Diablo 4 has finally announced a start date for Season 7: Season of Witchcraft—and behold Dorian the Diablo Pigeon

Diablo 4 news has been pretty light over the holidays, but with a new developer stream coming up Blizzard have announced that Diablo 4 Season 7: Season of Witchcraft will officially start on January 21 at 10 a.m PST / 1:00 p.m EST.

Everything we know so far about Season of Witchcraft

In a blogpost today we've been given a bunch of new information about Season 7, including new patch notes following a mixed response to the Public Test Realm (PTR) of Patch 2.1 in December.

With the new patch and balancing changes, there is a seasonal questline, and an armory for both Eternal and Seasonal players to enjoy switching builds with ease. All of the above will be added with new Uniques and Legendary Aspects, and an all new pet to earn from completing the Seasonal Journey that I'm particularly excited about, let's break it all down!

Season of Witchcraft questline

"Heed the call of the Witches of Hawezar, a Coven that is bound by the deep magic oozing from the swamps they call home. The Coven are the protectors of the Tree of Whispers, who discovered its many captive Heads are missing. The Tree forgets no oaths and forgives no debts, and these Heads have dues to pay till the end of days. However, these missing Heads have been set loose—free to carry out their own hunt—travelling across Sanctuary to seek bodies and reclaim what was once theirs."

We'll be collecting missing heads for the Tree of Whispers and handing in for completely on Coven's Favor, this seasons version of the reputation board.

New Seasonal Powers for every class to wield

The season quest will also gift us with new powers, which can be equipped from the character tab. This should be familiar to those who played Season 2 'Season of Blood'. There are 3 types of powers:

• Eldritch - magic that harnesses destructive energies.
• Psyche - Defensive powers to create visions, focus your attacks, and induce madness in your enemies.
• Growth and Decay - Wield living magic that both heals and harms, boosting Life, Resource. These incantations can create horrific diseases and disruptions.

To learn these powers of Witchcraft, we'll need to complete a Seasonal Reputation board with the Coven, and the best way to complete this will be doing Whisper bounties and defeating the new Headrotten enemies to earn Restless Rot. The final reward is a Resplendant Spark, which you can use towards crafting a Mythic Unique.

The favor earned with the Coven for completing this board can be used to upgrade Altars underneath the Tree of Whispers. This in turn will unlock new Witchcraft Powers. Some nodes are 'Lost' powers which need to be unlocked with a 'Forgotten Altar'. These are found in random dungeons around Sanctuary, so exploration is encouraged.

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Witchcraft Powers can be upgraded directly in your inventory using the Restless Rot you’ve earned. Hunting down Headrotten in higher difficulty tiers will reward you with more Restless Rot.

All the 'Witchcraft' Powers and what they do

Here's all the powers you can unlock in Season 7, with strikethroughs as indicated where there have been changes made following the testing in December.

Eldritch Powers

Firebat Servants

• A deadly swarm of Firebats swarm enemies every 3 2  seconds, inflicting 20% 15% total Fire damage over 1 total attack.
• At Higher Ranks: Enemies are Stunned for 3 seconds after being hit 5 times by your Firebat Servants.

Abyssal Resonance

• Every 250 Resource spent, release an explosion dealing 400% 300% Shadow damage. Each explosion triggered within 10 seconds of the last increases the size and damage by 130%. Stacking up to 3 times.
• At Rank 10: The third explosion pulls enemies towards you before detonating.

Wave of Woe

• Release a Wave of Woe when damaging an enemy with your skills. Wave of Woe deals an additional X Shadow damage and echoes this damage to all other nearby enemies of the same type.
• At Rank 5: Damage is increased by 15% each time damage is echoed and is guaranteed to echo at least 5 times. May strike the same target multiple times.

Purging Touch

• Eldritch Effects X increased damage against Headrotten.
• At Rank 10: This damage bonus now extends to all monsters.

Shaken Soul

• Eldritch Effects apply Vulnerable to enemies for X seconds.
• At Rank 10: Damage from Psyche and Growth & Decay Effects will also apply Vulnerable at half the duration.

