So, you’re jumping into Diablo 4’s second expansion Lord of Hatred on 28 April 2026, but you can barely remember how we even ended up here.
Maybe you last played during Vessel of Hatred? Maybe you’ve been bouncing in and out for all of the seasons (we are currently on Season 11!), min-maxing your build and realizing you have absolutely no idea what the actual story is supposed to be at this point. Either way, I got you.
A Sanctuary from Eternal Conflict
The following feature, “The Wanderer’s Burden – A Journey Through Hatred”, was written and provided by Blizzard Entertainment and is reproduced here with permission.
Sanctuary. A world forged in defiance, born from a desire to escape the Eternal Conflict between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells. Through centuries stretching into millennia, humanity has struggled against the encroaching darkness. The Prime Evils – Diablo, Baal, and Mephisto – and at times even their quarrelsome Lesser brethren, constantly sought to corrupt and conquer Sanctuary.
Each time, heroes rose, following in the footsteps of the original Horadric Order, a secret group sworn to protect humanity. The events of Diablo I and 2 saw the escape of the Prime Evils from the Soulstones, their subsequent re-imprisonment, and the corruption of the Worldstone itself. Ultimately, Diablo 3 witnessed the aftermath of the Prime Evil’s capture, during which time the Lesser Evils, Belial and Azmodan, would make a bid for Sanctuary. This event would pave the way for the corruption of the former Archangel Malthael into the embodiment of Death.
The evil of Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, was so pervasive that even after he had been defeated and entombed in a soulstone, his demonic essence oozed upwards into Travincal and corrupted the Zakarum priests. Though he fell to the same heroes who killed his brothers, I fear for us should he ever return.
Deckard Cain
And so, fifty years have passed since the Reaping and the defeat of Malthael. Fifty years of fragile peace, of rebuilding, of forgetting. Yet, deep in the Burning Hells, Mephisto never forgot and has slowly nurtured his ancient, burning hatred, weaving threads of discord and corruption across Sanctuary.
The Beginning of the Age of Hatred
These events set the stage for Diablo 4, whereupon a new evil began to stir from the very progenitor of Sanctuary. The whispers of Lilith, daughter of Mephisto, began to spread, summoning a new wave of cultists and devotees.
Previously banished to the Void by her lover, the Angel Inarius, after her intervention in proxy his war with the Prime Evils, Lilith’s return was orchestrated by a macabre ritual that tore her from her prison. Upon her return, she brought a promise: to protect humanity from the Eternal Conflict that threatened to consume Sanctuary, but only by claiming the world as her own, to forge it into a weapon for her to conquer the Burning Hells.
Sanctuary was meant as an escape from the Eternal Conflict… and yet here we are… again. I gave you free will… and you’ve squandered it… wasting it on a crusade you don’t understand. You chose tyranny… when offered freedom. A poor legacy for my gift. Without me… you would have no… victory… and its cost will be more… than you can pay.
Lilith, Daughter of Hatred
Yet, another ancient had established himself in Sanctuary. Inarius, the renegade angel who helped create Sanctuary, returned from his millennia of torment in the Hells.
Driven by their son, Rathma’s, prophecy and a desperate desire to be absolved by the High Heavens and reclaim his place among them, he believed the only path to redemption lay in destroying Lilith. His crusade drove him to murder Rathma (the first Necromancer) for refusing to give up the key to seal the Gates of Hell.
It is amidst this conflict that you, the Wanderer – a hero marked by the blood of Lilith in his veins – are chosen to decide the fate of Sanctuary, aided by the Horadric wisdom of Lorath Nahr and Neyrelle, an enthusiastic scholar of the order. The Wanderer’s journey takes you throughout the world, leading to an ultimate confrontation with Lilith in the Cathedral of Hatred, deep within the Burning Hells. Through a brutal and arduous battle, Lilith was defeated, and her essence seemingly reduced to dust.
