Blizzard’s Diablo IV beta is coming back for one more weekend

Yesterday, Blizzard announced that Diablo IV‘s open beta is returning for one final weekend, from May 12th to May 14th. This is exciting news and a sure fire way to ramp up excitement levels before the official June 6th release date. It also happens to fall on the same weekend that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches. If you haven’t already played the past couple of open betas, I can’t recommend it enough. I’m a longtime fan of this franchise and this particular game, from the top-down camera to the snappy combat, plays like Diablo II. Again, this is positively thrilling, as Diablo II, though it released 23 years ago, is arguably one of Blizzard’s best games.

Originally, the beta was only reserved for those who pre-ordered the game (hi). Blizzard then later opened up the beta for anyone to play and enjoy (which is the way it should’ve been from the beginning). This beta will include rewards from the previous weekends, namely the wolf puppy backpack. Again, levels will cap at 20. Progress from previous weekends will not transfer over to the May beta, either. However, Blizzard will implement a few changes, namely better dungeon layouts, which will reduce the need to backtrack. Unfortunately, they’ve nerfed Necromancers. That means your precious summoned minions will die more often. UI interface and monster encounter fixes will also be implemented in this beta.

If I learned anything from the previous beta weekends, it’s to expect long queue times. If you’re able to, I’d recommend logging in as soon as the beta goes live at 9 a.m. PDT. Diablo IV officially releases on June 6th for the PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The beta (aka the Server Slam) will become available on May 10th via download.