Diablo 4 Season 9 Leveling Tips

Leveling up in Diablo 4 can be a grind, but with the right strategies, you can make it much more efficient. Here’s a breakdown of current best practices for Season 9:

General Principles for Fast Leveling:

“Town is Lava”: Minimize time spent in town. Do your business quickly (salvage, sell, respec, etc.) and get back to killing monsters.
Always have XP Boosts Active:
- Elixirs: Always keep an Elixir active for a 5% XP bonus. You can craft these at the Alchemist.
- Incenses: Start using Incense around level 45+ for additional XP bonuses, especially when in a group.
- Shrines/Buffs: Look for temporary shrines and buffs in the open world, like the Kor Dragan stronghold campfire, for additional XP.
Don’t Be Afraid to Lower Difficulty: It’s almost always better to clear content quickly on an easier difficulty than to struggle slowly on a harder one. The goal is XP per hour, not raw difficulty.
Prioritize Mobility: Movement speed is king. Gear with movement speed, skills that grant dashes or teleports, and your mount will significantly cut down on travel time.
Play in a Group (if possible): Being in a party provides an XP bonus, and you can clear content much faster with coordinated efforts. You can also “leech” XP by having friends clear content while you’re nearby.
Skip Cutscenes and Dialogue: If you’re focusing on speed, skip all narrative elements.

Leveling Progression (Season 9):

Level 1-15 (Early Game):
- First Character: If this is your very first character, you’ll need to complete the main story campaign. Do it on Normal difficulty and focus solely on the main quest objectives, skipping all cutscenes and dialogue. This will get you to roughly level 25-30.
- Subsequent Characters (Campaign Skip): If you’ve already completed the campaign on another character, you can skip the campaign entirely when creating a new character. This is highly recommended for faster leveling.
- Seasonal Questline: Regardless of campaign status, start the Seasonal Questline immediately. This unlocks the Seasonal Reputation Track and can provide early benefits.
- Unlock Class Mechanic: Your class mechanic now automatically unlocks at level 15.
- Obtain Mercenaries (Vessel of Hatred): If you have the Vessel of Hatred expansion, grab your Mercenaries from the Den in Nahantu.
- Helltides (Early Focus): Helltides are a fantastic source of XP and Cinders. Focus on completing Tree of Whispers Grim Favors and Legion Events within Helltides.
  - Fill up your Helltide Threat Meter quickly for more monster spawns.
  - Save your Cinders to open Helltide Chests at the end of the Helltide for maximum XP.
- Dungeons with Whisper Bounties: Complete a dungeon with a Whisper Bounty if available.
Level 15-50 (Mid Game – The Grind Begins):
- Helltides (Continued): Continue to prioritize Helltides. They offer excellent XP and gear, especially on Hard or Penitent difficulty if you can manage it efficiently.
- Nightmare Dungeons (NMDs): Once you have 60 Sigil Powder (from Whisper Bounties and Helltide Chests), craft your first Nightmare Dungeon Sigil at the Occultist.
  - Prioritize “Forgotten Wisdom” Affix: NMDs with the “Forgotten Wisdom” affix make enemies drop XP orbs, which provide a huge XP boost. It’s often better to clear these on Normal difficulty quickly than higher difficulties slowly.
  - Keep farming NMDs, progressing through tiers as you get stronger.
- Strongholds: Clear Strongholds. They offer a significant one-time XP reward upon completion, and they reset for each new character. It’s often recommended to save these until around level 50-60 and complete them on Normal difficulty for maximum efficiency.
- Renown: While not directly for XP, earning Renown (especially up to rank 3 in each zone) provides crucial skill points and potion charges, which will significantly boost your power and therefore your leveling speed. Focus on Strongholds and dungeons that also grant renown.
- Gear: Don’t obsess over perfect gear until World Tier 3+. Equip whatever has the best stats for your build, and make sure to imprint important Legendary Aspects from your Codex of Power. Gems in every socket are a must.
Level 50-60 (Capstone & World Tier 3):
- Capstone Dungeon: Around level 45-50, attempt the Capstone Dungeon to unlock World Tier 3 (Nightmare). This will be a significant power jump in terms of XP and loot. Focus on survivability over pure damage for this fight.
- Continue Helltides and Nightmare Dungeons: These remain your primary source of XP and gear.
- Gear Up: In World Tier 3, you’ll start finding Sacred and Unique items. Focus on getting good stat rolls and the right Legendary Aspects for your build. Tempering and Masterworking will become more important as you approach endgame.
Level 60+ (Paragon Levels & Endgame):
- Capstone Dungeon for World Tier 4: Push for the Capstone Dungeon to unlock World Tier 4 (Torment).
- The Pit: The Pit is now a primary source of XP and endgame materials. The goal is to clear Pit tiers quickly (2-3 minutes per run in a group for max efficiency).
- Nightmare Dungeons (Glyph Leveling): NMDs are crucial for leveling up your Paragon Glyphs, which provide massive power increases.
- Helltides (Materials & XP): Still valuable for materials, Cinders, and XP, especially with the new events.
- World Bosses & Legion Events: Participate in these for good XP and loot.

Leveling Builds:

Choosing an efficient leveling build for your class is crucial. These builds typically prioritize:

Area of Effect (AoE) Damage: To clear large groups of monsters quickly.
Resource Generation/Efficiency: To avoid downtime from running out of mana/spirit/etc.
Mobility: As mentioned, movement speed is key.
Low Gear Dependence: They should perform well even with basic gear.

You can find updated leveling build guides for Season 9 on popular Diablo 4 resource sites like Maxroll.gg, Icy Veins, and Mobalytics. Some examples of highly rated leveling builds include: