On April 23rd, the official Diablo 4 livestream delved into the content of Lord of Hatred expansion and the upcoming season update.

We got a thorough analysis into all the final details of the upcoming update, exploring the new class skill trees, Horadric Cube, the new endgame system, and more.

I think the most interesting and direct information was the changes to some of the ultimate skill tree nodes in War Plan system and the equipment system adjustments. Let's take a look.

War Plan

War Plan is a completely new system, a major overhaul of Diablo 4's endgame content. You can earn more rewards than with regular content. War Plan contains a list of five different endgame events; completing them will grant all the rewards. You can then move on to the next War Plan, earning even more rewards as you progress through War Plan system. Furthermore, the endgame skill trees are closely linked to War Plan system.

Endgame Skill Trees

Each endgame content has its own unique skill tree. Participating in this endgame content will earn experience points for the skill tree, and completing War Plan list will grant even more experience points.

I'd like to highlight some nodes in these endgame skill trees, as I find them more interesting. And we haven't even seen the bottom nodes yet. Based on what we've seen so far, the nodes seem to become increasingly interesting and impactful as we go deeper.

Hellborne Horde

The first node I want to introduce is in Helltide skill tree, called Hellborne Horde. This node allows threat-level Ambush to have a chance to spawn additional Hellborne. Specifically, there's a 50% chance of spawning one additional Hellborne, a 20% chance of spawning three, and a 5% chance of spawning four. A Hellborne has a chance to drop a unique item upon being killed. So, this effect is quite impressive when triggered.

Specifically, this effect is triggered when you accumulate threat in Helltide. Once the threat reaches a certain level, waves of enemies will spawn. After the threat is depleted, a Hellborne will spawn. There's a chance to spawn multiple Hellborne, up to a maximum of five.

Furthermore, you can increase the chance of obtaining Diablo 4 Uniques from these Hellborne. And it seems there are other nodes that can transform Hellborne into other things. One developer revealed a node that can replace Hellborne with Butchers. I speculate that if you activate these nodes simultaneously, the other monsters that your spawned Hellborne will also spawn additionally.

Answered Prayer and Communion

Some nodes have very significant effects, but the trigger rate depends entirely on RNG. This is because another node has a similar effect. This node is located in Nightmare Dungeon skill tree and is called Answered Prayer. Activating the shrine in Nightmare Dungeon triggers Elite Ambush. There's a 40% chance to summon one Elite, a 30% chance to summon two, a 20% chance to summon four, and a 10% chance to summon seven Elites.

Another node we'll discuss next, when combined with Answered Prayer, also has a remarkable effect. Combining these two nodes can double the number of Elites you summon.

Most players would simply remove Nightmare Sigils that only spawn shrines. However, with these two nodes, the ability to generate large numbers of shrines upon entering Nightmare Dungeon becomes extremely valuable.

The other node is Communion in Helltide skill tree. In Nightmare Dungeon, simply put, when you click on a shrine, any enemy you kill during the shrine's buff will be trapped within you as a spirit. After the buff ends, all these enemies will respawn around you.

Because of the shrine buff, you can easily clear most of Dungeon. Now you have a chance to encounter Elite Ambush. Each time you click on a shrine, there's a chance to enter Nightmare Dungeon, and the shrine might summon one to seven Elites to attack you.

After defeating these Elites, continue exploring Dungeon, killing other enemies along the way. When the shrine's buff ends, these Elites, along with all other enemies you defeated during that time, will reappear.

However, this assumption rests on the premise that the number of enemies will not exceed a certain threshold; how it will operate tactically remains to be seen in actual gameplay.

The combination of just these two nodes can significantly affect the Nightmare Dungeon challenge. We can imagine even more insane effects if five skill points were added.

As more nodes are revealed, we've discovered that these endgame skill trees will have a huge impact on endgame content. Many nodes go beyond simply increasing gear drops, experience points, or other basic attributes. Many of them are genuine game mechanic changes that will disrupt your daily gameplay experience and potentially introduce random, crazy events like this.

I think this is a very good design approach because even if you don't necessarily get more rewards, these significant changes to game mechanics or events alone can make the game more interesting.

Gear System

The changes to Ancestral gear are largely confirmed. Ancestral gear no longer seems to guarantee high-level affixes. How we will obtain high-level affixes is currently unclear, but I speculate that they will be more integrated into Horadric Cube gear modification system.

Higher-level affixes will become more integrated into the late-game gear crafting system. The developers have significantly reduced the number of high-level affixes we can obtain, possibly to lower our overall power level, which might make the game more balanced.

This is because high-level affixes themselves aren't particularly appealing. They do require more effort to acquire, but they aren't necessarily more fun, especially compared to the powerful effects of amulets.

We will be able to fully craft low-rarity gear using Horadric Cube, which the developers hope will encourage us to invest heavily in creating powerful, ultimate gear. It's currently unclear whether white-rarity gear will also be able to do this.

These are some of the more interesting aspects of Diablo 4 Lord of Hatred; more details and gameplay await our discovery.