Diablo 4 Season 1 complete Malignant Heart guide: Caged Hearts, Infested Sockets, and more explained

With Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant players are finally able to enjoy the fresh batch of seasonal content, which has introduced a new feature called the Malignant Hearts. They work a lot like Unique Items and Gems in the game, however, Malignant Hearts have the power to be game-changers in higher difficulties and completely overhaul existing builds depending on the rarity of the item.

There is a lot to unpack with Season of the Malignant, and it’s not all that surprising why many in the community are quite confused as to how Malignant Hearts works in the game.

Hence, this Diablo 4 guide will go over everything you need to know about Malignant Hearts in Season 1, along with how to obtain them, how to use them, and all the Caged Hearts that have made their way to the game.

What are Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant?

Malignant Hearts are the new combat feature that will work quite similarly to gems in Diablo 4. However, they are much more potent and can have game-changing effects on your character’s build.

While the base game had Jewelry that came with sockets to slot in gems, in Season of the Malignant, the Jewelry come with Infested Sockets. You will be able to use them to slot in Malignant Hearts. However, these sockets are color-coded, and you will only be able to place a certain type of Heart in it.

Here are the colors and the Heart that you will be able to socket in:

Vicious:

Orange
Provides additional offensive traits to the player’s build

Brutal

Blue
Provides additional defensive traits to the player’s build

Devious

Pink
Provides additional utility traits to the player’s build

Wrathful

Black
These are universal Malignant Hearts that provide special bonuses and can be put in any three types of sockets.

How many Malignant Hearts are there Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant?

For now, there are a total of 32 Malignant Hearts in Season 1. While some of them are unique to certain classes in the game, there are many that are universal and can be used by all five classes, each catering to a certain type of build.

How to farm more Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant?

To be able to get your hands on more Malignant Hearts in Season 1, you will need to encounter and take down Malignant Enemies in the new seasonal content. These are a more powerful version of the elite mobs and will spawn randomly on the map.

By defeating them, you will get a chance to obtain a random Malignant Heart which you can put in your armor’s Infested Socket. However, you will be able to upgrade your Malignant Hearts into Caged Hearts in Diablo 4.

How to easily get Caged Hearts in Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant?

To easily get your hands on Caged Hearts, you will need to first get your hands on Malignant Hearts, and then use the Cage of Unbinding which will then initiate an encounter with incredibly powerful enemies.

These will be Fully Corrupted Malignant monsters, and upon defeating them, you will receive a Caged Heart. Use this method to get your hands on the type of Caged Hearts that you want, making it an incredibly challenging but rewarding way to scale into the late game of Season of the Malignant.

How to target farm Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant?

You will be able to target farm-specific hearts in Season of the Malignant as well. To do so, you will need to search for Malignant Tunnels which will be located in various places on the map. These spawn Malignant Outgrowths which will be color coded, lets you know the type of Malignant Hearts that the mobs here will drop.

Depending on the rarity of the hearts that you are looking for, the RNG and the drop chances will differ.

How to craft and upgrade Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant?

If the Malignant Outgrowths do not drop the heart that you are looking for, you can always take these extra items and Salvage them for Malignant Ichor. The Ichor is the most important resource when it comes to allowing players more options to do what they want with their existing Malignant Hearts.

You will be able to use the Ichor to craft new hearts or upgrade the existing ones at Coemond’s wagon.

What are Infested Sockets in Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant?

As mentioned, Infested Sockets are a lot like the normal Gem sockets that you find in the base game. However, instead of slotting in Gems, you will be slotting in Malignant Hearts as well as Caged Hearts into them.

Infested Sockets are Jewelry exclusive and you will only be able to have a maximum of three different types of hearts slotted into your build at any given time.

All Universal Caged Hearts in Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant

Here are all the Universal Caged Hearts and their official item descriptions and effects in Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant:

1) Universal Vicious Caged Hearts

The Picana

Critical Strikes electrically charge the enemy for 0.75-2.50 seconds, causing lightning to arc between them and any other charged enemies, dealing 68-136 Lightning damage.

The Dark Dance

Every 5 seconds while above 60% Life, Core Skills cost 68-51 Life instead of your Primary Resource. Skills that consume Life deal 10-20% increased damage.

Tempting Fate

You gain 40-60% Critical Strike Damage but your Non-Critical Strikes deal 20-15% less damage.

2) Universal Brutal Caged Hearts

The Lionheart

You gain 10% Barrier Generation. You Heal 3-7 Life per second while you have an active Barrier.

