DIABLO IV · FIELD MANUAL
THE COMPLETE BUILD GUIDE
SEASON 14 · DEATH AWAKENING◆PATCH 3.1.3◆LAST VERIFIED AUG 16, 2026
Four genuinely different Warlocks, every skill point from level 2 to 70, and a plain-English answer to “am I doing the damage, or are my demons?” The Warlock arrived with the Lord of Hatred expansion, so nothing here is carried over from a preview, a PTR build or an older season.
GUIDE UPDATED AUG 21, 2026 · RESEARCH VERIFIED AUG 16, 2026
▶ PART I Understanding the Warlock 12 MIN · THE PART OTHER GUIDES SKIP
THE CLASS IN FIVE IDEAS
1 · TWO RESOURCES
Wrath behaves like mana: Basic Skills make it, Core Skills spend it. Dominance is separate, arrives slowly, and pays for your Greater Demons and your defensive skills. Two bars is the first thing that makes the class feel unfamiliar.
2 · SOUL SHARDS
The class mechanic. You slot a shard, and its fragments add effects on top of your skills. Read it as a sixth skill slot: it is where a large slice of your damage and your Dominance income lives.
3 · THREE DAMAGE FAMILIES
Hellfire (fire, brimstone, explosions) · Abyss (chains, claws, shadow, stealth) · Archfiend (the big demons and your own transformation). Your gear multiplies families, not skill names — which is why re-tagging a skill matters so much.
4 · DEMONS ARE NOT PETS
Nothing you summon is permanent and nothing takes orders. Lesser Demons are disposable fuel; Greater Demons are big, temporary, and several can be recast to re-aim them. Half the class kills its own demons on purpose.
5 · YOU CAN BECOME THE DEMON
Demonform replaces your skills with melee demonic versions for up to five seconds at a time. It is a real build (Build IV), not a cosmetic ultimate — and it is why “Warlock is a back-line pet class” is wrong.
WARLOCK OR NECROMANCER?
TL;DR
Both are dark summoners; they are not the same fantasy. The Necromancer keeps a standing army you configure once and then largely ignore. The Warlock rents demons a few seconds at a time, spends them, curses things, and can step into melee as a demon itself. If you want a stable army, play Necromancer. If you want a volatile ritual you are constantly feeding, play Warlock.
WARLOCK
NECROMANCER
THEME
Demons, Hell, forbidden bargains
Undead, death, the grave
SUMMON TYPE
Temporary. Cast, spend, resummon. Some are recast to re-aim.
Persistent army, configured through the Book of the Dead.
PLAYER DAMAGE
Three of the four builds here are carried by you, not your demons.
Strong player builds exist, but the minion identity is the default.
SUMMON RELIANCE
Your choice, per build: one build is fully demon-driven, one has no demons at all.
Structural — the army is part of the class chassis.
RESOURCE
Two: Wrath and Dominance, with separate income.
One: Essence.
CURSES
Hex: a mark that makes enemies take more Abyss damage as they weaken, and spreads on kill.
Curses are a skill category, largely support and Essence economy.
TRANSFORMATIONS
Yes — Demonform, and an entire build built on chaining it.
No.
CONTROL STYLE
Active. Summon, recast, sacrifice, transform, ritual.
Set-and-forget, with a Command-style skill on top.
BEGINNER DIFFICULTY
Moderate. Build I is genuinely easy; Build IV is the hardest thing in this codex.
Easy. One resource, one army, fewer live decisions.
THE CLASS MECHANIC — SOUL SHARDS
Arsenal is the Barbarian's. Book of the Dead is the Necromancer's. Oaths are the Paladin's. The Warlock's is the Soul Shard: a shard you slot which layers its own fragments on top of the skills you already have. It is not a cosmetic choice and it is not a small one — one shard turns your dying demons into explosions, the other pays you resource on a timer.
Legion Shard
MORE DEMONS, DYING LOUDLY
Turns your Lesser Demons into ammunition. Their deaths become explosions and their bodies become resource.
Spawn Fragment — Your demons explode when they die — 150% base damage since Season 14, up from 75%.
Sacrificial Fragment — Sacrificing a demon returns 20% (up from 15%) — the reason "kill your own demons" upgrades are not a trap.
USED BY · Build I · The Legion, and any Hellfire list that runs Command Fallen for bodies.
If your plan involves many small demons, this shard is roughly a sixth skill slot of free damage.
Mastermind Shard
FEWER, LARGER, FUNDED
Pays you Dominance on a timer instead of making your demons explode. Subjugation Fragment now generates 2 Dominance per second.
Subjugation Fragment — 2 Dominance per second, unconditionally — buffed this season.
Command income — Stacks with Command Fallen’s Dominance upgrade (1 per 15 demon hits) for two independent income streams.
USED BY · Build IV · The Archfiend, and any bar with three or more Dominance skills on it.
Greater Demons, walls and the Fiend of Abaddon all cost Dominance. This shard is what lets you press them on cooldown instead of waiting.
When do I get one? Level 15, alongside the rest of the class's real machinery. Every build in this codex names its shard at that level.
Is it permanent? No. Swap freely, like a skill respec — and do swap it when you change build, because a shard that fits the wrong bar does close to nothing.
How do I choose? One question: does my bar make Lesser Demons? If yes, Legion (their deaths become 150% explosions). If no, Mastermind (2 Dominance per second).
What does it change about my character? Legion makes demon deaths a damage source, so you spend demons on purpose. Mastermind funds Dominance skills, so you press expensive buttons more often. Damage versus tempo.
WRATH AND DOMINANCE
WRATH · THE ORDINARY ONE
Generated by Basic Skills — 10 per cast, more with their side upgrades.
Spent by Core Skills, 30–35 a cast.
Normal state: hovering, not full. If your bar is permanently full you are under-casting.
When empty: press your Basic Skill twice. Nothing is broken.
The real fix is not generation but cost reduction and refunds — Wrath Refund on Umbral Chains, Cost Reduction on Hell Fracture or Dread Claws. They scale with how fast you already cast, which generation cannot.
DOMINANCE · THE ONE THAT GATES YOU
Spent by Archfiend skills (your Greater Demons), Defensive skills and Rituals.
Generated by the Mastermind Shard (2/second) or Command Fallen's Dominance upgrade (1 per 15 demon hits). It does not simply trickle back — you must own an income.
How much should I have? Enough to cover your two most expensive presses. Banking more than that is wasted time.
When empty: your Greater Demons and your walls are gone. This is the failure state that actually kills Warlocks.
Rule: count the Dominance skills on your bar. Three is comfortable on one income. Four needs two.
CURSES — WHAT A HEX ACTUALLY DOES
What is it? A mark. Hexed enemies take more Abyss damage as their health drops, so the curse pays out most in the second half of a fight.
How do I apply it? Doom on a target, or Sigil of Subversion to Hex an area for 10 seconds.
Does it deal damage itself? Barely. It is a multiplier, not a damage source — you will never see a number labelled “Hex”.
Does it spread? With Contagion, yes: the Hex jumps to a nearby enemy whenever a Hexed one dies. That changes how you fight — you want enemies dying in sequence, not all at once.
Does it grow? Doom's Damage upgrade adds 1% per second the enemy has been Hexed. Curse early, then commit.
Do demons benefit? Yes, indirectly — any Abyss damage against a Hexed enemy is bigger, whoever deals it.
Which builds care? Build III is written around it. Some Abyss bars take Doom for nothing but the Abyss multiplier.
The trap: Doomfire Ritual gives maximum stacks instantly for 15 seconds but limits you to one Hexed enemy — and re-tags into Hellfire. Excellent on a boss, ruinous in a dungeon.
DEMONIC TRANSFORMATIONS
Blizzard's own material describes Warlock play as including aggressive demonic forms and close-range options, and the live class delivers exactly that. Demonform replaces your skills with melee demonic versions for up to five seconds. It is not an ultimate cutscene — it is a state you chain.
How does it start? Metamorphosis grants every Archfiend Demonform variant at once, on a 5-second cooldown. Separately, Demonic Smash (Rampage), Demonic Grasp (Tyrant's Grasp), Demonic Glare (Infernal Breath) and Demonic Swipe each turn that cast into a transformation.
How long? Up to five seconds per trigger. You extend it by triggering again, not by making one window longer.
What happens to my skills? They are replaced, and the replacements inherit at least Metamorphosis's Rank — so ranks in one skill raise your entire form.
What happens to my demons? They keep doing what they were doing. Transforming does not dismiss anything.
Which variant should I take? Sin Demon banks stacks and refunds resource when the form ends. Destruction Demon layers Volatility and self-burn for Hellfire. Terror Demon adds Ranks to Abyss skills and keeps you Stealthed — but pushes the cooldown to 30 seconds, which stops it being a chainable state.
Which build depends on it? Build IV, entirely.
NORMAL WARLOCK
▼
CAST AN ARCHFIEND SKILL
(or Metamorphosis, 5s cooldown)
(or Metamorphosis, 5s cooldown)
▼
DEMONFORM · UP TO 5 SECONDS
▼
MELEE SKILLS · INHERIT YOUR RANK
▼
SIN DEMON REFUNDS RESOURCE
▼
TRIGGER AGAIN BEFORE IT LAPSES
WEAPONS AND THE OFFHAND ODDITY
The unusual bit: the Warlock keeps an offhand even when wielding a two-handed weapon. Most classes trade the offhand away for the bigger stick; you do not.
What that means in practice: weapon type barely constrains your build. Take the better roll, one-handed or two, and treat the offhand as a nearly free slot of stats and an aspect.
What comes from where: the weapon carries your damage stat line; the offhand is where Cooldown Reduction, resource cost reduction and Dominance generation belong.
Which skills care about weapon damage? Very few — almost all of your damage is skill damage scaled by Intelligence and your family multipliers, not by swing damage. Do not chase a base type.
Build preferences: I and III lean one-handed for aspect density; II and IV happily take a two-hander for the bigger roll.
If a future patch removes the two-hand-plus-offhand rule, this is the first paragraph in the codex to go stale — check your character sheet before rebuilding around it.
READING THE SKILL TREE
The budget. 69 points from levelling (one per level, 2 through 70) plus 14 bonus points — Season Rank on a seasonal character, Renown on Eternal. Total 83. Every build chapter here accounts for all 83, and none ends with “spend the rest wherever”.
Three upgrade slots per skill. Each active skill holds 1 Major Upgrade and 2 Minor Upgrades. Majors often rewrite what the skill is — several turn a summon into your own transformation, or re-tag a skill into a different damage family. This codex marks the ones each build takes with a filled diamond.
The categories are Basic, Core, Hellfire, Abyss, Archfiend, Occult, Ritual, Defensive and Ultimate. Only one Ultimate may be equipped. Clusters unlock in stages, so you cannot spend into a trap early.
