Diablo 4’s endgame is getting another radical overhaul, this time in the form of its new War Plans progression system that will add skill trees for each endgame activity, letting players customize and power-up each one.
War Plans are coming as part of Diablo 4’s upcoming Lord of Hatred expansion and will let players make a “playlist” of five activities drawn from existing endgame modes like Infernal Hordes, the Pit, Helltides, Nightmare dungeons, the Kurast Undercity, Lair bosses, and the Tree of Whispers.
The more a player runs a specific type of activity, the more they will progress new activity-specific skill trees that allow players to customize them in a variety of ways. That could mean tweaking how many monsters spawn during that activity or changing the specific types of rewards it grants. Blizzard notes that players will even be able to bring aspects of some endgame activities into other ones, so players can have the best of both worlds.
It all sounds similar to aspects of the endgame from rival ARPG Path of Exile, a series known for its deep systems that also features endgame-activity skill trees that allow players to customize their experience by making certain activities more challenging and rewarding.
In addition to War Plans, Blizzard is adding one additional “hyper-rare” endgame activity for players to pursue. Called Echoing Hatred, the event can only be started by collecting “very rare” Traces of Echoes, after which players will be confronted with infinitely scaling waves of demons to overcome. The more waves a player conquers, the more difficult enemies become, until players are eventually overwhelmed by the forces of Hell. Those who are able to push further into Echoing Hatred will be rewarded with better loot based on how far they progressed.
War Plans is just one of the major new features coming in Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred. As revealed during a recent Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight, the expansion will additionally introduce the Warlock class (which is also coming to Diablo 2 and Diablo Immortal) as well as a new Talisman system that allows players to equip charms for additional bonuses. The expansion will also see the return of the Horadric Cube, reworked class skill trees, and a Loot Filter to give players more control over their experience. You can check out glimpses at all those new systems in the gallery below.
Diablo 4 isn’t the only Diablo game getting a major update. Diablo 2 also received some love, with a new paid DLC adding the Warlock class, additional endgame encounters, and a host of features fans have waited decades for.