Diablo 4: 10 Tips I Wish I Knew First | Beginner's Guide

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#1: You Don’t Need To Grind (Until Level 50)
#2: Except For Extra Potions — Grind For Those
#3: Spend Extra Obols On Boots
#4: Plan Your Build By Checking Key Passives
#5: Keep Aspects With The Occultist
#6: And Save Legendary Gear For Later
#7: Trouble Navigating? Pin Your Map
#8: Transmog Is Incredibly Easy To Use
#9: Don’t Explore Everything Until You Have Horse
#10: Completing The Campaign Lets You Skip It

Welcome to the Diablo 4 Beginner’s Guide, where we’ll explain all the absolute basics you really need to know as you start your first adventure in the demon-infested lands of Sanctuary. We’re looking at the big picture here — after dozens of hours of leveling up and unleashing skills to cut through hordes of enemies, we’ve made a few serious realizations.

Even in a game as simple as Diablo 4, there’s a whole lot of small details you can miss. Knowing what type of gear to spend Obols on, what types of content to tackle first, and how to plan your build without looking up an online tutorial. Your first session of Diablo 4 can be your’s to enjoy, and here are 10 simple tips to put you on the right track.

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#1: You Don’t Need To Grind (Until Level 50)

Running through the campaign is enough to get one character to Level 50. You can basically ignore side-content completely and still hit Level 50 before defeating Lilith and saving Sanctuary. There’s a lot to do, and if you get caught up in too many side-quests, dungeons and World Events, you can accidentally over-level yourself. Everything in Diablo 4 scales with your level, so you won’t be underleveled even if you skip content. Basically, you need to focus on completing the story and main quests. Except for one major exception.

#2: Except For Extra Potions — Grind For Those

You’ll want to grind for one specific reward — potion capacity upgrades. Extra potions can be unlocked by earning 500 Renown in each of the five regions. You can check your Region Progress from the map screen. After checking your map, access the Region Progress — each Progress Tier is unlocked by earning Renown.

The easiest way to earn renown is to complete side-quests. These will point you toward new locations, cellars, waypoints, and side-dungeons. You can even find permanent upgrade statues called Altars of Lilith if you explore carefully. Earning renown 500 Renown is incredibly useful and will benefit your future characters. Renown rewards are shared by all characters on the same realm.

#3: Spend Extra Obols On Boots

Obols are a unique currency you’ll earn by completing World Events. While travelling the world, I recommend stopping at every World Event you encounter. These are easy to spot, just look for the red circles that appear on the map. Finishing a World Event will give you Obols, which you can spend at any Purveyor of Curiosities vendor. In exchange for Obols, you’ll get a random item. These can be Legendary, so spend your Obols often. You can only carry 500 max.

Why boots? Boots have an important affix you’ll need to defeat bosses. The +1 Max Evade Charge affix is essential for avoiding boss attacks. Unless you’re a master at dodging, you’ll need this extra evade for the campaign. If gives you much more leeway to escape a massive attack.

#4: Plan Your Build By Checking Key Passives

At the start of the game, you can check every single available ability in the Abilities tab. It isn’t always clear what skill should pick first, so to give your build structure (if you haven’t looked up a strong build already) check your Key Passives. Key Passives are powerful buffs found at the bottom of your Ability menu. These are keyed toward specific playstyles — the Necromancer can focus on Shadow damage, the Barbarian can boost his Berserk skills, and the Rogue can buff close-range combat. There are 4-5 Key Passives to choose. Decide which to aim for at Level 33.

#5: Keep Aspects With The Occultist

Leveling up to 50, you’ll get so much gear, you can’t keep it all. You’ll need to throw extra gear away, dismantle or sell it to make room for all the new (and better) gear you’ll get just by leveling up. And sometimes you’ll need to replace Legendary gear. Legendary gear has unique Affixes called Aspects — some of these Aspects are incredibly useful. For example, my Necromancer found an Aspect that increases how many Skeletal Warriors I can summon by +2. That’s something I really want to keep.

To keep an Aspect, visit the Occultist. These NPCs are in all major cities like the starting city of Fractured Peaks. You’ll destroy the item but keep the Aspect, which you can affix to a different Rare / Legendary later. Very, very useful.

#6: And Save Legendary Gear For Later

This might sound obvious, but don’t throw away Legendary items! You may want those all-important Aspects one day. There’s no need to dismantle everything at the Occultist. You can store extra Legendary loot in your Shared Inventory. There’s plenty of room and upgrading the capacity only costs $10,000 gold. By the end of the campaign, you’ll be rolling in millions of gold. Dump Legendary items you don’t currently have equipped in storage for a rainy day. You might want another character to get them. You might want to get the Aspect. Just don’t waste them.

#7: Trouble Navigating? Pin Your Map

The map in Diablo 4 is a lot more confusing this time — instead of massive open spaces, you’ll have to navigate narrow corridors to reach your next location. It isn’t always clear where the map branches off and connects to a new area. To make travel easier, open your map and place a pin. You can pin one location at a time, and placing a pin generates a line path you can follow. It appears on the mini-map and makes navigation a breeze. It took us way too long to start using pins.

#8: Transmog Is Incredibly Easy To Use

Looking good has never been easier. In Diablo 4 you can fully customize your character with the Transmog feature — which is much more robust now. Access the cupboard in major cities, next to your Item Storage, to fully customize your armor. Opening the cupboard allows you to change every armor piece’s appearance.

To unlock more armor customization options, all you need to do is visit a Blacksmith. Salvage loot with a salvage (pickaxe) icon in the upper-right corner to permanently unlock the appearance. Then you can swap your look freely at any time. There’s no reason to run around looking like a mismatched mess anymore.

#9: Don’t Explore Everything Until You Have Horse

The map in Diablo 4 is huge. It’s so huge, you’ll miss massive chunks of it while completing the campaign. The far corners of the map take a lot of time and effort to explore, and if you want to lift the fog everywhere, you’re much better off waiting until you’ve got a horse. The mount unlocks at Level 45 on your first playthrough — after unlocking the mount once, it becomes permanently available to all characters on the same realm. Focus on leveling up with one character and you’ll have free reign in the future.

#10: Completing The Campaign Lets You Skip It

One of the most important details for heroes looking to play multiple class builds, Diablo 4 lets you skip over the campaign completely after you finish it for the first time. You can still play the campaign with friends in a party, but if you do choose to skip the campaign, the entire map will be available to you from the very start. You can focus completely on leveling up, completing side-content, and making the best build. A very nice feature — and don’t forget, lots of features carry over between heroes. You can unlock extra potions, horses, and even World Tier difficulties for your new characters to make progression a lot faster.

And that’s 10 things I wish I knew before starting up Diablo 4 for the first time. These are incredibly simple little tips, but Diablo 4 doesn’t require a lot of complexity — everyone should be able to play and enjoy the game. If you’re ever struggling against big bosses, don’t forget you can easily lower the World Tier difficulty any time you want