When did Vessel of Hatred launch?

Vessel of Hatred — D4's first expansion — launched October 8, 2024 simultaneously with Season 6 (Season of Hatred Rising). The expansion introduced Spiritborn, Nahantu region, Mercenaries, and the Torment difficulty system.

Why was Spiritborn so dominant in Season 6?

Spiritborn launched with Rod of Kepeleke and Sepazontec uniques plus the Evade + Quill Volley cooldown reset interaction, enabling infinite Evade chains. Spiritborn was popular at launch. Blizzard chose to buff all other classes mid-season rather than nerf Spiritborn — only an Evade infinite-loop bug was hotfixed.

What are Runewords in Diablo IV?

Runewords returned in Vessel of Hatred as a legacy D2 system. Each gear socket combines a Ritual rune + Invocation rune for conditional effects. Viewed as underbaked at launch and expanded in later seasons.

Diablo IV

Season 14 · Patch 3.1.2

Diablo IV Season 6 (October 2024) archive. Vessel of Hatred launch, Spiritborn class, Nahantu, Mercenaries, Realmwalkers, Torment system.

Season Archive VoH Launch Oct 8, 2024 → Jan 21, 2025

Season 6 — Season of Hatred Rising

Vessel of Hatred launch. Historical archive.

Season 6 launched alongside Vessel of Hatred — D4's first expansion. Spiritborn, Nahantu, Mercenaries, the Kurast Undercity, and the Torment difficulty system all debuted. The class imbalance was severe enough to dominate discourse the entire season: Spiritborn crushed everything, and Blizzard chose to buff other classes rather than nerf the new one.

Vessel of Hatred Content

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Spiritborn class Jungle warrior channeling 4 Spirit Guardians (Jaguar, Eagle, Gorilla, Centipede). Vigor resource that does not regen.
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Nahantu region Torajan jungle. Kurast Bazaar + Docks return from D2.
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Mercenaries Raheir, Subo, Varyana, Aldkin — companion NPCs with their own skill trees.
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Kurast Undercity 3-floor target-farming dungeon with Tributes + Attunement.
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Dark Citadel Coop-only raid-style endgame.
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Torment system Replaced World Tiers — 4 leveling tiers + 4 Torment tiers = 8 total.
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Runewords D2 legacy system returns. Ritual + Invocation rune pairs.
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Paragon 300 Cap moved from 200 to 300.

Seasonal Mechanic — Realmwalkers

Massive demonic constructs spawning every 15 minutes rotating through the 5 base-game regions. Defeating one opened a portal to a Seething Realm (mini-dungeon) ending at a Realm Gate boss. Seething Opal consumables (Torment, Socketing, Aether, Equipment) buffed drops. Realmwalkers filled the traditional "seasonal boss" role.