Re-tagging is the class's trap. Your gear multiplies damage families, not skill names. Chain Whips moves Umbral Chains into Hellfire; Doomfire Ritual moves Doom; Sigil of Lava re-shapes a ritual. Re-tagging into your family is a large gain and out of it is a hidden loss — it is the most common way people quietly brick a Warlock.
WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS WORD MEAN?
The terms this codex leans on. The same definitions appear as hover tooltips everywhere else in the page — on mobile, tap them.
Wrath
Your first resource. Basic Skills generate it (10 per cast) and Core Skills spend it (30–35).
WHY IT MATTERS · Wrath is the ordinary half of the Warlock economy — the half that behaves like mana in every other class.
Dominance
Your second resource. Archfiend and Defensive skills cost Dominance rather than Wrath, and it does not regenerate the same way.
WHY IT MATTERS · This is what makes the Warlock feel different: two bars, two skill families, and a rotation that has to feed both.
Soul Shards
The Warlock class mechanic: a shard you slot that adds its own fragment effects on top of your skills.
WHY IT MATTERS · It is the closest thing the class has to a specialisation, and it is where a large slice of your damage and resource income lives.
Hex
A curse mark. Hexed enemies take more Abyss damage as their health drops, and several skills read the mark directly.
WHY IT MATTERS · Doom exists to paint Hex on everything. Half the Occult tree is written in terms of “Hexed enemies”.
Volatility
A short empowerment state. While you have it, certain casts fire an upgraded version of themselves.
WHY IT MATTERS · It is the Hellfire tree’s payoff mechanic — the reason a Hellfire build cares about standing in its own fire.
Shadowform
Stacks of shadow that the Abyss tree spends. Moving usually burns them.
WHY IT MATTERS · It is the Abyss build’s currency for its strongest upgrades, and it is why Nether Step is on almost every Abyss bar.
Demonform
You become the demon. Your skills are replaced with melee-range demonic versions for a few seconds.
WHY IT MATTERS · It is the class’s transformation fantasy, and several Archfiend upgrades exist only to trigger it.
Eviscerate
A rare, enormous hit that certain demon attacks can roll instead of a normal one.
WHY IT MATTERS · Rampage eviscerates for 2560% damage on a 5% chance — which turns a minion skill into a lottery ticket worth building around.
Lesser Demon
The small, disposable summons — Lunatics, Grunts, turrets, wall demons. They arrive constantly and die constantly.
WHY IT MATTERS · Lesser Demons are fuel. Several upgrades kill your own demons on purpose to convert them into damage or Fortify.
Greater Demon
The big summons — Rampage brutes, Infernal Breath heads, Profane Sentinels, the Fiend of Abaddon.
WHY IT MATTERS · These are your Dominance spends and, in three of the four builds here, your main damage.
Hellfire
One of the Warlock’s three damage families: fire, brimstone, lava, explosions.
WHY IT MATTERS · Hellfire builds are the loud ones. They stack Volatility, burn area, and read “while standing in your own hazard”.
Abyss
The shadow family: chains, claws, portals, stealth, the void.
WHY IT MATTERS · Abyss builds are the precise ones — Shadowform stacks, Stealth windows and Vulnerable setups.
Recast
A skill you press twice — once to summon or place, again to command it.
WHY IT MATTERS · Recast turns a summon into an aimed attack, and it is where most of the class’s single-target damage lives.
Rituals (Sigils)
Ground rituals that need kills inside them to “fuel”, then pay out. Three exist: Subversion, Summons, Chaos.
WHY IT MATTERS · They are the Warlock’s area-control layer and they reward fighting where you stand rather than kiting.
Vulnerable
A universal debuff — Vulnerable enemies take 20% more damage from everything.
WHY IT MATTERS · Cheap, huge, and the Warlock has four or five ways to apply it, so there is no excuse not to.
Fortify
A grey overlay on your health bar. While Fortified you take noticeably less damage.
WHY IT MATTERS · It is the Warlock’s quiet defensive layer, generated by attacking rather than by hiding.
Lucky Hit
A hidden dice roll on some hits. Gear says “Lucky Hit: up to X% chance to…”; the skill’s own Lucky Hit Chance decides how often the dice are thrown.
WHY IT MATTERS · Warlock skills range from 1% to 50% Lucky Hit Chance, so the same affix is superb on one bar and dead on another.
Stealth
Enemies lose track of you. Attacking normally breaks it.
WHY IT MATTERS · The Abyss tree pays for opening from Stealth, and one Ultimate lets you stay hidden while attacking.
Critical Strike
A chance for a hit to land much harder. Chance is how often, Damage is how much extra.
WHY IT MATTERS · Most Warlock builds scale on crit — but the damage-over-time and Eviscerate portions do not, so read your build’s engine before stacking it.
Overpower
A guaranteed heavy hit on certain casts, scaling with your Life and Fortify rather than your weapon.
WHY IT MATTERS · Rampage builds used it heavily — and Season 14 halved the ecosystem, which is why they slipped down the tier list.
Tempering
A Blacksmith craft that adds affixes you choose from themed manuals.
WHY IT MATTERS · It is how a random drop becomes your item — and how a Warlock fixes Dominance generation and skill ranks.
Mythic
The top item tier: perfect affix rolls and a boosted unique power.
WHY IT MATTERS · Mythic Unique 3.0 means any base unique of the right slot can become one through the Horadric Cube — your key item is a project, not a lottery.
Glyph
A socketed stone on a Paragon board that supercharges the nodes around it.
WHY IT MATTERS · Glyphs, not raw Paragon points, are where post-70 power comes from.
Talisman
A Lord of Hatred system: a Seal that holds Charms, with set bonuses when the Charms match.
WHY IT MATTERS · Two Warlock sets define the class’s top builds — Chains of Horazon and Flesh of Abaddon.
▶ PART II Understanding Your Demons TWELVE CARDS · WHAT EACH ONE ACTUALLY IS
BEGINNER TL;DR
Nothing is permanent. Nothing takes orders. You cast a demon, it attacks by itself, and it leaves. Your only real controls are where you cast, pressing the button a second time to re-aim the big ones, and — in several builds — killing your own demons on purpose for damage or Fortify. If you came from Necromancer: forget minion management. This is closer to ammunition than to an army.
SUMMON
YOU DO THIS
Every demon starts as a cast. Lesser Demons come from Basic and Ritual skills; Greater Demons cost Dominance.
RECAST / COMMAND
YOU DO THIS
Rampage, Infernal Breath, Fiend of Abaddon and Terror Swarm can be pressed a second time to re-aim them. This is free damage you lose by forgetting.
POSITION
YOU DO THIS
Turrets and sentinels are stationary; walls are a line you draw. Where you cast is the of their AI.
ATTACK
AUTOMATIC
Automatic. No demon in the class needs to be told to attack — they choose their own targets.
SACRIFICE / CONSUME
YOU DO THIS
Several upgrades kill your own Lesser Demons on purpose: Ravenous Jaws for Eviscerate chance, Demon Masher for Fortify, Hellfire Aura to detonate them all at once.
TRANSFORM
YOU DO THIS
Archfiend upgrades can turn the cast into your own Demonform instead of a summon. You are the demon for up to 5 seconds.
EXPIRE
AUTOMATIC
Automatic, and mostly fine. Sigil of Summons’ cooldown is reduced when Greater Demons die, so losing them is partly refunded.
Lunatics
LESSER
ROLE · CHAFF · FUEL
FROM · Command Fallen (Basic)
Small demons that claw their way out of the ground when you cast Command Fallen and attack whatever is nearest.
USED BY · I · Legion · IV · Archfiend (for Dominance)
▶
Permanent? Temporary. They arrive constantly and die constantly — that is the design, not a failure.
Can I command it? No. You cast, they run at things. You control them only by choosing where you stand.
What decides its damage? Their damage rides on Command Fallen’s rank and your own damage bonuses; the build scales them by having MORE of them out, not stronger ones.
Cost / cooldown? 0 — generates 10 Wrath instead. 30% Lucky Hit chance, one of the highest in the class.
Utility? Damage Per Demon pays you 1% increased damage per active demon, up to 20%. The Dominance upgrade turns every 15 of their hits into 1 Dominance.
Ritual Grunts
LESSER
ROLE · PAYOUT · BODIES
FROM · Sigil of Summons (Ritual)
The payout of the Sigil of Summons ritual: kill enough inside the circle and it hands you a pack of demons at once.
USED BY · I · Legion
▶
Permanent? Temporary, tied to the ritual. 10-second ritual, 15-second cooldown.
Can I command it? No — but you choose where the circle goes, which is most of the control you need.
What decides its damage? Sigil of Summons ranks, plus every "per active demon" bonus you own.
Cost / cooldown? Dominance (Ritual skill). Wants 8+ kills inside the circle to fuel; Blood Ritual pays those kills with your own Life instead.
Utility? This is how a demon build gets a burst of bodies on demand instead of waiting for Lunatics to trickle out. 35% Lucky Hit chance.
Bombardier Turrets
LESSER
ROLE · SUSTAINED DAMAGE
FROM · Bombardment (Core)
Rooted demons that lob shells at range for as long as they live. They do not chase; they shell whatever is in front of them.
USED BY · I · Legion
▶
Permanent? Temporary and stationary. Placement is the skill.
Can I command it? Placement only. Drop them where the pack will be, not where it is.
What decides its damage? Bombardment ranks and demon-count bonuses. Because they hit many times per second, Critical Strike Chance converts into far more real damage here than on a single big cast.
Cost / cooldown? Wrath (Core). Only 3% Lucky Hit chance — Lucky Hit affixes are close to dead on this skill.
Utility? The build’s floor. Turrets keep damaging while you reposition, ritual, or die.
Wall Demons
LESSER
ROLE · DEFENCE · CONTROL
FROM · Wall of Agony (Defensive)
A line of demons that erupts from the ground, blocking a corridor and grinding anything that touches it.
USED BY · I · Legion · III · Affliction (situational)
▶
Permanent? Temporary. Counts as Lesser Demons for everything that reads demon count.
Can I command it? You aim the line. That is the interaction.
What decides its damage? Wall of Agony ranks; the grind ticks fast, so Critical Strike Chance is efficient on it.
Cost / cooldown? Dominance (Defensive skill).
Utility? The cheapest way to raise your demon count for Damage Per Demon while also stopping a charge.
Tortured Wretch
LESSER
ROLE · DEFENSIVE COOLDOWN
FROM · Tortured Wretch (Defensive)
A bound demon that eats damage aimed at you, then bursts.
USED BY · II · Conflagration · IV · Archfiend
▶
Permanent? Temporary — it dies when it is full, which is the point.
