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Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred had a lot riding on it. It had to bring back lapsed fans, it had to provide a satisfying conclusion to the Mephisto arc, and it had to be fun. There needs to be a reckoning, a payoff after the cliffhanger ending of Vessel of Hatred!
Achieving one of those tasks is already a huge undertaking. Doing all three in a single expansion? That’s a near-impossible target that’s been set.
Ultimately, does it even come close to nailing even one of them?
Read and find out!
What is Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred?
Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred is the newest expansion to Diablo IV, an isometric dungeon crawler action RPG. It was developed by Blizzard Entertainment and is available right now on PC, PlayStation and Xbox consoles, with a Nintendo Switch version reportedly coming soon.
Our review code was awesomely provided by the folks over at Blizzard Entertainment! Thanks so much!
As usual, we’re reviewing the game on our trio of gaming rigs.
Here are their specs:
Desktop 1 –
– MSI B550M Mortar WIFI
– AMD Ryzen 9 5900X with NZXT Kraken X73 RGB Liquid Cooler
– MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X 24G
– Teamgroup T-Force Dark Z 64GB DDR4 RAM
– Samsung 980 PRO 2TB SSD
– NZXT C1200 Gold ATX 3.1
– Lian Li LANCOOL III RGB case
Desktop 2 –
– MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi
– AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D with Cooler Master MasterLiquid 360L Core ARGB cooler
– Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB
– G.SKILL Trident Z5 NEO 32GB DDR5-6400 RAM
– Samsung 990 PRO 2TB SSD
– Corsair RM850x PSU
– Lian Li LANCOOL 207 Digital
Notebook –
MSI Raider GE78 HX 14V
– Intel Core i9 14900HX
– NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
– 32GB DDR5 RAM
– 1TB SSD
It’s been years since Diablo IV came out and Blizzard has been actively improving its performance since then. In Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred, none of the issues present in the original are present. No rubberbanding, no lag, no connection issues. There’s minor stuttering, but that only happens when you warp back to town and the game loads every player that’s nearby. Even then, it’s a second or two of hitching at most.
At 4K, with DLSS or FSR (depending on the machine I tried the game on) to Balanced, everything flowed smoothly with every setting (including Ray Tracing) set to their highest. Loads were fast and painless, there were no texture pop-in issues and input lag was non-existent.
It’s as buttery smooth as you’d expect.
Sadly though, there’s still no offline mode for Diablo IV, so you will need a stable internet connection to play the game.
Incidentally, getting Lord of Hatred also nets you Vessel of Hatred, which is awesome value if you’re still sitting on the base version of Diablo IV. It’s a bit of a slap to hardcore fans who’ve been with Diablo IV every step of the way, though and Blizzard definitely should’ve done better for them.
After all, in the future, what’s stopping them from just waiting instead of jumping in headfirst?
Also, Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred really should’ve added more character slots. The limit is now 16 (two more slots added with the expansion). You’d think it’s enough…but honestly, it’s not. 16 character slots, with 8 classes mean at most, you can have 2 per class. Unfortunately, Seasonal characters are included in the limit. Inevitably, you’ll either be forced to delete somebody at some point.
It’s a stupid artificial limit that hampers players for no good reason.
That’s pretty much the reason why players also only have 6 stash tabs too. Mine are nearly filled with runes, jewels, dungeon sigils and the like. I can’t imagine somebody who’s been playing since Day 1 of Diablo IV is happy with 6 stash tabs! Why haven’t stash limits been upgraded to 20 or more?!
Right from the outset, Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred doesn’t hold any punches.
It kills off a major character, it sets the monumental stakes and then tosses you right into the thick of it. Directly following the events of the previous expansion, Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred sees Mephisto (in the guise of the resurrected Zakarum prophet Akarat) gathering his followers and making his play for Sanctuary. As the Wanderer (the same character you played in Diablo IV and Vessel of Hatred), it’s up to you to vanquish the last remaining Prime Evil.
Unlike Vessel of Hatred, which takes place in Nahantu and its familiar jungle surroundings, Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred takes place on the new island of Skovos. Clearly inspired by classical Greece and other Mediterranean countries, it’s filled with open plains, sunshine, statues and of course, the Amazons.
Yup, you finally get to see their home turf…and it is splendorous.
In fact, Skovos currently ranks as my favourite setting in the whole franchise. It’s so bright and colourful, it’s the antithesis of the gloom and doom the series is known for. The massive change is a much needed breath of fresh air, giving the series some colour and distinction from the norm.
On the flipside though, I do miss the gothic designs of the dungeons that were found in the past Diablo games. For me, the gothic architecture (like the Tristram Cathedral in Diablo and Diablo III) was a highlight of the series. One of the things it does very well. Every other setting (the desert, the badlands, the jungles and even Heaven) was boring.
Yes, I love Hell’s design too, but you do see that influence in the later areas of Skovos, so it’s not a total absence.
Skovos is similar to Nahantu in size but is separated into a couple of distinct biomes.
As such, enemies are mostly new but there are a couple from Diablo IV and other games in the series. One of my least favourite factions, the Drowned are back. If you hated them previously, you will hate them again here.
Nautical-themed zombies… How boring.
Thankfully, the story isn’t boring.
It’s pretty high stakes this time around.
