Diablo 4 is a blast when you're on your own, but it's even better when you team up with some friends — and we're not talking about Necromancer skeletons. Much like past entries in Blizzard's ARPG franchise, Diablo 4 has been designed from the ground up with multiplayer co-op in mind. The game's five different classes synergize with each other in a variety of exciting ways, and having allies at your side will make many tough battles easier to get through.
Sadly, the game doesn't directly explain how to co-op with other players, but don't worry if you're confused — we've got you covered. In this guide, we'll go over everything you need to know about multiplayer co-op play in Diablo 4, including how to add friends, join or invite them, and an overview of the pros and cons of choosing to play with others.
How to play multiplayer with friends in Diablo 4
Setting up a multiplayer co-op session with friends is very easy in Diablo 4, although the process is easy to miss. Here's what you'll need to do:
- First, open Diablo 4's Game Menu.
- Next, move to the Social tab.
- To add your friend to your Friends List, select Add a Friend.
- In the field, enter the BattleTag or email address associated with your friend's account.
- Select Send Request.
- You can also add nearby players as friends by selecting them in the Local Players section of the Social tab.
- Once your friend accepts the request, they'll appear on your Friends List. Select their name.
- Select Invite to Party to invite them to your party.
- Alternatively, select Request to Join Party if you want them to invite you.
You won't be able to play with folks in multiplayer until you've completed the Diablo 4 Prologue and have reached the Fractured Peaks' capital city, Kyovashad. This doesn't take very long, so don't worry — you'll be able to squad up soon. Also, keep in mind that you can't have more than four players in a party at once, so if you have a very large group of friends hoping to play together, you'll need to split into multiple groups.
Note that since every version of the game hooks into Blizzard's Battle.net system, Diablo 4 cross-play is fully supported across Xbox, Windows PC, and PlayStation platforms. Thanks to this, you can play with anyone, regardless of which platform they're using.
Should you play Diablo 4 solo or with a group?
Many have wondered if it's better to play the game by yourself or with friends at your side. We recommend multiplayer co-op if you have people to play with, especially if each player in your friend group is using a different class. This is because multiple players can work together and take advantage of the synergies that Diablo 4's classes have. For example, crowd control magic wielded by Sorcerers and Druids can slow down and trap hordes of enemies, making it easy for Barbarians and melee-focused Rogues to tear them apart with skills like Whirlwind or Flurry. Different classes can also mitigate each other's weaknesses, too.
With that said, it's important to note that playing in a multiplayer party will scale up enemies with some extra power and durability. This means that on an individual level, you'll be a bit less powerful than you would be in solo play. This won't be an issue for most groups that play together well, but parties of inexperienced players may struggle with the tougher foes. Don't worry about large level differences between players throwing the balance of the game off, though, because Diablo 4 scales the health and damage of enemies for each player individually.
Also, something to keep in mind is that players in the party won't all get quest progress and rewards unless everyone is on the same step of a quest. If your friends play infrequently and you don't want to wait for them, you should have an alternate character specifically for co-op. Alternatively, you can choose to make the player with the least progress the host so that they can catch up while playing with everyone, as the session host "owns" the game instance that determines which quests are available.
Diablo 4 is slated to fully launch on June 6, 2023 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4, with Early Access available to fans that preorder the Digital Deluxe or Ultimate Edition. It's one of the best Xbox games for fans of dungeon crawlers and hack-and-slash combat, and we've been having an absolute blast with it.
