Diablo 4 Season 1 is upon us, and that means you're probably out there hunting for a powerful new class modifier. Diablo 4 Malignant Hearts are a new type of socketed item introduced as part of Season of the Malignant, and they contain the power to unlock destructive new builds as you level through the Season Journey in Diablo 4.
Here I'm going to explain what the caged hearts are and where you can find them. I'm also going to walk you through the full Diablo 4 Malignant Hearts list, and cover all of the powers and bonuses that the new collectible items can unlock. There's a lot to wrap your head around, but remember, before you can enjoy any of this you'll need to learn how to create a seasonal character in Diablo 4 and complete chapter 1 of the Season Journey in Diablo 4 Season 1.
How Diablo 4 Malignant Hearts work
Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 are a brand new socketable item, introduced specifically for Season 1. You can equip three Caged Hearts at once, with one being placed in your Amulet and then in one of your two rings.
Low-level caged hearts can be collected as you defeat Malignant Monsters spawning all across Sanctuary, while rare Malignant Hearts can be collected by making use of the new Diablo 4 Malignant Invoker item on Overgrowths that spawn at the end of Malignant Tunnel dungeons. Malignant Hearts come in four color variants, and there are 32 in total split across the classes – each can be slotted into jewelry that has an infested socket of the same color, and used to unlock powerful class buffs.
Note that you'll need a Diablo 4 Wrathful Invoker to get the more powerful Wrathful Hearts, and the Diablo 4 Invoker of Varshan to use on the seasonal boss once you've defeated them.
Diablo 4 Malignant Heart colors
There are four different Malignant Heart types in Diablo 4. You'll need to match the color of the heart to the color of the socket on your jewelry for the transfusion to work – although there is one exception to this that I'll get to in a second.
- Vicious Hearts – Offensive Power, goes into red Jewelry sockets; drops from Vicious Malignant Monsters or crafted via Cormond's wagon.
- Brutal Hearts – Defensive Power, goes in blue Jewelry sockets; Drops from Brutal Malignant Monsters or can be crafted via Cormond's wagon.
- Devious Hearts – Utility Power, goes in purple Jewelry sockets; Drops from Devious Malignant Monsters or crafted via Cormond's wagon.
- Wrathful Heart – Super Power, this black heart can go in any of the three Jewelry sockets; Drops from Wrathful Malignant Monsters or crafted via Cormond's Wagon.
Where to get Malignant Hearts
You'll begin collecting Malignant Hearts as you begin completing the Diablo 4 Holding Back the Flood questline. This will introduce you to the concept of the caged hearts, teach you how to craft Invokers, and help you identify Malignant Tunnels on the Diablo 4 map – just look for the little green leaf, which signals Seasonal activities.
You can find Malignant Hearts by killing Malignant enemies throughout the overworld, you can salvage old hearts and use the materials to craft new ones at Cormond's wagon, or you can head into the Malignant Tunnel dungeons. Complete one of these Seasonal dungeons and at the end you'll discover an Overgrowth – stab it with a specifically colored Invoker and it'll summon a powerful Malignant Elite who, once defeated, will drop more powerful Hearts of the same color-type.
How to craft Malignant Hearts
You can craft new Malignant Hearts at Cormond's Wagon (located near waypoints, as indicated by a little green leaf icon) using a new resource called Ichor in Diablo 4 Season 1. You can get your hands on Ichor from Salvaged Malignant Hearts and from killing lesser Malignant Monsters.
Salvaging one of the four types of Malignant Hearts (Vicious, Brutal, Devious, and Wrathful) will yield different Ichor types that correspond to that color-type. Vicious, Brutal, and Devious hearts will yield between 5-15 Ichor, depending on its rarity and level, while a Wrathful heart will return 2-5 Ichor of all other Heart type colors.
So let's say you wanted to create a random Vicious Heart at Cormond's Wagon. That would cost you 70 Ichor of the other two colored hearts combined – so in this instance, 35 Brual Ichor and 35 Devious Ichor. The random heart that spawns will scale to your level, and always be usable by the class you are playing as.
All Diablo 4 Malignant Hearts
There are 32 Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 Season 1. There are four unique to each class (Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Rogue, Sorcerer) and a further 12 which can be used by all of the classes. Remember though, each of the Malignant Hearts can only be socketed in the correct color of Infested Socket – except for the powerful Wrathful Hearts, which can go in any socket color.