Revenge

10-20% of incoming damage is suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge, or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360-2040 Fire damage to nearby enemies.

Prudent Heart

You become Immune for 2.0-4.0 seconds after you lose more than 20% Life in a single hit. This effect can only occur once every 110 seconds.

3) Universal Devious Caged Hearts

Determination

Resource-draining effects are 40-50% less effective. In addition, gains 3.0-8.0% increased Resource Generation.

Retaliation

Deal 510-680 Fire damage to surrounding enemies whenever a Crowd Control effect is removed from you.

The Calculated

After spending 150-200 of your Primary Resource, your next attack stuns enemies hit for 2 seconds

4) Universal Wrathful Caged Hearts

The Malignant Pact

Cycle through a Malignant bonus every 20 kills
Vicious: Gain 20% Attack Speed
Devious: Core and Basic Skills have a 15% chance to fully restore your Primary Resource
Brutal: Every 21 seconds, gain a Barrier absorbing 85-102 damage

Creeping Death

Your damage over time effects are increased by 30-40% for each different Crowd Control effect on the target. Unstoppable monsters and Staggered bosses instead take 110-130% increased damage from your damage over time effects.

The Barber

Critical Strikes and all subsequent damage within 2.0-4.0 seconds are absorbed by your target. Then, the absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. Stored damage is increased by 10% per second.

All Class-Specific Caged Hearts in Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant

Here are all the class-specific Caged Herts for the Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Druid, and Necromancer in Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant:

1) Diablo 4 Barbarian Caged Hearts

Focused Rage (Vicious)

After spending 100-60 Fury within 2 seconds, your next Non-Basic Skill’s Critical Strike Chance is increased by 20-30%.

Resurgent Life (Brutal)

While below 40-60% Life, you receive 50-60% more Healing from all sources.

Punishing Speed (Devious)

Your Skills have a 20-30% chance to Knock Down all enemies for 1.25 seconds when that Skill’s Attack Speed is higher than 35-20%.

Ignoring Pain (Wrathful)

Incoming damage has a 5-15% chance of being ignored and instead Healing you for 17-68.

2) Diablo 4 Druid Caged Hearts

The Moonrage (Vicious)

Kills have a 5% chance to summon a Wolf Companion to 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% chance to automatically activate Grizzly Rage for 3 seconds.

3) Diablo 4 Necromancer Caged Hearts

The Sacrilegious (Vicious)

Walking near a Corpse automatically activates an equipped Corpse Skill every second, dealing 40-30% reduced damage.

The Decrepit Aura (Brutal)

When at least 5 enemies are near you, gain an aura that automatically curses surrounding enemies with Decrepify for 5-15 seconds.

Frozen Terror (Devious)

Lucky Hit: Up to a 10-20% chance of inflicting Fear for 2.5 seconds. Feared enemies are Chilled for 20% every second.

The Great Feast (Wrathful)

Each Minion drains 1.0-2.0 Essence per second but deals 50-75% increased damage. With no Minions, this bonus applies to you and drains 5 Essence per second.

4) Diablo 4 Rogue Caged Hearts

Cluster Munitions (Vicious)

Lucky Hit: You have up to a 20% chance to launch 3 Stun Grenades that deal 26-32 Physical damage and Stun enemies for 0.50 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 6.0 seconds dealing 680-1020 Shadow damage. Cannot occur more than once every 5 seconds.

The Clipshot (Devious)

Lucky Hit: Up to a 20-40% chance for your Cutthroat Skills to Slow by 40% for 3 seconds and your Marksman Skills to Knock Back enemies.

The Vile Apothecary (Wrathful)

Your attacks have a 5-15% chance to apply all Imbuement effects at 40-50% of normal potency.

5) Diablo 4 Sorcerer Caged Hearts

Tal’Rasha (Vicious)

For each unique element you deal damage with, you deal 7-12% increased damage for 3-10 seconds.

Spellbreaking (Brutal)

After taking Elemental damage, gain 20-40% Resistance to that element for 5 seconds.

Spite (Devious)

When you are afflicted with a Crowd Control effect, there is a 20-40% chance that the same enemy and enemies around you are also afflicted with the same effect for 3 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 3.0-5.0%.

When is Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant ending?

Season 1, Season of the Malignant is officially set to end on October 9, 2023. However, it can extend beyond that depending on how well the season goes for Blizzard. Developers at times extend the seasonal period to help players get more time to complete all of the new content.