Michael McWhertor
is a journalist with more than 17 years of experience covering video games, technology, movies, TV, and entertainment.
Diablo 4 season 3 starts Jan. 23, sending players deep beneath the desert sands of Kehjistan where they’ll face new mechanized menaces, including scorpion-like Constructs, deadly traps, and the demon Malphas. To balance the odds, players will get a mechanized ally of their own, known as a Seneschal, as part of Season of the Construct.
Blizzard Entertainment revealed new details on Diablo 4’s Season of the Construct on Tuesday, including a new seasonal questline centered on a corrupted ancient device known as The Loom. Created by Zoltun Kulle, the power-hungry Horadrim also responsible for creating the Black Soulstone, The Loom has been taken over by demonic forces, which have in turn released a swarm of Constructs into Sanctuary.
Also resting in the bowels of that Loom? The demon Malphas, a servant of Diablo who has created “his own private Hell,” Blizzard says. Malphas is Diablo 4’s first stationary boss and he uses a series of traps against players as they try to destroy him. Malphas is also responsible for corrupting the Constructs, elemental-powered devices that players will battle throughout the season for Construct-specific items.
Players will battle Constructs as they explore The Loom, dive into seasonal dungeons called Vaults, and adventure in the overworld. Above ground, Constructs will appear in areas called Arcane Tremors.
Season of the Construct will give players their own Construct: a Seneschal. This autonomous companion will have its own UI, and players will be able to customize its abilities using items called Governing Stones and Tuning Stones. Their Seneschal can tank monsters to help break up mobs and heal the player, among other talents.
Season 3’s dungeons, Vaults, are built around the concept of traps and hazards: spikes, swirling flame columns, and machines that spew poison gases. These traps are “much deadlier and require far more complex skills to avoid,” Blizzard says. Vaults will offer coveted Legendary loot, however, which can only be earned by maintaining a new stacking buff called Zoltun’s Warding.
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
Additionally, Season of the Construct will introduce a new leaderboard-driven dungeon called The Gauntlet. This weekly dungeon run appears to be mainly about bragging rights, so if you’re looking for a new endgame activity, The Gauntlet is “coming soon.”
Finally, there are more quality of life updates coming in season 3 of Diablo 4. These include new WASD controls on PC, an extra stash tab for your inventory, and always-on Helltides.
Diablo 4’s current season, the Season of Blood, runs through Jan. 22.
Source: Polygon