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Diablo 4 Preload 2.18/1.118 Released for Season of Hell’s Legacy Data

by Alex Co September 14, 2026 6:50 pm in News

Over the weekend, we mentioned how Diablo 4’s Season of Hell’s Legacy content update will drop tomorrow, September 15.

To help the servers, Blizzard has released Diablo 4 preload 2.18/1.118, which houses the new season’s data ahead of launch.

Below are the new features and content, and even the major changes made straight from the PTR (Private Test Realm).

There’s a ton to chew through, so get a cold drink and dive in!

Diablo 4 Preload Version 2.18/1.118 for Season of Hell’s Legacy Out on September 14

The tl;dr is as follows:

Face the Prime Evils in the Seasonal Questline: Collect the three Splinters of Evil by defeating echoes of Diablo beneath Tristram Cathedral, Baal at Arreat Summit, and Mephisto within the Durance of Hate. Choose which Prime Evil’s power to bear and build reputation through War Plans tied to that Splinter.
Waking Nightmares: Rebuilt with updated visuals for Diablo IV, these three types of encounters recreate memories from the franchise’s 30-year history, from multi-level Capstone dungeons to surprise one-room boss encounters in the open world.
Soul Splinters: Equip up to three of eight new Soul Splinters, including Splinter of Sin (Azmodan) and Splinter of the Mother (Lilith), each offering a powerful boon alongside a demonic liability.
Shared War Plans: War Plans reputation earned on one character now shares across eligible alts on the same account, and Season 14 progress carries over to Eternal when the season changes on September 15.
Legacy Uniques: Wield nine fabled relics reborn as permanent additions to the game, including Messerschmidt’s Reaver, the Stone of Jordan, and Henri’s Perquisition.
30th Anniversary Battle Pass Reliquary: Celebrate three decades of Diablo with cosmetics inspired by iconic heroes and villains, including the Eidolon Mount and, for the first time, class-specific Armor Reliquary sets.
Diablo IV x The Witcher 3: Players who pre-purchase or buy Songs of the Past on Battle.net will unlock a Geralt-themed skin in Diablo IV to mark The Witcher 3’s arrival on the platform.
Twitch Drops & Xbox Game Pass: Watch any Diablo IV stream for two hours between September 15 and September 29 to earn the Deforestation Two-Handed Axe cosmetic. Xbox Game Pass subscribers can claim more than 50 cosmetics by linking their Battle.net account.

For a broader look at what to expect, check out our breakdown.

Season of Hell’s Legacy Main Features

Prime Evil Seasonal Questline
- Deckard Cain returns as the story introduces three Dark Wanderers tied to Diablo, Baal, and Mephisto.
- Defeat echoes of the three Prime Evils to obtain their Soul Splinters.
- Choose one Prime Evil’s power and build reputation through related activities.
- Diablo affects Helltides/Infernal Hordes, Baal affects The Undercity/Lair Bosses, and Mephisto affects The Pit/Nightmare Dungeons. All three affect the Tree of Whispers.
- Each Splinter grants an Iconic Power, but also makes you more vulnerable to that Prime Evil.
Waking Nightmares
- New encounters recreating iconic events from Diablo’s history.
- Includes large multi-level Capstone dungeons, standard dungeons, and smaller open-world encounters featuring classic bosses and enemies.
- Higher-level versions become available as pinnacle Capstones at Torment 10+.
Soul Splinters
- Eight special gems tied to demons and artifacts, including Andariel, Azmodan, Belial, Duriel, Lilith, Na-Krul, Skarn, and the Black Soulstone.
- Up to three can be equipped.
- They can be upgraded using the Horadric Cube.

