When we talk about Diablo - and action RPGs in general, for that matter - we say that the game really begins at the end, that is, at the so-called endgame: it is the moment in which you really work on your character, you look for the best objects to perfect it and face the toughest enemies. Diablo 4 is no exception and, compared to the previous iteration, offers a more complex climb towards the maximum level, made up of content and features that are progressively unlocked.
The endgame of Diablo 4 can be unsettling, especially if you have little familiarity with the Blizzard series: for this reason we want to give a general overview to newbies who are approaching the final activities of the game for the first time. So here it is our advice for tackling the Diablo 4 endgame and its challenges.
Raising the difficulty of Diablo 4
At the beginning of Diablo 4, when you start the campaign, you will have to choose between two levels of the world or, better said, difficulty. THE world levels they increase not only the strength of enemies, but also the experience points that are gained by killing them, the gold they drop and the quality of the loot, with some only coming out at certain difficulty levels. Since there isn't much difference between levels I and II, we suggest starting with the second straight away and completing the campaign, but remember that you can change it at any time in Kyovashad or in the character selection screen.
Once the campaign is completed, a main shipment (i.e. a slightly longer and more challenging mission than the normal ones) at level 50 entitled Cathedral of Light: complete it to unlock level III, Nightmare. The main dungeon, Fallen Temple, level 70, unlocks level IV, Torment. In reality it is not strictly necessary to be of the recommended level to complete these expeditions: with a good build, the upgraded equipment and the right elixir you may be able to complete them even 5-10 levels below the recommended level.
Although it is right to progress through the game at the right pace and without forcing yourself, we recommend that you unlock the highest world levels as soon as possible to level up faster, accumulate more gold and, above all, access exclusive items such as certain only which only come out in Tormento, such as the highly sought-after Il Nonno sword. The enemies will be higher level, but if you have completed the main dungeons you should have no problems, especially if you play in company.
Lilith's altars
While not actual endgame content, unlocking the altar at Lilith it will be very useful anyway. You will find them around the world, often well hidden, and just click on them to turn them on and earn a permanent bonus that applies to all characters in the profile, present and future. It may seem like a small thing, but there are 160 altars in total and in the end, in addition to increasing each attribute by 68 points, you will increase the number of obols you can collect by 100 and you will also obtain 4 excellence points.
Of course, the Internet is full of sites and maps indicating the location of each altar, although it is more fun to look for them yourself: just explore every corner of Sanctuary and keep an eye out, in particular, for those isolated areas where there seems to be no be nothing. Furthermore, unlocking a Lilith altar earns you experience points and, above all, fame: although, once unlocked with a character, the bonus is active for every other present and future character - be careful, however, because this rule does not apply to Hardcore characters! - it is always worth going back to look for the nearby altars to obtain individual rewards.
Optimize Grim Favors
Once you complete the campaign, you will unlock a game feature that will make a series of timed objectives appear throughout Sanctuary, marked by specific icons. It involves cleaning out expeditions or cellars, defeating one or more enemies, collecting objects and so on: each completed task will reward you in Grim Favors; accumulate 10 and return to theWhisper Tree to collect a reward of your choice from three chests full of resources and loot. It's a good way to gain experience and find loot, but it's true that it gets repetitive after a while.
The trick is to combine business with pleasure. The assignments pay different Grim favors, with the longer and more challenging ones, such as expeditions or world bosses, which are worth up to 5. If you have a seal to transform an expedition marked by the Tree into a nightmare expedition, you would already kill two birds with one stone: Grim favors and experience points to upgrade glyphs, as well as rarer loot that drops in the nightmare expeditions. Then choose compatible tasks; for example, there might be a task that asks you to defeat a certain number of enemies in the area and another that asks you to collect their souls, and in this case you would solve two tasks in one go. In short, study the map carefully before setting out on tasks.
Framing the build
The Diablo 4 campaign can be completed quite easily without resorting to particular strategies: after all, it is a kind of tutorial, a moment in which the player can discover his own playing style. In endgame, however, the so-called itemization - that is, the way in which objects and their distribution are designed - requires much more careful reflection on the build that you want to develop: the problem does not lie in restoring the skill and excellence points already distributed, which all in all does not cost too much gold, but in the time it takes to dedicate to searching for the right equipment, which depends a little on luck and a partly also by the logic with which it is pursued.
This is not Diablo III, where a few clicks at no cost were enough to completely change builds and strategies. Diablo 4 is much more intricate, from this point of view, and a build optimized - not to mention perfect - implies that the player invests time and resources in it, so much so that Blizzard itself suggests creating multiple characters of the same class but using different builds: in some respects, it is simpler than changing skills, excellences and equipment.
So, what to do? Although the beauty of Diablo 4 is also experimenting, less experienced players could be inspired or directly copy the builds of those who have already invested a considerable amount of time and attempts. Specialized websites like Maxroll or the same YouTube they are overflowing with guides, insights and diagrams that explain how to set skills, which legendaries to look for, how to distribute points and glyphs on the excellence board and even in what order.
