What happens when you skip the campaign on a new character in Diablo 4? Which features are account-wide?

Much like its predecessor, Diablo 4 allows you to skip having to repeat the whole campaign on new characters — provided you’ve completed it at least once before. This option comes in the form of a checkbox when you’re creating your new character, and while it’s similar to Diablo 3’s Adventure Mode, it also has some significant differences.

First and foremost, the entire world is technically open to you — though there are plenty of areas you won’t be able to access yet since they’re too high level. However, you do start with waypoints unlocked to every major city, and can immediately teleport to any of them.

After having opted to skip the campaign, most of what you’ll be doing when playing is seeking out Whispers, which are similar to Bounties in D3’s Adventure Mode: small missions that pop up all over the world, offering you a reward after you complete a number of them (more of that on our Tree of Whispers guide). Even on a low level character, you can immediately begin tackling those Whispers — and you absolutely should do that, since the cache you get as a reward for completing them can net you multiple rare items which will greatly boost your power.

You’ll notice that many benefits will already be unlocked for your low level character, such as potion capacity, and the ability to use a mount. So let’s learn what are some of the most important things that carry on should they skip the campaign.

Which account-wide features will be available to a character that decides to skip the campaign?

Not only will you get the immediate ability to ride a mount, but:

• All the mounts you obtain are account-wide, so you’ll be able to pick your favorite one.
• Some Renown rewards, such as potion capacity and extra skill points will all be available right out the gates! That means that your level 1 character might already have immediate access to several skills.
• Titles are account-wide, adding some customization ability.
• Currencies such as Gold, Murmuring Obols (which are used to purchase Whispering Keys and gamble for items), and Red Dust (the PVP currency) are account-wide, allowing you to deck out your new alt.
• Materials are account-wide, which will let you craft and upgrade items.
• Your stash is account-wide, so you can easily share items across characters.
• As mentioned before, waypoints to the major cities are all unlocked on your new character, letting them travel the world to reach other Whispers — zone levels still exist, though, so they can’t simply waltz in everywhere immediately.
• Altars of Lilith benefits are account-wide, giving fresh characters a boost in some of their attributes (and removing the need to hunt them down again every time).

Do note that although some of the Renown rewards will be given to your new characters for free, they can still earn the bonus XP and gold rewards again by doing renown activities! It’s the best of both worlds, since the rewards that enhance your character are front-loaded, while the ones that can be earned again to net them extra levels and money are still doable.

However, remember that although potion capacity is unlocked from the beginning, the potions themselves still need to be individually upgraded on every character, as they level up. So you might begin with a maximum of seven or eight potions to use, but they’re still the initial potion that doesn’t heal all that much health.

Skipping the campaign can be a very nice way to change things up when playing a new character, especially if you’re interested in doing Seasonal content. In that sense, it’s very similar to how many players opted to start new Diablo 3 characters in Adventure Mode, instead of repeating the story. However, in my opinion, the campaign in Diablo 4 is absolutely fantastic, and the decision to skip it might be a little harder this time!