Diablo 4: How to Power Level from 1 to 60 in Just 3 Hours with Chaotic Rifts

If you've ever dreamed of flying through the early grind in Diablo 4, this is your season to do it. With the arrival of chaotic rifts tied to Hell Tides, players are discovering that level 1 to 60 in as little as three hours isn't just possible-it's efficient, fun, and get more D4 Gold & Diablo 4 Items easy. But there's a catch: you need to follow the right steps, avoid common mistakes, and know when to push difficulty and when to hold back.

This guide will walk you through the entire process, from your very first steps at level 1 to your first legendary chaotic uniques in Torment difficulty.

Step 1: Don't Forget the Basics

Before diving into rifts and demons, set yourself up properly.

 Summon your pet. This tiny step saves endless frustration, as your pet automatically picks up cinders for you. Forgetting it means constantly backtracking.

 Hire your mercenary. Teleport to the den and recruit either Variana for a movement speed bonus or Subu to reveal enemies on the minimap. Both choices drastically improve efficiency, so don't skip it.

These may seem minor, but shaving seconds off repeated runs adds up fast when your goal is a sub-three-hour sprint to level 60.

Step 2: Start Your Seasonal Questline Immediately

One of the biggest pitfalls players make is ignoring the seasonal questline until later. Don't. Completing these quests early grants reputation, which in turn unlocks chaotic powers. Without them, you'll be underpowered and fall behind.

Reputation is earned naturally while progressing: closing rifts, slaying chaos demons, and farming Hell Tides all feed into your rep. But you'll want to unlock the reputation board as soon as possible so every action starts snowballing your power gains.

Step 3: Enter the Hell Tides and Find Chaotic Rifts

Now the real leveling engine begins: Chaotic Rifts inside Hell Tides.

 Rifts can spawn randomly as you ride through Hell Tides.

 They vary in quality (magic, rare, epic) and offer bonus XP, reputation, Nightmare Dungeon sigils, or other loot.

 Rewards are displayed at the top of the rift before you engage, so you'll always know if it's worth your time.

Here's the catch: these rifts hit extremely hard at early levels. From level 1 to around 15-20 (25 for Necromancers who unlock their golem later), stick to normal difficulty. Trying to brute force "hard" early on is a trap-you'll get nuked, lose cinders, and waste time running back.

Once you're around level 15-20, bump it up to hard difficulty. This strikes the perfect balance of XP efficiency and survivability. Ignore Expert and Penitent difficulties entirely-they slow you down, cost cinders, and make farming miserable.

Step 4: Prioritize Key Powers

As you gain chaotic powers from reputation and seasonal rewards, make smart choices.

For Druids, the standout early power is Invigorating Attacks: every 5 seconds, your next basic skill generates an extra 50% of your maximum resource. Combined with Accelerating Chaos (cooldown reduction) and Erupting Chaos (random bursts of damage), you suddenly have near-infinite uptime on both resource and abilities.

Every class has its own priority picks, but the general rule is:

 Invest in powers you'll carry into endgame.

 Skip temporary filler nodes like Erupting Chaos if you don't plan to scale them later.

Step 5: Infernal Hordes and Fleeting Compasses

You'll collect Fleeting Compasses from your seasonal journey, the reputation board, and Hell Tides. These unlock Infernal Hordes, and you should enter them immediately.

Infernal Hordes offer:

 Massive XP boosts.

 Extra reputation.

 A final chest of experience that scales with the ether you collect.

Don't sit on your compasses. They're tuned for pre-Torment tiers, and burning through them at this stage keeps your leveling momentum high.

Step 6: The Mid-Game Grind (Level 35-50)

By the mid-30s, you'll start feeling the XP curve slow slightly. At this point:

 Clear Strongholds for quick XP spikes.

 Continue alternating Hell Tides and Infernal Hordes.

 Use Nightmare Dungeon keys with chaotic rift affixes whenever possible.

Nightmare Dungeons with rift affixes are jackpot runs. Many contain multiple rifts-sometimes ten back-to-back-offering ludicrous XP and loot. If one of these overlaps with a Grim Favor, run it instantly. The Tree of Whispers rewards stack beautifully with rift bonuses.

Step 7: The Tree of Whispers-Choose Wisely

When turning in favors at the Tree of Whispers, resist the temptation to grab rings or amulets. Here's why:

 The Tree can drop chaotic uniques, but only from armor slots (boots, pants, gloves, chest, helmet).

 Rings and amulets cannot roll chaotic, making them a waste of your reward.

Always gamble on armor slots to maximize your chance at game-changing uniques.

Step 8: The Torment Transition

By around the 3-hour mark, you should be pushing Torment One. Here's how to handle the jump:

 Save your Opals until Torment One. Gambling before this tier is inefficient, as Torment unlocks access to greater affixed weapons and armor.

 Begin spending Infernal Warp, the currency earned from rifts and chaos-affixed Nightmare Dungeons. Focus on powers you'll keep into the endgame (for example, Perch the Infected and Overabundance on Druid).

 Avoid wasting points on temporary powers you'll abandon.

Mercenaries also scale with this transition. Hold off on opening mercenary caches until level 60-otherwise, you risk pulling under-leveled gear instead of guaranteed 750 ilvl rewards.

Step 9: Farming Bartuk and Beyond

Your next big goal is summoning Bartuk through Infernal Hordes. To do this, you'll need to farm 666 ether. Bartuk drops legendary powers that serve as your biggest raw damage boosts moving into endgame.

For example: a Pulverize Druid can gain an additional 75% overpower damage from Bartuk's unique, instantly skyrocketing boss DPS.

Once you've secured your first Bartuk kill, the true grind into Torment Two and beyond begins.

Step 10: Quick Wrap-Up

Let's condense the entire process:

1.Level 1-15/20 (25 Necro): Stay on normal difficulty. Don't overreach.

2.Level 20-60: Switch to hard and stay there. Avoid Expert or higher-it only slows you down.

3.Seasonal Questline: Do it immediately to unlock chaotic powers and reputation.

4.Hell Tides & Chaotic Rifts: Main XP engine. Focus here as much as possible.

5.Infernal Hordes: Use Fleeting Compasses right away for XP and reputation boosts.

6.Mid-Game: Strongholds and chaotic-affixed Nightmare Dungeons fuel levels 35-50.

7.Tree of Whispers: Always gamble armor slots for chaotic unique potential.

8.Torment One Transition: Save Opals and mercenary rewards until this point. Start gambling for greater affixed gear.

9.Bartuk Farming: Push Infernal Hordes for ether, summon Bartuk, and unlock legendary powers.

Follow this path, and hitting 60 in three hours isn't a dream-it's the new standard.

Final Thoughts

What makes this season of Diablo 4 special is how chaotic rifts have transformed leveling. They inject variety, rewards, and pacing that makes the grind exhilarating instead of repetitive. The danger of overtuned enemies keeps you on edge, but with the right planning, you're not punished-you're rewarded with faster XP, stronger loot, and earlier access to endgame systems.

MMOexp Diablo 4 Team