The main draw of the Season of the Malignant in Diablo 4 (the game’s inaugural season) are the new loot drops you can grind for, namely 32 new Malignant Hearts. Different Malignant Hearts bestow various boons and drawbacks when equipped, and some clearly stand head and shoulders above others depending on what build you’re using. Case in point is the Sacrilegious Malignant Heart, which is quite useful for most Necromancer builds. This page will discuss the Sacrilegious Malignant Heart in Diablo 4, listing its stats, discussing its effects and providing details for farming this Malignant Heart.
(1 of 2) The Sacrilegious Heart causes equipped Corpse skills to be cast automatically on nearby corpses.
The Sacrilegious Heart causes equipped Corpse skills to be cast automatically on nearby corpses. (left), While it may not sound powerful, it allows you to bypass cooldowns and focus on other aspects of combat - you won’t want to go back once you have it. (right)
Diablo 4 Sacrilegious Vicious Malignant Heart Stats¶
Malignant Hearts are very similar to jewels from Diablo 2, being socketable objects that bestow various boons when installed. Unlike jewels, however, specific Malignant Hearts have set effects and stats, albeit within a range, and come in four types: Vicious Hearts, Brutal Hearts, Devious Hearts and Wrathful Hearts. A Malignant Heart must be equipped in jewelry (rings and amulets) with a matching socket (Devious Hearts can only be installed in Devious Sockets), and the socket that a specific piece of jewelry drops with is random. Malignant Hearts also often imposes some downside in addition to whatever boon they offer.
The Sacrilegious Malignant Heart is a Vicious Heart (orange) and will not take effect until it’s socketed into a Vicious Socket. Once done, this Necromancer-specific heart causes its user to automatically cast equipped Corpse skills on nearby corpses, dealing 38% - 28% less damage. This might seem like an odd boon, as it consumes corpses while reducing the effectiveness of whatever it casts.
There are two benefits to this, however, one obvious, one less so. First for the obvious one - automation makes playing the Necromancer much easier, as it’s one less resource you have to fuss over. The Sacrilegious Heart will automatically resummon vanquished skeletons for you and activate Corpse Tendrils and Corpse Explosions, allowing you to focus on managing your Essence, dodging, and using other skills. Second, and perhaps most importantly, skills used via the Sacrilegious Heart proc do not incur a cooldown as manual use does. That 10 second cooldown on Corpse Tendrils? Now one second, and you can still freely use equipped Corpse skills in tandem with the Sacrilegious Heart when something needs more precision.
Whether you’re playing a minion build and you don’t want to have to micromanage your frail minions, a Bone Spear build and want to concentrate on smashing your enemies with Bone Spear while letting Corpse Explosion pop off automatically, or more importantly, you make use of Corpse Tendrils to control enemies, the Sacrilegious Heart is worth consideration.
(1 of 3) Hunt down Vicious Elites,
How to Find a Sacrilegious Heart in Diablo 4 Season 1¶
Fortunately for Necromancers everywhere, the Sacrilegious Malignant Heart is one of the easier Malignant Hearts to find. It’s a Vicious Heart (orange), and you can find these in World Tier 1… with a catch. The questline that introduces Malignant Hearts doesn’t start until you complete (or skip the main campaign. Once that’s done you’ll need to start the season quest Burning From Within and ideally advance until 
Answers in the Ashes starts to unlock the core systems regarding Malignant Hearts.
Meet those conditions and you’ll be able to start farming Malignant Hearts - check out the linked page for more information, but for getting Vicious Malignant Hearts specifically, we’ll provide a quick rundown.
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Some elites can spawn as “Malignant Elites” anywhere in the game - these will typically have the title “Brutal, Devious, Vicious or Wrathful” somewhere in their name.
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Malignant Elites drop Malignant Hearts at the same time (Vicious Elites drop Vicious Hearts, etc), when defeated.
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Interact with these dropped Malignant Hearts and defeat the Malignant Elite again to obtain a “Caged Heart”, which is just the unidentified drop name of whatever Malignant Heart you got (like Legendary gear, the exact name and stats will appear when you look at it in your inventory).
(1 of 2) If RNG isn’t on your side, you can always fall back on… more RNG! Ichor gained during Malignant Tunnel runs (and other places) can be used to craft Vicious Hearts,
If RNG isn’t on your side, you can always fall back on… more RNG! Ichor gained during Malignant Tunnel runs (and other places) can be used to craft Vicious Hearts, (left), or create Vicious Invokers, both of which can ultimately yield a Sacrilegious Heart. (right)
Those are the core concepts, and while you can find Malignant Elites anywhere, the best place to look are in Malignant Tunnels, which are new dungeons that will spawn. Not only are these Malignant Tunnels crawling with Malignant Elites, but enemies frequently drop various types of Ichor when defeated, which in turn can be used at Cormond’s Workbenches located throughout Sanctuary to craft different types of Malignant Hearts and Malignant Invokers. You can also break down unwanted Malignant Hearts to gain Ichor for recrafting, so even if RNG isn’t on your side during Malignant Tunnel runs, you’ll still be getting materials for crafting.
At the end of each Malignant Tunnel, you’ll find some Overgrowths at the end. Like all things with Malignant Hearts, these Overgrowths themselves have titles (Brutal, Devious, Vicious, Wrathful) and if you use the corresponding Invoker on the Overgrowth, you’ll spawn a Malignant Elite of the chosen type. The types of Overgrowths you’ll find in each Malignant Tunnel are random, so you can’t count on the specific type of Overgrowth to spawn each run. As for Malignant Invokers, these can be crafted at Cormond’s Workbenches, or they can randomly drop from enemies.
When it comes to obtaining a Sacrilegious Heart, you’re looking for Vicious Elites, Vicious Invokers, and Vicious Overgrowths. There are several types of Vicious Hearts, so don’t expect each one to be a Sacrilegious Heart, but every Vicious Heart has a chance to yield a Sacrilegious Heart when you’re playing a Necromancer, and there’s a good chance you’ll end up with a few by the time you’re ready to move onto World Tier 3.
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