The Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred expansion has arrived, here’s how to jump into the quests and everything you need to have done already.
Vessel of Hatred continues the Diablo 4 story and picks up some time after Lilith’s defeat and the story quests from Season 5 that teased the return of Mephisto. Neyrelle has fled with the Lord of Hatred’s soul stone, Lorath is missing, and a new militant arm of the Cathedral of Light has taken over after the fall of Inarius.
Before you can jump into the jungles of Nahantu, your Wanderer protagonist has some stops to make first. There are also some important things to know about starting the new campaign quests, depending on where you are with Diablo 4.
How to start the Vessel of Hatred DLC
To start the Vessel of Hatred story, start the game with the DLC installed to trigger a new quest called Rekindled Faith.
Make your way to Kyovashad, then to the Cathedral of Light to trigger a new cutscene. From here, the game will direct you to Lorath’s Windswept Shack, and then to Gea Kul to meet a new ally.
From here, the quest A Magpie in Flight will begin and the game will then send you to Nahantu and introduce you to the Mercenaries mechanic.
Should I start a new character for the DLC?
Before you start any quests, you’ll need to decide if you’re starting a new character or if you want to start Act 7 with an existing character. If you want to continue the story with one of your “mains”, this will be within the Eternal Realm.
If you’ve already completed the main story campaign, you’ll be able to jump right into the new quests, but if not, you’ll have the option to skip it and dive right into the DLC.
If you haven’t completed the main base campaign, our advice is to do so first – otherwise, you’re only depriving yourself of content you’ve paid for.
The game used to force you to complete the main quest before you could engage in Seasonal content, but since the release of the DLC, this rule has been removed.
However, you’ll not be able to skip the Vessel of Hatred story quests until you’ve completed them with at least one character.
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If you start a new character, not only will you be able to play as the new class, the Spiritborn, but you’ll also be able to take part in Season 6.
This has its own questline, separate but running concurrently with Vessel of Hatred, and seasonal players will be able to enjoy both.
How to start Diablo 4 Season 6
Even players who’ve not purchased the Vessel of Hatred DLC will still be able to take part in Season 6. To do so, start a new character as normal, skip the base campaign (unless you want to play it again), and check out your quest log.
You’ll now have a new season quest called Creeping Hatred and you’ll need to make your way to Hawezar and speak to a Crusader called Damond.
This will trigger the Hatred Rising quests where you’ll need to take part in Realmwalker events to open something known as a Seething Realm.
This is the theme of Season 6, replacing the Infernal Hordes from Season 5. As you progress through the seasonal questline, you can earn bigger and better rewards.
If you’ve purchased the DLC, you’ll be able to take part in these events and play the Vessel of Hatred story quests, as well as do it all with the new Spiritborn class.
While the Vessel of Hatred quests will be available to everyone who purchased the DLC on the Eternal and Seasonal Realms, the Season 6 quests are exclusive to seasonal players.
This is in contrast to Season 5, which let both Eternal and Seasonal players take part in some of that season’s quests.
For more content on Vessel of Hatred and Season 6, check out our guides on the Kurast Undercity and the Dark Citadel.
