Diablo 4 is lurking just around the corner. After a monumental 11-year wait, the beloved dungeon-crawling mega-franchise is finally returning for its fourth entry. A lot has changed in those 11 years, however. While Diablo 3 offered innovations such as PVP battles and the disastrous-but-ambitious real-money auction house, Diablo 4 blends the series’ legacy with trends that have defined the games industry in recent years, including a live-service ‘seasons’ content structure, and the addition of a Battle Pass system. For die-hard fans and series newcomers alike, the details of this Battle Pass will be of prime importance going into the full release of the game on June 6. Here’s everything we know about the Diablo 4 Battle Pass, including its cost, the rewards it offers, and how long it is.
Full details of Diablo 4’s Battle Pass
How much does Diablo 4’s Battle Pass cost?
Image via Blizzard
As with many live-service games, Diablo 4 will offer a new Battle Pass for each of its in-game seasons, the first of which begins in “mid to late July” of this year, according to Blizzard. There are three tiers of Battle Pass available to players:
- Free Battle Pass
- Premium Battle Pass
- Accelerated Battle Pass
The Free Battle Pass, naturally, costs nothing. The Premium Battle Pass costs 1,000 Platinum (a premium in-game currency), which is equivalent to $9.99. The accelerated Battle Pass costs 2,800 Platinum, equivalent to $24.99. It’s worth noting that Platinum can only be obtained via real-money purchases, meaning the Premium and Accelerated Battle Passes are exclusive to players who spend extra on the game.
What rewards can you receive from Diablo 4’s Battle Pass?
Image via Blizzard
Diablo 4’s Battle Pass rewards vary based on the Battle Pass you choose. If you opt for the Free Battle Pass, you’ll get access to 27 tiers of rewards, comprised of cosmetic items and a resource called Smoldering Ashes. Smoldering Ashes can be spent on Season Blessings, passive buffs that last until the end of the in-game season they’re activated in. These provide you with bonuses to earning XP, Gold, or Obols, depending on which Blessings you choose. These Blessings can be mixed and matched, and even upgraded via additional Smoldering Ashes, but it’s worth noting that Smoldering Ashes can only be claimed from the Battle Pass if you meet certain level requirements: a neat way of gating player power and not creating a disadvantage for those on the Free Battle Pass.
If you choose the Premium Battle Pass, you’ll gain access to an additional 63 tiers of rewards, containing season-exclusive cosmetic items and additional Platinum. While we mentioned above that Platinum can only be obtained through real-money purchases, once you’ve purchased the Premium Battle Pass you’ll be able to get more Platinum from that, which will likely allow you to purchase the next season’s Battle Pass if you progress far enough through the tiers. This is just conjecture at this point, but it’s likely given that other live service titles employ a similar structure.
Finally, the Accelerated Battle Pass offers the same set of rewards as the Premium Battle Pass, along with one additional “special” cosmetic item, and 20 Tier Skips. These will let you progress through the cosmetic rewards in the Battle Pass sooner, but will not allow you to amass Season Blessings earlier than intended, due to the aforementioned level gating on Smoldering Ashes.
How long is Diablo 4’s Battle Pass?
As discussed above, Diablo 4’s Battle Pass contains 27 free tiers and 63 premium tiers, for a total of 90. In terms of time, the Pass lasts for the length of one in-game season. According to Blizzard, seasons are intended to be quarterly releases, meaning you can expect a new one roughly every three months, and therefore each Battle Pass will last roughly 3 months also.
And there you have it: everything you need to know about Diablo 4’s Battle Pass system. It’s a big step for the series, but it looks to be well-handled, with many tier options and level gating in place to prevent “F2P” players from being at a disadvantage.
