On a budget char that only has +8 to skills gear now, where would you prioritize hard points? With 1 point in bind demon that gives me 9 points total with my gear. I maxed everything except Demon Mastery and Blood Oath, both of those are at 16 hard points now. Is it better to max one of them at 20 hard points, do I only need 20 soft points in those two? Assuming I wont get 19+ gear and will have to stay on my shitty 8+, should I put more hard points into Bind Demon to get it up to 20 soft with my gear? Thanks, gonna try this build. Did 3x tainted blood boild 1st, now playing abyss, but taintlock sounds way more capable on my budget.

https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/d7ewb90h

You can pre buff by swapping in + tainted items like +3 demon amulet / helm / the new runeword armour +2 warlock , magefist , demon book ( e.g. + 3 tainted measured wrath) + random mang song (+3 compared to spirit)

This post was edited by Wockets on Jun 28 2026 05:04am

wondering similar things as well. based on my reading, it sounds like 1 to bind demon is good to start and prioritize maxing the other skills that aren’t Blood Oath. Then max Bind Demon and then Blood Oath for any leftover points as the end / which basically won’t be until very late levels.

but, would love someone more knowledgeable to confirm / recommend

I'm testing this in single player. You must get bind demon to 20 soft points to get all 4x auras. Just tried cs with this build, it was good until Diablo. Used 2x defilers and 1x Venom Lord, Blooc Boil to damage, Engorge to heal them. Left click Death Mark, right click Blood Boil. The Venom lord died at Diablo, barely cheesed a kill by blood boiling my defilers.

https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/tjeysy0h

Get a lancer from ancients way and just let her kill diablo don’t blood boil her to death lol

diablo dies fairly quick but baal is an awful fight

This post was edited by Ontarian on Jun 28 2026 05:27am

what do i do if my demon dies during the baal fight? tp out, go to some wp and bind another one?

I don’t use blood boil vs bosses so my demon doesn’t die, i just let my demon and the crushing blow on my merc do it. Lethargy, death mark and blessed aim help with this

you can summon goats instead of defilers for the boss but they don’t help that much but it is a little more crushing blow

do not recommend doing baal though it’s a bit of a waste of time

This post was edited by Ontarian on Jun 28 2026 09:25am

After a bit of testing I do not recommend this for trash geared locks. I think I need mid-high gear to show the power of the taintlock. My Abysslock is way stronger on the same gear, I just got drunk on his power and faceplanted when I could have played it safe. I will post a video later of both runs.

if i could edit my post above i would: https://streamable.com/40697p

You can be naked and kill stuff with a lancer and 20 hard points of bind demon
Imagine prebuffing

This post was edited by ahyp on Jun 28 2026 12:33pm