Diablo IV's Season 3 will add a new endgame activity in the form of a weekly challenge dungeon called The Gauntlet, which will see players competing to earn the top spots on the game's leaderboards for both fame and exclusive cosmetic rewards.

The mode sounds similar to Diablo III's Challenge Rifts, although players participating in The Gauntlet in Diablo IV Season 3 will be bringing their own characters and builds into the dungeon this time around. Each week, all players will compete by running the same "fixed seed linear dungeon" to earn high scores, with speed and efficiency being of the essence. The Gauntlet is on a timer, and killing enemies and completing the dungeon quickly will earn players points that contribute to their score. To encourage efficiency, loot will only drop at the end of The Gauntlet and not from defeated enemies along the way.

There will be separate leaderboards across the game's classes, as well as for hardcore characters, solo runs, and group runs. Players earning top scores will be rewarded with Seals, special cosmetics that can be applied to character portrait frames to show off their accomplishments. Each week The Gauntlet leaderboards will be wiped, but the best-of-the-best will see their scores recorded in the Hall of Ancients, a persistent leaderboard that doesn't reset.

In order to participate in The Gauntlet, players will simply need to have unlocked World Tier IV. There is no level requirement, though higher-level players with better gear will naturally be able to complete The Gauntlet faster than those who just hit level 50 and stepped into World Tier IV for the first time. Players will need to earn a minimum amount of score from The Gauntlet in order to appear on the leaderboards.

A work-in-progress look at Diablo IV's The Gauntlet leaderboards shared during BlizzCon 2023.

The announcement of The Gauntlet came during BlizzCon 2023, where Blizzard additionally announced Diablo IV's first expansion and shared more details on what's next for the ARPG. Titled Vessel of Hatred, Diablo IV's first expansion is slated to release late in 2024 and will return players to an iconic Diablo II location. It will additionally introduce a never-before-seen class, seemingly dashing player hopes for the return of a Paladin or Templar class anytime soon.

No additional details about Diablo IV Season 3, including a name or theme, were announced, but the season should kick off in January 2024. Meanwhile, Diablo IV will receive a limited-time holiday event and new items modeled off of Season 1's Malignant Powers soon.