Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred

Vessel of Hatred, released in October 2024, is Diablo IV's first major paid expansion and takes players into the new region of Nahantu – a dense rainforest jungle in the south of Sanctuary that the game has never depicted before and whose colors and atmosphere strongly contrast with the base game's gloomy, rain-lashed landscapes. The story picks up directly from the end of Diablo IV and follows Neyrelle, who carries a soulstone containing the imprisoned Mephisto, one of the Prime Evils – the player pursues her across Nahantu trying to prevent Mephisto from returning to the world and gaining a new body in which he could once again terrorize Sanctuary.

The expansion adds a new playable class, the Spiritborn, warriors who forge a pact with the spirits of guardian animals and draw power from the gorilla, jaguar, eagle, or serpent – a playstyle that differs markedly from the existing five classes thanks to fast, acrobatic combo attacks and fluid movement across the battlefield. Alongside the story campaign came a new endgame system, Kurast Undercity, repeatable underground runs with their own difficulty modifiers and rewards, plus an expanded character attribute tree with more points to allocate and deeper build specialization.

Vessel of Hatred is also Diablo IV's first paid expansion after a year of free seasonal content, and Blizzard designed it as a standard expansion with its own campaign and new class, not merely a set of cosmetic add-ons to the base game. The release also included the so-called Runeword system, returning to the game for the first time since Diablo II, letting players assemble their own combinations of runes for special effects on their gear.

Why play: fans of Diablo IV who have finished the base story and put in dozens of hours in Sanctuary will get an entirely new setting, the return of an old villain, and a distinct playstyle in the fast, acrobatic Spiritborn class, which makes the game feel completely different for a while.