Diablo IV’s third seasonal event, Season of the Construct, has been revealed and kicks off next week. This time, players will journey beneath Kehjistan to battle demonically corrupted machines.
The story centers on the demon Malphas getting his hands on an ancient device called The Loom. Created by Zoltun Kulle for benevolent purposes, it’s able to create mechanical constructs, but Malphas has warped the Loom for his own sinister intentions to unleash a plague of evil machines. However, you’ve got your own trick up your sleeves.
Namely, Season of the Construct pairs players with their own mechanized companion called a Seneschal. In addition to lending a hand in combat, tanking incoming attacks, and healing players, the Seneschal serves as the primary power gain system for this season. It features its own management UI and can be customized with specialized Governing and Tuning Stones built to tailor your playstyle. Twelve Governing and 27 Tuning stones of varying rarities bestow a range of upgradable perks and abilities to the Seneschal to aid players in combat.
Arcane Tremors now cover the map. These areas are infested with elemental Constructs, the new seasonal enemies. Defeating them earns loot for season-specific items. Players can keep up with seasonal activities at The Gatehall, a central headquarters beneath Kehjistan featuring the standard assortment of vendors and portals accessing multiple zones of Sanctuary.
Season of the Construct also introduces Vaults, a new dungeon type that features deadlier, more complex traps called Hazards. Players begin each Vault with a stackable buff called Zoltun’s Warding that diminishes as they take damage from Hazards. A chest awaits players at the end of the Vault, and the quality of the reward is based on how high you manage to keep the Warding’s buff stack once they reach it. Players can also exchange Pearls of Warding in exchange for Zoltun’s Warding at the start of Vault runs to raise the risk/reward factor.
Gauntlets are another new form of dungeon that won’t be available when Season of the Construct launches, instead arriving “soon.” These dungeons let players compete for top scores, either solo or in a group, ranked by leaderboards separated by party size. Gauntlets last for one week and are static in that they feature the same structural and enemy layout to ensure everyone faces the same challenge. When a new week begins, a new Gauntlet arrives with refreshed leaderboards.
Players can rank high on leaderboards by completing activities and challenges. The top 100 players are showcased, with the top 10 earning a permanent home in the Hall of the Ancients. High-ranking players earn medals to display on redesigned profiles.
Season of the Construct will bring quality-of-life improvements, too, such as an extra stash tab and WASD key control. Helltides will now always remain active (save a 5-minute reset break each hour), in addition to a skill tree re-spec mode, higher chances of getting powerful items from level 75, gold trading UI updates, more opportunities to earn Beast in ice summoning items, and more.
Diablo IV: Season of the Construct launches on January 23.
Source: Game Informer
