Diablo IV's very first season, the Season of the Malignant, is right around the corner, introducing new content and the chance to unlock a variety of cosmetics via the game's Battle Pass system. As such, the new season, and each subsequent one, will give players a few more reasons to come back to Sanctuary, even if the campaign was completed and a character leveled to level 100.

　　To make the best out of the Season of the Malignant, however, there are some things you should be doing to prepare for it, and not just to be actually able to access the new story content, but also to increase your enjoyment for everything it will have to offer.

　　

What Should You Do to Prepare for Diablo IV's Season 1?

Finish the Campaign

This goes without saying, but all the additional content that will be included in the Diablo IV Season of the Malignant can only be accessed after completing the main campaign. You will know for sure you have done so if you have unlocked the Tree of Whispers and seen the end credits. This condition was a given even before the Season was officially announced, as the new story content it introduces will be set after the events of the main campaign.

　　

Discover The Entire Map

While you will need to create a new character to take part in Diablo IV's Season of the Malignant, some of the progress you make in the Eternal Realm will transfer over to additional Seasons, such as the map. Alongside map completion, all Renown you have earned in the Eternal Realm will also transfer to the Season of the Malignant, so you will instantly get additional Skill Points and Paragon Points for your seasonal character to speed up the leveling process. In case you haven't done so already, you should also unlock the Horse by completing a special side-quest to speed up the process, check all points of interest to unlock fast travel points and earn additional Renown, complete dungeons to get Aspects, and unlock all Altars of Lilith, whose bonuses also carry over to seasonal characters.

　　

Plan Your New Character

　　While the Season of the Malignant will spice things up a bit with new mechanics, you can already start thinking about the new character you will have to create and how to build it. As completing the Diablo IV campaign and uncovering all of the Sanctuary map can take a while, fatigue may already have set it, so you should consider using a completely different class than the one you used already. Having played a Rogue for the main campaign, I'm planning to make either a Barbarian or a Druid for the Season of the Malignant to switch things up a bit and find new ways to obliterate the many enemies that will get in my way for the next few weeks.