What to do in Diablo 4’s endgame

Diablo 4 offers the best campaign in Blizzard’s long-running series, but the game doesn’t really fully open up until you’ve taken down the main villain and moved into the “endgame.” Diablo 4’s endgame is a blast, but getting into the it — and doing so efficiently — is a lot harder than it sounds, especially if you’re new to Diablo. In this Diablo 4 guide, we’re going to highlight some major goals you’ll want to complete as soon as you finish with the game’s main story and travel toward level 50 and beyond. Complete Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24727321/Diablo_4_Screenshot_2023.06.14___11.56.53.07.png?quality=90&strip=all] The first major quest you’ll get after the campaign is to visit the Tree of Whispers in Hawezar, which you should remember from the story. This tree acts as a kind of bounty board in Diablo 4, and will give you a cache filled with goodies if you complete 10 Grim Favors for it. There are Grim Favor activities strewn about the map, and each one rewards anywhere from one to five Grim Favors. Once you hit 10, return to the tree and cash in for a cache. This little treasure chest is filled with decent gear and — on World Tier 3 and World Tier 4 — Nightmare Sigils to get you into Nightmare Dungeons. This is an excellent way to kickstart your gear and prepare for the next World Tier. Decide on a build you want to play [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24727316/Diablo_4_Screenshot_2023.06.14___11.56.12.54.png?quality=90&strip=all] The beauty of Diablo 4’s campaign and World Tier 1 and 2 is that the difficulty can challenge you while also providing absolute freedom in how you want to build out your character. But as you get into the endgame, you’ll need to start honing in on a more focused build for yourself. Post-campaign is a great time to spend the cash to respec your skill tree and learn some new skills. It’s also when you’ll start to see Legendary items start dropping more frequently. Deciding on the build you want to play early is important, as it lets you decide which items you want to dismantle into materials and which ones you want to keep for later. As you get into World Tier 3 and eventually World Tier 4, you’ll almost definitely want to start using a build guide for your Barbarian, Necromancer, Druid, Sorcerer, or Rogue. While it’s certainly possible to find success in Diablo 4 by creating your own build and finding your own synergies, there are some incredibly fun and powerful builds out there that were created by experts, and it’s going to be hard to find anything better. Increase your difficulty to World Tier 4 [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24727327/Diablo_4_Screenshot_2023.06.14___11.57.16.43.png?quality=90&strip=all] The max World Tier you can play on during the campaign is Veteran, also known as World Tier 2. But many of the endgame features won’t unlock until World Tier 3. And some of the best bonuses won’t appear in the game until you’re on World Tier 4! To unlock these difficulty settings, you’ll need to complete special Capstone dungeons (denoted by a yellow dungeon door) around the world. The first one is found in the Cathedral of Light in Kyovashad and will allow you to advance to World Tier 3. You should be able to tackle this Capstone relatively soon after completing the campaign — although you may have to improve your gear a bit. The next Capstone that will take you from World Tier 3 to World Tier 4 is located in the Dry Steppes, and is significantly harder than the Cathedral of Light. You’ll need to make some massive improvements to your gear in World Tier 3 before you attempt the World Tier 4 Capstone. The boss in particular can be extremely difficult if you aren’t geared out properly, and if you’re not careful you could spend millions repairing your gear after getting one-shot by him multiple times in a row. Still, until you reach World Tier 4 — the max World Tier at Diablo 4’s launch — this should be your main focus. World Tier 4 is much more lucrative than any other World Tier, and the ability to gain Unique items will really help skyrocket your build. Collect Altars of Lilith [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24727333/Diablo_4_Screenshot_2023.06.14___11.58.06.23.png?quality=90&strip=all] Altars of Lilith are a big part of the “Renown farm” that makes up a chunk of Diablo 4’s endgame (which we’ll get to in a moment). But past just the regional Renown, the Altars of Lilith offer major, account-wide bonuses the first time you collect them. Each statue offers either permanent bonus stats, an increase to the maximum Murmuring Obols you can carry, or Paragon Points. The Obol max is mediocre, but the other two bonuses are massive power boosts when taken together. This is something you absolutely must do on your first character, and you’ll see the benefit for seasons to come. If you need help finding the Altars in each region, our guides can show you the exact locations in the Fractured Peaks, Scosglen, the Dry Steppes, Kehjistan, and Hawezar. Max out your Renown [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24727334/Diablo_4_Screenshot_2023.06.14___11.58.31.11.png?quality=90&strip=all] Each region in Diablo 4 has five different Renown levels for you to climb through, and each offers a pretty significant boost to your character and account. By maxing your Renown in each region, you can get a total of: * 10 Skill Points * Five bonus potions * 400 extra carrying capacity for your Obols * 20 Paragon Points This is a massive power boost and is essentially mandatory for anyone hoping to defeat the game’s level 100 Pinnacle boss and reach high-level Nightmare Dungeons. But it’s also extremely time consuming. Luckily, much like the Altars of Lilith, this is something you’ll now only need to do once. As of season 2, you’ll now carry over the most important rewards from maxing your renown each season. That means you’ll instantly have all five bonus skill points and all 20 Paragon points next season if you finish up that grind this season. You can still redo the grind for some paltry bonus XP and gold, but you only have to do it once. There are multiple ways to get Renown, and there’s actually more Renown available in each region than you actually need to reach level five. So, for example, if you love dungeons but hate side quests, you could still reach max Renown in a region by mostly ignoring side quests and doing everything else in the area. Here are the Renown values for each activity: * Waypoints: 20 Renown per * Strongholds: 100 Renown per * Side Quests: 30 Renown per * Areas Discovered: 5 Renown per * Side Dungeons: 40 Renown per first completion * Altars of Lilith: 10 Renown per Altar Unlock Nightmare Sigil crafting and push Nightmare Dungeons [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24727058/Diablo_4_Screenshot_2023.06.13___15.46.53.32.png?quality=90&strip=all] One of the last things you’ll need to do to fully unlock the endgame in Diablo 4 is gain access to Nightmare Dungeon pushing and Nightmare Sigil crafting. To reach higher Nightmare Dungeons and earn more XP for your Paragon board Glyphs, you’ll need to first beat a Tier 3 Nightmare Dungeon. There are a couple ways of doing that, including just getting lucky with a Tier 3 Nightmare Sigil drop. If you need help unlocking the system, check out our Nightmare Dungeon guide. Once you’ve unlocked higher-tier Sigil crafting, you’ll be spending a good chunk of your time playing these remixed dungeons on very high difficulties, pushing well past enemies at your current level and even past level 100. As a reward, you’ll get some great gear and be able to upgrade your Paragon Board Glyphs, making them even more effective. Take on the endgame bosses for targeted loot [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24814067/season_1_feature_boss.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] Season 2 introduced a new endgame activity in the form of pinnacle bosses you can summon. This group is a cadre of new and reprised goobers from both the seasons and campaigns, and each comes with their own loot pool and unique summoning ritual. You’ll be able to start summoning some of them in World Tier 3, and each has a shot at dropping specific Uniques that can help you round out your build. Duriel, King of Maggots, even has the ability to drop the ultra-rare “Uber Uniques” that were previously nigh-impossible to acquire. Here is the complete list of new endgame bosses: * Echo of Varshan * Grigoire, the Galvanic Saint * Beast in Ice * Lord Zir * Duriel, King of Maggots If you need help finding any of these villains or are looking for a specific Unique item from one, you can check out our guide on how to summon each endgame boss. All of these activities will help you grow and improve your character so you can eventually take on the Echo of Lilith, the level 100 boss at the end of the Torment-only dungeon.