News Tag: Diablo 4 Season 11

Many players enjoy AFK builds because they automatically complete farming tasks while you can eat or watch videos. Unfortunately, there aren't many truly excellent AFK builds in Diablo 4. Minion necromancer builds might achieve this, but it's not strong enough in the endgame.

So, is there a build that allows you to AFK and still perform strongly in the endgame? Season 11's Auradin Paladin allows you to do just that.

Core Gameplay

Holy Light Aura is the core skill of this build. You need to level up this skill as much as possible to increase its damage.

This build also relies on a unique item. You need to equip Dawnfire unique Glove, which transforms Holy Light Aura into Fire Aura. This can automatically deal hundreds of billions of damage to nearby enemies, enough to one-shot most enemies in Torment 4. You can obtain it by farming Varshan.

This build primarily utilizes Judicator Oaths effect. Holy Light Aura automatically applies Judgment to enemies, while other equipment significantly amplifies Judgment damage, creating two main sources of damage.

This build allows you to AFK in Helltide and Whisper quests, simply standing still and letting the bosses in Ambush event and small Duriel automatically run into the aura and die. Against Lair Bosses and some of The Pit Bosses, you almost don't need to use any skills, and just dodge their attacks and let the aura burn them.

Divine Gifts

Andariel

• Corrupted: Essence of Anguish
• Purified: Essence of Screams

Azmodan

• Corrupted: Essence of Hellfire
• Purified: Essence of Sin

Belial

• Corrupted: Essence of Shadows
• Purified: Essence of Lies

Duriel

• Corrupted: Essence of Pain
• Purified: Essence of Squalor

Divine Gifts is this season's seasonal power, though not as strong as last season. Its main use is to allow you to get more Diablo 4 runes, gold, or XP, etc. You can adjust them according to your needs.

Auradin AFK Paladin Skills

• Falling Star: Enhanced Falling Star and Freefall
• Fanaticism Aura: Enhanced Fanaticism and Rite of Vengeance
• Holy Light Aura: Enhanced Holy Light Aura and Rite of Judgement
• Defiance Aura: Enhanced Defiance and Rite of Might
• Rally: Enhanced Rally and word of inspiration
• Spear of the Heavens: Enhanced Spear of the Heavens and Pronouncement of Heaven

Holy Light Aura and Judgment are the core damage dealers of this build, while Fanaticism Aura is used to increase damage. The remaining skills mainly provide survivability, cooldown reduction, and mobility, but as an AFK build, these are not essential; you can still complete the game smoothly relying solely on aura damage.

Oath

Judicator Oath is the preferred choice, providing more Judgment effects and a damage multiplier of up to 80 times. However, this build also has an Arbiter variant. It triggers Arbiter form using Falling Star skill, granting faster movement and jumping abilities, and also allows for AFK play.

This Arbiter-centric variant deals slightly less aura damage, with the primary damage sources being Arbiter and Falling Star. It requires slightly more operations but can reach 115 The Pit.

If you want to try this variant, you can equip the following skills:

• Holy Light Aura: Rite of Judgement
• Arbiter of Justice: Seraph's Wings
• Falling Star: Fanatic Descent
• Fanaticism Aura: Rite of Vengeance
• Defiance Aura: Rite of Prayer
• Consecration: Hallowed Ground

Auradin AFK Paladin Equipment

• Helm: Heir of Perdition (Gar and Igni)
• Chest Armor: Shroud of False Death (Qax and Yul)
• Gloves: Dawnfire
• Pants: Aspect of Firm Decree (Ruby and Ruby)
• Boots: Wildbolt Aspect
• Amulet: Aspect of the Golden Hour (Diamond)
• Ring 1: Seal of the Second Trumpet (Skull)
• Ring 2: Aspect of Holy Punishment (Skull)
• Weapon: Griswold's Opus (Emerald)
• Offhand: Herald of Zakarum (Ruby)

Dawnfire provides aura conversion and double damage, which is the core of this build. Herald of Zakarum enhances survivability, and affixes that boost core skill levels are even better. Seal of the Second Trumpet increases Judgment damage and deals double damage.

Griswold's Opus increases critical strike damage and chance after killing an enemy and restores health. This weapon is crucial if you plan to AFK. Other gear primarily provides movement speed and damage multipliers.

The two Mythic items raise the build's ceiling, but they are not core to this build. If you're not interested in The Pit, you can replace them without affecting your experience on Torment 4 difficulty.

• Heir of Perdition: Can be replaced with Judicant's Glaivehelm.
• Shroud of False Death: This can be replaced with Aspect of the Indomitable.

Prioritize Affixes as follows: Strength, Maximum Health, Armor, All Elemental Resistances, Critical Strike Chance. If Critical Strike Chance is already maxed out, replace it with Critical Strike Damage or Resistances.

Arbiter Variant Gears

• Helm: Godslayer Crown
• Chest Armor: Aspect of Angelic Masterwork
• Gloves: Dawnfire
• Pants: Aspect of the Indomitable
• Boots: Aspect of the Arbiter's Zephyr
• Amulet: Aspect of Celestial Strife
• Ring 1: Aspect of Ascension
• Ring 2: Aspect of Proselytizing
• Mainhand: Griswold's Opus
• Offhand: Aspect of Holy Punishment

This build is Tier S build for Season 11, with excellent damage and defense. If you want a lazy farming experience, there are probably no better builds than Auradin AFK Paladin.

Diablo 4 Season 11 is returning with Goblin Greedings event. This is a generous Christmas-themed event, not only the longest-running seasonal event in Diablo 4 history, but also one of the most rewarding for both new and returning players.

If you're currently struggling with insufficient materials, a shortage of Diablo 4 gold, or slow gear upgrades in Season 11, you no longer need to worry. Goblin Greedings event is about to change everything, bringing you plenty of rewards.

Event Date

This Goblin Greedings event will run from December 18th, 2025 to January 6th, 2026, lasting nearly three weeks. Most importantly, the event coincides with Christmas, meaning you'll have ample time to collect rewards amidst the festive atmosphere of the game.

Event Overview

Goblin Greedings is a limited-time event that combines Diablo 4's regular gameplay with the goblins treasure hunt and holiday-themed rewards. Unlike previous quest-based events, players don't need to perform any special tasks; simply hunting a sufficient number of goblins will advance the game.

