4 Things You Need to Do to Prepare for Season of the Malignant in Diablo 4
With Season of the Malignant fast approaching Diablo 4, you might be resting on your laurels. After all, what’s the point of making progress on non-seasonal characters, right? While you can certainly kick back and wait for the season to start, there are a handful of tasks you can do that’ll improve life for your very first seasonal character in Diablo 4.
Complete Diablo 4’s Campaign
One of the prerequisites—or rather, theonlyprerequisite—to the Season of the Malignant is that the campaign must be completed inDiablo 4. You won’t be able to participate with the content until you’ve got that squared away.
The good news is that if you finished the campaign on a non-season character, you’ll then be able to skip it with your season character. This means you’re able to jump right into the season content the day it launches, and with your trusty mount, no less!
Find Every Altar of Lilith
Some of yourRenownwill carry over into Season of the Malignant, but not all of it. What will are the Altars of Lilith you’ve found so far—all of them if you took the time to look.
Not only will the Renown you earned from finding them carry over, but so do the bonuses they provided. With every altar discovered, you’ll earn, right at level 1, the following bonuses:
Given the stats you earn, it’s like slapping on a few pieces of endgame gear. Sure, 160 Altars of Lilith is a lot, but it’s worth the time investment. We can help you along with our guide onfinding every Altar of Lilith!
Clear the Map’s Fog of War
Why bother? Well, like the Altars of Lilith, how much of the map you’ve cleared will also transfer over to your season character. Not only is it just really helpful to see everything, but the Renown you’ve earned from clearing the fog of war also transfers over.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t include waypoints, but at the very least you’ll be able to see where the waypoints are at. The first task on my personal list is to activate every waypoint.
Log In When the Season 1 Patch Releases
Diablo 4’s Season 1 starts July 05, 2025 at 10am PST. However, the patch itself actually goes live on July 30, 2025, bringing with it new legendaries and unique items. That means you’ll start seeing new items before the season begins, excluding the new Malignant Hearts and season content.
More importantly, it’s crucial you log in on August 10, 2025, if you’re planning to join the season. For Renown to carry over, you need to log into the characters with the most progress.
Let’s say Character #1 has every Altar of Lilith and Character #2 has the entire map uncovered. By logging into both characters on July 18, when the patch releases, that data will combine. When you go to create a seasonal character, they’ll have the map cleared and Altars of Lilith claimed.
As you may see, there are still a few chores to get out of the way to ensure you start off season 1 of Diablo 4 on the right foot. If you plan on running a Rogue, we highly suggest checking out thebest Rogue leveling guide. However, if you’re a lone wolf, then consider picking thebest solo class!