The Vessel of Hatred
The victory over Lilith was short-lived, for a greater evil loomed over Sanctuary. The resulting conflict between Lilith and Inarius had left the world exposed to the growing power of Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, whose essence had been trapped in a Soulstone by Neyrelle. With Lilith defeated, the young scholar embarked on a perilous journey to the jungles of Nahantu in search of the lost tomb of the ascetic Akarat, hoping to find a way to contain the Prime Evil once and for all.
Throughout the thick, untamed wilderness of Nahantu, isolation became Neyrelle’s sole companion, as Mephisto’s Soulstone tormented her every step, seeking to break her with horrific visions of the future of Sanctuary. Despite her heroic resilience against Mephisto’s influence, Neyrelle inevitably began to teeter on the edge of madness, with her ability to distinguish her visions from reality diminishing, as manifested in the monstrous Hollows. Her one tether to sanity lay in recollections of past loved ones and great feats, such as her mother and the defeats of the other Prime Evils by humanity’s heroes.
It is at this time that the Wanderer joined forces with Eru – a native Spiritborn – in pursuing Neyrelle, attempting to save her from Mephisto’s corruption. Despite her constant evasion, the pair eventually caught up with Neyrelle, and together they searched for the Burial Chamber of Akarat’s lost tomb, where the ascetic’s mortal body lay. With the Wanderer’s help, the group discovered the tomb and placed the Soulstone upon Akarat’s body, severing the link between Neyrelle and Mephisto.
However, all was not as it seemed. Following a brief moment of respite, Eru revealed he had betrayed the Wanderer and made a bargain with Mephisto, triggering him to open a dark rift to the Prime Evil’s domain. In that moment, the ever-present lion-spirit of Akarat suddenly leapt to the defence of Neyrelle and the Wanderer, having sensed something had gone horrifically wrong. Mephisto’s maniacal laugh filled the room as Eru seized Akarat’s body and the Soulstone, uttering to the Prime Evil, “I’ve done my part… See that you do yours”, before jumping into the rift, as the Lord of Hatred’s wolf avatar entered from the rift.
A great battle ensued as the Wanderer looked to defend Neyrelle as she tried to awaken the spirit of Akarat, succeeding in keeping Mephisto’s wrath at bay. Despite all hope lost, the spirit of Akarat awakened one final time and used his last ounce of energy to defeat Mephisto’s avatar. After the fight, the Wanderer and Neyrelle returned to Nahantu in search of Eru, where they eventually found him wounded.
“We have each played a part in what has happened here. You abdicated your choice to this…child. And with every step she takes, I grow stronger. There will be no salvation in the Light.”
Mephisto
Despite Neyrelle’s pleas, Eru refused to reveal the location of the Soulstone or Akarat’s body, explaining that he had made a deal with Mephisto to spare all that he loves when he inevitably returns. In a final act of defiance, Eru attempted to strike down Neyrelle again, only to fail and be left to face the consequences of his decisions. Accompanied by the Wanderer, the pair started their search of Sanctuary for traces of Mephisto’s whereabouts before he could return to full strength.
The story continues at the Temple City of Travincal in Kurast, where laid the body of Akarat, surrounded by the black corruption of Mephisto. Mephisto mocked Akarat, ridiculing him about how he was betrayed by one of his followers, before slowly enveloping the body with his corruption, using the Soulstone that now lay embedded in Akarat’s chest. Akarat emerges from the corruption, his body now serving as a new vessel for Mephisto to return.
And the story continues… in Lord of Hatred
And that’s where we are left off before Lord of Hatred begins.
Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred launches on 28 April 2026, and if you’ve already pre-ordered, you can jump in right now with the newly-available Paladin class. There is also a second, as-yet unrevealed class that will arrive alongside the expansion at launch, so stay tuned to find out what that is.
Perhaps we will find out this month, given the upcoming Diablo showcase on 11 February, don’t miss it!
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