How to level up fast in Diablo 4 Season 9: Best XP farming methods

A new Diablo 4 season means new builds to try and experiment with. Unfortunately, it also means you would have to level up quickly to try out all the new, exciting additions. Like previous seasons Vampiric and Boss Powers, Season 9: Sins of the Horadrim adds Horadric Spells. These are unique, customizable elemental powers that add new ways to craft builds and play Diablo 4.

However, before you can do that, you have to reach level 60 and unlock the paragon board. It’s also when you can switch to Torment difficulty and start carving your main build. Given how Blizzard makes class and balance changes every season, your leveling experience may vary depending on your approach. 

As such, in this guide, we outline the best ways to level up fast in Diablo 4 Season 9.

As always, you may want to start at Normal instead of Hard difficulty. It’s easier to clear enemies, and you will progress relatively quickly. Since you won't unlock class specializations until you reach level 15, it’s best to play safe until then.

On the other hand, if you’re playing with friends or have hired a Mercenary, you could switch to Hard difficulty for that extra 75% XP boost. Unlike Season 8, gear drops have improved in Season 9, so you shouldn’t have trouble obtaining legendaries early on and pushing through Helltides and other content.

Early on, you should focus on completing Grim Favors and claiming Whisper Caches. Aside from massive XP gains, these will get you Nightmare Sigils. Nightmare Dungeons are the best source of XP in Diablo 4 Season 9. However, to access them, you’ll need Nightmare Sigils. 

Starting Season 9: Sins of the Horadrim, questline will unlock the Horadric Focus, where you can track your Season Reputation. The rewards include material and gear caches that should come in handy early on. Furthermore, progressing the seasonal questline will grant you access to the new activity, Horadric Strongrooms. Most importantly, you'll unlock Horadric Spells to make your build more powerful.

Like always, you would want to upgrade your Healing Potions when you reach level 10. Furthermore, upon reaching level 20, start crafting and using Basic Elixirs, which grant a 5% XP boost. It’s best to have one active at all times when farming any activity in Diablo 4.

​​The level 30-50 path in Diablo 4 Season 9 is much smoother, especially if you have unlocked appropriate Horadric Spells and farmed Nightmare Sigils.

From level 30-50, it's best to farm Nightmare Dungeons on repeat, as it will grant you the most amount of XP with the new Forgotten Wisdom Affix. 

This new Affix allows enemies to drop experience orbs, which grant bonus XP. Therefore, more enemy density means you can earn additional XP through Nightmare Dungeons. Not every Nightmare Sigil will have the Forgotten Wisdom Affix, so it's best to farm as many of them as possible.

The Forgotten Wisdom Affix significantly improves the leveling experience in Diablo 4 Season 9. You can dial it up further by running the new Escalating Nightmare activity, which includes three back-to-back nightmare dungeon runs with increasing difficulty.

Like past seasons, you can always switch to Helltides for a change of pace. Likewise, Whispers are still great for earning massive chunks of XP.

In Diablo 4 Season 9, you unlock Smoldering Ashes by completing Seasonal Objectives. Like Season 8, they are part of Chapter Rewards. You can use Smoldering Ashes to upgrade Seasonal Blessings, which includes XP boost from kills. Additionally, completing Seasonal Objectives will grant you Item Caches with valuable build-altering materials and gear.

Your Diablo 4 leveling experience can improve significantly with the appropriate leveling build. The meta shifts every season, with some classes and builds becoming better at XP farming than clearing endgame stuff. As such, we recommend picking an efficient leveling build to reach level 60 as quickly as possible.

It will let you filter and sort out your build requirements early on. Whether it's Aspects, Affixes, Legendaries, Horadric Spells, or Socketable Items, you can start farming these straight away without wasting precious hours deciding which route to take, as your leveling build wouldn't matter once you head into the endgame. 

Some of the best leveling builds in Diablo 4 Season 9 are Hydra (Sorcerer), Minion (Necromancer), and Quill Volley (Spiritborn). Sorcerer has got a new Ophidian Iris Unique, which you can use to spam Hydra and deal tons of area of effect (AoE) damage to enemies. It’s great for wiping out both early and endgame stuff, though you’ll probably not get the new Unique immediately. 

Blizzard has buffed basic attack damage in Season 9, which means most basic attack builds are potent in the early game. Builds like Arc Lash for Sorcerer and Frenzy for Barbarian are some great examples of that.

For Necromancers, Blood Surge remains unaffected from last season. Its AoE damage output is decent enough to carry you through early-game content. Likewise, Spiritborn’s Quill Volley can still wipe out groups of enemies and bosses with its AoE and single-target damage without relying on RNG-based aspects. 

Once you have reached level 50, it’s time to start clearing Strongholds.

Strongholds are the best source of XP after you cross level 50. They spawn tons of enemies and provide a much-needed boost in challenges from other activities in the game. There are 18 Strongholds in Diablo 4, so you have plenty of opportunities to gain XP and reach level 60. 

Since XP gains from Strongholds remain the same across all difficulties, we recommend switching from hard to normal. It will let you clear strongholds and earn XP quickly.

That sums up our guide on how to level up fast in Diablo 4 Season 9. For more on the game, stick around on esports.gg.