The Warlock is Diablo II: Resurrected's first new class in 25 years, having dropped within the last 24 hours. Drawing from forbidden Vizjerei lore, this summoner-caster hybrid wields demonic pacts, levitates two-handed weapons in one hand, and commands hellish forces. Here is our quick read and guide to help you get into the game and slaying all the forces of hell with ease.
This guide centers on the amazing spell Ring Of Fire spell that Warlocks have access to very early on in the game. This low budget build is a powerhouse to be reckoned with. It is an excellent starter build and start to the ladder for any player looking for a fun and new playstyle. The build can clear Hell difficulty bosses with 1-2 spells at around level 70 despite having very crap gear. It seems solid for ladder racing and great for solo play. Here is a quick overview of the Warlock class followed by the skill tree order for success.
The Warlock class has 3 different skill trees:
- Chaos (Fire/Magic Caster): Ring of Fire, Apocalypse, Flame Wave for screen-melting AoE. Handles packs with debuffs like -Fire Resist.
- Demon (Summoner): Summon Goatman/Tainted/Defiler; Bind enemy demons; Consume for buffs (e.g., life/speed).
- Eldritch (Weapon Master): Levitate/hex weapons for Cleave (360° melee), Echoing Strike (ranged boomerang), Mirrored Blades (single-target); Hexes like Bane/Purge for DoT/explosions.
For this build we will be focusing on the Chaos tree and the spell Ring Of Fire to get a quick start right out of the gate. Although the build is a little high on mana cost, it packs a punch.
The skills you will focus on are:
Ring of Fire - One of the 3 main Skills for this build. Put 20 points into it right away
Flame Wave - One of the 3 main Skills for this build.
Apocalypse - One of the 3 main Skills for this build.
Levitation Mastery - Lowers Weapon Requirements. Warlocks can equip 2-Handed weapons in one hand so this is a one point wonder.
Summon Tainted - Useful for consume to increase Fire Damage.
Consume - Used to Consume Tainted for added Fire Damage.
Death:Sigil - situationally useful for extra explosions
Lethargy:Sigil - Slow mobs to keep them within range of Fire skills since they take a little bit of time to setup before doing maximum damage.
Basically, you will be maxing the left side of the chaos tree then adding a few points into the other useful skills when you can. As you get into Nightmare/Hell you will use Apocalypse and then Flame Wave rotating between those two. Pretty simple.
Stats:
Strength - bare minimum for gear (around 40ish)
Dexterity - bare minimum for gear (around 30ish maybe more depending on what you want)
Vitality - Dump all into this
Energy - None, but you can place a few into it if you are needing or want it.
Gear:
The weapon you will want to use is a Staff with the Leaf Runeword in for maximum power early on. Body armor you will want an Engima chest piece for Teleport. Stones of Jordan for rings (not needed but a nice one to have) and then an amulet for +level to Warlock chaos skills. Outside of that you don't need anything crazy, however the more upgrades the better.
Mercenary:
You can either hire a Defensive with Freeze or Offensive with Might Desert Guard Mercenary, the one you choose is depending on whether you want to slow monsters for added safety or improve the overall damage dealt. I would recommend the Freeze due to you doing primarily fire damage and it can take time to setup the damage. It is up to you however.
Merc gear -
Weapon: Ethereal Insight or The Reaper's Toll Thresher.
Body Armor: Ethereal with Fortitude runeword on it
Helm: Andariel's Visage Andariel's Visage socketed with a Ral Rune
Overall this is was made to be a very quick guide to help you hop right into the game and have fun trying the class out. Will you be playing the Warlock this weekend? What build are you wanting to try for it? Let us know what your thoughts on the guide and the new class are in the comments below! Stay tuned to Gamefragger.com for more news and updates as we get them.