Diablo 4 Season 5 is sending players back to Hell, and you can get a taste in the PTR tomorrow

Blizzard has officially revealed why you should be excited about Diablo 4’s fifth season, and why it’s bringing back the PTR. In a livestream on Friday, the developer detailed all the major changes coming with Season 5, and unveiled a new endgame activity.

For starters, the Season 5 PTR kicks off tomorrow, June 25. It will be available for one week - just like the Season 4 PTR - ending July 2. And just like that one, only PC players on BattleNet will be able to take part.

During the livestream, Blizzard confirmed that Season 5 will be a shorter one in order to align the October launch of the Vessel of Hatred expansion with Season 6’s kick-off. In what’s now becoming a trend for Diablo 4, Season 5 doesn’t have much of a seasonal quest. In fact, this one will even be available on the Eternal Realm.

It takes place following the events of the main game, and seemingly only exists to tie into the new endgame activity - the real big news here. It’s called Infernal Hordes, and will be available to players in World Tier 3 and beyond.

Infernal Hordes is a wave-based activity that takes place in Hell. Players earn Burning Aether the more hordes they slay, which can be used to unlock weapons, gear and other rewards. After every wave, you get a fight with the Fell Council - a callback to Diablo 2.

The Realm of Hatred is where all that action takes place, and it can be accessed using a Hell Compass. All players get one after completing the new quest (which you only need to do once per account), but more can be found in various other endgame activities, including Helltides and Nightmare Dungeons.

Infernal Hordes also has an interesting Boon and Bane mechanic. Upon defeating a wave, you’ll be granted an Infernal Offer, letting you choose from three different sets of Boons and Banes that modify the upcoming run. Examples include more Burning Aether from Elites, at the cost of increasing the damage they deal. These persist between runs, however, making each subsequent run more difficult.

As you might expect, Season 5 also comes with a host of new Legendary, and Unique weapons and items. They’re not limited to Infernal Hordes, but that’s where you can more efficiently farm them. Speaking of which, more classes now have access to more weapon types, which also comes with some tweaks to their affixes to better fit their new supported classes.

The focus on Diablo 4’s endgame is quite clear, which extends to farming endgame bosses. Players no longer have to reset the dungeon to re-summon the boss, and Blizzard has made Varshan’s summoning requirements less convoluted. The Beast in Ice, too, has its own dungeon and no longer requires crafting a sigil to fight.

Blizzard also increased the quality of Loot Goblin rewards, and made it so Resplendent Sparks can be earned separately from normal and Hardcore. Unique and Mythic Unique Items have been added to Whisper Caches, too, and the latter have had their non-boss drop chances increased.

Tomorrow, June 25, the PTR will be available to download through Battle.net for all players. All your existing characters have already been copied to the PTR, too. Once you log in, you’ll have the option to instantly boost your character to level 100 so you can better test the new content. This boost also comes with several prizes to help you upgrade gear.

Head to the official blog for the full, extensive list of changes coming with the Season 5 PTR.