Boss Belial in Diablo 4 Season 8 explained

Belial is one of Diablo‘s most fearsome enemies, but who is this boss, and what’s he doing back in Diablo 4 after his last defeat?

With Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred, vanishing into the shadows, his little brother Belial, the Lord of Lies, is stepping up to take his place in Season 8 of Diablo 4. While Belial is considered a “Lesser Evil” rather than a “Prime Evil” in the universe, he’s still a grave threat to the denizens of Sanctuary.

In the lore, Belial was just another demon lord until Diablo 3, where he became a major antagonist and served as the boss of Act 2 – until he was defeated by the player. Now he’s back in Diablo 4 as the main boss of Season 8, and his return could change the entire course of the game moving forward.

Belial in Season 8 of Diablo 4

Belial has three boss forms in Season 8 of Diablo 4, the first being that of an Aparition Boss that attacks players out in the world if they defeat a lesser Apparition Boss quickly. Should players defeat this weaker and smaller version of him, they’ll unlock a double loot drop.

However, he also appears as a Lair Boss on Torment difficulty, where you can unlock his Crystal Decoy Boss Power. There’s an even more powerful version of him as an Exalted Lair Boss where you can snag his Eye Beams Power.

There may also be a story boss version of him when Season 8 goes live (like there was for characters like Lilith, Mephisto, and Lord Zir), but this is yet to be confirmed.

The lore surrounding Belial’s return has also not been revealed during the Season 8 PTR test and may be being saved for the full season rollout, which is likely sometime in early May 2025.

Who is Belial in Diablo?

Belial is one of the most important demon lords in Hell and is based on the biblical Belial figure. In the Diablo series, he’s one of the Lesser Evils, alongside Azmodan, Andariel, and Duriel, who are often at odds with the more powerful Prime Evils: Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal.

In the lore, the Lesser Evils once banished the Prime Evils from Hell, sending them to Sanctuary, where they were defeated and imprisoned. However, this was part of a wider plan by Diablo to escape Hell and conquer the world of mortals and, eventually, Heaven itself.

After Diablo’s defeat in the second game and again in Immortal, Belial and Azmodan, the Lord of Sin, were the only “Evils” still active (the rest having been returned to the void after their defeats), so the paidr concocted a plan to conquer Sanctuary themselves.

However, they were soundly defeated and imprisoned in a soulstone alongside other Prime and Lesser Evils, with only Diablo himself unaccounted for. This, too, was a scheme by Diablo so that he could have all his siblings trapped in one place and could absorb their power into himself to rule unopposed.

Refering to himself as “The Prime Evil”, Diablo launched an assault on Sanctuary and Heaven until he was defeated at the end of Diablo 3 and cast back into the abyss – where he remains in Diablo 4, biding his time until his next rampage.

However, his defeat released the souls of Belial and the other demon lords, who’ve since plotted their revenge on not only humanity and the Angels but also on Diablo for his treachery. Those who’ve played Vessel of Hatred will know that Mephisto is especially aggrieved.

While his fellow Lesser Evils, Andariel and Duriel, joined forces with Lilith to bring a permanent end to Diablo and his schemes in Diablo 4’s campaign, Belial and Azmodan were nowhere to be seen. Chances are they were still in the void, waiting to be reborn, but with Lilith’s defeat, Belial is likely now out for himself, and his return in Season 8 is just the beginning of his new reign of terror.

Looking to brush up on your character builds for Season 8? Then, check out our best build guides for Druid, Sorcerer, Rogue, Barbarian, Necromancer, and Spirtiborn.