It’s time to dive deep into the world of Sanctuary. But before you try and take down Lilith, here are some tips you could use while leveling.
A lot of people are going into Diablo 4 completely blind. It’s been over a decade since the last entry in the series, so we can expect a combination of old and new players alike in the servers. If this is your first foray into the Diablo franchise or just an action dungeon-crawler title in general, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed by the number of systems and skill trees. It’s easy to think that Diablo 4 is only about hacking and slashing enemies, but believe it or not, you need to put a lot of thought into the game. Luckily for you, I’ve organized a list of what will help you ease into the Diablo experience and ultimately take down Lilith.
Don’t Sell Your Gems, Stash Them Instead
When you first plop down into Diablo 4, you’ll notice early on that inventory management is an integral part of the game. While every item only takes up a single slot, you might fill your inventory quickly with one item type. That’s right—I’m talking about gems. Gems come in a plethora of qualities and colors, and each kind takes up an inventory slot.
You can sell these gems, but I recommend not to since they will be vital for your gear optimization. The solution to this is to drag the gems into your stash. Once you drop them off there, you can simply return to your stash when needed.
Unlock Your Hotbar Slots Immediately
Once your character wakes up in the dead of night and embarks on a journey to Kyovashad, you’ll notice that not all your hotbar slots aren’t immediately available. You’ll first need to spend one or two skill points if you want your two right-handed slots to be accessible. Meanwhile, the remaining four slots are locked until you reach level 8. During that point, the slots will unlock automatically. I recommend rushing to at least level 8 before losing yourself in the world of Sanctuary. You can optimize the build for your class by having six skills since you’ve unlocked all the slots.
Abuse Your Free Respecs While You Can
Say you bought a few skills you didn’t want in the end, or you changed your mind about that build you were going for. It’s not the end of the world; you can respec and get your used skill points back. I highly advise you to play with Diablo 4’s respec mechanics, especially since you’re free to respec as often as you want up to level 15. Plus, even after reaching level 15, the fee to respec is relatively cheap.
There are two ways to respec in the game. One is to start with a clean slate—a tabula rasa if you will. This erases all the history within your skill tree. The other method is by reassigning individual skills. Unless you’re sure you want to have all new skills for your class, I recommend going with the latter method, which can be done by simply right-clicking on the skill you want to refund.
Set Up Waypoints When Exploring
If you want to explore all the nooks and crannies of the world of Sanctuary, there’s no better way to do it than by looking at your map. Diablo IV has one of the best user-friendly maps out there. Moreover, the game’s minimap is exceptionally convenient; you can use it to keep an eye on where you’re heading.
You’d want to set up a waypoint or two to make getting around a breeze. That way, you can head to the other key areas you haven’t been to yet and uncover all the secrets Diablo 4 has. You can even put a waypoint in an area of the map you haven’t explored yet!
You’ll also notice the colored dots on the map. They’re either yellow, blue, or orange. They all mean different things, so here’s the gist of what you can expect from these dots:
- Yellow – Main quests
- Blue – An NPC located inside an area or a side quest item
- Orange – Public online encounters, aka world events
Avoid Wasting Time Walking Out of the Dungeon, Use the Leave Dungeon Option
You probably might not know about this, but Diablo 4 has a nifty tool that allows you to leave the dungeon immediately after you’ve completed it. It’s a shame that the option doesn’t surface very well, though, so some players aren’t even aware it exists. You have two ways to return to the entrance. One is to use the Leave Dungon emote; this can be found in your emote method. The other is to open the dungeon map and use your cursor to select the entrance, which will teleport you out of the dungeon.
Try to Do As Many Public Events As You Can
As I’ve said before, public/world events are those orange icons you see on your map. You’ll occasionally encounter these as you explore, requiring you to fight several waves of enemies. The kicker here is that at the end of it all, you’ll be rewarded with a chest with high-quality loot, such as Murmuring Obols. Depending on your items and what level you’re on, these aren’t too tough for a single person to take on, but I advise you to do as many as you can since you’ll be partying up with other people most of the time.
