Season of the Malignant: Exploring Malignant Hearts
Each Diablo Season introduces a unique gameplay mechanic that aligns with the season's theme, and the upcoming season is no exception. In this season, a new type of socketable item called Malignant Hearts will be introduced. These Hearts can be inserted into specific sockets found in your Jewelry.
Malignant Heart Types
The new items will come in four different colors, Orange (Offensive), Blue (Defensive), Pink (Utility), and Black (Super). These can be socketed into your Jewelry if the socket corresponds to the color of the heart. The exception is that the Black Hearts can be socketed into any color. The type of Heart that drops corresponds directly to the Malignant Monster’s color. These can be target-farmed in the Malignant Tunnels. There are many Hearts that are available to every class as well as some build-defining Class-Specific Hearts.
Offensive (Orange)
| Heart Name | Heart Effect | Class |
|---|---|---|
The Picana | Critical Strikes electrically charge the enemy for 0.75-2.50 seconds, causing lightning to arc between them and any other charged enemies dealing 68-136 Lightning damage. | General |
The Dark Dance (World Tier III) | Every 5 seconds while above 60% Life, Core Skills cost 68-51 Life instead of your Primary Resource. Skills that consume Life deal 10-20% increased damage. | General |
Tempting Fate (World Tier III) | You gain 40-60% Critical Strike Damage but your Non-Critical Strikes deal 20-15% less damage. | General |
Focused Rage | After spending 100-60 Fury within 2 seconds, your next Non-Basic Skill's Critical Strike Chance is increased by 20-30%. | Barbarian |
The Moonrage | Kills have a 5% chance to summon a Wolf Companion to your side for 20-30 seconds. In addition, gain +3 to Wolves. | Druid |
The Sacrilegious | Walking near a Corpse automatically activates an equipped Corpse Skill every second, dealing 40-30% reduced damage. | Necromancer |
Cluster Munitions | Lucky Hit: You have up to a 20% chance to launch 3 Stun Grenades that deal 26-32 Physical damage and Stun enemies for 0.50 seconds. | Rogue |
Tal’Rasha | For each unique element you deal damage with, you deal 7-12% increased damage for 3-10 seconds. | Sorcerer |
Defensive (Blue)
| Heart Name | Heart Effect | Class |
|---|---|---|
The Lionheart | You gain 10% Barrier Generation. You Heal 3-7 Life per second while you have an active Barrier. | General |
Revenge (World Tier III) | 10-20% of incoming damage is instead suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360-2040 Fire damage to Nearby enemies. | General |
Prudent Heart (World Tier III) | You become Immune for 2.0-4.0 seconds after you lose more than 20% Life in a single hit. This effect can only occur once every 110 seconds. | General |
Resurgent Life | While below 40-60% Life, you receive 50-60% more Healing from all sources. | Barbarian |
The Agitated Winds | When 8-13 Close enemies, automatically cast Cyclone Armor. This cannot occur more than once every 10-20 seconds. | Druid |
The Decrepit Aura | When at least 5 enemies are near you, gain an aura that automatically curses surrounding enemies with Decrepify for 5-15 seconds. | Necromancer |
Trickery | When you use a Subterfuge Skill, leave behind an unstable Shadow Decoy Trap that Taunts enemies. The Shadow Decoy Trap will explode after 6.0 seconds dealing 680-1020 Shadow damage. Cannot occur more than once every 5 seconds. | Rogue |
Spellbreaking | After taking Elemental damage, gain 20-40% Resistance to that element for 5 seconds. | Sorcerer |
Utility (Pink)
| Heart Name | Heart Effect | Class |
|---|---|---|
Determination | Resource draining effects are 40-50% less effective. In addition, gain 3.0-8.0% increased Resource Generation. | General |
Retaliation | Deal 510-680 Fire damage to surrounding enemies whenever a Crowd Control effect is removed from you. | General |
The Calculated (World Tier III) | After spending 150-200 of your Primary Resource, your next attack Stuns enemies hit for 2 seconds. | General |