Neutral Malignant Hearts
These 12 Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 can be used by all of the classes on the seasonal Realm. These Hearts scale with your level, so the numbers are based on what a Level 20 character would receive as a drop. All of these Malignant Hearts, unless specified, can be used on any Diablo 4 World Tier in the Seasonal Realm.
| NAME | TYPE | WORLD TIER | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Picana | Vicious, Offensive | N/A | Critical Strikes electrically charge the enemy for 0.75-2.50 seconds, causing lightning to arc between them and any other charged enemies dealing 68-136 Lightning damage. |
| The Dark Dance | Vicious, Offensive | World Tier 3 | Every 5 seconds while above 60% Life, Core Skills cost 68-51 Life instead of your Primary Resource. Skills that consume Life deal 10-20% increased damage. |
| Tempting Fate | Vicious, Offensive | World Tier 3 | You gain 40-60% Critical Strike Damage but your Non-Critical Strikes deal 20-15% less damage. |
| The Lionheart | Brutal, Defensive | N/A | You gain 10% Barrier Generation. You Heal 3-7 Life per second while you have an active Barrier. |
| Revenge | Brutal, Defensive | World Tier 3 | 10-20% of incoming damage is instead suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360-2040 Fire damage to Nearby enemies. |
| Prudent Heart | Brutal, Defensive | World Tier 3 | You become Immune for 2.0-4.0 seconds after you lose more than 20% Life in a single hit. This effect can only occur once every 110 seconds. |
| Determination | Devious, Utility | N/A | Resource draining effects are 40-50% less effective. In addition, gain 3.0-8.0% increased Resource Generation. |
| Retaliation | Devious, Utility | World Tier 3 | Deal 510-680 Fire damage to surrounding enemies whenever a Crowd Control effect is removed from you. |
| The Calculated | Devious, Utility | World Tier 3 | After spending 150-200 of your Primary Resource, your next attack Stuns enemies hit for 2 seconds. |
| Creeping Death | Wrathful, Super | World Tier 3 | Your damage over time effects are increased by 30-40% for each different Crowd Control effect on the target. Unstoppable monsters and Staggered bosses instead take 110-130% increased damage from your damage over time effects. |
| The Barber | Wrathful, Super | World Tier 3 | al Strikes and all subsequent damage within 2.0-4.0 seconds is absorbed by your target. Then, the absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. Stored damage is increased by 10% per second. |
| The Malignant Pact | Wrathful, Super | N/A | Cycle through a Malignant bonus every 20 kills: Vicious: Gain 20% Attack Speed. Devious: Core and Basic Skills have a 15% chance to fully restore your Primary Resource. Brutal: Every 21 seconds, gain a Barrier absorbing 85-102 damage. |
Barbarian Malignant Hearts
These four Malignant Hearts can only be used by Barbarians on the Seasonal Realm. These Hearts scale with your level, so the numbers are based on what a Level 20 character would receive as a drop. All of these Malignant Hearts, unless specified, can be used on any World Tier in the Seasonal Realm.
| TITLE | TYPE | WORLD TIER | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focused Rage | Vicious, Offensive | N/A | After spending 100-60 Fury within 2 seconds, your next Non-Basic Skill's Critical Strike Chance is increased by 20-30%. |
| Resurgent Life | Brutal, Defensive | N/A | While below 40-60% Life, you receive 50-60% more Healing from all sources. |
| Punishing Speed | Devious, Utility | N/A | Your Skills have a 20-30% chance to Knock Down all enemies for 1.25 seconds when that Skill's Attack Speed is higher than 35-20%. |
| Ignoring Pain | Wrathful, Super | World Tier 4 | Incoming damage has a 5-15% chance of being ignored and instead Healing you for 17-68. |
Druid Malignant Hearts
These four Malignant Hearts can only be used by Druids on the Seasonal Realm. These Hearts scale with your level, so the numbers are based on what a Level 20 character would receive as a drop. All of these Malignant Hearts, unless specified, can be used on any World Tier in the Seasonal Realm.
