If you’ve ever burned Marks of El’Druin rerolling a War Plan because it kept handing you activities you didn’t want to run, Season 16 goes straight at that problem. A new Tactics tree lets you put points into the activities and reward types you actually want, so the plans on offer at the Command Table lean your way.
Tactics is the change that matters most. It tilts the odds on every plan you’re offered, it works on both Seasonal and Eternal, and reworking it costs Marks of Wisdom, which you earn by turning in plans, rather than gold. Tyrael’s Boons looks like the bigger power bump on paper, but it’s Seasonal-only and undoing a point costs 5,000,000 gold on the PTR, so it rewards a plan more than a whim.
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| 3.3.0 PTR | October 27 to November 3, 2026 (closing 10 a.m. PST), PC only through Battle.net |
| Season 16 launch | Not announced by Blizzard; early estimates vary, most point to early December |
| War Plans Tactics | Up to 3 points per activity node and per reward node; Seasonal and Eternal |
| Marks of Wisdom | New currency from turning in completed War Plans; replaces gold for node changes; capped at 20 on the PTR |
| Tyrael’s Boons | Seasonal tree, up to 132 points, four paths; 5,000,000 gold per point to unassign |
What changes in War Plans in Season 16
Three things change. First, War Plans Tactics: you earn points by completing War Plans activities and spend them on activity nodes and reward nodes, up to 3 points in each, to raise the odds that the plans you’re offered include the activities and rewards you picked.
Second, Marks of Wisdom, a new currency you get from turning in completed War Plans. It takes over from gold as the cost of changing nodes in the Tactics tree and in each activity’s own Activity tree.
Third, Tyrael’s Boons, a Season-themed War Plans tree for Seasonal characters only. It doesn’t require Lord of Hatred, and it sits alongside Seasonal Blessings rather than replacing them; those Blessings become a static set of the same five each time.
How War Plans work before Season 16
War Plans arrived with Lord of Hatred in late April 2026. You chain a playlist of endgame activities, such as Nightmare Dungeons, Helltides, The Undercity, Lair Bosses, Infernal Hordes, and The Pit, and the game teleports you between them and generates any Sigil you need. Finishing a plan pays out War Chest rewards in Temis and levels your Command Table.
The Command Table is in Temis, and you reach it after completing the Lord of Hatred campaign. Each activity has its own Activity tree fed by Activity Points. If a plan doesn’t suit you, rerolling it costs Marks of El’Druin, which you earn by completing plans; a New Plan For Party reroll costs 2 and needs the party to vote.
Since Season of Hell’s Legacy, War Plans progress is shared across the characters on your account within each realm split (Seasonal or Eternal, Hardcore or not, Normal or Solo Self-Found), and you assign the shared points to each character, much like Paragon. Blizzard has also said future seasons would bring more War Plans refinements, including playlist customization. Tactics reads like the first step toward that.
War Plans Tactics: steering activities and rewards
Tactics points come from completing War Plans activities. You can put up to 3 into any activity node and up to 3 into any reward node, and each point nudges the plans you’re offered toward that choice. Blizzard hasn’t published a total point cap or how fast points come in, so don’t plan around a fully built tree on day one.
Two activity nodes have an extra layer. Put at least 1 point into Helltides and you get a choice to raise the chance of Greater Helltides; do the same in Nightmare Dungeons and you can raise the chance of Escalation Dungeons. If either is already your main farm, that first point is the easiest call on the tree.
The reward side has 10 nodes:
- Armor
- Weapons
- Jewelry
- Talisman Items
- Gems
- Obducite
- Salvage
- Horadric Cube Materials
- Gold
- Activity Keys
Tactics works on both Seasonal and Eternal, so Eternal-only players get it too. It’s part of War Plans, though, so it still needs the Lord of Hatred campaign; Tyrael’s Boons is the part base-game Seasonal players get.
Marks of Wisdom pay for respecs, not rerolls
Marks of Wisdom come from turning in completed War Plans, and you spend them to change nodes in the Tactics tree and the individual Activity trees. Before Season 16 those changes cost gold. Now your gold stays in your stash when you rework Tactics or an Activity tree.
On the PTR, Marks of Wisdom were capped at 20. Blizzard stated that cap for the PTR only, so check the 3.3.0 patch notes for the live number.
Some early coverage describes Marks of Wisdom as a way to reroll your plans more often. Blizzard’s PTR post describes them as the currency for changing tree nodes. Rerolling a plan still costs Marks of El’Druin.
