Malignant Hearts serve as the Seasonal Mechanic in Diablo 4 Season 1: Season of the Malignant. These enhancements provide a means to augment your gear, comparable to gems, and offer a potency akin to Aspects. It is important to note that Malignant Hearts can only be utilized within the Seasonal Realms during the Season of the Malignant. Characters within the Eternal realms will not have the ability to access any of the seasonal content, including the Malignant Hearts.
As you progress through the Season of the Malignant questline, specifically the Burning from Within quest, you will discover that by defeating these affected creatures, you can obtain their hearts. These hearts can then be transformed into Malignant Hearts, which serve as potent enhancements for your equipment.
There are a total of 32 Malignant Hearts, each falling into one of four categories. These categories are easily distinguishable by their respective colors and serve different functions:
Keep in mind that certain Malignant Hearts are specific to certain classes, while others can be used by any class.
Malignant Hearts necessitate the presence of Infested sockets, also known as Malignant sockets, in your equipment in order to be utilized. During the Season of the Malignant, jewelry gear drops will contain Infested Sockets, similar to how gear in the Eternal realms drops with gem sockets. The sockets provided by the Jeweler during this season will also be Infested sockets. Just like the Malignant Hearts, Infested sockets are available in three variations: Brutal, Devious, and Vicious. Brutal Hearts, Devious Hearts, and Vicious Hearts require a socket type that matches their own, while Wrathful Hearts can be placed in any Infested socket. Regular gems can also be inserted into any socket.
Any type of Malignant Heart will be destroyed when replaced in your gear. However, you can still have a Jeweler remove a regular gem from a socket if you wish to use that socket for a Malignant Heart.
Malignant Hearts can only be placed in jewelry and you can only have one Malignant Heart per piece of gear. This means you can have a total of three Malignant Hearts in your gear. While you can use multiple Brutal, Devious, or Vicious Malignant Hearts, you can only benefit from one Wrathful Malignant Heart at a time.
Throughout Sanctuary, elite enemies have the potential to possess a Malignant affix, resulting in their transformation into Partly Corrupted Monsters. Upon defeating these enemies, they will drop a Malignant Heart. As part of the Burning from Within questline, Cormond provides you with a specially designed device called the Cage of Binding. By utilizing the Cage of Binding in a ritual, you can absorb this Malignance. The ritual will summon a Fully Corrupted Monster that you must subsequently defeat. It is worth noting that these Fully Corrupted versions often come accompanied by additional enemies, so it is advisable to be prepared.
Once the Fully Corrupted enemy has been vanquished, it will yield a Caged Heart, which can be collected and inserted into your equipment. It is important to remember that Caged Hearts cannot be traded and, unlike gems, they are destroyed when replaced. As you progress in level and unlock higher World Tiers, you will have the opportunity to obtain more potent Malignant Hearts from more formidable Corrupted Monsters. However, it is crucial to bear in mind that Malignant Hearts will disappear after a few minutes, so it is prudent not to delay too long before collecting them, especially if you need a moment to recover before engaging in battle with the Fully Corrupted version.
Malignant Tunnels are newly introduced dungeon instances designed to target specific types of Malignant Hearts. There are a total of six Malignant Tunnels, each filled with Malignant creatures, and concluding with a boss battle against a Corrupted boss.
Upon reaching the final encounter, players gain access to two Outgrowths. Among these Outgrowths, one will always be Black, while the other will be one of three colors corresponding to a type of Malignant Heart: orange, pink, or blue. If players possess a Malignant Invoker, an item attuned to a specific type of Malignant Heart, they can utilize it to specify the type of Monster that will spawn. This guarantees a Malignant Heart drop of the chosen type, provided the boss is successfully defeated. Malignant Invokers can be created through crafting or may be obtained as drops in the game world.
To create Invokers of Varshan, you will require Invokers with a Malignant or lower difficulty, along with other standard materials. This particular item can only be crafted using the Invoker of Valshan recipe, which is obtained upon completing the Seasonal questline and dropped by the final boss. The Invoker of Varshan will summon the Echo of Varshan. Defeating the Echo of Vatshan will yield loot and recipes for two additional Invokers – Foul Invoker of Varshan and Tormented Invoker of Varshan. This will summon the Echo of Vatshan in World Tier 3 and World Tier 4.