Can I command it? No. Summon it before you take damage, not after.
What decides its damage? What it absorbed. Punching Bag lets it absorb up to 100% of your Maximum Life, then explode for 500% damage and Fortify you for 15% of what it took.
Cost / cooldown? Dominance (Defensive skill).
Utility? The class’s clearest "defensive cooldown that pays out as burst". Maximum Life is a damage stat on this one skill.
Rampage Brute
GREATER
ROLE · BURST · LOTTERY
FROM · Rampage (Archfiend)
A heavy demon that smashes into a pack. Its hits can Eviscerate — a rare, enormous strike worth 2560% damage on a 5% chance.
USED BY · IV · Archfiend
▶
Permanent? Temporary, and rechargeable: Abyssal Titan lets you recast to re-aim it instead of resummoning.
Can I command it? Yes — recast to command it. Forgetting the second press is the most common Warlock damage loss.
What decides its damage? Rampage ranks, Archfiend damage, and Eviscerate chance. Eviscerate and Critical Strike are separate rolls — crit gear does not feed Eviscerate.
Cost / cooldown? Dominance (Archfiend skill).
Utility? Demon Masher smashes your own Lesser Demons for Fortify. Demonic Smash transforms you into a demon for up to 5 seconds.
Infernal Breath
GREATER
ROLE · AREA · BURN
FROM · Infernal Breath (Archfiend)
A demonic head that anchors itself and breathes a cone of hellfire down a lane.
USED BY · II · Conflagration (swap) · IV · Archfiend
▶
Permanent? Temporary. Abyssal Torrent recasts it to re-aim the cone.
Can I command it? Yes — recast. Aim along the pack, never across it.
What decides its damage? Infernal Breath ranks and Hellfire damage. The cone ticks, so Critical Strike Chance and burn multipliers both pay.
Cost / cooldown? Dominance (Archfiend skill).
Utility? Demonic Glare transforms you. The cone also keeps burning ground, which Volatility builds stand in on purpose.
Tyrant’s Grasp
GREATER
ROLE · SINGLE TARGET · CONTROL
FROM · Tyrant’s Grasp (Archfiend)
A vast demonic hand that seizes what it can reach and crushes it.
USED BY · IV · Archfiend
▶
Permanent? Temporary. Abyssal Pit consumes what it grabs and hides you in Stealth.
Can I command it? Yes — it is aimed, and Demonic Grasp turns the cast into your own transformation.
What decides its damage? Tyrant’s Grasp ranks and Archfiend damage. Its damage is concentrated, so Vulnerable and crit damage matter more than area bonuses.
Cost / cooldown? Dominance (Archfiend skill).
Utility? The class’s best answer to one large enemy, and a hard control effect on everything else.
Profane Sentinel
GREATER
ROLE · SUPPORT · VULNERABLE
FROM · Profane Sentinel (Archfiend)
A standing sentinel that fires blasts at range and marks what it hits.
USED BY · I · Legion · III · Affliction
▶
Permanent? Temporary, long-lived, and stationary.
Can I command it? No — it picks targets itself. Place it and forget it.
What decides its damage? Sentinel ranks. Its damage is not the point; its Vulnerable application is.
Cost / cooldown? Dominance (Archfiend skill).
Utility? Its Vulnerable upgrade is how most current builds keep Vulnerable up — 20% more damage from everything you own, applied by something that is not you.
Fiend of Abaddon
GREATER · ULTIMATE
ROLE · BOSS BURST
FROM · Fiend of Abaddon (Ultimate)
A colossus tears out of the ground, swipes for 325%, and can be recast to pull everything in and explode for 500%.
USED BY · IV · Archfiend
▶
Permanent? Temporary, and the only demon with a real presence on the screen.
Can I command it? Yes — the recast is half the skill. Press it again.
What decides its damage? Fiend ranks, Archfiend damage, Vulnerable.
Cost / cooldown? Cooldown by default; its Dominance upgrade removes the cooldown entirely and charges 30 Dominance instead.
Utility? The clearest example of the class trading time for resource: with the Dominance upgrade it stops being an ultimate and becomes a spender.
Terror Swarm
GREATER · ULTIMATE
ROLE · CLEAR · VULNERABLE
FROM · Terror Swarm (Ultimate)
A swarm of small horrors that spreads over everything nearby and chews.
USED BY · I · Legion · III · Affliction (swap)
▶
Permanent? Temporary. Nightmare recasts it to re-aim the swarm.
Can I command it? Yes — recast.
What decides its damage? Swarm ranks. It hits constantly at 1% Lucky Hit chance: Critical Strike Chance is excellent on it, Lucky Hit affixes are worthless.
Cost / cooldown? Cooldown.
Utility? Its Vulnerable upgrade applies Vulnerable and adds a further 20% damage specifically from Archfiend Skills — two conditions stacked on one debuff.
Demonform (You)
TRANSFORMATION
ROLE · YOU BECOME THE DEMON
FROM · Metamorphosis + Archfiend upgrades
Not a summon. Your skills are replaced by melee-range demonic versions for a few seconds and you go in yourself.
USED BY · IV · Archfiend
▶
Permanent? Up to 5 seconds per trigger, refreshed by triggering it again.
Can I command it? Total — it is you.
What decides its damage? Overridden skills inherit at least Metamorphosis’s Rank, so ranks in Metamorphosis raise every form skill at once.
Cost / cooldown? Metamorphosis is a 5-second cooldown and grants every Archfiend Demonform variant at once.
Utility? Demonic Smash (Rampage), Demonic Grasp (Tyrant’s Grasp), Demonic Glare (Infernal Breath) and Demonic Swipe each transform you for up to 5 seconds — so a bar full of Archfiend skills is a bar full of transform triggers.
DEMON SCALING — WHAT THEY INHERIT FROM YOU
Do not carry Necromancer minion rules over here. These are the answers for Warlock demons specifically, and the labels say who each one affects.
Do demons inherit my damage bonuses?
AFFECTS BOTH
The generic ones, yes — your damage multipliers, Vulnerable and the ranks of the skill that summoned them all apply. Read the summoning skill as the demon’s stat sheet.
Does my Critical Strike Chance matter to them?
AFFECTS BOTH
Enormously for demons that tick many times a second (turrets, wall demons, Terror Swarm) and much less for single-hit brutes. Each tick rolls its own crit.
Does Eviscerate scale with crit?
AFFECTS DEMONS
No. Eviscerate chance is a separate roll from Critical Strike. Stacking crit does not make Rampage eviscerate more often — only Eviscerate-chance sources do.
Does my attack speed matter to them?
AFFECTS YOU
Not to the demons themselves. It matters to how fast YOU cast the skills that summon and command them, which is a different thing that feels the same.
Does Vulnerable help demon damage?
AFFECTS BOTH
Yes — Vulnerable is a debuff on the enemy, so everything hitting that enemy benefits, demons included. This is why builds summon Profane Sentinel purely to apply it.
Additive or multiplicative?
AFFECTS BOTH
Skill ranks and flat damage bonuses add together; anything written with [x] multiplies the total. One [x] source is usually worth several additive ones, which is why the gear cards here chase aspects over raw damage rolls.
Do demon-count bonuses stack with demon quality?
AFFECTS DEMONS
They fight each other for your points. "1% per active demon, up to 20%" wants many cheap bodies; Greater Demon ranks want few expensive ones. Pick one and build it.
Does Paragon help demons?
AFFECTS BOTH
Yes, and Season 14 strengthened the Dominance scaling on the Warlock board specifically — nodes and glyphs that read Dominance are worth more than last season’s sheets suggest.
PART III
CHOOSE YOUR PACT
Four different characters, not four flavours of one list. One is a demon field, one is pure fire and no demons at all, one is curses and shadow, one turns you into the monster.
BUILD I · EASY
THE LEGION
Hold one button, fill the screen with small demons, let them do the killing. Start here.
DEMONS DO THE DAMAGE
BUILD II · MODERATE
The Conflagration
Light the ground, stand in it, throw bombs. No pets, biggest explosions.
YOU DO THE DAMAGE
BUILD III · MODERATE
The Affliction
Curse everything, cut it apart from the shadows, watch the Hex spread on every kill.
HEX · SHADOWFORM
BUILD IV · ADVANCED
The Archfiend
Become the demon. Melee windows, guaranteed Eviscerates, best bossing here.
YOU BECOME THE DEMON
▶ BUILD I The Legion · SOURCE-LOCKED SEASON 14 BUILD EASY · DEMONOLOGY
ONE-SCREEN VERSION
EVERYTHING BELOW IS OPTIONAL DETAIL
YOUR JOB
Build toward this exact source tree without purchasing any node before its published unlock.
PRESS
1Command Fallen — Generate Wrath: 10 Lucky Hit Chance: 30% Summon a Fallen Lunatic that charges your target and explodes, dealing 80% damage.
2Dread Claws — Wrath Cost: 30 Lucky Hit Chance: 15% Burst forth 4 shadowy claws, each dealing 50% damage.
3Command Ae'grom — Published on the linked source guide's six-skill bar.
4Fiend of Abaddon — Cooldown: 60 seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 22% Summon a massive fiend for 15 seconds that attacks enemies, dealing 250% damage per swipe.
5Nether Step — Cooldown: 12 seconds Step through the shadows of Hell to emerge at the target location, gaining 4 stacks of Shadowform as well as 50% [x] increased Movement Speed which decays over 4.0 seconds.
6Sigil of Subversion — Cooldown: 10 seconds Create a subversive ritual for 10 seconds that Hexes enemies. Killing 8 enemies or Demons within fuels the ritual to send forth shadow trails for 8.0 seconds that periodically grant you 1 stack of Shadowform while in them. You can have up to 3 trails active at once.
YOUR MAIN DAMAGE
SOURCE-PUBLISHED FINAL BAR AND TREE
MOST IMPORTANT STAT · SEE THE LINKED SOURCE GUIDE
MOST IMPORTANT DEMON · Lunatics. Not the impressive ones — the count is the build.
WHEN YOU'RE IN TROUBLE · SEE THE LINKED SOURCE GUIDE
DON'T WORRY ABOUT YET · At 70, complete the exact final source tree shown here.
BUILD I · DEMONOLOGY
THE LEGION
DIFFICULTY · EASY
DEMONS · LESSER DEMON SWARM
This build is for you if you want One distinct source build from level 1 through its exact final tree and six-button bar.
WHO IS ACTUALLY DOING THE DAMAGE?
YOUSUPPORTING
DEMONSPRIMARY
The bars are shape, not measurement — no reliable per-source damage numbers exist for a class this new, so treat them as “which half of the build to fix when your damage is low”.
