Lord of Hatred

0:35 Lord of Hatred is Diablo 4's second expansion, released on Apr 28, 2026 (Apr 27 at 4 p.m. PT in the Americas): it adds the Paladin and Warlock classes, the island region of Skovos and the campaign that ends the fight against Mephisto, plus War Plans, Echoing Hatred, the Horadric Cube and Talismans, and every edition includes the first expansion, Vessel of Hatred. Blizzard's launch trailer runs through those pieces one title card at a time: "Finish the fight: new campaign", "New region: Skovos", "New class: Paladin", the Warlock, the Horadric Cube, the Talisman, War Plans, Echoing Hatred and "Major skill tree updates for all classes". The Standard Edition costs $39.99 on Steam, and it needs the base game. It closes the "Age of Hatred" that began with Lilith in 2023 (Story); Blizzard says no more Diablo 4 expansions are currently planned (Brent Gibson, Sep 2026).

Quick facts

Announcement and the Paladin early

41:40 Blizzard announced Lord of Hatred at The Game Awards on Dec 11, 2025, and opened pre-purchase the same night, with a surprise: anyone who pre-purchased could play the Paladin right away (Blizzard, Dec 11, 2025). At the BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony, Blizzard's hosts looked back on it as "shadowdropping the Paladin at the Game Awards", followed by the Warlock coming to three Diablo games. Xbox Wire's headline that night was "Daddy's coming home", Mephisto being Lilith's father (Xbox Wire). Players without the expansion got a free Paladin trial to level 25 from Mar 11, 2026, with Season of Slaughter.

The second class, the Warlock, was revealed at the Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight on Feb 11, 2026, with Skovos, War Plans, Echoing Hatred and the skill tree rework (Blizzard). A Warlock deep dive followed on Mar 5, 2026, and a developer update on Apr 23, 2026.

Release date and launch hours

Lord of Hatred's release date is Apr 28, 2026, the date on Blizzard's store copy, but it went live earlier in the Americas: "Lord of Hatred begins rollout on April 27 at 4:00 p.m. PDT," Blizzard wrote, with Season of Reckoning starting 30 minutes later, at 4:30 p.m. PDT (Blizzard, Apr 23, 2026). Pre-download opened Apr 23 at 4 p.m. PDT. In local time that was 7 p.m. on Apr 27 in New York, midnight on Apr 28 in London, 8 a.m. in Seoul and 9 a.m. in Sydney (Icy Veins, Apr 23, 2026). Steam lists the expansion on Apr 27, 2026 for the same reason.

It came out on Battle.net, Steam, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PlayStation 5 (Xbox Wire's list; PlayStation's store also lists its editions for PS4). On Nintendo Switch 2 it arrived on Sep 15, 2026 inside the Age of Hatred Collection, with the base game and Vessel of Hatred (Blizzard). The full history of dates is on Release History.

Editions and price

Lord of Hatred costs $39.99 (Standard), $59.99 (Deluxe) or $89.99 (Ultimate) on Steam. Every edition includes Vessel of Hatred ("instant access"), the Paladin and the Warlock, 2 extra character slots, 1 extra stash tab and 3 World of Warcraft decor items, which need a World of Warcraft subscription. Deluxe adds cosmetic bundles for the Paladin and the Warlock, the Skartaran Basilisk mount, the pet Skorch the Mini Chimera and a Premium Battle Pass token; Ultimate adds a second mount, armor for six classes, two back trophies, two Town Portal skins and 3,000 Platinum. New players can buy the base game and both expansions together as the Diablo 4: Age of Hatred Collection for $69.99. You buy the expansion once per platform; progress is shared across platforms (Blizzard). Lord of Hatred is not shown as included in Xbox Game Pass, which carries only the base game (Game Pass). Every edition, upgrade and bundle is on Price and Editions.

The campaign

0:01 The campaign takes the Wanderer to Skovos to stop Mephisto for good. Blizzard's summary: Mephisto's power "stirs once more, spreading corruption toward the sacred isles of Skovos", and you must stop him "before he reaches the Pools of Creation and bathes the world in hatred"; in that dark hour a beacon of hope appears, but "Lilith herself is the only way to reach it" (Blizzard). The launch trailer opens on that setup: an armored woman the captions call the Amazon Queen tells her court that "a pilgrim comes to our shores", and a bearded man the captions name Akarat says, "It is in our nature to hate, and that is why I've brought you here," before someone warns, "He's a demon. The mainland burns because of him."