Endgame & Crafting

Shared War Plans
- War Plans reputation is now shared between qualifying characters on the same account.
- Sharing applies across the same Seasonal/Eternal, Hardcore/Non-Hardcore, and SSF/Non-SSF partitions.
- Each character still maintains its own planner and allocation choices.
Mythic Unique Crafting Rework
- Mythic crafting becomes more deterministic.
- The new Upgrade Direct Item to Mythic Cube recipe transfers an item’s affixes, Tempering, and Masterworking directly into its Mythic version.
- These items receive a Crafted tag, with only one Crafted-tag item allowed to be equipped.
- A new Blacksmith cache specifically targeting Iconic Mythics is also being added.
New Horadric Cube Recipes
- Affix Value Reroll: rerolls base affixes while protecting Greater Affixes, Enchantments, Tempers, and eligible Transfigurations.
- Horadric Reroll: randomizes base affixes on Legendary+ Charms and Seals without affecting their Set Bonuses or Unique/Mythic powers.

New Legacy Uniques

Nine returning-style Uniques are being permanently added, including:

Leoric’s Crown
Nemesis Bracers
Stone of Jordan
Squirt’s Blouse
Arioc’s Needle
Henri’s Perquisition
In-Geom
The Furnace
Messerschmidt’s Reaver

Some can also appear as Unique Charms.

Quality-of-Life Features

Horadric Post: delivers rewards, supplies, messages, and commemorative items directly to players.
Rebirth: lets players convert an Eternal character into a Seasonal character at level 1 while retaining its class, name, appearance, state, cosmetics, and accumulated playtime. Gear must be removed first.

Season Progression

9 Season Ranks and 125 objectives.
Rewards include:
- Up to 14 Skill Points
- Up to 42 Paragon Points
- Up to 10 Resplendent Sparks
- 5 Mythic Unique Caches
- Dark Wanderbear pet
- Mount trophy, emblems, titles, crafting materials, keys, Runes, Sigils, Charms, and Seals.
Season Blessings provide bonuses to:
- Purveyor of Curiosities
- Salvaging
- Masterworking materials
- Glyph upgrades
- Ancestral Whisper caches.

Other Additions

Battle Pass Reliquary: adds Diablo-themed cosmetics, including the Eidolon Mount and class-specific armor sets.
Twitch Drops: Watch 2 hours of Diablo IV streams between September 15–29 to earn the Deforestation Two-Handed Axe cosmetic.
Game Pass: subscribers who link their Battle.net and Game Pass accounts gain access to 50+ cosmetics across classes.
Diablo IV × The Witcher 3: Players who pre-purchase or buy Songs of the Past on Battle.net will receive a Geralt-themed Diablo IV skin.

Diablo 4 Season of Hell’s Legacy Balance Changes, Bug Fixes

Overall / PTR Fixes

Fixed numerous issues with Legacy Uniques, Soul Splinters, Talismans, Loot Filters, Transmogs and Waking Nightmares.
Fixed several interactions involving Leoric’s Crown, Stone of Jordan, Nemesis Bracers, Squirt’s Blouse, In-Geom and Henri’s Perquisition.

Barbarian

Overall nerf, targeting the class’s strong performance:

Strength damage scaling reduced 1.1 → 0.8% per 10 Strength.
Madawc damage heavily reduced on Rallying Cry and Call of the Ancients.
Two-Handed Sword Bleeding bonus cut 30% → 15%.
Major Paragon damage bonuses reduced, including Disembowel, Crusher, Hemorrhage and Blood Rage.
Writhing and Battle-Mad Aspects nerfed.
Raid Leader’s Aspect now also grants Damage Reduction.
Several Uniques adjusted:
- Ring of the Ravenous redesigned around Rend/Scorching.
- Ring of Red Furor requires only 30 Fury instead of 100 for its guaranteed Crit.
- Ramaladni’s Magnum Opus now drains a percentage of Maximum Fury only while in combat.
- Rage of Harrogath gets faster cooldown reduction.
Numerous Barbarian skill, weapon, Aspect and Unique bugs fixed.

