When does Diablo 3 Season 34 start? Light’s Calling returns to Sanctuary on January 24!

Diablo 3 Season 33 returned the Shades of the Nephalem to Sanctuary, where Kanai’s Cube and shadowy class companions empower the Nephalem to defend their home. However, D3’s seasons cycle onward, and Season 33 shall pass into the mists with a new season hopping into rotation. So when can we anticipate the next Diablo 3 season? Thanks to the preview blog, we now know Diablo 3 Season 34 brings Light’s Calling back to Sanctuary starting on Friday, January 24, 2025 at 5 p.m. PST/CET/KST.

Season 33 is still going strong, despite Blizzard accidentally ending the season early. Season 33 is now back online (though many players are reporting paragon and other end-game progress has been reset) with a week left to run, while Season 34 will start on January 24.

Even in maintenance mode, Diablo 3 season cycles have followed a consistent three-month schedule starting at Season 30, running from January 12 to April 7 or 12 weeks and 2 days. This was mirrored by Season 31, running from April 12 to July 7. However, Season 32 was the first to run into date conflicts with its successor; the standard three-month window collided with the release of Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred. Instead, it capped off on October 20 after a PTR to test client updates. Now we have the same conundrum with Season 33 colliding with D4’s rollover into Season 7 on January 21, making it a busy week for Diablo fans while taking us back to the clear 12 week (and two day) runtime.

Now, the other question marks are around themes. Themes are chosen randomly instead of being rotated similarly. So far, we’ve seen the following return:

• Season 30’s theme, the Lords of Hell, originated in Season 25.
• Season 31’s theme, the Forbidden Archives, originated in Season 20.
• Season 32’s theme, Ethereal Memory, originated in Season 24.
• Season 33’s theme, Shades of the Nephalem, originated in Season 22.

Revisiting Season 27’s Light’s Calling (i.e. — Angelic Crucibles) is a fun counter to Seasons 25 and 30 Lords of Hell’s gemstones. After all, there are only so many options for themes — things like the Follower rework (Season 23), Echoing Nightmares (Season 26), Altar of Rites (Season 28), and Visions of Enmity (Season 29) became permanent additions to the title. But we still have the themes from Seasons 14 through 19 and 21 — Greed, Boons of the Horadrim, Nightmares, the Triune, the Eternal Conflict, and Trials of Tempests — queued up to return.

Luckily, the rewards for completing Season’s Journey milestones draw from past seasons — we can predict these pretty easily. Chapters 1 through 4 will draw from Season 10, with Black Soulstone-themed portraits, the Loremaster pennant, and the Haedrig’s Gift and Conqueror’s set rotations. The higher tiers — Slayer through Guardian — should reward Season 22’s Lost Civilization portrait frame and Book of Cain cosmetic pet.

So enjoy the extra wildcard cube slot and shadowy aid as we continue through Season 33’s Shades of the Nephalem for another week. We are switching gears into Season 34 — Light’s Calling on January 24. See you in Sanctuary!

Originally published December 12, 2024; updated January 13, 2025.