Diablo 4 Malignant Hearts: How To Get, Unlock & Use

With Diablo 4 Season 1's release on 20 July 2023, Nephalem across Sanctuary are hyped for all the new content. It is entitled "Season of the Malignant," and there's a Diablo 4 Malignant Hearts mechanic for heroes to further increase their character's power. 

This guide explains how you can unlock the Malignant Hearts feature in Diablo 4, how you can farm more, and how they are used, so let's not waste any time.

How To Unlock Malignant Heart Drops in Diablo 4

The first and most important thing you need to do to unlock Malignant Heart drops in Diablo 4 is to finish the campaign on one character on your Battle.net account. It doesn't matter if it is an Eternal Realm or Seasonal character; just complete the story!

The second step is to create a Seasonal Character on or after 20 July 2023 when Season of the Malignant releases. The Malignant Hearts feature is not available for characters on the Eternal Realm.

Once your Seasonal Character is created and spawns in Kyovashad, you will find an NPC named Cormond and complete a quest to rid the world of Sanctuary from corruption to get a Cage of Binding. At this point, Malignant Hearts can start dropping. Read some lore about Cormond and the corruption below:

A deviant form of Lilith’s sinister machinations has given birth to a new threat, Malignant Monsters. These decaying abominations roam Sanctuary in a frenzy, mindlessly attacking anyone in range without hesitation. Wanderers will investigate this mysterious malady in a new Questline with the help of Cormond, a former priest of the Cathedral of Light, who also trains you to capture the Malignant Hearts fueling these foul beasts and convert them into build-altering powers. The malignancy that’s taken hold of the Burning Hells’ armies cannot remain unchecked—you must snuff it out at the source before all of Sanctuary becomes its thrall.

How To Farm Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4

Want to farm Malignant Hearts quickly? Well, we've got some official facts from Blizzard below to help you get more Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4, putting you on the right path of farming for this new item type.

• Malignant Hearts will drop from Elite enemies with the Malignant affix. Any Elite can spawn as "Malignant."
• Malignant Hearts can be salvaged for new crafting materials to craft items, including Invokers, which can be used at the end of Malignant Tunnels to get specific Malignant Hearts in return.
• Malignant Tunnels are new dungeons throughout Sanctuary where players will be able to target-farm specific Malignant Hearts.
• Malignant Tunnels have a higher chance of spawning Malignant Elites.
• New Boss Battle against "Varshan the Consumed" in the Malignant Tunnels.

So you'll have to slay enemies with the Malignant affix to get Malignant Hearts. Once you slay one, interact with the item on the ground and use the Cage of Binding. Once you manage to defeat the more powerful Malignant enemy, you'll get a Malignant Heart.

To target-farm specific Malignant Heart types (colors), you'll need to salvage unwanted items and craft Invokers, then complete Malignant Tunnels!

Diablo 4 Malignant Hearts: How To Use & Types

There are a total of 32 Malignant powers to farm, and Blizzard has noted they are very powerful, as in Legendary Aspect level of power.

There are four types of Malignant Hearts, three of which are color-coded by their type. For example, the Vicious Hearts are blue. During Diablo 4 Season 1, jewelry will drop with Infested Sockets of a specific color, and you can socket in a Malignant Heart of a corresponding color for powerful effects. Wrathful Malignant Hearts fit into any color socket and are super powerful and rare.

Think of them as super powerful gems that only socket into jewelry. Blizzard explains:

To keep up with the relentless animosity of Malignant Monsters, you’ll need to turn their Hearts against them. Slaying Partly Corrupted enemies, a type of Malignant Monster, will drop a Malignant Heart. These can be captured by performing a ritual with the Cage of Binding, an item acquired during the Season’s Questline. Partly Corrupted enemies are an unruly sort and won’t go down easily. Trying to capture the Heart will cause the Partly Corrupted enemy to be reborn as a Fully Corrupted enemy. If defeated, these amalgamations of rot will drop a version of the Malignant Heart that can be placed into special Infested sockets in your Jewelry in place of a Normal Gem.

To be clear, each Diablo 4 character can have a maximum of three Malignant Hearts equipped at one time on two rings and one amulet. 

In case you've been living under a rock and missed the huge reveal, check out the awesome Diablo 4 Season of the Malignant trailer below.

That's everything we know so far about Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4, including the unlock process, how you can get more, and what they are used for. When more information becomes available, we will endeavor to update this article with haste.

For more Diablo 4, be sure to check out our dedicated section or some of our Guides & Tutorials just below:

Our section keeps growing, so check for new guides daily! Don't forget to pick up one of the Diablo 4 Editions and join the fight to save Sanctuary soon.