Diablo 4: Complete Guide to Starting off Well

Each of the classes has its own array of different items, in addition to a unique skill tree, where you can learn your skills as you level up to use them in battle.

Items

In this universe, monsters lie in wait for you, so prepare a good build, pay attention to which skills you can use as a combo, and also to which items may be useful.

For example, a ring which raises Fire damage will be extremely useful for my mage who focuses on pyromancy spells. Another one which raises Ice damage, not so much. To determine which ones benefit your strategy, you only need to read the item descriptions.

More about RPGs

With this character, you will have a vast open world to enjoy, not just limiting yourself to the main quest. Diablo IV also offers seasonal missions, secondary ones, events and World Bosses.

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Your focus will be on levelling up your hero while you make good use of these resources. There are also a few updates with seasonal challenges which bring free cosmetics to players, usually themed around commemorative dates such as Christmas or the Lunar New Year.

RPGs are known for being more complex titles, demanding a certain time in researching and levelling up your character. Diablo IV encompasses a more casual crowd, not being too complex for players who are new to the genre, but it is still necessary to read and think hard to be able to perform combos with your skills and items.

If you consider yourself a bit more “try hard”, you can play in Hardcore mode, where your character only has one life and, if they die, you lose your entire progress.

After creating your character, prioritize the main storyline. Completing the prologue at least will make available a crucial option for your next characters: The Skip Campaign button, which you will see the moment you name a new hero.

The seasonal missions, available only during limited time, require having completed the prologue to be done, so this resource gives you more freedom to enjoy each season in a new gameplay. This way, you can focus on whichever content you want to, without getting yourself tied to the story.

Even though we unlock this option right at the campaign’s prologue, I strongly recommend it is completed. Not only because it offers a cinematographic plot, but also because it gives a lot of experience and brings more casual challenges to a beginner.

Each time we start with a new character in Diablo IV, we can choose between difficulty I and II. And this decision will affect your gameplay.

Difficulty I offer less experience, but enemies also have less HP. Difficulty II, on the other hand, gives you more gold and XP, but the increase in monster’s HP will slow you down for longer.

So, if you’re looking for levelling up your hero fast, difficulty I will be better at first. But I confess Diablo IV is easier than the other titles in the series, so II brings more of a challenge to players.

There is no reason to martyrize yourself over this decision, at a certain point you will be forced to play at Difficulty II and complete the “Cathedral of Light” dungeon to unlock Difficulty III and continue to level up your character.

So that you don’t need to “reinvent the wheel” every time you play, I recommend you to look for a build, preferably a “Start Build”, they will be practically a guide on where to spend your skill points in your skill tree, and which items to look for/improve during the playthrough. Start Builds set themselves apart for being easier and more intuitive to a newcomer.

Throughout your exploration of the map, you will see some altars, they carry great bonuses for your character.

Each one will grant you one of these bonuses:

There are 160 in total, and it can be interesting to naturally search for them as you adventure across the map, but in case you do not want the challenge of casually finding all of them, use an interactive map to help you out.

Even though it is “normal” for the main campaign to be the main part of a game, in Diablo IV this does not apply, and the endgame is its largest portion, meaning, after you complete the story. So, it is fundamental that you know how to take advantage of this RPG resource!

Basically, you can follow one of two paths: Enjoying the quest line of whichever season is ongoing and exploring the map in a more casual manner, or focus on getting to maximum level, unlocking higher difficulties and completing your build to compete in PvP or just to enjoy your character at the peak of their power.

But no matter which is your objective, these are the main possibilities at Diablo IV’s endgame.

Nightmare Dungeons

Nightmare Dungeons are more powerful variants of the traditional dungeons, a great challenge to those who look for testing their hero’s capacity. They are unlocked from difficulty III onwards, so focus on levelling up and completing the Cathedral of Light challenge.

Summon Endgame Bosses

A good addition to the game was the introduction to Endgame Bosses, they are stronger and have better drops, but on the other hand, demand a quantity of specific resources to summon them. Currently, there are five of them: Duriel, King of Maggots; Echos of Vershan; Grigoire, The Galvanic Saint; Lord Zir; The Beast of Ice;

Each of them has a chance of dropping unique and special items, including cosmetics.

Lilith Echo

An improved version of the villain, where many hits can be lethal, instantly killing even the toughest heroes. Evolve enough to conquer the glory of winning the Lilith Echo!

Seasons and Events

As previously informed, a more casual player can opt for creating a new character in the Seasonal Realm and calmly enjoy another story, in addition to new, limited time mechanics.

When creating a new character, it is asked whether he will belong to the Eternal Realm or to the Seasonal one, which can confuse some players.

Diablo IV is an as a service game, and possesses not only balance patches, but also season updates which give out new missions and resources to fans. In the interest of always providing a fair and pleasant experience, Blizzard defined that it will be obligatory to create a new hero in every season, in case you want to enjoy its contents, it’s not interesting for us to play a new story with our character at maximum level. This character will be in the Seasonal Realm and, at the end of it, will be considered an eternal hero.

Basically, seasonal heroes are the ones created in the current season, and will play these new contents. Heroes from prior seasons, which have already come to an end, will find themselves in the Eternal Realm, there it’s possible to play normally and enjoy the balance patches, but without the missions and items from the current season.

It’s totally free to create a seasonal character, it’s not charged any additional fees or DLCs, and you can choose freely.

Diablo IV being an as a service game can create this doubt in some players, given the context that these games are infamous for being Pay to Win, but I’m pleased to say that Diablo IV does not have paid tools that streamline some players' evolution, allowing “Free to Play” players, who do not spend money, to enjoy it normally, including being competitive in PvP.

There is an in-game store, but it is exclusively for cosmetics.

Each season brings a new battle pass, and it makes available a resource called “Smoldering Ashe”, with benefits such as XP buffs, but they are completely free in the Trial.

Those who pay can get to new pass levels faster, but the Ashes require not only that you get to a certain level, but also that you have a minimum hero level. Which means, even paying, a player will not have the XP buff before you.

See, in the image below, how there are a few padlocks which require a certain experience level, in this case level 49 and then 53, so it’s not enough to buy pass levels. I also emphasize that all Ashes on the trial are free.

I hope this guide has helped you start your journey in Diablo IV, and I am available in the comments for any eventual doubts.

See you at Sanctuary!