The newest Season of Diablo 4 is coming soon and will feature one of the most iconic characters from the lore of the Diablo series, Belial. In Diablo 4's Season 8, Belial's Return, players will not only face the Lord of Lies, but will have the unique seasonal ability to harness Boss Powers throughout the journey. This story will be epic in its own right, and developers have stated it will also be part of a series of seasonal narratives that will pave the way for the next expansion to the game, coming next year.

Season 8 is the next part in the Diablo 4, covering the Age of Hatred. Belial's Return will start on April 29, 2025, at 10 am PDT, and will include several mysterious Apparition Monsters to fight in Sanctuary as well as the infamous Lord of Lies himself. Additionally, Belial will take his rightful place at the top of the newly reworked Lair Boss ladder. The Lair Boss system will no longer require boss materials to summon, giving players more chances to attempt the fights without risk of losing these materials.

ScreenRant recently attended an interview with Diablo 4's Lead Seasons Designer, Deric Nunez, and Lead Live Game Designer, Colin Finer. In this interview, they discussed the Season 8, Belial's Return, including how its story will lead the narrative into the next expansion to Diablo 4, which should be coming in 2026, as well as how the Season's unique game mechanic of player characters gaining boss powers will be handled during the experience.

Belial's Return Will Lead Into Diablo 4's Next Expansion

The Lord Of Lies Knows How To Spot A Good Opportunity

So, Belial's Return. There’s so much lore behind Belial in Diablo, and I understand that the season journey content isn’t necessarily always canon. With Belial having been mentored by Mephisto, will we be seeing any hints of Mephisto coming back for this season or is that touching too close to the actual main story's campaign? We asked Deric Nunez, Lead Seasons Designer, to tell us himself.

"Something that we’ve been, as a team, collectively pushing forward is that post-Vessel of Hatred Seasons are incrementally adding more nods and nudges that kind of carry the story and the events of Sanctuary forward towards the inevitable next expansion," Nunez notes. "So we see Season 8 as the continued buildup of the Age of Hatred and, throughout the course of the season itself, we will learn more about Belial’s own specific motives and how the events that transpired after Vessel of Hatred and Mephisto’s current status in Sanctuary created the perfect breeding ground for Belial to make his breach back into Sanctuary."

I mean, it makes sense for an iconic character! Nunez expands on that notion, stating: "I think that I’m really excited that bringing such a major character like Belial back is not just a Seasonal thing where he’ll go away at the end of the Season. We wanted to bring him back in a meaningful way, not just to continue the narrative of Sanctuary forward but also to just permanently enhance the actual mechanics of Diablo 4 itself, where Belial now sits, appropriately, at the top of the lair boss system where he kind of looks over all of his other brethren, and again we wanted to make sure we brought him back in a role that is meaningful beyond narrative but also just inherently to the mechanics of his Diablo 4 content functions."

We will learn more about Belial’s own specific motives and how the events that transpired after Vessel of Hatred and Mephisto’s current status in Sanctuary created the perfect breeding ground for Belial to make his breach back into Sanctuary. - Deric Nunez

Another question I had relating to the lore of the game, or in particular Belial's history in the franchise: what was the motivation behind bringing Belial back after such a long time of his being absent from the story? And why is he specifically being brought back as the antagonist for Season 8? Nunez had an answer.

"I think one thing that we know about the lesser evils, and demons in general, is they are always jocking for power over others and always trying to find the right time to re-enter Sanctuary," he says. "So, after the events of Vessel of Hatred with Mephisto walking the earth and whatnot, Belial kind of sees this as the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the distractions and start seeding in his tendency to kind of spread subterfuge and disbelief."

Nunez drills down on the motivations of Belial as well: "Something we know about Belial is that he maintains the idea that perception is reality and his intent is to control that reality and dominate it so that he reigns with full supremacy over what reality is. That’s kind of the initial kickoff point for Belial’s inherent motivations and how it goes into the start of Season 8 that players will uncover as they go through the quest line, but I think from a mechanical standpoint, Belial is a major villain, a major character of Sanctuary’s lore and history."

