Discover everything you need to know about the Warlock build in Diablo IV Lord of Hatred, including the best skills and gear.
The Warlock is a dark magic class focused on demons and forbidden power. Players from this class can summon demons, consume or sacrifice them, and empower abilities using demons. Our best Warlock build includes skills like Dread Claws, Rampage, Dark Prison, Summon Laalish, and more. El’druin, Sword of Justice, is the best main-hand weapon to use while running this setup to dominate the elite enemies. Warlock builds revolve around managing Wrath and Dominance to cast spells and summon. Explore the best Warlock build in Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred, including the Talisman and best mercenaries.
Warlock Build Best Skills
Skills are the bread and butter for the Warlock build in Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred because they define your playstyle. Your character uses these abilities in combat to attack, cast spells, summon, or apply buffs. Skill trees now focus entirely on active abilities and customization. You can invest points anywhere, and more points are available due to the higher level cap. Choose the best skills for the Warlock build that complement your playstyle to let you dominate enemies in combat.
Warlock Best Skills
- Dread Claws: Burst forth shadowy claws, each dealing 65% damage.
- Rampage: Summon a rampaging brute for 10 seconds that smashes wildly, dealing 128% damage with a 5% chance to Eviscerate enemies for 1280% damage.
- Dark Prison: Create a shadowy totem for 8 seconds that chains enemies, tethering them to the area and preventing them from escaping.
- Summon Laalish: Summon Laalish, the Abyss Demon, to fight the enemies.
- Metamorphosis: The override skills are at the same rank as Metamorphosis to cast again while active to cancel.
- Nether Step: Step through the shadows of Hell to emerge at the target location, gaining 4 stacks of Shadowform as well as 10% increased movement speed, which decays over 2 seconds.
- Sigil of Subversion: Create a subversive ritual for 10 seconds that Hexes enemies. Killing 8 enemies of Demons within fuels that ritual to send forth shadow trails for 8 seconds that grant you 1 stack of Shadowform every second while in them.
Warlock Build Best Soul Shards
Soul Shards are one of the biggest new gameplay systems, but they’re not universal like skills. The act like a specialization choice where you pick one main Soul Shard to customize your playstyle. This lets you determine demon type, abilities synergy, and combat role.
Warlock Best Soul Shards
Soul Shards unlock around level 30, allowing you to choose one shard to infuse your character. Your selected Soul Shard unlocks a specific greater Demon and alters how your summons behave. Each Soul Shard has 3 fragments, and they change your shard’s behavior. Choose the best Soul Shards for the best Warlock build that works well with Skills, Gear, and Paragon.
- Ritualist Shard: With at least 4 stacks of Overpower, Occult Abyss skills apply 1 additional Hex to enemies on hit, and Occult Hellfire Skills have 30% chance to grant Volatility for 4 seconds when Cast.
- Scorching Fragment: Occult Hellfire Skills are always empowered and consume 4% of your Maximum Life. Volatility can now stack up to 3 times, increasing the damage of empowered Skills by x10% and the Life they consume by 1% per stack. Command Vollach also siphons its life to Fortify you for 8% of your Maximum Life and causes Vollach to pay 10=% of Life Costs instead while you’ve siphoned its power.
- Sacrificial Fragment: You are unstoppable as long as you have active lesser Demons. 1 of the Lesser Demons is sacrificed to prevent you from becoming crowd-controlled.
Gear For Best Warlock Build
Equipping the best gear while running the Warlock build is essential to being overpowered in combat and living longer. Every piece of gear rolls affixes like damage, skill levels, summon power, and cooldown reduction. Even low-level items can drop with powerful affixes to become endgame gear with upgrades. Turn the junk items into useful upgrades, allowing you to combine items to create stronger ones via the Horadric Cube.
Warlock Best Gear
| Gear Slot | Equipment | Affixes | Bonus |
| Main hand | El’druin, Sword of Justice | Weapon Damage
Willpower All Damage Maximum Life Critical Strike Damage |
Defeating the elite enemies reduces your skill cooldowns by 10 seconds for 12 seconds.
200 All Stats 3250 Maximum Life 37.5% All Damage Multiplier |
| Offhand | Vanquishing Aspect | Weapon Damage
Willpower All Damage Maximum Life Critical Strike Damage |
You deal 60-90% more damage to incapacitated enemies.
24% Shadow Damage Multiplier Vulnerable Damage Multiplier |
| Helm | Helm of Perdition | Critical Strike Chance | Succumb to hatred and earn Mother’s Favor, increasing your damage dealt by 80%. Kill enemies to briefly steal Mother’s Favor from surrounding allies.
15% critical Strike Chance 25% Lucky Hit Chance 25% Movement Speed Cast 5 Skills, then become exhausted for 3 seconds. |
| Chest Armor | Aspect of Diabolical Armor | Willpower
Maximum Life Total Armor Any Resistances |
Demonform grants 20% damage reduction plus an addition 0.5%-1% for 5 seconds any time you take fire damage, up to 5-10%.
Resistance to all elements Wrath Regeneration Defensive: Maximum Life |
| Gloves | Aspect of Inner Calm | Critical Strike Damage
Willpower All damage multiplier or Attack Speed Maximum Life |
While standing still, deal up to 50-70% increased damage.
