Is Diablo IV Worth Playing in 2026?

Diablo IV released in 2023 with a variety of issues. A solid foundation was placed and when I jumped into the game at launch, I was actually satisfied with what they delivered, but that doesn’t mean a perfect experience as endgame had a series of issues. It also didn’t help that seasons after its initial launch continued to show the problems of a more satisfying endgame loop.

Now in 2026, is the game worth playing today? Yes. After two expansions and now its thirteenth season, lessons have been learned and Blizzard has now placed the game to be in a state where it’s in its best form yet, both in story and endgame.

Diablo IV in 2026: What's Changed

Diablo IV is in a better state it has ever been in if you’re all about creating satisfying builds, clearing waves of enemies, and experiencing an endgame loop that always gives you that feeling that there’s always room for improvement in your preferred build.

Diablo IV now features the game’s narrative complete as what started in the base game finally concludes in the Lord of Hatred.

Endgame Activities

In endgame, it’s more complex and satisfying than ever as it now features these activities:

• War Plans (Lord of Hatred expansion required): Latest activity added in Lord of Hatred. Unlocked in Temis after completing the campaign, it lets you build a playlist of up to five endgame activities. Each activity in the chain rewards standard drops plus Activity Points that feed into per-activity skill trees.

• The Pit (base game): A timed, tier-based dungeon and the core endgame activity for those that love to compete in leaderboards and is pretty much the Greater Rifts seen in Diablo III. Still a fun activity that shows the strength of one’s build based on how fast and efficiently one player clears a run. It still has value as this activity rewards you to upgrade Paragon Board glyphs.

• Helltides (base game): Timed world events now expanded as these open world event now features a Blood Maiden boss and high-end chests that require more Aberrant Cinders to open. The longer you kill, the more difficult enemies will appear and if you die, you lose at least half of the cinders you’ve collected.

• Nightmare Dungeons (base game): More difficult versions of base dungeons activated by special Nightmare Sigils, which now comes with various rarities that dictate the amount of rewards earned when doing these custom dungeons. We have dungeons now that can rain unique currencies or have every chest be filled with just gold.

• Lair Bosses (base game): Special summonable bosses such as Duriel, Andariel, and Grigoire that require lair keys to open the chests dropped when defeating any of these bosses. This activity made grouping more valuable as more players in your group improves the quality of the drops, and each boss has unique item pools for those hunting for specific uniques.

• Infernal Hordes (base game): A wave-based endgame activity that increases in difficulty and reward throughout, culminating in a boss encounter. Each wave can be edited with the modifiers you pick between each round. The more you collect in this round, the better your rewards will be.

• Kurast Undercity (Vessel of Hatred required): A dynamic timed dungeon added in Vessel of Hatred where players quickly clear corridors, replenish the timer by killing specific enemies, and use offerings to customize the final loot. It feels like a mix of Nightmare Dungeons and the Pit as it’s all about speed and customizing what rewards you’ll get at the end of each run as you can trigger runs that only drop gems or weapons, with each offering to have their own set of rarity that also dictates how rewarding it can be.

• Tree of Whispers (base game): A bounty board-style activity. Doing certain activities will give you points, and upon hitting up to 10 will reward you with Whisper Caches that still remain to be the most rewarding out of everything.

• Echoing Hatred (Lord of Hatred): A new activity that puts builds to the ultimate test by facing unending demonic hordes that gets progressively harder. It’s also rare to trigger.

Diablo IV progression systems

In 2026, Diablo IV now features a variety of systems that have deepened the progression.

Talisman (Lord of Hatred): The return of set bonuses. A new item type in Lord of Hatred that adds Legendary, Unique, and Set-level bonuses to a gear slot. A big power boost for any character and is mostly where gear is built around in most class builds.

Horadric Cube (Lord of Hatred): The return of Diablo II’s best system. In Diablo IV, it acts as a major crafting system unlocked during the campaign. It can be used to transmute, customize, and create gear, consumables, giving value to even the most basic of items.

Rune System (Vessel of Hatred): Runes are back and are an alternative to slotting gems in your gear. Mixing different rune words in your gear gives unique possibilities such as triggering specific skills when doing certain actions.

Paragon Board (base game): The post-level-cap progression system. Still a vital part in Diablo IV and hasn’t changed much as players can attach a series of Paragon Board to further customize a class to cater to a specific build. Each Paragon level is one point and can be designed in a number of ways, and still a key factor as to why your build works the way it does.

Skill Trees (base game,reworked): Patch 3.0.0 rebuilt skill trees for all classes with more than 40 reworked choices, 80 additional options, and up to 83 available Skill Points, with Bonus Skill Variants that can alter how skills behave including changing their category or damage type. This was launched alongside the release of the Lord of Hatred, giving love to older classes.