The event also introduces March of the Goblins reputation board. Killing enough goblins will unlock new levels on the reputation board. Higher reputation levels will increase the quality of the loot packs dropped, meaning you'll receive higher-tier and rarer rewards.

And don't worry about finding goblins in the game. During the event, goblins carrying treasure will spawn more frequently in the world and dungeons, so you'll see these greedy monsters often.

How To Kill Enough Goblins?

To obtain more rewards and accumulate enough reputation, focus on areas with a high goblin population or fast respawn rates.

• Open World: Goblins will randomly spawn in areas with world levels;
• Nightmare Dungeons: Dungeons with Treasure Breach affix will definitely spawn goblins;
• Greed Shrines: Activating Greed Shrines will summon many goblins;
• Nahantu: Nahantu is also an area where goblins spawn in large numbers.

These are the main locations in the game where goblins appear frequently. In addition, be aware that goblins are very fast runners. Riding a horse will help you approach and kill more goblins faster, or you can team up with friends to hunt them.

Event Rewards

Final Reputation Level Rewards

Remember to go to Goblin Square in Kyovashad to claim your rewards each time you unlock a new March of the Goblins reputation level. Upon first unlocking the highest level, you will receive a Resplendent Spark, a crucial raw material for crafting Mythic Uniques!

The March of the Goblins reputation tier can be challenged repeatedly, meaning you can continue to receive rewards even after completing the challenge. However, Resplendent Spark is only obtainable on the first attempt.

Also, be sure to claim all rewards before January 6th, 2026, otherwise they will disappear into a mysterious Treasure Goblin's lair.

Tree Of Whispers Rewards

During Goblin Greedings event, Tree of Whispers will provide players with an additional reward. When you return Grim Favors, in addition to the usual rewards, you will receive a Gift of the Tree cache, which is essentially a Collection of Chaos, and may contain substantial rewards.

Therefore, besides killing goblins, farming a large amount of Grim Favors during the event and turning them in to Tree of Whispers can also earn you some extra rewards.

How To Obtain Grim Favors?

You will receive a certain number of Grim Favors after completing Whispers of the Dead in Diablo 4. Whispers of the Dead are quest objectives given to players by Tree of Whispers. These Whispers will appear on the map as markers of different colors, depending on the number of Grim Favors awarded.

Once you have 10 Grim Favors, you must return to Tree of Whispers to select your desired collection reward and reset your Grim Favors collection progress to 0. Below, I've listed some quests that reward Grim Favors and the corresponding reward amounts.

5 Grim Favors Rewards:

• Fugitive: Find Headhunter or Slaughter Husk;
• Dungeon: Tree of Whispers will mark a dungeon quest that needs to be completed;
• Defeat Seething Abomination in a PvP area;
• Helltide: A Tree of Whispers quest objective will appear every hour.

3 Grim Favors Rewards:

• Kill monsters with the guardians;
• Kill Headrotten;
• Find Cleansing Herbs;
• Legion Events.

1 Grim Favor Reward:

• Dispel Shrouding Charms;
• Find the hidden Headrotten;
• Complete Cellar marked by Tree of Whispers.

Additional Event Benefits

This Goblin Greedings event is incredibly generous, with free gifts available for players to claim in the in-game store.

• December 18th: Tackle of the First Snows (Mount Trophy)
• December 19th: Fallow-ward (Mount Trophy)
• December 20th: Crook of First Snow (Mount Armor)

Rewards will not be automatically distributed, so you need to claim all rewards before January 6th, otherwise they will disappear.

Events with such generous rewards are rare. Whether you're aiming for top-tier gear or gaining experience for rapid leveling, Goblin Greedings is an excellent opportunity to gain an advantage early in the season and shouldn't be missed. Get your gear ready, hop on your mount, and go find the goblins!

At 2025 TGA, Diablo 4's official announcement brought a surprise: while many players anticipated Paladin class, no one expected it to be released directly in Season 11.

Since it wasn't tested on the PTR, many players are unfamiliar with its gameplay. Paladin is very strong in Season 11 due to having the most skill enhancements (3 branches) of any class. Players who pre-ordered the new expansion can already play Paladin, so let's look at the most efficient way to level this class.

Early Game Recommendations

In the early stages, your build isn't fully developed, so you'll need to rely on some powerful skills to clear monsters and level up. Therefore, we recommend prioritizing the following three skills during the leveling phase.

Holy Light Aura

This skill passively deals damage to surrounding enemies, and actively casting it not only deals damage but also heals you. Around levels 1-10 on Normal difficulty, you can instantly kill most small monsters, allowing for safe leveling in the early game.

Rally

Using Rally increases movement speed and provides a burst of Faith regeneration. With Words of Sacrifice skill enhancement, this skill has no cooldown and instead consumes health. Combined with the healing from Holy Light Aura, you can gain infinite Faith, allowing you to unleash your core abilities.

Falling Star

This is a Movement Ability, similar to Necromancer's Soar or Sorcerer's Teleport, but with a short delay before launch and damage upon takeoff and landing. It's a very useful skill for both farming monsters and running for maps.

Recommended Leveling Builds

Paladin's damage is quite good, but due to the increased monster strength in Season 11, you can easily die if you're not careful. Therefore, below are some reliable upgrade builds that don't rely on Diablo 4 items and primarily rely on skill enhancements.

Blessed Hammer Paladin

After using Blessed Hammer, your hammer will spiral out by default. Choosing Disciple's Halo enhancement will cause your hammer to spin around your character and follow their movement, similar to Druid's Boulder playstyle, but without requiring Legendary Aspects or unique items.

You can combine this with the basic skill Clash and its Skirmish enhancement for up to a 30% critical strike chance bonus.

For the ultimate skill, choose Arbiter of Justice, which allows Paladin to transform into Arbiter form, granting increased movement speed, special evasion, and Wing Strikes. Enhancements and upgrades increase the frequency and speed of Wing Strikes and make enemies vulnerable.

Key Passive Exaltation provides a significant damage bonus during Arbiter form and doubles the damage of Wing Strikes.

Finally, choose Disciple Oath, which triggers a brief Arbiter form when you use Falling Star. The overall rotation deals sustained damage with Blessed Hammer and bursts burst damage with Falling Star and Arbiter of Justice.

Blessed Shield Paladin

This upgrade build relies on Blessed Shield, requiring the skill choice, Shield of Retribution Enhancement. This slows the movement of the thrown shield but deals area damage per second to surrounding enemies equal to your Thorns value, and multiple shields can be active simultaneously.

