The Vessel of Hatred, the first expansion to Diablo IV, is set to release on October 8 and Blizzard dropped a ton of new information about it at Gamescom. That includes more details on the game’s new class , new region, and a few surprise announcements to get players even more excited. Vessel of Hatred will continue the story of Diablo 4, in addition to bringing an all new co-op mode and the return of mercenaries to the series.
Here are the most interesting things we learned about the upcoming expansion. A fan-favorite feature from past Diablo games is the ability to call upon allies to fight for you. These NPC soldiers for hire were originally introduced in Diablo II, and Diablo III had its own version of the system with Followers, who were more fleshed-out characters with stories of their own.
Diablo 4’s version of mercenaries seems more in line with Diablo 3, as all four summonable allies have names and detailed backstories Blizzard has already revealed. You’ll unlock the NPC allies during the main quest and summon them in two ways. You can hire one mercenary to be your main companion to follow you around and designate a second mercenary as reinforcement who will emerge during combat to unleash a special skill when you activate a skill of your own.
Each mercenary is unique with their own set of skills. There is the drunken archer Subo, the cursed child Aldkin, the berserker crone Varyana, and the shieldbearer Raheir. With a variety of builds to choose from, you’ll .