| TITLE | TYPE | WORLD TIER | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Moonrage | Vicious, Offensive | N/A | Kills have a 5% chance to summon a Wolf Companion to your side for 20-30 seconds. In addition, gain +3 to Wolves. |
| The Agitated Winds | Brutal, Defensive | N/A | When 8-13 Close enemies, automatically cast Cyclone Armor. This cannot occur more than once every 10-20 seconds. |
| Inexorable Force | Devious, Utility | N/A | Up to 30-50 Distant enemies are pulled toward you while you have an Ultimate Skill active. |
| The Unconstrained Beast | Wrathful, Super | World Tier 4 | When you are hit with a Stun, Freeze or Knock Down effect, there is a 40-60% chance to automatically activate Grizzly Rage for 3 seconds. |
Necromancer Malignant Hearts
These four Malignant Hearts can only be used by Necromancers on the Seasonal Realm. These Hearts scale with your level, so the numbers are based on what a Level 20 character would receive as a drop. All of these Malignant Hearts, unless specified, can be used on any World Tier in the Seasonal Realm.
| TITLE | TYPE | WORLD TIER | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Sacrilegious | Vicious, Offensive | N/A | Walking near a Corpse automatically activates an equipped Corpse Skill every second, dealing 40-30% reduced damage |
| The Decrepit Aura | Brutal, Defensive | N/A | When at least 5 enemies are near you, gain an aura that automatically curses surrounding enemies with Decrepify for 5-15 seconds. |
| Frozen Terror | Devious, Utility | N/A | Lucky Hit: Up to a 10-20% chance of inflicting Fear for 2.5 seconds. Feared enemies are Chilled for 20% every second. |
| The Great Feast | Wrathful, Super | World Tier 4 | Each Minion drains 1.0-2.0 Essence per second but deals 50-75% increased damage. With no Minions, this bonus applies to you and drains 5 Essence per second. |
Rogue Malignant Hearts
These four Malignant Hearts can only be used by Rogues on the Seasonal Realm. These Hearts scale with your level, so the numbers are based on what a Level 20 character would receive as a drop. All of these Malignant Hearts, unless specified, can be used on any World Tier in the Seasonal Realm.
| TITLE | TYPE | WORLD TIER | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cluster Munitions | Vicious, Offensive | N/A | Lucky Hit: You have up to a 20% chance to launch 3 Stun Grenades that deal 26-32 Physical damage and Stun enemies for 0.50 seconds. |
| Trickery | Brutal, Defensive | N/A | When you use a Subterfuge Skill, leave behind an unstable Shadow Decoy Trap that Taunts enemies. The Shadow Decoy Trap will explode after 6.0 seconds dealing 680-1020 Shadow damage. Cannot occur more than once every 5 seconds. |
| The Clipshot | Devious, Utility | N/A | Lucky Hit: Up to a 20-40% chance for your Cutthroat Skills to Slow by 40% for 3 seconds and your Marksman Skills to Knock Back enemies. |
| The Vile Apothecary | Wrathful, Super | World Tier 4 | Your attacks have a 5-15% chance to apply all Imbuement effects at 40-50% of normal potency. |
Sorcerer Malignant Hearts
These four Malignant Hearts can only be used by Sorcerers on the Seasonal Realm. These Hearts scale with your level, so the numbers are based on what a Level 20 character would receive as a drop. All of these Malignant Hearts, unless specified, can be used on any World Tier in the Seasonal Realm.
| TITLE | TYPE | WORLD TIER | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tal'Rasha | Vicious, Offensive | N/A | For each unique element you deal damage with, you deal 7-12% increased damage for 3-10 seconds. |
| Spellbreaking | Brutal, Defensive | N/A | After taking Elemental damage, gain 20-40% Resistance to that element for 5 seconds. |
| Spite | Devious, Utility | N/A | When you are afflicted with a Crowd Control effect, there is a 20-40% chance that the same enemy and enemies around you are also afflicted with the same effect for 3 seconds. |
| Omnipower | Wrathful, Super | World Tier 4 | Core Skills that launch a projectile consume all of your Mana. For every 45-35 extra Mana consumed, you launch an additional projectile, and the damage is increased by 3.0-5.0%. |
What happens to Malignant Hearts when Season 1 ends?
When Season 1 of Diablo 4 ends in October, all of your Malignant Hearts will disappear. These special items will only be active during the Season of the Malignant so – so you'll need to make use of the power boost now to help move through the Diablo 4 battle pass ranks. Once Season 1 ends, your character will be transfered to the Eternal Realm and, once there, all your Infested Sockets will become regular sockets which will accept normal Diablo 4 gems.
© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.
