Leaked images, data-mined files, and an official Blizzard teaser are all pointing to a massive week of reveals for the Diablo 4 Lord of Hatred expansion. The second playable class appears to have been exposed ahead of schedule through a combination of leaked promotional art and PTR data mining. A full map of the new Skovos Isles region has surfaced through a German gaming outlet. And the Season 12 PTR is already live with new blood-themed items and kill streak mechanics.
The Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight airs February 11, followed immediately by the Lunar Awakening event on February 12. Between the class reveal, expansion details, and seasonal content, this is shaping up to be the biggest week for Diablo 4 since the expansion was first announced.
Leaked Second Class
Blizzard revealed the Lord of Hatred expansion in December 2025 with the Paladin as the first new class. Pre-order players got early access starting in Season 11. A second class was confirmed for the expansion at the same time, but Blizzard kept it completely hidden, showing only a darkened silhouette standing behind the Paladin in the reveal trailer.
That silhouette kicked off months of speculation. Now, a series of leaked images appears to have blown the secret wide open.
Where the Leak Came From
The first image reportedly surfaced on Bilibili, a major Chinese video platform, before spreading to other Chinese websites and eventually the Diablo and Diablo 4 subreddits. It shows what looks like official Lord of Hatred promotional artwork: the Chinese version of the expansion logo sits at the top right, the Paladin stands on the right throwing holy hammers with shield in hand, and the unannounced second class takes the left side.
A higher-resolution version of the same image appeared shortly after from separate sources. Multiple community members tried to recreate this cleaner version using AI upscaling tools, but none could match it. Every upscaler produced visible artifacting and over-smoothing that didn't match the leaked version's quality. That's led many to believe the high-res image is a genuine separate asset, not just an upscale of the original.
What the New Class Looks Like
The leaked art depicts the second class as a caster wielding a large two-handed sword. Red and black dominate the character's visual design. The sword is infused with red magic, the clothing is primarily red with a long red cape, and the spell being cast is overwhelmingly red with black elements.
The character appears to be casting a large spell that mimics the motion of their arm. A giant magical hand replicates exactly what the physical arm is doing, suggesting some kind of sweeping melee-range attack. Ropey strands of red magic wrap around the character's arm, which could represent blood siphoning or demonic energy depending on the class's actual identity.
Despite the caster design, this character is visibly muscular and physically imposing. That points to a frontline caster archetype, a class that fights in melee range while primarily using spells. Nothing like that currently exists in Diablo 4. Every existing caster class is designed to operate at range.
The initial lower-resolution image showed what looked like purple spell effects beneath the character's feet. In the higher-res version, those effects are clearly black rather than purple. That makes the color scheme a consistent red and black, colors closely tied to demons throughout the Diablo franchise.
How It Matches the Trailer Silhouette
Several elements of the leaked design line up with the silhouette from the official Lord of Hatred trailer. That silhouette showed a hooded figure with jagged or spiky shapes extending from each side. In the leaked image, two curved elements near the sword's hilt look very similar to those jagged shapes. The silhouette also appeared to show long robes or flowing garments, which matches the red cape. And while the silhouette showed a plain hood, the leaked character has a hood-like headpiece with a mask and horn-like protrusions on the front.
The differences could come down to pose. The silhouette showed the character standing neutrally, possibly with cape wrapped around them and hood up. The leaked image shows them mid-combat. A different angle and stance would easily account for the visual discrepancies.
The Image Appeared on the PTR
Multiple players reported finding this exact image inside the Season 12 PTR client. Clicking on the Paladin class without a valid Lord of Hatred pre-order (or when the game bugged out and didn't recognize one, which apparently happens often) triggered a prompt to purchase the expansion. That prompt led to a page showing both Vessel of Hatred and Lord of Hatred, and the leaked image of the Paladin alongside the new class was used as the Lord of Hatred background.
Screenshots and phone-recorded videos of this surfaced on Reddit from multiple users. A single instance could theoretically be faked, but the volume of separate recordings from different people makes that much harder to pull off.
Data Mining Points to Warlock
Data miners digging through the Season 12 PTR files found text strings that appear to name the class directly. The most widely shared discovery is a line reading:
DUI_expansion_2_info_page_1_warlock
Multiple independent miners found this string, strongly suggesting the second class is called the Warlock. There are also reports that Blizzard removed this reference from the PTR after it started circulating on Reddit, though only limited sources have confirmed the removal.
