With Diablo 4’s heavy emphasis on endless dungeon crawling and demon-slaying, the game is a match made in heaven (or hell) for the Steam Deck.
As with all other games from Blizzard Entertainment, Diablo 4 cannot be directly purchased through Steam and is nowhere to be found on Valve’s storefront. Though with some back-end tweaks and a bit of painless fiddling, you can have the game up and running on the Steam Deck in no time at all.
Can Diablo 4 Run on the Steam Deck?
Yes, Diablo 4 can run on the Steam Deck, with a few minor caveats. Despite not being able to purchase the game directly through Steam, you can still download and install it on the Steam Deck by installing Blizzard’s third-party game launcer, Battle.net.
Although it may take a few steps before you get to explore Sanctuary, the game runs surprisingly well and is a fantastic way to play and experience the game.
Here’s all you need to know to satisfy your insatiable cravings for hellish loot-based dungeon crawling on the go.
How to Play Diablo 4 on Steam Deck
As a Blizzard title, the only way to purchase and play Diablo 4 on the Steam Deck is through Battle.net.
Thankfully, there’s an easy solution for this – Lutris. Lutris will allow you to download and install Battle.net with incredible ease and makes jumping straight into the depths of hell just that much more straightforward.
For a more streamlined experience, it’s probably better to navigate this process with a keyboard and mouse.
- Boot up the Steam Deck and switch to Desktop Mode – press the Steam button, navigate to “Power” and click “Desktop Mode”
- Open the “Discover” app – you can find this on the taskbar, or search for it in “All Applications”
- Search for “Lutris” and install
- Open Lutris and navigate to the “+” icon in the top left – this allows you to add a game
- Search for “Battle.net” and install
It’s as easy as that! There may be a few dependencies that you will be prompted to install at the beginning of this process, but the instructions are clear and easy to follow if so.
After installing and logging into Battlenet, you can download Diablo 4 and launch it from here.
Although you can play in desktop mode, we recommend that you add Lutris as a non-Steam game in order to access it in game mode (i.e. the default User Interface when you boot up the system) on the Steam Deck.
In order to do this, launch Steam in Desktop Mode and navigate to “Games”. Then select “Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library” and select “Lutris”. Now you’re all set up and ready to go!
Best Settings for Diablo 4 on Steam Deck
It’s important to note that Diablo 4 will require a whopping 90GB of storage space on your system – a MicroSD or replacement SSD is essential for the 64GB model of the Steam Deck.
Diablo 4 runs surprisingly well on the Steam Deck, but in order to get the best out of the system, some settings need tweaking. Here are some of our recommended settings to get the best out of your experience:
- Increase “Font Scale” and “Cursor Scale” to Large/Medium – essential for playing on the Steam Deck’s 7-inch screen
- Turn off “Vertical Sync”
- Set the FSR 2.0 to “Quality”
- Limit the refresh rate and frame cap to 40 – it can play on 60 with lower settings, but 40 offers the best overall experience
- Set the “Quality Preset” to “Medium”
- Turn off “Distortion”
With these settings, you should now be able to hop into the vast and gloomy world of Sanctuary wherever and whenever you please.
