The Diablo 4 Paragon Board is the game's endgame levelling mechanic after you've hit level 50 and seen most of what Sanctuary has to offer. The importance of these stat-based boards in high-level content cannot be understated, and they provide big buffs in the form of stat boosts, and legendary nodes that grant special abilities in-keeping with your class.
If you're just starting out in the endgame, you might also be curious about taking down a world boss or two, or perhaps acquiring some of your class's Unique items. Either way, here's how Paragon Boards work, as well as what you need to do to attach a new board to your first.
How to unlock Paragon Boards
You unlock your first Paragon Board when you reach level 50 and no longer gain additional ability points through levelling—though you can still gain the ten ability points related to Renown, bringing you up to 58 total. You'll notice that the level gauge above your action bar now has fixed breakpoints. When you hit one of these, you'll get a Paragon Point to spend, meaning you get multiple points per level, and one when you complete the level itself. Each point is used to unlock a node that increases your overall power through stats and passive effects.
Paragon Points and nodes
Your Paragon Boards are a little bit like a puzzle; you use the limited points you have to build a path to magic, rare, and legendary nodes, each of which grants stat bonuses, affixes, and even new passive abilities. Unlocking Glyph sockets lets you slot in a Glyph of your choice which provides a set of bonuses based on the stats you've unlocked in its radius, adding a further layer of complexity to the way you connect nodes across the board. As you complete Nightmare Dungeons, you can level your chosen Glyphs to upgrade both their buff and radius.
The key to spending your Paragon Points is taking the most minimal route across the board, picking up the powerful nodes you want, while also unlocking just enough stat nodes in each Glyph's radius to provide its powerful secondary bonus. It's also worth working out which stats are important to you considering your class. If you're a sorcerer, Intelligence increases skill damage, whereas Willpower for the Necromancer increases Overpower damage. Working out which stats to prioritise lets you choose appropriate Glyphs that stack with that same stat.
How to get new Paragon Boards
Once you get to the top of your first board and unlock the gate node, you can attach another board to this one. There are seven unique boards for each class to choose from and you can see their rare and legendary nodes listed. Generally, each board aligns itself with a certain class playstyle. Take the Flesh-Eater Necromancer board, for instance, which provides a massive damage buff when you consume five corpses. It's also worth remembering that you can only attach each board type once, so choose those initial boards wisely.
The most important thing when attaching a board is to make sure to rotate it so you have the smallest distance possible to reach the nodes you want to unlock and the Glyph socket. This lets you hit them sooner, providing big bonuses for your character, and means you won't have to waste any node unlocks connecting long distances. The more optimal you are with your node placement, the quicker you get strong, as you attach new boards and reach those desired nodes sooner.
Can you respec Paragon Boards?
Currently, the only way to respec Paragon Boards is to refund one node at a time, which can take absolutely ages. Diablo 4 doesn't have build loadouts and you can't save specs, so if you want to change your build, it's going to cost you a fair bit of gold and time. With that in mind, it's better to try and be optimal with your Paragon Board right from the outset so you don't have to backtrack as much.
In season one of Diablo 4, you'll be able to get the Scroll of Amnesia from the Season Journey as a reward available to all players. This item will let you refund all skill points and Paragon Board points for free when you use it, and is probably the closest thing Blizzard will ever give us in terms of being able to change builds quickly.
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