Diablo 4 takes the slightly unusual approach to difficulty that’s partially found in other games in the series, though there are notable differences. You can’t just go to the options and choose a higher difficulty level, for example. In this case, it’s an integral part of high-level progression and character building.
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Adventure or expertise?
When creating your character, the game offers you a choice between two difficulty levels. Their description seems fitting to us. The Adventure mode is good for players who are not used to the hack-and-slash genre, or are just not comfortable with it.
Expertise mode offers a tough challenge from the start, even for regular customers. You must play well and keep your character and equipment to a minimum to successfully complete the missions, dungeons and bosses. The difference is noticeable, but it is more profitable. It should be noted that this can vary greatly depending on the class and build chosen. We still don’t know what the balance will look like when the game releases, but on the beta, the difficulty faced by a Druid, and that by a Necromancer were completely different.
If in doubt, start in Adventure mode and increase the difficulty after the game introduction, or through the character selection screen, it won’t be too late.
Where do you change the difficulty?
Meet in the nearest major city ie Kyovashad, if you have just started the adventure. The story takes you and the place is hard to miss. In the upper part of the city there is a large statue, marked with an icon. By interacting with it, you can change the level of the world you’re playing in, i.e. its difficulty.
You can also do this from the character selection menu before starting the game. So you can’t change the difficulty in the middle of a dungeon, at least not without returning to the city.
If you want to increase the difficulty above level 2, you will have to be patient. There are quite important conditions that must be met every time. You can’t just start the game on maximum difficulty and run around the map to open all the chests without killing anything. The developers have learned their lesson this time.
The first two levels are already unlocked, but to unlock level 3 you need to complete the Cathedral of Light dungeon in Expertise difficulty (Level 2). THE recommended level is 50. This is probably the end of the main story, or almost. In short, you are forced to play in difficulty 2 for now. Level 4 is even harder to unlock.
Differences between each difficulty level
To simplify, we can say that each level increases the difficulty significantly, in exchange for a bonus of experience, gold and loot. Some levels introduce new items outright, justifying you having to overcome the challenge presented, rather than farming faster in a lower difficulty setting.
Unfortunately, at the moment we don’t have exact figures on the increase in the strength of the enemies, or on the chances of finding each type of object. This comes after the full game is released.
World Level 1: Adventure
Recommended for new Diablo players, who want a more affordable level of play.
- Levels 1 to 50
- Enemies are easy to kill.
- Loot is normal.
Remark : This is also the recommended game mode when you start a character in Extreme mode.
World Level 2: Expertise
Recommended for Diablo veterans who want to be put to the test.
- Levels 1 to 50
- Enemies are tougher.
- Provide samples 20% experience in addition.
- The monsters fall 15% gold in addition.
- It is unknown what the loot bonuses are.
World Level 3: Nightmare
Serious things start here. This mode marks access to high-level content after completing the story, with quite a few real new stuff. The elemental resistance penalty also makes you much more vulnerable to spells and area effects.
Recommended for players who want bigger challenges.
Unlocked by completing the campaign and boundary stones dungeon of the Cathedral of Light dungeon in Kyovashad on Expertise difficulty. The recommended level is 50 to 70.
- Of the champion monsters with damage resistance, auras can appear. The aura applies to the champion’s followers, but not to himself.
- Of the sacred objects And unique items have a small chance of being found.
- Of the Nightmare emblemsthat unlock Nightmare Dungeons are unlocked.
- Of the infernal waves can appear in the open world.
- Provide samples +100% experience.
- The monsters are even more formidable.
- The monsters fall 15% gold in addition.
- THE enemies ignore 20% of the player’s non-physical resistances.
World Level 4: Torment
The ultimate difficulty right now. It is intended for very high level characters with excellent equipment. New unique and ancestral items appear to reward players.
To face the most powerful and terrifying demons of Sanctuary.
Unlocked by clearing the dungeon Temple of the Fallen on Nightmare difficulty. The recommended level is 70 and older.
- THE ancestral objects have a small chance of being found.
- Again unique items can be discovered.
- The player wins +200% experience.
- THE player non-physical resistances are reduced by 40%.
- The monsters fall 15% gold in addition.
The 5th difficulty is gone
On an earlier version of the game, which preceded the beta, there were 5 world levels. World level 4 was called “Hell” and the 5th was “Torment”. As seen above, they seem to have decided to speed things up by removing difficulty 4 and allowing players to jump directly to the maximum difficulty setting. Unlocked items are merged in Torment mode.
The only notable difference was that Torment mode had to be unlocked by completing the Archives of Issalla dungeon on Hell.
We’re curious to see if Blizzard will follow the same path with Diablo 4 as it did with Diablo 3, adding higher difficulty levels over time. For reference, Diablo 3 has been scaled up to Torment 16.