Thorns are primarily gained through Clash's Punishment Enhancement, which increases Thorns damage with skill and character level.

For the ultimate skill, choose Heaven's Fury and enhance it with Walk With The Light, transforming it into five beams rotating around the character, allowing for multiple Judgment debuffs on enemies. Combined with the passive Code of Arms, this provides a passive damage bonus based on armor and block chance.

Finally, choose Judicator Oath. The more Judgment you apply to enemies, the higher the damage you deal, significantly amplifying Thorns damage.

You can further increase Thorns damage by utilizing the passive Thorns and Thistles and Rite of Thorns enhancement from Defiance Aura skill tree.

Shield Of Retribution Paladin Build

This build is very similar to the one above, but focuses more on the frequency of Retribution triggers.

You need to trigger Retribution effect through Shield Bash or later Shield Charge, which gives him a chance to unleash Thorns as area-of-effect damage when blocking.

Shield Bash's Breach enhancement makes its attacks count as blocks. Shield Charge's Relentless Charge enhancement makes it a core skill that can be channeled by holding down the button, during which all hits count as blocks, and the chance to trigger Retribution increases with channeling time.

You can further increase Retribution chance by combining it with other skills. For example, Aegis' Impunity enhancement provides a significant Thorns damage boost and a 40% Retribution chance during its activation. Clash's Punishment enhancement provides an additional 30% Retribution chance.

In short, you can easily stack Retribution chance to over 100% through skill tree passives, equipment, and other combinations, achieving a continuous area-of-effect Thorns explosion. The choice of ultimate skills and vows is basically the same as the previous build.

Other Key Passives

• Judgment Day: Increases damage when Judgment is triggered, potentially very good in the late game, but difficult to trigger frequently during leveling.
• Path of the Penitent: High potential, but requires increased resource consumption, making it difficult to manage during leveling.

Key Oaths

• Juggernaut Oath: It can be stacked by consuming Resolve to increase Juggernaut Skill damage. However, Thorns build primarily uses Overpower abilities to enhance Thorns damage, rather than its own damage output.
• Zealot Oath: Grants bonus hit chance to Zealot Skills, requires late-game gear and build support.

Endgame Items

With the addition of new classes, Season 11 also introduced some new items that may become core to Paladin builds in endgame.

• Aspect of Lapa's Scripture: Grants Thorns after consuming Faith, potentially synergizing well with Juggernaut Oath and Shield of Retribution Paladin build.
• Aspect of Verdant Restoration: Heals the user while dealing Thorns damage, suitable for Thorns builds.
• Aspect of Lagera's Soverignty: Increases Disciple skill damage, suitable for Blessed Hammer Paladin build.
• Aspect of Holy Punishment: Significantly increases Holy Damage, suitable for Blessed Hammer Paladin build.
• Herald's Morningstar: Increases Blessed Hammer damage and has a Lucky Hit chance to generate an additional hammer.
• Dawnfire: Causes Holy Light Aura to deal fire damage, and the damage is increased whenever an enemy dies within its range.
• Griswold's Opus: Increases critical strike damage on hits, and when fully stacked, grants a Lucky Hit chance to refresh the effect and gain double critical strike damage and healing.

The above recommendations are only for the leveling phase. In the endgame, you should consider which skill to primarily utilize for your build. You can explore its mechanics during the leveling phase and discover your preferred playstyle in the endgame.

Sanctuary in Diablo 4 has been ravaged by demons for far too long. Signs in Season 11 suggest that the angels may be about to launch a counterattack, and the unique mechanics of this season are Sanctification and Divine Gifts.

Divine Gifts are somewhat similar to Chaos Perks and Boss Powers from previous seasons, but far less powerful. They can bring both benefits and penalties. Let’s take a look at how to acquire and utilize them.

Divine Gifts Interface

Divine Gifts system interface consists of an inner and outer circle. Divine Gifts have two states: Purified and Corrupted. Their effects depend on whether they are placed in the inner or outer circle. A total of 8 Divine Gifts can be placed, 4 in the inner circle and 4 in the outer circle.

The position of each Divine Gift is fixed and cannot be placed arbitrarily. Specific gifts can only switch between purified and corrupted states in specific locations and cannot be swapped with gifts in other locations. Players cannot freely choose to place all four Divine Gifts on the purified or corrupted side, as the system has predefined settings for each location.

How To Get Them?

Divine Gifts interface is divided into four main areas, each representing a significant boss in Diablo 4. Defeating these demons and their Lesser Evils unlocks the corresponding Corrupted Essence.

Once you obtain a Corrupted Essence, use the angel-colored portal on the map to find Hadriel (the angel guy), who will convert it into two Divine Gifts. Continue defeating these enemies to upgrade your Divine Gifts.

Duriel In Helltide

• Essence of Squalor: Defeating Duriel in Helltide unlocks Socketables Diablo 4 items.
• Essence of Pain: Defeating Maggots in Helltide will drop experience orbs.

Belial In The Pit

• Essence of Lies: Allows for additional upgrades in The Pit.
• Essence of Shadows: Grants more gold in The Pit.

Azmodan In The Overworld

• Essence of Sin: Surviving World Boss battles grants additional Activity Keys.
• Essence of Hellfire: Grants additional Lair Boss Keys in World Boss battles.

Andariel In The Undercity

• Essence of Anguish: Completing Undercity grants additional Obols.
• Essence of Screams: Completing Undercity grants additional Salvage Materials.

Divine Gifts Mechanism

After Hadriel obtains Corrupted Essence, you will unlock the corresponding two Divine Gifts.

• Purified state: Provides a buff that benefits the character.
• Corrupted state: Inflicts a negative effect or increases difficulty, but also provides additional rewards.

Furthermore, regardless of which slot you activate, you will receive the corresponding reward buff, and activating Purified grants double the rewards.

You might find this strange, as normally you should receive double rewards after activating Corrupted Divine Gifts to increase the game difficulty, but Season 11 doubles the rewards after using Purified Divine Gifts to decrease the game difficulty.

The developers don’t want to artificially increase the game’s difficulty in this way, but rather let players choose for themselves. However, Purified Divine Gifts slots aren’t unlocked at the start, and they unlock gradually as the game progresses, depending on your Divine Favor ranks:

• Rank II: Duriel
• Rank IV: Andariel
• Rank VI: Azmodan
• Rank VIII: Belial

Therefore, if you want to reduce the game’s difficulty, use Purified Divine Gifts more and Corrupted Divine Gifts less in the later stages.

