As someone who has been a fan of Diablo for several years and have been playing Diablo 4 since day one I've been eagerly awaiting what Blizzard has in store to conclude the Age of Hatred arc, and Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred looked poised to accommodate most of my requests for the game's next expansion. After Vessel of Hatred left me feeling like something was missing Diablo 4both in terms of story and endgame content, my hopes were that Lord of Hatred would give me a true capstone to Diablo 4s bass game.
The highlights of Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred are printed right on the can: a new story campaign set in the all-new region of Skovos, new endgame content including War Plans and Echoing Hatred, new game mechanics like Talismans and Charms along with the return of the Horadric Cube from Diablo 2and two new classes in the form of Paladin and Warlock. These features make Lord of Hatred quite an enticing package for one Diablo 4 hell, but fully realize them and seamlessly blend them into the world of Diablo 4 is the true sign of a great expansion.
Lord of Hatred unleashes players on the hauntingly beautiful islands of Skovos
The journey in Lord of Hatred begins even before they reach Skovos, with threats attacking the player's ships as they approach the islands that Mephisto has corrupted. After docking in the city of Temis, the map of Skovos begins to open up, revealing stunning environments inspired by Mediterranean architecture. One of my biggest complaints with Vessel of Hatred was that the Nahantu felt too environmentally similar, which is definitely not the case with the Skovos in Lord of Hatred.
Each of Skovo's islands has a completely different feel from the next, ranging from Mediterranean coasts to dense forests and mountain peaks, all the way to dangerous volcanoes. Compared to the map of Nahantu in Vessel of Hatred, Skovos is slightly smaller in total area. But this environmental diversity makes Skovos feel like its own mystical world, completely separate from the rest of Sanctuary. Along with the new enemy types and haunting background music, Skovos has quickly become my favorite region of all Diablo 4.
Lord of Hatred's campaign concludes Diablo 4's story with a lot to offer series fans
I won't go into story spoilers for Lord of Hatred's campaign, but what I will say is that it feels specifically written for too long Diablo fans. The story of Vessel of Hatred always felt serviceable but nothing special in my eyes, leaving many threads hanging for the next expansion to follow up. Lord of Hatred is the definitive conclusion to all plot points created by Diablo 4s base game and Vessel of Hatred campaigns, and it's definitely pulling out all the stops to make it as epic a finale as possible.
The action in Lord of Hatred is much more compelling and has a greater sense of urgency than Vessel of Hatred, with higher stakes and some serious twists. However, there are a couple of moments that may be controversial among fans. While I had no problem with these moments and understood how they contribute to the story, others may see them as undermining the story that Vessel of Hatred creates.
The Warlock Class steals the show in Lord of Hatred
For many fans, myself included, the real meat and potatoes of Lord of Hatred are the new classes that the expansion adds. Paladin has been a joy to experience over the past few seasons, but my feelings for Paladin are nothing compared to my newfound love for Warlock. In my preview of Diablo 4's Warlock, I said Warlock has the potential to become my new favorite class, following in the footsteps of my beloved Necromancer. Having experienced Warlock in the context of Lord of Hatred, complete with access to its full Skill Tree, I'm happy to report that Diablo 4 knocked it out of the park with class, and I can easily see it becoming one of the most powerful in the entire series.
I ran a Legion Shard Warlock that emphasized demonological skills to summon wielders from the Burning Hells into battle, and it felt like the best summoner archetype I've ever played Diablo. The combination of the Command Fallen Basic Skill and the Bombardment Core Skill meant I could constantly blast enemies with exploding demons for an incredibly satisfying way to kill Mephisto's servants. There was no greater feeling than summoning the fiend of Abaddon with the Warlock's Ultimate Skill and having a massive demon swing a blade in a wide radius to cut through the enemy hordes.