A huge narrative focus is coming, too, according to Nunez: "When we were looking at upgrading the lair boss feature, which is a major endgame feature of Diablo 4, we knew that we wanted to expand the roster and by that we knew we wanted to add a new top dog to the roster. So, when we’re looking at what demons make the most sense to sit atop the throne, Belial ticked all the boxes of how he can be not just narratively interesting but also mechanically interesting as an update to the lair boss system itself."

That approach also changes how the season will be approached by players: "So in Season 8, as you’re ascending the lair boss ladder, all roads lead to Belial. He’s the biggest, baddest, most rewarding boss of them all. He’s also the most customizable as he’ll allow you to mimic the loot tables of any other lair boss at an enhanced amplified drop rate. I think one of the fun things about the season also is that he is walking and stalking you throughout the entirety of the season, and now the lair boss system permanently."

Nunez continues on, explaining how integreated Belial really is into the season: "After defeating and looting any of the lair bosses, there is actually a chance that Belial will ambush you in his smaller form, which is not just double the boss loot, but also it’s the key to go fighting his supreme form. So he just he’s a very interesting and very versatile character, and it just seemed very appropriate that with the current state of Sanctuary that Belial would see this as an opportunity to climb his way back and grab a piece of Sanctuary for himself again."

Elite Powers Will Let Everyone Feel Like A Boss

Become Your Own Boss With 24 Powers And 48 Modifier Combinations

When asked what approach the developers took to ensure that giving players these epic boss powers was balanced, they mentioned how the Public Test Realm (PTR) was crucial for helping see how to get a good balance between player build choices and the strength of these boss powers themselves, while making it noticeable and impactful. We sat down with Colin Finer, Lead Live Game Designer, on how this all came to be.

Finer explains: "Part of the fantasy of this season with boss powers is really becoming the boss and those powers need to feel powerful right? When you imagine a boss, that power better kick some ass right, so we really doubled down on making sure that, especially during leveling, that a lot of powers feel really powerful. Once you start to get into the endgame, it's a fine-tuned balance we are trying to hit that feels complementary to the overall character kit that you have and the build that you have. We want you to have some interesting choices to really level up the build of your choice."

Don't expect Blizzard to lowball the system either: "We want to make sure that this boss power system is really changing and shaking up the meta," Finer contends. "We want it to feel like a completely new class when you do that. So if you played Whirlwind Barbarian last season, and you decide it was super fun and you want to do that again, there should be boss powers that really level up the Whirlwind Barbarian again and makes it feel really powerful and unique compared to the last season."

Nunez also chimes in on just how much things are getting shaken up: "Within the course of the season, players will be acquiring up to 24 powers that allow them to emit the signature move from the bosses that they took them from. There’s also the customization side of things. Every single boss power also has a Side B for modifying powers where you can slot up to three of those to really customize how that main power acts or other elements how it affects your build. Leaning into the customization and empowering the player to make fun creative decisions that have an immediate payoff was the intention and goal for boss powers in season 8."

Is Diablo 4 Slowing Down Progression?

Testing Done On The PTR Isn't Necessarily What's Coming To Game

Developers were also asked about a change many players noticed on the PTR for Season 8, namely that there was a slowing down of the progression during leveling and fewer legendary drops. Many also felt the difficulty of the bosses was significantly increased as well, making some wonder if the developers were trying to stretch out gameplay to make people play longer.

Finer is up to the challenge: "It’s a tricky balance, right? To feel rewarded for something, you have to overcome a challenge and if there isn’t enough challenge then it just sort of feels like you’re getting candy for free, and you don’t really feel that satisfaction of overcoming a boss. You want that boss experience to be this really difficult challenge and that once that boss falls over there’s going to be a lot of awesome loot."

There's more to it! Finer explains: "So on the PTR, we really used the PTR as pretty extreme testing grounds. It’s not necessarily a demo for the next season. In fact, we’re not really committed to any changes we make in the PTR, it’s really for testing. I say this because we have a sort of double or half an approach when it comes to balancing these things, especially on the PTR."

We think that little tick of difficulty really helps the overall game feel much more rewarding because you’re overcoming actual challenges. - Colin Finer

How does this work, stat-wise? "We doubled a lot of the numbers in of difficulty and slowing the progression down," says Finer. "Since then, we have heard a ton of and played it ourselves. We’ve gotten a lot of data, and we’re actually dialing back quite a bit. We think we’ve found a happy middle ground. On the leveling experience, we pulled back on the slowdown a little bit. As far as legendary drop rates, we’ve increased the power of the magic and rare qualities while you’re leveling, so we just want to make sure that that sort of challenge and progression experience feels rewarding."

