Summary
Season 15 of Diablo 4 has introduced some massive changes that weren't fully documented in the patch notes. From rune words in the Horadric Cube to Hell difficulty Prime Evils, there's a lot to unpack. If you're looking to skip some of the early grind, you can buy Diablo IV Items to give your character a head start. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to maximize your seasonal experience.
Critical Warning: Don't Start Your Seasonal Quest Line Early
Before you dive into the new season, heed this warning: Do not start your seasonal quest line on a new character right away.
Here's why:
Bal will always drop Loric's Crown – the most important item this season.
If you kill him before level 70, you'll get a 400 Item Power crown instead of a 600 Item Power crown.
The same applies to the Stone of Jordan, which you'll receive 100% during the seasonal quest line.
You want both items at the highest Item Power possible. Wait until you're level 70 before progressing through the seasonal quest line.
Why Loric's Crown Is Essential
Loric's Crown counts as jewelry and increases the effect of any gem socketed into the helm.
Example benefits:
Bonus attack speed
Crit chance
2.1% bonus damage per enemy killed (stacks up to 200 times)
You can also socket damage reduction or damage soul splinters, but you'll lose crit chance – which doesn't matter much in the first eight Torment tiers.
Don't worry if you made the mistake – Hell difficulty Prime Evils will drop Loric's Crown again.
What Are Hell Difficulty Prime Evils?
From Torment 10 onwards, Prime Evil portals change from the normal yellow version to a red, dangerous version.
How to access them:
Play through their pinnacle dungeon once again.
Fight them another time.
No resources required – you can do this repeatedly.
Why farm them?
They are jam-packed with loot, including Greater Affix items and Mythics.
The loot explosion is massive.
Personal experience: Reached Torment 12 in 6 hours. The Blazing Scream build was doing 50 to 300 billion damage – enough to take out these Prime Evils. Had to be quite tanky because they hit hard. Ranged builds may have an easier time.
Choosing Your Prime Evil Power
During the seasonal quest line, you must choose a Prime Evil power. Here's how to swap away from it:
Splinters found in the world:
Splinter of Destruction
Splinter of Terror
Splinter of Hatred
How to get them: Kill the Prime Evils. You can go into their layers before Torment 10 (e.g., Torment 5, 6, 7) and kill them for another splinter. However, you need to get the exact splinter you're looking for.
Drop mechanics:
Bal does not drop Destruction – he could drop Terror.
Mephisto does not drop Hatred – he could drop Destruction.
Which Splinter Is Best?
Lord of Hatred (Recommended)
Boosts the first two nodes in the Pit, allowing you to upgrade glyphs as if your Pit was 10 levels higher.
Example: Finish Pit 120 → upgrade as if it were Pit 130.
More glyph upgrades = insane progression.
In Nightmare Dungeons, boss revive chance is increased, plus a bonus chest.
Reviving is very rewarding – had Kicksart respawn four times in a row.
Potential gold from a gold reserve Nightmare Dungeon escalation: 500 million to 1 billion gold.
Lord of Destruction (Second Best)
In the Undercity, gives 50% more experience orbs and increases monster power.
Increased monster power = more experience overall.
Lair bosses drop additional runes.
Nemesis portal appearance chance is increased.
Note: You need to push your seasonal rank to 18 to unlock these bonuses.
Seasonal Rank Progression
Your seasonal rank goes up in two ways:
Killing elites anywhere in the world.
Finishing Waking Nightmare dungeons – killing Diablo, Bal, Mephisto, or doing scripts like:
Unholy Altar
Chronicles Nightmare
Den of the Evil
Some are super fast – for example, Tarasha's Tomb (just go in, done). It can also appear as a Forgotten Wisdom – kill it for massive reputation.
You can also just finish elites over and over again.
As you rank up, you unlock the bonus power of your splinter. For example, the Hatred one says: "While in the Pit, enemies damaged by Ghost of Odium have a chance to drop progression orbs."
