According to the official blog post of Lord of Hatred, Season of Reckoning launches 30 minutes after the expansion release.

If you were expecting a new seasonal mechanic to come with it, like we usually get, Season 13 is going to be a little different this time around. The Season of Reckoning does not come with its own story, theme, or any special seasonal gameplay addition. Blizzard was quite upfront about this and already explained that with the Lord of Hatred expansion being as massive as it is, the season was built around the expansion itself rather than adding a separate layer on top of it.

As unfortunate as that might sound, it does make sense. Between the new Skovos region, two new classes, the Horadric Cube, War Plans, the Talisman system, skill tree reworks for every class, and the level cap going up to 70, there is plenty of new content to get through. Blizzard has confirmed that future seasons will go back to the regular format, though, with their own mechanics and themes.

So What Does Season 13 Include?

The Season of Reckoning still has a full Season Rank system with nine ranks and over 100 objectives. That includes the usual unlocks like Season Blessings, Smoldering Ashes, the Battle Pass and Reliquary, as well as the return of the Tower and Leaderboards Beta (which opens on April 30).

But the highlight is definitely the rewards. This season, you can get up to 14 Resplendent Sparks through Season Rank progression alone. That is much more than any previous season has offered, and for anyone chasing Mythic Uniques, that is a pretty big deal. On top of that, you can earn up to:

12 Skill Points
42 Paragon Points
Cosmetics (titles, emblems, a mount trophy, and special title laurels)
Crafting materials, and more

Around 25% of the Season Rank objectives do require the Lord of Hatred expansion, so not every reward is available to all players. But most of the season content is accessible to everyone.

When Does Season 13 Start?

In their official Lord of Hatred blog post, Blizzard stated (in bold) that Season 13 launches about 30 minutes after the expansion goes live. This means we can expect it around 4:30 PM PDT on April 27 (1:30 AM CEST on April 28 for EU players). However, launch windows can be unpredictable, so a delay would not be surprising.

Worth Playing Without a Mechanic?

If you are jumping into Lord of Hatred, the season is the natural way to experience everything that is new, right from level one. And even without a unique seasonal mechanic, 14 Sparks and all the Season Ranks give you more than enough reasons to play on the seasonal realm and work towards your progression goals.