What we know, what we do not, and what we expect for Diablo 4 Season 15
Legacy Uniques, Soul Splinters, and Rebirth are confirmed, but Blizzard is saving the biggest reveals for BlizzCon.
Season 14 is coming to an end, Season 15 is getting closer, and thanks to the 3.2 PTR that we got to test earlier this month, we already have a pretty good idea of what Blizzard is bringing to Diablo 4 next. But there is one important detail that some people might forget! Blizzard deliberately held part of Season 15 back from the PTR. The developers confirmed that more details will be revealed at BlizzCon, meaning the PTR was never meant to show the full Season 15 content.
So even if we know quite a lot about the systems and items coming with the next season, there is still a large piece of the puzzle missing.
This is why we decided to go over everything we know so far, what Blizzard is still keeping secret, and what we could see revealed at BlizzCon.
What We Know About Season 15
The 3.2 PTR introduced a few new systems and changes that are expected to arrive with Season 15. Some details can still change before launch, but these are the features Blizzard has officially shown us so far.
Soul Splinters
The biggest new system is Soul Splinters, a new type of socketable item that gives your character a powerful bonus but with a drawback. Soul Splinters can be placed into jewelry and come in five quality tiers, from Common all the way up to Unique. They can also be upgraded through the Horadric Cube.
The interesting part is that every Splinter comes with a trade-off. For example, the Splinter of Anguish increases Critical Strike Chance and Attack Speed, but also increases Primary Resource costs. The Splinter of Pain gives a huge amount of Damage Reduction bonus, but it reduces Movement Speed, and the Splinter of Hellfire can increase your damage at the cost of losing all Critical Strike Chance.
That makes Soul Splinters more than just another source of free power. Depending on the final numbers, choosing the right Splinter could become an important part of building your character around a new specific build.
It is particularly interesting for players willing to take a risk for more power.
Legacy Uniques in Diablo 4
Nine iconic items from previous Diablo games are being reworked for Diablo 4, including Stone of Jordan, Leoric's Crown, Nemesis Bracers, and Messerschmidt's Reaver.
These are not simply old effects copied into Diablo 4, either. Blizzard has adapted their powers to fit the current game, and the items are being added as permanent uniques, so this means that they will not disappear when Season 15 ends.
The full list includes:
Leoric's Crown
Nemesis Bracers
Stone of Jordan
Squirt's Blouse
Arioc's Needle
Henri's Perquisition
In-Geom
The Furnace
Messerschmidt's Reaver
Not all of them are available to every class, so some could end up having a much bigger impact on the Season 15 meta than others. You should particularly keep an eye on Leroic's Crown.
Mythic Item Changes
Mythic Uniques are also getting some of the biggest changes we have seen to the system in quite some time. The most interesting addition is a new Horadric Cube recipe that allows you to directly upgrade an existing Unique into its Mythic version.
The important part is that this is a 1:1 transfer. If you have a Unique with the exact Affixes, Tempering, and Masterworking you want, upgrading it to a Mythic will preserve those modifications instead of giving you a completely different roll.
It is more expensive than the other Mythic crafting options, but it removes a huge part of the randomness involved in getting the item you really want.
Mythic crafting through the Jeweler and Blacksmith will not have the crafted tag, but those created through the cube will. Every Mythic can now also be found as a regular Unique version. This means some of Diablo 4's most important Mythic items should become available earlier in a character's progression.
After the changes made to Mythics in Season 14, this is probably one of Season 15's most important follow-up updates!
New Uniques and Mythic Charms
The Talisman system is also getting expanded.
Season 15 will introduce 16 new Unique Charms based on existing Uniques that did not previously have Charm versions. Eight of the 10 Legacy Uniques will also receive their own Charms.
Unique Charms can now also drop as Mythic Unique Charms. These are much rarer versions with maxed-out stats and a significantly stronger Unique effect. There is no way to craft or target-farm them, though, so getting one will come down to luck.
The Rebirth System
One of the most requested quality-of-life features from Diablo 3 is finally coming to Diablo 4.
Rebirth lets you take an existing Eternal character and transfer them into the Seasonal Realm without creating a completely new one. The character is reset to Level 1, and you have to remove their gear and items first, but their class, name, appearance, cosmetics, and accumulated playtime stay.
So if you have a character you really like and you do not want to keep creating another identical one every few months, you can finally reuse them instead.
It is not the biggest feature of the season, but it is one of those quality-of-life changes that just feels nice to have.
