Diablo 4 introduces players to an expansive world comprised of several regions, and a larger story told in several Acts that spans the open world of Sanctuary. Whether you blast through the story first, or take your time and delve into optional Dungeons and Side Quests before confronting Lilith and completing the main story, there's much more waiting for you in the Post Game — but it may not be obvious where all the new features and challenges are hiding.
No matter where or when you begin these new adventures, we have all the important info you'll need to start the grind toward level 100 and becoming the strongest adventurer in the land. Below you'll find the most important new features that become available to you after beating the main story.
Tree of Whispers
You'll encounter the Tree of Whispers during your time in Diablo 4's main story, but it still has a part to play after the campaign, becoming a recurring font of increased experience gain and loot that you can take part in again and again.
After the story, the Tree of Whispers will issue a variety of bounties, ranging from everything from Dungeons to World Bosses and more. Completing them will earn you Grim Favors, and once you've accumulated ten, you can return to the tree to choose from one of several rewards that can be very worthwhile. Just remember, these bounties are timed, so don't leave one half finished! You can view even more tips and info in our Tree of Whispers Guide.
Gaining Paragon Points
While you technically don't have to complete the main story to activate this feature, it's likely that you may reach level 50 after finishing all of the Main Acts. At level 50, the Paragon Board will become available to your character, allowing for further customization outside of your main Skills. Each board contains various types of tiles that can offer anything from basic stat boosts to new Legendary Powers.
Leveling up after this point will earn you Paragon Points, and you'll be able to build out your Starting Board towards 8 other Paragon Boards that all hold different bonuses. Which path you build out toward may largely depend on the skills you utilize, so be sure to spend some time carefully scanning the board to plan your priority list. See more of our tips for planning in our Paragon Points and Boards Explainer.
Capstone Dungeons
If you thought the story of Diablo 4 was over after the final Act, guess again! Diablo 4 has introduced a set of challenging dungeon events called Capstone Dungeons, which can only be attempted once your Character has reached specific power levels. By reaching level 50, level 75, and level 100, you'll unlock access to these respective challenging Dungeons and their Bosses.
Capstone Dungeons are important not only for continuing the story, but for unlocking new events and features that would otherwise remain hidden. The first Cathedral of Light Capstone Dungeon in particular – available only at level 50 – is the only way you can increase the World Tier Difficulty and gain access to harder challenges and features that won't appear otherwise that are mentioned below.
Increasing the World Tier
Depending on how fast you wanted to clear the story, it's possible you completed the main Acts on World Tier 1, or you may have bumped things up to World Tier 2 in Kyovashad's World Tier Statue for a more difficult adventure and a chance at more experience and loot. Things will only get harder from here on out, but you can't just flip a switch to increase the risks and rewards.
Instead, to reach World Tier 3's Nightmare difficulty, you'll have to complete the first Capstone Dungeon that unlocks at level 50, and you need to beat it on Tier 2's difficulty. This is the only way to cause new events to appear, like the Helltide Events and Nightmare Sigils, as well as chances to gain new tiers of loot like Sacred and Unique Items. Getting to World Tier 4 will be even harder, as you'll need to complete the second Capstone Dungeon at level 75 while still on World Tier 3 difficulty! You check out our guide to all the World Tier Bonuses and Challenges.
Helltide Events
One of the more alluring events unlocked by World Tier 3's difficulty mode, huge swaths of Diablo 4's open world will become host to demonic invasions, transforming areas into dangerous zones marked in red on your map for an hour every so often, and in different parts of the world. While active, your goal is to fight off as many demons as possible and participate in Events to earn unique materials not found elsewhere.
Enemies you defeat, chests you open, and plants you harvest can contain new items like Forgotten Souls, Fiend Roses, and Abberant Cinders that are extremely important for upgrading your best gear to become even better. You can check our Helltide World Event Guide for more tips on how to make the most of your time in these areas.
Perhaps even more important are the abundance of special chests that only appear in Helltides, known as Tortured Gifts. These will require the Abberant Cinders you gain while completing events in a Helltide, and can offer you exceptional gear. The most sought after are Helltide Mystery Chests called Tortured Gift of Mysteries, which have a chance of spawning in a few different locations in each Helltide Zone.
Nightmare Dungeons and Glyphs
The last big feature that unlocks at World Tier 3 is the ability to gain Nightmare Sigils and access the extremely difficult Nightmare Dungeons. As these Sigils start to drop, you'll find that they correspond to a specific dungeon in the world, and each Sigil also has a list of different positive and negative modifiers that will be active in the Nightmare version of the dungeon. Be sure to view our Guide to Nightmare Dungeons to learn more.
These dungeons can be incredibly challenging, as you might expect, and only allow for a finite amount of revives, but the rewards will be great. You'll even be able to start Salvaging Sigils to create even tougher dungeons, which can help earn Glyphs.
Glyphs are essentially Perks that can be added to specific pieces of your Paragon Board, and will become even more empowered based on nearby perks selected close to the socket. You can view our guide to How Glyphs Work for more information.