The Vizjerei Connection
Other data mining efforts turned up references to the Vizjerei in the PTR files. The Vizjerei are one of the oldest mage clans in Diablo lore, known for their obsessive attempts to communicate with spirits. They believed spirits existed within the Diablo universe and dedicated themselves to making contact.
They didn't have much luck with spirits, but their efforts eventually led them to summon a demon. That discovery split the clan apart. Some members believed demons should be worshipped as leaders, while others pushed for summoning and subduing demons to serve their own goals. The clan's entire history is deeply tied to demon summoning.
If the "Warlock" name and Vizjerei references both prove accurate, the new class could be a dark caster rooted in that tradition: a character who summons and subdues demons, siphoning their power for combat. That would make it a thematically perfect opposite to the Paladin. One class channels holy power from the Light, the other pulls demonic energy from Hell. The expansion's cosmetic armor sets already reflect this split, with one side styled as holy and the other dark.
The frontline melee design combined with a caster identity opens up several directions. The class might summon demons to drain their power directly, killing them and absorbing the energy for close-range combat. Or it could lean toward a more traditional summoner approach, letting players subdue demons found in the world and add them to a roster of summonable allies.
Skovos Isles Map
The GameStar Leak
GameStar, a major German gaming outlet, published a detailed article about the Lord of Hatred expansion in December 2025. The piece included what they described as a map asset of the Skovos Isles received directly from Blizzard, along with screenshots of Paladin gameplay on the new islands.
The map shows the Skovos Isles as one giant connected landmass, a major departure from previous Diablo lore. Earlier depictions, including the Diablo 2 world map, presented Skovos as three separate larger islands (Philios, Lysander, and Skartara) surrounded by smaller ones. The leaked version instead fuses these into a single traversable region connected by land bridges.
Geography and Lore
Philios and Lysander are named after forbidden lovers in Diablo lore. Lysander was an angel, Philios an ancient Nephalem. Their story ties directly into the creation of Sanctuary. The Skovos Isles are the birthplace of the Nephalem, the first children of angels and demons. Inarius, Lilith, and their followers lived on these islands after creating Sanctuary.
When Lilith realized other angels and demons wanted to destroy their children, she slaughtered them in what became known as the Purge. Inarius banished her to the Void afterward, and the remaining angels and demons scattered. Lysander was among them. She fell in love with Philios and gifted him the Sightless Eye, the same artifact Lorath and the Wanderer use in Diablo 4 to track Lilith. Their bloodline eventually produced the Askari, the Amazon warrior society that settled the isles.
The German article confirms the Skovos Isles serve as the original homeland of Lilith and Inarius, where humanity's first civilization emerged. Players will encounter the Askari kingdom ruled by two queens, a matriarchal society home to the Amazons from Diablo 2.
The center land bridge connecting Philios to the main landmass is labeled Temis on the leaked map. In established canon, Temis is the Askari capital, making it the likely main city hub for the expansion. Southwest of Temis, the map references Tran Athulua, an ancient Askari city described in lore as hidden deep in a forest. Its appearance could hint at some kind of resurfacing event tied to Lilith's return in the Vessel of Hatred storyline, given her deep connection to the islands and a previously demonstrated ability to reveal hidden locations (Akarat's tomb in the Vessel of Hatred campaign was sealed beneath the sea and opened through similar means).
Skartara, the leftmost island, is depicted as a volcanic region on the leaked map. According to Diablo 2 lore, Philios originally featured two iconic landmarks: Mount Arnazeus (a massive volcano) and Mount Karcheus (a snow-covered peak). Neither appears on Philios in the leak, with the volcanic terrain shifted to Skartara instead. That's a notable inconsistency with older lore, though the map's other details have largely checked out.
Trailer Confirmation
Frame-by-frame analysis of the Lord of Hatred announcement trailer has added more credibility to the leaked map. During a war table scene, the official Skovos war plans are briefly visible. Their outline shares multiple similarities with the shape, land structure, and regional layout of the leaked map. Many in the community now believe the leak is legitimate, and that Blizzard may have accidentally confirmed it through their own footage.
