• Elixir of Precision

Advanced Elixirs

• Elixir of Advantage II
• Elixir of Cold Resistance II
• Elixir of Destruction II
• Elixir of Fire Resistance II
• Elixir of Fortitude II
• Elixir of Iron Barbs II
• Elixir of Lightning Resistance II
• Elixir of Poison Resistance II
• Elixir of Precision II
• Elixir of Resourcefulness II
• Elixir of Shadow Resistance II
• Profane Mindcage

What Is The Use Of Transmutation?

In fact, the main function of transmutation, which provides you with the opportunity to exchange summon items, should no longer apply to Season 8, because summon materials are no longer required to fight the lair boss in this season. So it may be temporarily abolished or given other functions.

Crafting Incense

Incense can be divided into three types by stat: core, resistance, and defensive. In each battle, you can choose one incense of the three types to activate respectively, providing different types of incense effects to improve combat efficiency.

It is worth noting that all incense effects can increase XP available to nearby players by 5%, and the duration is also 20 minutes. All effects are applicable to both team and single combat situations, and the incense effects will continue after the character dies.

• Ancient Times-Core: Increases 100 points of strength.
• Blessed Guide-Core: Increases 100 points of willpower.
• Queen’s Supreme-Core: Increases 100 points of agility.
• Sage’s Whisper-Core: Increases 100 points of intelligence.
• Spiral Morning-Core: Increases all attributes by 60 points.
• Desert Escape-Resistance: Increases fire, cold, and shadow resistance of all nearby players by 15%, and increases maximum resistance by 4%.
• Storm of the Wilds-Resistance: Increases lightning, cold, and poison resistance by 15%, and increases maximum resistance by 4%.
• Soothing Spices-Resistance: All element resistance +10%, all element maximum resistance +2%, armor +150.
• Spirit Dance-Defensive: Increases dodge chance by 5%.
• Reddamine Buzz-Defensive: Increases players’ maximum health by 750 points.
• Scents of the Desert Afternoon-Defensive: Increases thorns by 400 points.
• Song of the Mountain-Defensive: Increases armor for all nearby players by 300 points.

Overall, Alchemist mechanism is not complicated, but if you want to make the most of it in Season 8, you need to understand the specific effects of each potion, elixir, and incense, so work hard!

As you know, once you complete character creation in Diablo 4, as soon as you start fighting, you will want to quickly find a build that suits you best. Considering that there are 6 classes available in the game, and each class has different skills and unique items, it is sometimes difficult to quickly determine which builds will be more suitable for you.

Fortunately, after multiple seasons of verification, you will find that there are some builds that will suit most situations, and may even become more powerful because they can work well with the new items added in the new season, such as Hammer of the Ancients HotA Build.

This build is one of Barbarian builds. As the name suggests, it is created with Fury skill Hammer of the Ancients as the core. Due to the applicability of this skill, similar builds have provided considerable help to Barbarian players in multiple Diablo 4 seasons. Hammer of the Ancients HotA Build has become even more powerful with the addition of the unique item Mantle of Mountain’s Fury Mantle in Season 7!

After entering Season 8, Barbarian will also get new unique items, and all classes will get boss power (seasonal power), so can they make this build more powerful and more worth using in the new season? Let us introduce it to you.

Overview Of The Pros And Cons Of This Build

As the saying goes, knowing yourself and the enemy will win every battle, so if you want to defeat the enemy with Hammer of the Ancients HotA Build, in addition to understanding the enemy’s situation, you also need to understand all the details of your build, even the shortcomings.

HotA Build can be said to be a build that fully reflects the class characteristics of Barbarian heavy-hitting berserker. In battle, it will release powerful large-scale strikes and earthquakes through the core skill Hammer of the Ancients and the unique item Mountain’s Fury Mantle, thereby quickly clearing the enemy. This combat effect is useful when you plan to accumulate Diablo 4 Gold by farming groups of enemies in low-level dungeons.

In addition, the damage that this build can deal when facing some single enemies or bosses is also very good, and the survivability is enough to cope with most situations, but some characteristics bring advantages but also cause some problems, such as when the walls in the venue block AOE range, it will be difficult to move in narrow corridors, and the mobility is not enough - this seems to be a common problem of most Barbarian builds.

What Skills Are Best For?

In terms of skill selection and use, the use of this build in Season 8 has not changed much, just follow the information we provide. First of all, since HotA Barbarian mainly outputs damage by automatically triggering earthquakes, the core of this build is still Hammer of the Ancients skill, and the choice of the rest of the skills depends on buffs and practicality.

In combat, Hammer of the Ancients can increase your output damage and help you generate more Fury, so that you can continue to attack, while Iron Skin can serve as a defensive layer to provide you with survival guarantee. Alternatively, you can replace Iron Skin with Stomp Strategic Ground or Power Leap, both of which generate additional earthquakes to explode, but they require more skill to use. Iron Skin is easier to master, and it not only gives you passive skills, but also makes you extremely resilient.

Key Passive

• Unconstrained
• War Cry
• Blood Rage

Offensive Passive

• Warpath
• Violent Hammer of the Ancients
• Wallop
• Brute Force
• Heavy Handed

Defensive Passive

• Mantle of Mountain’s Fury
• Defensive Stance
• Ugly Bastard Helm
• Aggressive Resistance

Utility Passive

• Decimator
• Pressure Point

Best Gear

There is a lot of gear available for this build, but the tricky part is that most of the best items and aspects must be farmed through constant combat to get drops, so it may take some time to perfect the gear combination for this build. Although it is okay to replace some of this gear, based on actual testing, the following gear will have better results.

• Helm: Ugly Bastard Helm
• Chest Armor: Mantle of Mountain’s Fury
• Gloves: Fists of Fate
• Pants: Aspect of Bul-Kathos
• Boots: Aspect of Concussive Strikes
• Amulet: Vehement Brawler’s Aspect
• Ring: Bold Chieftain’s Aspect, Ring of Starless Skies
• Main Hand: Executioner’s Aspect
• Off-Hand: Aspect of Elements
• Two-Handed Bludgeoning: Aspect of Incendiary Fissures
• Two-Handed Slashing: Aspect of Earthquakes

Season 8 Available Content

This season will add Bane of Ahjad-Den and Aspect of Delayed Extinction as new unique items for Barbarian class, and you’ll also gain access to boss power as one of the new available combat perks. These special seasonal powers come from the 24 bosses in Diablo 4 Season 8, among which Belial and his followers, that is, the 10 Apparition bosses, are new enemies in this season.

Although it is not yet certain whether the new items can replace the original ones in the build, at least there will be a few boss powers that can help you discover more ways to use Hammer of the Ancients HotA Build, ensuring that the build can continue to play a role in Season 8.

The above is our introduction to some tips for continuing to use Hammer of the Ancients HotA Build in Season 8, as well as speculation on the more development possibilities it can obtain in the new season. I hope it can be helpful to you!