My Diablo 4 beta barbarian is a certified beefcake named Duncan. I already love how he looks before I've looted the perfect armor set, and that's all thanks to Diablo 4's simple, but effective character creation.
Custom characters are new to the Diablo series, and while you won't find as much granularity here as a modern MMO, Diablo 4 lets you tweak just enough variables to feel like you're starting the game with a character that's personal to you. There are three playable classes in the pre-order beta right now (Barbarian, Sorcerer, Rogue) with two more being added in next weekend's open beta (Necromancer and Druid). As far as we can tell, the appearance options for each class are the same, other than the difference in body sizes between muscly barbarians and nimble rogues.
You can alter your face, eyes, hair, facial hair, skin and hair color, makeup, jewelry, and body markings before finalizing your look. Here's the step-by-step process of making a character in Diablo 4, so you know what to expect before hopping into the beta.
Diablo 4 character creation at a glance
- 5 classes (3 in the pre-order beta)
- 2 body types
- 8 face presets
- 4 face variations
- 30 skin tones
- 12 eye colors
- 11 hairstyles
- 11 facial hairstyles
- 30 hair colors
- 14 makeups
- 33 jewelries
- 21 markings
- 12 marking colors
Pick a class
After the intro cinematic, you'll be taken straight to this campfire scene. You pick your class here, though in this weekend's pre-order beta, only the Sorcerer, Rogue, and Barbarian are available.
Body type
From there you're taken to the customization screen, and your first choice is between a feminine or masculine body type. You don't select a gender or pick pronouns in Diablo 4, so safe to assume you'll always be referred to as "that barbarian over there."
Face preset
Next, you pick a face preset. There are eight presets for each class. These are just an easy way to get started with a hairstyle and skin tone of your choosing, but you can change the details in the next step.
Skin tone, face, and eyes
Do you like your face? If not, there are four presets to cycle between at the top of this menu. Next up is skin tone. There are around 30 skin tones to choose from, so click around until you find a favorite. Then do the same for eye color, which should be easier since there are only 12 colors to pick from. Unfortunately, you can't go full evil and give yourself fiery red pupils for blacked-out demon eyeballs.
Hair
Now it's time to choose a hairdo. There are 11 hairstyles and 11 facial hairstyles. I landed on this long hair look because I think axe-wielding superhumans are scarier when you can't see their eyes. I also went normie with the hair color, but this is where Diablo 4 lets you get a little more adventurous: there are 30 hair colors, including orange, red, and purple, plus a few gradients with blue and green.
Makeup, markings, jewelry
Last step is the little things. You can cycle between 14 makeup variations and 33 jewelry options here. The final option is body markings. Each class has 21 marking options, or you can pick the leftmost option to proceed with no markings. Once you've picked a favorite design, there are 12 colors to ponder.
Keep in mind that, at any step in the process, you can press E to see what your character looks like in a set of class armor. This isn't the armor that you start the game with, but it's probably indicative of how you'll look once you're deep into the game.
World tier and guidance
The last things you choose before starting the game is your guidance level and world tier difficulty. Select the first guidance option if you're new to top-down RPGs like Diablo, or the second if you're a seasoned clicking pro.
This weekend's beta has the first two world tiers: Adventurer and Veteran. Adventurer describes enemies as "easy to defeat" and Veteran says they're "more challenging," on top of awarding 20% more experience and 15% more gold. If you've played these games before, Veteran is probably a fair place to start.
