The arrival of the Vessel of Hatred DLC for Diablo IV has completely overhauled many familiar systems in the game. Capstone Dungeons are gone as well, taking with them some of the key sources for XP grinding.
This Diablo 4 guide is all about how to farm XP and level up quickly and efficiently in the new Vessel of Hatred DLC.
Difficulty
While there is undoubtedly a bonus to XP and drop quality from playing on the higher difficulty levels, Normal difficulty is actually preferable for rapidly cutting through swathes of enemies, instead of getting bogged down chipping away at the health of tougher mobs. Conquer and move on.
Campaign
Major chunks of XP can be gained by simply powering through the new campaign quests and side quests, without even hardly touching open world Event content.
Strongholds
A one-time source of a large amount of XP, Strongholds also reward players with a slew of unique items including Runes, upon the initial clearing. However, it is possible to farm a Stronghold when in a party by not clearing it completely, but instead having the party leader quit the instance right before the end of the run, while the rest continue on and collect their XP. The party leader can then begin the Stronghold anew in a reset state, and the rest of the party can join the session.
Dungeons
Several Strongholds unlock access to new Dungeons on the world map, once finally cleared. These Dungeons can also be reset in order to farm XP.
- Solo players can simply walk out of the Dungeon, or use the ‘Leave Dungeon’ function from the action wheel. Town Portal is not an option, since your personal portal acts as an anchor keeping the Dungeon instance active.
- Party players other than the leader can reset a Dungeon by simply leaving the party, which will simply place them right outside the Dungeon again. Once the party leader leaves the Dungeon, it will be reset.
- As a method of last resort, while not inside a Dungeon, navigate to the Journal tab and use the ‘Reset Dungeons’ button at the bottom. Note that this will reset ALL Dungeons.
Helltides
These World Events offer up copious amounts of XP for any player willing to play open world events where other players may also be present, in order to farm the tougher content in unison, for both XP and drops including Grim Favors.
Helltides can also be run completely solo, but coming into contact with randoms cannot be avoided.
Tree of Whispers
The aforementioned Grim Favors earned can then be turned in at the Tree of Whispers in order to complete Whispers. Besides the major XP bonus, these Whispers also grant you several types of reward Caches to choose from, some with Legendary contents.
Kurast Undercity
This timed dungeon offers a unique alternative to Nightmare Dungeons, with both XP and targeted farming of Weapons, Armor, and Aspects up for grabs. Kurast is a race to the finish line where one of three bosses awaits defeat before you can collect top rewards, but you still get to keep all that XP earned along the way regardless.
Those are all the ways to farm XP and level up quickly in Diablo IV Vessel of Hatred.