The German article also mentions a new War Table-style system for the expansion that could let players increase the difficulty and rewards of various activities. This would work somewhat like the existing boss power system but applied more broadly across content types like Infernal Hordes and Nightmare Dungeons.
30th Anniversary Spotlight
Blizzard released an official teaser for the upcoming reveal event on February 5. Matthew Cederquist, Legacy Lead Producer on Diablo, announced:
"Be sure to tune in to Diablo's 30th anniversary spotlight on February 11th, where we'll have major updates across all of our games to share, including Diablo II: Resurrected. We'll announce the second class for Diablo IV Lord of Hatred, plus dive deeper into its endgame features and system updates that we announced in December."
The blog post adds: "Prepare to witness the next chapter of Diablo IV on February 11th. Tune in to our Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight where we'll unveil the next class arriving with Lord of Hatred, a new force in Sanctuary that will reshape how you fight, survive and master the battlefield."
What the Broadcast Will Cover
Based on the teaser and blog post, the February 11 stream will include:
- The official reveal of the second Lord of Hatred class.
- A deeper look at the revamped skill tree system. The trailer showed skill variants that change elemental properties of existing abilities: Ball Lightning converting to a fireball, Incinerate gaining a lightning beam version, Hydra switching to ice, and the Spirit Born's Quill Volley firing projectiles made of fire instead of lightning.
- The Horadric Cube and a new crafting system. The trailer showed runes encircling and fusing into a weapon to create a more powerful version of it, possibly expanding the current Rune system into full Runewords similar to Diablo 2's classic crafting.
- New endgame progression systems.
- The Talisman system, which appears to bring back the charm concept from Diablo 2 and may include set bonuses.
- Updates for Diablo Immortal.
- Major news for Diablo II: Resurrected.
Diablo II: Resurrected News
The D2R announcement is generating plenty of excitement on its own. Blizzard previously teased that surprises were coming for the remaster, and community speculation runs from new acts and new classes to a separate charm inventory, a full expansion, and quality-of-life improvements inspired by popular mods like Project Diablo 2. The game has maintained a strong player base, reportedly hitting numbers close to Diablo 4 itself.
Developer Q&A
Blizzard will follow the broadcast with a Sanctuary Sitdown on February 12 at 11:00 AM PST. The Q&A session takes place on the official Sanctuary Discord, where developers will discuss everything from the February 11 stream and take community questions live.
Lunar Awakening Event
The Lunar Awakening event returns on February 12 at 10:00 AM PST, running through February 26 on both Eternal and Seasonal realms.
Event Hub: Ked Bardu
The Lunar Night Market in Ked Bardu serves as the event's central hub. Players can redeem Ancestral Favor Reputation there for Unceasing Gifts from the Ancestors caches and Lunar Renewal-themed cosmetic rewards.
Lunar Shrines
All regular Shrines across Sanctuary (Nahantu included) are replaced with Lunar Shrines for the event's duration. These feature an updated appearance honoring the Year of the Horse and a unique map icon for easy spotting. Every Lunar Shrine activation grants a 100% multiplicative experience bonus for 2 minutes.
Each shrine type also receives a bonus effect on top of its regular power:
- Artillery Shrine: Casts have a chance to summon a holy bomb.
- Blast Wave Shrine: Each explosion summons a cluster bombardment.
- Channeling Shrine: Increased attack speed and chance to reset cooldowns.
- Conduit Shrine: Summon frequent, powerful, shocking strikes. (The Conduit Shrine isn't currently in the live game, but Blizzard's official listing confirms it will be active during the event.)
- Greed Shrine: Chance to summon a Treasure Goblin. Kills while the shrine is active also summon Treasure Goblins.
- Lethal Shrine: Chance to instantly execute a struck monster, causing Fear on surrounding enemies. This includes Elites but excludes Bosses and other players.
- Protection Shrine: All incoming damage is reflected back. Reflected damage scales with Level and Difficulty. (Previous versions of this effect had bugs that produced extreme DPS numbers.)
Miserly Spirits also spawn the moment a Lunar Shrine is activated, giving players an immediate way to take full advantage of each shrine's bonus effects.
