Melted Duriel a billion times already with ball lightning? No worries, as Blizzard has confirmed that Abattoir of Zir, Diablo IV’s greatest challenge yet, is on schedule and will launch on December 5 as part of Season of Blood’s ongoing festivities.
Per a new blog post from Blizzard, Abattoir of Zir is a new dungeon that was developed to challenge Diablo IV’s most effective builds, one that will require players to melt mobs in a fairly short amount of time, although it can’t be accessed until the Season Journey is finished first:
Players must have completed all Chapters of the Season Journey first, before flaying adversaries in the Abattoir of Zir. Once completed, you’ll unlock a recipe to craft a Bloodforged Sigil. Craft this at the Occultist to spawn the Visceral Channel in Ked Bardu which grants access to the Abattoir.
Blizzard goes on to confirm that players will only have 10 minutes to beat the new dungeon, but what’s even better is that there will be multiple levels (“Bloodforged Sigil and Abattoir of Zir both go to Level 25”), the first of which is already equivalent to a level 100 Nightmare Dungeon:
The Abattoir will be the hardest challenge you’ve seen in Season of Blood—the viscera will rain from above as you fight as fast as possible to staunch the Zir’s legions in this pinnacle dungeon. You will only have 10 minutes to clear enough enemies to summon the final Bloodseekers, and slay them to emerge bloodstained and triumphant.
Helping players through what Blizzard has described as its “endgame pinnacle dungeon challenge” is Tears of Blood, a new unique Glyph that apparently offers a big damage boost, and probably a lot more, depending on where it’s placed on a Paragon board:
And while leveling this Glyph sounds like it could be another long grind, Blizzard says that players can earn a lot more Glyph experience through higher levels of Abattoir of Zir:
A high price is demanded for a Glyph of such strength. The Tears of Blood Glyph requires significantly more experience to upgrade it compared to a typical Paragon Glyph. Fortunately, delving deeper into the Abattoir of Zir can net tremendous sums of Paragon Glyph experience in return.
Diablo IV’s latest Campfire Chat, which also saw associate director of community Adam Fletcher, game director Joe Shely, and associate game director Joe Piepora offering new details on the Midwinter Blight event, can be found below.
Fletcher, in particular, mentioned that there will be major itemization changes coming to Diablo IV as part of a future season, possibly as early as S4, while Shely clarified that Blizzard won’t be nerfing any of the broken builds that are dominating the current season.
So, basically, keep pushing that ball sorc for Abattoir of Zir.