In any Diablo game, players eventually descend into the depths of Hell. So it was perhaps somewhat surprising that it took Diablo 4 more than a year to introduce players to this realm. Even more surprising was that this terrifying moment did not appear in a major story expansion, but was presented as part of seasonal content.

Specifically, Diablo 4 Season 5, named Season of the Infernal Hordes, is scheduled to officially launch on August 7. The core content of this season is randomized raids on Hell that players can participate in repeatedly.

Infernal Hordes

In Diablo 4 Season 5, Infernal Hordes brings a new permanent endgame mode to the game. This mode debuted in the game’s Public Test Realm a month ago. In this mode, players will face a steady stream of demonic attackers in the depths of Hell.

Infernal Hordes is designed primarily as a multiplayer experience, but it also supports single-player. The core mechanic of this mode is that with each wave of enemies defeated, the player can choose from three Infernal Offerings. These offerings can provide additional rewards or greater challenges. This design is designed to continuously push the tension and complexity of the game, forcing players to face more tough battles while pursuing higher rewards.

Endgame Challenge

At the end of the game, the player will face a boss battle with 10 different combinations. The opponent in this battle is a secret organization called Fell Council, which consists of five demonic priests. These priests first appeared in Diablo 2. In the game, the player will fight three priests randomly in each encounter.

If this challenge is not exciting enough, special events may occur randomly in the game, causing some large bosses to break into the battle scene midway through the game. This includes a particularly terrifying version of Diablo 4 - a butcher with his whole body on fire. For less experienced new players, you can upgrade your equipment to fight these terrifying bosses by spending Diablo 4 Gold.

Related: Diablo 4 Season 5: What Builds Are Worth Trying? - 5 Best Builds Explained

Design For Infernal Hordes

The lead season designer once said that during the game design process, more attention was paid to the replayability of the game, especially for the end-game mode of the game. And chose to add some random and memorable elements to the game, which could be favors and disasters, or Butcher-like events, etc.

Another designer involved in the production of Infernal Hordes said. I hope to use the setting of the boss to ensure that players have a unique experience every time they play the game, and they can’t just rush in blindly and steamroll everything.

This sounds like a balance challenge, although pushing the five members of Fell Council to complement each other has largely solved this problem. For example, Maffer is a powerful bruiser, and Geleb is a caster who only uses fire attacks.

But for Bremm, the lightning guy, he goes from another pure elemental caster to a character who creates storm-themed hazards in space, allowing players to find their own way out, so that they can cooperate with others.

Enriching Endgame Experience

Infernal Hordes, Diablo 4’s endgame mode, is only available at World Tier 3 difficulty, and players must reach around level 50 to unlock it. This is usually not a problem for long-term players of the game, as they are often already well above this level. However, for players participating in Seasonal Realms, they will start at level 1 on August 6 and will need a journey to reach World Tier 3.

To this end, the game has designed a series of seasonal questlines and progressions to help these players gradually upgrade to World Tier 3. The core of this series of quests is a special dungeon - Hellbreach, which is exclusive to Season 5. In Hellbreach, players will experience a simplified version of Infernal Hordes game, which can prepare players for their subsequent game content.

However, Infernal Hordes is designed to be a permanent feature in Diablo 4 with the purpose of enriching the game’s endgame experience. Season 5 seems to be following in the footsteps of Season 4, which was focused on changes to the game’s loot system, with less focus on season-specific content and features, and more on introducing some permanent changes to improve the overall gameplay experience.

Season 4 intentionally left one area of ​​Diablo 4’s item system unadjusted. The game’s unique items, which have specific build-changing effects, cannot be modified through the game’s crafting system, unlike legendary items.

In Season 4, balance designers chose not to make any adjustments to unique items, deciding instead to observe the impact of other changes to the game. In Season 5, unique items have undergone significant improvements and buffs to address the previous retention issues.

There has been much speculation about the storyline connection between Season of the Infernal Hordes and Diablo 4’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, which is set to launch on October 8. That expansion will introduce a new Spiritborn class.

Season 5 is seen as a continuation of Season 4’s efforts to further optimize the game’s balance, itemization, and endgame. If even half of these tweaks can be implemented, the game will be in great shape come October, when it hits its critical juncture.