Diablo 4‘s Season 11 is just around the corner, bringing many changes to the core game as well as a new seasonal loop. Season 11 is called Season of Divine Intervention, and its main gimmick will be tied to Divine Gifts and Sanctification, a new way to improve gear beyond its maximum potential, thanks to additional affixes that could make a gear piece incredibly stronger — or do almost nothing, making the item impossible to modify further. Diablo 4‘s new update is coming on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at 8:30 PM PDT, but not all of Season 11’s content launches on the same day, including a potentially controversial feature.
There have been a few controversies within Diablo 4 since it first came out, such as some disappointing events, how content could be unrewarding in the endgame, the speed of leveling characters, and how to access mounts. Yet, another major issue came with the release of leaderboards for Diablo 4‘s Gauntlet, as the first few pages were, in some cases, filled with impossible scores. Leaderboards also highlighted an exploit tied to Shrine buffs, which worked as follows:
- Players collected Diablo 4‘s Shrine buffs from the open world, such as Channeling or Protection, before starting a Gauntlet run.
- Players then entered the Gauntlet, and the buffs would not be automatically removed.
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The result was:
- An outcry to remove leaderboards or reset them weekly.
- Unfair and impossible runs were detected, with some scores surpassing the legal maximum score by miles.
- Diablo 4 builds were created to function based on specific Shrine buffs to maximize runs even further.
- Blizzard had to remove those who abused the system from the leaderboards.
Now, Diablo 4‘s Tower in Season 11 is bringing back leaderboards. While some players are excited about the feature’s return, others are worried that it will be a mess once again due to exploits, bugs, and possibly pay-to-win players who spend real money to get perfect gear fast.
A Diablo 4 Feature Missing Since Season 6 Can’t Stay Gone for Long
With the start of Diablo 4 Season 9, the game has been missing a feature for three seasons that could make a huge difference when it’s reintroduced.
You May Have to Avoid This Diablo 4 Season 11 Feature Like the Plague
Diablo 4‘s 2026 update plans include additional content for Season 11. This includes:
- The Tower: An endgame activity that requires players to complete a randomized dungeon that has multiple stages and a time limit, much like The Pit.
- Leaderboards: Leaderboards in Diablo 4 will only appear as an extension of The Tower, a competitive mode with scores attached to each run.
This is the first time a major content drop has been added to Diablo 4 in the middle of a season.
The Tower and leaderboards will be added as “beta” features, meaning that they will be tested and improved upon based on player feedback with each passing season. This is good news for those who like challenging content in Diablo 4, and Blizzard could update both The Tower and leaderboards in a way that makes them more and more satisfying to engage with.
Why Diablo 4’s Returning Leaderboards May Break The Game
There is a risk that leaderboards will be another debacle, though. This is because there have been multiple issues tied to leaderboards in Diablo games over the years, and while Blizzard may iron out the previous exploits from Gauntlet in Season 3 of Diablo 4 with a later 2026 release of The Tower and leaderboards, there could be new bugs and potential exploits. These are a few examples from the series’ past:
- Cheating and exploits: These typically prove to be a solid argument for leaderboards’ removal in games like Diablo 4 and Diablo 3, as Blizzard can’t keep up with all the impossible scores that have to be removed.
- Bugs: Another plague for leaderboards is when scores are not shown, are accidentally deleted or inflated, or runs don’t register at all. This has happened in both Diablo 3 and 4.
- Unfair advantage: A common complaint about leaderboards in the series is that some players may have an unfair advantage over everyone else. This is usually about content creators who may have access to new features early and thus have an edge when the competitive mode drops, or more often about pay-to-win players.
For these reasons, even if The Tower itself proves to be a success, which is what early impressions from the PTR agree on, leaderboards may be yet another thorn in the game’s side. Competitive aspects of Diablo 4‘s endgame content can be great and even necessary additions, but leaderboards do have a not-so-rosy history within the series.
- Released
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June 5, 2023
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