A timer hangs over the story: an eclipse brought on by Mephisto, which PC Gamer says bookends each section; its reviewer took about six hours to finish the campaign (PC Gamer, Apr 21, 2026). How it ends is on Lord of Hatred Ending, which is all spoilers.

Two new classes

27:59 Lord of Hatred adds two classes, the Paladin and the Warlock, and Blizzard built the expansion's theme around the pair. At the Spotlight, Blizzard's developers say the Paladin represents "light and purity" and the Warlocks are "their darker counterpart, antiheroes harnessing the power of Hell", a duality that is "central to the theme of Lord of Hatred": "the eternal conflict between angels and demons, with humanity stuck in the center."

• The Paladin fights with hammer and shield and Holy Light, uses the resource Faith, and swears one of four Oaths: Zealot, Juggernaut, Judicator or Disciple, whose Arbiter form turns the Paladin angelic (Blizzard).
• The Warlock is new to Diablo 4 (Blizzard added Warlocks to Diablo 2: Resurrected and Diablo Immortal the same year): "masters of forbidden knowledge who bend demons and the powers of Hell to their unbreakable will. They do not serve Hell, they weaponize it." Its Soul Shards (from level 30) lean toward Legion, Vanguard, Mastermind or Ritualist (Blizzard, Mar 5, 2026).

That makes eight classes; every class is on Classes.

Skovos

28:48 Skovos is the expansion's region, a group of islands "visually inspired by ancient Mediterranean landscapes", Blizzard says at the Spotlight: rugged coastlines, mountainous highlands, ancient temples and "more monster variety than ever". It is "the birthplace of humanity, where Lilith and Inarius began it all", and its capital, Temis, has their images carved into its marble and was built "to be the ideal endgame city". Blizzard's store page adds that Skovos is "now ruled by The Oracle and Amazon Queen", from "the volcanic west to the forests of the east and the sunken lands between". PC Gamer reports that Skovos was originally planned for Diablo 3 and is roughly the size of Nahantu, Vessel of Hatred's region. Each zone is on Regions.

War Plans and Echoing Hatred

30:01 Lord of Hatred's endgame is War Plans, a playlist of activities, and Echoing Hatred, an endless-wave event. In War Plans, Blizzard explains, "you create a playlist of up to five activities" from six modes: the Pit, Infernal Hordes, Helltides, Nightmare Dungeons, Lair Bosses and the Undercity. Each activity has its own tree that changes rewards and monster spawns. You build them at the Command Table in Temis and collect from the War Chest; since Season of Hell's Legacy, War Plans progress is shared by the characters of a realm (War Plans). Echoing Hatred opens with a rare drop, a Trace of Echoes, which you offer to the Sightless Eye in Temis: "infinite waves of enemies and escalating difficulty", sometimes several bosses at once, and "the longer you last, the better the loot" (Echoing Hatred). Since patch 3.1.0 a run stops at wave 150 (Blizzard, Jun 23, 2026). The whole endgame is on Endgame.

Skill trees, the Talisman and the Horadric Cube

32:48 With Lord of Hatred every class got a rebuilt skill tree, and that part is free for everyone. "We've seen the joke, that they're more like skill twigs. That ends here," Blizzard says at the Spotlight: every skill gets new options, so the Sorcerer's Hydra can attack faster, last longer, explode or become a Frost Hydra. Each class gets "more than 40 rework choices and over 80 additional options", and expansion owners get "over 20 additional transformative skill choices". By Blizzard's own count the tree now spends up to 83 Skill Points, passive nodes are gone, and each active skill has three branches, the third holding the expansion's Bonus Skill Variants. The level cap rose to 70 for all players at the same time.

34:55 Two item systems come only with the expansion, and one more comes free. The Talisman holds Charms: "Equipping multiple Charms from the same Set will unlock additional Set bonuses." The Horadric Cube, "a heartfelt callback to the Cube in Diablo II", combines materials and adds or rerolls properties; it can also turn Common items into Uniques and craft Charms (Blizzard). Then the Loot Filter: "You've been asking for this since day one," and it came with the expansion's patch for every player, with up to 25 rules per filter. Recipes and Charms are on Crafting. Difficulty now runs through 12 Torment tiers (Difficulty and Torment), and Lord of Hatred also added fishing.

Reviews

1:12 Critics rated Lord of Hatred well: 84 on PC (56 critics), 85 on PS5 and 86 on Xbox Series X on Metacritic, and a Top Critic Average of 83 with 88% recommending it on OpenCritic (81 reviews), as of Oct 20, 2026. IGN's Travis Northup scored it 8 out of 10 on Apr 21, 2026, and in his video review calls its "short and sweet eightish hour campaign" some of "Blizzard's best work yet", with twists, turns and tragedies. PC Gamer scored it 90 and wrote that it "has revolutionized what it's like to play Diablo 4".