Challenge Dungeons and Overland Ambushes
Two new activities were also available to test on the PTR.
Challenge Dungeons appear through portals in the Overworld and send you into a fight against a powerful boss. You can increase the difficulty beyond your current Torment level for better rewards.
Then there is the Overland Ambush, where a powerful demon can randomly begin hunting you when you are exploring Sanctuary. You will get a warning before the encounter begins and have a short window to either run or stand your ground.
Both systems were explicitly presented as previews, so the versions we saw on the PTR are not necessarily the versions that will come with Season 15. They were a little bit boring during PTR.
The Horadric Post
Finally, there is the somewhat mysterious Horadric Post.
Blizzard describes it as a new way to deliver rewards, supplies, and commemorative items directly to your account. Think of it as a mailbox of sorts, although it is a one-way system and not something you can use to send items yourself to friends or something like that.
The feature appeared on the PTR in a fairly basic form, so we are still waiting to see exactly how Blizzard plans to use it once Season 15 goes live.
What We Still Do Not Know
Regardless of all of these additions, there is a pretty obvious hole in Season 15. Let's be honest, PTR was a little bit disappointing, but we do know that Blizzard has something planned for BlizzCon.
And we do not even know what the main seasonal theme is yet.
That is not because Blizzard forgot to tell us. The developers specifically said the 3.2 PTR would contain a different selection of features than usual because they wanted to keep some of Season 15 secret until BlizzCon.
In other words, the missing information is very much intentional.
That leaves a few big questions unanswered:
What is the actual Season 15 theme?
What will the main seasonal mechanic be?
Will there be a new seasonal questline or villain?
What other activities or systems are being kept off the PTR?
What balance changes will make it into the final patch?
Are Challenge Dungeons and Overland Ambushes going to receive changes before launch?
We should get answers to at least some of these questions at BlizzCon.
And that is what makes Season 15 a little unusual. Normally, the PTR gives us a fairly complete picture of a season weeks before release. This time, Blizzard is deliberately keeping some of its cards hidden.
What Could Blizzard Reveal at BlizzCon?
This is where things get interesting. Everything from here on is speculation, so do not treat any of it as confirmed.
The Missing Seasonal Mechanic
The safest prediction is also the most obvious one. Blizzard still has a main seasonal mechanic to reveal.
Soul Splinters are nice, but everyone is kind of hoping this is not just it for the next Season. And Blizzard's comments about the limited PTR suggest that there is more to Season 15 than what was available for testing.
Exactly what that could mean is anyone's guess.
It could be another progression system, a new activity, a new mechanic, or something completely different that simply was not ready to be tested alongside the rest of the PTR.
Considering how much of Season 15 has already been revealed, whatever Blizzard is holding back will have to be substantial enough to justify keeping it out of the PTR in the first place.
Could Malthael Return?
This is the much more speculative one, but it is hard not to bring up.
Season 14 has been all about the themes of Death, Reapers, and Pandemonium, and that has naturally led to plenty of speculation about Malthael, the Angel of Death from Diablo III.
There are also story details from Season 14 that have left players wondering if Blizzard is setting up something bigger for the character and his story. If Blizzard really is building toward Malthael's return, BlizzCon would be the perfect place to reveal it.
Moreover, there is the obvious Splinter of the Black Soulstone that is coming with Season 15, and this is clearly a reference to Malthael, so everything points to him being the theme for the Season.
Sadly, there is currently no official confirmation that Malthael is coming back in Season 15.
Nevertheless, if Blizzard walks onto the BlizzCon stage and starts talking about the Angel of Death, the community clearly saw it coming.
Could There Be Something Bigger?
There is another possibility worth considering.
Blizzard is not just using BlizzCon to reveal Season 15. Diablo 4 is also getting hands-on gameplay at the event, and that makes it possible that we are going to see something that was not included in the PTR at all.
That could be yet another endgame activity, a new progression system, or a new expansion, with a new class coming. This is the biggest guess from the community, because for it to be announced at BlizzCon, it needs to be huge. Like expansion-sized huge.
But, at this point, there is no evidence for any of this, so this is one area where it is probably better not to get too carried away just yet.
The Best Part Is Still Hidden
Season 15 is already looking considerably more interesting than the period we are currently going through in Season 14, but the biggest part is still what we have not seen yet. We know Blizzard has big plans for BlizzCon, but we just do not know what it is. And if the Malthael theories turn out to be right, things could get very interesting very quickly.