During yesterday's Campfire Chat, Blizzard announced the release date of the next major Diablo IV patch. On March 5, players will be able to access the previously delayed Gauntlet endgame dungeon.
First, Blizzard clarified this will only be available in Seasonal realms. After gaining access to World Tier IV, players must travel to the southwestern port in Gea Kul. At the end of the longest dock sits the Horn of Trials, which needs to be activated to access the Gauntlet. Players should note that Monster levels will be beyond level 100, so characters that have hit Level 100 are most likely to emerge victorious from the ordeal.
The Diablo IV developers said this is a fixed nonlinear dungeon that changes on a weekly basis. It opens on Tuesday at 8 AM Pacific Time, with the next Gauntlet appearing at 10:15 AM. A player's score is based on how many Proofs of Might they can earn within the 8-minute limit. Proofs of Might are obtained by slaughtering the endless hordes of enemies and opening chests. Pillars can increase the number of Proofs earned through score multipliers or by respawning the monsters you have just killed. While score-based Pillars increase your Proofs of Might, power-based Shrines can also appear in the Gauntlet. After killing a boss in the dungeon, a shrine will appear. Activating it will provide one of the various effects available, which are identical each time the same boss is killed within the Gauntlet.
In a bit of a Soulslike twist, respawning is possible within the Gauntlet, but players will lose a third of the score. However, the Proofs of Might can be regained at the place of the last death. Based on the final score, players will be assigned four ranks of Seals: Seal of the Blooded, Seal of the Steadfast, Seal of the Iron-Willed, and Seal of the Worthy.
When the Gauntlet resets at the end of the week, Diablo IV players who have participated will receive Caches of Trials, depending on their best score. A Cache of Trials guarantees one Ancestral Legendary and will scale in rank with the Cache awarded. Earning the Seal of the Worthy guarantees getting items of 925 power level.
That's not everything coming with the March 5 update. Blizzard is also bringing back the Vampiric Powers originally introduced in Season of Blood as Legendary Aspects that can potentially drop from any foes defeated across Sanctuary.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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