14:49 The complaints were narrower. IGN's verdict praises "a wonderfully satisfying conclusion to the Mephisto saga", the build changes and the two classes, and names the missteps: the way War Plans handle co-op progression, where only the party leader's playlist advances, and fewer reasons than expected to explore Skovos after the campaign. On Steam, players rated the expansion "Mixed", 70% positive of 1,118 reviews, on Oct 20, 2026. After launch the base game reached 59,061 concurrent players on Steam, its record since arriving on Steam, as Icy Veins reported from SteamDB on May 3, 2026; Steam counts only Steam players, not Battle.net or consoles. More is on Reception.

Is Lord of Hatred worth it?

For anyone who plays Diablo 4 now, the expansion is where most of the new game lives: two of the eight classes, the endgame playlist, the Cube and Talismans, and a share of each season's objectives (about 15% of Season of Hell's Legacy's objectives need it, Blizzard says). Without it you still get the reworked skill trees, level 70 and the Loot Filter. Because it includes Vessel of Hatred, Standard Edition owners also get the Spiritborn, Nahantu and Mercenaries (Vessel of Hatred).

Frequently asked questions

When did Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred come out? Lord of Hatred came out on Apr 28, 2026. In the Americas it went live on Apr 27, 2026 at 4 p.m. PDT, which was Apr 28 in Europe, Asia and Oceania.

How much does Lord of Hatred cost? Lord of Hatred costs $39.99 for the Standard Edition, $59.99 for Deluxe and $89.99 for Ultimate on Steam. The Age of Hatred Collection, with Diablo 4 and both expansions, costs $69.99.

Does Lord of Hatred include Vessel of Hatred? Yes. Every edition of Lord of Hatred includes Diablo 4's first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, with the Spiritborn class and Nahantu; Vessel of Hatred is no longer sold alone in the US stores.

How long is the Lord of Hatred campaign? PC Gamer took about six hours to finish the Lord of Hatred campaign, and IGN called it an "eightish hour" campaign.

What classes does Lord of Hatred add? Lord of Hatred adds two classes to Diablo 4, the Paladin and the Warlock, for eight in all. The Amazon comes separately, as a paid Class Pack in the first half of 2027.

Is Lord of Hatred on Game Pass? No. Xbox Game Pass includes only the Diablo 4 base game; the Xbox store lists Lord of Hatred as a separate purchase.

Do I need Diablo 4 to play Lord of Hatred? Yes. Lord of Hatred needs the Diablo 4 base game, a Battle.net account and an internet connection.

Sources

• Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred, Blizzard Entertainment, read Oct 20, 2026
• Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred on Steam, Valve, read Oct 20, 2026
• Diablo IV on Steam, Valve, read Oct 20, 2026
• Steam user reviews for Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred, Valve, read Oct 20, 2026
• Prepare for the Reckoning: Lord of Hatred Draws Near, Blizzard Entertainment, Apr 23, 2026
• Wield Divine Might as the Paladin, Blizzard Entertainment, Dec 11, 2025
• Daddy's coming home with Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred, Xbox Wire, Dec 11, 2025
• Catch Up on the Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight, Blizzard Entertainment, Feb 11, 2026
• Master Hell Itself with the Warlock, Blizzard Entertainment, Mar 5, 2026
• Become the Butcher in Season of Slaughter, Blizzard Entertainment, Mar 5, 2026
• Diablo IV Patch Notes 3.1, Blizzard Entertainment, Jun 23, 2026
• Diablo's Next Era Revealed at BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremonies Recap, Blizzard Entertainment, Sep 12, 2026
• Celebrate 30 Years of Diablo in Season of Hell's Legacy, Blizzard Entertainment, Sep 12, 2026
• Lord of Hatred launches a day early: here's your exact unlock time, Icy Veins, Apr 23, 2026
• Diablo 4 Player Count Explodes to New Record on Steam, Icy Veins, May 3, 2026
• Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred review, PC Gamer, Apr 21, 2026
• Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred critic reviews, Metacritic, read Oct 20, 2026
• Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred Reviews, OpenCritic, read Oct 21, 2026
• Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred | Launch Trailer, Diablo, Apr 21, 2026 (video)
• Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight, Diablo, Feb 11, 2026 (video)
• BlizzCon 2026 | Opening Ceremony, Blizzard Entertainment, Sep 13, 2026 (video)
• Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred Review, IGN, Apr 21, 2026 (video)