A season in Diablo 4 is a limited period of roughly three months in which you start a new character at level 1 and play for seasonal content and rewards. This explainer covers how Seasonal and Eternal characters differ, what carries over, how Season Ranks and Rebirth work and what the current Season 15, Season of Hell’s Legacy, has brought since it began on 15 September 2026. As of 19 October 2026 Blizzard has not announced when it ends, so we will update this page once it does.
How seasons work in Diablo 4
Every season has its own theme, seasonal mechanic and rewards. When a season starts, you create a new character on the Seasonal realm and start completely from scratch: level 1, no Paragon, no gold. Gear and older characters stay behind. What does stay with you is everything shared across your account: mounts, cosmetics and transmogs.
If you have finished the campaign at least once, you don’t need to replay it on a Seasonal character. You skip it and go straight to the seasonal content. Starting from zero? Our beginner’s guide walks you through the first hours.
Each season also comes with a battle pass in the form of Reliquaries. Everyone gets the free part, and the premium part costs Platinum. Our battle pass guide breaks down what costs real money.
Seasonal vs Eternal: the differences
| Seasonal realm | Eternal realm | |
|---|---|---|
| Character start | level 1, no Paragon or gold | characters, gear, Paragon and gold stay |
| Seasonal content and rewards | yes | no |
| Base game fixes and balance | yes | yes |
| The Tower and leaderboards | yes | no |
| Playing with friends | Seasonal characters only | Eternal characters only |
The last row matters most for co-op. Seasonal and Eternal are separate worlds, so if your friend is playing the season and you are on Eternal, you can’t group up.
Since Season 15, War Plans progress is also shared between the characters on your account, but only within the same partition: Seasonal separate from Eternal, Normal separate from Hardcore and Normal separate from Solo Self-Found. Each character then spends its own points. Our endgame guide explains how War Plans work.
What happens when a season ends
When a season ends, Seasonal characters and their stash move to the Eternal realm. Nothing is deleted; you only lose access to the seasonal content that ends with that season. On the Eternal realm the character keeps receiving base game updates.
You can play seasons without any expansion, and both Seasonal and Eternal characters still get base game updates. You can’t create a Spiritborn (Vessel of Hatred) or a Paladin or Warlock (Lord of Hatred) without the matching expansion, though. In Season 15, about 15% of the Season Ranks objectives also require Lord of Hatred, including objectives for Rank VIII.
Season Ranks and Season Blessings
Season Ranks are account-wide goals with seasonal rewards. Season 15 has nine ranks with 125 objectives. Rewards include Skill Points (up to 14 extra in Season 15), Paragon points (up to 42 in Season 15), Mythic Unique Caches, cosmetics and materials. How skill points and Paragon add up on the way to level 70 is covered in our levelling and Paragon guide.
Playing also earns you Smoldering Ashes, which you spend on Season Blessings: small bonuses to things like drops or materials. They are free and they are the only seasonal bonuses that affect gameplay. The battle pass does not sell power.
Rebirth: bringing an Eternal character into the season
Season 15 added Rebirth, which lets you move an Eternal character to the Seasonal realm. The character drops back to level 1 but keeps its class, name, appearance, Normal or Hardcore status and saved cosmetics. Any items you want to keep have to be stored in your Eternal stash beforehand; they don’t travel into the season.
Rebirth is handy if you have a favourite character and don’t want to roll a new one just for the season.
What’s live now: Season 15, Season of Hell’s Legacy
Season 15 started on 15 September 2026 and celebrates the series’ 30th anniversary. Deckard Cain and the Prime Evils take centre stage. The key additions:
- Waking Nightmares: three types of seasonal content, namely large Capstone dungeons, dungeons and rooms in the open world.
- 9 Legacy Uniques: they stay in the game permanently, on the Eternal realm too.
- Rebirth: moving an Eternal character into the season (see above).
- Soul Splinters and the Horadric Post: further additions of the season.
The launch was hit by login problems, as covered in our launch news. For a sense of the cadence: Season 12, Season of Slaughter, started on 11 March 2026 and Season 14, Season of Death Awakening, on 30 June 2026. Blizzard’s official overview of the current season is on the Diablo IV Season page.
When does Season 15 end and what comes next?
As of 19 October 2026 Blizzard has not officially announced the end of Season 15 or the start of Season 16. We are not repeating the estimates floating around online. Once Blizzard publishes a date, we will add it here.
Blizzard does plan more seasons: the Cult of the Dead storyline continues and War Plans will see further changes. Seasons are also meant to continue after Diablo 5 launches, see our news on post-Diablo 5 seasons and the Diablo 5 overview.
Join our Discord to find teammates for the season or the Eternal realm: Discord GamersTogether.
FAQ
Roughly three months. Blizzard had not published an exact end date for Season 15 as of 19 October 2026.
It moves to the Eternal realm together with its stash. You don’t lose anything, you just can’t play the seasonal content on it any more.
No. Seasonal and Eternal are separate worlds and you can only play together in the same realm.
No, the base game is enough for seasons. Without the expansions you can’t create a Spiritborn, Paladin or Warlock, and in Season 15 about 15% of the Season Ranks objectives require Lord of Hatred.
A Season 15 feature that moves an Eternal character into the season. It drops to level 1 but keeps its class, name, appearance and saved cosmetics. Store your items in the Eternal stash first.
Information verified on 19 October 2026. More guides are in the Diablo 4 hub and the latest updates in our Diablo 4 news.