Diablo IV Season 3: Season of The Construct Announced
Evil Looms
Blizzard has announced the third season of Diablo IV, Season of The Construct!
Season of The Construct, with the Seneschal Companion as central theme, starts on Tuesday, January 23. There will be no delay between Season of Blood ending and the third Season starting.
More details about Season 3 will be revealed in the upcoming Campfire Chat Thursday, January 18 at 5:00 PM UTC on Twitch and YouTube.
Seasonal Mechanics
- A robotic Seneschal Companion
- New dungeon type called Vaults
- Arcane Tremors
What are you most excited for in Season 3?
Zoltun Kulle's Legacy Seasonal Questline
Season 3's questline will investigate an ancient device, The Loom, designed by Zoltun Kulle and Ayuzhan of Caldeum. Ayuzhan leads you through the Vaults to stop The Demon Malphas' corruption.
Seneschal Companion
With the power of the Loom you will be able to control your very own Companion. The Seneschal Companion acts like a kind of mercenary that will aide you in combat. This Companion can be customized with Governing Stones and Tuning Stones.
Your Companion cannot actually die (but can probably be downed or something like that) and scales with your character power.
Governing Stones
Governing Stones determine the abilities your little mech has to its disposal. You can insert 2 Governing Stones out of a selection of 12 different abilities, 4 Melee, 4 Ranged, and 4 Utility Abilities. Abilities will also have subtypes like Arcing, Projectiles, Duration, ...
Governing Stones come in 2 different rarities (Rare and Legendary) and can be upgraded to rank 10. How we upgrade these Stones is still unknown.
The power of Governing Stones can be augmented by inserting Tuning Stones into your Seschenal. The Stones will change the way the active abilities work, by increasing its power or altering its effects.
Governing Stones can be obtained from:
- Heralds in Arcane Tremors
| Name | Effect | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Autodefense | The Seneschal Construct activates an antimaterial field around itself shooting down enemy projectiles. Can not shoot down Boss or Player projectiles. | |
| Bushwhack | Quickly ambush dealing damage to each target. May strike the same target multiple times. | |
| Firefly | Deploy a small construct that lands on the target and explodes 3 times, dealing damage. | |
| Focus Fire | The Seneschal Construct channels a ray of fire onto targets dealing damage to each over time. | Ranged |
| Gyrate | The Seneschal Construct whirls its legs around quickly dealing damage to all surrounding enemies. | Melee |
| Impale | Perform a line attack to all enemies in front of the Seneschal Construct dealing damage. | Melee |
| Lightning Bolt | Launch a bolt of Lightning at the target dealing damage. Arcs to other targets dealing a portion of the original damage. | |
| Protect | The Seneschal Construct materializes a protective Barrier on the player for a portion of their Maximum Life. | Utility |
| Reconstruct | The Seneschal Construct channels a reconstruction beam Healing the player for a portion of their Maximum Life over time. | |
| Slash | Pummel enemies in front of the Seneschal Construct dealing damage. | |
| Tempest | Electrically charge an enemy causing it to deal damage to themselves and additional each second over time. If the enemy is killed, Tempest spreads to another enemy gaining for additional time and bonus damage. These bonuses are also applied if Tempest is reapplied onto the same enemy. | Ranged |
| Flash of Adrenaline | Administers a quick flash of adrenaline into the player, granting bonus damage for a duration. | Utility |
Tuning Stones
Tuning Stones augment the selected abilites in unique ways. You can insert 6 Tuning Stones out of a selection of 27 different modifiers.
The Tuning Stone can be affiliated to a combination of Melee, Ranged, and Utility. A Tuning Stone will only affect a Governing Stone Ability with a matching type. For example, Piercing Support only enhances Governing Stones with the "Projectile" type.
Tuning Stones come in different rarities (Rare, Legendary, and Unique) and the Rare and Legendary ones can be upgraded to rank 10.
