In Diablo 4 Season of the Malignant, aka Season 1, players will enjoy a new post-campaign storyline, collect Malignant Hearts, and face new threats in the ever-growing world of Sanctuary. Many players might want to prepare for Diablo 4 Season 1, which is why we have some tips to share.
This guide provides Diablo 4 players with five preparation tips so you can jump into Season 1 on 20 July 2023 as soon as it begins, racing to level 100 with your chosen class, and slaying the followers of Lilith along the way, so let's leap in.
Please note: This guide assumes you've completed the Diablo 4 story. If you haven't, get it done ASAP before the start of Season 1 so you can create a seasonal character and use the skip campaign option.
Discover All Areas of Sanctuary
As our first tip to prepare for Diablo 4 Season 1, you should explore as much of Sanctuary as possible. In fact, if you can, explore the entire world map to complete all "Areas Discovered" for each region.
Why should you do this? Well, progress made on the Eternal Realm for Areas Discovered carries over to Seasonal Characters. This means your Seasonal Character will see the world map unfogged, and they won't have to explore a whole area again. You also get a tonne of Renown per region, which allows you to instantly unlock some Skill Points and Potion Charges on your Seasonal Character from level 1.
For example, the Fractured Peaks region has 77 areas to discover. At five (5) Renown each, that's 385 Renown! Then, the Kyovashad Waypoint is also unlocked right from the start, so that's an additional 20 Renown.
It is important to note that this goes for all regions in Diablo 4 and that you will have to ride to waypoints, not in the main cities, to unlock them.
Get Those Altars of Lilith
Praise the High Heavens! You won't have to unlock Altars of Lilith more than once to get the stats increases and Renown in a region. We suggest finding every Altar of Lilith in Diablo 4 before Season 1 goes live. This way, your Seasonal Character will start with a massive boost to stats, four Paragon Points (as soon as they hit level 50) thanks to specific Altars in Dry Steppes, and a nice boost to Renown.
Get those Altars of Lilith on your Eternal Realm character before Diablo 4 Season of the Malignant begins, and your Seasonal Character will start buffed at level 1. You'll also get 10 Renown per Altar of Lilith. For example, in Fractured Peaks, there are 28 Altars of Lilith to find, meaning you could get 280 Renown preloaded onto your new Season 1 character for that region.
Check out our guide featuring all Altar of Lilith locations in Diablo 4 to make preparation easy.
Take a Break, Nephalem!
Burnout is real! The big grind and race start with Diablo 4 Season 1, so we suggest taking a little break, especially if you've completed the first two tips in this guide. Even Diablo 4's associate game director, Joe Piepiora, recommended in a developer livestream that those feeling a bit burnt out should "take a break to play something else for a little while" before Season 1 gets underway.
Log in on 18 July 2023 & Download Patch 1.1
In the first two tips, we suggested clearing the map and finding all the Altars of Lilith to get your Seasonal Character powerful at the start of Season 1. Then, before Season 1 starts, on 18 July 2023, you need to download the Diablo 4 1.1 update and log in with your Eternal Realm characters.
This is to ensure that your progress actually gets logged on your account for your Seasonal Characters. You see, Blizzard did not intend for this type of progress to carry over to the Seasonal realm. However, the developers listened to the community and implemented the feature with the Diablo 4 Season 1 update that goes live on 18 July 2023.
To make it abundantly clear, the system to carry over your progress (Areas Discovered and Altars of Lilith) from Eternal realm characters to Seasonal characters will only become active following the Season 1 update on 18 July.
Plan Your Diablo 4 Game Time
Unless you are one of the top players in the world (which means you probably are not reading our tips since you know all this), it does take a very long time, over 150 hours, to reach level 100 in Diablo 4.
Not everyone plays games for a living. Most people have to work full days or attend school or university classes. This leaves you with a limited amount of game time. To this end, we suggest planning your Diablo 4 game time ahead of Season 1. The first season is expected to last three months, so you can definitely plan ahead. To make planning a bit easier, you can check out our countdown to the end of Diablo 4 Season 1, so you can do everything you want to do before the time expires.
Bonus Tip: Explore Our Content
Get familiar with Diablo 4 Season 1's mechanics with our complete guide to Malignant Hearts. Further, you can check out our ever-growing Diablo 4 section for up-to-date guides, which will increase in number even more once Season 1 gets released.
Hopefully, Nephalem participating in Diablo 4 Season 1 and slaying their way to level 100 will get a nice advantage, thanks to our preparation tips!
In case you missed it, check out the awesome gameplay trailer for Diablo 4 Season of the Malignant below to learn more.
