The next Season of Diablo III, Season 28: Rites of Sanctuary, is set to go live on February 24 at 5pm PST (which is Saturday at noon AEDT), and it’s shaping up to be an epic send-off for the game as Diablo IV’s launch draws closer. With a new endgame progression system and several class reworks that all sound fantastic, it will be a lot of fun.

Season 28 introduces the Rites of Sanctuary theme, where using the new Altar of Rites and sacrificing materials will unlock new account-wide powers.

“Our aim with this Season Theme was to enhance the journey players experience each season by tying material goals to meaningful choices,” writes Blizzard. “As we look towards Diablo IV's release, we wanted to celebrate its arrival with a feature that emphasizes progression as well as offer some interesting details about Sanctuary. We hope you enjoy the Rites of Sanctuary as much as we do.”

There are also new cosmetic rewards in the form of a pet dragon, Taennin the Tiny pet, and a funky new Primal Hunter Portrait.

As Diablo 3 has shifted into this superhero demon-slaying fantasy with crazy builds and speedy arcade-style action – which is awesome and very different from Diablo 4’s more measured pace – the new Rites of Sanctuary buffs and powers sound insane in how they’ll accelerate pretty much any build into a screen-melting bit of fun.

Here's the list.

• A - Your Kill Streak timer duration and reward bonus are doubled.
  
• B - Pools of Reflection last for the entire Season and are not removed by death.
  
• C - Items have no level requirement.
  
• D - +200 Damage
  
• E - +25% Missile Damage Reduction
  
• F - +25% Movement Speed (Uncapped)
  
• G - Increase damage against elites by 15%.
  
• H - Picking up Health Globes grants a shield for 5% of your maximum health for 7 seconds. Max stacks 5.
  
• I - +25% Melee Damage Reduction.
  
• J - Increases your highest elemental skill damage bonus by 10%.
  
• K - Increase damage against elites by 20%.
  
• L - +20% Damage
  
• M - Double the amount of Death's Breaths that drop.
  
• N - Critical hits grant resource: Mana: 15, Hatred: 5, Wrath: 5, Arcane Power: 3, Fury: 3, Spirit: 5, Essence: 5.
  
• O - Double the amount of Bounty Caches that drop from completing bounties.
  
• P - Progress orbs from Nephalem and Greater Rifts are automatically picked up within 60 yards.
  
• Q - Reduces the damage taken from elites by 25%.
  
• R - +30% Damage
  
• S - Gain immunity to crowd-controlling effects.
  
• T - Gain passability.
  
• U - Pets pick up Death's Breath.
  
• V - Elite packs drop one additional progress orb.
  
• W - Increase damage done to Bosses by 25%.
  
• X - Pets pick up and salvage common, magic, and rare items.
  
• Y - Increase your chance to Dodge by 15%.
  
• Z - Double the chance to find a legendary item purchased from Kadala.
  
• Potion AA - When you drink your health potion, you manifest one of three runic circles on the ground that grant increased damage, increased cooldown reduction, or increased resource cost reduction.
  
• Potion AB - When you drink your health potion, all enemies within 25 yards deal 25% less damage.
  
• Potion AC - When you drink your health potion, gain a random shrine or the Dimensional Power pylon effect.
  
• AD - When a primal item drops, a second random primal item drops as well.

Blizzard notes that after the first Seal, the order in which you unlock additional Seals is entirely up to you and which powers best align with your character’s build. The costs of unlocking a Seal or Legendary Potion Power increase as you progress. Starting with ‘10 Reusable Parts’ and going up to things like ‘1 Leoric's Regret, 1 Vial of Putridness, 1 Idol of Terror, 1 Heart of Fright’ and ‘500 Death's Breaths, 300 Forgotten Souls.’

The update also sees the arrival of Diablo III: Patch 2.7.5, which goes live on February 21, and this introduces a new way to create Primal Items (which are Ancient Legendary items with perfect rolls for their stats). Primordial Ashes are rewarded when you salvage a Primal Item, and these can be used to upgrade any Legendary Item to Primal.

Patch 2.7.5 also reworks one of the Demon Hunter sets to become all about Spike Traps and Caltrops, in addition to a few other buffs.

Head here for the full Diablo III: Patch 2.7.5 notes.