What to Expect From Diablo 4 Season 9: Sins of the Horadrim

Diablo 4 is about to enter its ninth season since its launch back in June 2023. Titled Sins of the Horadrim, Diablo 4 Season 9 looks to recapture some of the game’s audience that has started to dwindle amid a content slump and competition from other ARPGs like Path of Exile 2 and Last Epoch. With this tough hurdle to overcome, Diablo 4 Season 9 has plenty of new features that are worth checking out, whether a player is jumping for the first time, returning after a hiatus, or coming hot off the heels of Season 8.

The Sins of the Horadrim season for Diablo 4 is shining a spotlight on the ancient brotherhood committed to protecting Sanctuary from the Prime Evils. With the Horadrim fallen from grace and condemned by the Church of Light following Diablo 4‘s main story campaign, providing more context for the order’s current status during Season 9 could end up laying the foundation for Diablo 4‘s next major expansion. At the very least, players will get the chance to try out some new gameplay mechanics and tackle new challenges when the season launches on July 1.

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Diablo 4 Season 9’s Confirmed Features and New Additions

New Uniques in Diablo 4 Season 9

Hooves of the Mountain God (Unique Boots) – Barbarian
- When at Maximum Fury, Fury will rapidly drain, and Basic skills cleave and deal 70-100% increased damage.
Noxious Spine-Breaker (Unique Two-Handed Weapon – Druid
- Every 10 seconds, Pulverize forms a puddle that deals 200-400% Poisoning damage, and splashes an additional 20-40% damage to the area around it.
The Hand of Naz (Unique Gloves) – Necromancer
- Sacrificing both Skeletal Warriors and Golems grants an additional Mage for each sacrificed. Mages that attack enemies 25 times without dying are upgraded to Arch-Mage. Arch-Mages teleport to safety when attacked, and their attacks have the chance to shatter on impact for an additional 50-100% damage to the target and up to 3 additional enemies.
Deathmask of Nirmitruq (Unique Helm) – Rogue
- Players can spend 10% of their life to cast Flurry when lacking enough Energy to increase its damage by 30-50% and increase their attack speed by 50% for 5 seconds.
Ophidian Iris (Unique Amulet) – Sorcerer
- Hydra is now a Core skill for Diablo 4 Sorcerers and always summons a 3-headed Hydra whose attacks explode on impact. For each head above 3 that it would have had, the Hydra instead grows larger and deals 50-100% increased damage.
Balazan’s Maxtlatl (Unique Pants) – Spiritborn
- Attacks damage close enemies for 200-300% of the players’ Thorns and deal 100% damage as Poisoning over 3 seconds, increasing up to 300% damage for 5 seconds after retaliating with Thorns.

Out of all these new uniques coming in Diablo 4 Season 9, the Sorcerer’s Ophidian Iris is the most intriguing. The buff it grants to the Sorcerer’s Hydra is powerful enough that the Hydra Sorcerer will likely be one of the top-tier builds for the Sins of the Horadrim season. Additionally, the Spiritborn’s new unique pants could help revitalize the Poison Thorns Spiritborn build and elevate it to become another of the season’s best builds.

Diablo 4 Season 9’s Horadric Spells

The main seasonal gimmick for Diablo 4 Season 9 is the addition of Horadric Spells, which play a similar role as past seasonal mechanics, like Season 8’s Boss Powers and Season 7’s Witchcraft Powers. This time, Diablo 4 players will be able to mix and match three different components to create the Horadric Spell that’s ideal for them. By combining a Catalyst, Infusion, and Arcana, players can augment a Horadric Spell to suit their build’s needs.

Horadric Strongrooms Are a New Micro-Dungeon in Season 9

Similar to the Rootholds of Season 7 and the Hellbreaches of Season 5, the Sins of the Horadrim season is adding another new micro-dungeon to Diablo 4 in the form of Horadric Strongrooms. These micro-dungeons can appear within Nightmare Dungeons, requiring players to collect Horadric Attunement by defeating enemies before tackling the boss. Depending on the amount of Attunement obtained, rewards can include Horadric Tomes, which allow players to craft Horadric Jewels that can be socketed into gear for powerful Horadric Spell synergy.

Nightmare Dungeons Are Getting Even Harder in Diablo 4 Season 9

Aside from Horadric-themed features, Diablo 4 Season 9 is adding a new twist to the game’s Nightmare Dungeon system by introducing Dungeon Escalations. This new mechanic allows Diablo 4 players to tackle three Nightmare Dungeons in succession, with Affixes from each previous dungeon carrying over to the next. Completing these dungeons rewards players with improved loot over the standard Nightmare Dungeon offerings, but requires special Escalating Nightmare Sigils found in Horadric Strongrooms.

Diablo 4‘s Escalating Nightmares will pit players against Astaroth at the end of their run, a boss returning from the game’s main campaign.