All changes to Diablo 4’s Difficulty system in 2.0 update

❘ Published: 2024-08-30T15:34:23

Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard has outlined its overhaul of the World Tier Difficulty system for Diablo 4’s 2.0 update, and there are a ton of changes that will drastically shift the game.

The Campfire Chat for the 2.0 update on August 29 revealed plenty of upcoming features and improvements, such as a level cap increase, new class skills, and even the return of Runewords from Diablo 2.

Additionally, the overhauled Difficulty system marked another huge revamp fans were not expecting. We’ll explain everything new about the Diablo 4 Difficulties arriving with Update 2.0 in October.

Diablo 4 2.0 Standard & Torment Difficulties explained

This action RPG will be pulling away from the term “World Tiers” to instead use the name Difficulties. There are now eight different types, four of which are Standard while the other four are Torment.

As listed in the Diablo 4 2.0 patch notes for Season 6, the purpose of the Standard Difficulty tiers is to “temper your character while you strive to hit character Level 60.” This will be the new maximum character level, which also means you can earn 10 more skill points than usual.

Standard Difficulties

Here are all the Standard Difficulties detailed by how they will operate:

Normal: Slower-paced mode for players looking for a lighter challenge.
Hard: An increased challenge, but still not too demanding.
Expert: A faster-paced mode that grants players a tough combat experience.
Penitent: A heightened and dangerous experience not for the faint of heart.

Similar to World Tiers, each time you jump to a new Difficulty level, the amount of EXP and Gold you collect rises as well. Some of these tiers have prerequisites to unlock:

Normal and Hard are unlocked automatically.
Expert is unlocked after completing the campaign prologue.
Penitent is unlocked at Level 50.

As a note, the patch notes never specified that players would have to complete a Capstone dungeon to unlock the Penitent Difficulty, so we’re not sure yet if that’s still a requirement or if you get Penitent right at Level 50.

Torment Difficulties

The Torment Difficulties are entirely new to Diablo 4 and are where the true challenge begins. Your progression through Torment tiers correlates directly to the Pit of Artificers.

This means that as you reach higher Pit tiers, you’ll also gain access to higher Torment Difficulties. The higher your Torment level is, the more rewards you’re likely to receive, but the enemies also get tougher.

Here’s how you can unlock each Torment Difficulty:

Torment I: Unlock Pit tiers 1-20 at Level 60, then beat Pit tier 20.
Torment II: Beat Pit tier 35.
Torment III: Beat Pit tier 50.
Torment IV: Beat Pit tier 65.

There’s also a new type of danger that runs throughout the Torment Difficulties called Curses. Here’s how Curses work throughout each Torment level:

Torment I: -250 Armor and -25% All Resist.
Torment II: -500 Armor and -50% All Resist.
Torment III: -750 Armor and -75% All Resist.
Torment IV: -1000 Armor and -100% All Resist.

Fans should also know that monsters will no longer have their level displayed. Instead, they will scale to your current Difficulty. This should help all enemies feel a lot tougher as you scale to a higher challenge level.

That’s everything you should know about the new Standard and Torment Difficulties in Diablo 4 2.0! Speaking of new features, Blizzard also revealed new powerful Mythic Uniques, as well as an overhaul to the Paragon system.