Diablo 3 Leveling Guide – Fastest Way to 60 and Inferno

Here are some of the key components I’ve found, regardless of class, that have helped me level every class to 60 and get to Inferno, that will help you too if you follow them.

* Don’t be Afraid to Repeat Quests or Acts

Using this experience chart below, it is perfectly fine and can help you out majorly and save you time in getting to 60 and Inferno.  Nobody wants to be so weak that they end up corpse running their way through most acts, simply leveling or spending time in acts that are easier can net you more gear and more levels which will make you stronger and give you access to more skills.  Click on the link to expand and view this if you want or I’ll give you a summary of maximums here so you don’t stay in an act too long.

For Normal Mode, you’ll want to leave Act 1 by level 20, Act 2 by 22, Act 3 by 29, and At 4 by 30.  If you stay in any of these acts longer than this you won’t be getting 100% exp per kill.  Now sometimes that’s not all that’s important.  You can get reduced experience but kill faster if the next act is too hard.  Basically, when your bar stops moving it’s time to leave.  So here’s the longest I would stay in Normal Mode and I’d only stay if you’re having problems beating an act or having problems in nightmare: Act 1 by level 24, Act 2 by level 26, Act 3 by level 33, and Act 4 by level 34.  When you stay in the acts in normal make sure you’re in the end quest areas and not the beginning as the enemies will be typically higher in level as you progress through the act.  So if you stay in Act 3 till level 33, repeat the quests toward the end.

For the rest of this I’ll give you the maximum level it’s worth staying in each act till.

Nightmare: Act 1 level 45, Act 2 level 46, Act 3 level 53 act 4 level 54.

Hell: Act 1 level 60 and you can level to 60 in any acts.  I prefer to level to 60 in Act 2 or Act 3 but it completely depends on your gear, your skill, and what you can handle.

If you get to a point in game where the act is too hard go back one act and level up again and collect gear.  Don’t go too easy or you won’t get enough experience, if you decide to repeat content do it so it’s as challenging as you can handle it.

* Join a Co-Op Game

In addition to repeating content, I find that if you join a co-op game you inadvertently end up repeating content and it’s usually easier together as a group.  It’s perfectly acceptable to level through co-op games and repeat content and in fact it’s more enjoyable.

Joining a co-op game for hard areas and bosses you’re stuck at can help you get passed those bosses.  So the key to get to 60 and Inferno fast is do not waste time and make things as easy as possible.  Joining a co-op game can make things as easy as possible and save you lots of corpse runs.

* Don’t be Afraid to Skip Elites/Rares/Champions

My first character to Inferno took me over 60 hours, my second took under 29 hours.  A huge difference in this was running back to my body or dying.  With my first character I thought I would beat every champion or elite pack.  While it’s fun for a challenge, keep in mind that once you’re 60 and in Inferno the gear is so much better that it’s not even worth fighting these elite/champion packs if they are going to take up too much time.  So skip them.

There are a few ways to do this.  Run them off in a different direction than you’re going and die.  Then when you resurrect don’t go back to that area go around it.  Or you can run through the enemies and not look back using all your skills to get away and into the next zone, waypoint, or event, basically outrun and ignore them.  This can get dangerous but with the right skill setup most classes can just run away from stuff using potions and abilities.  Your other option is to just leave and resume game or remake your game.  Elite packs are random spawn and it’s rare you’ll get the same ones in the same spots with the same skills a second time.  So just leave and resume and go on like nothing happened.  The time savings are miraculous.

* Get Gear off the Auction House It’s Cheaper Than You Think!

I made this mistake on my Barbarian.  When I beat Diablo on Hell I had a lot of items that were level 40 still when I was level 60.  Don’t do this, upgrade your gear periodically for your level and use the auction house if you have to.  If you’re getting upgrades off Vendors in your act, your gear is way under par.  Most great gear is under 5k per slot and sometimes cheaper.  Set your filter and buy stuff.  Weapons are so important that you should get a new one every 5 levels up to level 50 and then every 2-3 levels check the auction house after to upgrade, spend more money on a weapon if you have to.  I went around Hell with a 300 damage 1 hand weapon when there were cheap ones on the auction house for 600, this was a serious upgrade and made my life easier.

* Don’t Be Afraid to Reconfigure Your Characters Gear and Skills for Bosses

In Hell on my Witch Doctor there were a few bosses that would just one hit me because I only had 26,000 health.  I think I was doing maybe 15,000 damage in the toolbar at this time.  I went to the Auction House and put stats in for Intelligence/Vitality on all my slots and bought stuff that added more health than I had.  At the end of the session I had spent maybe 50k but had all new pieces of gear.  I kept my old set with all the damage, but when I equipped my new Vitality set of gear I had 43,000 health points and did only 9,000 damage.  Guess what?  I beat the bosses and it was a piece of cake.  Damage is not king in Hell and Inferno, surviving is.  Keep this in mind when leveling.  Don’t be afraid to get a Vitality set or incorporate Vitality into your setup over damage.

* Get a Weapon with Life Steal

This is a mandatory requirement for all the characters I level.  Get a weapon that has life steal so when you attack you gain life, it’s very simple concept.  Damage does no good if you die every pull.