Knowing the best equipment to wear for the early game in Diablo 4 (D4) can provide a smoother leveling experience. Learn more about the best items and gear to wear in the early game and which affixes and stats to look out for!

Best Equipment for Early Game

Tips and Strategies for Early Game Gearing
Prioritize Gear with Higher Rarity and Item Power Watch for Skill Boosts and Primary Stat Affixes Save Unused Legendaries for Aspect Extraction Weapon Choice Depends on Class and Aspects

Prioritize Gear with Higher Rarity and Item Power

While leveling your character, one general rule of thumb is to prioritize weapons, armor, and jewelry with higher rarity and item power. Rare and Legendary gear often features more affixes and higher item power, which increases the range and values of the stats your affixes can roll.

Watch for Skill Boosts and Primary Stat Affixes

When comparing two items of similar rarities and item level, we recommend prioritizing gear that provides boosts to your class's primary stat and bonuses to your build's preferred skills, as these two affix types will generally enhance your damage output the most.

Aside from these two affixes, we also recommend watching out for effects that provide bonuses to Movement Speed, Cooldown Reduction, and your build's damage types to make your progression much smoother.

Save Legendaries for Aspect Extraction

If you find Legendaries that are worse than your current gear or swap your current Legendaries for better items, remember that you can extract their Aspects at the Occultist. Extracting Aspects allows you to store a Legendary item's unique effect and imprint them onto better equipment later in the game.

However, note that extracting Aspects will permanently destroy the original item and that you can only imprint an extracted Aspect once.

All Occultist Features

Weapon Choice Depends on Class and Aspects

When choosing between different weapon types, first look into your class's specific weapon-based skills and mechanics to determine which fits better into your build. For example, the Barbarian's Arsenal System lets them select expertise for a weapon type and gain unique bonuses based on the weapon chosen.

In addition, note that Aspects found and imprinted on two-handed weapons are 100% more effective. This characteristic makes players choose between having one powerful Aspect on a two-handed weapon or the utility of having two different Aspects on two separate weapons.

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