Diablo Immortal Returns To Where It All Began For Its Dark Rebirth Update

Diablo Immortal is taking players back to where the story of Diablo truly began--beneath Tristram Cathedral.

In the original 1996 Diablo, players ventured into the dungeon underneath Tristram Cathedral to do battle with the game's titular Lord of Terror, along the way facing iconic foes like the Butcher. The latest update for Blizzard's free-to-play mobile entry in the ARPG franchise, titled Dark Rebirth, will see players returning to the iconic location--which has since appeared in Diablo II and Diablo III--in order to investigate recent disturbances.

Fresh off of randomly terrorizing players in Diablo IV, the Butcher will make his debut in Diablo Immortal once the update is live on September 20, once again stalking the halls of the dungeon beneath Tristram Cathedral. But the Butcher won't be alone. Joining him will be new abominations, the Shardborne. This new type of enemy are beings corrupted by the shattered Worldstone, zombie-esque monsters that are part blood-crazed creature, part glowing red rock. To access the new Tristram storyline, players will need to have completed the Ancients' Cradle main quest and reached Hell Difficulty III.

More competitive-minded players will be able to sink their teeth into a new PvP mode come the update called Alley of Blood. The mode looks to take inspiration from popular ARAM (all random all middle) game modes in various MOBAs, where players are forced to duke it out down a single lane in a battle of attrition against another team, overcoming defenses like towers and eventually destroying the opposing team's base. Players will be able to select from four different roles and gain new abilities to aid them in their battle. Those who select the Siege role, for example, will be able to summon powerful siege minions and turrets to help whittle down enemy defenses, while players looking to take out the other team will want to select the Focus role, which can curse enemy players to make them more vulnerable to attack.

Alley of Blood will be the new way the game's clan vs. clan Shadow Wars are handled, but more casual players looking to learn what the mode is all about will have the chance to do so from September 21 through October 5, when a 4v4 version of the mode will be available. Players will be on more even footing for the limited-time version of the mode, with the ranks of Legendary gear set to 1 and Legendary gems set to 10. Bonuses from things like Resonance, the Helliquary, Paragon points, and other means of player-power will additionally be disabled, giving those new to the game a fighting chance against veterans.

The Dark Rebirth update will additionally add a Butcher-themed battle pass, three new Legendary gems, multiple limited-time events, new Elder Rift modifiers, an adjustment to the level requirements needed to access post-launch story quests and zones, and more. For the full list of changes, check out Blizzard's official news post.

Diablo Immortal's last major update introduced the Blood Knight, the first new character class for the franchise in nearly a decade. In other Diablo news, Diablo IV will receive annual expansions, while the game's second season, titled Season of Blood, will see players embracing vampiric powers to gain an advantage over the monsters of Sanctuary.