As of April 28, 2026, at 1 AM, the second expansion of Diablo 4, Lord of Hatred, is live and features a new playable class. Just a few hours after the release, the first players want to know the top builds and are receiving eye rolls.
Since the – more or less smooth – launch of Lord of Hatred last night, many players have dived straight into the new expansion. They are currently playing the campaign or, like some of the faster players, have already reached the endgame.
However, most are still in the leveling phase and trying out the Warlock, the new class of Diablo 4. Apart from a tiny part of the community, no one has played this class before.
Accordingly, some people are now looking for a leveling and gameplay build, including a user on Reddit. They stated that they saw streamers playing a Dread Claw build.
Currently, this build is considered one of the strongest for the Warlock by experts. However, they find the Dread Claw build boring and would like other suggestions: “It’s annoying that the meta for a brand new class is boring spam with mediocre visuals.” This sentiment has not gained them much love.
“You took a wrong turn at ‘All Streamers'”
The corresponding thread doesn’t have many replies, but there is a clear consensus: Rather than focusing on streamers and their builds, they should just play and see for themselves what the Warlock has to offer:
Just play the damn game lmao. You took a wrong turn at “All Streamers.” Look at which skills look fun and use them damn it.
Greatsnes on Reddit
Other users agree and state: Just try it out and then decide for yourself which playstyle suits you best. After all, the class has just been released.
Tip: Just filter by keywords
We won’t provide a complete build, but a tip that has helped in advance. While playing Lord of Hatred, many hours have gone into the fun gameplay of the Warlock.
In the skill tree, the skills are color-coded, but you also have the option to search by keywords. Most abilities already have various categories like Demonology or Occult, as well as effects like “disembowel” or “hexed.”
Basically, you can play the Warlock like a “paint by numbers” character. Pick a keyword you find cool and filter by that. Then select the skills that light up and navigate through the skill tree while leveling. A few tips:
- For classic minion/summoner builds, “Demonology”, “Summon”, and “Lesser/Greater Demon” are suitable.
- If you want to become a demonic weapon yourself, filter by the words “Demonology”, “Demon Form”, and “Arch-Enemy”.
- Caster builds that remind more of a hellish sorcerer can be built with “Occult” and “Abyss” for shadow or “Hellfire” for fire builds.
With this selection, you may not land in the top tier, but you will get to know the class. And that is an important point, as other players have already noted.
New skills and skill trees cause confusion
Together with Lord of Hatred, Blizzard has changed all skill trees in Diablo 4. This applies to all classes in the entire game, even without the expansion. Veterans have to get used to this a bit, but since everything is unlocked gradually, selecting skills will be generally more intuitive, at least while leveling.
However, the Warlock has a special mechanic with the Soul Shard Demons. With them, starting at level 15, he can summon four major demons with new skills. In a further Reddit thread, a user expresses frustration because they don’t know how to deal with these additional skills, as they don’t fit on the skill bar.
Generally, other players also advise: Use them if you want or don’t use them if they don’t fit into your build. Most of these Soul Shard Demons are thematically assigned to builds, so you will know fairly well which one you should take if you want to use it.
Lord of Hatred is well received aside from the occasional confusion, and especially the Warlock is repeatedly praised for its class design. The story in particular is receiving heavy praise, which we noticed while playing as well. And the expansion doesn’t waste much time, as even in the first cinematic, it gets… hard: Blizzard “removes” an important character from Diablo 4 with Lord of Hatred, sparking a debate about the story
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