Splintered Souls Converge in the Southern Dreadlands
Our sixth major update, Splintered Souls, is currently being tempered in the scorching flames of the Burning Hells and will be released on December 14. While you wait, we’re providing you with a look at the new mystical companions called Familiars, along with other nightmarishly enjoyable features coming in this update.
Stay tuned; more information about all the features covered here, and everything else coming with our next major update, can be found in another article being published on December 12.
Codex
New Mystical Companions: Familiars
New Zone and Event: Southern Dreadlands
Additional Inferno Difficulties and Soulhewn Demons
Rite of Cleansing Daily Activity
New Mystical Companions: Familiars
Tales of Familiars are thought to be merely stories woven to captivate the young minds of Sanctuary and caution its overzealous explorers—but they are all true. They speak of companion creatures hailing from forgotten reaches of the world. While they might appear unfamiliar to you, they’re known to the witches of the Untamable Wilds Circle, who sign spiritual contracts binding them to mortals. With the help of Nisza, a new vendor located in Westmarch, you too can forge a lifelong bond with one of Sanctuary’s hidden wonders.
Familiars are companions that aid the player in combat using a combination of Active and Passive Skills, which can damage enemies or provide bonuses to the player and Familiar. These majestic allies can also lend a helping hand outside of combat if they possess certain Traits, such as the ability to Salvage or Identify your items for you, allowing you to spend more time farming.
Protect Sanctuary Alongside Your Familiars
Below you can meet 5 of the 8 Familiars stepping out of the shadows and into the fight against the Burning Hells on December 14. We’ll have more information on the other 3 in a future article.
Ashsweeper: Conservator of Knowledge
Zoltun Kulle's Library is inhabited by many wonders and just as many horrors. The Ash Sweepers are remnants of his early attempts at perfecting his golem servitors. Their priority was to curate and protect knowledge, but their interpretation of this directive led them to relieve many who traveled near the library of their possessions and lives. Fearing this behavior would draw attention to his library, Kulle sealed the constructs away forever.
Duskprowler: Avatar of Mischief
Many cultures throughout Sanctuary tell tales of feral cat spirits which lurk in the shadows. To some, they are spectral guardians that ward off evil spirits. Others believe they escort the dead to lands beyond. Another group consider them heralds of disaster that must be appeased. The only thing upon which all these stories agree is that they are capricious creatures, and are just as likely to lead a desert wanderer to an oasis as the den of a hungry beast.
Myrrjen: Tideweaver
Widely considered a myth, Myrrjen are often blamed for all manner of nautical problems from broken anchors to poor weather. In truth, they are curious, playful spirits that inhabit the depths of Sanctuary's oceans. They have been known to venture to the surface from time to time to amuse themselves watching passing ships, and conjuring raging storms in their paths.
Skitterwight: Winged Trickster
A denizen of the Spirit Realm, the Skitterwight crosses over to Sanctuary to hatch its young—usually near the outskirts of human settlements. The larva emit a hallucinatory aura, which, paired with their child-like cries, lure unsuspecting villagers to mistake them for abandoned children and care for them accordingly. When they grow large enough, the larva emerge from their cocoons and return to the Spirit Realm. So convincing is their deception that their adoptive guardians will protect them from discovery even with violence.
Varog: Watchers of the Forest
Varog are tree-dwelling spirits said to watch over travelers who pass through their forests. All they require in tribute for their protection is the souls of wayward folk that have lost the will to live. It is believed they feed these souls to their young, in a sense renewing life that has lost its spark.
New Zone, Quest Line, and Event: Southern Dreadlands
Our next major update sends wanderers to traverse the Southern Dreadlands, a cold, apocalyptic plain near the Frozen Tundra and sacred Mount Arreat. Here, the effects of the Worldstone's destruction on the land and its inhabitants are impossible to ignore—and they grow worse by the day. Ruinous storms of Worldstone splinters sweep through the area. Twisted Shardborne and creation-warped beasts stalk the wilderness, and not even the walls of Staalbreak city are sturdy enough to keep the people of the north safe.
The zone's main quest will take you to the growing encampment of the Gray Wards, into the interior of Staalbreak, and to the bottom of teeming ravines formed by the destruction of Mount Arreat. In addition to battling new monster families and minibosses, you'll be able to participate in Sentinel's Stand, a new tower defense-styled zone event where positioning and placement mean everything to your success. Take heart—the angelic Sword of Justice waits for those brave enough to seek it in the Gully of Madness.
Additional Inferno Difficulties and Soulhewn Helliquary Bosses
Rayek calls upon you once more, wanderer—another face of evil has revealed itself in 5 new Helliquary Bosses. These malicious harbingers of anguish can be encountered across 3 new Inferno Difficulties: IV, V, and VI. To unlock Inferno Difficulty IV, you must defeat Saarodan, Sky-Sunderer on Inferno Difficulty III and be at least Paragon Level 1100.
Double Down on Death in the Helliquary Surge
Where there’s one titan of Hell, there’s bound to be more lurking nearby. Felling any Helliquary boss on any difficulty has a chance to trigger a Helliquary Surge immediately after; think of this as the Burning Hells sending additional opponents to hunt you down. In a Helliquary Surge, you’ll have to topple a few additional random Helliquary bosses at reduced strength. Should you rise to the occasion, both rewards and bragging rights will be your spoils to claim.
Rite of Cleansing Daily Activity
Caked in foul demon blood from your conquests over the demonic scourge, you turn to a new service offered by Nisza in Westmarch to keep your body and mind whole.
The Rite of Cleansing is a new daily activity where you’ll earn Moonrite Flora from culling monsters in Sanctuary. You can hold up to 99 Moonrite Flora, and each Flora has a strength value of 1–5. Sacrifice 5 recently obtained Flora to open one of three events based upon the total value of the Flora used. The rewards you’ll receive from completing the event scale with the strength of Flora sacrificed, and can consist of Legendary items, Set items, and more.
-The Diablo Immortal team