BlizzCon 2026: Everything Rumored About the Next D2R Expansion
If the rumor mill is right, this year's BlizzCon could be the biggest Diablo II: Resurrected news cycle since Reign of the Warlock. A Korean community post from August 28th — since translated and picked apart by the wider D2R community — claims to be sourced from a data-mine of unreleased expansion content. Adding fuel to the fire, Blizzard themselves closed out the Reign of the Warlock reveal stream with a tease that fans "won't believe what we're going to announce at BlizzCon." Between the timing and that comment, most of the community expects a real D2R announcement during one of the Diablo Developer Update panels on day one or two of the show.
One important caveat before diving in: the person behind the original leak has openly said they can't confirm the material is authentic. Every date and detail below should be read as speculation, not confirmed roadmap. With that said, here's everything currently being discussed.
Expected reveal: BlizzCon panel, September 12–13, 2026
Expected launch: mid-to-late 2027 at the earliest
A Sixth Act, Built Around a Forgotten Civilization
The headline rumor is a full expansion centered on a brand-new Act 6. Leaked assets reportedly echo the visual tone of Act 5's Citadel of Destruction, but the civilization at the center of the story isn't the barbarian culture players already know — it's an older, separate society. According to the leaked lore data, this group supposedly helped the barbarians construct the Worldstone Keep long ago, before eventually defecting to the demons' side. The new Act would apparently task players with cleansing the region in the aftermath of that betrayal. Given that the leak repeatedly stresses these systems are still in early testing with unfinalized values, a 2027 launch window feels far more realistic than anything landing this year.
Three New Monster Concepts
Alongside the Act 6 material, three unusual monster models were reportedly pulled from the same data files:
- A human-faced bear, distinct from the existing werebear model entirely.
- A giant fly-type enemy, noticeably larger than any fly monster currently in the game.
- A worm creature with a human face embedded in an enormous earthworm-like body, apparently designed to burrow and move underground.
Some in the community have connected the worm concept to Risia-arf, an Act 5 bestiary demon that was cut from the game long before release and never made it past internal design docs.
Paladin Rework: Blessed Hammer and Vengeance
The leak also points to real skill changes for the Paladin. Blessed Hammer would reportedly shift away from its current fixed circular path toward a "projectile-to-spiral" behavior — traveling in a straight line first, then curving into a rotation. Vengeance is also flagged for a rework, though the exact direction isn't locked in yet; the data reportedly shows the team moving away from simple stacked elemental damage and experimenting with versions where a Vengeance hit applies a lingering effect to the target instead.
A Major Druid Overhaul
Of everything in the leak, the Druid is said to be getting the most significant changes — largely aimed at fixing the class's historically low direct damage and its clunky targeting while shapeshifted. Rumored changes include:
- Werewolf and Werebear potentially gaining a teleport-style movement ability.
- Hurricane and Twister becoming linked skills, with Twister firing off in a roughly 200-degree fan pattern whenever Hurricane is active.
- Tornado applying lightning damage across the full Hurricane radius when both skills are active together.
- Summon Bear reportedly scaling up to an 80% crushing blow chance at higher skill levels, as part of a broader pass on the summon skill line.
Runeword Changes — Including a Big One for Enigma
Perhaps the most controversial rumor in the whole leak: Enigma losing its +2 to all skills bonus. The reasoning attributed to the developers is a design philosophy shift — the idea being that a character should have to choose between mobility (Teleport) and raw +skills, rather than getting both from a single item. Famine is also said to be getting reworked rather than simply rebalanced, with new modifiers reportedly present in the data files, though their final values haven't been pinned down.
A Completely New Item Type: The Scabbard
Buried in the leaked item database is something the community hasn't seen before — a "scabbard" equipment type. It's registered as its own distinct category, separate from weapons and shields, and can't function as a base for a normal weapon. Early speculation suggests it may be class-restricted and could either occupy a brand-new equipment slot or act as an auxiliary item worn alongside specific weapon types. Details on exactly how it functions are still thin, and this is one of the least understood pieces of the entire leak.
Take This With a Grain of Salt
To be clear: none of this is confirmed. The source themselves admitted they couldn't verify the data's authenticity, and everything above — release windows included — is built on community translation and interpretation of leaked files, not an official Blizzard statement. We'll be watching the BlizzCon panels closely and will update this page the moment anything becomes official.
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