Punishing Speed | Your Skills have a 20-30% chance to Knock Down all enemies for 1.25 seconds when that Skill's Attack Speed is higher than 35-20%. | Barbarian |
Inexorable Force | Up to 30-50 Distant enemies are pulled toward you while you have an Ultimate Skill active. | Druid |
Frozen Terror | Up to a 10-20% chance of inflicting Fear for 2.5 seconds. Feared enemies are Chilled for 20% every second. | Necromancer |
The Clipshot | Lucky Hit: Up to a 20-40% chance for your Cutthroat Skills to Slow by 40% for 3 seconds and your Marksman Skills to Knock Back enemies. | Rogue |
Spite | When you are afflicted with a Crowd Control effect, there is a 20-40% chance that the same enemy and enemies around you are also afflicted with the same effect for 3 seconds. | Sorcere |
Super (Black)
| Heart Name | Heart Effect | Class |
|---|---|---|
The Malignant Pact | Cycle through a Malignant bonus every 20 kills: Vicious: Gain 20% Attack Speed. Devious: Core and Basic Skills have a 15% chance to fully restore your Primary Resource. Brutal: Every 21 seconds, gain a Barrier absorbing 85-102 damage. | General |
Creeping Death | Your damage over time effects are increased by 30-40% for each different Crowd Control effect on the target. Unstoppable monsters and Staggered bosses instead take 110-130% increased damage from your damage over time effects. | General |
The Barber (World Tier III) | Critical Strikes and all subsequent damage within 2.0-4.0 seconds is absorbed by your target. Then, the absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. Stored damage is increased by 10% per second. | General |
Ignoring Pain (World Tier IV) | Incoming damage has a 5-15% chance of being ignored and instead Healing you for 17-68. | Barbarian |
The Unconstrained Beast (World Tier IV) | When you are hit with a Stun, Freeze or Knock Down effect, there is a 40-60% chance to automatically activate Grizzly Rage for 3 seconds. | Druid |
The Great Feast (World Tier IV) | Each Minion drains 1.0-2.0 Essence per second but deals 50-75% increased damage. With no Minions, this bonus applies to you and drains 5 Essence per second. | Necromancer |
The Vile Apothecary (World Tier IV) | Your attacks have a 5-15% chance to apply all Imbuement effects at 40-50% of normal potency. | Rogue |
Omnipower (World Tier IV) | Core Skills that launch a projectile consume all of your Mana. For every 45-35 extra Mana consumed, you launch an additional projectile, and the damage is increased by 3.0-5.0%. | Sorcerer |
Crafting and Salvaging Hearts at Cormond’s Wagon
Throughout your Season One grind, you will find many Hearts that you do not have an interest in. You can salvage your unwanted Hearts for Ichor of the corresponding type. Wrathful Hearts (Black/Super) will grant some of each upon salvaging. These materials can be used to craft a Heart of a specific type.
In order to craft a Heart, you will need 35 Ichor of the other two Hearts. For example, if you wanted to create a Vicious (Orange/Offensive) Heart, you need 35 Brutal (Blue/Defensive) Ichor and 35 Devious (Pink/Utility) Ichor. You will not be able to craft any Wrathful (Black/Super) Hearts.
Target Farming Hearts in the Malignant Tunnels
To acquire Malignant Hearts, the new Malignant Tunnels offer an excellent opportunity. These Dungeons are filled with formidable enemies and can be replayed multiple times. While exploring these dark tunnels, you'll need to face the risk of danger and defeat wild Malignant Monsters.
The Malignant Tunnel system consists of a total of six dungeons scattered throughout Sanctuary. As you eliminate hordes of Malignant Monsters, you'll encounter two Outgrowths. One of them will always be Wrathful, while the other will vary based on the specific dungeon. By using Malignant Invokers, a special item created at Cormond's Wagon, players can interact with Outgrowths of the same type. This interaction will summon a Fully Corrupted enemy. Overcoming this formidable opponent will reward you with a Malignant Heart corresponding to the monster's type.
