The Returning Diablo 4 Player’s Guide to The Vessel of Hatred Expansion

What’s New in Vessel of Hatred?

The Vessel of Hatred is a new paid-for expansion for Diablo 4 that brings a plethora of new gameplay changes to the game. It’s filled with mechanics, quality of life, and a complete overhaul of many systems within the game, such as progression and levelling.

On top of that, it brings with it a continuation of the main campaign of Diablo 4, a new class and an entirely new region. This expansion is bloody-packed with goodies for you to experience as you set out into the new demon-infested region of Nahantu.

With that comes an absolute laundry list of changes, systems, and overhauls that is mostly overwhelming, so if you’re just looking for something specific, jump to it with the table of contents to the right.

New Region: Nahantu

The Vessel of Hatred will introduce a new region known as Nahantu. Compared to the currently available regions, Nahantu will be unique, taking place in a lush jungle.

You can check the map using the Mobalytics Interactive Map. It will even help you find points of interest like the new Tenets of Akarat.

Players will get to experience new and old places from previous games, such as Kurast Bazaar from Diablo 3, Kurast Docks and Travincal 72 years after Diablo 2. The new region will host an array of new side quests and other content, giving the player a glimpse into the harsh lives of the people who reside in Nahantu.

Nahantu will also bring with it a new capital city known as the Kurast Bazaar. This will be a central hub for the Vessel of Hatreds story and a general hub for the player, hosting Vendors, a Stash, and a Training Hub.

Story and Campaign Progression: Vessel of Hatred

The new expansion will continue where Diablo 4’s story left off. You’ll set out to find Neyrelle, who is currently suffering from her choice to imprison the Prime Evil Mephisto. She’ll journey across Sanctuary with the Soulstone, seeking a means to destroy him.

If you are a new player, you’ll not have to play through the original story in order to experience the story of Vessel of Hatred, and an in-game recap of Diablo 4’s base campaign will be provided. Keep in mind that you will need to purchase the Vessel of Hatred expansion.

The Vessel of Hatred campaign must be completed once in order to unlock the “Skip Campaign” feature for future characters.

A New Class, the Spiritborn

This is the introduction to the game that many will be excited about: the new class Spiritborn. This class perfectly fits the jungle theme of the expansion and seems to be heavily martial arts-influenced, similar to the Monk from Diablo 3.

This new class will bring with it a whole host of new content on its own, including skills, passives, uniques, aspects, paragon boards, class mechanics and more. This class alone will bring renewed life back into Diablo 4 on its own, as there will be a lot to play around with.

Head here to explore Spiritborn builds by our experts!

New Skills and Passives

Every class has also received a ton of balancing updates, as well as one new skill, five new passives and a paragon node. As well as additional Uniques, Paragon Boards, Aspects and more, really breathing new life into all of these classes.

• Barbarian: Mighty Throw, Belligerence, Heavy Hitter, Warpath, Irrepressible, and Barbed Carapace
• Druid: Stone Burst, Humanity, Catastrophe, Feral Aptitude, Backlash, and One With Nature
• Necromancer: Soulrift, Necrotic Fortitude, Finality, Titan’s Fall, Precision Decay, and Affliction
• Rogue: Dance of Knives, Target Practice, Balestra, Evasive, Unto Dawn and Alchemical Admixture
• Sorcerer: Familiar, Evocation, Energy Focus, Dampen Layer, Elemental Synergies, and Enlightenment

Progression and Paragon Updates

In Season 6, characters can now advance to a maximum of Level 60. Once reaching level 60, you’ll begin earning Paragon Levels, with a total of up to 300 available for unlocking. This will somewhat separate the paragon system from the levelling system, similar to how it was in Diablo 3.

A major change in this update is that you can now only utilise a maximum of 5 Paragon Boards. This restriction will definitely change how builds are currently making use of the Paragon Board, as each board you select will greatly influence your build.

Planning a good build ahead of time may be essential for success. We suggest checking out our Diablo 4 tier list, where our creators test and fashion the best builds.

New World Difficulties

In Season 6, the World Tier/Difficulty system was overhauled. The old World Tiers 1 through 4 were completely replaced by a new set of difficulty levels that span far more than they did before. The change resembles the system that Diablo 3 used, so it may look similar.

Here’s a list of the new difficulties:

• Normal: Unlocked by default.
• Hard: Unlocked by default.
• Expert: Unlocks after completing the prologue of the base game.
• Penitent: Unlocks after completing the base game or by skipping the main questline. If you have played previous seasons and created a new character for Season 6, Penitent will be available immediately.
• Torment I: Unlocks at level 60 after completing Pit Tier 20.
• Torment II: Unlocks after completing Pit Tier 35.
• Torment III: Unlocks after completing Pit Tier 50.
• Torment IV: Unlocks after completing Pit Tier 65.

