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Season 1 of Diablo 4 is here, and if you’re choosing to create a new character in the Seasonal Realm, you will have access to a flurry of fresh content. In addition to a new questline, unique items, and legendary Aspects, you can find Malignant Hearts, which are essentially a new form of Aspects. Malignant Hearts can only be inserted into specific sockets on rings and amulets and come in four different types: Vicious Red, Brutal Blue, Devious Purple, and Wrathful Black.
The different types of Malignant Hearts add specific bonuses to your jewelry in Diablo 4. There are 32 total Malignant Hearts, so you will have some work to do in Season 1. However, before you can even consider what pieces of jewelry to kit out with a Malignant Heart, you need to know how to find them in Diablo 4.
Finding Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4
Malignant Hearts are only available in the Seasonal Realm, meaning you need to create a new character to gain access to them. With your new character, you can make your way to the town of Kyovashad in Fractured Peaks and speak with a new NPC named Cormond. Cormond will lead you on the Season 1 questline, which involves hunting down the new corrupted enemies, called Malignants.
As you might expect, Malignant enemies are your source of Malignant Hearts. However, unlike other items in Diablo 4, you won’t be able to simply pick up the hearts as a piece of loot. Instead, you need to defeat a Malignant monster, which will be classified as “Partly Corrupted.” Once you defeat one of these monsters, you will see a heart drop, but you can’t capture it unless you have the Cage of Binding.
The Cage of Binding is used to perform a ritual that will successfully capture the Malignant Heart. Unfortunately, you won’t get access to the Cage of Binding until the end of the Season 1 questline. Once you have it, you can use it on a dropped Malignant Heart, which will make the Malignant Monster you defeated turn into a Fully Corrupted enemy. When this happens, you need to defeat the new and more powerful enemy again. If you’re successful, then a Malignant Heart will drop that you can actually pick up and add to your inventory.
In addition to using the Cage of Binding, you can also acquire Malignant Hearts by completing Malignant Tunnels. These are essentially another form of a dungeon in Diablo 4 that contain more Malignant Monsters and a new enemy type called Outgrowths. At the end of the Malignant Tunnels, you can use a Malignant Invoker, which will spawn a Fully Corrupted enemy. From here, repeat the process of defeating the enemy and then pick up the Malignant Heart it leaves behind. You can craft Malignant Invokers at Cormond’s Wagon, which will become accessible at some point during the Season 1 questline.
Using Malignant Hearts
With your new Malignant Heart, you will first have to see what type it is. This must match the socket type on the piece of jewelry you want to insert it into. So, for example, if you find a Malignant Heart that’s classified as Vicious (red), then it must go into a jewelry socket of the same classification. The exceptions are Wrathful Malignant Hearts, as these can be inserted into any socket.
If you have a ring or mmulet that doesn’t have a heart socket, you can visit the Jeweler and add one to it in exchange for gold and materials. This will add a random colored socket to the ring or amulet.
The Malignant Heart colors aren’t just for show, as each one has a different bonus it offers. You can see what bonuses each one offers below:
Vicious Red – Offensive bonusBrutal Blue – Defensive bonusDevious Purple – Utility bonusWrathful Black – Super Power
It’s up to you to decide what bonus you want added to your build, but Blizzard recommends spreading the love amongst the different Malignant Heart types to truly get the most out of your gear.