How To Choose Divine Gift?

Essence Of Sin

Purified Divine Gifts provide a 20% increased armor value, making it the most powerful gift in the entire game, as armor is crucial in Diablo IV.

Essence Of Lies

Purified Divine Gifts provide Fortify for 1% of maximum health per second. This enhancement is one of the best choices for builds that don’t easily obtain enhancement mechanics. Combined with the changes to the enhancement mechanics this season, it provides strong survivability.

Essence Of Hellfire

Corrupted Divine Gifts will cause meteors to fall when challenging World Bosses, but reward additional Lair Boss Keys. Its Purified effect is weaker, only having a chance to stun enemies. The main reason to choose it is its decent reward.

Essence Of Squalor

Purified status grants potions, with mediocre effects, while Corrupted status causes you to lose potions when attacked by maggots. Its greatest use is providing experience orbs, which are very useful during leveling.

Essence Of Screams

Purified Divine Gift provides a 20% increase in all resistances. Since Season 11 resistance system changed to a direct stacking of values instead of percentage reductions, this bonus is calculated based on existing values and is effective, but usually less important than armor.

Essence Of Pain

The reward of Essence of Pain is increased gem and rune drops. Purified Divine Gift is very useful when you need top-tier gems and runes for upgrades or trading, but you can consider switching to it later.

Essence Of Anguish

Purified Divine Gift provides a 30% movement speed boost, which is useful during leveling, but may be less effective than other gifts later on.

Essence Of Shadow

Corrupted Divine Gifts amplify Baal illusions, and their attacks can blind or knock back players, resulting in strong negative effects. Purified Divine Gift occasionally grants the unstoppable status, but its impact is not significant. If you don’t need double gold, you can consider skipping this gift slot.

Since the overall strength of Divine Gifts this season is not high, you don’t need to worry too much about whether you’ve collected them all or chosen the wrong ones, as your character is strong enough even without them.

Although The Tower dungeon and leaderboard have been delayed, Diablo 4 Season 11 still has plenty of new playable content waiting for you to explore. However, while enjoying the new events, don't overlook the changes to the existing mechanics!

Compared to mechanics like Tempering and Masterworking, which are closely related to gear enhancement, the changes to seasonal systems may seem less significant, but any veteran Diablo 4 player should know their importance.

Starting with Season 11, Renown and season journey systems will be replaced by a new Season Rank system, a change that has been well-received since its announcement. Below, we'll analyze the reasons and implications behind this change.

What Is Renown System?

It's essentially a regional point system in Diablo 4. You earn points by completing specific regional tasks, which then increase your Renown and unlock system rewards.

These tasks typically include unlocking waypoints, strongholds, and dungeons, completing side quests, or finding Altars of Lilith. Rewards may include gold, XP, or skill and Paragon points.

Renown system rewards are shared across your different Diablo 4 characters, but all progress and content in Renown system are reset with each season update.

What Is Season Journey?

This mechanism sets up 7 chapters based on seasonal gameplay, each with corresponding tasks. Completing these tasks earns you rewards and helps you gauge your current game progress.

Notably, the rewards include Smoldering Ashes, which help you unlock seasonal blessings. Different seasonal blessings provide exclusive buffs to help you obtain more loot in combat.

How Does Season Rank Work?

As a new mechanism that combines and replaces both Renown and Season Journey, Season Rank system integrates the advantages and main functions of both, serving as your progression path in Season 11 and subsequent seasons.

Season Rank system has 7 specific ranks, each containing tasks you need to complete and an exclusive dungeon. You must complete the current rank to unlock rewards and the next rank, as well as other game objectives related to rank progression.

For example, you can only unlock The Pit and The Tower after completing Rank 2, and the four bosses associated with Divine Gifts mechanism in Season 11, along with their corresponding Purified slots, will only be unlocked after you reach a specific rank.

Regarding rewards, the main content is largely consistent with what the two removed systems provided, including skills and Paragon points, Smoldering Ashes, and more, although the distribution method may differ from the past.

Furthermore, similar to Renown system, Season Rank progress applies to all your characters on the current server. So if you play a new character, you don't need to farm Season Rank levels from scratch.

It's important to note that Renown system hasn't been completely removed from Diablo 4, but a portion of it remains in Eternal Realm. However, if you only play on seasonal servers, you can completely forget about it!

Why This Change?

Previously, to unlock higher game difficulties, you had to consume a significant amount of time each season resetting Renown system, rediscovering altars, and completing tasks you had already done many times.

Additionally, this system overlapped with Season Journey in many ways, and their independence dispersed your gaming energy and time, making the entire reward system redundant.

Now, the introduction of Season Rank means you no longer have permanent upgrade rewards, but can only unlock them within the season. This might sound like a downgrade, but it actually makes the game experience better.

Advantages Of Season Rank

Previously, when you entered a new season, you were level 1 with 12 skill points. While this allowed you to start fighting quickly, the subsequent progression was less significant, making you feel that the power increase became less noticeable as you leveled up.

Now, although you will be weaker at the beginning, with only one free skill point, you will gradually become stronger as you level up. Both your character's abilities and your sense of accomplishment will be more significant.

However, because of this, the ultimate Rank 7 challenge of Season Rank may be more difficult to complete than previous Renown or journey objectives, requiring more effort. But we believe the rewards are worth it.

Here are all Rank 7 challenge objectives and their specific details for your reference:

• Irrefutable Power: Complete Sanctification for 66 Ancestral items.
• Monster Mash: Defeat 6666 elite or champion enemies in Torment 4 difficulty.
• Lords of Nothing: Defeat 4 Lesser Evil bosses from Season 11 in Torment 4 difficulty.
• Grand Shimmer: Craft 4 grand gems and any jewelry cache. Power Beyond Comprehension: Upgrade 9 items to Rank 10 in Masterworking system.
• Unyielding Ascent: Increase your Paragon level to 250.
• Who do you want to be: Earn over 1,000,000,000 gold.
• Den of Dread: Defeat lair bosses within 5 minutes on Torment 4 difficulty.
• Bane of Astaroth: Defeat the boss Astaroth on Torment 4 difficulty.
• Plutonian Havoc: Defeat the boss Bartuc and open the greater equipment chest on Torment 4 difficulty.
• Purified Hatred: Purify 6666 Seeds of Hatred at Altar of Extraction on Torment 4 difficulty.
• Blessed Mother Departed: Defeat the boss Lilith on Torment 4 difficulty.

