T
The Daily Insight

Diablo 3 when to change difficulty

Author

Mia Kelly

Published Mar 26, 2026

How do I change the difficulty in Diablo 3? Once you’re playing, you can adjust Diablo III’s difficulty on the fly with the START button (consoles) or by opening the Game Menu (PC, default key “ESCAPE”) and selecting “LOWER DIFFICULTY” or “RAISE DIFFICULTY.”

There are other answers below:

When you first log in, click on Game Settings. Change difficulty to T1, set it to public game, and then set the type to Rift (If you have sufficient keystones) or monster slaying if not. Then click Join Game. The public game matchmaker will slot you into a party that’s already formed in most cases. And you can then proceed to run with them and go wild.

In order to change the difficulty level back to normal, you have to go to your Character selection screen, select the quest/act and then use the drop down menu in the bottom left hand corner to change the difficulty (re: screenshot). Show activity on this post. Near the bottom you can change difficulty.

You’ll unlock Master difficulty when any of your characters completes the game, and Torment difficulty when any of your characters reaches level 60. Once you’re playing, you can adjust Diablo III’s difficulty on the fly with the START button (consoles) or by opening the Game Menu (PC, default key “ESCAPE”) and selecting “LOWER DIFFICULTY” or “RAISE DIFFICULTY.”

On PC, you can only raise the difficulty when you’re in menus, from the option screen, out of the game. You can lower the difficulty as much as you like from within the game, without leaving.

With greater rifts being Diablo 3’s endgame, the answer to my question is “play whatever greater rift difficulty you can while completing it in under 15 minutes.” Note: if you run bounties, run either Torment I or Torment VII. The difficulties in-between reward Torment I crafting material quantities while being more difficult.

You’ll need to back out of the menu and change the difficulty under game settings. You can lower them in game to gradually get a good balance against the …

The game is telling you that you can’t change difficulty while playing. Simply back out to the main menu and you’re good. For the record, while in game, non seasonal characters can change the…

So your first run through hardcore is basically as a brand new player, and you face the same limitations: your maximum difficulty is limited to Expert until you can unlock the higher difficulty levels. WittyGem-1417 26 February 2021 01:50 #3. On top of what Wolfie said, you also can’t change the difficulty in-game.

Players are free to switch between difficulties as often as they like, but any quest they are in the middle of will reset to the last checkpoint they reached on that difficulty.

Related Questions

How do I adjust the difficulty in Diablo 3?

Once you’re playing, you can adjust Diablo III’s difficulty on the fly with the START button (consoles) or by opening the Game Menu (PC, default key “ESCAPE”) and selecting “LOWER DIFFICULTY” or “RAISE DIFFICULTY.” There are some limits on how far you can raise or lower Diablo III’s difficulty while playing without recreating your game.

How do you unlock torment difficulty in Diablo 3?

When you start up a game of Diablo III, you’ll be able to select the difficulty level you’d like to play on. By default, Normal, Hard, and Expert are available. You’ll unlock Master difficulty when any of your characters completes the game, and Torment difficulty when any of your characters reaches level 60.

How many times can you change difficulty in Diablo 2?

Players are free to switch between difficulties as often as they like, but any quest they are in the middle of will reset to the last checkpoint they reached on that difficulty. It’s a good thing to know even before starting Diablo 2: Resurrected.

Does Diablo 2 resurrected have 3 difficulty levels?

Changing difficulty in Diablo 2: Resurrected makes the isometric ARPG more of a challenge, but it also means better gear can drop, and more EXP can be earned. The three difficulty levels can even be made more challenging to gain additional EXP.