Blizzard also altered how a few other aspects of the difficulty settings play out: "We also pulled back on the difficulty in general for torment tiers. We haven’t pulled back all the way, it's still a little more difficult than Season 7. We think that little tick of difficulty really helps the overall game feel much more rewarding because you’re overcoming actual challenges. We heard a bunch of from Season 7 that you could just AFK and get everything for free and that isn’t something that we felt was true Diablo 4, right?"

Respecting Player Time Investment Is Important

Making The Journey Both Fun And Rewarding

Diablo 4's Season 8, Belial's Return puts more of an emphasis on boss powers, particularly with the goal of players wanting to get these boss powers for their own use during the Season. Developers were asked about the place that bosses will occupy in of the player time investment, and how the bosses fit into the overall progression for a player's character.

Finer fields this one, saying: "I think, philosophically, where we’re aiming to sort of position bosses is that we want to make sure that there’s a really fun journey to defeating these bosses. We want to make sure that the bosses don’t feel like necessarily you hop into a Torment tier and you immediately one-shot all the lair bosses in Torment 1. We want there to be this push and pull between the player where they need to level up and power up their character, the iconic sort of Diablo loop of I kill monsters to get loot to kill bigger monsters."

It's a lot to balance! Finer expands upon his previous point: "We really want to make sure that that is being paid off by having a gratifying sort of journey to getting to that point. So positionally, that is also sort of evident in of how we structure the bosses. We have our lower tier bosses that then lead into higher tier bosses like Duriel. In this season, and eternally, you’re going to then be able to fight Belial in his huge form, so we think that sort of progression and journey is really important in the overall loop of Diablo 4."

Keeping all of that from feeling like a grind is a big task, but Finer is up to it. "Then I’d say just taking a step back from the pure nuts and bolts of reward, right, we want to make sure that bosses feel like it's a moment that you’re really excited to go do and not necessarily something that you need to farm for hundreds of hours, right," he explains. "We want it to be in a place where you get a bunch of materials, and you’re ready to take on that boss and it's a really rewarding experience. So, philosophically, we’re sort of aiming for doing less bosses on sort of let’s just say an hour long basis you’re not doing as much bossing, but when you do the bossing it’s even more rewarding so a sort of a less is more approach."

Nunez has thoughts, too: "One thing to add as far as occupying players' time investment is it’s also the approach we take to respect players' time investment in the sense that all bosses are now free to summon so in the previous flow you might recall you spent 30, 40 minutes getting the boss summoning materials only to find out that you cannot actually fight and defeat Duriel."

In this genre, exhausting can be killer, and Nunez has an answer for it: "So, one thing we wanted to do is make sure that players aren’t churned out of the system before they actually get to engage with it, so all the bosses are free to summon so as to find out if you can actually go toe to toe with that respective boss. The summoning materials themselves are now living a new life in the form of lair keys where, once you defeat the bosses, you now need those lair keys to open the chest that they pop upon death, which is the horde."

According to Nunez, all of this will end up keeping people coming back throughout the season, which is sounding great on paper: "Again, we just wanted to make sure that bosses remain rewarding, that the frequency that players engage with them sits in a more healthy state and that the system itself is more inviting to a wider range of players to get into and start experimenting and finding the fun of fighting the bosses."

This whole approach could lead to a radical shift in how players engage with the season, based on Finer's parting thoughts: "Respecting player time investment is so critical and key to us, to Deric’s point. To give another example of the loot experience, getting to Belial is going to be a journey, but when you defeat Belial his reward is that he can mimic any of the other lair bosses."

With this format, you'll be able to customize how you want to play, which could end up giving us the best season yet: "You get to pick what lair boss you actually want the loot pool from and it’s going to be guaranteed Ancestrals, the best item quality in the game. So it’s really about that you're not going to fight him as much, but when the reward moment happens, it’s super potent and very rewarding. We think that's much more akin to the overall idea of I'm going to go fight a huge boss and get awesome loot. We really want to make sure that the player time investment is well paid off in Diablo 4."