As players encounter more powerful Malignant Creatures, their Malignant Hearts will also grow in strength. If there are any Hearts they do not wish to keep, they can be salvaged at Cormond’s wagon in exchange for Ichor of the corresponding color.
Ichor is a valuable resource that can be used to create and upgrade Malignant Hearts. It can also be obtained by harvesting lesser Malignant Monsters. Salvaging each Vicious, Brutal, and Devious Heart will yield 5-15 Ichor, while Wrathful hearts will provide 2-5 Ichor of all other Heart types.
To create a random Heart of a specific type, it requires 35 Ichor of the other two primary-colored Hearts. For instance, if you want to craft a Devious heart, you will need 35 Brutal Ichor and 35 Vicious Ichor. In return, you will receive a random Devious heart that scales according to your character’s Level. The random Heart you create will always be either for your specific Class or used by any class.
Aspect of the Lionheart
You gain 10% Barrier Generation. You Heal 3-7 Life per second while you have an active Barrier.
Type: Brutal
Prerequisite: None
Class: All
Aspect of Revenge
10-20% of incoming damage is instead suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360-2040 Fire damage to Nearby enemies.
Type: Brutal
Prerequisite: World Tier III
Class: All
Aspect of the Prudent Heart
You become Immune for 2.0-4.0 seconds after you lose more than 20% Life in a single hit. This effect can only occur once every 110 seconds.
Type: Brutal
Prerequisite: World Tier III
Class: All
Aspect of Determination
Resource draining effects are 40-50% less effective. In addition, gain 3.0-8.0% increased Resource Generation.
Type: Devious
Prerequisite: None
Class: All
Aspect of Retaliation
Deal 510-680 Fire damage to surrounding enemies whenever a Crowd Control effect is removed from you.
Type: Devious
Prerequisite: World Tier III
Class: All
Aspect of the Calculated
After spending 150-200 of your Primary Resource, your next attack Stuns enemies hit for 2 seconds.
Type: Devious
Prerequisite: World Tier III
Class: All
Aspect of the Picana
Critical Strikes electrically charge the enemy for 0.75-2.50 seconds, causing lightning to arc between them and any other charged enemies dealing 68-136 Lightning damage.
Type: Vicious
Prerequisite: None
Class: All
Aspect of Tempting Fate
You gain 40-60% Critical Strike Damage but your Non-Critical Strikes deal 20-15% less damage.
Type: Vicious
Prerequisite: World Tier III
Class: All
Aspect of the Dark Dance
Every 5 seconds while above 60% Life, Core Skills cost 68-51 Life instead of your Primary Resource. Skills that consume Life deal 10-20% increased damage.
Type: Vicious
Prerequisite: World Tier III
Class: All
Aspect of Creeping Death
Your damage over time effects are increased by 30-40% for each different Crowd Control effect on the target. Unstoppable monsters and Staggered bosses instead take 110-130% increased damage from your damage over time effects.
Type: Wrathful
Prerequisite: None
Class: All
Aspect of the Malignant Pact
Cycle through a Malignant bonus every 20 kills:
Vicious: Gain 20% Attack Speed.
Devious: Core and Basic Skills have a 15% chance to fully restore your Primary Resource.
Brutal: Every 21 seconds, gain a Barrier absorbing 85-102 damage.
Type: Wrathful
Prerequisite: None
Class: All
Aspect of The Barber
Critical Strikes and all subsequent damage within 2.0-4.0 seconds is absorbed by your target. Then, the absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. Stored damage is increased by 10% per second.
Type: Wrathful
Prerequisite: World Tier III
Class: All
Aspect of Resurgent Life
While below 40-60% Life, you receive 50-60% more Healing from all sources.
Type: Brutal
Prerequisite: None
Class: Barbarian
Aspect of Punishing Speed
Your Skills have a 20-30% chance to Knock Down all enemies for 1.25 seconds when that Skill’s Attack Speed is higher than 35-20%.
Type: Devious
Prerequisite: None
Class: Barbarian
Aspect of Focused Rage
After spending 100-60 Fury within 2 seconds, your next Non-Basic Skill’s Critical Strike Chance is increased by 20-30%.