Druid

Major buffs and build diversification:

Willpower scaling increased 1.25 → 1.625% per 10 Willpower.
Human Form gains Resource Regeneration.
Grizzly Rage now includes Cornered Beast’s effect, while its Variant increases the maximum bonus further.
Lightning Storm is no longer forced to land in confined spaces.
Shifter’s Aspect now grants Damage Reduction when changing forms.
Major buffs to Greatstaff of the Crone, Fleshrender, Airidah’s Inexorable Will and Dolmen Stone.
Several Druid Talismans receive major improvements, particularly Nafain’s Bestiary and Rush of the Red Wolf Moon.
Numerous Druid interaction and survivability bugs fixed.

Necromancer

Broad buff pass aimed at bringing more builds into the meta:

Intelligence scaling increased 1.25 → 1.625%.
Army of the Dead can now stack up to five times and spawn additional Volatile Skeletons.
Major buffs to Blood Surge, Blood Lance, Blood Wave, Bone Spear, Bone Spikes and Corpse Explosion.
Corpse Explosion’s damage and Miasma damage receive substantial increases.
Soulrift gets more damage, a shorter cooldown and a major redesign focused on Darkness builds.
Exhumation, Sacrificial and Blood-drinker Glyphs improved.
Major buffs to several Aspects and Uniques, including Ebonpiercer, The Unmaker, Deathless Visage and Hangman’s Hand.
Rathma’s Waking Touch shifts toward broader Summoning builds instead of being focused almost exclusively on Army of the Dead.
Overpower gameplay is redesigned around generating and spending stacks rather than simply maintaining maximum stacks.
Numerous Necromancer Minion, Bone, Blood and Darkness bugs fixed.

Paladin

Large buff package, particularly for Judgment builds:

Strength scaling increased 1.25 → 1.625%.
Judgment now scales with the Skill Rank that applies it.
Holy Bolt, Blessed Shield, Divine Lance, Zeal and Shield Bash receive buffs.
Divine Lance and Shield Bash receive particularly large damage increases.
Paladin Oaths receive damage buffs, including Judicator, Disciple, Juggernaut and Zealot.
Judgment-focused Aspects receive substantial improvements.
Cathedral Song redesigned around consuming Judgment rather than Lucky Hit.
Heaven’s Radiant Fire and Cathan’s Righteous Will Talismans improved.
Damage-over-Time affixes are removed from Paladin items, and X’Fal’s Corroded Signet can no longer be equipped by Paladin.

Rogue

Cutthroat-focused buffs and quality-of-life improvements:

Flurry’s Encircling Blades gets a significant damage increase.
Smoke Grenade’s Shade variant now benefits from Combo Point bonuses.
Surgical and Focused Paragon nodes redesigned.
Tricks of the Trade now provides broader bonuses across Rogue skill types.
Grenadier’s Aspect and Artful Initiative receive damage buffs.
Poisonous Clouds now also reduces damage dealt by poisoned enemies.
Pitfighter’s Gull, Condemnation and Deathmask of Nirmitruq improved.
Combo Point spending Tempering damage dramatically increased: 3–4.5% → 10–15%.
Numerous Combo Point, Imbuement, Shadow Clone and Dance of Knives bugs fixed.

Sorcerer

Cold builds receive the biggest focus:

Intelligence scaling increased 1.25 → 1.625%.
Ball Lightning can be cast while moving.
Deep Freeze gets additional Ice Spikes.
Frostball no longer requires Frozen enemies but has fewer/weaker Ice Spikes.
Ice Shards gains additional damage.
Meteor receives major damage increases across several variants.
Several Cold-focused Legendary Aspects receive large buffs.
Blue Rose damage significantly increased and Shanar’s Resonance gains the Glacier variant.
Tirahj’s Uncanny Insight and Breath of the Frozen Sea receive substantial set buffs.
Enchantment Master is redesigned to simplify same-element vs. different-element interactions.
Numerous Frostbite, Flame Shield, healing and Aspect bugs fixed.

