Diablo 4 World Tiers equate to difficulty, at a fundamental level at least, as they dictate how much of a fight your enemies put up and well as the quantity of XP and gold you'll collect as you slay your way through the hordes. The risks and the rewards scale up as you increase the World Tier, which means you need to take both into consideration if you're thinking of moving to the next level in Diablo 4. There are also rare items to unlock such as of Sacred Items, Ancestral Items, and other Unique Items that can only be obtained in the higher World Tiers available at Level 50 and beyond, so when you reach that stage you'll need to step things up if you want to obtain the most impressive gear. For an explanation of how these difficulty levels compare and what you need to do to access them, I've summarised all of the World Tiers in Diablo 4 below.
What are the different Diablo 4 World Tiers?
There are a total of five Diablo 4 World Tiers available, but when you first start out you'll only see two of them as the others need to be unlocked through progress. Therefore your initial choice will be between Adventurer (World Tier 1) and Veteran (World Tier 2), depending on how much previous experience you have with the Diablo series and whether you want to be challenged. The full rundown of World Tiers in Diablo 4 is as follows:
World Tier 1: Adventurer
- Unlocked from the start
- For Levels 1-50
- Enemies do not put up a challenge
World Tier 2: Veteran
- Unlocked from the start
- For Levels 1-50
- Enemies provide more of a challenge
- Enemies give 20% more experience and drop 15% more gold
World Tier 3: Nightmare
- Unlocked by completing the Cathedral of Light dungeon in World Tier 2 (Recommended Level: 50)
- For Levels 50-70
- Sacred Items and Unique Items available as drops
- Nightmare Sigils available as drops that open up Nightmare Dungeons
- Helltides can spawn
- Champion enemies with damage resistance auras can spawn
World Tier 4: Hell
- Unlocked by completing the Fallen Temple Capstone dungeon in World Tier 3 (Recommended Level: 60)
- For Levels 70+
- Ancestral Items and additional Unique Items available as drops
- Enemies are even tougher
- Enemies give 200% more experience and drop 15% more gold
- Enemies overcome 40% of resistances
World Tier 5: Torment
- Unlocked by completing the Archives of Issalia dungeon in World Tier 4 (Recommended Level: 70)
- For Levels 70+
- Ancestral Items and additional Unique Items available as drops
- Enemies give 250% more experience
- Non-physical resistances reduced by 40%
How to change Diablo 4 World Tiers
There are two ways to change Diablo 4 World Tiers, with the first being accessible from the main Character Select screen. After highlighting the character you want to use, the box on the right hand side will tell you your current World Tier, and the Change World Tier button underneath that will let you switch to a different one from those you've unlocked so far.
Within the game itself, you can also visit a World Tier Statue and interact with it to change your World Tier. Currently only one of these has been found, just outside the Cathedral of Light in Kyovashad, though it's possible that more will be revealed when the full map is explored. Remember that if you're using Diablo 4 crossplay or multiplayer in general, you'll need to be in the same World Tier as your friends so you can connect to each other.
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