Shh.. did you hear that? That was the sound of the gates of hell swinging open to reveal Diablo IV, Blizzard’s latest entry into the much-loved dungeon-looting RPG franchise.
While it’s tempting to just run into the abyss and throw caution to the wind, Sanctuary can quickly become overwhelming with the sheer amount that there is to do and see.
They say the devil works hard, but we here at NAG work harder to help you have the best time and ensure you’re not going to be burned by the hellfire. To that end, here are some tips and tricks to start your journey.
Be The You You’ve Always Wanted To Be
This tip might seem overly obvious to some, but Diablo 4 offers five distinctly different classes. These classes are:
- Barbarian
- Druid
- Necromancer
- Rogue
- Sorcerer
And while it’s tempting to go with the class you think sounds coolest, Diablo offers you five classes for a reason: playstyle. If you enjoy getting up in your enemy’s faces, then Barbarian is for you. Want to keep a safer distance between you and impending death? Give Sorcerer a try.
The nice thing about Diablo 4 is that players can have up to ten different character slots, giving you plenty of wiggle room to take all the classes out for a spin until you land on the one that suits you and your playstyle best.
Unlock All The Things!
While it’s tempting to explore every nook and cranny that Diablo has to offer, and you definitely should, this is one game where I recommend focusing on gaining levels until you’ll unlock all your skill slots.
When you start playing, you’ll notice that many of your skill slots are locked, and to unlock them, you’ll need to spend skill points, which you gain by levelling. The first two slots will be unlocked within your first two levels, and the remaining four will become available once you reach level eight, after which the rest will unlock automatically.
Change Your Mind Like You Change Your Underwear… Until Level 15
Skills are a huge part of what makes Diablo 4 go around, and there are many of them for players to choose from. At first, there is no real risk involved with just trying out all the things as all the classes can be respeced in their entirety, for free until level 15.
After level 15, respecs are still possible. However, they will cost you gold. We advise you to use the early levels to experiment and see which branches of the skill tree work best for you before fully committing.
Don’t Get Lost, Unlock Waypoints
It’s no secret that my sense of direction in real life and online is objectively awful. Thankfully the map in Diablo 4 is surprisingly user-friendly and goes out of its way to help us directionally challenged gamers out.
Still, the world of Diablo 4 is vast and even when you’re not lost, trying to make your way from point A to B can take a long while… time that you could instead spend exploring one of the game’s 200 dungeons.
So to make your life easier, make sure that you’re always travelling the most efficiently that you can, open your main map by pressing ‘M’, and right-click your mouse where you want to go and the game will then automatically set up a waypoint and guide you along the quickest path to reach it.
Bring Out Your Notepad And Pen, It’s Time To Learn
Very early on in the game, you’ll see that many, if not most, of the skills and items you’ll use come bundled with a status effect. Knowing what these conditions to is crucial to your success and enjoyment in-game, so here is a quick rundown:
- Barrier – Provides you with a barrier that absorbs a percentage of damage dealt to you
- Berserking – Deal more damage and move faster if you are the one inflicted
- Blood Orb – Can be picked up for a 15% boost to maximum life
- Chilled – Reduces the infected movement speed
- Crackling Energy – Whoever picks it up will be periodically damaged
- Dazed – Allows the afflicted party to move, but they cannot attack or utilize their abilities
- Fortified – Take 10% less damage
- Frozen – Prevents the afflicted from attacking or using skills
- Immune – prevents the affected character from taking damage
- Overpower – takes your Life and Fortified Life and deals damage equal to that amount
- Unstoppable – removes all control-impairing effects
- Vulnerable – increases the amount of damage the afflicted takes by 20%
Don’t Lose Sight Of Your Loot
This tip will change everything. Anyone who’s already started playing Diablo 4 or who played one of the beta events will know that in Diablo 4, your loot drops will often fall onto the floor and then just disappear before you have a chance to pick them up.
Now this is just the game trying to trick you because the game is set by default to “hide” loot that’s been on the floor for 10 seconds, so while it’s still there, waiting for you to pick it up after that lengthy boss fight, you might not see it.
To change this setting, head over to the Gameplay tab, and then go to Item Label Display and change it faster than it takes your loot to disappear on you.
Don’t Be Selling What You Can Reuse
While playing, it may be tempting for your inventory management to have some gear automatically marked as junk so that you can sell this junk in bulk to make a quick coin. However, gold is relatively easy to come by in Diablo 4 and most of the time, you’ll be better off just dismantling your junk gear at the blacksmith.
Every time an item is dismantled for the first time, a copy of it will be unlocked in your transmog wardrobe, giving you many options when choosing how you want your character to look. It’s also great to start hoarding the magical materials you’ll need later in the game.
Don’t Feel The Need To Rush Ahead
I’m no stranger to Diablo games and the allure of playing at higher difficulty levels; however, in Diablo 4, these levels aren’t as clear cut as easy, medium, hard, and super hard.
Instead, each World Tier, or difficulty level, awards bonuses to XP and gold while increasing enemy health and damage. The idea behind this system is that players should start on World Tier 1 until they’ve upgraded their gear and then move on to World Tier 2 etc.
Always Remember To Take The Shortcut
I’ve said it before, but honestly, it bares repeating. Diablo 4 is massive, and by massive I mean that on launch, the game has over 200 dungeons for players to explore, plunder and loot.
Many of these dungeons have multiple paths to uncover and deadends to find, but if you want to make the most of your time in the game, you’ll be wise to remember shortcuts.
When you’re done with a dungeon, instead of running around and backtracking, trying to find your way out of the maze you’ve just uncovered, rather bring up your communication wheel and choose the Leave Dungeon option.
This will place players back at the dungeon entrance again without making them backtrack through empty halls for hours.
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While this is by no means a comprehensive list of everything that you should be doing to ensure that the gates of hell that have opened don’t swallow you up and spit us out, these are a great starting point to make sure you have the best possible time while playing Diablo 4.
If you’ve been staying up past bedtime, have already clocked some hours in the game, and have other must-do tips and tricks, drop them in the comments below and let’s all have the best possible time together.
Now if you’ll excuse me, those dungeons aren’t going to explore themselves…