Other rank objectives and challenges, while not as difficult, are also as many as Rank 7, so you will need to invest sufficient time and effort during Season 11 to achieve your desired achievements and loot. These mainly include:

Rank 1：

• Divine Intervention
• Surging Tides
• Ruins Reclaimed
• Artisan's Touch
• Forged in Sanctuary
• Herald of Pain
• Divine Situations

Rank 2：

• Hadriel's Blessings
• Fields of Desecration
• Potent Alterations
• Descend into Madness
• Echoes of Fate
• Rune Linguistics
• Expertly Executed

Rank 3：

• A Blessing in Disguise
• World in Sin
• Sanctuary's hero
• Pang of the Hunt
• Test of Luck
• Awaiting Torment
• Defeat a Helltid

Rank 4：

• Lesser Corruption
• Greater Hoard
• Beasts Beneath
• Judgement Unleashes
• Into the Pit
• Power Unleashes
• Flawless Facet
• Paid in Valor
• Bloody Warlord
• Finely Attuned

Rank 5：

• Divine Powers
• Lesser than Evil
• Liar Boss
• Escalating Nightmare
• Master at Work
• The Pit of the Artificer
• Contracted Courage
• Hatred Denied
• Myliasis Preventative
• Deceiver's Tower

Rank 6：

• Greater of the two Evils
• Lucid Fever
• Horadric Secrets
• Field of Hatred
• Enticing Offerings
• Hell Pangs
• Precursor of might
• Swift whisperers

That's all for this introduction. We wish you all the best in Diablo 4 Season 11!

Diablo 4 Season 11 will launch on all platforms on December 11th. With the season update fast approaching, players are eagerly awaiting new season guides. Notably, this season features a major update, including changes to monster difficulty mechanics and the item upgrade system.

With the new season, players' previous seasonal level experience and hard-earned Diablo 4 items will be reset. This means you'll have to re-select your character leveling and farming. However, don't worry, they won't disappear; they'll simply be transferred to Eternal Realm.

It's important to note that the optimal leveling path for Season of Divine Intervention has changed. Leveling is more difficult, and players will no longer receive the initial 14 skill points at level 1. These skill points can only be obtained through the new Season Rank system.

Furthermore, Capstone Dungeon has been reintroduced this season, becoming a key point in the season's progression and thus altering the optimal way to acquire XP.

If you're currently looking for ways to level up in the new season, you definitely can't miss the following content. I'll recommend the best leveling path for Season 11, which we've summarized. However, since the new season hasn't launched yet, we can only make predictions based on the new season patch and previous livestream content. Therefore, we will update this information again if there are better methods or adjustments needed later.

Preliminary Preparations

First, you need to choose a class as your main character for this season. You can continue to choose the class you were most familiar with in previous seasons. If you want to try something new, you can choose a class that interests you and its best build to start the game.

We need to level up our chosen character to level 60. After creating your new season character, you need to skip the campaign and choose Normal difficulty. Currently, level 1 characters in Season 11 are relatively weak because we can't gain basic skill points in rank 1 matches. Therefore, it's best to gradually increase your Season Rank in Normal difficulty.

Once we've leveled up and gained enough skill points to become powerful in Normal difficulty, we can then switch the game difficulty to Hard. After logging into the game, open your character panel and select a pet on Wardrobe page to fight alongside you. The pet will automatically collect resources, reducing a lot of hassle.

Next, teleport to Nahantu and select your Mercenary. In the early game, Subo is highly recommended. He's not only a mercenary but also a member of Pale Hand. He's chosen because he can display all materials and enemies around you, a significant advantage even in the late game. Your second Mercenary can be chosen freely based on your preferences.

Leveling Quest Route

Grind To Level 30 In Helltides

Once you're ready, you'll begin advancing through the season questline until you obtain your first season power and unlock the reputation board. It's recommended to start the season journey challenges from the first tier, remembering to choose those that reward skill points, as you'll need these skills later to improve your strength.

Once you've completed the various stages of Season Rank and gained enough skill points, you can enter Helltides. Helltides have changed in the new season; the leader has changed from Blood Maiden to Duriel.

After summoning Duriel using Baneful Hearts, remember to prioritize killing him, as he has a chance to drop Essence of Squalor. Equip Essence of Squalor immediately after obtaining it; this will make Maggots drop experience orbs later, which will help you level up.

In Helltides, repeatedly farm XP by completing all quests that may trigger, whether it's Whisper quest for 10 Grim Favors or the bonuses from Infernal Compasses and Tribute of Growth. Continue farming until you reach level 30 in Helltides, or when you feel strong enough, then move on to the next area.

Gain XP And Skill Points In Capstone Dungeon

Next, we should challenge Season Rank 1 Capstone Dungeon. Enter Season Path menu and click the teleport button on the right to go to the level 1 Capstone Dungeon - Torrid Menagerie.

The level 1 monsters are level 30, which is why it was mentioned earlier that you should wait until you reach level 30 before coming here. Completing the corresponding quests in Torrid Menagerie will reward you with 1 skill point and a Greater Ranking Cache.

Note that completing the level 1 challenge will unlock the corresponding level 2 challenge. You can then complete the level 2 quests that reward skill points, but don't rush to challenge Capstone Dungeon. Challenging it before reaching the level cap will require a lot of time and effort.

Reaching Level 60

After gaining enough experience and skill points in the level 1 Capstone Dungeon, you need to farm XP by completing other quests until you reach the level cap.

Repeatedly Farming Helltides

It's recommended that after completing all the skill point-rewarding challenges in the level 2 Capstone Dungeon, you should return to Helltides and complete quests and kill monsters to farm experience, repeating this process until you reach level 60. This will give you your first level 60 character.

Azmodan

If you find repeatedly farming Helltides too tedious, there are other options. This season, Diablo 4 introduces a new summonable World Boss, Azmodan, which can be summoned to the ground from the south of Zarbinzet using three Altars.

Previously, on PTR server, players could repeatedly summon and defeat Azmodan to gain a large amount of XP, and even Corrupted Essence, to unlock chests that appeared after the battle. However, the developers have mentioned that this method may be significantly weaken upon release on the live server, so it's not currently highly recommended.