Hex of Flames

• Lucky Hit: You have up to an X chance to apply Hex of Flames. Hex of Flames deals 40% 10% additional Fire damage each time you deal damage to the target.
• At Rank 7: Hex of Flames explodes dealing damage to all nearby enemies when you land a Critical Strike.

Doom Orb

• An ominous orb of pure Eldritch energy circles you, damaging any enemy it touches for 400% 300% Fire damage. Doom Orb may launch itself at distant enemies before returning.
• At Rank 5: Kills or damage to Bosses empower the orb’s damage by 5%. After 100%, the orb explodes dealing 5,200 damage to nearby enemies before reforming 3 seconds later.

Psyche Powers

Life Link

• Automatically link your life force with up to 3 nearby enemies. X of the damage you take is shared with the linked targets as physical damage. Cannot Life Link to enemy Players.
• At Rank 15: For 10 seconds after using a Defensive, Macabre of Subterfuge Skill, any linked damage will be a guaranteed Critical Strike.

Hex of Shattering

• Damage done by your Witchcraft Effects afflicts enemies with Hex of Shattering causing them to deal X reduced damage for 5 seconds.
• At Rank 8: When any Hex Effect is applied to Headrotten, all damage will be guaranteed Critical Strikes for 5 seconds.

Aura of Misfortune

• Enemies near you have X chance for their attacks to be interrupted. Does not work on bosses.
• At Rank 5: Aura of Misfortune increases your Movement Speed by 5% and Slows enemies by 30%.

Aura of Lament

• When you first strike an enemy, it is afflicted with an Aura of Lament that Slows it and other nearby enemies by 70%. For each enemy inside Aura of Lament, you gain 3 1 Primary Resource each second. If the initial enemy dies, Aura of Lament is passed onto another nearby enemy retaining the duration. Lasts X seconds.
• Only 1 enemy may be afflicted at a time. May only occur every 30 seconds.

Vengeful Spirit

• Every 19 Seconds, a Vengeful Spirit Servant appears for X seconds. While active, all damage taken is instead taken by the spirit. Vengeful Spirit Servant deals 750% 500% damage.
• At Rank 5: When the Vengeful Spirit’s Life is fully depleted, it rushes towards up to 8 enemies dealing 2,000 Shadow damage.

Twilight Warding

• Every X seconds, gain a Barrier for 5 seconds absorbing 100 damage.
• At Rank 12: Twilight Warding reflects enemy projectiles while active.

Growth & Decay Powers

Poison Frog Servant

• Summon a Poison Frog Servant that attacks and Poisons enemies for 150% to 400% damage over 3 seconds. On death, the frog explodes violently dealing X Poison instantly damage to nearby enemies. This explosion will always Critically Strike.
• At Rank 5: Poison Frog attacks will pull enemies towards itself and Taunt enemies for 1 second.

Soul Harvest

• Feed upon the life force of nearby enemies whenever you use a skill with a cooldown, increasing your primary stat by 3% per monster for X seconds.
• At Rank 9: Soul Harvest does not lose duration so long as enemies are nearby.

Hex of Whispers

• Dealing damage to an enemy afflicts them with Hex of Whispers that deals X Shadow damage the next time damage is dealt. Afterwards, Hex of Whispers will jump to another enemy up to a maximum of 6 times. Hex of Whispers may only be applied once every 5 seconds.
• At Rank 7: After bouncing onto 6 enemies, the hex bounces back to you granting 15% 60% Fortify and removing all crowd control and negative status effects.

Decay Augmentation

• Your Witchcraft Effects deal X of the damage dealt over 5 seconds. The damage type is based on your class.
• At Rank 10: When your damage-over-time effects exceed 85% of the target’s total Life, they immediately die.

Grow

• After casting an Ultimate Skill, your Servants, Minions, and Companions are empowered with dark magics. Growing larger in size and dealing X bonus damage. Lasts 15 seconds.
• At Rank 11: Your Servants, Minions and Companions gain 100% Critical Strike Chance while enlarged.

