How to level your seasonal characters like a pro with the Mother’s Blessing buff — now live (again)!

It’s Diablo 4 Season 6, and Blizzard has two activities kicking off on November 19 that will definitely speed up your leveling experience. Yes, we are graced with Mother’s Blessing again, and we have another mini-boss event that will help speed the process to level 60. So, what should players pay attention to for that absolute rocket boost to leveling? Let’s discuss what you’ll want to pursue with some tips to maximize both bonus possibilities.

First, the Red-Cloaked Horror returns to Sanctuary from November 19 to December 3 at 10:00 am pacific. Formerly encountered in the open world during Midwinter Blight, the Red-Cloaked Horror now spawns in Helltides instead of a Hellborne. Slay him to farm the desired Gileon’s Brew elixir, which increases your damage dealt to enemies by 20%, causes enemies to drop additional herbs and crafting materials, and grants 15% increased experience for 30 minutes.

Next, Mother’s Blessing returns from November 19 to November 26. This seasonal event brings a weeklong multiplicative buff to experience and gold for Seasonal and Eternal players, with +35% experience and +50% gold for the duration. Yes, Mother’s Blessing is an incredible 35% boost, but it still combines with your other bonuses — and because it’s multiplicative, stacking XP bonuses really adds up.

Allocate your Smoldering Ashes from the Battle Pass to the Urn of Aggression Seasonal Blessing first to boost from +5% (level 8) to +20% (level 28) to your bonus XP. The Urn’s buff has been converted to be multiplicative with the bonus from your game difficulty, so a max Urn of Aggression combined with Penitent (175% bonus XP) tier results in 210% bonus XP instead of 195%. Add in the experience increase from incense as you level 50 to 60 (or while farming up Paragon points), and the levels will zoom by.

Bonus tip: If you’re doing Legion events, don’t sleep on the campfire — that’s another 15% accrued XP buff!

The best activities to complete during Mother’s Blessing

Stick to high mob density activities. You want to be killing constantly. Helltides, events (both Legion and World), Infernal Hordes, and the Pit are your targets here. Save whatever side quests you accrue for after the event.

Spend as little time in towns as possible. To paraphrase content creator Raxxanterax — “town is an XP loss; treat it like lava.” How do you best apply this?

• Learn your Tempering manuals as they drop — they take up valuable bag space!
• Batch activities when you are in a main city — salvage gear, stick items in the stash, craft elixirs, and zoom back out into the world.
• Don’t detour much to pick up items — up to 10 legendary items will get sent to your stash, which is more than enough wiggle room for what will drop from normal mobs. This doesn’t work as well for Helltide because you have a much higher drop density, though; instead, prioritize legendaries over lower items, and remember they now break down for lower-tier components as well at the Blacksmith!

Which difficulty should I play on during Mother’s Blessing?

Finally, remember that high risk means high reward, but only when you survive it. Advance your difficulty tier when you’re ready — dying a bunch on Penitent is much slower than rapidly killing on Hard. You don’t have to worry about the Torment levels until you’re in endgame play.

Above all — have fun. If rapid leveling brings you joy, use this guide freely. If you want to savor the D4 experience in all its open-world glory or focus on the Vessel of Hatred storyline, do that instead! We’ll see you in Sanctuary.

Originally published June 7, 2024; updated November 19, 2024.