Best Warlock builds in Diablo 4

Warlocks came to Diablo 4 with the Lord of Hatred expansion, bringing the demonic subjugators into Sanctuary to aid in the fight against Mephisto. Controlling demons isn't their only gift, though: there's a best Warlock build for just about every playstyle.

Warlocks have three main specs: Demonology, Hellfire, and Abyss/Occult, each showing a facet of their demonic power. We've listed one build from each type below, including the best build we've used: the Apocalypse Warlock.

• Here are the best Warlock builds in Diablo 4
  • Best general Warlock build: Apocalypse
  • Best Demonology build: Lunatic
  • Best Shadow build: Dread Claws

Image via Blizzard Entertainment Here are the best Warlock builds I used in Diablo 4. I based myself on builds from different content creators, but the Warlock builds at https://maxroll.gg/d4/ felt the best and had more thorough explanations.

Kaboom. Screenshot by Destructoid The build is so good I was afraid I'd get my Battle.Net account banned, the Apocalypse Warlock is the screen-deleting, infernal nuking powerhouse, and by far my favorite Warlock build available in Lord of Hatred. Getting it operational requires quite a few moving parts, but it's surprisingly self-piloting once you get it rolling. This is what got me to Torment XII and lets me breeze through most content in the game, following Wudijo's version of the build on Maxroll.

Required Gear:

• Fleshwrit Carapace (Unique chest): Drops from Lord Zir
• Hands of the Worldbreaker (Unique gauntlets): Drops from Grigoire, Galvanic Saint
• The Hemat Stone (Unique amulet): Drops from Bartuc in Infernal Hordes
• Nameless (Charm Set)

Since getting Bartuc to spawn is a coin toss, I recommend getting his drops from Belial at the Palace of the Deceiver. Belial's treasure hoard is different: you can spend two Betrayer's Husks to draw from the pool of most bosses in the game, which may be easier than lucking into Aether Goblins in Infernal Hordes. Kill Belial when he ganks you at a Lair Boss to grab this resource, alongside some shiny drops.

Belial can drop items from (mostly) anyone, and it's quicker than doing Infernal Hordes. Image via Blizzard Entertainment Once all the parts are complete, spam Umbral Chains with the Chain Whip passive to generate Apocalypse stacks. Place Sigil of Chaos and cast Apocalypse once you're at max stacks, and then watch everything disappear. For sturdier targets, cast Command Valloch first for Overpower stacks and to boost your Wrath regeneration. Since this doesn't require a Unique weapon, bring a two-hander of your choice to get the bonus damage reduction from Aspect of the Heavenly Strength. You could also run this with dual-wielding, but Heavenly Strength is too good to pass up for us, especially in the highest Torment tiers.

The hardest part of this build is seeing where you're going. Some bosses' mechanics include making a ton of stuff on your screen, which is also Apocalypse's main mechanic, so keep track of your Nether Step cooldown in case you need it. Having Endurant Faith on a charm majorly boosts your survivability, since the teleport will temporarily stop the damage-over-time you take from it. You also need to stack Apocalypse, which can be annoying, especially in boss fights.

To kill the demons, you must first become the demons or something. Screenshot by Destructoid When you think of Demonology Warlock, you're more likely to think Archfiend or Bombardment than Command Fallen. But the Lunatic build offers an easy, uniquely fun playstyle with a low gear ceiling—and it's surprisingly effective. Apocalypse has spoiled me way too much to switch out of it, but Wudijo's take on the Lunatic build is a good stop if you'd like to try this out.

The Lunatic Build spams Command Fallen for damage, with a little bump from a constellation of effects. Cage of Madness is the big one, but it ties in with seals and passives to make it scale.

Required Gear:

• Cage of Madness (Unique helm): Drops from Grigoire, Galvanic Saint
• Paingorger's Gauntlets (Unique gauntlets): Drops from Grigoire, Galvanic Saint
• Seed of Horazon (Unique amulet): Drops from Grigoire, Galvanic Saint

If you've been farming Grigoire for a good Hands of the Worldbreaker, you may already have the key ingredients to this build, since he drops all three items you need. Arguably, the most fun part of this build is dodging to become a mega Lunatic, so boots with more dodge charges or the "attacks reduce Evade's cooldown" effect are always welcome.

This setup is highly unusual—it's one of the few high-level Warlock builds that slot Tortured Wretch, if not the only one—but it can pay off quite well if you're looking to stay off the beaten path.

Not quite the Apocalypse level of clutter, but it's still pretty damn hard to see. Screenshot by Destructoid Dread Claws brings just a slight tinge of the ancient Bone Spear Necro build from release, sans the world boss deletion. This build relies on Dread Claws and Rampage (with the Abyssal Morph), using the Litany of Sable Unique dagger for more damage. I highly recommend getting the Footfalls of the Waning World Unique boots for tremendous uptime on your Nether Step, which in turn vastly improves your survivability. We based our playtime on it with Wudijo's take on the build, but Raxxanterax's version might be more straightforward. I used an infant version of this through the first few Torment levels until Apocalypse surfaced, which promptly made me switch to it.

Recommended gear:

• Litany of Sable (Unique Dagger): Drops from Astaroth
• Footfalls of the Waning World (Unique Boots): Drops from Astaroth
• Harash's Shadow (Charm Set): Drops from multiple sources

The most reliable way to farm Astaroth (outside of Belial's treasure hoard) is to make Escalation Sigils with the Horadric Cube. Five regular Nightmare Dungeon sigils turn into an Escalation Sigil, so you have a nearly unlimited amount of shots at this boss, which should get you set up for Dread Claws fairly easily.

The easiest way to face Astaroth. Screenshot by Destructoid If Footfalls of the Waning World is enough for you (especially with dodge charges or reduced cooldowns), you can free up your bar in lower Torment tiers by removing Nether Step. Summon Laalish can work here for cheap Vulnerable and Shadowform, and with enough healing, the Blood Ritual passive for Sigil of Subversion also works nicely in situations where you can't reliably trigger the ritual's effect.

Dread Claws requires a bit of positioning, but it's a potent option for a Warlock in Diablo 4. One of its downsides is that it's close-range, so it suffers a bit if you can't stick to the enemy you're fighting. It's easy to keep up Shadowform, but any lapses in its uptime will drastically decrease your damage. Lastly, since you're always making trails and leaving areas on the floor, you may also struggle to see enemy AoE's a bit (but not to the degree of Apocalypse).

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The content in this article refers to the Lord of Hatred patch/Season of Reckoning.

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