With Diablo 4 Lord of Hatred just around the corner, it’s time to get ready! Today, D4gold brings you a build with tremendous potential, focusing on the brand-new class in this expansion: Warlock. You’re probably eager to experience this demon summoner, right? This build is Dread Claws Warlock!
It excels not only in challenging dungeons like The Pit but also in Diablo 4 gold farming and leveling, thanks primarily to the high mobility provided by Dread Claws’ abilities. Therefore, Dread Claws Warlock is one of the fastest, most powerful, and most visually stunning builds of this new class, perfectly blending rapid movement with burst damage capable of clearing the screen.
Here, D4gold will explain the workings of Dread Claws Warlock build, helping you understand your skill tree so you can better familiarize yourself with this class and dominate the endgame with this new build before the expansion goes live.
Soul Shards
Since it’s a Warlock build, we’ll first discuss the new Soul Shards mechanic added in Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred expansion.
Now, you can choose one of four Soul Shards to imbue yourself with specific powers; subsequently, you can further customize it by combining it with corresponding fragments to perfectly fit your character build. Soul Shards not only define your combat style but also form a crucial cornerstone of your core game loop.
Here, we’ve chosen Mastermind Shard as our core Soul Shard. This makes Shadowform more stable and powerful. While Shadowform is active, Abyss abilities like Dread Claws deal 30% more damage, and each stack of Shadowform grants a 5% movement speed increase. This not only increases our DPS but also allows us to move faster, making it a great choice for early leveling.
It’s worth noting that while the synergy between Mastermind Shard and Shadowform is powerful, Warlock is a new class, requiring frequent respecs and gear upgrades during the early stages of exploring the skill tree and Paragon Board. To avoid the predicament of having levels but no gold to enhance stats during the early game, stockpiling some Diablo 4 gold beforehand is a wise choice. D4gold provides a sufficient gold supply for all players, helping you optimize your build without pressure.
For other fragment combinations, Blasphemous is a good choice. It has a very interesting interaction with our Recast skill because it applies a curse to enemies, causing affected enemies to take 20% extra damage from our Abyss Demonology Skills.
This means Profane Sentinel will become a permanent skill for us, as it’s not just a Recast skill. It also creates very interesting synergies with the enhancement effects of Dread Claws.
Skill Tree
Next, let’s move on to the skill tree section.
Dread Claws
Our primary skill is undoubtedly Dread Claws, which deals powerful burst damage in a short time, inflicting multiple hits and potentially synergizing with certain hit effects or Lucky Strike.
This skill may have excellent scaling potential in the late game, but we don’t yet have much more specific information. The only revealed information so far is a unique item called Litany of Sable, which directly enhances Dread Claws and scales with the number of Shadowform stacks.
In short, Dread Claws deal more damage, and each time you stack a Shadowform, Litany of Sable fires several additional claws. Therefore, it becomes a more powerful multi-hit attack skill.
So if you want to maximize the power of this Dread Claws Warlock build, Litany of Sable is almost a must-have unique item! Of course, considering the extremely low drop rates of these unique items at the start of the expansion’s release, if you don’t want to spend more time grinding gear, then just buy cheap Diablo 4 items at D4GOLD.com. Whether it’s brand-new unique gear like Litany of Sable, or Masterworking materials that are consumed in large quantities, we can provide it for you!
Additionally, an interesting mod, Encircling Terror, dramatically increases the damage of Dread Claws. This is because it converts damage into AoE and synergizes with our summoned Greater Demon.
In short, claws are released around us as area-of-effect damage, each claw dealing 107% damage. Casting these skills no longer breaks our Shadowform, creating a very powerful synergy.
Doom
We can also use Doom to apply Hex status to enemies. For every second an enemy is Hexed, Doom’s damage against them increases by 1%. However, currently, since we mainly rely on core skills for damage output, the use of this basic skill is basically limited to this. Therefore, we’ll use it as an effect applicator for now. It’s also worth mentioning that, as it’s an Abyss skill, it fits perfectly with this style of build.
Nether Step
Next is Nether Step, which seems to be our only available displacement ability in Lord of Hatred, and it also instantly generates four Shadowform stacks. As we explained before, Shadowform is the most important buff mechanism in this build. In short, it provides both displacement and Shadowform generation, making this build extremely stable and fluid.
During this process, Vacuum Swap modifier gives our skills even greater control, as it pulls enemies into a portal, and then you swap their positions. But you don’t move them; instead, you deal 1000% damage. This allows us to create one of the fastest builds in the game.
Profane Sentinel
Next is our Recast skill, Profane Sentinel. This skill applies debuffs such as Vulnerability and also synergizes with the enhancement effects of Dread Claws.
In fact, since these claws should spawn around Sentinel, this adds another source of damage on the battlefield. And since Profane Sentinel lasts 15 seconds, this means our claws can last even longer.
Metamorphosis
Now we come to the ultimate ability of this build, Metamorphosis, which currently appears to be one of Warlock’s strongest ultimate abilities. This ability transforms Warlock into Demon Form, increasing not only his maximum health but also granting him a damage bonus to his Demonology abilities upon killing an enemy.
Unlike other temporary Demon Form variants, Metamorphosis, as an ultimate ability, allows Warlock to remain in Demon Form for a longer period – potentially even permanently; however, once in this form, his standard skill bar will be replaced by a dedicated skill configuration.
Furthermore, the core reason we chose Metamorphosis is that it generates four Shadowform stacks per second, making it a rapidly stacking ability, and Abyss abilities do not break stealth. In short, it directly enhances our Abyss ability. This will be one of the top ultimate abilities for all Warlock builds in the new expansion.
How does it work?
Finally, D4gold will break down how Dread Claws Warlock build works to help you better understand this playstyle. This build primarily revolves around three elements: Hex, Shadowform stacking, and Demon Form.
First is Shadowform, as it’s the core mechanic of this build. Shadowform grants us high mobility and stealth capabilities. While in Shadowform, our movement is unimpeded, meaning we are not slowed. When we move, we enter stealth and can stack up to 10 Shadowform stacks. Remember, we gain a damage bonus in this form.
Next is Hex, which increases the damage of our Abyss ability based on the enemy’s missing life. Hex effect can stack up to three times, so it’s essentially an execute bonus.
Then there’s Demon Form, which increases our life by 25% and boosts Demonology damage by 1% for each enemy killed, up to a maximum of 100%. Therefore, Demon Form is incredibly useful in various situations and game types.
In short, this build revolves entirely around maintaining Shadowform’s duration and maximizing Abyss damage. The combination of Hex, Shadowform stacking, and Demon Form creates a very clear game loop: stack, apply buffs, and then increase damage as the fight progresses.
Currently, the most compelling aspect is how the enhancement to Demon Form makes Metamorphosis incredibly powerful. It not only boosts the overall Abyss setup but also significantly increases stack count and keeps the skill active, making it a core component for almost any build.
Dread Claws Warlock is a top-tier starter build that combines speed and crowd control. In the first week after Lord of Hatred’s release, speed was everything. If you want to lead the server in levels and campaign progress, besides mastering this build, ample resources are essential. Diablo 4 items for sale at D4gold.com can help clear resource obstacles, allowing you to focus on enjoying the thrill of new classes!
In any case, theoretically, this Dread Claws Warlock build looks incredibly powerful, undoubtedly one of the most promising builds for leveling, farming, and even handling late-game content in Warlock! However, we’ll have to experience it firsthand to know how it performs. So, let’s wait and see!