Mechanics

Diablo 3 is a loop. You level a character, you farm the difficulty that pays best for your gear, you craft or gamble to fill the gaps, and you learn to read the affixes on the elite packs that kill you along the way. Our six systems pages each cover one turn of that loop. This guide connects them in the order a new character meets them and pulls out the numbers you will want to remember.

Start here

Leveling: experience is a speed game

Kills and quests are the only real sources of experience, so our leveling page's first rule is boring and correct: reveal every map fully, because the enemies you skip add up to six to nine levels by the end of the game. The second rule is that speed pays bonuses on top. Killing several enemies with one hit pays extra, an uninterrupted Massacre streak pays a lump sum when it ends, smashing pots and barrels in quick succession pays its own bonus, kills made with traps and chandeliers pay a little more on Normal, and surviving a crowd fight below roughly 10 percent health triggers Survival of the Fittest. The Cathedral, Hall of Agony and Fields of Misery are named as the dense zones for Massacre runs, and the page's most brutal trick is luring monsters into the Hall of Agony blade trap on Torment VI.

For a fresh season the page lays out an opener. Create the seasonal hero, equip the weapon of the Follower who matches your class from your inventory, and buy a vendor ring at level 7 for an early 2 to 4 damage. Run the weekly Challenge Rift for its cache of 35 Death's Breaths, 128 Veiled Crystals, 354 Arcane Dust, 364 Reusable Parts, 475 Blood Shards, 5.1 million gold and bounty materials, and spend it on the artisans. Fetch Kanai's Cube from the Elder Sanctum beyond the Ruins of Sescheron in Act III, craft a rare level 70 item at the Blacksmith and upgrade it to a legendary in the cube. Then gamble the Blood Shards at Kadala: Leoric's Crown is the universal pick for its experience bonus, Barbarians want Bracers of Destruction or Bracers of the First Men, Crusaders Gabriel's Vambraces, Monks Rivera Dancers or The Crudest Boots, and the page lists the level thresholds at which Demon Hunters and Wizards should save shards for quivers, rings and sources.

Per class, the fastest leveling skills our page names are Cleave, Whirlwind and Seismic Slam for the Barbarian; Strafe, Multishot, Cluster Arrow and Rain of Vengeance for a Demon Hunter past level 25; Wave of Light, Sweeping Wind and Cyclone Strike for the Monk; Zombie Dogs with Sacrifice, Gargantuan, Firebomb and Firebats for the Witch Doctor; and Ray of Frost, Meteor, Blizzard and Frost Nova, then Archon, for the Wizard. The full builds are in the classes guide.

Farming legendaries: pick the difficulty that kills fastest

Our legendary farming page was written for Reaper of Souls, after the Auction House closed and patch 2.0 made legendaries roll for your class and level. Two consequences follow. A Wizard will almost never see a legendary Voodoo Mask, and every legendary that drops at the level 70 cap is a level 70 item, even one whose native level is 50, so old favourites such as the Nailbiter mace return with 2,200 damage per second. The catch the page calls unfair is that the expansion's set items only drop at Torment difficulty and above.

The page's conclusion is that the jump from Master to Torment is so much larger than the jump from Expert to Master that the better drop rate is cancelled out by slower kills unless your gear is already excellent. Its recommendation: farm Expert, where decent gear clears elites and goblins fast at the same 1.3 percent chance as Master, move to Torment I once you one-shot everything on Master, and keep stepping up whenever a tier feels easy.

Drops are governed by a random number generator, but a failsafe sits behind it. Blizzard's stated average is one legendary every two hours of play. If you go about twice that long without one, the Safety Net activates and doubles your chance every hour, so an Expert farmer at 1.3 percent goes to 2.6, then 5.2 and onward, which makes more than about fourteen hours without a legendary nearly impossible. The counter survives logging out and only resets when a legendary item drops, legendary plans and recipes do not count, and it cannot be gamed by idling: you have to be killing and looting for it to tick.

Farming rares and gold: hunt the goblins

Our rare items page is built on a sample of 208 treasure monsters: 28 percent Treasure Goblins, 30 percent Treasure Bandits, 21 percent Treasure Seekers and 21 percent Treasure Pygmies. Goblins are the best targets because they drop the most valuable items, Bandits carry the Tomes of Secrets, Seekers drop gems and Pygmies are the source of gear. The page is honest that the statistics are rough and may not match your own game, but they tell you which of the four to chase when you are broke.

Crafting: two artisans, one currency

Crafting runs through the Blacksmith, Haedrig Eamon, who makes anything you can equip, and the Jeweler, Covetous Shen, who combines gems and can pull them out of sockets without destroying them. To craft an item the artisan must know the plan, your character must meet its requirements, and you must hold the materials, which come from salvaging magic, rare and legendary items. Non-magical items cannot be salvaged. Materials are tiered by the difficulty the salvaged item dropped in.

Sockets appear on helms, chest armor and cloaks, bracers, weapons, belts, amulets, rings and shields, and the four gem types each do something different by slot: Amethyst gives life in a helm, life on hit in a weapon and Vitality elsewhere; Emerald gives gold find, critical damage and Dexterity; Ruby gives experience per kill, flat damage and Strength; Topaz gives magic find, thorns damage and Intelligence. Both artisans climb ten ranks from Apprentice to Exalted, and our page calls leveling them one of the most expensive habits in the game and one of the best investments. The plan lists on the page run from the three Staff of Herding recipes that open the secret levels, through dozens of legendary plans such as Cain's Honor and Captain Crimson's Attire, to the Exalted rare weapon and armor plans and the Jeweler's Star and Radiant designs. Crafting the Hellfire Ring is its own project, covered in the items guide.

Elite affixes: what the blue and yellow names mean

Every rare and champion pack carries traits, and the traits unlock by level, so the fights get more complicated exactly as your character gets stronger. Our monster traits page describes each one; the table picks out the ones that decide whether you live.

The page's warnings about pairs are worth memorising. Arcane Enchanted with Vortex drags you into the beams, Horde with Arcane Enchanted or Frozen leaves no room to move, and Molten's death explosion can one-shot a moderately geared character even after the fight is won. Frozen Pulse and Vampiric are listed without unlock levels.

Followers: hired help for solo play

Followers replace the paid mercenaries of Diablo 2 with three free companions who join through quests, wait in town when dismissed and, if their health hits zero, rest and return rather than dying. They only work in single-player games. The Followers page covers each one's quest, weapons and skill picks.

Frequently asked questions

What difficulty should I farm?

Expert, according to our farming page, until you can one-shot everything on Master; then Torment I for the expansion's set items, and upward from there whenever a tier stops being a challenge.

Why have I not seen a legendary in hours?

The Safety Net only starts after roughly four hours without one, and then doubles your chance hourly. It counts real play, not idle time, and legendary plans do not reset it.

Can I bring a Follower into a group?

No. Followers are for single-player games only. All three are recruited by the end of Act II, the Templar and Scoundrel in Act I and the Enchantress in Act II.