They can be obtained from:
- Vault challenges
- Echo of Malphas (Unique)
| Name | Effect | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Voluminous | The supported skill's effect size is increased. | |
| Swift | The supported Skill gains an Attack Speed bonus. | |
| Shield Breaker | Damage from the supported Skill instantly destroys enemy Barrier effects. In addition, there is a chance to make enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds. | |
| Tactical | Decrease the cooldown of the supported Skill. | |
| Efficiency | When the supporting skill deals damage, you gain Critical Strike Chance to the same targets hit. | |
| Devastation | Supported Skill gains a Critical Strike Damage bonus. | |
| Safeguard | When used, the supported Skill grants Damage Reduction to you. | |
| Frigid | A portion of the supported Skill's damage dealt is applied as Cold damage over time and applies Chill. | |
| Burning | A portion of he supported Skill's damage is applied as Burning damage over time. Burning enemies take bonus Critical Strike Damage from the Seneschal Construct. | |
| Electrocution | A portion of the supported skill's damage dealt is applied as Lightning damage over time and has a chance to Stun enemies. | |
| Bleeding | A portion of the supported skill's damage dealt is applied as Bleeding damage over time. Enemies take bonus Bleeding damage from all sources while moving. | |
| Poison | A portion of the supported skill's damage dealt is applied as Poison damage over time. This poison has a chance each second to spread all Poison damage to an additional enemy. | |
| Dusk | A portion of the supported Skill's damage dealt is applied as Shadow damage over time. Afflicted enemies who attack have a chance for their attacks to be interrupted. Does not interrupt Bosses. | |
| Duration | Supported Skills have their durations increased. | Duration Abilites |
| Fortify | When the Seneschal Construct uses the supported Skill, you gain Fortify. Skills with slower attack speeds or skills with cooldowns will increase the amount of Fortify granted. | |
| Resource | Player gains an amount of Primary Resource when the supporting Skill first deals damage. | |
| Initiative | The supported Skill will cause the Seneschal Construct to teleport to the target if out of range. Can only occur once every so often seconds. | |
| Arcing | The supported Skill can hit additional enemies. | |
| Multishot | Supported Projectile skills launch additional projectiles. | Projectile Abilities |
| Piercing | The supported Projectile Skill will pierce multiple enemies. | Projectile Abilities |
| Gripping | Damage and effects done by the supporting Skill to Distant enemies pulls them towards the Seneschal Construct. Can only occur once every so often per enemy. | |
| Registered Damage | Any damage caused from the supported Skill is registered. The registered damage explodes at effectiveness when the target dies as Fire damage. | |
| Seeking | The supported Projectile Skill will auto-seek enemies for a limited duration. | |
| Slowing | Damage from the supported Skill Slows enemy movement speed for a limited duration. The closer the enemy is to the Seneschal Construct, the greater the Slow amount. Enemies may be slowed up to a maximum amount. | |
| Mockery | Damage done by the supporting Skill Taunts enemies hit for a limited duration of time. This can only occur once every so often per enemy. Does not work on bosses. | |
| Evernight | The supported Skill Grants you +4 to all Skills when used for 2.0 seconds. | |
| Genesis | ??? |
Vaults
The Vaults are specialized dungeons that house elemental Hazards, a new type of trap. Amongst the Hazards lay The Constructs, an entirely new monster family.
There are 4 types of Vaults and they can be accessed from The Gatehall, the seasonal hub.
At World Tier III, Nightmare Vaults unlock. Vault Sigils will drop alongside typical Nightmare Dungeon Sigils, or they can be crafted which will require Pearls of Warding to create. These Vaults function similar to Nightmare Dungeons.
At the end of a Vault, a wave of traps and monsters will challange you. After surviving this onslaught, the treasure room is unlocked.
An important mechanic here is Zoltun's Warding. This is a special buff players can earn by interacting with the statue of Zoltun Kulle and exchanging a Pearl of Warding. The statue can be found at the start of a Vault. When hit by a trap, you will loose 1 stack of Zoltun's Warding!
When players reach the Vault's treasure room and they have more than 1 stack of Zoltun's Warding, they can open a rare Wardwoven Chest.
Arcane Tremors
Dismantle deadly traps, destroy Lesser and Elite Constructs to earn Shattered Stone. Dispatching Elite Constructs grants Pearls of Warding which can be used to earn higher valued rewards from replaying Vaults.
The Arcane Tremor are a Blood Harvest-like event in the overworld linked to the new Vault dungeons. Here you can collect "Cores", when you collect enough Cores, you can deposit them in one of the Braziers spread across the Arcane Tremor. Doing so will summon a Herald of Malphas, which has a chance of dropping Governing Stones.
The Gauntlet: Weekly Challenge Dungeon
The Gauntlet will arrive later in the Season of the Construct and offers a competitive yet flexible Dungeon experience. Players must skillfully combine strategy and expertise to achieve high scores.
To increase their scores, players must gather Proofs of Might. These can be acquired by defeating Monsters and destroying objects within the Gauntlet.
Leaderboards
- One leaderboard will track our Ladder/Seasonal progress, which they've called "Trials" here.
- Another leaderboard will track the Weekly Gauntlet champions
- The final leaderboard is a historical leaderboard, and will display the top 10 player performances in the Gauntlet of all time. This leaderboard is called Hall of the Ancients.
Quality of Life Updates
- Helltides now last for 55 minutes, with a 5 minute break between each rotation.
- PC players can now navigate by using the W-A-S-D keys on your keyboard, instead of your mouse.
- An extra Stash Tab is now available
- Improvements to UI when trading Gold
- Improvements to reallocating your skill tree
- Increased rates to earn
Distilled Fear
