Those waiting for the return of Diablo 4 leaderboards will have to wait a little longer, as the feature has been delayed into 2026.
Blizzard announced the delay during its most recent Diablo 4 developer update livestream. The new leaderboard system revolves around a new dungeon called The Tower, where players will be able to test their builds and compete for clear times and rewards.
“This is to make sure we have some stability with the season launch, and then when The Tower shows up, it’s online and people are ready to tackle it,” associate game director Zaven Haroutunian said regarding the reason for the delay.
Leaderboards and The Tower were originally set to debut as part of Season 11 on December 11. Instead, Blizzard said the feature will arrive with patch 2.5.2 sometime in the new year. Even when The Tower and leaderboards do arrive, they will technically be in “beta” form, an approach Blizzard hasn’t taken before when it comes to developing new features for Diablo 4.
Delaying The Tower wasn’t just in the name of season-launch stability. Haroutunian said it was also to incorporate learnings and feedback from the recent Season 11 public-test-realm, which featured a version of The Tower Haroutunian said was intentionally “rough.” Blizzard wanted to test it and make sure it was going in the right direction for the feature before committing to it, he said.
Now, Blizzard is aiming to refine The Tower based on feedback. One problem Blizzard is looking to fix is to make it so progress orbs dropped by slain enemies will spawn closer to players to require less backtracking. Another problem area is the feeling that players need to “fish” for optimal dungeon layouts before committing to a run, something that was also a problem in Diablo 3.
Haroutunian said Blizzard is looking to address or remove outliers like certain bosses and or environments that aren’t as conducive to a competitive game mode.
“We want to aim at consistency and make sure the mode is fun, exciting, and competitive over just cramming in visual variety in it just for its own sake,” Haroutunian said.
Haroutunian also addressed feedback that The Tower currently feels too similar to The Pit, another part of Diablo 4’s endgame. He said the comparison is completely valid, as The Tower currently is very similar to The Pit, with both modes taking inspiration from Greater Rifts in Diablo 3. Over time, however, the goal is for both The Pit and The Tower to diverge and offer different experiences.
“The Tower is going to start very similar, because it’s starting at the same foundation,” Haroutunian said. “Over time, it will change, it will morph, it will be its own thing. And The Pit will suddenly have all this space it’s freed up to occupy. It doesn’t have to be this pseudo-competitive mode anymore, it can just be whatever it needs to be. It can be as crazy as we want.”
When The Tower does officially arrive, it won’t be the first time Diablo 4 has had leaderboards. A similar feature launched with one of Diablo 4’s earlier seasons, only to be removed a few months later with the launch of its first expansion, Vessel of Hatred.
Diablo 4 Season of Divine Intervention begins December 11 and just might be the game’s biggest rework yet. The new season will introduce permanent overhauls to systems like Tempering and Masterworking, as well as make enemies smarter and deadlier. A second Diablo 4 expansion is slated to arrive in 2026.