YOUR SOUL SHARD
LEGION SHARD — Your demons explode for 150% when they die (up from 75% this season) and sacrificing one refunds 20%. With this shard, demons dying is not a loss — it is the damage.
YOUR JOB, MOMENT TO MOMENT
Hold Command Fallen. Lunatics claw out of the ground and run at whatever is nearest, and every one of them makes your next hit bigger — up to 20% for a full field. Drop Bombardment turrets where the pack will be, put the Sigil of Summons circle on top of the fight for a burst of extra bodies, and let Profane Sentinel keep everything Vulnerable. You are a conductor, not a damage dealer. Your job is to stand somewhere sensible and keep the field full.
RATINGS
SOURCE LOCK★★★★★
STRENGTHS
· Your summoned demons continue dealing damage while you move or use other skills
· The easiest Wrath management in the class: your main attack generates Wrath and funds Dominance
· Excellent group-clearing speed with no complicated rotation
· No Unique item is required
WEAKNESSES
· Slowest single-target damage of the four — bosses take patience
· Your damage is spread across a field, so it dies when the field does
· Demon-count bonuses want you close to the pack, which is where the danger is
· Little burst: you cannot delete a dangerous elite on demand
BEST FOR
Distinct Season 14 source buildLegal level-gated point orderExact final tree and bar
THE SIX BUTTONS — WHAT EACH ONE IS FOR
LMB
Command Fallen
Generate Wrath: 10 Lucky Hit Chance: 30% Summon a Fallen Lunatic that charges your target and explodes, dealing 80% damage.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
RMB
Dread Claws
Wrath Cost: 30 Lucky Hit Chance: 15% Burst forth 4 shadowy claws, each dealing 50% damage.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
1
Command Ae'grom
Published on the linked source guide's six-skill bar.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
2
Fiend of Abaddon
Cooldown: 60 seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 22% Summon a massive fiend for 15 seconds that attacks enemies, dealing 250% damage per swipe.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
3
Nether Step
Cooldown: 12 seconds Step through the shadows of Hell to emerge at the target location, gaining 4 stacks of Shadowform as well as 50% [x] increased Movement Speed which decays over 4.0 seconds.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
4
Sigil of Subversion
Cooldown: 10 seconds Create a subversive ritual for 10 seconds that Hexes enemies. Killing 8 enemies or Demons within fuels the ritual to send forth shadow trails for 8.0 seconds that periodically grant you 1 stack of Shadowform while in them. You can have up to 3 trails active at once.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
EVERY POINT, LEVEL BY LEVEL
One point per level-up, 2 → 70, plus 14 bonus points at the end. Set your level to see exactly what you should own at that moment — and what to buy next.
LEVEL
LVL 70 · 83 PTS
PUBLISHED SIX-SKILL BAR
Command Fallen
15/15
COREBASIC
Dread Claws
15/15
CORECORE
Fiend of Abaddon
15/15
COREULTIMATE
Nether Step
15/15
COREDEFENSIVE
Sigil of Subversion
8/15
CORESIGIL
SELECTED SUPPORT NODES
Movement Speed
1/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Slow
1/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Extra Charge
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Movement Speed
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Vulnerable
1/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Cost Reduction
1/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Ravenous Jaws
1/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Gloomwalker
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Infiltration Trails
1/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Cascading Dread
0/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Tortured Wretch
0/15
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Dominance
1/1
IMPORTANTULTIMATE
Lesser Demon Bonus
1/1
IMPORTANTULTIMATE
Spiteful Enrage
1/1
IMPORTANTULTIMATE
Wrath
1/1
IMPORTANTBASIC
Dominance
1/1
IMPORTANTBASIC
Mega Lunatic
1/1
IMPORTANTBASIC
+14 BONUS POINTS (SEASON RANK · OR RENOWN ON ETERNAL) — SPEND AS THEY ARRIVE
· +8 Nether Step — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +6 Sigil of Subversion — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
YOUR BAR AT LEVEL 70
Command Fallen
Dread Claws
Command Ae'grom
Fiend of Abaddon
Nether Step
Sigil of Subversion
Exact six-skill bar published by the linked source guide.
SHARD · TALISMAN · ITEM PLAN BY LEVEL 70
L2 · Begin building Demon Summoner — https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/demon-summoner-warlock-leveling-build/
L70 · Complete Demon Summoner — https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/demon-summoner-warlock-leveling-build/
▶THE LEVELLING STORY, 1 → 70 (READ ONCE BEFORE YOU START)
1–69
BUILD-SPECIFIC PROGRESSION
Only nodes from Demon Summoner – Warlock Leveling Build for Diablo 4 (Season 14), deferred until their published unlock levels.
70–70
FINAL SOURCE BUILD
Exact 83-point tree and six-skill bar from Demon Summoner – Warlock Leveling Build for Diablo 4 (Season 14).
YOUR RESOURCE ENGINE
Two bars, and this build feeds them differently from the other three. If your rotation feels broken, it is almost always one of these two lines.
WRATH
DOMINANCE
See the linked source guide: https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/demon-summoner-warlock-leveling-build/
GEAR — AND WHAT TO DO UNTIL IT DROPS
Every slot has a best answer and an honest “until then” answer. No build in this codex requires a unique item to reach level 70.
2H Weapon (Sword)
1. Weapon Damage · 2. Vulnerable Damage · 3. Willpower
TEMPERING — Worldly Destruction – Attack Speed Temper
Slot, affix order, and tempering text are taken from the linked source table.
UNTIL THEN · No fallback is substituted when the source row does not publish one.
Helm
1. Maximum Life · 2. Total Armor · 3. + Wrath Generation
TEMPERING — Worldly Endurance – Maximum Life
Slot, affix order, and tempering text are taken from the linked source table.
UNTIL THEN · No fallback is substituted when the source row does not publish one.
Chest
1. Maximum Life · 2. Total Armor · 3. + Wrath Generation
TEMPERING — Worldly Endurance – Maximum Life
Slot, affix order, and tempering text are taken from the linked source table.
UNTIL THEN · No fallback is substituted when the source row does not publish one.
Gloves
1. Attack Speed · 2. Vulnerable Damage · 3. Willpower
TEMPERING — Demonologist – Demonology Damage
Slot, affix order, and tempering text are taken from the linked source table.
UNTIL THEN · No fallback is substituted when the source row does not publish one.
Pants
1. Maximum Life · 2. Total Armor · 3. + Wrath Generation
TEMPERING — Worldly Endurance – Maximum Life
Slot, affix order, and tempering text are taken from the linked source table.
UNTIL THEN · No fallback is substituted when the source row does not publish one.
Boots
1. Movement Speed · 2. Willpower · 3. Maximum Life
TEMPERING — Natural Motion – Movement Speed
Slot, affix order, and tempering text are taken from the linked source table.
UNTIL THEN · No fallback is substituted when the source row does not publish one.
Amulet
1. Movement Speed · 2. Attack Speed · 3. Willpower
TEMPERING — Natural Motion – Movement Speed
Slot, affix order, and tempering text are taken from the linked source table.
UNTIL THEN · No fallback is substituted when the source row does not publish one.
Rings
1. Attack Speed · 2. Vulnerable Damage or All Damage · 3. Any resistances
TEMPERING — Worldly Stability – Resource Generation
Slot, affix order, and tempering text are taken from the linked source table.
UNTIL THEN · No fallback is substituted when the source row does not publish one.
Legendary Aspects
Uniques — With & Without
SEASON 14 · Almost any unique can be upgraded to Mythic at the Horadric Cube for 4 Pandemonium Fragments, and every dropped unique now carries guaranteed affixes. Upgrade this build's engine item first: Cage of Madness.
“I don't have that”
WHAT DO I ACTUALLY PRESS?
NORMAL ENEMIES
1SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 1 — Sigil of Subversion
2SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 2 — Command Fallen
3SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 3 — Dread Claws
4SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 4 — Tortured Wretch
5SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 5 — Fiend of Abaddon
6SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 6 — Nether Step
ELITES
BOSSES
IF THINGS GO WRONG
WHY IS THIS BUILD GOOD?
The engine, start to finish. Break any link and the damage sags — that is how the troubleshooting below diagnoses it.
No Codex-authored rotation is substituted for the linked source.
TROUBLESHOOTING
▶“Why is some build detail brief?”
Only structured source facts are imported. Missing recommendations are linked, not invented.
PARAGON, AFTER 70
Board order:
Glyphs:
Paragon advice is withheld until separately source-locked.
▶RESEARCH & SOURCES FOR THIS BUILD
Verified against the project research pass: Icy Veins — Demon Summoner – Warlock Leveling Build for Diablo 4 (Season 14) (https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/demon-summoner-warlock-leveling-build/). The saved tree, node graph, unlock gates, final distribution, and published bar were locked 2026-08-26T13:19:35Z.
Synthesized (my ordering and framing): No skill, rank total, bar choice, item, or final allocation is invented. Level ordering is mechanically derived from the same source tree and its published unlock gates.
Flagged as uncertain: The source does not always publish a narrative leveling order. Codex preserves its node edit priority while deferring locked nodes; unsupported timing prose and Paragon advice stay suppressed.
▶ BUILD II The Conflagration · SOURCE-LOCKED SEASON 14 BUILD MODERATE · HELLFIRE
ONE-SCREEN VERSION
EVERYTHING BELOW IS OPTIONAL DETAIL
YOUR JOB
Build toward this exact source tree without purchasing any node before its published unlock.
PRESS
1Sigil of Subversion — Cooldown: 10 seconds Create a subversive ritual for 10 seconds that Hexes enemies. Killing 8 enemies or Demons within fuels the ritual to send forth shadow trails for 8.0 seconds that periodically grant you 1 stack of Shadowform while in them. You can have up to 3 trails active at once.
2Apocalypse — Cooldown: 66.6 seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 50% Create a massive sigil that detonates after 2.0 seconds dealing 666% damage to all enemies within. This ritual does not benefit from Cooldown Reduction.
3Nether Step — Cooldown: 12 seconds Step through the shadows of Hell to emerge at the target location, gaining 4 stacks of Shadowform as well as 50% [x] increased Movement Speed which decays over 4.0 seconds.
4Dark Prison — Cooldown: 20 seconds Create a shadowy totem for 8 seconds that chains enemies, Tethering them to the area and preventing them from escaping.
5Umbral Chains — Wrath Cost: 35 Lucky Hit Chance: 6% Send forth a shadowy chain, dealing 80% damage along the way and linking up to 2 enemies for 5 seconds. Enemies caught in the chain are Slowed by 30% and take 25% damage per second.
6Command Valloch — Published on the linked source guide's six-skill bar.
