If you are starting fresh in Season 14, the first thing you will notice is how much the early game rewards momentum. You do not want to sit in one place farming the same pack over and over. The better route is to lean into the season systems straight away, grab your first upgrades as they drop, and keep moving. That is also the point where finding useful Diablo 4 Items starts to matter, because better gear lets you push harder without wasting time or gold on patching up weak pieces every few levels.

Start Fast and Skip the Old Routine

Make a Seasonal Realm character and skip the campaign if you have already cleared it before. There is no real reason to slow yourself down with story zones when the season systems are waiting. Once you load in, head straight to Temeris and begin with War Plans. A lot of players waste the first hour drifting between side content and random events, but that usually just delays the good stuff. If your goal is level 70, you want a clear route, not a scenic one.

Let War Plans Drive the Leveling

War Plans are the backbone of the early grind, so it makes sense to build around them instead of treating them like a side feature. The early nodes that improve Helltide frequency and Helltide experience are the ones that really speed things up. From there, focus on anything that improves Hellworm spawns or boosts the value of those encounters. Once you unlock Hellmouth and Writhe and Rot, you will start seeing why people keep circling back to these events. They dump out experience in a way normal dungeon runs just can't match. Keep upgrading the tree as you level. It is easy to ignore seasonal progression when you are focused on raw XP, but that is usually a mistake.

Helltides and Hellworms Are the Real Engine

Most of your leveling time should happen inside Helltides. That is where the enemy density, event chaining, and bonus spawns come together. Instead of clearing a random corner and moving on, stay active in the zone and bounce from event to event. Hellworms are a big part of why this works so well. Once they are unlocked, they create extra enemy pressure and a steady flow of experience orbs. You will notice pretty quickly that it is less about killing one pack and more about keeping the whole loop going. If there is another Hellworm nearby, keep moving. If there is another Helltide event spawning, do that too. The rhythm matters more than perfection.

Use Difficulty, Mercenaries, and Gear Wisely

Do not force a higher difficulty just because it sounds efficient. Early on, Normal is often the best choice because you are getting through enemies quickly and that speed adds up. Once your build starts to come together, move up to Hard or Penitent only if you can still clear packs without slowing down. That part is easy to judge. If fights start dragging, you have gone too far. A mercenary helps a lot here as well. It is not flashy, but it smooths out the run, gives you a bit more safety, and helps you cut down elites faster. Gear should stay simple. Swap weapons often, use Legendary drops with useful stats, and salvage the rest. There is no need to burn through gold chasing a perfect reroll when you are still climbing to 70.

Final Thoughts

The fastest path in Season 14 is not about grinding harder. It is about using the season systems the way they were clearly meant to be used. War Plans open the door, Helltides keep the XP flowing, and Hellworms make the route even better when they are available. If you stay with that loop, finish your seasonal objectives along the way, and avoid getting stuck on gear that you will replace soon anyway, the climb feels much smoother. By the time you hit 70, you will already have a good stash of mats, reputation rewards, and D4 items that make the move into Torment and endgame farming a lot easier.