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Leveling your character in Diablo 4 is a fairly slow process. While leveling through the campaign can seem quite fast, the leveling process slows to a crawl once you hit level 50. Getting to level 70 and beyond can be a serious struggle for those with limited playtime.
Fortunately, there are some strategies you can use to greatly increase your XP earnings while playing Diablo 4. This guide will cover four useful strategies for leveling your character as quickly as possible. We'll cover a way to rapidly level alts, a good way to level in World Tier 3, and explain why certain events are always worth running.
Updated July 21, 2023, by Charles Burgar: Diablo 4's Season of the Malignant has greatly nerfed power leveling while simultaneously buffing normal dungeons through the Malignant Tunnel system. We've updated this guide to include up-to-date information on power leveling and dungeon farms. We've also added a section that briefly covers Malignant Tunnels and why you should consider farming them on lower World Tiers.
Before you use any strategy, be sure to activate any Elixir in your consumables tab. This grants a 5% XP buff while active, stacking additively with other XP modifiers. Group play also increases XP gains.
Power Leveling
Season Of The Malignant Nerfs
Blizzard has greatly nerfed this strategy with the Season of the Malignant patch. XP earned from slaying overleveled monsters has been greatly reduced, slowing down this strategy dramatically. Leveling other characters this way is still viable but will take significantly longer than pre-patch. Expect the 1-50 experience to take a few hours now instead of the 30-60 minutes it used to.
By far the fastest way to level in Diablo 4 is to get power leveled by another player. Power leveling is the process of leeching XP from a high-level player, typically standing at the entrance of a dungeon while the high-level player or "carry" kills everything. Since XP is dungeon wide, your character will quickly level up from the safety of the dungeon entrance, making this a viable strategy for both Softcore and Hardcore players.
The process itself is fairly straightforward:
- Make a new character. Skip the campaign and select World Tier 2.
- Invite the high-level player to your group.
- Clear the Cathedral of Light capstone dungeon. Follow the high-level player while they clear the dungeon.
- Activate World Tier 3.
- Clear the Fallen Temple capstone dungeon. Stay at the dungeon entrance for this one.
- Activate World Tier 4.
- Farm your favorite dungeon until you hit your desired level.
As for dungeons to farm, some good ones include Champion's Demise, Iron Hold, and Blind Burrows. Those dungeons are subject to change over time, but you're effectively looking for dungeons with high enemy density and a safe entrance. Stick near the entrance, have your carry kill everything, then disband and remake the party to reset the dungeon. Repeat as necessary.
With optimal play, you can reach level 50 in a couple of hours with a good group. Any levels beyond this point will take substantially longer and is generally not recommended. Visit vendors with each dungeon reset to pick up items, as your character isn't going to have any gear. You can also complete Tree of Whisper objectives on your main character and place those caches in your stash. Switch to your alt and open them to give yourself some starter gear. Farm the Helltide whenever you can, and you'll have a new character ready for the endgame with minimal playtime.
Tree Of Whispers
If you're leveling a new character and don't wish to be power leveled, the Tree of Whispers is your next best option. Assuming you skip the Diablo 4 campaign at character creation, you'll have access to the Tree of Whispers from level one. You'll want to complete ten Grim Favors, speak to the tree, and repeat until you can unlock World Tier 3.
In general, the fastest way of earning Grim Favors is to complete dungeons marked by the Tree of Whispers. These grant five Grim Favor each, providing a cache reward every couple of dungeons. Paired with the XP earned from slaying monsters in these dungeons, you should be able to level from 1-50 much faster than if you did the campaign. This isnt quite as fast as optimal power leveling, but this is a great option for solo players or those creating characters at the start of a new Season.
Farming Normal Dungeons
Once you get to level 60, XP gains slow to a crawl until you unlock World Tier 4. This is a great time to complete the renown grind, but if you just want to push through World Tier 3, we recommend farming dungeons with high Elite density. Nightmare Dungeons are also an option but fairly inconsistent, mostly due to the long travel time between dungeons and inconsistent dungeon layouts. Your other good XP options (Helltide and Legion Events) are time-gated, so Elite farming is the next best thing.
You're looking for short dungeons with many Elite monsters. Most Diablo 4 players farm Champion's Demise since it spawns a ton of monsters, but this dungeon has been nerfed multiple times since launch. We recommend you try Iron Hold in Hawezar, located right next to the Ruins of Rakhat Keep. Ten Elites spawn after completing the first objective, and roughly another ten spawn a short distance away. Kill those enemies and reset the dungeon.
Bear in mind that these dungeon recommendations are subject to change. Blizzard has been aggressively nerfing normal dungeons with high XP returns, so you'll want to keep your eyes peeled for any dungeons with short layouts, high enemy density, and multiple Elite monsters.
Malignant Tunnels
Exclusive to Season of the Malignant characters, Malignant Tunnels are a great source of XP if your character can handle Malignant Elites. Malignant Tunnels are variants of normal dungeons with guaranteed Malignant Elite monster spawns. These enemies can be slain twice and count as Elite monsters, meaning they give a ton of XP when slain. Paired with the Overgrowth event at the end of every tunnel, you can earn a nice chunk of XP farming these if you have some invokers to spare. Check out our seasonal quest guide for more information on how to access these tunnels.
Nightmare Dungeons
Nightmare Dungeons serve as your main source of XP at later World Tiers. These dungeons award tons of XP, valuable Glyph XP which is required to level Paragon Glyphs. Clearing Nightmare Dungeons also has a reasonable chance of dropping Unique items, so you'll be progressing your character on multiple fronts. You can also teleport to Nightmare Dungeons directly from your map, so there's virtually no downtime between each dungeon.
In general, you'll want to farm Nightmare Dungeons that are three levels above you. This grants the most bonus XP from enemy kills without greatly impacting your build's survivability or damage output. At World Tier 3, the dungeon's monster level is equal to the listed tier plus 53. For example, a T10 dungeon is level 63, making this the ideal tier to farm at level 60. World Tier 4 increases this to the listed tier plus 54.
As for dungeons to farm, you're looking for anything that has tons of enemies with a short layout. Some of our favorites include Aldurwood, Maulwood, Guulrahn Canals, and Champion's Demise. You'll also want to pay attention to dungeon affixes when clearing Nightmare Dungeons. Avoid dungeons with Resource Burn and Cold Damage affixes, as these significantly slow down your clearspeed. Clear the dungeon in full, use your Glyph XP, then use another Nightmare Sigil.
Helltide And Legion Events
While you can't farm these events since they're time-sensitive, the Helltide and Legion Events are always worth running for XP. Helltide will spawn enemies two levels above you throughout the entire event, granting even more XP on kills. Enemy density is also slightly increased in the Helltide due to more frequent world events. Be sure to farm world events in the Helltide to earn as much XP and Obols as possible. You'll also want to open all the mystery chests in each Helltide to stock up on Forgotten Souls, a valuable endgame currency you'll need to upgrade and reroll items.
One activity many players forget about is Legion Events. These occasionally pop up on the map as a large circle icon, providing a five-minute countdown before the event begins. Legion Events have amazing enemy density, many Elites, and are fairly quick. You'll always want to participate in Legion Events whenever they pop up. Since the in-game notification for Legion Events is so short, we highly recommend tracking Legion Events through a third-party website or the Diablo 4 Sanctuary Discord to get notified of when an event is about to start.