All Diablo 4 seasonal questlines explained – from Vampires to Witches

Every Diablo 4 season expands the story with a brand new questline. While some are more important than others, here’s every seasonal questline explained so far. Spoilers for both Diablo 4 and Vessel of Hatred lurk below.

When a new season of Diablo 4 rolls around it always has a new theme, gameplay mechanic, and story that takes place after the defeat of Lilith, with the first 5 seasons taking place chronologically before the Vessel of Hatred expansion.

With Season 6 taking place during the DLC and everything after Season 7 taking place after Mephisto’s return, we thought now may be a good time to keep track of each of Diablo’s seasons.

While some involve very basic side stories and gimmicks that have little bearing on the narrative, others contain crucial developments that could become important in a future season or expansion.

Seasonal quests are generally removed at the end of a season, but aspects of them live on or their mechanics are brought back in a later season or added to the Eternal Realm.

Season 1: Malignant Hearts

Season 1 took place shortly after the defeat of Lilith and saw a new demon lord called Varshan rise to power. Varshan wanted to use the power of Malignant Hearts to corrupt Sanctuary, but the Wanderer used them against him and banished the villain back to Hell.

From a story point of view, not much changed in Season 1. However, Varshan could always return in a future story update. Malignant Hearts allowed players to wield special abilities to enhance their builds and were a welcome addition to the game.

Varshan can still be fought as an Echoe of Uber boss in the game and while Malignant Hearts were removed from the game, they were brought back as rings so players could continue to use them in other ways.

Season 2: Vampire Powers

The second season of Diablo 2 is still a fan-favorite over a year later. Season 2 replaced Malignant Hearts with Vampire Powers, which were not only even cooler but there were more of them.

The story saw the Wanderer get infected by the vampire curse but for some reason, they didn’t turn to darkness. Instead, they were able to use the vampire’s abilities against them, essentially becoming Sanctuary’s version of Blade.

Season 2 also added a new boss, the vampire Lord Zir who led the assault, trying to take advantage of the chaos left in the wake of both Lilith and Varshan’s rampages. Naturally, he was defeated, but Zir continues to exist in the game as an Uber boss.

Vampire Powers were brought back in Season 3 by popular demand, but this time as Aspects that players can find, salvage from items, and apply to their gear.

From a story point of view, Season 2 could be very important to the future of Diablo 4. Many players strongly suspect that the Wanderer is a Nephalem, which is why they are immune to the vampire curse. This is something Mephisto also hinted at during his boss fight in Vessel of Hatred.

The vampire menace also still exists in Sanctuary, despite their defeat in Season 2, so they could always make a comeback – after all, they were a popular enemy.

Season 3: The Seneschal Companion

Season 3 wasn’t as well received as Season 2, but it was still an excellent season from a lore and gameplay point of view. After uncovering the vaults of the ancient sorcerer (and Diablo 3 frenemy) Zoltun Kulle, many of Kulle’s robot “constructs” became possessed and went on a rampage.

The Wanderer teamed up with a little robot spider called the Seneschal Companion to combat these threats and were able to customize this follower with a range of upgrades. Eventually, Kulle’s constructs were destroyed or deactivated, and the Seneschal Companion went back to sleep.

This gameplay mechanic hasn’t been seen since Season 3, but with pets and Mercenaries being added to the game since, we think it’s time for the Seneschal Companion to return in some form.

Season 4: Loot Reborn

Season 4 went back to basics and provided a full overhaul of the game’s loot system, drastically improving it. However, the season was light on content and new gameplay mechanics.

While the season’s story did see the Wanderer reconnect with the Iron Wolves, telling a side story about this legendary group of mercenaries, this was mostly just a backdrop to the Seasonal Journey rather than a new set of quests.

Season 5: Infernal Hordes

With its loot system fixed, Season 5 offered a new endgame mode called Infernal Hordes. These were essentially challenge rooms where players could unlock increasingly powerful items after slaying waves of enemies. Infernal Hordes was a popular endgame mode and continues to exist in the game now.

This made Season 5 very different from previous seasons in that it didn’t offer a new type of power or customizable enhancement for the character. However, Season 5 did add a new questline that saw Lilith’s cultists trying to redeem themselves by joining forces with the Wanderer.

Not only did this exciting questline serve as a prologue to Vessel of Hatred, but it was also the first seasonal questline to be playable in the Eternal Realm, players could enjoy it with any character making it feel like a mini-expansion.

Season 6: Hatred Rises

Season 6 of Diablo 4 launched alongside the Vessel of Hared expansion, and while it did involve a new Seasonal Journey and story, this was mostly just a backdrop, with the season relying on the DLC for the bulk of its content.

However, Season 6 did add Realmwalkers to the game. These hulking monsters appeared in Helltide events and took a lot of attacks to bring down. They also made Helltides more interesting after players were becoming bored of them.

Realmwalkers were removed from the game after Season 6, but there’s every chance that they could be brought back in the Eternal Realm or in a later season. They were especially useful when it came to accessing Infernal Hordes, with the two seasonal gimmicks working well together.

Season 7: Powers of Witchcraft

Season 7 added Witch Powers to the game that let the player unleash a range of cool spells and craft some new builds from them. These abilities were similar to Vampire Powers, so it’ll be interesting to see if Blizzard brings them back as rings, Aspects, or as in some other form in future seasons or the Eternal Realm.

From a lore point of view, Season 7 takes place after the Vessel of Hatred expansion and sees Mephisto’s minions trying to corrupt the Tree of Whispers as revenge for the entity siding with humanity over Hell. It involves several of the talking heads going missing while the Wanderer races to find them.

The story is mostly just another backdrop for the Seasonal Journey rather than a brand new questline like Season 5 delivered, but it was more similar to Seasons 1, 2, and 3 rather than being as basic as 4 and 6.

It’ll be fun to see if Season 8 and future updates to Diablo 4 set the characters off on the hunt for Mephisto now that the Prime Evil has taken over the body of Akarat. We’ve also predicted what will happen in future content.