Are you sure to delete the selected items ?
Are you sure to delete the selected item ?
Here I want to introduce you to a very tanky Ball Lightning Sorcerer build using Temerity, Chill and Chain Lightning Enchant. This is a tank build that can clear consistently, and even the explosions from Tier 100 Nightmare Dungeon won’t kill you easily.
In Patch 1.2, Ball Lightning’s damage per tick has been reduced, while it has increased the tick rate so that the total damage remains the same. The patch notes claim this is just a change to the tooltip. But the in-game behavior has also been changed to match. So, keep in mind that they will probably fix Ball Lightning during the season.
Now, what about Ball Lightning’s damage scaling? It increases the tick rate of Ball Lightning through Enhanced Ball Lightning. Vampiric Powers Ravenous maximizes movement speed and attack speed.
Spam Ball Lightning also has mana issues. It can be solved by picking up Crackling Energy generated. You can generate a lot of Crackling Energy from Chain Lightning and Ball Lightning.
In addition, Focus Ring has “Resource Generation”, as well as “Maximum Mana” for helmets and Aspect of Concentration. If you haven’t taken damage in the last 2 seconds, it increased your mana regeneration by 40% - 50%.
As long as barriers do not collapse, this aspect is valid. This means that mana regeneration is almost always 1.5x higher. We don’t even need Prodigy’s Aspect. It solved the mana problem.
Next, why is Frost Bolt Enchant needed? This is due to a total reduction of nearly 40% in damage to cold enemies in Paragon. Glyph level 15 Chain Lightning Enchant can also inflict cold on distant enemies. That’s why I chose Frost Bolt Enchant.
We also need to scale the damage via Legendary Aspects. What’s unusual about Ball Lightning is Elementalist’s Aspect and Accelerating Aspect. Among them, Chain Lightning Enchant can trigger Accelerating Aspect. Elementalist’s Aspect is also easy to activate when the mana is over 100 because there is a lot of Crackling Energy.
Alternatively, if you have enough Diablo 4 Gold budget, you can also use Esu’s Heirloom to increase your critical hit chance. It also has synergy with Vampiric Powers Ravenous, as it can convert movement speed into an increased critical rate. It increased movement speed by 75% after dodging, and you can increase movement speed to 200% cap.
For the defense part, this build can easily achieve 70% of all resistance. Paragon supplements Fire, Lightning and Cold, which can naturally reach 70%.
The ring’s sub-status should be Poison or Shadow. But it’s okay if not. Then the target armor value is above 13500. To increase armor value, always add the option “+Total Armor” to every rare piece of equipment, and amulets are no exception. You can achieve 13500 armor by equipping the highest level Diablo 4 items possible.
The rest of the time, you need to add long-range and short-range damage reduction. Damage reduction takes priority over armor. After that you need to add Distance DR and Close DR. It also stores all damage reduction via Vyr’s Mastery and Mage-Lord’s Aspect.
We also need Sanguine Brace’s damage reduction. In terms of recovery, Temerity will generate enchantments, and Undying will quickly restore the enchantment so that the enchantment will not be cut off.
Finally, I will explain a little about this Paragon Board. Currently, this build equips items with chief power, but may lack resistance. If you don’t have enough resistance, change the partial Paragon node to 1.5% of the total resistance. Or, add intelligence to focus. Intelligence can also give you a little more resistance.
This concludes this tank Ball Lightning Sorcerer build guide. I think a lot of Ball Lightning builds in other guides ignore tank ability. With this build, you can easily pass NMD100. Of course, you can also quickly defeat Uber Lilith with this build. Good luck!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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%.
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:
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.
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:
Legendary Aspect: Aspect of Service and Sacrifice (Offensive Aspect)
Skeleton Warriors explode on death, dealing 200-300% physical damage.
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:
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.
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%.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
The number and type of keys required to unlock the hoards of lair bosses of different levels are also different, as follows:
Exclusive Keys
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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!
Surplus Stock:
Connecting to online customer service,please wait...