YOUR MAIN DAMAGE
SOURCE-PUBLISHED FINAL BAR AND TREE
MOST IMPORTANT STAT · SEE THE LINKED SOURCE GUIDE
MOST IMPORTANT DEMON · None. This build has no demons and that is the point.
WHEN YOU'RE IN TROUBLE · SEE THE LINKED SOURCE GUIDE
DON'T WORRY ABOUT YET · At 70, complete the exact final source tree shown here.
BUILD II · HELLFIRE
THE CONFLAGRATION
DIFFICULTY · MODERATE
YOU · HELLFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
This build is for you if you want One distinct source build from level 1 through its exact final tree and six-button bar.
WHO IS ACTUALLY DOING THE DAMAGE?
YOUPRIMARY
DEMONSBARELY PRESENT
The bars are shape, not measurement — no reliable per-source damage numbers exist for a class this new, so treat them as “which half of the build to fix when your damage is low”.
YOUR SOUL SHARD
MASTERMIND SHARD — Subjugation Fragment pays 2 Dominance per second, unconditionally. You make no Lesser Demons, so the Legion Shard has nothing to detonate — take the income instead.
YOUR JOB, MOMENT TO MOMENT
Throw the Sigil of Chaos at your own feet and stand in it. Standing inside grants Volatility, and Volatility upgrades your casts into their better versions — Molten Bomb starts knocking everything down every time instead of 15% of the time, and Apocalypse starts double-hitting every time instead of a fifth of the time. Hell Fracture cracks the ground for the explosion you then stand in, which refreshes Volatility. So the build is one sentence: light the floor, stand on it, keep casting.
RATINGS
SOURCE LOCK★★★★★
STRENGTHS
· You are the damage — nothing to babysit, nothing to resummon
· Best burst of the four: a Volatile Apocalypse ends packs outright
· Volatility turns chances into certainties, which makes the build feel reliable rather than random
· Reads gear simply: Hellfire damage, Intelligence, crit
WEAKNESSES
· You must stand in your own fire, which often places you near enemies
· Wrath is difficult to sustain until you obtain Resource Cost Reduction
· You must maintain Volatility or your damage is reduced by half
· The build deals no automatic damage when you stop casting
BEST FOR
Distinct Season 14 source buildLegal level-gated point orderExact final tree and bar
THE SIX BUTTONS — WHAT EACH ONE IS FOR
LMB
Sigil of Subversion
Cooldown: 10 seconds Create a subversive ritual for 10 seconds that Hexes enemies. Killing 8 enemies or Demons within fuels the ritual to send forth shadow trails for 8.0 seconds that periodically grant you 1 stack of Shadowform while in them. You can have up to 3 trails active at once.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
RMB
Apocalypse
Cooldown: 66.6 seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 50% Create a massive sigil that detonates after 2.0 seconds dealing 666% damage to all enemies within. This ritual does not benefit from Cooldown Reduction.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
1
Nether Step
Cooldown: 12 seconds Step through the shadows of Hell to emerge at the target location, gaining 4 stacks of Shadowform as well as 50% [x] increased Movement Speed which decays over 4.0 seconds.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
2
Dark Prison
Cooldown: 20 seconds Create a shadowy totem for 8 seconds that chains enemies, Tethering them to the area and preventing them from escaping.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
3
Umbral Chains
Wrath Cost: 35 Lucky Hit Chance: 6% Send forth a shadowy chain, dealing 80% damage along the way and linking up to 2 enemies for 5 seconds. Enemies caught in the chain are Slowed by 30% and take 25% damage per second.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
4
Command Valloch
Published on the linked source guide's six-skill bar.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
EVERY POINT, LEVEL BY LEVEL
One point per level-up, 2 → 70, plus 14 bonus points at the end. Set your level to see exactly what you should own at that moment — and what to buy next.
LEVEL
LVL 70 · 83 PTS
PUBLISHED SIX-SKILL BAR
Sigil of Subversion
5/15
CORESIGIL
Apocalypse
15/15
COREULTIMATE
Nether Step
5/15
COREDEFENSIVE
Dark Prison
10/15
COREDEFENSIVE
Umbral Chains
15/15
CORECORE
SELECTED SUPPORT NODES
Movement Speed
1/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Slow
1/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Cooldown
0/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Damage
0/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Volatility Casts
1/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Volatility Duration
1/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Fortify
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Weaken
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Duration
0/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Cost Reduction
0/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Damage Reduction
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Extra Charge
0/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Movement Speed
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Wrath Refund
1/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Capture Damage
0/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Long Range Slow
1/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Impact Velocity
0/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Cost Reduction
0/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Summon Hellwyrm
0/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Sigil of Smoke
0/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Tripwire
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Skull Splitter
0/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Gloomwalker
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Seekers
0/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Chain Whips
1/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Blazing Scream
0/15
IMPORTANTCORE
Death Saws
0/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Sigil of Chaos
15/15
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Hellfire Aura
1/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Infiltration Trails
1/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Sigil of Summons
0/15
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Tortured Wretch
0/15
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Double Blast
1/1
IMPORTANTULTIMATE
Survivor Damage
1/1
IMPORTANTULTIMATE
Annihilation
1/1
IMPORTANTULTIMATE
Command Fallen
0/15
IMPORTANTBASIC
+14 BONUS POINTS (SEASON RANK · OR RENOWN ON ETERNAL) — SPEND AS THEY ARRIVE
· +1 Long Range Slow — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +4 Nether Step — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +9 Sigil of Chaos — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
YOUR BAR AT LEVEL 70
Sigil of Subversion
Apocalypse
Nether Step
Dark Prison
Umbral Chains
Command Valloch
Exact six-skill bar published by the linked source guide.
SHARD · TALISMAN · ITEM PLAN BY LEVEL 70
L2 · Begin building Hellfire Apocalypse — https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/hellfire-apocalypse-warlock-build/
L70 · Complete Hellfire Apocalypse — https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/hellfire-apocalypse-warlock-build/
▶THE LEVELLING STORY, 1 → 70 (READ ONCE BEFORE YOU START)
1–69
BUILD-SPECIFIC PROGRESSION
Only nodes from Hellfire Apocalypse – Warlock Build for Diablo 4 (Season 14), deferred until their published unlock levels.
70–70
FINAL SOURCE BUILD
Exact 83-point tree and six-skill bar from Hellfire Apocalypse – Warlock Build for Diablo 4 (Season 14).
YOUR RESOURCE ENGINE
Two bars, and this build feeds them differently from the other three. If your rotation feels broken, it is almost always one of these two lines.
WRATH
DOMINANCE
See the linked source guide: https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/hellfire-apocalypse-warlock-build/
GEAR — AND WHAT TO DO UNTIL IT DROPS
Every slot has a best answer and an honest “until then” answer. No build in this codex requires a unique item to reach level 70.
Legendary Aspects
Crown of LucionSOURCE LISTED
Helm
Each time you use a Skill with a Primary Resource Cost, gain x [10 – 15%] increased damage and Resource Cost is increased by +30% for 6 seconds, stacking up to 6 times.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Aspect of Deeper ShadowsSOURCE LISTED
Chest
Maximum Shadowform stacks increased by 6 [2 – 6].
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Hands of the WorldbreakerSOURCE LISTED
Gloves
Apocalypse deals up to x#% increased damage when cast in Sigil of Chaos based o nthe number of kills the Sigil has stored.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Aspect of Heavenly StrengthSOURCE LISTED
Pants
While wielding a Two-Handed Weapon, gain 30-40% Damage Reduction.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Footfalls of the Waning WorldSOURCE LISTED
Boots
Your Evade is now Nether Step and your Evade Cooldown is reduced by 1.00 [0.60 – 1.00] seconds as you lose or consume Shadowform stacks.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
1. The Grandfather2. Overwhelming AspectSOURCE LISTED
Weapon 2H
Increases your Critical Strike Damage by x150%.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
The Hemat StoneSOURCE LISTED
Amulet (50% Scaling) (* Should be highest priority to be made into Mythic Quality)
Bonuses from Command Valloch and Ritualist Fragments have 100%[+] increased Potency. Your Occult Skills deal 30%[x] [20 – 30]% increased damage.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Cremator’s AspectSOURCE LISTED
Ring
While you have 4 or more Overpower, your Fire Skill casts deal x#% increased damage.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Seal of the OphanimSOURCE LISTED
Ring
Profane Sentinel deals 270%[x] [230 – 270]% increased damage and summons an additional eye that follows you for 10 seconds.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Uniques — With & Without
Crown of LucionSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
The GrandfatherSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
Fleshwrit CarapaceSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
Hands of the WorldbreakerSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
Footfalls of the Waning WorldSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
The Hemat StoneSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
SEASON 14 · Almost any unique can be upgraded to Mythic at the Horadric Cube for 4 Pandemonium Fragments, and every dropped unique now carries guaranteed affixes. Upgrade this build's engine item first: any Hellfire unique weapon — or spend fragments on defence.
“I don't have that”
WHAT DO I ACTUALLY PRESS?
NORMAL ENEMIES
1SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 1 — Umbral Chains
2SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 2 — Sigil of Subversion
3SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 3 — Dark Prison
4SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 4 — Nether Step
5SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 5 — Apocalypse
ELITES
BOSSES
IF THINGS GO WRONG
WHY IS THIS BUILD GOOD?
The engine, start to finish. Break any link and the damage sags — that is how the troubleshooting below diagnoses it.
No Codex-authored rotation is substituted for the linked source.
TROUBLESHOOTING
▶“Why is some build detail brief?”
Only structured source facts are imported. Missing recommendations are linked, not invented.
PARAGON, AFTER 70
Board order:
Glyphs:
Paragon advice is withheld until separately source-locked.
▶RESEARCH & SOURCES FOR THIS BUILD
Verified against the project research pass: Icy Veins — Hellfire Apocalypse – Warlock Build for Diablo 4 (Season 14) (https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/hellfire-apocalypse-warlock-build/). The saved tree, node graph, unlock gates, final distribution, and published bar were locked 2026-08-26T13:19:35Z.
Synthesized (my ordering and framing): No skill, rank total, bar choice, item, or final allocation is invented. Level ordering is mechanically derived from the same source tree and its published unlock gates.
Flagged as uncertain: The source does not always publish a narrative leveling order. Codex preserves its node edit priority while deferring locked nodes; unsupported timing prose and Paragon advice stay suppressed.
▶ BUILD III The Affliction · SOURCE-LOCKED SEASON 14 BUILD MODERATE · OCCULT + ABYSS
ONE-SCREEN VERSION
EVERYTHING BELOW IS OPTIONAL DETAIL
YOUR JOB
Build toward this exact source tree without purchasing any node before its published unlock.