Tyrael’s Boons: the four Seasonal paths
Tyrael’s Boons is open to every Seasonal character, with or without Lord of Hatred. Blizzard puts the maximum at 132 points, enough to choose “up to 4 of 6 available selections” within the four paths. Blizzard hasn’t said how Boons points are earned.
| Path | What it changes | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Curious Addition | Improves the Purveyor of Curiosities: a chance at a second item with either new item types or better quality, or a pricier Purveyor with a higher chance of Ancestrals | Players who already gamble at the Purveyor and want more Ancestral pulls |
| Merchant of Mystery | A new Torment-difficulty merchant trades caches for Forgotten Souls; points can raise Ancestral Cache odds, let you buy caches with Runes or Gems, or improve the amount and quality of Ancestral Caches | Torment farmers sitting on Forgotten Souls, Runes, or Gems |
| Scent of Gold | Boosts gold and experience and raises Legendary find chance; one branch adds Horadric Cube materials and Gem Fragments, the other improves monster gold and gem drops | Fresh Seasonal characters still leveling, and anyone short on gold |
| Trash for Treasure | Lowers Alchemist transmuting costs, can improve Forgotten Soul chances, adds Obducite and Scrolls of Restoration or boosts monster Obducite and Salvage drops; salvaging Ancestral items can grant a Scroll of Restoration | Crafters chasing Greater Affixes on gear they already wear |
Trash for Treasure also adds the Greater Temper recipe, which upgrades a Tempered Affix to a Greater Affix. On the PTR it costs 30 Scrolls of Restoration and 1,000 Obducite, and those numbers may change before launch. For an endgame character with a near-finished item, that recipe is the most interesting single effect in Boons.
Horadric Items and the Talisman Items node
Season 16 also adds Horadric Items, Legendary items tied to Talisman sets. Horadric jewelry adds 1 to the set bonus count of its Talisman set, so with it equipped, one charm from that set gives you the 2-piece bonus. Horadric armor and weapon affixes add effects that turn on once you have at least the 2-piece bonus from the matching set.
That’s why the Talisman Items reward node deserves a point if you plan a set build: it’s the only Tactics node aimed at the charms those Horadric effects depend on. Pair it with Jewelry while you hunt for the matching Horadric piece.
Where to put your first points
The table below is a reading of what each node does on paper, matched to common goals. It isn’t a tested tier list: the PTR is a one-week test, and values can change at launch.
| Your goal | Tactics rewards | Boons path |
|---|---|---|
| Greater Affix crafting | Obducite, Salvage | Trash for Treasure, for the Greater Temper recipe and Scrolls of Restoration |
| Gold and leveling | Gold | Scent of Gold |
| Ancestral gear hunting | Armor, Weapons, Jewelry; if Helltides or Nightmare Dungeons is your farm, a point there unlocks the Greater Helltides or Escalation Dungeons choice | Curious Addition or Merchant of Mystery |
| Talisman set builds | Talisman Items, Jewelry | Curious Addition or Merchant of Mystery for more gear rolls; no path targets Talismans directly |
| Keys and cube materials | Activity Keys, Horadric Cube Materials | Scent of Gold, on the branch with Horadric Cube materials |
| Eternal-only play | The rewards for your goal from the rows above | None; Boons is Seasonal only |
Now the part that decides how bold to be: what each mistake costs. Changing Tactics or Activity tree nodes costs Marks of Wisdom, which you earn by turning in plans. Unassigning a Boons point costs 5,000,000 gold, every point, so pulling 10 points back out costs 50,000,000 gold.
So Tactics is the place to experiment, because changes there cost Marks of Wisdom from plans rather than gold. Blizzard hasn’t published how many Marks a change takes, and the PTR capped them at 20, so check what a swap costs before you rework the tree often. Commit to a Boons path only once you know what your character is chasing that season.
If you expect to respec Boons at some point, build a gold buffer first. Scent of Gold and the Gold reward node both help, and PlayerBay’s Diablo IV gold farming routes from Season 14 cover the farming side. If you’d rather top up than farm, you can compare Diablo IV gold listings by game mode, Seasonal or Eternal.
Season 16 dates and what isn’t confirmed yet
Confirmed: Blizzard set the 3.3.0 PTR on PC for October 27, 2026, 10 a.m. PDT, to November 3, 2026, 10 a.m. PST. It’s PC only, through the Public Test Realm option in Battle.net, with PC Game Pass access through Battle.net via the Xbox app; there’s no console PTR.
Not confirmed: the launch date. Most early estimates point to around the start of December 2026, though some run later; Blizzard hasn’t announced a date. Treat any date as unconfirmed until Blizzard posts one. Season 15, Season of Hell’s Legacy, began September 15, 2026.
Blizzard’s PTR post doesn’t give Season 16 a name, and it says some Season of Hell’s Legacy features will carry into Season 16 without being on the PTR, with details in a later post. As of November 2, 2026, that post hadn’t appeared.
Blizzard’s PTR known-issues list includes three that touch War Plans: alternate characters may show no shared War Plans points until you change zones, the Merchant of Mystery may appear in pre-Torment difficulties, and the Lair of Runes node doesn’t increase rune drops from Lair Bosses. Blizzard intends to fix them by the 3.3.0 release. Every Tactics, Marks of Wisdom, and Tyrael’s Boons number here is a PTR value, so the 3.3.0 patch notes have the final word.
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