The first seasonal content of Diablo 4 introduces a new item type called Malignant Hearts. These function like gems that you can only socket in your jewelry (rings and amulet) to gain powerful unique effects.
You will be happy to know that some of Malignant Hearts have bonuses that are specifically tailored to certain builds. Hence, they become a mandatory part of your endgame progression.
Similar to most of the other endgame content, you are going to be spending a lot of time farming the new seasonal content.
To save you precious time, here are the best Malignant Hearts that you need to farm in Diablo 4 Season 1. That and the builds they should be paired with.
Malignant Hearts types, colors, effects
There are four types of Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 where each type features several different Hearts that come with unique effects.
They are distinguished by their different colors, so a Brutal Heart can only be socketed in a blue-colored jewelry socket. Wrathful Hearts are the only ones that can be placed in any colored socket.
Brutal
Color Code: Blue
Type: Defensive
Devious
Color Code: Pink
Type: Utility
Vicious
Color Code: Orange
Type: Offensive
Wrathful
Color Code: Black
Type: Super Power
Best Malignant Hearts to equip in Diablo 4 Season 1
The Wrathful Hearts are considered the best in Diablo 4 season 1 because they provide you with some of the best effects, and you can equip them in any socket.
However, do note that Vicious Hearts can also prove to be very handy if you are solely looking for offensive effects for particular builds.
The Diablo community is understandably only going after Wrathful Hearts but some of the other Malignant Heart types are powerful as well.
Below you are going to find the best Malignant Hearts that need to be farmed in Diablo 4. These have been ranked based on their powers, effects, and most importantly, their uses. The hearts mentioned below are the ones that are part of the best D4 Season 1 builds right now.
- Creeping Death (Wrathful Heart- All Classes)
- Decrepit Aura (Brutal Heart- Necromancer)
- Focused Rage (Vicious Heart- Barbarian)
- Inexorable Force (Devious Heart- Druid)
- Malignant Pact (Wrathful Heart- All Classes)
- Revenge (Brutal Heart- All Classes)
- Sacrilegious (Vicious Heart- Necromancer)
- Tempting Fate (Vicious Heart- All Classes)
- The Barber (Wrathful Heart- All Classes)
- Vile Apothecary (Wrathful Heart- Rogue)
Creeping Death
The Creeping Death is one of the best Malignant Hearts in Remnant 2. All classes can use this heart by placing it in their sockets. You receive a significant boost in your damage over time by placing your targets under different crowd control effects.
The staggered bosses and unstoppable enemies will also receive additional damage during combat. You can use this Malignant Heart will the builds that use crowd control effects, such as the Blizzard Sorcerer build and Double Swing Barbarian build in D4.
Decrepit Aura
The Decrepit Aura hails from the Brual Heart category and is considered one of the best Malignant Hearts for the Necromancer class in Diablo 4. With this heart, you can curse your surrounding enemies with Decrepify if four or more enemies are next to you.
You can utilize the Decrepit Aura heart with different Necromancer builds. Some build, such as the Bone Spirit Necromancer and Blight Necromancer, can benefit hugely from this heart.
Focused Rage
The Focused Rage Malignant Heart is a treat for Barbarian players in Diablo 4. This vicious heart improves your critical strike chance for the non-basic skills by a significant percentage if you spend 60-100 fury within 2 seconds.
You will use fury frequently while playing the Barbarian class so that you can implant this heart in many builds. Use Focused Rage with the Berserk Leap Barbarian and Whirlwind Barbarian builds. Both use fury in a vast amount, making it possible to benefit from the effect of this heart.
Inexorable Force
Pulling 30 to 50 enemies toward yourself while having your ultimate active sound like a dream, right? But the Inexorable Force makes it possible in Diablo 4. This vicious heart lets you pull multiple enemies into your ultimate, instantly leaving them dead.
This Druid-exclusive Malignant Heart is an excellent addition to your builds. You should use this heart with the Pulverize Werebear Druid or the Stormclaw build in D4. Both builds use the ultimate to deal significant damage and throwing everyone inside the ultimate makes the combat very easy.
Malignant Pact
With the Malignant Pact, you enjoy bonuses that change after every 20 kills in Diablo 4. You will gain attack speed, barrier and can restore your primary resources using the core and basic skills. The cycle will repeat, and each effect continues until you bring down 20 enemies.
You can use this Malignant Heart with different builds, as every class can use it. So use it with the Death Trap Rogue or the Sever Necromancer build in D4.
Revenge
The Revenge is a Brutal Heart that all classes can use in Diablo 4. With this heart, you get the ability to suppress the incoming damage using defensive, macabre, or subterfuge skills.
Moreover, the suppressed damage will increase significantly, and you can cause an explosion to deal fire damage to all the nearby enemies.
You can use this heart with the Burning Meteor Sorcerer and Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue build in D4. Because of this Malignant Heart, both builds will get a boost in their fire damage.
Sacrilegious
As a Necromancer, you need the Sacrilegious heart to make use of the corpses more frequently during the combat in Diablo 4.
This vicious heart will allow you to activate a corpse skill by walking next to corpses. You will also receive reduced damage from the enemies in D4.
Make use of this Malignant Heart with the Summoner Necromancer build and also with the Infinimist Build. You will feel how this heart improves your defenses and makes you more deadly on the battlefield.
Tempting Fate
The Tempting Fate is perfect if you rely on critical strikes during the fights in Diablo 4. This heart will allow you to deal increased damage from critical strikes, but you lose your damage output on non-critical strikes. So you need to use this with builds where the primary damage comes from critical strikes.
You can use the Tempting Fate with Death Trap Rogue build or with the Bone Spirit Necromancer build. Both builds rely heavily on critical strike damage, making them perfect for this Malignant Heart in D4.
The Barber
The Barber is a Malignant Heart available to all classes in Diablo 4. With this heart, your critical strike and all subsequent damage will be stored in your enemies for a few seconds. The damage will multiply with each passing second before expanding to the surrounding enemies.
Since it is helpful for every class, you can go with the builds that utilize more critical strike damage. Builds like Double Swing and Death Blow Barbarian might be good options with Malignant Heart in D4.
Vile Apothecary
The Vile Apothecary allows you to apply all imbuements effects with your normal strikes in Diablo 4. The improved damage output and control over the enemies make this Malignant Heart one of the best for the Rogue class.
You can use this wrathful heart with the Vampire Rogue and Frost Rogue builds in D4. Both build outcomes will improve substantially, and you can easily tackle the enemies.
