Summary
Diablo 4’s Season 7, theSeason of Witchcraft, is about to get underway and the developers have already shared some key insights on what changes and additions are coming. Players have mostly praised the changes that came with theVessel of Hatredexpansion, as well as the subsequent season of hatred rising, leaving fans only wanting more content, items, and abilities to play with.
That’s exactly what Season 7 aims to deliver. The major changes include new seasonal powers that pay homage toDiablo 3’s Witch Doctor class, new occult gems to boost those powers, and a new variety of enemies and activity with the Headrotten and their associated Headhunts. For players who want a bit more detail, this topic will cover all the biggest and best changes coming toDiablo 4in Season 7.
The Season Of Witchcraft
Key Changes:
One of the main additions coming with Season 7 is the new Witchcraft powers. These abilities are uniquepassive activation skillswith a variety of effects. The powers are unlocked by visiting one of the new altars at the Tree of Whispers, each corresponding to a different Witchcraft ability tree. The currency for unlocking these powers will be a new seasonal currency called restless rot, which is earned by completing new whisper bounties and culling the new headrotten enemies.
The most powerful Witchcraft abilities, known as Lost Powers, have to be unlocked by finding forgotten altars, which will be randomly placed in dungeons. The new season revolves around these abilities, so the new seasonal questline will guide players toward increasing their reputation with the Coven and unlocking the Witchcraft abilities.
Under-Utilized Abilities Get Some Love
While allthe base game classes are receiving buffsto underutilized abilities, fans of the Spiritborn class from theVessel of HatredDLC will be pleased to hear that it’s not getting many significant nerfs, apart from previously announced changes to the somewhat broken interaction between the Rod of Kepeleke and the Viscous Shield Paragon node.
Druids are seeing big changes to Shred, buffing the skill’s poison damage, while adding other poison synergies elsewhere to make poison damage a more viable build option. Necromancers are getting changes to Blood Mist and Blood Wave, with the latter now having a new unique associated with it too.
Sorcerer was seen as an underperforming build in testing for the new season, so it’s receiving some significant passive buffs as well as changes to the functionality of some re-casting moves. The Rogue gets new functionality for Death Traps and Caltrops, and the Barbarian gets buffs to Hammer of the Ancients, Whirlwind, and Iron Maelstrom.
A New Take On End Game Character Progression
TheParagon system is changing. In addition to the change already made that allowed players to share Paragon experience among all characters, Paragon experience will now carry over to the Eternal Realm. The cap for Paragon Points is increasing from 200 to 300, and many nodes are being reworked or buffed.
This should give players plenty of new build options to play with at the end game. To complement this, Blizzard is adding the ability to swap between different Paragon Point configurations at no cost with the Armory, which will allow players to save different loadouts including skills, gear, and paragon nodes.
New Layout And Better Rewards
The Tree of Whispers plays a new role in Season 7. Not only will players now be returning there to receive caches in exchange for favors, but the new seasonal NPCs in the Coven are based at the Tree. It’s there where players will be unlocking their new Witchcraft powers. The new Headrotten enemies are pursued via bounties issued here, so the Tree of Whispers will be the hub for this season.
This comes with a makeover for the Tree of Whispers area, including adding the new altars and NPCs. The previous rewards system for the Tree has also seen a minor buff, with the chance of receiving an Ancestral Collection from the Tree having been raised. Additionally, a new NPC known as the friendly raven will let players return favors to the tree from afar.
New Enemies, Bosses, And A New Way To Earn Favors
In the Season of Witchcraft, new enemies are appearing all over Sanctuary. Heads have gone missing from the Tree of Whispers, and these fugitive heads are seeking new hosts. This leads to the emergence of the new Headrotten enemies. Players will journey to Headhunt zones, which function similarly to previous seasons' zones and appear periodically around the map.
Completing the new Tree of Whispers bounties in these areas will net players progress toward the new Seasonal rewards, and also reveal exposed roots. These roots lead to uprooted cocoons, which contain the new Headrotten bosses. Bosses can spawn with fugitive heads attached, and these come with even greater rewards from the Coven and the Tree. Finally, Rootholds are new seasonal dungeons that players access by earning Whisperwood Sigils from Whisper Caches and Silent Chests.
Essential Stats And Witchcraft Support
Occult gems are another new addition to the game that give players more options for new build synergies. A new NPC at the Tree of Whispers called Gelena will assist players in crafting these gems, in exchange for seasonal currency like restless rot and fugitive heads, as well as gem fragments.
Players don’t have to worry about sacrificing their current gem stats to socket occult gems, as the gems come with 160 armor and 8% all resistance as a base. That makes the gems quite tempting, as they also come with additional benefits that synergize with the new Witchcraft powers. These include things like buffing the damage of Witchcraft effects, increasing effectiveness against hexed enemies, and stat buffs based on the power of slotted Witchcraft skills.
New Aspects, New Unique Items
Many changes are coming in Season 7 to legendary aspects. The changes are mostly aimed in the same direction as the class skill changes, boosting the effectiveness of underutilized skills and build aspects for thebase game classes. For example, the Druid’s Aspect of the Blurred Beast has been changed to align with changes to the Shred ability that it affects.
Unique items have been reworked for some classes, andnew uniques have been addedfor others. The new Necromancer uniques are aimed at increasing the potency of Blood Wave, and the synergy between Blood skills and Bone skills. As well as these changes, new legendary runes have been added and rune words are being reworked for better clarity of the system and increased performance.
The First Flying Pet
As with previous seasons, there will be a whole new set of cosmetic rewards on Season 7’s battle pass. The free pass normally includes the core set of cosmetics associated with the season for each class, so players can expect that to be the same here.
The real draw of the new seasonal journey, though, is the reward for completing every step. The new pet, Dorian the Raven, is the game’s first flying pet, andDiablo 4fanswill likely want to see this season’s journey through just to obtain them.
Save Loadouts And More
The new season comes with some permanent changes to the base game and the Eternal Realm. As mentioned before, the new layout for the Tree of Whispers area is transferring over to the Eternal Realm, and Paragon experience will now carry over to the Eternal Realm. The welcome back booster that takes players to level 50 with a set gear loadout, for returning players who skip the campaign, is also here to stay.
That’s not all. The main permanent change that will please long-time players isthe addition of the Armory. The Armory is a new tab that will allow players to save up to five loadouts per character, including skill point allocation, equipped gear, and Paragon board point distribution. Players can give each loadout a custom name, and switch between them freely, without spending gold to respec. This is a huge quality of life improvement for build experimentation.