Shadow Damage Multiplier Attack Speed Vulnerable Damage Multiplier Willpower |
| Pants | Aspect of Coagulation | Willpower
Maximum Life Total Armor Lightning Resistance |
Gain +30% increase, fortify generation 15-20% damage reduction while fortified.
Maximum Life Wrath Regeneration Willpower |
| Amulet | Night Terror | Critical Strike Damage
Willpower Critical Strike Chance Vulnerable Damage |
Your Abyss skill deals 4-6% increased damage for each stack of Shadowform. This bonus is increased by 100% while you have stealth.
Vulnerable Damage Multiplier All Damage Multiplier Shadow Damage Multiplier Attack Speed |
| Ring 1 | Demonic Aspect | Critical Strike Damage
Willpower Vulnerable damage All damage |
Each hit with Demonology skills increases the damage you deal with Demonology skills by 2.3-3.3% for 10 seconds. |
| Ring 2 | Crushing Aspect | Critical Strike Damage
Willpower Vulnerable damage All damage |
While Fortified, you deal 45-65% increased damage. |
Talismans For Best Warlock Build
Talisman is a special build system that lets you equip charms and set bonuses in Diablo IV Lord of Hatred. It doesn’t replace your gear, but exists as a separate tab to add extra affixes, powers, and set bonuses. Seal (Center Slot) and Charms (Outer Slots) are the two main parts of this structure.
Warlock Best Talisman
Seal determines how many charm slots you unlock, and you insert Charms into the talisman to gain stats, special effects, and build bonuses. Your Talisman controls how many charms you can use. Equipping multiple items from the same set gives a 2-piece bonus, a 3-piece bonus, and a full set bonus.
Set (2): Enemies within Shadowform areas are dominated for up to 7 seconds, preventing them from acting and causing them to move where you target with Recast skills.
Set (3): Shadowform reduces damage taken by 25% and leaves Sigil of Subversion shadow trails behind you while moving
Set (5): Your Abyss skill damage is increased by 350% while you have Shadowform, but each cast consumes 1 stack. Dominated enemies take an additional 100% damage.
- Phoba of Harash’s Shadow
- Mlor of Harash’s Shadow
- Linta of Harash’s Shadow
- Anathema of the Primes
- Fer of Harash’s Shadow
- Beru of Harash’s Shadow
Anathema of the Primes lets you hit the enemies with a core skill to boost the damage they take from you by 15-20% per skill, up to 15-20%. Archfiend Demonform skill variants are core skills and cost wrath.
Warlock Best Paragon Board
I recommend progressing through the Pit to rank up your Glyphs in Dread Claws Endgame Warlock Warlock. Use this setup to maximize power from the legendary nodes. Below are the Glyphy leveling choices for the best Warlock build in Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred.
Warlock Paragon Board
- Abyssal: For every 5 Willpower purchased within range, you deal +2% increased damage with Abyss skills. If requirements are met, the damage to vulnerable targets increases by 15%.
- Demonologist: For every 5 Willpower purchased within range, you deal +2% increased damage with Demonology skills. You gain 17% increased damage while you have a Greater Demon summoned.
- Unbound: Grants +30% bonus to all Magic nodes within the range. After spending 50 Wrath, you deal 10% increased damage and gain 25% increased Wrath Regeneration for 3 seconds.
- Ichor Carapace: For every 5 Willpower purchased within range, you deal +1.3% increased damage with Demonology skills.
- Mastermind: For every 5 Willpower purchased within range, you deal +1.3% increased damage with Abyss skills. You deal 18% increased damage while in Shadowform if requirements are met.
Warlock Best Mercenary
Mercenary is a recruitable NPC ally that fights alongside you, assisting you in combat, defense, and utility. Each one has unique skills, passives, and roles, letting you customize them through their own skill tree. You unlock Mercenaries during the expansion campaign, but they are managed from The Den. I recommend running Subo for this Warlock build to gain increased critical strike damage and additional movement.
Warlock Best Mercenary
- Opening Fire: You deal 25% increased critical strike damage to enemies hit by Subo’s Cover Fire for 4 seconds.
- Cover Fire: Subo charges a countless volley of arrows, then unleashes it over your position for 140% physical damage that slows enemies by 50% for 4 seconds.
- Ready at Hand: Direct damage to an elite grants you +20% movement speed for 2 seconds.
- Wire Trap: Subo places a concussive trap that arms after 0.8 seconds. When an enemy moves within range, it explodes for 80% physical damage and stuns enemies for 2 seconds. Subo fires a toughened arrow at an enemy, dealing 80% physical damage with a 30% chance to stun for 1 second.
How To Play Warlock Build
Warlock gameplay follows a loop of setup → control → burst. Prefer using Metamorphosis and spawm Dread Claws as much as possible. Demonic Smash Rampage is the mobility skill that lets you reposition and close gaps quickly. Make sure to cast Dark Prison while fighting with a group of enemies in combat.
How To Play Warlock Build
It’s best to keep Sigil of Subversion active with the 5-piece set bonus. Spawn demons at the right time and use them to tank damage and apply pressure. Don’t spam everything, but use heavy skills during tough encounters. Use mobility skills to enter an empowered state, apply debuff, spawn Dread Claws, and reposition constantly.
