My previous walkthrough/endgame topic was with a necromancer (here: Arthas - Necromancer Walkthrough), and I really enjoyed the progression of a solo walkthrough. I still have the character and about 100+ screenshots saved from there that I have not yet posted in the thread.

The gameplay was becoming a bit stale after a while, since basically only minor upgrades were left to grind for, and a "Holy grail" run would have taken way too much administration or messing around even with addons for my liking. Now that the Chronicle was introduced, I might revisit the wt later on: if I could beat ubers with a summoner, maybe I can defeat the new bosses with Urdars too, so the Chronicle might be possible to 100%.

What I also really loved was crafting - and what I also really hated was managing full stash tabs of gems, runes, jewels and the like - definitely glad that this will also be enhanced with the new features. And of course the main goal is to get to know the new Warlock class: I've seen some images and videos, really curious of the different builds.

However, what I enjoyed most during the necromancer walkthrough was progressing through difficulties and looking for upgrades with actual progression goals, so this time I will stick to P8 to make it more challenging... in addition with a semi-HC caveat: I'm considering the implementation of some sort of either a checkpoint system or a roguelite system:

• Checkpoint: Save a backup of the character after normal baal Q and a backup after nightmare baal Q so I wouldn't have to go straight back to normal den of evil and go through boring parts again. Not sure about this yet, it might defeat the whole purpose of HC, but it might also be a good enough deterrent forcing me to play safe. It would still force me to finish the complete difficulty without dying.
  
• Roguelite: The other route I could take is reusing whatever gear I find on the Warlock runs: I could reuse anything I put into the shared stash and didn't lose with the death on the newly created warlock. I'm afraid though that it would incentivise me to keep sets of backup items to ease through the early game in case of a death, and I would also get to keep items found on hell, which might be way too much of an advantage in restarting hell.

Goals

• Familiarise myself with the new class, items, runewords, etc. features
  
• Defeat hell Baal

It's not really second nature yet to pay attention to dagger drops, I'm pretty sure I missed a few. The goatman helped to take off some aggro in the beginning, however from level 6 the Ring of Fire spell is just straight broken. Other than chugging mana potions every few spellcasts, the gameplay is a breeze even on P8. The Stony Field WP was close to Rakanishu so I decided to do a few runs for some extra levels.

Cain is free, warlock is around level 15. The Black Marsh waypoint isn't too far from the tower either, but I would be running Countess even if it was. Current goals: Tal + Eth for a Stealth armor, and Tir + Ral for a Leaf staff. Any additional Tirs are also welcome for an eventual TirTir headpiece for MAEK.

The new Tainted demon is a sweet addition. Doesn't really do much, but atleast it provides some fire res, which is always helpful. I noticed that the portrait of the demon sometimes disappears and reappears, might be a bug.

Stealth was completed within the first 2 runs, lucky so far. Lethargy sigil is a fun addition, something like a decrepify, but the area is cursed and not the actual mobs. It's not as great with ring of fire knocking the mobs around, but might be useful as a 1 pointer later on. Ring of Fire is still heavily overtuned in the early game, it could easily be a lvl 12 or 18 spell and it would still be worth it.

A few more Countess runs. The new Flame Wave spell is really interesting. It currently does a bit less damage than Ring of Fire (with ~10 skill difference of course) but it's still strong enough and costs way less mana. I assume with the Leaf completed it will be way stronger.

Countess runs completed:

• 1: Eth
  
• 2: Tal
  
• 3: Tal
  
• 4: El
  
• 5: Tir
  
• 6: Ral

After level 19, equipping Leaf made Flame Wave surpass Ring of Fire. The delay and aiming with the spell is fun, however I'm sure RoF will have its uses too with enough FCR (similarly to switching spells on a fire druid).

Act 1 is completed, Andariel was a joke, the waves almost killed her offscreen.

Being able to wear Leaf in 1 hand is going to be very useful, since I will be able to top up my resists with an Ancient's Pledge shield, or complement it with a good enough warlock off-hand if I find some. Eventually I believe a spirit is still way more useful, but atleast I won't have to choose between damage and resists when starting nightmare.

Another thought is that I probably should have kept some skills for Blade Warp - it's a spell similar to the barb leap. It can cross obstacles but not walls - which will be worth a lot crossing rivers in Act 3 (might still have to shop for a telestaff anyway). Maybe I will start putting points straight away, with prerequisites it will require 3 points, so A2Q1 + 2 levels = lvl 22. It could be useful to avoid looking for stairways in the desert.

So far the class is broken but fun.

broken but fun is 100% right. i rolled melee build because it just seemed more engaging, but ladder im sure ill run fire.

melee/range def way funnier to me. fire build is like inferior fb sorc imo. the delay on the skills is annoying.

have fun with the warlock i will follow these wt's and post mine after april

I had to put a point to the returning blade and it does seem fun, I'll eventually try all different specs.



I definitely wouldn't call it inferior, ring of fire is a full screen of piercing fireballs and flame wave is a very wide - also piercing - fireball. Maybe the damage will eventually fall off, I don't know whether that's the case yet, but I assume I'll probably have to respec from fire at nightmare act 4 anyway. I don't mind the delay with 20% fcr.


I managed to find some extra time to play tonight. I think this build has to be one of the top - without teleport - contender for maggot lair. Bone spear necro was also smooth, but flame wave cleaned whole corridors and any smaller rooms got decimated by ring of fire.