Diablo 4 is getting its first bird pet in Season 7

There's a lot of new stuff in Diablo 4 Season 7, AKA the Season of Witchcraft, like the suite of witch abilities including one that lets you summon poison frogs. But the thing that leaped out at me in Blizzard's blog post about the upcoming season is that there's a new pet, and for once it's not another adorable cat or dog. Instead, it's a gloriously mangy bird that reminds me of the pigeons I saw on my lunch break, pecking at a moist loaf of bread in the gutter.

Dorian the raven, to give the bird its proper name, isn't the first raven in Diablo 4. Druids have a spell that lets them summon a whole unkindness of ravens—yeah, that really is the proper collective noun for ravens—who can attack their enemies. But Dorian is a noncombat pet like the ridiculously cute tiger kitten everyone who forked out for the ultimate edition of Vessel of Hatred owns, only he looks like he's waiting for you to die so he can eat your delicious eyes.

As with all pets in Diablo 4, the raven can pick up crafting materials and currencies for you, sparing your finger the hassle of clicking on gold yourself. To unlock him you have to complete the entire seasonal journey with your freshly minted seasonal character, which means ticking off a checklist of objectives in return for Grim Favors—a currency I'd say ranks about a 6/10 on the Malfeasance Token scale.

As mentioned, the big-ticket feature of Season 7 is the witchcraft powers. There are 25 of them, including Poison Frog Servant, Firebat Servants, and the gloriously named Piranhado. Anyone who played the summoner-themed witch doctor class in Diablo 3 will find these powers familiar, and this season feels like a way of sneaking that class in via the back door, at least temporarily.

The Season of Witchcraft update also brings an armory that will let players save and swap between builds, something else Diablo 3 players will find familiar, and a new enemy type called the headrotten. It kicks off on January 21 at 10am PST.