Blizzard will soon let us transform into the iconic Butcher enemy in Diablo 4 for the first time in Diablo history. There’s also a free trial coming that will allow anyone to play as the upcoming paladin class whether they’ve pre-purchased the Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred expansion or not.
The Butcher arrives as the headline feature of Season 12’s appropriately named Season of Slaughter on 11th March. You’ll be able to transform into the big, cleaver-wielding menace by activating Shrines of Slaughter in Helltides, competing in the Ceremony of Slaughter in the Fields of Hatred, or in the gruesome-sounding Slaughterhouses.
The Butcher was infamous in Diablo 1. He’d come tearing out of a room with a speed and aggression that was shocking early on in the game. He would catch players off guard and leave many of them face first on the floor. The Butcher was a difficulty spike made manifest.
The Butcher also appeared in a surprise cameo in Diablo 4 in a nod back to that original Diablo game. He’d suddenly appear midway through a dungeon and tear at you with similar speed and aggression and, again, leave many players face-first on the floor.
The paladin free trial also begins 11th March and runs until 18th March, and it’s open to all players on Battle.net, PlayStation and Xbox. This includes a trial of the base Diablo 4 game and lets you play the Paladin up to a level of 25. If after trialling the paladin you’d like to pre-purchase the Lord of Hatred expansion, your class progress will carry over.
The Lord of Hatred expansion arrives 28th April for Diablo 4, and brings a new warlock class alongside the paladin, a new region to explore and a new storyline, and raises the level cap by 10. There are also new endgame features, the Horadric Cube, and the arrival of Talismans and sets of charms.
Blizzard is also taking the opportunity to overhaul the game’s skill tree for everyone regardless of if you buy the expansion, and introduce new quality of life features such as loot filters to the game. There are a raft of significant changes coming, which is why, as I discovered after visiting Blizzard recently, it feels like a 2.0 moment for Diablo 4.