Strongholds

Besides the two methods mentioned above, another leveling technique is to challenge all Strongholds on the map on normal difficulty when you reach level 50, such as Fractured Peaks and Scosglen Stronghold. This also earns a lot of XP, but it's somewhat tedious and suitable for players with limited time and energy.

These are our recommended best paths to quickly reach level 60 in the new season.

If you don't like this method, you can also choose to complete the entire campaign on normal difficulty; completing the campaign will also level you up to 60. A drawback is that you must complete the entire campaign to obtain Seasonal Reputation and Powers. 

Hopefully, these methods will help you quickly level up and improve your strength in the upcoming Season of Divine Intervention. Good luck!

Diablo 4 Season 11 will feature a significant overhaul, and based on PTR data, it's nerfed in many ways compared to Season 10. Regardless of your build, your DPS will be noticeably lower.

Survivability is also crucial in Season 11, especially in the early game. You'll need to focus more on defense due to stronger monsters. So, how should you adjust your gear in Season 11?

Season 11 Nerfs

Due to the loss of Greater Affixes and the damage bonuses from the old Masterworking set, player DPS is significantly reduced.

Players will also lose the survival attributes provided by these systems, such as health and armor. Furthermore, the entire game has undergone a survivability overhaul; monster damage is higher, and elite monster control effects will be more pronounced.

The drop rate of Legendary gear will be nerfed early in the season and will only increase later. Amulet slots will no longer have higher affixes for primary attributes, further reducing damage.

Overall movement speed has been nerfed, affecting map clearing efficiency and positioning. Resource generation has been changed to a fixed value instead of a percentage, significantly impacting builds that rely on skill rotations.

Survivability Building Strategies

Ensuring sufficient survivability is extremely important in Season 11, as you can only deal damage if you're alive. Below are some general suggestions regarding builds.

Skill Selection

Each class has mobility skills or crowd control break skills, such as Rouge's Shadow Step and Necromancer's Blood Mist. You must carry these skills to quickly escape monster encirclement or deal with elite monster crowd control.

The skill tree offers several options that provide damage reduction, even if they sacrifice some DPS. You can also carry crowd control abilities, using effects like chill to slow or freeze enemies, creating opportunities for yourself to deal damage.

Attributes

First, you need to stack Life and Maximum Life affixes on more equipment slots. After the rework, Armor remains a primary stat, but Resistances should also be maximized. Aspect of Disobedience and Juggernaut's Aspect are recommended for maximizing armor.

Cooldown reduction becomes more important because it allows you to use survival skills more frequently. In Season 11, Cooldown reduction will be available on new slots such as gloves.

Life on hit, especially percentage-based Life on hit, is an important means of recovery because its benefit increases with maximum life.

Recommended Equipment

Season 11 has adjusted or even reworked many unique items, especially mythic items. Below are some recommended unique Diablo 4 items for Season 11.

Helm

Harlequin Crest provides significant damage reduction and cooldown reduction, making it a top choice for many builds in Season 11. While Heir of Perdition offers a significant damage boost, Harlequin Crest is a better option until survivability is a priority.

Andariel's Visage provides life on hit in Season 11, and its recovery effect will be even more pronounced when combined with high attack speed builds.

Chest Armor

Shroud of False Death remains a top choice, offering comprehensive stat boosts and resource generation, which is invaluable for any build. Tyrael's Might is no longer as useless in Season 11 as before; while not as good as Shroud of False Death, it provides considerable survivability.

Pants

Tassets of the Dawning Sky, while not unique to mythic builds, are very useful in Season 11. They provide all stats, resistances, maximum resistances, and movement speed, effectively compensating for the losses in stats, resistances, and movement speed in the new season.

Gloves

Endurant Faith provides an effect similar to Progenesis Amethyst Flask in Path of Exile, converting a portion of damage into damage over time, buying time to regenerate health. However, many players in Diablo 4 don't use this unique item because its direct resistance boost isn't very strong. Therefore, you should only use it when you desperately need survivability.

Boots

Rakanoth's Wake isn't a mythic unique item either. However, it provides up to 35% all elemental resistances and cooldown reduction, allowing your other gear to stack attack affixes, making it highly recommended.

Weapons

Doombringer, as a mythic item, provides a significant amount of maximum life, making it a good defensive choice.

Rings And Amulets

Starlight Aspect provides primary resources when health regenerates. Combined with items like Undying Aspect, it can solve both survivability and resource issues.

While the Melted Heart of Selig is still under adjustment, if it doesn't receive too many nerfs, it will be the preferred amulet for many builds.

Eternal Realm

Season 11's seasonal power provides additional defensive stats such as resistances, armor, and fortify, for example, increasing Fortify by 1% of maximum health or adding 20% ​​to all resistances. These bonuses are vastly different in terms of damage output compared to the better affixes provided by Chaos Armor from Season 10.

The nerfs to Tempered and Masterworking in Season 11 will have a significant impact on player builds. Players will lose approximately 40% of their power simply due to the changes to Masterworking.

However, if gear with higher affixes and Masterworking from Season 10 is retained in Eternal Realm after the update, Eternal Realm characters will be objectively stronger. This is because these items provide a significant damage multiplier and stat boost that Season 11 characters cannot obtain.

For players seeking maximum power or wanting a smoother experience with new content, using a character from Eternal Realm in Season 11 might be a better choice, especially for those already possessing high Paragon levels and endgame gear.

If you're considering continuing with your Eternal Realm character instead of creating a Season 11 character, it's recommended to immediately max out some key defensive unique items using the current Masterworking system. If this gear is retained, its power will far surpass that of the new season's equipment.

That's a general overview of how to improve survivability in Season 11. Remember, don't blindly pursue maximum DPS; survival should be your top priority.

While the official release of Season 11 is still some time away, Diablo 4 has already revealed most of its major content, including the new unique items available to each class. This has led to a surge in new builds crafted around these items.

Among them, the new gear for Necromancer is Gravebloom. As a unique weapon, besides its basic attributes, its biggest highlight is its ability to summon golems to deal damage, and these golems respawn very quickly.

Based on this, we'll introduce crafting tips for a golem summoning build centered on Gravebloom.

What Is Golem?

In Diablo 4, besides skills and gear, each class has a unique mechanic that not only serves as a buff but also reflects the class's characteristics. For Necromancer, Book of the Dead is the exclusive mechanic.

