Diablo 4 has a new difficulty system different from the previous titles which may have you asking how to change World Tier. Instead of a bajillion difficulties and torments like in Diablo 3, we have four World Tiers to choose from. Regardless of whether you’re looking to make the game easier or harder for better rewards.
By default, players will only have the first two available which are Adventurer(1) and Veteran(2). While you won’t get increased legendary item drops on Veteran, you will at least get an experience and gold boost. But, if you’re looking to speedrun through the early levels, some people recommend doing it on Adventurer.
How to Change World Tier in Diablo 4
Changing the difficulty works slightly differently if you’re playing solo or in a party. Fortunately, it’s still simple regardless of which situation you’re in. First, we’ll discuss how to do it if you haven’t left the character select menu yet. All you need to do is use the “Change World Tier” button on the right side of your screen.
This will reveal a new window where you can see the modifiers for each difficulty and decide which one you want to use. Afterward, simply start the game as normal with the tier you’ve selected. However, if you’re already in Diablo 4 and made it past the character select screen, there is still a way.
This statue is a little before the church if you head up and to the right from the waypoint.
Even if you’re not changing the difficulty often, you still don’t want to have to return to the character select menu every time. The second method is by teleporting to Kyovashad and visiting the World Tier Statue. Unfortunately, this is the only major town in Diablo 4 that has the statue. So you’ll need to teleport over there.
Interacting with the World Tier Statue will reveal the same window as on the character select screen. If you’re not in a party, you can click the difficulty and confirm it with the “Select” button below. This will then reveal a confirmation window to make sure you’re okay with the following happening:
- Losing all active portals
- Resetting incomplete Whisper progress (endgame content)
- Closing active Nightmare Dungeons (endgame content)
The vote is a good way to make sure your entire party is ready to swap. Especially if they have a portal they don’t want to reset.
Once you press the “Accept” button the difficulty will then change. You may even notice that the statue will change in appearance. Each World Tier has its own look with it getting a bit more grim as you increase it.
While you can follow most of the same instructions if you’re playing in a party, it does work a little differently. You’ll need to make sure your entire party is alive and at the Kyovashad World Tier Statue. Upon selecting a new difficulty, everyone in the party will have to agree to the change in a quick vote.
How to Unlock World Tiers in Diablo 4
You’ll need to reach the higher World Tiers to experience certain new content.
Playing on the locked World Tiers is a great way to increase the challenge and unlock other item types too. Such as getting stronger Sacred items and even Unique item drops if you’re extra lucky. Not to mention Nightmare Sigils for when you’re pursuing endgame content related to the paragon levels.
If you want to unlock World Tier 3 (Nightmare), you’ll need to complete the campaign first. This reveals a bunch of new content as well as an opportunity to unlock World Tier 3. You’ll need to complete the Capstone Dungeon in Kyovashad which the game recommends being level 50 for.
This is where the Capstone Dungeon is for unlocking Torment.
You can try to complete the first Capstone Dungeon even if you’re below the recommended level but don’t be surprised if you struggle. At least the death penalty in Diablo 4 isn’t anything too punishing. Regardless, once you succeed in clearing the level 50 Capstone Dungeon, you’ll be able to play on World Tier 3.
Unlocking World Tier 4 (Torment) is similar but you’ll need to finish a different Capstone Dungeon instead. This is the recommended level 70 one in the northeastern Dry Steppes region. By playing on World Tier 4, you’ll start to get Ancestral items and likely a higher chance for Unique ones.
Here’s one example of many Diablo 4 unique items you can get. This one is for the Necromancer.
That’s all there is to this in-depth guide on how to change World Tier in Diablo 4. Fortunately, it’s relatively simple despite the process of unlocking the later ones taking a while. Even if you’re trying to speedrun the campaign, it should still take a bit.
Jeff is a journalist with over 10 years of experience writing, streaming, and making content about video games. With an associate degree in journalism, he’s a sucker for RPGs, survival games, roguelikes, and more.
Nikki_boagreis
Sunday 11th of June 2023
Interesting, i kinda just thought World Tier was what server you was playing on. I guess like alpha, beta or gamma. I thought World Tier was if you wanted to play with friends you have to be in the same World Tier.