We are now almost a week into Season 12, and players are still experimenting with the fastest ways to level in Diablo 4. Early strategies mostly focused on Slaughterhouses and Helltides, but for Paragon levels, there is another method that is currently starting to gain a lot of attention: farming the Butcher inside Infernal Hordes.
According to a recent community discussion, the Butcher currently grants extremely high experience compared to most enemies in the activity. When he appears multiple times in the same run, the Paragon gains add up very quickly.
The Butcher Is an XP Machine
The strategy is fairly simple. You just have to run Infernal Hordes on a difficulty where enemies die very quickly, usually Torment 1 or Torment 2, and focus on killing the Butcher as soon as he appears.
Players report that each Butcher kill can grant close to half a Paragon level. During a full Infernal Horde run, that can result in very large gains. One player even wrote that they gained 15 to 20 Paragon levels in a single run simply by rushing the Butcher whenever he spawned.
Part of what makes this strategy work is the Relentless Butcher, a version of him that can appear repeatedly during certain Infernal Horde runs. In Bloodied Horde runs, he can spawn multiple times during the waves, which means several high-XP kills in a single activity.
To access these runs, you need Bloodied Infernal Horde keys.
Lower Difficulty Can Be Faster
This is one of those situations where higher difficulty does not necessarily mean faster progression.
Since the goal is to kill the Butcher as quickly as possible, it is generally best to run a tier where he dies in just a few seconds. If the fight takes too long, the overall experience gain drops quickly.
Because of this, the suggestion is to farm on Torment 1, even for characters capable of handling much harder content.
The faster the Butcher dies, the faster another one can potentially spawn during the run.
Additional experience bonuses can make this farm even stronger. Using XP potions, incense, or buffs like Forgotten Wisdom from Nightmare Dungeon fountains can help to greatly increase experience gains during these runs.
New Paragon Farm for Season 12
Paragon leveling usually slows down a lot once players reach higher levels, which often leads people to stop playing a season earlier than expected. Methods that speed up Paragon progression, therefore, tend to attract a lot of attention.
On top of that, this method may also help level new characters or friends quickly. Players say bringing a low-level character into a higher-level group running Infernal Hordes can push them up quickly, thanks to the large experience gains.
It is unclear if this interaction is completely intentional or simply an unusually efficient combination of Infernal Hordes and the Butcher’s reward values. In any case, Infernal Hordes farming is quickly becoming another strong option for players trying to level faster in Season 12.
For more updates on Season 12 and the next expansion, visit our Diablo 4 news hub.