Each difficulty has also been completely overhauled, with Normal becoming a much slower-paced experience designed for the more casual player and those seeking a more forgiving difficulty curve.

Hard and Expert will ramp the difficulty up a little for those looking to progress a little quicker with a character that can handle the spike.

The later difficulties, the new Torment difficulties, are where the new endgame is essentially supposed to begin, giving the player penalties for each Torment Tier. Here are the penalties to player stats for each Torment level:

• Torment 1: -250 Armor and -25% All Resist
• Torment 2: -500 Armor and -50% All Resist
• Torment 3: -750 Armor and -75% All Resist
• Torment 4: -1000 Armor and -100% All Resist

Nightmare Dungeons and Pit Changes

Nightmare Dungeons, from now on, will no longer be used to level Glyphs and will instead be used to drop Masterworking materials.

The Pit will now be directly tied to the new difficulty tiers. To unlock each Torment Difficulty, you’ll need to complete the associated Pit Tiers.

The job of levelling Glyphs has been given to the Pits. Glyphs have also received a minor adjustment, including two radius upgrades, one at level 15 and another at level 47. At that point, they will now transform into Legendary Glyphs, gaining an additional affix.

Runes and Runewords

Runes are a new mechanic being introduced in Vessel of Hatred. The player will be able to socket one Rune of Ritual and one Rune of Invocation in their gear that has two sockets.

Combining both of these will create a Runeword. Runewords will have a condition and an effect, and these Runewords can also give you access to other class skills, such as teleporting or warcry.

Mercenaries

Another system being introduced in Vessel of Hatred are the Mercenaries. You’ll meet these Mercenaries through the campaign questline, very similar to how you’d meet companions in Diablo 3.

The first companion you’ll meet is Raheir, the Shieldbearer, and as you progress, you’ll meet additional mercenaries.

There are currently four mercenaries that you can recruit, each with their own abilities and skills to help you in battle. The four mercenaries are:

• Raheir, the Shieldbearer: A defensive tank born on the streets of Gea Kul and trained by the Iron Wolves. Raheir is good at absorbing damage and protecting you from harm with his shield.
• Varyana, the Berserker Crone: Once a cannibal from a dark tribe, Varyana grows stronger with every enemy you kill, feeding off the massacre to boost her power. Her skills are brutal and melee-focused.
• Subo, the Drunken Archer: A fallen hero turned bounty hunter, Subo specialises in ranged combat and traps. He marks enemies during the fight, rewarding you with reduced ability cooldowns for eliminating his targets.
• Aldkin, the Cursed Child: Half-demon, half-human, Aldkin is a powerful caster who shapeshifts into a demon during combat. His magical abilities make him a great support companion.

Dark Citadel – Co-op Endgame Dungeon

Vessel of Hatred will introduce a new coop endgame experience, often nicknamed the “raid of Diablo 4.” This experience is designed to require teamwork to overcome and conquer and is similar in nature to a Dungeon in World of Warcraft.

The first of these Dungeons will be Dark Citadel, which will consist of three wings and will be inhabited by Goatmen. You’ll be tasked with defeating these Goatmen and solving puzzles to delve deeper.

Kurast Undercity – Timed Dungeon

The Kurast Undercity will be a multi-floored, timed experience in which players navigate various levels and eliminate enemies within a time limit.

The dungeon requires the player to own Vessel of Hatred, as access is in the new region. You’ll also need to be level 20 and Invoke the Spirit Flame in the Nahantu region, which will open a portal to the Undercity

Party Finder

The Party Finder will allow players running the same activities to match and help each other out easily. Players can list their groups in the Party Finder or join existing groups.

The Party Finder will include Tags, Filters, and other advanced search options so players can easily find their preferred groups.

New Gems and Gem Updates

Vessels of Hatred has also introduced a new tier of Gem, the “Grand Gem”. This tier of Gem will require 100,000 gem fragments to craft and will provide a 50% increase in power from their previous tier, royal.

Here’s a list of the new gems:

• Grand Amethyst
• Grand Diamond
• Grand Emerald
• Grand Ruby
• Grand Sapphire
• Grand Skull
• Grand Topaz

Additional Season 6 Changes and Mechanics

In addition to all that has already been written about, there will also be the Season 6 mechanic involving Realmwalkers and Seething Realms, which you can read our guide here.

Additionally, there are some minor changes to certain existing systems and items:

• Paragon points are now shared across all realms.
• Tempering affixes have received minor adjustments.
• Ultimate skills can now rank up like other abilities.
• The Harlequin Crest will no longer boost Ultimate skills unless you have invested points into them.
• You can now set Waypoints as favourites, making it easier to teleport to a specific one when returning to town.
• A new inventory tab and additional stash tabs have been added for better organisation.
• World-tier statues have been placed outside of town for easy access.
• A new Party Finder and Marker System feature is available for multiplayer activities.