Reputation and Rewards
The event has 10 Ancestral Favor Reputation Levels. Rewards include a Resplendent Spark and 6 Lunar-themed cosmetics, including the Trag'Oul's Consort mount. All cosmetics are earnable regardless of whether players unlocked rewards from past Lunar events. After finishing all 10 levels, players continue earning rewards through Unceasing Gifts from the Ancestors caches.
Lunar Awakening themed garments are available in Tejal's shop as well, including the Scholar of the Lonely Moon armor for Sorcerer and the Dragon of the Lonely Moon mount armor bundle.
Twitch Badge
A Diablo Twitch badge is available for the first time. Subscribing to any eligible streamer in the Diablo IV category between February 11 at 2:00 PM PST and February 25 at 11:59 PM PST unlocks the Mark of Diablo badge.
Season 12 PTR
The Season 12 PTR is live now and runs through February 10. Blizzard has stated directly that the current PTR build only shows the foundation of Season 12. More surprises and features will be revealed closer to launch.
Kill Streak Mechanic
The seasonal theme centers on kill streaks and a "Rampage" system. Kill streaks build up to 1,000 kills with incremental bonuses along the way. Early impressions from PTR testers suggest the mechanic feels underpowered. Most of the bonuses (extra crit chance, attack speed, cooldown reduction per kill streak) are stats players already stack through other sources, and the numbers aren't large enough to compete with existing setups.
Blood Taint Items
Any item on the PTR can drop with a Blood Taint mark that adds special bonus effects. New unique items have been added as well, and these can be "Bloodied" for further bonuses. Early testing suggests most of these items are too weak to replace current gear.
New weapons tend to roll stats like Ferocity without meaningful damage bonuses. The consensus among testers is that Berserking remains the only competitive weapon stat, leaving everything else behind. New rings require 15 kills before their damage bonus kicks in, where a threshold of 1 would make them far more practical.
The standout exception is a new amulet built around damage reduction while injured. Fully upgraded and Masterworked, it can hit roughly 71% damage reduction. That's raised some concern about injured-based builds making a comeback, a mechanic parts of the community previously considered problematic.
Balance Expectations
Blizzard has consistently buffed seasonal mechanics between PTR and live launch. Both Season 10 and Season 11 shipped much stronger than their PTR builds suggested. Most of the community expects similar treatment for Season 12, with widespread calls for at least doubling the damage multipliers and stat values on Blood Taint items and new uniques.
Missing Content
The PTR is visibly incomplete. The full reputation board isn't in yet, and data miners have connected it to the Butcher through references in the Season Journey and in-game files. Bloodied sigils and Butcher mentions suggest a substantial chunk of Season 12 content is still hidden. Blizzard's blog post confirms as much: "The 2.6.0 PTR will preview the foundation, while more surprises and features will be revealed closer to launch."
Captain America Paladin
The shield-throwing Paladin build, nicknamed "Captain America," is the strongest build on the PTR right now. Thorns scaling and multiplayer multiplier bugs have been fully fixed, and the build can speed-clear Pit 115 in about 5 minutes. Projections put its ceiling around Pit 125. For comparison, the highest clears on the PTR so far sit around Pit 120, with overall power levels down from previous seasons.
Group play is where the build really shines. Its Thorns mechanics give it strong group synergy, with projected clears at Pit 140 or higher in organized groups. Single-target damage is also impressive. Bosses like Slither go down in a single stagger rotation at Pit 115, and that's without full kill streak bonuses active. The build is squishy and demands active dodging, but the damage output makes up for it.
Looking Ahead
Lord of Hatred launches April 28, 2026, roughly three months out. The second class is about to be officially revealed, the Skovos Isles region is taking shape through leaks and trailer analysis, and major overhauls to skill trees, crafting, and endgame systems are all on the horizon.
Community speculation suggests the Warlock (assuming that's the final name) could become playable as early as Season 12, following the same pattern as the Paladin's early release in Season 11. That would give players time to test it and let Blizzard balance the class before the expansion drops. Nothing on that front has been confirmed.
February 11 will be the day for real answers. Between the class reveal, skill tree deep dive, Horadric Cube details, endgame previews, and D2R news, the Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight is set to be one of the biggest Diablo broadcasts in years.
