Diablo 4 Season 7’s theme brings new witchcraft powers to the game, letting players live their Taissa life goals

Diablo 4 Season 7 starts January 21, but the team has already announced the season’s theme as well as game’s first PTR to test a seasonal theme. But what do we have to look forward to next, having conquered everything from Malignant Hearts to the colossal Realmwalkers of Hatred’s Rising? The next season will give players witchy new powers as well as a strange assortment of gems, both of which will let us customize our play and make the season fresh — something recent seasons have been light on.

Let’s discuss the two main power components that comprise Diablo 4 Season 7’s theme: the Witchcraft of Hawezar.

Wield the powers of Hawezar’s Witchcraft

Much like in Season 2, when we picked up new vampiric powers to play with, Season 7 will tie new powers to our existing skills, adding the strength of the Swamp Witches of Hawezar to our temporary toolkit. Additional power slots will be unlocked as you progress along the season’s reputation tree. Unlocking new powers or upgrading existing ones is done through a currency (Restless Rot). There are three main schools of power to choose from: Eldritch (destructive and transformation), Psyche (buffs/debuffs and defenses), and Growth & Decay (more buffs and poison DoTs). There’s also a fourth section — Lost Powers — containing four “rediscovered” abilities.

Some of the powers are pretty darn cool. For example, the Eldritch school’s Abyssal Resonance has players releasing a Shadow explosion every 250 resource spent, turning them into an ongoing Blast Wave shrine. Psyche’s Life Link automatically links your life force to three nearby enemies, so you share the damage you take with your linked targets. Growth & Decay features a Poison Frog summon that attacks and poison DoTs enemies while exploding on death to deal additional instant Poison damage. Finally, the Lost school features Piranhado — a literal tornado of piranhas summoned when both a Hex and an Aura afflict an enemy.

Diablo 3 players reviewing the list may be raising their eyebrows — yes, there are a multitude of powers pulled from the Witch Doctor’s toolkit! The return of Firebats, Life Link, Poison Frogs, Soul Harvest, and Piranhado is a delightful nod to the franchise’s past. Thematically, it makes sense — Vessel of Hatred took us to Nahantu and the jungles of Teganze, the canonical home of the witch doctors of the Umbaru tribe.

Earn powerful Occult Gems from possessed Headrotten

Our enemies this Season are the Headrotten — twisted minds and spirits trapped in prisons of twisted flesh that we’ll be striking down on behalf of the Tree of Whispers. Similar (again) to Season 2, we hunt these foes in dedicated subzones to fulfill bounties from the Tree and earn the Restless Rot required to upgrade our powers. While most of these will be Headless Husks, farmed for reputation and Whisper kills, a rare Fugitive Head will possess occasional foes. These are parasites, heads stolen from the Tree’s branches to attach to its rotting victim.

Why are the rare ones so important? The stolen heads are a component — returning it to Gelena (the seasonal NPC near the Tree of Whispers) with Restless Rot and Gem Fragments rewards Occult Gems. These seasonal-only gems socket into your jewelry and interact with your Witchcraft, significantly boosting the build you’ve assembled. As a baseline, each Occult Gem provides 160 Armor and 8% to all Resistances, so players are not struggling if they swap a standard gem with an Occult one.

Powerful is not an understatement here — the Raging Enigma boosts Unique Witchcraft Powers to deal more damage, while the Vulture Talon speeds up DoT ticks when you have an Aura active. Moonlight Ward increases damage reduction and maximum elemental resistance for each rank in your slotted Unique Witchcraft Power, and Pointed Finger boosts your Summons’ direct damage to Hexed Elites. There’s even a rumored Cheat Death gem.

You will have the chance to craft higher tiers of Occult Gems with Gelena, but expect the cost to be high. It’ll take more Fugitive Heads, Restless Rot, Gem Dust, and the existing Occult Gem to power it up. Expect a ton of farming since Restless Rot is also the currency for upgrading your Powers.

Obviously, this is just a taste — we’ll know when the PTR Patch Notes come out. Look for the Season of Witchcraft on January 21, 2o24. We’ll see you in Sanctuary.