These are the reasons why the game is best played with all expansions available. Playing the base game for its campaign will be a fun time in 2026, and while you can participate in the game’s current season for endgame, you will feel severely underpowered and struggling to find meaningful progression as there will be a lot of missing parts.

Season 13 doesn’t have a themed system

Because of the release of Lord of Hatred, Season 13 doesn’t have a unique system that changes how players can build their characters. This is due to the Lord of Hatred expansion adding so much to the game with the addition of the Talisman system (5-set pieces) and the Horadric Cube, which adds more deep customization to items and gear.

You could wait for season 14 when they add a new system, but without the features exclusive to each expansion, you’ll always feel like something is missing with your characters.

Who Should Play Diablo IV in 2026?

Those who dropped off should consider revisiting the game in its current state. If you dropped in Diablo IV in its first year, you’ll be surprised on how much the game has changed since then as many systems and quality of life features have been added and changed. Some introduced in past seasons have become permanent changes and certain affixes and effects have been given an overhaul, making it a completely different game, especially with all expansions available to you.

For newcomers

As for newcomers, it’s best to experience the base game before anything else. If you find yourself enjoying the gameplay and how the game does class progression, that’s when it’s worth considering to get the expansions.

The base game comes with five classes, and the campaign can roughly take as early as 15 hours if rushed to as deep as 25 hours if you take your time and even do side quests. You can join the current season with just the base game but again, you’ll feel crippled in terms of what you can do with your character, but can still do whatever seasonal content is available.

This is also an online-only game. You can play it as a single player game and ignore the players running around, and you are not required to group up with players.

If you want to get the complete experience, The Lord of Hatred expansion is all you need as the Vessel of Hatred expansion is now given for free to all that owns the second expansion.

Is it on PC Game Pass?

Yes, but just the base game is available on PC Game Pass. Probably the cost-efficient way to see if this is a game for you. The game really shines with all the other expansions available, so treat it as a trial of sorts and pick it up either on a sale in the future or now if you’re inclined to start the grind.

Diablo IV Price in the Philippines (2026)

If you plan to buy a physical copy of the game on consoles, a PS5 copy today will cost roughly PHP 1,995, which is expensive for a base game that is now 3 years old and is mostly online-only.

On Steam, it priced much worse for some reason. The standard version of Diablo IV will cost PHP 3,000 in full price, and if you get the Age of Hatred Collection, it’s priced at PHP 3,440, suggesting Blizzard suggests new players to commit to the full experience rather than checking the base game first.

Digitally, what you shouldn’t do is get the base game, then buy the Lord of Hatred expansion as Steam priced the expansion alone at PHP 1,970. If you believe you’ll enjoy the game and want everything, go for the collection as it will feel like you’ve only spent PHP 440 for the expansions.

In Battle Net, prices remain relatively the same. The base game costs $49.99, which is roughly PHP 3,000, but the Diablo IV Age of Hatred Collection is worse at its priced at $69.99, which is roughly PHP 4,300.

Whichever route you pick, Diablo IV is a commitment.

Diablo IV FAQ

Do I need to play Vessel of Hatred before Lord of Hatred?

If you care about the game’s story, yes. If all you care about is just the endgame, you can even skip the Lord of Hatred campaign, which has that option even at the very start. Blizzard made it easy for even newcomers to just do season and endgame content.

Is Diablo IV free to play?

Diablo IV is not at all free to play. At best, there will be limited free play events to entice newcomers still on the fence. They’ve done it in the past, and expect them to do these kinds of offers in the future as well.

Can I play Diablo IV offline?

Sadly, no. There’s no offline option and has remained that way since Diablo III.

Does Lord of Hatred include Vessel of Hatred?

Vessel of Hatred now feels like it’s part of the new expansion as if you do buy Vessel of Hatred in 2026, you’ve been scammed as there’s no option to buy the first expansion in digital stores, and there’s no physical copy of the expansion as well.

How many classes are in Diablo IV in 2026?

There are now 8 playable classes in the game. The game launched with 5 classes: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Necromancer, and Druid. The Vessel of Hatred expansion introduced the Spiritborn class, while the Lord of Hatred expansion added the Warlock and Paladin.

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About the Author - Carlos Hernandez

Carlos Hernandez is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Too Much Gaming, where he writes about video games, reviews, and industry news. A lifelong gamer, he would do anything to experience Final Fantasy Tactics for the first time again and has a love/hate relationship with games that require hunting for new gear to improve your character.