This mechanic allows you to summon an assistant for Necromancer and customize its usage. Available types include skeletal warriors and mages, and a golem. Each type has three variants, and each variant has two upgrade opportunities.

Note that you can only choose one of the two upgrade methods: upgrade or sacrifice. Choosing sacrifice means that your summoned creature cannot be summoned again afterward, but it will retain a permanent buff.

The golem introduced here is a massive, ferocious-looking creature with three variants: bone, blood, and iron. Their main functions are:

• Bone golem: Taunts enemies, forcing them to attack the golem.
• Blood golem: Drains the life force of nearby enemies to heal and strengthen itself.
• Iron golem: Becomes a fused steel entity, stunning enemies by slamming the ground.

Gravebloom Introduction

As the core Diablo 4 item of the build introduced here, Gravebloom's most important item effect is that it allows you to summon three small golems, each dealing 40-60% of normal damage, while also providing a 30% attack speed bonus and a 50% golem respawn speed bonus.

Other attributes include:

• 298 Damage Per Second
• + 10% Attack Speed
• + 94 Intelligence
• + 457 Maximum Life
• + 50% Chance for Golem to hit twice
• + 2 Golem Mastery

Gravebloom Golem Build Overview

Based on this mechanic and item, to craft this build and make it effective, you first need to activate two golems as quickly as possible to allow them to deal damage, and then you must add Aspect of Fel Gluttony.

This item, as a Necromancer-exclusive Legendary Aspect, not only allows golems to trigger a second instance of damage upon activation, but also directly increases the golem's damage multiplier.

This, combined with the significant changes to key passive skills in Season 11, means that regardless of the number of summoned minions, everyone will uniformly gain higher attack speed and damage.

How To Choose The Golem Type?

As we've already discussed, Necromancer can summon three golem types, but not all are suitable for crafting Gravebloom Golem Build - the blood golem is the best.

Why this conclusion? We'll analyze it for you.

First, compared to the iron golem, while its active damage is slightly higher than the blood golem, the blood golem has a damage multiplier against single targets.

Furthermore, the iron golem's attack speed is more than 50% slower than the blood golem's, and the blood golem's attack speed is 50% slower than the bone golem's.

Therefore, in terms of overall attack pattern, speed, and any buffs, the iron golem's performance is not outstanding, making it the quickest to pass.

As for the bone golem, it spawns five corpses upon activating its skill and can taunt enemies.

However, its problem is that its normal activation skill doesn't actually deal damage, and AoE damage characteristic that originally belonged to the bone golem is now present in all golems.

In contrast, the blood golem has two advantages: it provides a 50% damage bonus and reduces damage taken by the target, while also restoring your health when activated. More importantly, it deals three times the damage of a normal attack to a single target.

While its speed is slower than the bone golem, this shortcoming is negligible given the significant damage bonus. Furthermore, the blood golem's activation itself deals damage, although this isn't displayed in its skill description.

Based on this, after deciding to choose the blood golem, you can further upgrade it at level 28. The upgrade and sacrifice effects are as follows:

• Upgrade: Your Blood Golem will absorb 15% of the damage for you. When your Blood Golem is healthy, it has 25% damage reduction and a 50% damage bonus.
• Sacrifice: Your maximum health is increased by 10%, but you will no longer be able to summon golems.

More Crafting Tips

To make this build deal high damage and repeatedly sacrifice summons, you need to unlock Hulking Monstrosity legendary node. This increases golem's maximum health by 40% and deals double damage.

In addition, for the two other Book of the Dead variants, skeletal warriors and mages, you need to select their sacrifice effects. Combined with Memento Mori and Sacrificial Aspect, this will grant an additional 60% golem damage bonus.

Furthermore, Gravebloom mace itself is clearly designed specifically for golems. While you can also use it in regular summoning builds, ultimately, the attribute slot it occupies doesn't increase the damage of all summons, only benefiting certain golems.

Overall, this build fully utilizes the value of the new unique items and gives the classic Book of the Dead mechanic a chance to shine in the new season.

If needed after Season 11 goes live, you can also use your creativity to further enrich the skills and gear options of this build based on the guide we have provided, making it more complete and effective!

Wanderers, Diablo 4 Season 11 is less than 1 months away! Are you ready? Because of significant changes to itemization, the addition of The Tower endgame mechanic, and a brand-new item upgrade system called Sanctification, you may not be able to gain an advantage with the same builds and playstyles as last season.

To get ahead in Season 11 and dominate the new Tower leaderboards faster, you need to prepare now. Here are a few things you can do now to help you transition smoothly to Season 11.

Complete The Campaign

First, completing the campaign before Season 11 begins is crucial, as this will unlock the ability to skip campaigns for all future season characters and give you a head start by automatically carrying over some progress. This includes your mount, all unlocked Altars of Lilith and their corresponding renown, and a fully unlocked map, allowing you to jump straight into the season content.

Once any character completes the campaign, all future season characters can skip the entire story. Your mount is immediately usable on your new season character, saving you time completing related quests.

Furthermore, progress on all discovered Altars of Lilith is retained. While these statues no longer provide permanent stat bonuses in Season 11, the extra experience and rewards gained from unlocking them are a significant part of significantly boosting your character's strength early in the season.

More importantly, if you complete the campaign, you don't need to start exploring the map from scratch, as the areas you've discovered will automatically unlock for your new season character. You can immediately skip the campaign and jump directly into season mode, allowing you to start farming the new The Tower endgame content much faster.

Find The Right Team On Discord

For the next tip, we recommend joining a Discord server, a great way to prepare for the new season. If you're used to playing solo and have sworn never to play with others again, joining a Discord server will definitely change your mind.

The changes to XP gain and monster difficulty in Season 11 make group farming much more advantageous, especially for Nightmare Dungeons and Helltides. Don't you envy other groups who always seem to work together to accumulate tons of XP and loot?

On Discord, you'll always find like-minded companions. Sign up in a group now and dominate Sanctuary with your new team at the start of the new season. You can share gear, experience, and learn about all the new mechanics coming in Season 11.

Choosing The Right Leveling Guide

Next, finding the right leveling guide is crucial to maximizing your leveling efficiency in Diablo 4 Season 11. These guides pre-plan your skill points, gear, and activity progression, minimizing wait times and confusion.

This is especially important with the new Season Rank system, which replaces Renown, requires players to focus on milestone missions, and skill points may change, slowing down initial leveling.

