Blizzard Entertainment has once again given new life to a legendary game by adding a new character 26 years later.
When news came out that Blizzard Entertainment was going to introduce a new character to Diablo II, there was a lot of hype but also a lot of skepticism. A legendary game that hadn’t seen anything new in over 20 years. Rumors spread about what type of character we were going to get. Finally, during the Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight, it was revealed to fans worldwide.
Welcome to Sanctuary, Warlock.
We took some time leveling up our Warlock, El Magico, using two different playstyles to get a glimpse as to what this character can do. We started off maxing out our Ring of Fire and Apocalypse skills, followed by Flame Wave. We used this build until we got to Hell difficulty. Once in Hell difficulty, we used our first Reset Stats/Skills from Akara. We maxed out Abyss, Miasma Chain, and Miasma Bolt.
Our stat points were assigned accordingly. Only add enough ‘Strength’ to carry your items, not including bonuses from items. So, make sure you don’t have anything equipped that gives +Stat or +Skill, not even in your inventory. Once your points have been distributed to ‘Strength’ accordingly, all remaining points go towards ‘Vitality’. We were able to carry over our Lord of Destruction character over to Reign of the Warlock, but bear in mind, this is a permanent change. This allowed me to go back and share items from my old Hammerdin and Zealot Paladin’s stash that made things a lot easier. If you plan on experiencing what else Blizzard Entertainment has in store for us with Diablo II: Resurrected in the future, I recommend carrying your old toons over. I went back, took some runes, some charms like my Hellfire Torch and my Anni, and I was ready to roll.
I had a lot of fun during the leveling process from Normal to Hell, running the Ring of Fire and Apocalypse build. I recommend using it until you get to about level 60. Once you get there, it might be a good idea to run the Abyss build with Miasma Chain. It’s very useful since you can chain enemies and drag the chain across mobs to inflict damage. I find it best to try to run a circle around the mob so that the chain hits everything inside my imaginary circle. It works surprisingly well, and it’s pretty funny to do since it’s so effective, especially against cows. I ran an Ancient’s Pledge shield, a Lore helm, Stealth chest armor, and a Spirit sword. I carried over my Mara’s amulet from my Paladin and crafted a Sharkskin belt with Faster Cast Rate (FCR) and Mana stats on it. Gloves and Boots for Resistance and Faster Run/Walk. Both rings have 2 resistance types to help us reach the resistance threshold in Hell difficulty.
A sigil you might also want to max out that helps with crowd control is the ‘Rancor’ sigil found under the ‘Chaos’ tab in your Skill Tree menu. This sigil makes it so that enemies attack each other, which can be useful when you encounter a large mob or a combination of mobs. Death and Lethargy are good sigils to max out, too.
Overall, I think it was a real treat to revisit Diablo II: Resurrected. I hadn’t played it in a few years, but the addition of a new character was enough to bring me back. There’s a lot of hope that since Blizzard Entertainment was able to add a new character with new dynamics to Diablo II: Resurrected, that we might get that long-awaited Act VI.
I look forward to seeing what Blizzard Entertainment has for the Diablo franchise at BlizzCon in September. Diablo remake, perhaps?
