Season 18 is over, and the Season of Eternal Conflict is soon to arrive. Though there has been no official release date given, the average timeline means that we’ll likely see the release before the end of November.
The last hurdle was just passed with the pre-season patch, patch 2.6.7. Blizzard is finetuning a few things after feedback from last season, as well as adding in a few things to make sure the Season of Eternal Conflict is a hit.
For starters, Pandemonium is coming to Diablo. The season buff for the Season of Eternal Conflict will be Pandemonium, which causes radical and scaling effects in accordance with killstreaks. To quote the developer’s note: “With Season 19, we’ve altered course as well as upped the ante by experimenting with new mechanics to add an element of both chaos and power to the battlefield. Killstreaks with higher kill count requirements are more powerful, and we’re looking forward to seeing what players think of and do with them!”
The Pandemonium buff stacks for as long as you’ve hit or killed a monster within the last five seconds. Each stack also gives .005 movement speed and .001% bonus damage, stacking up to 1,000 stacks with 50% movement and 100% damage. In terms of the powers that unleash with the killstreak count, the list is as follows:
- 15 Kills: Exploding Chickens seek and destroy
- 30 Kills: A wide Frost Nova freezes enemies
- 50 Kills: Corpses rain from the sky
- 100 Kills: Five massive energy twisters are unleashed
- 150 Kills: Dark Geysers form beneath enemies
- 200 Kills: Treasure chests fall from the sky
- 300 Kills: A ring of fire engulfs everything
- 400 Kills: Meteors hail from above
- 500 Kills: Angels descend upon the battlefield to fight for your cause
- 1,000 Kills: ???
There’s a number of wonderful side effects that may come from this. Will necromancers be able to utilize the corpses raining from the sky at 50 kills, or is this a flavor effect? Will sorcerer’s abilities buff the meteors and energy twisters?
Other than the Season buff, there are some other minor changes. Two new rewards are coming to those that completely finish the Season Journey: the Angelic Treasure Goblin pet and the Valor Portrait Frame.
For those that purchased a virtual ticket to this year’s Blizzcon, an exclusive pair of cosmetic wings are also being added, called Lilith’s Embrace. An image of these haven’t been released yet, but they’re certain to be delightfully demonic.
The Season of Eternal Conflict will be landing soon. With the Pandemonium buff, the Nephalem will be well-equipped to wrack up a body count.
