Greetings, fellow adventurers! Seeing new faces struggle in Sanctuary warms my bone spear-wielding necromancer heart. So, fret no more! This guide, crafted by a seasoned level 85 player, will equip you with the knowledge to shred demons and claim your place among the legends.
Campaign Blitz and Renown Rush:
- Skip the side quests: Focus on blitzing through the campaign on your first character.
- Unlock Nightmare: Complete the Act 6 capstone dungeon to enter Nightmare difficulty.
- Master Renown: In Nightmare, conquer all side quests, Lilith Altars, and dungeons in each region. Renown unlocks account-wide, so you only need to do it once!
- Power Level Later: With Renown complete, you can jump to power leveling later characters (details below).
Gearing Up and Pushing Nightmare:
- Target Sacred Rares: Prioritize higher item power rares (sacred gear) over legendaries for their superior stats.
- Offense & Defense: Focus on crit chance/damage, core skill damage, vulnerable damage, +skill ranks, armor, life, damage reduction, and fortified damage reduction.
- Maxroll for Guidance: Check out maxroll.gg for comprehensive character guides, item suggestions, and paragon leveling tips.
- Nightmare Capstone: Once you conquer Tier 20 Nightmare dungeons, tackle the capstone to progress to Torment and beyond.
Torment, Helltides, and the Mystery Box:
- Sacred to Ancestral: In Torment, push Nightmare dungeons as high as possible and upgrade your gear from sacred to ancestral.
- Helltide Mastery: At level 80+, add Helltides to your routine. Use helltides.com to track the mystery box for efficient farming.
- Higher Tier Loot? Maybe: Rumors suggest higher tier Helltide monsters have a better chance of dropping certain uniques, but Nightmare dungeons offer better overall rewards (XP, drops, glyph leveling) at lower levels.
- Level Advantage: Pushing Nightmare dungeons to fight monsters 10+ levels above you increases your chance for Shako drops, even at lower levels, something you can’t do in Helltides until level 80+.
Power Leveling New Characters:
- Unlock Renown First: Only create new characters after completing the campaign and Renown on your first.
- The Speedrun Method:
- Have someone guide you through the normal and nightmare capstone dungeons.
- Join someone spamming blind burrows in Torment.
- This process can be completed within 2 hours, without following anyone around (global experience!).
Rares vs. Legendaries: A Surprising Twist:
- Rares with Potential: In my experience, rares can roll higher stats than legendaries. The main difference is the aspect.
- Imprint Your Power: Find a rare with good rolls on key stats? Extract the aspect from a legendary at the Occultist and imprint it on your rare! I built myself with high-roll rare ancestral items this way.
Level Up! Paragons Are Powerful:
- Levels Matter: Unlike previous Diablos, levels are crucial in Diablo 4. Paragons offer significant power spikes beyond gear.
- Rare & Legendary Nodes: The paragon board offers rare and legendary nodes with stats exceeding item rolls.
- Upgrade Glyphs Wisely: Level your frequently used glyphs to 15 first for the radius increase, then max them out. Adjust your paragon points accordingly.
