One of the main draws of a game like Diablo 4 is the ability to grind through the story on multiple different characters with all their many builds.
The game launched with 10 character slots, so players can do just that. But for those who want to get right into the good stuff and not deal with the campaign storyline to do so, the grind can be a bit of a slog.
Thankfully, players can skip the campaign entirely and get right into the endgame goodness by exploring the massive open world of Sanctuary, including its dungeons, Strongholds, and PvP arenas. But there’s a catch.
How to skip the campaign in Diablo 4
Not so fast, gamers. You can’t just skip the campaign right off the bat. What were you thinking? If you want to skip the campaign, you’ll need to play through it in its entirety first. Then we can begin to discuss the skip campaign option.
Once you’ve completed the campaign with one character, you can skip the campaign via a checkmark option on the last page of your new character’s creation screen. Doing so has many benefits, especially in seasonal content. But in the Eternal realm, you may enjoy the campaign and want to rewatch the cutscenes—and that’s okay too!
On this final page, not only can you skip the campaign, but you can also choose to play on Hardcore difficulty. When you’ve made your decision, you can select Skip Campaign, and you will be thrown into Sanctuary’s open world.
The topic was brought up again thanks to a video released by Blizzard in April 2023 highlighting customization in the game, which has since been released. During the video, the character select screen was shown, and on the right side of the screen, underneath the Change World Tier option, was a Skip Campaign button.
On April 24, Diablo’s community director confirmed finishing the campaign only once will unlock the option to skip on subsequent characters. But that’s the main prerequisite to skip the campaign missions, allowing players to enter the open world from the jump.
Blizzard actually confirmed story skips in Diablo 4 were coming in an interview with Wowhead back in December 2022, saying it “thinks players should experience the story at least once but after that, they should be free to choose what they want to do during the leveling process.” That’s where the non-linear story comes into play.
The option to skip the campaign shouldn’t come as a surprise to many since Diablo 3 has had this feature for quite some time. But it’s always good to have confirmation, especially for the most dedicated ARPG players who are looking to grind endgame content on several of the game’s five starting classes.
Now that Diablo 4 is out, the campaign-skipping can begin. But make sure to first enjoy the incredible cinematics that the game has to offer along the way, and get ready for Vessel of Hatred when it releases in October 2024.