With these tips, you should be fully prepared for Diablo 4 Season 1 and get a great headstart to slay the followers of Lilith with some starting buffs. Enjoy!
For more Diablo 4, be sure to check out our dedicated section or some of our Guides & Tutorials just below:
Diablo 4 Class Builds - Best Barbarian Build | | Best Necromancer Build | Best Sorcerer Build | Best Druid Build | Best Rogue Build | All Classes Tier List | Best Class For Beginners | Build Calculator |
Class Mechanics: Sorcerer Enchantment System | Barbarian Arsenal | Rogue Specialization | Necromancer Book of the Dead | Druid Spirit Animals | Unlock Golems |
Items - Healing Vial | Item Slot Types | Transmogs/Wardrobe | Salvage Items | Durability & Repair | Trading Items | All Unique Items & Stats | Set Items | Item Quality/Rarity Levels | Elixirs | Butcher's Cleaver | Cry of Ashava Trophy |
Features: Beginners Guide | Impressions From Beta |
Quests: Ritual Tower Key | Forgive Me Side Quest | Traveler's Prayer Side Quest | Secret Of The Spring Riddle | Raising Spirits Side Quest | Woodsman Of Nevesk | Fiend Rose |
General D4 Guides: Legendary & Gold Farming | Town Portal | Inventory Size | Stash Size | Beat Lilith's Lament | Beat Den Mother Boss | Beat Lord Avitus Boss | Beat Blood Bishop Boss | Reset Dungeons | Gathering Legions Guide | The Butcher Boss | Leave Dungeons | All Stronghold Locations | Hardcore Mode | Change Difficulty | Unlock/Launch Time | Balance Changes | Patch Notes |
Diablo 4 Tech Guides - Ray Tracing Support | Couch Co-Op | Server Regions | PC Requirements & File Size | Diablo 4 Servers Down? | Connection Issues Fix | Crashing Issues Fix | Unable To Install or Patch | Low FPS Fix | Error Code 34202 Fix | Disable Fog & Glare | Stuck in Queue Fix | Console Issues | PC Issues | Enable & Disable Chat Bubbles | Hit Max Level Fast | Best PC Settings High FPS | Error Code 395002 Fix | Error Code 316719 Fix | D4 on Steam Deck | Offline Mode | DLSS 3 & NVIDIA Reflex |
Crafting/Vendors - Jeweler | Gambling & Obols | Occultist | Alchemist | Blacksmith | | Monster Parts | Skins | Ore | Plants |
Legendary Aspects - Codex of Power | Sorcerer Legendary Powers | Barbarian Legendary Powers | Rogue Legendary Powers | Necromancer Legendary Powers | Druid Legendary Powers
Activities - Strongholds | Nightmare Dungeons | Silent Chests | Altars of Lilith | Helltides | Endgame |
Story & Lore - Campaign Length | Who is Lilith? | Who is Inarius | Deckard Cain | Secret Cow Level | All D4 Acts Listed |
Zones - Fractured Peaks Overview | Scosglen | Kehjistan | Dry Steppes | Hawezar | All Waypoint Locations | Full World Map | Fractured Peaks Chests | Fractured Peaks Cellars |
Stronghold Guides - Kor Dragan | Malnok | Nostrava |
Mounts - Temptation Mount | Diablo 4 Class Dismount Mechanics | Unlock & Customize |
Seasons - Battle Pass Price | Diablo 4 Season Duration | Battle Pass Differences | Get Favor | Next Season Start Date | Season Blessings | Season Journey | Diablo 4 Content Roadmap |
Gameplay Systems - Armor System | Clans | Primary Stats & Effects | Shrines & Buffs | Renown & Reputation | Max Level & Paragon Cap | World Tier Difficulty Levels | Followers/Mercenaries |
World Bosses - Ashava | Avarice | Wandering Death | Beat Ashava | Ashava Spawn Location |
Diablo 4 Misc - Statue of Inarius Price & Specs | Wolf Pack Cosmetic | Codes | Diablo 4 Free-to-Play? | Mother's Inked Title | Collector's Edition | How To Respec | Stagger Mechanic | Patch Notes | Asmongold Diablo 4 Beta Thoughts | Item Shop | Wings of the Creator Emote |
Challenges/Achievements - Necromancer Challenges | Barbarian Challenges | Druid Challenges | Rogue Challenges | Sorcerer Challenges | Crafting Challenges
Diablo 4 PvP - Coming soon!
Our section keeps growing, so check for new guides daily! Don't forget to pick up one of the Diablo 4 Editions and join the fight to save Sanctuary soon.
