It took 25 years for Diablo 2 to get a new class, and less than 2 weeks for players to figure out how to become invincible Warlocks with demon meat shields
223
Anthony McGlynn
2026-02-20
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To mark the 30th anniversary of the series, and 35th anniversary of the company, Blizzard's put out a new expansion for Diablo 2, called Reign of the Warlock. The central feature is a fresh character class - the first in 25 years - the Warlock, who deals in summoning magic, and a huge exploit using it has been uncovered.
He explains that he "initially theorycrafted some wild ways" to test just how much pain a Warlock could tolerate and absorb under the right circumstances, he "was way overthinking it." It starts with Bind Demon, where you can capture almost any enemy and make them your personal meatsack to do whatever you say.
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Then comes Blood Oath, which turns a pet demon into a sponge for damage inflicted upon you. Essentially, they let you make your own living armor, and the key to maximizing this lies in Blood Oath's stats. At first, the percentage of how much of your HP your demon can take is miniscule, but you can buff it up to 99%.
Ergo, your puppet will take almost all of the suffering meant for you. There are caveats, in that Coooley found 89% of Blood Oath to be a sweet spot, complemented by certain equipment to handle the 11% you wind up taking. Then, you have the question of what demon to enslave.
Your instinct might be to go for something like an Oblivion Knight, but Coooley finds it's even simpler: anything that's immune to most types of damage. He literally captures a Champion Pit Lord in the Furnace of Pain who does nicely.
It makes the endgame battles using the Warlock slower, but still wholly satisfying. Since it took less than a fortnight to get here, who knows where we'll end up next.
Blizzard made "a strategic mistake" releasing Diablo 2's Reign of the Warlock without "substantial new exploration content," Path of Exile co-creator says
GlitchyFish
Feb 20, 10:02 PM
-Quite challenging.
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