Aura of Siphoning

• Conjure an aura of decay that deals 80% 50% Poison damage to enemies every second.
• At Rank 10: Each time Aura of Siphoning deals damage, you are healed for 1% of Maximum Life.

The Cycle

• Dealing any damage with your skills has a 15% chance to grow a flower from the ground. When an enemy is near, the flower deals X Poison damage to that enemy over 5 seconds. If an ally is near, the flower Heals for 6% Maximum Life. The flower withers away after use. A flower may grow once every 2 5 seconds per enemy.
• At Rank 5: The damage and healing affects all enemies or allies near the flower.

Lost Powers

Breath of the Coven

• Dealing damage or applying a Crowd Control effect with any of your Witchcraft Effects increases your Attack Speed by X for 10 Seconds, stacking once per unique Witchcraft Effect.
• Witchcraft Effects are Eldritch, Psyche, and Growth & Decay.
• At Rank 8: Gain 40% Lucky Hit chance while bonuses from Eldritch, Psyche, Growth & Decay are active at once.

Hex Specialization

• Increase the potency of your Hex Effects by X.
• At Rank 10: Increase the Critical Strike Chance by 10% against enemies afflicted by your Hex Effects.

Aura Specialization

• The size of your Aura Effects are increased by X.
• At Rank 10: Increase the Critical Strike Damage by 50% against enemies inside your Aura Effects.

Piranhado

• When an enemy is afflicted by both a Hex and an Aura Effect, a Piranhado is summoned pulling enemies towards it and dealing X Physical damage over 12 seconds. May occur once every 20 seconds.
• At Rank 5: Piranhado moves itself towards nearby enemies.

Behold, we are getting an Armory at long last

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This update will be for both Seasonal and Eternal realms, and is a permanent quality of life change. Yes you can now, finally, save loadouts. So if you want to play different builds with your class at a click rather than a painstaking re-spec, the armory is your friend.

You'll be able to Save, Load and Name your loadouts, and you can have 5 loadouts per charac

At a glance you'll be able to see Equipment, Skills, selected Paragon Nodes and Glyphs that make up your saved build. Note: changing between Loadout slots with differing Paragon loadouts does not cost Gold.

The Armory can be accessed in every major city in Sanctuary.

More rewards from the Tree of Whispers

There will be new Whisper bounties to complete for this season, and also a chance for the Tree to drop an Ancestral Collection as a reward. This cache guarantees at least 1 Ancestral item and considering they are now a rarity, granting at least one great affix, this will be a great way to farm them.

Headrotten enemies and Headhunt zones

"The Heads missing from the Tree of Whispers have become even more ghastly, true abominations. They are desperate to claim new bodies for themselves, to be whole and human again. But without the Tree they are incomplete, fragmented and mad. They spread a terrible rot to anyone they touch."

Headhunt zones are a new overworld activity, which will highlight an area of the Tmap that you can hunt down Headrotten enemies. These will be the best areas to complete Whisper bounties, and you won't need to always return to the Tree of Whispers to hand in a full bounty collection. There will be a 'Raven of the Tree' in each Headhunt zone that will act as your quest receiver.

Completing Whisper bounties within the Headhunt zone will also reveal Exposed Roots, which spawn an Uprooted Cocoon from which appears a new Headrotten Boss. Killing one of these powerful enemies and taking its head will give you rewards when handed in to the Coven.

Occult Gems

Socketable Occult Gems are crafted with materials earned both from the Whisper bounties and returning heads from the Headhunts. Gelena at the Tree of Whispers will craft these for you and they give additional affixes to complement the new Witchcraft powers.

