Diablo3: New Best Power Leveling Spots

This powerleveling guide will allow you to get any new character from levels 1 to 60 in about 8 hours. Levels 1-50 is about 4 hours, and levels 50-60 is about 4 hours.


Bastion runs:
You'll need: a friend who's beaten hell.
This technique doesn't require gear, which is why it is so powerful.

Break down of progression:
Levels 1 - 5 is normal questing
Levels 5 - 25 is normal Siege of Bastion runs
Levels 25 - 50 is nightmare Siege of Bastion runs
Levels 50 - 60 is hell Siege of Bastion runs.


Doing a Siege of Bastion run:

Friend invites you to Act 3 game.
Skip soldier's dialog by hitting spacebar and follow him.
Mobs will come down the staircase and a cannonball will fall.

The goal of this technique is to time the mobs so that the cannonball instantly kills them.

Runs take 11 to 25 seconds and are faster if you use cc and speed increases.

Each class has a number of cc abilities available to them from very early in the game, so anyone can do this after level 5.

Recommended Skills for each class:
Barbarian: Ground Stomp and Leap.
Demon Hunter: Caltrops, Vault, Tactical Advantage, Hot Pursuit.
Monk: Blind, Seven Sided Strike, Serenity, Inner Sanctuary, Fleet Footed.
Witch Doctor: Grasp of the Dead, Summon pets, Spirit Walk.
Wizard: Frost Nova, Slow Time, Blizzard, Ray of Frost, Teleport.

Using a high level ruby can significantly reduce the time you powerlevel your character in. Also the Monster Kills Grant +experience affix is helpful.

Other Power Leveling Methods:

Zoltun Kulle Runs With Cascade

To do these, you'll need at least 2 people, gear enough to kill Zoltun Kulle (usually one of the members is a highly geared inferno level character). This works because each member of the group can turn in the quest multiple times across multiple games and take advantage of the quest XP scaling.

This method is typically slower than Bastion runs but is more efficient around levels 23-25, 47-50, and 57-60. This is simply due to the way that quest XP scales with the level progression.

An important point about Kulle runs is that in order to calculate the total power leveling time correctly, you need to include your friend's time. Even by not including your friend's time, it's still less efficient than Bastion runs. Still, some people prefer this method, so I included it here.

Break down of progression:

Levels 1 - 5 is normal questing
Levels 5 - 25 is normal Kulle runs
Levels 25 - 50 is nightmare Kulle runs
Levels 50 - 60 is hell Kulle runs.

Doing a Kulle Run with cascade:

Start a game with a level 60 in Act 2, 8. The Black Soulstone, Soul-Stone Chamber

Continue the quest, when you kill the boss and you need to go to the black Soulstone invite the 2nd player

Have the 2nd player teleport to the 1st player
-1st player leaves
2nd player completes the black soulstone, turns it in the town (+XP here)
1st player resumes at black soulstone
2nd player joins the game, don't need to telport
1st player completes black soulstone and leaves
2nd player turns in the quest again (+XP HERE AGAIN)
-1st player resumes at turn-in point here
-2nd player joins the game

Either player re-turn in the quest

Act 2-2 Runs:

To do this, you'll need enough gear to kill the soliders that spawn in Act 2, quest 2. Essentially you start Act 2, quest 2 and do it over and over again until you get the quest turn in.

This method is slower than Bastion runs and Kulle runs (by not counting your friend's time). The benefit here is that you can do these solo pretty efficiently until hell difficulty. Then it gets pretty difficult.

Break down of progression:

Levels 1 - 5 is normal questing
Levels 5 - 25 is normal 2-2 runs
Levels 25 - 50 is nightmare 2-2 runs
Levels 50 - 60 is hell 2-2 runs.

Doing a 2-2 run:

No special tricks here. Do the quest as normal, exit the game, and reset. Rinse and repeat. If you don't have gear to carry you through the difficulties, prepare to die a few times.