PRESS
1Metamorphosis — Cooldown: 15 seconds Transform into a demon and gain:DemonformAll Archfiend Demonform Skill VariantsAn Ultimate Archfiend Basic attack that deals 65% damage and generates 2 Dominance Cast again while active to cancel.
2Nether Step — Cooldown: 12 seconds Step through the shadows of Hell to emerge at the target location, gaining 4 stacks of Shadowform as well as 50% [x] increased Movement Speed which decays over 4.0 seconds.
3Dread Claws — Wrath Cost: 30 Lucky Hit Chance: 15% Burst forth 4 shadowy claws, each dealing 50% damage.
4Rampage — Dominance Cost: ? Lucky Hit Chance: 30% Summon a rampaging brute for 10 seconds that smashes wildly, dealing 64% damage a with a 5% chance per hit to Eviscerate enemies for 1280% damage.
5Command Fallen — Generate Wrath: 10 Lucky Hit Chance: 30% Summon a Fallen Lunatic that charges your target and explodes, dealing 80% damage.
6Command Laalish — Published on the linked source guide's six-skill bar.
YOUR MAIN DAMAGE
SOURCE-PUBLISHED FINAL BAR AND TREE
MOST IMPORTANT STAT · SEE THE LINKED SOURCE GUIDE
MOST IMPORTANT DEMON · Profane Sentinel. It is not there for damage — it is there for Vulnerable.
WHEN YOU'RE IN TROUBLE · SEE THE LINKED SOURCE GUIDE
DON'T WORRY ABOUT YET · At 70, complete the exact final source tree shown here.
BUILD III · OCCULT + ABYSS
THE AFFLICTION
DIFFICULTY · MODERATE
YOU + CLAWS · ABYSS DAMAGE ON HEXED TARGETS
This build is for you if you want One distinct source build from level 1 through its exact final tree and six-button bar.
WHO IS ACTUALLY DOING THE DAMAGE?
YOUPRIMARY
DEMONSSUPPORTING
The bars are shape, not measurement — no reliable per-source damage numbers exist for a class this new, so treat them as “which half of the build to fix when your damage is low”.
YOUR SOUL SHARD
MASTERMIND SHARD — 2 Dominance per second funds a bar with three Dominance skills on it (Nether Step, Sigil of Subversion, Profane Sentinel). You make no Lesser Demons, so the Legion Shard has nothing to detonate.
YOUR JOB, MOMENT TO MOMENT
Doom paints Hex on the pack. Hexed enemies take more Abyss damage the lower their health falls, so your damage grows as the fight goes on rather than front-loading. Dread Claws is the Abyss skill that cashes that in; Nether Step is both your dash and your Shadowform battery, and Encircling Terror spends a stack to conjure a second set of claws for free. Sigil of Subversion lays trails that top up Shadowform and Hex whatever walks through them. Contagion carries the Hex to the next enemy on every kill, so a pack unravels in sequence.
RATINGS
SOURCE LOCK★★★★★
STRENGTHS
· Damage scales up as enemies get lower — the opposite of most builds
· Best sustained single-target of the three non-transformation builds
· Nether Step makes it the most mobile build in the codex
· Contagion means you never re-curse a pack you are already killing
WEAKNESSES
· Slowest opener: the Hex has to land before anything hurts
· Two mechanics to maintain at once (Hex and Shadowform)
· Moving usually burns Shadowform, so positioning is a real cost
· Weakest against a single enemy that dies instantly — the ramp is wasted
BEST FOR
Distinct Season 14 source buildLegal level-gated point orderExact final tree and bar
THE SIX BUTTONS — WHAT EACH ONE IS FOR
LMB
Metamorphosis
Cooldown: 15 seconds Transform into a demon and gain:DemonformAll Archfiend Demonform Skill VariantsAn Ultimate Archfiend Basic attack that deals 65% damage and generates 2 Dominance Cast again while active to cancel.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
RMB
Nether Step
Cooldown: 12 seconds Step through the shadows of Hell to emerge at the target location, gaining 4 stacks of Shadowform as well as 50% [x] increased Movement Speed which decays over 4.0 seconds.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
1
Dread Claws
Wrath Cost: 30 Lucky Hit Chance: 15% Burst forth 4 shadowy claws, each dealing 50% damage.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
2
Rampage
Dominance Cost: ? Lucky Hit Chance: 30% Summon a rampaging brute for 10 seconds that smashes wildly, dealing 64% damage a with a 5% chance per hit to Eviscerate enemies for 1280% damage.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
3
Command Fallen
Generate Wrath: 10 Lucky Hit Chance: 30% Summon a Fallen Lunatic that charges your target and explodes, dealing 80% damage.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
4
Command Laalish
Published on the linked source guide's six-skill bar.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
EVERY POINT, LEVEL BY LEVEL
One point per level-up, 2 → 70, plus 14 bonus points at the end. Set your level to see exactly what you should own at that moment — and what to buy next.
LEVEL
LVL 70 · 83 PTS
PUBLISHED SIX-SKILL BAR
Metamorphosis
15/15
COREULTIMATE
Nether Step
4/15
COREDEFENSIVE
Dread Claws
15/15
CORECORE
Rampage
15/15
COREARCHFIEND
Command Fallen
1/15
COREBASIC
SELECTED SUPPORT NODES
Movement Speed
1/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Slow
1/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Killstreak Damage
1/1
IMPORTANTARCHFIEND
Elite Hit Chance
1/1
IMPORTANTARCHFIEND
Fortify
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Weaken
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Duration
0/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Cost Reduction
0/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Damage Reduction
0/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Extra Charge
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Movement Speed
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Ambush
1/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Damage
1/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Gloomwalker
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Seekers
0/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Chain Aura
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Death Saws
0/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Dark Prison
4/15
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Abyssal Titan
1/1
IMPORTANTARCHFIEND
Enveloping Terror
1/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Infiltration Trails
1/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Sigil of Subversion
8/15
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Tortured Wretch
0/15
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Damage Scaling
1/1
IMPORTANTULTIMATE
Dominance
1/1
IMPORTANTULTIMATE
Terror Demon
1/1
IMPORTANTULTIMATE
Wrath
1/1
IMPORTANTBASIC
Dominance
1/1
IMPORTANTBASIC
Fallen Rush
1/1
IMPORTANTBASIC
+14 BONUS POINTS (SEASON RANK · OR RENOWN ON ETERNAL) — SPEND AS THEY ARRIVE
· +1 Chain Aura — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +4 Dark Prison — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +1 Dominance — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +1 Extra Charge — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +1 Fallen Rush — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +1 Fortify — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +1 Infiltration Trails — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +2 Sigil of Subversion — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +1 Weaken — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +1 Wrath — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
YOUR BAR AT LEVEL 70
Metamorphosis
Nether Step
Dread Claws
Rampage
Command Fallen
Command Laalish
Exact six-skill bar published by the linked source guide.
SHARD · TALISMAN · ITEM PLAN BY LEVEL 70
L2 · Begin building Dread Claws — https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/dread-claws-warlock-build/
L70 · Complete Dread Claws — https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/dread-claws-warlock-build/
▶THE LEVELLING STORY, 1 → 70 (READ ONCE BEFORE YOU START)
1–69
BUILD-SPECIFIC PROGRESSION
Only nodes from Dread Claws – Warlock Build for Diablo 4 (Season 14), deferred until their published unlock levels.
70–70
FINAL SOURCE BUILD
Exact 83-point tree and six-skill bar from Dread Claws – Warlock Build for Diablo 4 (Season 14).
YOUR RESOURCE ENGINE
Two bars, and this build feeds them differently from the other three. If your rotation feels broken, it is almost always one of these two lines.
WRATH
DOMINANCE
See the linked source guide: https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/dread-claws-warlock-build/
GEAR — AND WHAT TO DO UNTIL IT DROPS
Every slot has a best answer and an honest “until then” answer. No build in this codex requires a unique item to reach level 70.
Legendary Aspects
1. Heir of Perdition2. Godslayer CrownSOURCE LISTED
Helm
Succumb to hatred and earn Mother’s Favor, increasing your damage dealt by x80%. Slaughter enemies to briefly steal Mother’s Favor from surrounding allies.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Aspect of Deeper ShadowsSOURCE LISTED
Chest
Maximum Shadowform stacks increased by #.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Aspect of CalamitySOURCE LISTED
Gloves
Hex increases your critical strike chance.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Aspect of MightSOURCE LISTED
Pants
Basic Skill grant #% Damage Reduction for 4 seconds.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Aspect of Crippling DarknessSOURCE LISTED
Boots
Shadow damage has up to a 15% chance to deal x#% increased damage, Fear and Immobilize for 1 second.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Litany of Sable (* Should be highest priority to be made into Mythic Quality)SOURCE LISTED
Weapon 1H
Dread Claws deals x#% increased damage and additional claws fire out when you gain a stack of Shadowform.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Aspect of PerilSOURCE LISTED
Off-hand (Focus)
Making an enemy Vulnerable increases the damage you do to them by x#%, up to x#%.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Hellbent Commander AspectSOURCE LISTED
Amulet (50% Scaling)
You deal x% increased summon damage.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Lurid PactSOURCE LISTED
Ring
Rampage deals x#% increased damage. Each enemy or demon killed by Rampage increases the size of the brute and its smashes by #%, up to 50%.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Demonic AspectSOURCE LISTED
Ring
Each hit with Demonology Skills increases the damage you deal with Demonology Skills by x#% for 10 seconds, up to x#%.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Uniques — With & Without
Heir of PerditionSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
Godslayer CrownSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
Litany of Sable (* Should be highest priority to be made into Mythic Quality)SOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
Lurid PactSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
SEASON 14 · Almost any unique can be upgraded to Mythic at the Horadric Cube for 4 Pandemonium Fragments, and every dropped unique now carries guaranteed affixes. Upgrade this build's engine item first: any Abyss unique weapon — or spend fragments on defence.
“I don't have that”
WHAT DO I ACTUALLY PRESS?
NORMAL ENEMIES
1SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 1 — Command Fallen
2SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 2 — Metamorphosis
3SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 3 — Rampage → Dread Claws
4SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 4 — Dread Claws → Rampage
5SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 5 — Nether Step
ELITES
BOSSES
IF THINGS GO WRONG
WHY IS THIS BUILD GOOD?
The engine, start to finish. Break any link and the damage sags — that is how the troubleshooting below diagnoses it.
No Codex-authored rotation is substituted for the linked source.
TROUBLESHOOTING
▶“Why is some build detail brief?”
Only structured source facts are imported. Missing recommendations are linked, not invented.
PARAGON, AFTER 70
Board order:
Glyphs:
Paragon advice is withheld until separately source-locked.
▶RESEARCH & SOURCES FOR THIS BUILD
Verified against the project research pass: Icy Veins — Dread Claws – Warlock Build for Diablo 4 (Season 14) (https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/dread-claws-warlock-build/). The saved tree, node graph, unlock gates, final distribution, and published bar were locked 2026-08-26T13:19:35Z.
Synthesized (my ordering and framing): No skill, rank total, bar choice, item, or final allocation is invented. Level ordering is mechanically derived from the same source tree and its published unlock gates.
Flagged as uncertain: The source does not always publish a narrative leveling order. Codex preserves its node edit priority while deferring locked nodes; unsupported timing prose and Paragon advice stay suppressed.
▶ BUILD IV The Archfiend · SOURCE-LOCKED SEASON 14 BUILD ADVANCED · ARCHFIEND
ONE-SCREEN VERSION
EVERYTHING BELOW IS OPTIONAL DETAIL
YOUR JOB
Build toward this exact source tree without purchasing any node before its published unlock.
PRESS
1Command Fallen — Generate Wrath: 10 Lucky Hit Chance: 30% Summon a Fallen Lunatic that charges your target and explodes, dealing 80% damage.
2Metamorphosis — Cooldown: 15 seconds Transform into a demon and gain:DemonformAll Archfiend Demonform Skill VariantsAn Ultimate Archfiend Basic attack that deals 65% damage and generates 2 Dominance Cast again while active to cancel.
3Rampage — Dominance Cost: ? Lucky Hit Chance: 30% Summon a rampaging brute for 10 seconds that smashes wildly, dealing 64% damage a with a 5% chance per hit to Eviscerate enemies for 1280% damage.
4Nether Step — Cooldown: 12 seconds Step through the shadows of Hell to emerge at the target location, gaining 4 stacks of Shadowform as well as 50% [x] increased Movement Speed which decays over 4.0 seconds.
5Command Laalish — Published on the linked source guide's six-skill bar.
6Blazing Scream — Wrath Cost: 35 Lucky Hit Chance: 25% Send forth a Demon Skull dealing 130% damage as it travels.
YOUR MAIN DAMAGE
SOURCE-PUBLISHED FINAL BAR AND TREE
MOST IMPORTANT STAT · SEE THE LINKED SOURCE GUIDE
MOST IMPORTANT DEMON · Tyrant’s Grasp. It is the bossing build’s whole reason to exist.
WHEN YOU'RE IN TROUBLE · SEE THE LINKED SOURCE GUIDE
DON'T WORRY ABOUT YET · At 70, complete the exact final source tree shown here.
BUILD IV · ARCHFIEND
THE ARCHFIEND
DIFFICULTY · ADVANCED
YOU AS THE DEMON + GREATER DEMONS
This build is for you if you want One distinct source build from level 1 through its exact final tree and six-button bar.
WHO IS ACTUALLY DOING THE DAMAGE?
YOUPRIMARY (IN FORM)
DEMONSPRIMARY (GREATER)
The bars are shape, not measurement — no reliable per-source damage numbers exist for a class this new, so treat them as “which half of the build to fix when your damage is low”.
YOUR SOUL SHARD
MASTERMIND SHARD — 2 Dominance per second, plus Command Fallen’s 1 per 15 demon hits. Four Dominance skills sit on this bar and one of them is a 30-cost ultimate — income IS your damage ceiling here.
YOUR JOB, MOMENT TO MOMENT
Every Archfiend skill on this bar is a transform trigger. Metamorphosis grants every Demonform variant at once on a 5-second cooldown, and Demonic Grasp and Demonic Smash each turn a summon into your own transformation for up to 5 seconds. So you are not managing a pet — you are chaining short windows in which you are the monster, at melee range, with your skills replaced by demonic versions that inherit your ranks. Between windows, Tyrant’s Grasp and Infernal Breath are still out doing damage, and the Fiend of Abaddon has stopped being an ultimate and become a 30-Dominance spender you press on repeat.
RATINGS
SOURCE LOCK★★★★★
STRENGTHS
· Best single-target damage in the codex — Tyrant’s Grasp plus the reworked Flesh of Abaddon set
· Demonform is the class’s most satisfying mechanic and this is the only build built on it
· Skills inherit Metamorphosis’s Rank, so one skill funds the form
· Fiend of Abaddon on repeat once its Dominance upgrade lands
WEAKNESSES
· Melee range on a class with a caster’s health pool
· Latest to come online — roughly level 35–40
· Entirely gated by Dominance income; a bad shard choice breaks it outright
· Season 14 halved Overpower stacking, so the old Rampage-Overpower version of this build slipped down the tier list
BEST FOR
Distinct Season 14 source buildLegal level-gated point orderExact final tree and bar
THE SIX BUTTONS — WHAT EACH ONE IS FOR
LMB
Command Fallen
Generate Wrath: 10 Lucky Hit Chance: 30% Summon a Fallen Lunatic that charges your target and explodes, dealing 80% damage.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
RMB
Metamorphosis
Cooldown: 15 seconds Transform into a demon and gain:DemonformAll Archfiend Demonform Skill VariantsAn Ultimate Archfiend Basic attack that deals 65% damage and generates 2 Dominance Cast again while active to cancel.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
1
Rampage
Dominance Cost: ? Lucky Hit Chance: 30% Summon a rampaging brute for 10 seconds that smashes wildly, dealing 64% damage a with a 5% chance per hit to Eviscerate enemies for 1280% damage.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
2
Nether Step
Cooldown: 12 seconds Step through the shadows of Hell to emerge at the target location, gaining 4 stacks of Shadowform as well as 50% [x] increased Movement Speed which decays over 4.0 seconds.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
3
Command Laalish
Published on the linked source guide's six-skill bar.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
4
Blazing Scream
Wrath Cost: 35 Lucky Hit Chance: 25% Send forth a Demon Skull dealing 130% damage as it travels.
WHEN · Use according to the linked source guide's rotation; Codex does not invent timing.
WHY IT'S ON THE BAR · This exact selection appears on the source-published final bar.
BEFORE YOU UNLOCK IT · Earlier levels build toward this same source-published final bar.
EVERY POINT, LEVEL BY LEVEL
One point per level-up, 2 → 70, plus 14 bonus points at the end. Set your level to see exactly what you should own at that moment — and what to buy next.
LEVEL
LVL 70 · 83 PTS
PUBLISHED SIX-SKILL BAR
Command Fallen
15/15
COREBASIC
Metamorphosis
15/15
COREULTIMATE
Rampage
15/15
COREARCHFIEND
Nether Step
1/15
COREDEFENSIVE
Blazing Scream
15/15
CORECORE
SELECTED SUPPORT NODES
Movement Speed
0/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Slow
0/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Killstreak Damage
1/1
IMPORTANTARCHFIEND
Elite Hit Chance
1/1
IMPORTANTARCHFIEND
Fortify
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Cooldown Reduction
0/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Weaken
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Extra Charge
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Movement Speed
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Impact Velocity
1/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Damage
1/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Gloomwalker
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Abyssal Oppression
1/1
IMPORTANTCORE
Chain Aura
1/1
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Dark Prison
4/15
IMPORTANTDEFENSIVE
Abyssal Titan
1/1
IMPORTANTARCHFIEND
Infiltration Trails
0/1
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Sigil of Subversion
0/15
IMPORTANTSIGIL
Damage Scaling
1/1
IMPORTANTULTIMATE
Dominance
1/1
IMPORTANTULTIMATE
Terror Demon
1/1
IMPORTANTULTIMATE
Wrath
1/1
IMPORTANTBASIC
Dominance
1/1
IMPORTANTBASIC
Fallen Rush
1/1
IMPORTANTBASIC
+14 BONUS POINTS (SEASON RANK · OR RENOWN ON ETERNAL) — SPEND AS THEY ARRIVE
· +12 Command Fallen — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
· +2 Dark Prison — One of the exact final source tree's 14 account/renown point allocations.
YOUR BAR AT LEVEL 70
Command Fallen
Metamorphosis
Rampage
Nether Step
Command Laalish
Blazing Scream
Exact six-skill bar published by the linked source guide.
SHARD · TALISMAN · ITEM PLAN BY LEVEL 70
L2 · Begin building Abyss Rampage Endgame — https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/abyss-rampage-endgame-warlock-build/
L70 · Complete Abyss Rampage Endgame — https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/abyss-rampage-endgame-warlock-build/
▶THE LEVELLING STORY, 1 → 70 (READ ONCE BEFORE YOU START)
1–69
BUILD-SPECIFIC PROGRESSION
Only nodes from Abyss Rampage Endgame – Warlock Build for Diablo 4 (Season 14), deferred until their published unlock levels.
70–70
FINAL SOURCE BUILD
Exact 83-point tree and six-skill bar from Abyss Rampage Endgame – Warlock Build for Diablo 4 (Season 14).
YOUR RESOURCE ENGINE
Two bars, and this build feeds them differently from the other three. If your rotation feels broken, it is almost always one of these two lines.
WRATH
DOMINANCE
See the linked source guide: https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/abyss-rampage-endgame-warlock-build/
GEAR — AND WHAT TO DO UNTIL IT DROPS
Every slot has a best answer and an honest “until then” answer. No build in this codex requires a unique item to reach level 70.
Legendary Aspects
Crown of LucionSOURCE LISTED
Helm
Each time you use a Skill with a Primary Resource Cost, gain x [10 – 15%] increased damage and Resource Cost is increased by +30% for 6 seconds, stacking up to 6 times.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Aspect of Deeper ShadowsSOURCE LISTED
Chest
Maximum Shadowform stacks increased by 6 [2 – 6].
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Aspect of CalamitySOURCE LISTED
Gloves
Hex increases your Critical Strike Chance against an enemy by 20.0%[+] [10.0 – 20.0]% per stack.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Bane-Link AspectSOURCE LISTED
Pants
Hexed enemies are Slowed by 70% [50 – 70]% for 3 seconds when you make them Vulnerable or become Vulnerable for 3 seconds when you Slow them.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Footfalls of the Waning WorldSOURCE LISTED
Boots
Your Evade is now Nether Step and your Evade Cooldown is reduced by # seconds as you lose or consume Shadowform stacks.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
1. The Grandfather2. Insidious AspectSOURCE LISTED
Weapon 2H
Increases your Critical Strike Damage by x150%.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Seed of HorazonSOURCE LISTED
Amulet (50% Scaling)
Your Demonology Skills deal x#% increased damage per Wrath you have and you take #% reduced damage per Dominance you have.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Lurid PactSOURCE LISTED
Ring
Rampage deals x [200 – 240%] increased damage. Each enemy or demon killed by Rampage increases the size of the brute and its smashes by 5%, up to 5%.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
1. Ring of Starless Skies2. Insidious AspectSOURCE LISTED
Ring
Spending your Primary Resource reduces the Resource cost of your Skills and increases your damage by x#% for 3 seconds, up to x50%.
WITHOUT IT · No Codex-authored fallback is substituted.
Uniques — With & Without
Crown of LucionSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
Footfalls of the Waning WorldSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
Seed of HorazonSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
The GrandfatherSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
Lurid PactSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
Ring of Starless SkiesSOURCE LISTED
WITH · This item is listed in the linked source guide.
WITHOUT · No fallback is claimed unless the linked source publishes one.
SEASON 14 · Almost any unique can be upgraded to Mythic at the Horadric Cube for 4 Pandemonium Fragments, and every dropped unique now carries guaranteed affixes. Upgrade this build's engine item first: your best Archfiend weapon.
“I don't have that”
WHAT DO I ACTUALLY PRESS?
NORMAL ENEMIES
1SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 1 — Command Fallen
2SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 2 — Blazing Scream
3SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 3 — Metamorphosis
4SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 4 — Command Laalish
5SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 5 — Nether Step
6SOURCE ROTATION · SOURCE STEP 6 — Rampage
ELITES
BOSSES
IF THINGS GO WRONG
WHY IS THIS BUILD GOOD?
The engine, start to finish. Break any link and the damage sags — that is how the troubleshooting below diagnoses it.
No Codex-authored rotation is substituted for the linked source.
TROUBLESHOOTING
▶“Why is some build detail brief?”
Only structured source facts are imported. Missing recommendations are linked, not invented.
PARAGON, AFTER 70
Board order:
Glyphs:
Paragon advice is withheld until separately source-locked.
▶RESEARCH & SOURCES FOR THIS BUILD
Verified against the project research pass: Icy Veins — Abyss Rampage Endgame – Warlock Build for Diablo 4 (Season 14) (https://www.icy-veins.com/d4/guides/abyss-rampage-endgame-warlock-build/). The saved tree, node graph, unlock gates, final distribution, and published bar were locked 2026-08-26T13:19:35Z.
Synthesized (my ordering and framing): No skill, rank total, bar choice, item, or final allocation is invented. Level ordering is mechanically derived from the same source tree and its published unlock gates.
Flagged as uncertain: The source does not always publish a narrative leveling order. Codex preserves its node edit priority while deferring locked nodes; unsupported timing prose and Paragon advice stay suppressed.
▶ DECIDE Which Warlock Is Mine? SIDE BY SIDE · 1 MIN
I · LEGION
II · CONFLAGRATION
III · AFFLICTION
IV · ARCHFIEND
SOUL SHARD
Legion
Mastermind
Mastermind
Mastermind
DIFFICULTY
Easy
Moderate
Moderate
Advanced
WHO KILLS THINGS
Your demons
You
You, with claws
You as the demon
PLAYER DAMAGE
Supporting
Primary — all of it
Primary
Primary in form
DEMON DAMAGE
Primary
None
Supporting
Primary between forms
RANGE
Mid — stand near the field
Point blank, in your own fire
Claw range with a dash
Melee
DEFENCE
Walls and bodies
Thinnest — Fortify and knockdown
Mobility and Fortify
Fortify from smashing demons
AOE CLEAR
Best
Best
Good — needs kills to spread
Fair
BOSSING
Weakest
Good with Blood Ritual
Strong — the Hex ramps
Best in the codex
RESOURCE DIFFICULTY
Easiest
Hardest — Wrath hungry
Easy after Cost Reduction
Dominance-gated by design
GEAR DEPENDENCY
Low
Low
Low
High — wants the talisman set
UNIQUE DEPENDENCY
None (Cage of Madness is a want)
None
None
None, but Flesh of Abaddon matters
COMES ONLINE
Level 24
Level 15–26
Level 20–30
Level 35–40
BEGINNER FRIENDLY
Yes — start here
Yes, with patience for Wrath
Second character
No — third character
◆ I want demons to do everything → Build I · The Legion
◆ I want to cast huge spells and have no pets → Build II · The Conflagration
◆ I want curses, damage over time and shadows → Build III · The Affliction
◆ I want to turn into something horrible and run into melee → Build IV · The Archfiend
None of the four are weak. Build I clears fastest with the least thinking, Build IV kills bosses hardest, Build II hits hardest per cast, Build III has the best sustained single-target of the non-transformation builds. Season 14 note: Overpower stacking was halved (four stacks to two), which is why the old Overpower-Rampage lists you may find elsewhere have slipped — Build IV is written around Eviscerate instead.
▶ PART IV Unlocks, Paragon & The Endgame Map TORMENT · PARAGON · TALISMANS
CLASS UNLOCKS — DO NOT MISS THESE
LEVEL 2
First skill point. Both resources exist from the start, but only Wrath does anything yet.
LEVEL 15 · SOUL SHARD
The class mechanic unlocks. Slot a shard immediately — an empty shard socket is the single most common thing new Warlocks overlook, and nothing in the skill tree will tell you.
LEVEL 15–25 · RITUALS & ARCHFIEND
Rituals and Greater Demons come into reach, and Dominance starts to matter. This is where each build's identity appears.
LEVEL 30–40 · TRANSFORMATION
Demonform triggers land in this band. Build IV comes online here; the other three barely notice.
LEVEL 60 · TALISMAN SEAL
A Legendary Seal with +1 Charm Slot is the target: five set charms plus one Unique Charm.
LEVEL 70 · THE PIT
Paragon, glyph levelling and Torment climbing all start here. Your build does not change; your items do.
THE LADDER
Difficulty runs Normal → Hard → Expert → Penitent, then Torment 1–12. Torment is where endgame loot lives.
The Pit (unlocks at 70) is the gate: clear around tier 10 to open Torment 1, then keep climbing.
Each Torment tier taxes your defences — keep Armor capped (1,000) and all Resistances 70%+ before chasing damage. Warlock builds die to being surrounded far more often than to a boss mechanic.
PARAGON — BEGINNER VERSION
Past 70, XP becomes Paragon points, shared across your realm's characters. You may attach up to five boards; each exists to reach a Legendary node and socket a Glyph.
First board: Starter. First path: straight at the Legendary node, ignoring everything else. First glyph: whichever one reads your build's damage family.
Ignore stray Intelligence nodes and “+3% damage” filler until the Legendary node and glyph are in. Fill those walking back.
Attach requirements rise the further a board sits from the Starter — so place the board you care most about early. For most Warlocks that is the Dominance board.
ADVANCED PARAGON & GLYPHS
Season 14 strengthened Dominance scaling on the Warlock board, so nodes and glyphs that read Dominance are worth more than last season's sheets suggest. Re-read your own board before copying an older guide's order.
Level Glyphs by clearing The Pit; upgrade attempts can fail, so bring a tier you clear comfortably. Radius grows with rank and a Legendary Bonus unlocks near the top.
Order of operations per board: Legendary node → glyph socket → rare nodes in glyph radius → filler. A board with no glyph in it is worth roughly half of one with.
Each build chapter lists its own board and glyph priorities, because a demon-count build and a Demonform build want genuinely different nodes.
TALISMAN · TEMPER · MASTERWORK
Talisman: two Warlock sets define the class. Chains of Horazon pairs with Cage of Madness (treat them as one decision) and carries the demon-count builds; Flesh of Abaddon was fully reworked this season and is what makes Tyrant's Grasp the best single-target build in the class.
Tempering: the two manuals worth hunting are Dominance generation and your family's damage (Hellfire, Abyss or Archfiend Finesse). Temper cheaply while levelling; bricking items is normal.
Masterworking: +ranks to everything, with a large bonus hit every fourth step. Chase that bonus onto the affix your build's gear card lists first, and only on pieces you intend to keep.
SEASON 14 NOTES — WHAT CHANGED FOR WARLOCK
Legion Shard · Spawn Fragment 75% → 150%
Legion Shard · Sacrificial Fragment 15% → 20%
Mastermind · Subjugation Fragment now 2 Dominance / second
Ceh rune lost its automatic Vulnerable application
Overpower stacking 4 stacks → 2
Flesh of Abaddon fully reworked
Warlock Paragon Dominance scaling strengthened
Mythic upgrade cost 5 → 4 Pandemonium Fragments
This codex is dated patch 3.1.3 and says so out loud. When the next season lands, re-check the shard fragment numbers and the Overpower ruling first — those moved most this time.
▶ PART V Research & Sources WHAT'S VERIFIED, WHAT ISN'T
Everything here targets Season 14 · patch 3.1.3, last verified August 16, 2026. The Warlock shipped with the Lord of Hatred era, so any guide written before then — and every preview, PTR note and reveal-stream summary — describes a class that no longer exists.
PREVIEW vs LIVE · Nothing in this codex is taken from pre-release material. Where a preview mechanic and the live mechanic disagree, the live patch wins; where sources disagree with each other, the disagreement is printed rather than smoothed over. Each build chapter carries its own “flagged as uncertain” note at the end.
VERIFIED IN THIS PROJECT · The mechanics layer — two resources and their income, Soul Shards and their fragments, Hex, Volatility, Shadowform, Demonform and its three variants, Eviscerate, Lesser and Greater Demon behaviour, recast variants, rituals and Blood Ritual, Lucky Hit chances per skill, Vulnerable and Fortify sources, tempering, Masterworking, Mythic crafting, talisman sets, and the Season 14 change list — comes from this project's Warlock research pass, which sits alongside this page as warlock/glossary.js and warlock/demons.js. Every number quoted in the chapters above traces back to it.
SOURCE TYPES BEHIND THAT PASS · Official — Blizzard patch notes for the current patch, used for the season and patch baseline and for every “Season 14 changed X” line. Current build sources — the major build sites' live Warlock skill and build pages, used for skill text, upgrade text and bar composition. Community testing — used only where it agrees with a build source. Theorycrafting — never used for a number, only to sanity-check that a build archetype exists in the current meta.
MINE, NOT TRANSCRIBED · The level-by-level point orders, the priority labels, the star ratings, the damage-split bars, the engine diagrams, the troubleshooting trees and the “until then” fallbacks are synthesis. No published guide gives a per-level order; each of the four here totals 69 levelling points plus 14 bonus points and lands on the same final tree.
UNCERTAIN · FIVE HONEST GAPS · (1) Most aspect names are described by effect rather than named — the research pass verified what they do, not a stable name for each. (2) Passive and key-passive nodes are not allocated in these trees; every point lands on a skill or an upgrade whose text was verified. (3) Per-skill rank ceilings are read as 15, consistent with the shared tree structure. (4) The shard roster is verified for two shards; if your game shows more, the selection logic still holds. (5) Whether Demonform skills inherit more than Rank is unconfirmed, so no chapter claims more than Rank inheritance.