Blizzard holds back Diablo 4 season 15 details until BlizzCon

Blizzard has published its preview of Diablo 4 season 15 without detailing everything the season contains, breaking a three-year pattern of laying out the full slate in advance. PC Gamer reported that two of the season’s new systems are named but left largely unexplained, with the full reveals held for BlizzCon in September.

The first is Challenge Dungeons, described as portals that appear while players explore the open world and lead to a boss encounter. Blizzard said the difficulty of those encounters will be customisable once players are into the endgame, but did not say which bosses appear or how often the portals spawn.

The second is Overland Ambushes. Players receive a message that a demon is hunting them and are given 30 seconds to escape or stand and fight. Blizzard’s description calls it a difficult encounter that will test the strongest warriors in Sanctuary, but does not say where it can trigger or what it rewards.

What the preview does cover

The rest of the blog post is more specific. A new item type called Soul Splinters slots into jewellery and grants damage buffs that carry a drawback, such as increased damage taken or a character being periodically stunned.

Blizzard is also reissuing Unique items from Diablo 1, Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 in new forms. Leoric’s Crown, from Diablo 3, occupies the helm slot but counts as a jewellery item, boosting the effects of gems socketed into it.

Diablo 3’s Rebirth system returns as a way to recycle characters between seasons. Blizzard is also revisiting the Mythic Unique changes introduced in the current season, which drew criticism: Mythics will be easier to craft and find, and the rarest tier, Iconic Mythics, will gain weaker Unique versions so players can slot them into a build earlier.

Most of the season 15 content will be testable on the public test realm, which runs from August 4 to August 11.