Diablo’s Warlock is coming to Diablo 4 as part of the Lord of Hatred expansion in April, and the new demon-summoner class will look and feel very different from the version that debuted in Diablo 2: Resurrected in February. On Thursday, Blizzard Entertainment offered a deep dive into the Warlock, which gamexplore got to play back in January at the company’s headquarters.
Blizzard describes the Warlock’s identity as “rooted in rebellion” and influenced by heavy metal music. The class’ gameplay is chaotic, filling the battlefield with flesh, blood, and fire. The Warlock’s look and feel is designed to embody the physical toll of wielding Hell’s energy, Blizzard says. The Warlock should feel like a person who’s been to Hell, survived, and fought their way out.
The Warlock is a dual-resourced class, using Wrath to unleash destruction and Dominance to summon powerful demons. Players can define their personal Warlock in one of four defined ways — Legion, Vanguard, Mastermind, and Ritualist — through Soul Shards. Each shard offers a play style passive and binds a specific demon pet to the Warlock. Players can further specialize their Warlock with fragment sub-options to choose passive skills, resources, and abilities.
During my hands-on time with Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred, I was pleasantly surprised by how different the variations on the Warlock played. I gravitated toward the Legion, with its army of demonic cannon fodder, and the Ritualist, which traps enemies in sigils and blows them up real nice.
The Warlock in Diablo 4
While the Warlock in Diablo 2: Resurrected offered fun new variations on the summoner play style, its incarnation in Diablo 4 was much more diverse and exceedingly over the top. Blizzard had four pre-built Warlocks builds in a playable version of Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred, which offered a sneak peek at the breadth and depth of play styles:
- Legion, which “summon[s] demonic legions to overwhelm your enemies and unleash chaos, exploiting their deaths to fuel and unending onslaught”
- Vanguard, in which the Warlock “ride[s] into battle atop a hellhound, transforming into a demon and bringing fiery destruction as the spearhead of a demonic force”
- Mastermind, which see you “bind foes and demons to your will, filling the battlefield with terror from within a cloak of abyssal shadows”
- Ritualist, letting you “empower hellfire and abyss rituals with demonic energy to bring calamity and explode your enemies”
Playing as a level-40 Legion Warlock felt like barely managed chaos. My Warlock was flanked by no less than five summoned demons at a time, which ranged from Fallen Lunatic pawns that would self-destruct to blow up enemies to massive monstrosities that slashed at foes with blade arms. At any point, I could also summon forth giant rampaging Brutes with spiked fists and the aforementioned wall of demon flesh (Wall of Agony) to quickly clear mobs of monsters. Using a skill called Bombardment, I could even rain down demon sacrifices from the sky.
The Legion build reinforces that the Warlock is not demon-aligned, but a fully demon-exploitative class that uses their flesh and fury to suit their needs. If you’re looking for an offense-focused Warlock, and can visually parse the onscreen chaos of dozens of demons punching each other, this might be the build for you.
As the Vanguard, I felt like the use of steeds was being put to interesting use. I used the demon mount Abodian as a wrecking ball to push through groups of enemies, then hop off and unleash further demonic chaos, whipping enemies with a demon tail and summoning turrets (read: tortured demon heads that breathe fire). Abodian fights alongside the Warlock as an attack dog when not being ridden, but I never quite found the instantaneous groove that I did while experimenting with the Legion build.
I had a much better time with the Ritualist, who could siphon power from a demon pet named Vollach, throw molten bombs, and create Hell Fractures that did massive AOE damage to any foes caught in its path. The Ritualist Warlock also places shadowy sigils on the ground that ensnare enemies, making the combo of trapping monsters and then burning them alive too tasty to ignore. Filling the screen with huge pentagrams and blowing shit up feels really, really good.
Unfortunately, being all-consumed by the Ritualist meant I didn’t have time to play with the Mastermind, a build that lets the Warlock hide from enemies in a shadowy form — and attack from the darkness.
Suffice it to say, there’s a huge amount of depth and gameplay variety within the Warlock, so it’s a good thing Diablo 4 players are already getting hands-on with Lord of Hatred’s other new class — the Paladin — so they can dive into Warlock builds in April.
Diablo 4‘s Lord of Hatred expansion will be released on April 28, for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
Season 12: The Season of Slaughter
Ahead of Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred’s release, players will get a new season of Diablo 4 on March 11. Season 12, known as the Season of Slaughter, will usher in a first for the Diablo franchise: playing as the iconic Butcher.
To take control of Diablo’s fresh meat-enjoyer, players will need to activate Shrines of Slaughter in Helltides, compete in the Ceremony of Slaughter in the Fields of Hatred, or play in dedicated Slaughterhouses activities. Players can chop-chop it up as the Butcher starting on March 11.
Beyond the Butcher, Season of Slaughter will earn its name by introducing Killstreaks, which Blizzard describes as “a five-tier system that rewards rapid kills with Experience and Seasonal Reputation when the streak timer runs out;” and a crossover with id Software’s Doom: The Dark Ages. The Diablo x Doom collab brings with it Doom Slayer-inspired cosmetics, including the Shield Saw skin, the Slayer’s Flail, and the Head of the Cyberdemon back trophy.
Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred’s Paladin will also be available as part of a free trial running March 11-18. If you didn’t already pre-order Lord of Hatred, you can exact your holy vengeance (up to level 25) in the base version of Diablo 4 on all platforms.
