Diablo 4 tips and guides

Guiding you through Sanctuary.

Guide by Jessica Orr Senior Guides Writer

Additional contributions by Josh Mckenna

Updated on 28 Mar 2024

Diablo 4 is now on Game Pass, and just like its predecessors, it's just as loot-heavy resulting in many systems and features revolving around gear drops and builds, several of which are new whilst others are returning from previous games in the series.

Whether this is your first Diablo adventure or you're a seasoned demon slayer, our Diablo 4 tips below can assist you during your time in Sanctuary.

Along with those general tips, we've also gone ahead and listed each of our Diablo 4 guides for whenever you're ready to dive into the wider landscape of what's on offer here too, be it chasing the best class builds, hunting Legendary gear, completing side quests, and more in Diablo 4.

On this page:

All our Diablo 4 guides
Diablo 4 tips

Diablo 4 guides

To help you slay your way through Sanctuary we've got all of our Diablo 4 guides listed in one place below.

Builds:

The Barbarian focuses on mitigating damage and building Fury — Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment/Eurogamer

Legendaries:

Altar of Lilith and Cellar locations:

Endgame:

Crafting and upgrades:

Systems and features:

Side Quests:

Diablo 4 tips and tricks

Our Diablo 4 tips can make your time fighting, navigating, and farming for XP a lot smoother while exploring Sanctuary in the story, seasons, and beyond.

Smash everything!

Not only do you get extra loot from destroying objects like vases and armor racks, but anything you smash also raises the meter required for performing Skills in Diablo 4. This can help you maintain this skill meter until you come across a group of enemies again.

We found this particularly useful while playing as a Barbarian, as their Fury skill meter depletes when not in use.

Yep, you can even smash these gross little things to keep your skill meter up.

Use pins to guide you

A pin adds an icon to follow, but pins also draw a line to your target destination on your main and mini maps, ensuring you don't have to check the map every five seconds to make sure you're going the right way.

You can time potion drops by looking at a boss's health bar

Getting just one or two extra potions during a boss fight can be the difference between life and death in Diablo 4, so if you want to know if you should do that risky move or not while low on health, look at the bosses health bar first!

The little triangles on their health bar mark when the boss will drop a few precious potions for you.

Speaking of potions...

Don't forget to upgrade your potions

Unless you've got a useful Skill or Legendary Ability that lets you consistently heal, potions are your best friend while exploring Sanctuary, so remember to upgrade how much health they give you!

Head to Alchemists in cities and towns like Kyovashad. Here, you can exchange certain materials to improve your potions as long as you're a high enough level.

To upgrade your potion capacity, you'll have to earn some Renown.

Focus on completing the story

It's worth doing side activities in each region to increase your Renown until you get potion capacity rewards, but after this, we recommend you wait until you get a mount and complete the story before working your way through every mission and collectible location.

Getting a mount lets you traverse Sanctuary a lot quicker, and you can't claim the higher Renown rewards anyway until you unlock World Tier 3 after the story.

Remember to repair gear after dying

It's easy to forget to repair gear, but it's worth spending the gold to do so, as running around with damaged armour means enemies can kill you easier. This is especially important when taking on tough bosses, so a visit to the blacksmith before a big fight is recommended.

Play in groups for bonus XP

Although the game technically gets harder when you're playing in a group, in practice, it's actually much easier. Enemy toughness is increased, but you've got at least one other person to wreck the place with. As long as your co-op partners don't leave you to do all the work, teaming up is a great way to maximise your XP gains.

Just remember to stay close to each other, or the XP boost won't work.

diablo four all five classes official blizzard artwork — Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment.

Salvage, don't sell!

Until you complete the story and reach the endgame in Diablo 4, we don't recommend selling your items, as salvaging them for resources is a lot more useful for you in the long run, as you need these materials when crafting. Yes, you also need gold, but you get gold all the time while killing enemies and completing quests, so salvaging is the better option until you find you do need extra cash later on.

As a bonus, when you salvage an item its look will now be available to you through the transmog system.

Transmog is free

While on the subject of transmog - it's free! Just go to the wardrobe symbol on your map while in a city like Kyovashad and you can choose what style and colour of clothes and weapons you want to slay demons with.

The 'Back Trophy' tab of the Transmog screen is also where you can equip cosmetics on your character's back, like the ridiculously cute wolf pup rewarded from playing the beta.

Don't ignore World Events

We've went over all the ways you can get them in our dedicated Murmuring Obols page already, but in short, the best and quickest way is by participating in World Events, areas marked by orange circles on your map.

Why do you need Murmuring Obols? They're Diablo 4's versions of Diablo 3's Blood Shards (farewell, Kadala), meaning you spend Obols at a Purveyor of Curiosities vendor in cities for the chance of getting Legendary Gear.

It's not a great chance, but as Obols are so easy to get from World Events, it's highly recommended you spend them when you can.

Play on World Tier 1 until you get good gear

Basically, you'll probably die a lot on World Tier 2 and take far longer to kill enemies while working through the story. Unless you don't mind a challenge and are in no rush to complete the story, then start your journey through Sanctuary on World Tier 1.

You get less XP, but the time it takes you to do anything is greatly reduced, meaning you farm XP better without even trying really.

When things become boringly easy, that's the time to crank it up to World Tier 2!

Don't forget about your personal portal

Waypoints are your primary method of fast travelling, but if you press 'T' on PC or down on the d-pad if playing with a controller, then you can open a portal straight back to a main city at any time, except for certain key boss fights.

If you can't pick any more loot up for example, quickly teleport back to town, salvage the gear you don't want, then use that portal to get right back to where you were and pick up the new loot.

Just be careful not to leave a town after using a portal, or it will disappear.

Keep gems and gear for other classes in your stash

Every region has a chest called your 'stash', which shares the content you put in it. If you come across a good weapon or armour piece for another class and it's not worth salvaging, then put it in your stash for when you start a new playthrough as another class. It'll really help out during the early stages.

Putting your crafted Gems and Skulls into your stash for socketing later is also recommended.

You can now salvage Gems for Gem Fragments and higher tiers of Gem

This is more relevant if you're a returning player, but since launch, Gems now drop as Gem Fragments with which you then craft into specific tiers of Gem. This was a change in Season 2 to prevent your inventory from filling up too quick with the various types of Gem when completing dungeons and other activities.

Any Gems you have socketed or stored in the stash already can be salvaged for their relevant Gem Fragments, and then repurposed into higher tiers of Gem via the Jeweler.