Each Occult Gem provides 160 Armor and 8% Resist All. Craft the following Occult Gems at Gelena:

New Uniques and Legendary aspects for all classes

Barbarian

Mantle of the Mountain’s Fury Unique Chest Armor

Affixes

• Inherent: 100% 50% Hammer of the Ancients damage for 5 seconds after an Earthquake explodes
• 251-444 Armor
• 3-6 Skill Ranks to Hammer of the Ancients
• 2-4 Skill Ranks of Defensive Stance
• 16-22.5% Chance for Earthquake to Deal Double Damage

Power

• Hammer of the Ancients also forms a seismic line that deals its damage and Slows enemies hit by 60-80% for 4 seconds. Earthquakes it passes through explode for their total damage and are consumed.

Of Incendiary Fissures Legendary Aspect

• Your Earthquakes deal 40-60% 35-50% increased damage and their damage is converted into Fire.

Druid

Malefic Crescent Unique Amulet

Affixes

• Inherent: 25% Resistance to All Elements
• 8-11% Willpower
• 155-200% Werewolf Critical Strike Damage
• 8-15% Movement Speed while Shapeshifting into a Werewolf
• 1-2 Ranks of Feral Aptitude

Power

• The value of your Lupine Ferocity's consecutive Critical Strike Damage is increased to 150-200% 100-150%[x] against enemies when consecutively Critical Striking.

Of Wolf’s Rain Legendary Aspect

• Casting Hurricane also spawns a smaller hurricane on your Wolves for 8 seconds. These hurricanes deals 5-15% of Hurricane’s damage for each active Wolf.

Of Electrified Claws Legendary Aspect

• Shapeshifting into a new animal form causes a Lightning Bolt to strike a Nearby enemy dealing Lightning damage. Your Lightning Bolts deal 20-40% increased damage and Stun for 2 seconds.

Necromancer

Indira's Memory Unique Pants

Affixes

• Inherent: Casting Bone Spear Reduces Blood Wave's Cooldown by 2 Seconds
• 16-25% Maximum Life
• 82.5-115% Overpower Damage
• 18.5-30% Damage Reduction While Injured
• 2-3 Ranks of Tides of Blood

Power

• Blood Wave is also a Bone Skill that spawns a Bone Prison at its end point and increases your Blood Skill damage by 40-80% for 8 seconds when cast.
• Bone Spear is also a Blood Skill and will drain 10% Maximum Life each cast after hitting an enemy to consume a surrounding Corpse and launch one new Bone Spear from it.

Kessime's Legacy Unique Pants

Affixes

• Inherent: Casting Blood Wave Fortifies You For 70% of Your Maximum Life
• 187-300% Ultimate Damage
• 9.5-2% Damage Reduction While Fortified
• 16-25% Blood Wave Cooldown Reduction
• 23.5-35% 16-25% Chance for Blood Wave to Deal Double Damage

Power

• Blood Wave now forms a wave on each side of you. Both waves converge at your feet, Pulling In surrounding enemies and exploding for x damage.
• Each time an enemy is hit by a wave, they take 5-10% increased damage from your Blood Waves, up to 150-300% in total.

Of Distilled Anima Legendary Aspect

• While Soulrift is active, you are Unhindered and gain 1% increased Movement Speed per absorbed soul, up to 30-60%. This lasts for 5 seconds after Soulrift ends.

Bone Duster's Legendary Aspect

• Bone Spear is guaranteed to Overpower enemies within Bone Prison and deals 30-50% increased damage to them. Bone Spear is guaranteed to Critically Strike enemies within Bone Prison and deals 20-40% increased damage to them.

Rogue

Assassin’s Stride Unique Boots

Affixes

• Inherent: Casting a Mobility Skill grants +100% Movement Speed for 2 seconds
• 35-50% Shadow Resistance
• 10-2% Mobility Cooldown Reduction
• 2-4 1-2 Skill Ranks to Mobility Skills
• 3-4 2-3 Skill Ranks to Shadow Imbuement

Power

• Mobility Skills are always Shadow Imbued with 40-80% increased potency. Lucky Hit: Damaging an Elite or Boss with a Mobility Skill has up to a 40-80% chance to instantly triggers a free Shadow Imbuement explosion.

Slice and Dice Legendary Aspect

• Twisting Blades' initial hit cleaves. Twisting Blades return 25-45% faster.

Bitter Infection Legendary Aspect

• Enemies infected by Shadow Imbuement take 30-70% 30-50% of its damage every second. Shadow Imbuement deals 30-70%[x] 30-50%[x] increased damage.

Sorcerer

Strike of Stormhorn Unique Focus

Affixes

• Inherent: Chance for Ball Lightning Projectiles to Cast Twice is Now Chance to Cast a Super Ball Lightning
• 67.5-108.5% Critical Strike Damage
• 155-250% Ball Lightning Projectile Speed
• 1-3 1-2 Skill Ranks of Ball Lightning
• 13-17.5% Chance for Ball Lightning Projectiles to Cast Twice

Power

• Ball lightning splashes on contact for 60-100%[x] increased damage and Stunning enemies for 1 second if it reaches its Maximum Range.
• Super Ball Lightnings are larger, deal 125% 100% more damage, have a higher Lucky Hit Chance, and its Stun duration is increased to 3 seconds.

Okun’s Catalyst Unique Focus

Affixes

• Inherent: Ball Lightning Can Be Cast While Moving
• 24-35% Attack Speed for 5 seconds After Casting a Defensive Skill
• 0.5-1.5% Damage Reduction for Each Active Ball Lightning
• 1-3 Skill Ranks of Ball Lightning
• 13-17.5% Chance for Ball Lightning Projectiles to Cast Twice

Power

• Ball Lightning orbits you, creating a static field that damages all enemies within for 140-180% of Ball Lightning’s damage per active ball, and granting Unhindered while the field is active.

Of Mind’s Awakening Legendary Aspect

Casting a Pyromancy Skill Immobilizes enemies hit for 0.5-1 seconds. Casting a Shock Skill grants a burst of 15-30% Movement speed for 1 second. Casting a Frost Skill grants a Barrier for 3-6% Maximum Life. While Enlightened, each Skill grants all benefits.

Spiritborn

Sustained War-Crozier Unique Quarterstaff

Affixes

• Inherent: 45% Block Chance
• 132-188 Dexterity
• 610-1142 Maximum Life
• 21-35% Chance for Potency Skills to Deal Double Damage
• 2-4 Skill Ranks to Focus Skills

Power

• Your Focus Skills benefit from all their Upgrades, and they increase the damage of your Potency Skills by 10-20% for 8 seconds, up to 100-200%.

Endless Talons Legendary Aspect

• Razor Wings hitting an enemy increases your Eagle Skill damage by 1%[x] for 4 seconds, up to 30-50%[x]. Razor Wing Critical Strikes grant 3 stacks.

Other updates of note

• The Welcome Back Booster is staying as a permanent Eternal Realm feature, so players can instantly boost a character to level 50 with a pre-made build.
• The new and improved Whisper quests will stay post-Season.
• Each Class mechanic quest is now account bound, and will not need to be repeated if you start a new character of that class.
•  When a unique item has more Greater Affixes, the minimum roll of the unique power will be increased per Greater Affix. 
• Runes have been updated and will be detailed in patch notes on January 16.
• The Season Journey will reward a Resplendant Spark, as well as a new pet, Dorian the Raven. Or who I prefer to call, the Diablo Pigeon.

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• If you get the Premium Battle Pass, you can earn a Grand High Witch Armor Set, Platinum, and more including the Nightwinder Mount and Nightwinder Mount Armor, which unlock at Tier 90.

More info to come on January 16, welcome back Diablo 4!

Since the launch of Vessel of Hatred and some pretty low key holiday events, it's been pretty quiet on the Diablo 4 front. Silence even more deafening as many are currently diving into Path of Exile 2, so I'm really excited to see how Diablo 4 Season 7 fares in the face of its new competitor. We'll hear more about what to expect from Season 7 and the game going forward in the next developer campfire chat, which you can watch on January 16 at 11 a.m PST on Youtube, or catch up later with my coverage here at Windows Central.