This is the main reason to take Hatred – more progression orbs in the Pit means shorter Pit runs and faster glyph XP.
Bonus effects:
Makes enemies vulnerable
Deals maximum life damage
Killing enemies gives more Ghost of Odium → more progression orbs
Horadric Cube and Secret Items
You can craft powerful secret items using rune words in the Horadric Cube. Here's a full list:
Stealth (Best Early Game Item)
Required runes: Tal + E
How to craft:
Get a white armor ( gamble for chest armors, hope for an ancestral one).
Take it to the Horadric Cube.
Remove affixes until it's a white item.
Add the Tal and E runes.
Transmute to a Greater Affix Stealth.
Stats:
Max life
Resource generation
Attack speed
Movement speed
Damage reduction
Bonus: You can reroll stats you don't like. Since you get so many Tal runes, you can make a low-level version for a new character.
Other Craftable Items
Enigma
Prudence
Lure
Rain
Call to Arms (gives 5 ranks to all skills if affected by shout skills – great for Barbarians)
Runes needed: Maltur, Tales, Amra, Malist, Om
Soul Splinters (General)
Soul Splinters are found everywhere throughout the world. Loot filters do not make them disappear.
Must-have splinters:
Splinter | Effect | Notes |
Splinter of Lies | Bonus XP | Makes you always weakened and vulnerable. Wear unless fighting Hell Prime Evils. |
Monster Power Splinter | Increases monster power | More experience. Insane value. |
Bonus HP Splinter | Increases HP | Use when survivability is an issue. |
Important: These splinters do not get more XP when put in Loric's Crown. For the crown, use:
Damage reduction
Bonus attack speed
Critical strike chance
Black Soul Stone
Amalgamation: Put five splinters in to upgrade them to a higher quality. Don't upgrade away if you don't have spare.
Rune offerings and invocations:
Bonus weapon damage
Deadly strike chance
15% damage reduction (put a soul in, put a su in front of it, cast five skills)
This might be more efficient than having Druid Earth and Bulwark as a constant barrier.
Charms and Seals
Don't make the mistake I did.
Value Reroll
Does not roll the affixes.
Only rolls the value.
Example: If you have impairment reduction, it will only roll the impairment reduction value.
Frankly useless unless you already have a seal with crit damage and want it maxed.
Horadic Reroll
Fully randomizes all base affixes on a talisman item.
Takes legendary upgrade materials you don't use.
Same as roll set charm, but you stay on the set charm.
Example: Have a Phoba with +4 Hellfire skills, but Beiru only at +3. Reroll Beiru and hope for something interesting.
Later, you'll have thousands of Pure Primordial Dust.
Cost: 100 resin (vs. 50 resin for reroll set charm).
Tip: If you have only one affix you don't want and all others you do want, it might still be better to hit transmute.
Unique Charms
Can get unique power rerolls.
Example: Mine is at 55% – horrible. Want it at 90%.
Any demon form grants all metamorphosis upgrades for free and they're 90% more potent.
Which Prime Evil to Farm?
Prime Evil | Difficulty | Notes |
Diablo | Annoying | Has faces you have to go through with portals around him. Leave out. |
Bal | Easy | Shortest dungeon. With enough movement speed, go quick. Wave-based event at the end. |
Mephisto | Easy | Can be absolutely nuked. |
Recommendation: Farm Bal and Mephisto. Skip Diablo.
Personal Progress
Paragon points: 167 after 8 hours
Torment level: Comfortable in Torment 12
Build: Blazing Scream (50 to 300 billion damage)
Glyph level: 70 at 6 hours in
Final Tips
Wait until level 70 before starting seasonal quest line.
Choose Lord of Hatred for Pit glyph upgrades.
Craft Stealth early – it's the best item.
Use Splinter of Lies for bonus XP, but swap to HP splinter for Hell Prime Evils.
Farm Bal and Mephisto for loot explosions.
Amalgamate soul splinters to upgrade them.
Be careful with rerolls – value reroll only changes the value, not the affix.