Diablo 4's new skill tree is an acquired taste, but it's for the best
The Diablo 4 The Skill Tree overhaul and leveling that comes as a free update with Lord of Hatred's launch are probably the most drastic changes I've experienced in my time with the expansion. Gone are the traditional passive nodes of the current skill tree, and in their place are new modifiers that allow players to change how specific active skills work. For example, each skill has two nodes, each with two options for players to choose from that feature the skill upgrades of the current tree, plus a final node for each skill that has the potential to change the skill's type in addition to changing how it behaves.
Overall, I think this change is for the best and will help to diversify Diablo 4 builds in the future. More synergies will become available as skill types can be changed to take advantage of Uniques that only affect one type of skill. However, it will definitely take some time to fully adapt to this new skill tree, and builders will have to approach the process in a whole new way.
I could also look at the skill trees for others Diablo 4 classes during this review period, and I think there will likely be a shift in the meta-viability of some previously underpowered builds when Lord of Hatred launches.
The new Talisman and Charms mechanic essentially acts as a replacement for passives i Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred. Players can plug charms into the Talisman to gain passive effects from them, and by using Set Charms, players can achieve Set bonuses. These set bonuses seem to have class-specific effects, so they'll likely be the go-to charms for most of the game's meta builds.
The Horadric Cube is a Game Changer in Lord of Hatred
Aside from the new classes, I think the Horadric Cube is the most impactful addition to Diablo 4 in The Lord of the Hat. Having access to this feature really streamlines the gear upgrade process, as the Horadric Cube allows for everything from adding and rerolling mounts on a piece of gear to instantly converting it to a higher grade. As a result, I think this feature will be a huge improvement Diablo 4s constant specification problems, making it so that any equipment can be useful.
To this end, common items suddenly have a real use outside of the very early hours of a new character, as they are the only type of gear that can be transformed into a unique one using the Horadric Cube. Another example of the Horadric Cube's improved spec came when I found a magic grade Ancestral Amulet, which would normally have been useless since a legendary or unique amulet has more affixes. However, I was able to add mounts to this amulet using the Horadric Cube to convert it into a legendary that could have actually been useful on my build.
Diablo 4's endgame has never felt better in Lord of Hatred
I was very impressed with how streamlined Diablo 4s endgame has become with the additions of Lord of Hatred. War Plans condenses these activities into an overarching system that goes beyond the meta-progression of obtaining Uniques and Mythic alongside Rune farming, to create a tangible progression system via its unlockable modifiers. When players participate in any of the endgame activities included in the Warplans, they will help level them up and unlock points that can be used to upgrade those activities with various modifiers, such as buffing Bartuc and the Fell Council in Infernal Hordes in exchange for more drops when they are defeated.
The endgame offers an even greater challenge in Lord of Hatred with the addition of Torment 12 as the maximum Torment difficulty level in Diablo 4. These new Torment levels are tied directly to the levels in The Pit of the Artificer, giving players even more of a reason to venture into the furthest reaches of the Pit. Echoing Hatred is another challenging event that offers increasingly useful rewards the more waves players can survive. I peaked at wave 48 when I tested this activity, and I think the rewards were nice, but gameplay-wise it's not that different from Infernal Hordes.
Fishing was a feature that really surprised me during my time with Lord of Hatred. As soon as I was tasked with unlocking it, I was immediately distracted from my quest to stop Mephisto's corruption of Skovos and spent my time finding as many new fish as I could. As someone with an insatiable desire to collect things, this mechanic was right up my alley.
I really enjoyed my time with Lord of Hatred and think it goes a long way to improve Diablo 4 experience as a whole. While I could nitpick a few issues here and there, the pack as a whole is an impressive expansion that offers plenty of welcome features and challenges to keep Diablo 4 players engaged in endgame content for hundreds more hours. I can easily see Lord of Hatred becoming one of the most loved expansions in Diablo franchise.
Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred launches on April 28 for PC, PlayStation and Xbox consoles. GameRant was given access to a pre-release PC build for review.