Mephisto is gathering followers on his pilgrimage and the Wanderer is almost always on the back foot. It’s a bit familiar to Diablo II (except now you’re chasing Mephisto instead of Diablo) but with some neat twists. It also ties up a ton of hanging threads (such as the Tree of Whispers and Jorath’s ties to it) as well as shed new light on Lilith.
It even brings past characters (like Rathma) back into the limelight and is overall, a very solid campaign with little padding.
The ending’s pretty definitive too, which makes me think that this is probably it for Diablo IV. I really hope we don’t have to wait another 11 years for Diablo V.
There are a ton of new stuff to do while we wait (however long it’s going to be) for the next game though.
Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred introduces two ‘new’ classes – the Warlock and the Paladin.
Both are pretty cool. You don’t need to replay previous content, you can start off at Level 1 right at the beginning of the Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred campaign. Of course, you can also import your older characters if you prefer. If you have even more time (and want to reexperience Diablo IV) you can also start right at the beginning and go through everything right up to Vessel of Hatred.
The Warlock is a jack-of-all-trades that can go the caster, summoner, or melee route. It’s a bit of a mishmash of the other classes, but for me, it doesn’t really gel. I never felt powerful in any role—everything is done better by the other classes in the game. The Warlock doesn’t really have its own identity, especially when it shares so many themes with the Necromancer.
All too often, I felt pulled in different directions. My build never felt like it came together. It’s oddly too constricting and too open at the same time—lacking both focus and payoff. It just doesn’t feel fun to me.
The only real difference is that one deals with the dead (and undead), while the other deals with demons.
I prefer playing as the Paladin instead, due the straightforward nature of the class. You’re either a tank, a tank, a healing tank or a tank. That might be a bit of an oversimplication, but it’s still pretty accurate. Most of the skills are familiar too, so I was pretty confident of my build by just scanning the skill tree.
Yup, that’s right…I became a Hammerdin and spammed Blessed Hammer all the way through.
I started on Hard with a Level 1 Paladin and got up to Torment III (Paragon Level 110 on a Seasonal character), steamrolling everything with no issues before I stopped playing to write this review.
Paladin gear looked cool too, though some of the older Seasonal Rewards aren’t applicable to it and the Warlock class.
There’s been major skill reworks too, but those are mainly for the older classes and don’t apply to the new classes. What does though is the new endgame.
This mostly comes in the form of Tyrael’s War Plans. It’s basically a randomized choose-your-own-adventure kind of deal with a huge ass reward at the end for completing it.
You’re given a choice of activities to complete at once. Starting at two, the number increases as you gain experience. The higher your experience the higher the rewards. It adds a cohesive element to the cycle of running nightmare dungeons, helltide, lairs and the like.
Does it get boring?
Yes, but it’s a damn sight better than the senseless running around in the previous endgame. The disparate events feel tied together, even if it’s just via the order of the war plan you’re currently running.
There are also a handful of post-game quests. These are epilogues of sorts. They mostly serve to tie up loose ends from the campaign and to also provide a glimpse of the future. I enjoyed these the most, as they provide closure to the quest to stop Mephisto and as a way to say goodbye to characters you met.
There’s also a new way to buff up your character.
Charms now provide benefits and perks… with a catch.
You need to find cores to unlock the slots in them. You’ll find 3 and 4 slots cores easily enough, but the 5 and 6 slots ones are rare as hell. Finding the ones with complementary affixes are even rarer! While you can change affixes for your gear, you can’t do them for charms.
Charms also come in sets, which like equipment sets, also give out better perks when a full set is slotted in. You can craft them yourselves though, so it’s not so tough to assemble a decent set.
There’s also the weirdest addition to a Diablo game yet – fishing.
You can catch fish and then add them to your compendium. You can also catch other items while fishing, which you can sell off.
It’s very underwhelming and severely out of place though. 99% of the time, I didn’t even think of to fish. When I do think about it, I’m nowhere near a fishable body of water. So yeah…I think it’s a damn waste of time with barely any benefit to it.
I’d rather be doing War Plans to be honest.
The Bottom Line.
Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred isn’t perfect—and it doesn’t pretend to be. There are still frustrating limitations, questionable design decisions, and systems that feel like they’re being held back for no good reason. The Warlock needs work, stash space is still a joke, and some of the series’ iconic atmosphere takes a backseat more often than it should.
But when it works, it really works.
Skovos is a standout setting, the Paladin is an absolute blast to play, performance is rock solid, and the endgame finally feels like it has a sense of direction instead of being a disjointed grind. The story, while familiar in places, delivers where it counts and gives Diablo IV something it’s been missing for a while—momentum.
That’s what makes Lord of Hatred land.
It doesn’t reinvent Diablo IV, but it sharpens it into something far more focused and enjoyable. It’s the version of the game that feels confident in what it wants to be, even if it still stumbles along the way.
If Diablo IV launched with a whimper, then Lord of Hatred is the course correction it desperately needed—and possibly the send-off it deserved.
Flawed, frustrating, but ultimately satisfying.
And this time, it actually sticks the landing.
TLDR:
Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred is a flawed but focused expansion that finally gives the game direction—great setting, strong performance, and a meaningful endgame, held back by stubborn design limitations.
The Technoverdict: Recommended
The Good:
- Exciting new setting.
- Paladin class is fun.
- Solid performance.
- Good plot.
- A cohesive endgame.
The Bad:
- Warlock needs tweaking to be better.
- Not enough gothic and demonic environments.
- Character and tab slots are still annoyingly limited.
- The Drowned are boring enemies.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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