Spiritborn

Large buff package designed to offset specific nerfs:

Numerous Core and Potency skills receive damage increases.
Rock Splitter, Thunderspike, Thrash, Rake, Stinger, Quill Volley, Crushing Hand, Touch of Death and Razor Wings are among the biggest beneficiaries.
New Paragon Board: Swarm of Storms, focused on Pestilent Swarms and Spirit Storms.
Numerous Paragon Legendary Nodes receive significant damage buffs.
Thorns builds receive major improvements.
Aspect of Supremacy maximum post-Ultimate stacks reduced 30 → 15.
Tzic Rune bug fixed, removing an unintended massive damage increase.
Sunbird’s Gorget duration increased 8 → 12 seconds.
Sepazontec, Rod of Kepeleke, Sunstained War-crozier and Wushe Nak Pa all receive major buffs.
Numerous Thorns, Spirit Storm and skill interaction bugs fixed.

Warlock

One of the largest buff/rework packages:

Numerous Demon, Archfiend, Summon and Sigil skills receive substantial damage increases.
Bombardment becomes a Summon Skill and gains damage/radius.
Several skills can now be cast while moving.
Doom’s scaling and burst damage greatly increased.
Dread Claws becomes a Greater Demon Skill.
Fiend of Abaddon receives major damage and scaling buffs.
Infernal Breath gets significant damage/radius improvements.
Metamorphosis is substantially reworked, including its Sin Demon variant.
Numerous Soul Shards receive major damage and targeting improvements.
New Superiority Glyph added.
Dynamism now boosts Summon damage outside Demonform while reducing its Demonform scaling.
Many Legendary Aspects are buffed or redesigned, including Overwhelming, Nefarious, Misanthropic and Ominous.
Numerous Warlock Uniques receive major buffs/reworks.

General Item Changes

All Unique items can now drop at Level 1 and in any Difficulty.
Lair Boss Mythic drops are more targeted to their respective loot pools.
Mythic Unique drop rates increased from several sources.
Echo of Mephisto now has improved loot and a guaranteed Mythic drop.
Azurewrath redesigned and buffed.
Banished Lord’s Talisman redesigned around consuming Overpower.
Melted Heart of Selig nerfed.
Razorplate heavily buffed for Thorns.
Tibault’s Will Resource Regeneration reduced.
Wendigo Brand redesigned around Attack Speed.

Talismans

A large number of existing Uniques can now be converted into Unique Charms.
Several of the new Legacy Uniques—including Arioc’s Needle, Henri’s Perquisition, In-Geom, Nemesis Bracers, Squirt’s Blouse, Stone of Jordan and The Furnace—can also become Unique Charms.

Resistances

Single-element Resistance affixes receive a major increase in value.
Single Resistance is now 7× the value of All Resistance.
All Resistance Tempering values were retuned accordingly.

Crafting

Horadric Cube material drop rates adjusted around Primordial Dust.
Royal Gem Forgotten Soul cost: 30 → 10.
Grand Gem cost: 300 → 50.
Ancestral enchanting cost: 25 → 10 Forgotten Souls.
Magic Tribute crafting cost reduced 200 → 100 Sigil Powder.
Infernal Horde Compass cost reduced 666 → 500 Sigil Powder.
Salvaging higher-tier Tributes now returns substantially more Sigil Powder.

Endgame / Activity Updates

Echo of Mephisto: better loot + guaranteed Mythic.
Kurast Undercity: more Forgotten Souls and XP; several reward bugs fixed.
Torment X+: Elite enemies drop significantly more Gem Fragments and have a higher chance to drop Royal Gems.
The Pit: significantly more XP, including higher rewards at high tiers; Tier 150 bonus XP increased 1800% → 2700%.
War Plans: substantially more XP, with Torment X+ baseline XP doubled from 2 → 4 or more depending on node type.
Numerous Dungeon, Helltide, Infernal Horde and War Plans bugs fixed

Once the patch is live tomorrow, expect it here on MP1st.

Don’t forget, Blizzard has confirmed they are no longer releasing story expansions for Diablo 4 due to Diablo 5, though we are getting the Amazon class next year as paid DLC.