A character in Diablo 4 interacting with a Malignant Heart that is glowing red in front of a dark background.

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

All Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4

Plenty of unique effects to hunt for.

Josh Challies

Published: Jul 19, 2023 08:37 am

Diablo 4 players can hunt for Malignant Hearts in season one, which provide unique legendary boosts for your build.

Diablo 4 Malignant Hearts explained

A graphic showing the four different types of Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4, which are identified by different colors. — There are four types of Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4. Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 can be obtained by defeating a Malignant enemy and capturing them using the Cage of Binding, which is given to players while progressing through the new quest line in season one.

After being caught, you can begin a ritual that spawns a stronger version of the Malignant enemy you just defeated and, once you have killed all enemies during the ritual, you will receive a Caged Heart.

You can then socket the hearts into gear items, in the same way you use gems in Diablo 4, which provides you with new legendary abilities. In total, there are 32 Malignant powers added in season one.

There are four types of hearts in Diablo 4, which provide different boosts and are equipped into different types slots in your gear.

Vicious Hearts: Offensive boost, red jewelry sockets
Brutal Hearts: Defensive boost, blue jewelry sockets
Devious Hearts: Utility, purple jewelry sockets
Wrathful Hearys: Super Power, can be used in any jewelry socket

All Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4

General Malignant Hearts

These Malignant Hearts can be used by any class in the game.

Name	Type	Effect
The Picana	Vicious	Critical Strikes electrically charge the enemy for [0.75-2.5] seconds, causing lightning damage to arc between them and any other charged enemies dealing [68-136] damage.
The Dark Dance	Vicious	Every five seconds while above 60 percent lift, Core Skills cost [68-51] life instead of your Primary Resource. Skills that consume life deal [10-20] percent increased damage.
Tempting Fate	Vicious	You gain [40-60] percent Critical Strike Damage but your non-Critical Strikes deal [20-15] percent less damage.
The Lionheart	Brutal	You gain 10 percent Barrier Generation. You heal [3-7] life per second while you have an active barrier.
Revenge	Brutal	[10-20] percent of incoming damage is instead suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge, or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250 percent and explodes, dealing up to [1360-2040] fire damage to nearby enemies.
Prudent Heart	Brutal	You become Immune for [2-4] seconds after you lose more than 20 percent life in a single hit. This effect can only occur once every 110 seconds.
Determination	Devious	Resource-draining effects are [40-50] percent less effective. In addition, gain [3-8] percent increased Resource Generation.
Retaliation	Devious	Deal [510-680] fire damage to surrounding enemies whenever a Crowd Control effect is removed from you.
The Calculated	Devious	After spending [150-200] of your Primary Resource, your next attack stuns enemies for two seconds.
The Malignant Pact	Wrathful	Cycle through a Malignant bonus every 20 kills. They are: Gain 20 percent Attack Speed, Core and Basic Skills have a 15 percent chance to fully restore your Primary Resource, every 21 seconds, gain a barrier absorbing [85-102] damage.
Creeping Death	Wrathful	Your damage over time effects are increased by [30-40] percent for each different Crowd Control effect on the target. Unstoppable monsters and Staggered bosses instead take [110-130] percent increased damage from your damage over time effects.
The Barber	Wrathful	Critical Strikes and all subsequent damage within [2-4] seconds is absorbed by your target. Then, the absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. Stored damage is increased by 10 percent per second.

Barbarian Malignant Hearts

The following Malignant Hearts can only be used by the Barbarian class.

Name	Type	Effect
Focused Rage	Vicious	After spending [100-60] Fury within two seconds, your next non-basic skill’s Critical Strike Chance is increased by [20-30] percent.
Resurgent Life	Brutal	While below [40-60] percent life, you receive [50-60] percent healing from all sources.
Punishing Speed	Devious	Your skills have a [20-30] percent change to Knock Down all enemies for 1.25 seconds when that skill’s Attack Speed is higher than [35-20] percent.
Ignoring Pain	Wrathful	Incoming damage has a [5-15] percent chance of being ignored and instead healing you for [17-28].

Druid Malignant Hearts

The following Malignant Hearts can only be used by the Druid class.

Name	Type	Effect
The Moonrage	Vicious	Kills have a five percent chance to summon a Wolf Companion by your side for [20-30] seconds. In addition, gain +3 to Wolves.
The Agitated Winds	Brutal	When [8-13] close enemies, automatically cast Cyclone Armor. This cannot occur more than once every [10-20] seconds.
Inexorable Force	Devious	Up to [30-50] Distant enemies are pulled toward you while you have an Ultimate Skill active.
The Unconstrained Beast	Wrathful	When you are hit with a Stun, Freeze or Knock Down effect, there is a [40-60] percent chance to automatically activate Grizzly Rage for three seconds.

Necromancer Malignant Hearts

The following Malignant Hearts can only be used by the Necromancer class.

Name	Type	Effect
The Sacrilegious	Vicious	Walking near a Corpse automatically activates an equipped Corpse Skill every second, dealing [40-30] percent reduced damage.
The Decrepit Aura	Brutal	When at least five enemies are near you, gain an aura that automatically curses surrounding enemies with Decrepify for [5-15] seconds.
Frozen Terror	Devious	Up to a [10-20] percent chance of inflicting Fear for 2.5 seconds. Feared enemies are Chilled for 20 percent every second.
The Great Feast	Wrathful	Each Minion drains [1-2] Essence per second but deals [50-75] percent increased damage. With no Minions, this bonus applies to you and drains five Essence per second.

Rogue Malignant Hearts

The following Malignant Hearts can only be used by the Rogue class.

Name	Type	Effect
Cluster Munitions	Vicious	Lucky Hit: You have up to a 20 percent chance to launch three Stun Grenades that deal [26-32] Physical damage and Stun enemies for 0.5 seconds.
Trickery	Brutal	When you use a Subterfuge Skill, leave behind an unstable Shadow Decoy Trap that Taunts enemies. The Shadow Decoy Trap will explode after six seconds, dealing [680-1020] Shadow damage. Cannot occur more than once every five seconds.
The Clipshot	Devious	Lucky Hit: Up to a [20-40] percent chance for your Cutthroat Skills to Slow by 40 percent for three seconds and your Marksman Skills to Knock Back enemies.
The Vile Apothecary	Wrathful	Your attacks have a [5-15] percent chance to apply all Imbuement effects at [40-50] percent of normal potency.

Sorcerer Malignant Hearts

The following Malignant Hearts can only be used by the Sorcerer class.

Name	Type	Effect
Tal’Rasha	Vicious	For each unique element you deal damage with, you deal [7-12] percent increased damage for [3-10] seconds.
Spellbreaking	Brutal	After taking Elemental damage, gain [20-40] percent Resistance to that element for five seconds.
Spite	Devious	When you are afflicted with a Crowd Control effect, there is a [20-40] percent chance that the same enemy and enemies around you are also afflicted with the same effect for three seconds.
Omnipower	Wrathful	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 [3-5] percent.

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