Let's say you play Druid: do you want to cast spells and keep your distance, or are you one of those who jumps into the fray to take hits and return them? Do you prefer the wolf form or the werebear form? Or maybe you want to alternate them? Once you understand what kind of players are you, and once you have found a build that is right for you, you will have to set the skills and excellence points, which however is not as simple as it seems. You will need glyphs and, above all, legendaries.
Legendaries and builds
To find the glyphs, i.e. passive skills that you will have to place in the appropriate spaces on the excellence board, you will first have to unlock the nightmare expeditions: you just need to find your first seal, i.e. a consumable object that transforms the corresponding expedition into a nightmare expedition. At a certain point you will also learn to destroy the seals to obtain a resource that is used to manufacture others belonging to various levels, but what you need to know, for now, is that in nightmare expeditions you will not only have to deal with enemies, but also with modifiers that will complicate your life. They're worth tackling, though, because in nightmare dungeons the chances of finding legendaries - especially of holy or ancestral quality - are much higher. Furthermore, at the end of the expedition you will earn experience points which you can use to upgrade your glyphs, further influencing the excellence board.
Legendary equipment, on the other hand, is fundamental in optimizing a build: this means that a build could work even without legendaries, but it won't be truly effective either in attack or defense. Legendary items can be found just about everywhere: defeating enemies, in chests, as rewards at the end of an expedition or event, taking down elite enemies and world bosses, etc., etc. In the city, theOccultist it will allow you to extract legendary power from an object that perhaps is no longer needed or does not have the characteristics you need to imprint it on another, transforming it in turn into a legendary if it is of rare (yellow) or lower quality.
Furthermore, in expeditions you can obtain Aspects: they are legendary powers that you will automatically register in the Codex and which you can imprint from the Occultist. Remember, however, that the values of the Aspects found in expeditions will always be minimal compared to the same Aspects that you could extract from a legendary found randomly.
There are some legendaries that define a build and that, for this reason, the guides on the web call "core": they are the cores, literally, builds. For example, one of the most played Druid builds in endgame is the Stormwolf, so named because she combines the Werewolf form with storm abilities. To work, however, it needs a very specific legendary, a helmet called Storm's Roar. There is only one very small problem: the corresponding Aspect does not exist in the shipments and the object in question, moreover, is a Unique, therefore much rarer than normal. How is this problem solved?
Look for legendaries
The Storm Roar example is a bit extreme, because the Ones only come out on difficulty Nightmare and Torment and only after reaching a certain level, but the same concept applies to many "normal" legendary items that possess particular powers, such as Shockwave, an Aspect that exponentially improves another Druid build, or the Aspect of the Infinite Rage, fundamental for some Barbarian builds. In these cases you can only count on luck, but there is a way to game the system: the obols for Curiosity Bearers, PvP and the cursed chests during the Infernal Tides.
You will earn the get sick by completing public events around the world, so take advantage of it whenever you spot the icon on the map. In every city there is a Bearer of curiosity, marked by a bag icon, which will take your money for a random item: the point is that you can choose the category of the item, narrowing the field. Let's say you really need a weapon or a ring, this way you can ensure that you get that type of item, even if it might be rare or common. In our experience, however, Latori are quite generous.
PvP works in a very similar way, in the sense that there are vendors where you can exchange your red dust for a random item belonging to a specific category. The problem is getting the red powder. Collect shards of hatred in the PvP area - called Field of hate - it's easy, since the enemies drop them in industrial quantities, but you won't do anything with them until you purify them at the nearby altars. The trouble is that the ritual will attract the attention of other players, who may come to party with you to take all the shards you have collected. We advise you to dedicate yourself to PvP only after having prepared an effective build in clashes with other players... or late at night, when perhaps fewer people are around and it is easier to complete a ritual without hassle.
Finally, the Hellish tides they are a great way to find specific items. These events occur several times a day, and for an hour they color an entire map red: enemies, events and chests will drop Aberrant embers, a currency that is used to open the tormented gifts that will appear on the map only during the event. These chests are marked by item categories - which cost more or less Aberrant Embers - and so, if you need greaves for example, it makes sense to search for the corresponding chest to increase the chance of finding legendary greaves of the Holy, Ancestral or Unique type.
There is a catch, however. Dying on the Helltide map, half of the Aberrant Embers are lost! The same goes for a disconnection, whether desired or unwanted, so if you decide to embark on this adventure, do it only if you feel up to it, you are in a group and there is no risk of the computer turning off or the Internet going down. We advise you to follow a map with the location of the chests that interest you and to mark the destination in the game to follow the shortest and safest route to the objective. Spend the Embers you have accumulated as soon as possible, to avoid losing them due to a stroke of bad luck, and if you are not sure which chest to open we advise you to aim for the tormented gift of mysteries, a chest that contains a variety of very high quality items... but which is also expensive, given that you will need 175 Aberrant Embers.
