Blizzard released Season 8 of Diablo 4, titled “Belial’s Return,” on April 29, 2025, bringing sweeping changes to the game through Patch 2.2.0. This update introduces a new boss, revamped systems, and significant balance adjustments across all character classes.
The arrival of Belial, the Lord of Lies, marks the centerpiece of this season. This challenging new endgame boss exists in multiple forms, with players needing to defeat his smaller ambush form to gain access to his supreme version, which promises the highest rewards in the game.
Lair Boss System Gets Complete Overhaul
The Lair Boss system received a major rework. Players no longer need specific materials to summon these bosses, making them more accessible. When defeated, Lair Bosses now spawn a “Hoard” chest containing loot that players must use “Hoard Keys” to access.
Blizzard has also categorized Lair Bosses into three tiers:
- Initiate Lair Bosses: Beast in the Ice, Grigoire, Lord Zir, Varshan, and Urivar
- Greater Lair Bosses: Andariel, Duriel, and Harbringer of Hatred
- Exalted Lair Bosses: Belial, Lord of Lies
The change aims to make standard Unique items readily attainable through Initiate and Greater Lair Bosses, while Ancestral Unique items are primarily obtained by defeating Belial.
New Seasonal Mechanic: Boss Powers
Season 8 introduces Boss Powers, allowing players to acquire and use abilities from defeated bosses. There are 24 distinct Boss Powers across three rarity tiers (10 Magic, 9 Rare, 5 Legendary). Players can equip one main power and up to three modifiers, creating new build possibilities.
For example, Lilith’s power creates blisters on enemies that explode for massive damage when destroyed, while Duriel’s power lets players burrow underground to dodge attacks and emerge with a powerful strike.
Similar Posts
Reliquary System Replaces Battle Pass
The traditional Battle Pass has been replaced with the new Reliquary system. Players earn Favor Tokens by killing monsters and completing quests, then use these tokens to unlock rewards within different categories. Both free and premium tiers are available.
The new system has been a focal point of community discussion as players adjust to the different reward structure compared to the previous Battle Pass.
Extensive Class Balance Changes
All five classes received substantial balance updates:
- Barbarian: Whirlwind damage increased from 32% to 52%, making the skill more viable for endgame builds.
- Druid: Companion abilities received significant buffs, with Ravens’ passive damage nearly tripled from 31% to 90%.
- Necromancer: Blood Lance now always spreads to another enemy, even when hitting a non-Lanced enemy, improving its crowd control capabilities.
- Rogue: The Death Trap cooldown increased from 50 to 60 seconds, but killing or Overpowering an enemy reduces this cooldown by 10 seconds.
- Sorcerer: Several skill improvements, including better targeting for Lightning Spear and Ice Shards.
Spiritborn players will see improvements to several skills, with Rushing Claw’s damage increased from 60% to 80% and Sepazontec’s damage boosted from 50-100% to 80-130%, along with the new Sunbird’s Gorget unique item that creates a firestorm around the player.
Berserk Collaboration
Starting May 6, 2025, players can participate in a special collaboration with the popular Berserk manga. During this event, players can obtain Behelits by defeating enemies and trade them for unique rewards like the Hawks Destiny Back Trophy or Skull Knight’s Heraldry Mount Armor.
Quality of Life Improvements
The update includes numerous quality-of-life changes:
- Improved inventory and stash auto-sorting, prioritizing items by rarity and Greater Affixes
- Players can now quickly teleport to party members through the Social menu
- Cosmetic items can be unlocked while playing any class
- Experience rewards have been adjusted to create a better early-game progression pace
Last-Minute Changes
Just before launch, Blizzard made additional adjustments to balance various aspects of the game. These included reducing the damage of certain Boss Powers like Andariel’s Flaming Skull (from 1800% to 450%) and Belial’s Eye Beams (from 1750% to 438%).
The final version of Belial received a health and damage increase based on player feedback from the test server, along with new tricks like a second slam attack during the first phase of the encounter.
Season 8 of Diablo 4 represents a significant step forward for the game, with its focus on more accessible boss encounters, interesting new powers, and improved class balance. As players dive into the new content, the true impact of these changes on the game’s meta and player experience will become clearer in the weeks ahead.