When does Diablo 4 Season 6 start? The last season of the year launches with Vessel of Hatred in October!

Yes, we’re still in Diablo 4 Season 4, but thanks to the announcement of Vessel of Hatred’s release date, we also know the season schedule for the rest of 2024: Diablo 4 Season 6 will launch with the new expansion, following directly after a short Season 5. With no break between the seasonal schedule to play the expansion, Diablo 4 Season 6 starts when the Vessel of Hatred expansion launches on October 8, 2024, presumably with a theme that compliments our chase for Neyrelle (and Mephisto).

That makes Season 6 a bit of an oddball. Historically, seasons didn’t even start in Diablo games until after the expansion released, but D4 already broke that mold by kicking off its first season within two months of launch.

The Season 6 start / Vessel of Hatred launch date (combined with Season 4 running long) also means Season 5 will be an “abbreviated” season. Going from August 6 to October 8, Season 5 will have a brief nine weeks in the sun. While not the shortest in Diablo history — that record belongs to Diablo 3 Season 2 at just over seven weeks — Season 5 gives us a month less to knock out the Battle Pass and Season’s Journey.

Still, starting a new season with the launch of an expansion is pretty unique, and strongly suggests that the season will be integrated with the expansion itself. That still raises some questions: how will you experience the expansion and the season with your level 70 characters? Will it be easier or harder to start a new character, since players will be able to go directly into the expansion without having to play the base storyline?

Diablo 4 has been a unique inclusion into the franchise in a variety of ways, so it’s not surprising that its first expansion would continue the trend. We’ll continue to update as we learn more about the accompanying season, but the start date is certain — Season 6 is coming to Sanctuary with Vessel of Hatred, starting October 8. See you in Nahantu!