Diablo 4‘s next expansion is called Lord of Hatred. It lands April 28, 2026. And it’s adding two new classes, including the long-rumored Paladin. Blizzard is also promising yet another comprehensive end-game overhaul. Maybe this one will finally do the trick.
Lord of Hatred builds off the events of the first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, and takes players to the new land of Skovos, the world’s oldest region, for a dungeon-crawling loot chase that takes players across “volcanic coasts, storm-lashed forests, and waterlogged ruins steeped in forgotten lore.” It’ll open up the new hammer and shield-wielding Paladin class and a “yet-unrevealed class” that will “reshape the battlefield.” Players will be using these new characters to take down Mephisto once and for all, and team up with Lilith to do so.
Here’s the gameplay trailer:
While those are the top-level selling points of the upcoming expansion, Lord of Hatred is also promising yet another fundamental reworking of Diablo 4‘s progression. Skill trees will get new class-specific variants and expanded level caps. A Loot Filter will help players farm targeted drops more easily. Enhanced crafting introduces the Horadic Cube for experimentation and a new Talisman for set bonuses.
That’s the loot and buildcrafting side. When it comes to the grind, Blizzard is introducing War Plans that are supposed to let players customize their endgame progression path around the activities and modifiers they prefer for earning “high-value rewards.” There’s also a new activity called Echoing Hatred to test these builds against. Plus fishing is coming to the land of Sanctuary. Are you even an online multiplayer game these days without it? Apparently not.
Those who pre-order the expansion can unlock the Paladin class to begin playing in the game right now. We’ll see if this can actually get Diablo 4 to the kind of compulsively repayable place that Diablo 3 ended at and bring players back in the process. At the very least, it should make for another fun campaign.
