As you progress in Diablo 3 and the more you level up and find better gear, you will soon realize what a wrecking force you have become. The game will become super easy and probably not fun anymore. Not only is the loss of challenge there, but you will be missing out on potential rewards if you keep playing at such an easy difficulty. Let us see how you can make Diablo 3 harder.
You can make Diablo 3 harder primarily by increasing the difficulty. The difficulties range from Normal all the way to Torment 16. You can start playing more Greater Rifts on higher difficulties. Begin Hardcore Mode, where you only have one life.
You impose many other challenges on yourself to change the way you play Diablo 3 if you think it is too easy for you. Let’s take a look at some of them.
1. Increase Difficulty
When beginning a new game of Diablo III, you can select the difficulty level you would like to play on. The default difficulty levels available are Normal, Hard, and Expert. The Master difficulty is unlocked after completing the game with any of your characters, while the Torment difficulty becomes available once any of your characters reaches level 60.
During gameplay, you have the ability to adjust the difficulty level on the fly by using the START button on consoles or by opening the Game Menu on PC and selecting “LOWER DIFFICULTY” or “RAISE DIFFICULTY.” Keep in mind that there are limitations to how much you can adjust the difficulty level without having to recreate your game.
As you progress to higher difficulties, the monsters become tougher, and their attacks become more devastating. However, the rewards for completing the game on higher difficulty levels also increase, with greater amounts of gold, experience, and items waiting for you.
Difficulty Levels
Below are all the changes each difficulty brings to the table and the reward bonuses that you get:
- Normal: 100% Health, 100% Damage, 0% extra gold bonus, 0% extra XP bonus
- Hard: 200% Health, 130% Damage, 75% extra gold bonus, 75% extra XP bonus
- Expert: 320% Health, 189% Damage, 100% extra gold bonus, 100% extra XP bonus
- Master: 512% Health, 273% Damage, 200% extra gold bonus, 200% extra XP bonus
- Torment I: 819% Health, 396% Damage, 300% extra gold bonus, 300% extra XP bonus
- Torment II: 1311% Health, 575% Damage, 400% extra gold bonus, 400% extra XP bonus
- Torment III: 2097% Health, 833% Damage, 550% extra gold bonus, 550% extra XP bonus
- Torment IV: 3355% Health, 1208% Damage, 800% extra gold bonus, 800% extra XP bonus
- Torment V: 5369% Health, 1752% Damage, 1150% extra gold bonus, 1150% extra XP bonus
- Torment VI: 8590% Health, 2540% Damage, 1600% extra gold bonus, 1600% extra XP bonus
- Torment VII: 18985% Health, 3604% Damage, 1850% extra gold bonus, 1900% extra XP bonus
- Torment VIII: 41625% Health, 5097% Damage, 2150% extra gold bonus, 2425% extra XP bonus
- Torment IX: 91260% Health, 7208% Damage, 2500% extra gold bonus, 3100% extra XP bonus
- Torment X: 200082% Health, 10194% Damage, 2900% extra gold bonus, 4000% extra XP bonus
- Torment XI: 438669% Health, 14416% Damage, 3350% extra gold bonus, 5000% extra XP bonus
- Torment XII: 961759% Health, 20387% Damage, 3900% extra gold bonus, 6400% extra XP bonus
- Torment XIII: 2108607% Health, 28832% Damage, 4500% extra gold bonus, 8200% extra XP bonus
- Torment XIV: 2889383% Health, 40774% Damage, 5200% extra gold bonus, 10500% extra XP bonus
- Torment XV: 6334823% Health, 57664% Damage, 6050% extra gold bonus, 13400% extra XP bonus
- Torment XVI: 13888770% Health, 64725% Damage, 7000% extra gold bonus, 17000% extra XP bonus
2. Play More Greater Rifts
Greater Rifts present an additional challenge to players who seek to push beyond the highest difficulty levels of Torment in Diablo III. To gain entry to a Greater Rift, players must first obtain a Greater Rift Keystones by defeating any normal Rift Guardian.
Players can access Greater Rifts of any rank that is equal to or lower than those they have already unlocked. The difficulty level must be selected from a list before the rift begins.
Greater Rifts include a progression bar that fills up with each monster you defeat, with elite monsters and bosses providing more progression points. The primary objective is to fill the progression bar and defeat the Rift Guardian within 15 minutes.
Completing a Greater Rift before the time expires will allow you to unlock higher difficulty levels, and if you manage to complete it exceptionally quickly, you may even skip up to nine difficulty/rank levels.
The difficulty levels of Greater Rifts become progressively more challenging as you move up the ranks, with difficulty unrelated to standard difficulty settings such as Master and Torment:
- Rank 10 is roughly equivalent to Torment I
- Rank 25 is equivalent to Torment VI
- Rank 30 is equivalent to Torment VII
- Rank 45 is equivalent to Torment X
- Rank 60 is equivalent to Torment XIII
- The maximum difficulty level is Unlimited.
The reward for defeating the Rift Guardian increases as you progress to higher ranks, with each rank increasing monster life by an average of 17% in addition to damage.
Greater Rifts also provides access to unique legendary gems, which you can acquire by completing the Rift at certain levels. Socketing these gems into your jewelry offers powerful bonuses, and you can level them up by completing higher-ranked Greater Rifts.
3. Hardcore Mode
If you want to take things up a notch, try playing Hardcore mode. In this mode, your character has only one life. If your character dies, they are permanently dead. This mode can add an extra layer of difficulty and challenge to the game, requiring careful play and strategy.
To play Hardcore mode, select it from the game’s options menu when starting a new character. Keep in mind that Hardcore mode is not for everyone, as it can be frustrating to lose a character you’ve invested a lot of time and effort into.
4. Play with a Group
Playing with a group can make the game more challenging, as monsters will have more health and deal more damage. You can also coordinate your attacks and strategies to make the game more challenging. Playing with friends can also make the game more enjoyable, as you can share the experience and work together to overcome challenges.
To play with a group, create a game and invite your friends to join. You can also join a public game to play with other players from around the world.
5. Challenges
There are different challenges that you can take up on your own. Some of them we will discuss below:
Gear Restrictions
Another way to increase the difficulty is by restricting your gear. You can try limiting yourself to certain types of gear or equipment, such as playing without legendary or set items. This restriction can be applied to a single item slot, such as gloves or boots, or to all gear slots.
You can also restrict yourself to specific types of gear or equipment, such as playing with only rare items. This will make it harder to find the gear you need to progress, and you’ll have to rely on your skills and strategy to overcome challenges.
Set Personal Challenges
If you’re looking for a more personalized challenge, try setting personal challenges for yourself. This can be anything from completing a certain level or boss fight without using certain abilities or items to clearing an entire area without taking any damage.
You can also try completing the game without using any items or abilities that aren’t essential to your build. This can be a fun and rewarding way to play the game, and it will require careful planning and strategy to succeed.
Diablo 3 is a difficult game, but it becomes relatively easy once you start to make progress. However, the game has many ways to increase the difficulties, and if you feel like you are bulldozing through this, you should crank the difficulty to the max.