[GameSpot] - Diablo 3 Season 25 Will Let You Harness The Power Of The Lords Of Hell

[343iBot]

Diablo III's 25th season, in celebration of the franchise's 25th anniversary, will let players embrace the powers of the Lords of Hell via a new type of socketable item: Soul Shards.

As detailed by Blizzard, season 25 introduces seven unique Soul Shards for players to find and upgrade. Three of the shards are inspired by the franchise's three Prime Evils, aka Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal. The remaining four are regarded as Lesser Evil Soul Shards, and players can only have one Prime Evil Shard and Lesser Evil shard equipped at a time. Prime Evil shards are socketed into helms, while Lesser Evil shards are socketed into weapons.

These various Soul Shards have a wide range of gameplay-augmenting abilities. The Sliver of Terror Soul Shard, for example, increases the length of ability cooldowns but grants damage reduction for each ability on cooldown. The shards can be upgraded for additional benefits using a new seasonal item called Hellforge Embers. While Soul Shards and Hellforge Embers can technically be found anywhere in the game (as long as you are playing a seasonal character), Soul Shards have a much higher drop chance from bosses.

The new Soul Shards are the star of the season by far, but all the usual seasonal content fans have come to expect is also here. There are exclusive cosmetics items and pets to unlock for completing various seasonal challenges, and completing certain chapters of the season journey will unlock an endgame gear set for players' seasonal character of choice.

Diablo III season 25 starts on December 10 on all platforms. In other Diablo news, Diablo II: Resurrected recently received an action bar, as Blizzard continues to update the game in response to ongoing server issues and fan feedback. Diablo IV, which does not currently have a release date, is now expected to release even later than originally planned, according to a recent Activision Blizzard earnings call. The delay comes amidst ongoing sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits and investigations at Activision Blizzard. Diablo IV has recently found a new game director in Joe Shely, who previously served as a lead designer for Diablo III, following former game director Luis Barriga's departure from Blizzard.

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