Diablo Immortal Closed Alpha Has Begun; Faction-Based PvP, Huge Raids Unveiled

Blizzard dropped the Diablo Immortal Closed Alpha a few hours ago, following up from the Technical Alpha with a huge amount of new features and content.

First of all, there's a brand new class to test alongside the Barbarian, Monk, Demon Hunter, and Wizard. It's the Crusader, defined as a midrange melee/caster hybrid that vanquishes enemies with the power of holy magic.

Two new zones, the home of the Monks (Mount Zavain) and the land of the Barbarians (Frozen Tundra), have been added to the Diablo Immortal Closed Alpha alongside a new dungeon (the Cavern of Echoes, located in the Frozen Tundra), and the character level cap was increased from 45 to 55.

The developers have also added some endgame systems. The Essence Transfer vendor Zamina, inspired by the Kanai's Cube of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, will be able to extract the Essence of a Legendary item and transfer it to another Legendary item of your choosing. This way, players can customize the Legendaries they've looted, increasing their Rank and perfecting their attributes.

Then there's the Helliquary device, a machine whose purpose is to locate powerful demons around the world so that players can find them, defeat them and ultimately trap them. By symphonic their Demonic Remains, characters will become significantly more powerful over time as the Helliquary ranks up.

Perhaps the most interesting additions to the Diablo Immortal Closed Alpha are related to the game's PvP component. An 8v8 battleground located in the Immortal Overlook of Westmarch will pit heroes against one another for great rewards.

But the real surprise is the faction-based PvP endgame system called the Circle of Strife. Adventurers in Diablo Immortal may choose to join the Immortals or the Shadows, two factions that constantly vie for the Eternal Crown, an ancient source of power.

It's a rather intricate system, but here's the gist of it:

• Players will fight as either Shadows or Immortals through various PvP and PvE activities in a continuous cycle to claim the throne as the ultimate defenders of Sanctuary.
• Shadows - Shadows rally together in groups known as Dark Houses to challenge the Immortals in many ways, such as raids against their precious Vault. Shadows must also complete Contracts to grow their houses and ultimately challenge Immortals in a PvP showdown through the Rite of Exile to try and take their place as the new defenders of Sanctuary.
• Immortals – Immortals are the elite defenders against the Burning Hells, designated as the best of the best. They must fight to grow their dominance and defend against the Shadows to remain on top. One player will earn the right to lead the Immortals and can nominate up to four Lieutenants to bestow powerful Crowns to, which will grow in power and provide buffs to them and their allies in battle. Immortals can also attempt a raid that's unique to their faction, Kion's Ordeal. Up to 48 players can participate at once, with the goal to take down four bosses in 30 minutes. If successful, the Immortals will be granted powerful loot and the Blessing of Daedessa, a buff that provides a bonus to Elder Rifts and fills the Immortals’ Vault.

The Diablo Immortal Closed Alpha is still very limited in scope. Only select Android users in Australia will get to participate, except for press and media creators. Luckily, we're in the test and will report back our impressions as we did with the Technical Alpha.

The game is still scheduled to launch on Android and iOS devices later this year, though there's no definite release date yet. These are the current minimum requirements:

• Android Minimum Requirements
  • CPU - Snapdragon 670 / Exynos 8895 and higher
  • GPU - Adreno 615 / Mali-G71 MP20 and higher
  • RAM - 2GB of RAM and higher
  • Version: Android OS 5.0 (Lollipop) and higher
• Apple Minimum Requirements
  • iPhone 8 and higher
  • Version: iOS 12 and higher

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