Diablo 4's Battle Pass system allows players to earn new cosmetic goods, quality-of-life upgrades, and other vanity goods just by playing the active season. Those looking to acquire a suite of cosmetics goodies or a reason to play can't go wrong with the seasonal Battle Pass and its Season Journey progression system.
While the Battle Pass in Diablo 4 is familiar to those who've played other live-service games, the progression and reward systems tied to the Battle Pass are fairly unique. This guide will cover how Diablo 4's Battle Pass system works, how to level your Battle Pass, and showcase all 90 tier rewards. We'll also cover all Battle Pass versions and explain their differences.
How The Diablo 4 Battle Pass Works
Diablo 4's Battle Pass is similar to those seen in other live-service titles. At the start of every new season, seasonal characters will get access to a Battle Pass consisting of 90 tiers, 27 of which are free for all users. The Battle Pass in Diablo 4 consists of cosmetic items for your player character, horse, cosmetic titles, and Smoldering Ashes that provide quality-of-life buffs to your character throughout the season. Smoldering Ashes are tied to the free track and are available to all players; the paid track consists of cosmetic items and nothing else.
Players can progress through the Battle Pass by earning Favor, an account-bound currency type that's awarded from slaying monsters, completing quests, and finishing Season Journey chapters. When you first create a Seasonal Realm character, you'll gain access to the "Season" tab in the menu. This menu will showcase your current progress in the Battle Pass and Season Journey, a collection of challenges that award Favor when completed.
Favor may only be earned by seasonal characters. Eternal Realm characters cannot access the Battle Pass or Season Journey system.
Season Journey And Favor
Your main source of Favor is the Season Journey. You can find your current Season Journey progress in the "Seasons" tab. Selecting the Season Journey will open up a series of challenges subdivided into chapters. There are seven chapters in the Season Journey, each chapter housing a handful of challenges that award small sums of Favor. Completing most of the challenges within a given chapter will unlock a chapter completion reward. Most completion rewards give you a massive amount of Favor alongside Legendary Aspects, resource bundles, or even titles. A more thorough breakdown of these chapter challenges can be found in our Battle Pass challenges guide.
Favor can also be acquired by defeating monsters and completing quests. The exact amount of Favor you get from these sources isn't clear, but it seems to be significantly smaller than the Season Journey challenges. In general, you'll want to complete as many Season Journey chapters as possible to level your Battle Pass quickly.
Smoldering Ash
Found in the free tiers of the Battle Pass, Smoldering Ash is a currency used to purchase Season Blessings. These blessings provide quality-of-life improvements to your seasonal characters for the duration of the active season.
There are five Season Blessings you can purchase:
Blessing | Effect | Value (Max Rank) |
|---|---|---|
Urn Of Aggression | Boost to XP earned from monster kills. | +12% |
Urn Of Bargaining | Boost to the amount of Gold earned from vendor sales. | +20% |
Urn Of Reclamation | Boost to the chance of rare materials from salvage. | +40% |
Urn Of Prolonging | Boost to the duration of all Elixirs. | +60% |
Urn Of Malignance | Boost to the chance of powerful Malignant Heart drops. Heart drop after completing the campaign. | +20% |
You can earn up to 20 Smoldering Ash per season, allowing you to max every Season Blessing. It's worth noting that some Battle Pass tiers that award Smoldering Ash have a pre-requisite before they can be claimed. For example, the T32 Smoldering Ash reward requires one of your Seasonal Realm characters to be at least level 66 before it can be claimed. The highest requirement is at T88, requiring you to have a level 100 character.
Battle Pass Rewards
There are 90 tiers in Diablo 4's Battle Pass. You will need to purchase the season's Battle Pass to access all 90 tiers. Those without Battle Pass ownership can unlock 27 of these tiers for free. The Smoldering Ashes are tied to the free track only, so those that purchase the Battle Pass will only receive cosmetics.
For Season of the Malignant, you'll receive:
- Three armor sets (Coldiron Set, Awoken Coldiron, and Artisan Set)
- Can be used by any class.
- Artisan Set is a free reward.
- Two skins for every weapon type
- Nine emotes
- Two horse armor sets
- Multiple mount trophies and titles
- 666 Platinum
Specific unlocks can be found below:
Battle Pass Versions
There are two versions of the Battle Pass available for purchase:
- Premium Battle Pass: Unlocks the Premium track of the Battle Pass, containing many cosmetic items.
- Costs 1,000 Platinum.
- Accelerated Battle Pass: Unlocks the Premium track of the Battle Pass + 20 tier skips. The tier skips occur immediately upon Battle Pass redemption.
- Costs 2,800 Platinum.
- For Season of the Malignant, you also receive an exclusive emote for purchasing this bundle.
In essence, the Accelerated version is just the standard Battle Pass with 20 tier skips and an exclusive emote. Both versions of the Battle Pass cost Platinum, Diablo 4's premium currency. You can purchase Platinum from the in-game store. The paid track in the Battle Pass also contains 666 Platinum across all 90 tiers. It's not enough to buy a new Battle Pass, but this does make purchasing another Battle Pass slightly cheaper.
Which Battle Pass Should You Get?
If you are enjoying the current season and would like a large bundle of cosmetics, buying the season's Battle Pass is the most economical choice. Most cosmetics in the Diablo 4 store cost around 2,000 Platinum, twice as much as a seasonal Battle Pass. Players that are actively playing the current season will get the most out of the Premium Battle Pass.
The Accelerated Battle Pass is significantly more expensive—nearly three times as much as a standard Battle Pass—but contains 20 tier skips. If you have enough time to complete the Battle Pass, purchasing the Accelerated version is a bad deal. Diablo 4's Season Journey and Favor systems make it quite easy to level your Battle Pass with continuous play, and most of the challenges can be completed with minimal effort. Only purchase the Accelerated version if you're strapped for time and uninterested in playing future seasons. If you are interested in playing a future season, save that 1,800 Platinum for a future Battle Pass.