Choosing the right guides in advance can help you efficiently handle these changes and focus on the most effective character build and objectives from the start, allowing you to reach the late game faster. Following the guides minimizes waiting time caused by aimless wandering or repeatedly resetting skill points, allowing you to experience endgame content as soon as possible.

Transferring Your Seasonal Items

This tip is about what happens to your character when transitioning from Season 10 to Season 11. If you're new, this is your first season, and you create a seasonal character as soon as you join the game.

Diablo 4 is divided into two distinct realms: Seasonal Realm and Eternal Realm. Eternal Realm doesn't have any seasonal content; it's just the base game without the flashy Chaos Armor, Perks, endgame content, etc., but they are always present.

Several things happen when you first log in and transition from one season to the next. First and foremost, all your Diablo 4 items will not carry over to the next season, including your hard-earned gear, gold, materials, boss materials, armor, gems, and runes. However, everything will be transferred from your Seasonal server to your Eternal server. So, your gold will continue to accumulate over time.

But please note that all your gear from the current season will be transferred to a Withdraw Only tab. Once you retrieve these items or empty this inventory at the end of the season, this tab will disappear and be replaced by all new content.

Therefore, if you want to keep your gear, such as some Mythic items you acquired in Season 10, and keep them on your permanent character, you must log in to your character from the previous season and retrieve them from Withdraw Only tab.

Finally, we want to emphasize: enjoy the game! New seasons always generate a variety of discussions, both positive and negative. But regardless of the scale of the discussion, don't rush to make any definitive judgments. It's best to wait until the season officially begins before making any decisions. Because PTR doesn't fully reflect the actual situation of the season.

Therefore, make your own decisions, enjoy the game, and don't start with terrible expectations, lest you ruin your season experience from the outset. Have a great day!

Diablo 4 Season 11 PTR brought many changes, such as leveling, crafting, and new leaderboards, but the experience wasn't as good as Season 10.

However, Season 11 hasn't officially launched yet (its release date is December 9th), so there's still plenty of time to fine-tune it. In a recent developer interview, the developers discussed their plans for Season 11 and future updates, even hinting at the next expansion for Diablo 4.

Sanctification

Sanctification is one of the seasonal features of Season 11. Its operation is similar to Vaal Orb in Path of Exile. Using it on an item might give it better affixes or remove its useful affixes, rendering it worthless, and the item cannot be sanctified further. This feature is mainly for trying to upgrade items that are close to their endgame value; players can also choose not to use it.

The developers understand that players don't want to destroy valuable and unique gear and Mythic items, but they also feel that a completely risk-free experience would reduce player excitement. They believe that ideal sanctification should allow for an unlimited number of sanctifications of the same item, rather than a single, decisive result.

They plan to protect very high quality Diablo 4 items; for example, sanctifying Ancestral and Mythic items will not remove their affixes and will yield better results. Sanctifying rare items, however, still carries risks.

Masterworking

In PTR 2.5.0, Masterworking has been significantly modified. It now only increases the item's base stats, such as weapon damage, jewel resistances, and armor values. This prevents players from acquiring significant amounts of key modifiers like cooldown reduction, attack speed, crit, and skill levels through Masterworking, resulting in a substantial decrease in character strength.

The developers believe the current Masterworking system is similar to Blacksmith's Whetstone and Armourer's Scrap in Path of Exile; the gear-up process is monotonous and uninteresting, simply clicking to upgrade until the maximum level, failing to provide players with surprise and satisfaction.

They mentioned adding a new Masterworking bonus on top of the existing one, though they didn't specify what it would be. Any change, however, would be beneficial.

The Towers Rewards

The Towers is a new leaderboard system with more detailed rankings than The Pit, but it lacks rewards, resulting in a lack of player motivation. According to PTR data, even the strongest classic Barbarian builds are far from reaching floor 150 in The Towers, and after the new patch, even reaching floor 100 may be difficult.

The developers have reduced the HP of the Towers bosses and shortened the reward interval from every 10 floors to every 5 floors, up to floor 150. They believe that even with these changes, reaching floor 150 will still be extremely difficult. They speculate that players' progress in The Towers will typically be about 10 floors lower than in The Pit.

They plan to design The Towers as a more competitive endgame mode, differentiating it from the more diverse and fun-filled Pitfalls mode. This will involve optimized map generation rules, such as prioritizing upward routes, reducing unnecessary dead ends, and preventing important enemies from spawning in remote corners.

Finally, based on player feedback, they plan to offer rewards for players challenging The Towers. For individual players, rewards based on clearing specific floors will be introduced, such as gear and transmogs. Players who rank high on the leaderboard will receive functional rewards, prestige titles, and halos (cosmetics).

Finally, a Build Viewer will be added, making all builds on the leaderboard public and transparent, while also optimizing the leaderboard UI and notifications.

Future Update Plans

The development team stated that the future focus is on adding depth to existing content, rather than simply bloating the game with a large number of new events. They don't rule out adding new content but prefer to refine the existing systems.

Magic Item Upgrades

The developers mentioned considering giving magic items affixes and making them upgradable. This could make more types of items valuable in the endgame. This isn't without precedent; at least in Diablo II, magic items proved useful due to their potentially high specific skill bonuses.

However, to encourage players to forgo some legendary aspects in favor of magic items, their affix strength would need to be five to six times greater than it is now. This change is expected to be implemented as early as Season 12.

Chaos Uniques Items

Season 10 Chaos Unique items, including Chaos Perks and Chaos Rifts, are highly popular mechanics among players. The developers are happy to integrate them into the game, but they need to find a suitable way to avoid disrupting long-term balance and diversity. They mentioned that some Chaos Perks might return as Legendary Aspects.

Gold And Material

The developers' long-term goal is to ensure that gold primarily comes from killing monsters rather than selling items. They have already significantly increased the amount of gold piles dropped by monsters in Season 11.

They are also considering changing Boss Materials to a currency, so they don't take up inventory space, but the trade-off might be that they will become untradeable.

The Next Expansion

Finally, Zaven, the game's Associate Director of Expansion, hinted that all Diablo fans should pay attention to The Game Awards on December 11th. He strongly suggested that there would be an announcement about Diablo IV expansion pack, and perhaps we'll even see an exciting trailer.

That concludes the main content of this developer interview. Overall, the official team has listened to player and community feedback while also having its own update plans, and Season 11 experience should be better than the PTR.