Type: Vicious
Prerequisite: None
Class: Barbarian
Aspect of Ignoring Pain
Incoming damage has a 5-15% chance of being ignored and instead Healing you for 17-68.
Type: Wrathful
Prerequisite: World Tier IV
Class: Barbarian
Aspect of the Agitated Winds
When 8-13 Close enemies, automatically cast Cyclone Armor. This cannot occur more than once every 10-20 seconds.
Type: Brutal
Prerequisite: None
Class: Druid
Aspect of Inexorable Force
Up to 30-50 Distant enemies are pulled toward you while you have an Ultimate Skill active.
Type: Devious
Prerequisite: None
Class: Druid
Aspect of the Moonrage
Kills have a 5% chance to summon a Wolf Companion to your side for 20-30 seconds. In addition, gain +3 to Wolves.
Type: Vicious
Prerequisite: None
Class: Druid
Aspect of the Unconstrained Beast
When you are hit with a Stun, Freeze or Knock Down effect, there is a 40-60% chance to automatically activate Grizzly Rage for 3 seconds.
Type: Wrathful
Prerequisite: World Tier IV
Class: Druid
Aspect of the Decrepit Aura
When at least 5 enemies are near you, gain an aura that automatically curses surrounding enemies with Decrepify for 5-15 seconds.
Type: Brutal
Prerequisite: None
Class: Necromancer
Aspect of Frozen Terror
Lucky Hit: Up to a 10-20% chance of inflicting Fear for 2.5 seconds. Feared enemies are Chilled for 20% every second.
Type: Devious
Prerequisite: None
Class: Necromancer
Aspect of the Sacrilegious
Walking near a Corpse automatically activates an equipped Corpse Skill every second, dealing 40-30% reduced damage.
Type: Vicious
Prerequisite: None
Class: Necromancer
Aspect of the Great Feast
Each Minion drains 1.0-2.0 Essence per second but deals 50-75% increased damage. With no Minions, this bonus applies to you and drains 5 Essence per second.
Type: Wrathful
Prerequisite: World Tier IV
Class: Necromancer
Aspect of Trickery
When you use a Subterfuge Skill, leave behind an unstable Shadow Decoy Trap that Taunts enemies. The Shadow Decoy Trap will explode after 6.0 seconds dealing 680-1020 Shadow damage. Cannot occur more than once every 5 seconds.
Type: Brutal
Prerequisite: None
Class: Rogue
Aspect of the Clipshot
Lucky Hit: Up to a 20-40% chance for your Cutthroat Skills to Slow by 40% for 3 seconds and your Marksman Skills to Knock Back enemies.
Type: Devious
Prerequisite: None
Class: Rogue
Aspect of Cluster Munitions
Lucky Hit: You have up to a 20% chance to launch 3 Stun Grenades that deal 26-32 Physical damage and Stun enemies for 0.50 seconds.
Type: Vicious
Prerequisite: None
Class: Rogue
Aspect of the Vile Apothecary
Your attacks have a 5-15% chance to apply all Imbuement effects at 40-50% of normal potency.
Type: Wrathful
Prerequisite: World Tier IV
Class: Rogue
Aspect of Spellbreaking
After taking Elemental damage, gain 20-40% Resistance to that element for 5 seconds.
Type: Brutal
Prerequisite: None
Class: Sorcerer
Aspect of Spite
When you are afflicted with a Crowd Control effect, there is a 20-40% chance that the same enemy and enemies around you are also afflicted with the same effect for 3 seconds.
Type: Devious
Prerequisite: None
Class: Sorcerer
Aspect of Tal’Rasha
For each unique element you deal damage with, you deal 7-12% increased damage for 3-10 seconds.
Type: Vicious
Prerequisite: None
Class: Sorcerer
Aspect of Omnipower
Core Skills that launch a projectile consume all of your Mana. For every 45-35 extra Mana consumed, you launch an additional projectile, and the damage is increased by 3.0-5.0%.
Type: Wrathful
Prerequisite: World Tier IV
Class: Sorcerer
We are hoping this comprehensive guide will provide a thorough understanding of Malignant Hearts, including their nature, locations, functions, and potential applications. As well with the necessary knowledge to effectively combat the emerging corruption that threatens Sanctuary.
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