Since ES is being nerfed, which hex will be best for dealing more damage and improving AR?

What other challenges do we need to work around for the ES build?

This post was edited by Homosexual419 on May 13 2026 02:01pm

Changes post PTR:

Echoing strike
Increased percentage of weapon damage used from 75% to 90%.
Reverted the bug of no durability loss.
This brings back the advantage of pure phys over phys/magic hybrid (mostly due to a lack of skill points because of the demon tree requiring more)

Demonic mastery
Reduced the amount of skill points needed to get 2 demons from 10 points to 5 points and the amount to get 3 demons from 20 points to 10 points.
This means 10 skill points saved compared to the PTR.
But still, you kinda need 10 hard points in demonic mastery for 3 demons (2 defilers), and 15 (or even 20) hard points in bind demon if you want Cursed + Holy Freeze to have a chance to trigger amp now that it's down from 75% to 5% ctc.

As you can see in the skill planner image above, even when using only 1 point in syphon instead of trying to maximize around purge/bane, you still can't max blood oath.
I'd dump remaining pts in blood oath last, we don't know the exact numbers but they said it's now gonna scale from soft points, but with diminishing returns.

Anyway, all 3 hexes give the same ar% per lvl
Syphon is a nice 1 pointer to keep sustain against 0 drain effectiveness mobs
Applying a -33% dmg debuff will be more relevant than before since you get less tankyness from blood oath and leech less overall

Feels like eth archon insight will still be top contender, even more than before because of the nice 180-250% bonus AR that now matters.
125fcr insight for general pvm.
75fcr death/arioc for ubers/ancients.
Obsession may still be usable for an approach more oriented toward magic dmg (great for general density destroying, but not end bosses)

Oh and before, spirit was hard to beat... but now, using 2-handers means using a grimoire... so Ars Dul Meph is kinda the only real end-game option.

Thanks for the advice

Do you think with basic gear it can still clear p8? I want to start next lad as Warlock again, but if it's trash, I'll go Hdin, which is boring.

Why Archon? Since the dmg mostly comes from weapon now, why not an eth CV? High min dmg?

CV
17 to 165 (91 Avg)
High req

Archon
83 to 99 (91 Avg)
Low req
+50% dmg vs undead

The str reqs is a small argument once you have enigma and enough +skills to have decent -req% from your 1 hard point in levitation mastery.
The dmg to undead is also a minor argument.
But the main argument is about the gap between min/max dmg.
In such a game, where you mindlessly grind forever in repetitive patterns, being able to standardize the number of hits it takes to kill your targets allows you to enter in a much better flow than if you have to constantly guess the number of ES cast to kill your targets due to wide range of variables.

But TBH, the base itself is a small detail.
I named archon because it’s the BiS insight base for an ES warlock.
But it’s not important compared to which runeword/unique you chose.

Before PTR, insight was already my favorite option.
Now with upcoming changes, it’s competitors giving +skills are less relevant because you need hard points in demonic mastery and bind demon, not soft points. And its competitors with a bit more dmg like eDeath and eArioc don’t have the nice 180-250% bonus AR that is suddenly relevant on insight.

If you can maintain high hit chance, with high-end gear you won’t notice a big difference for general density destroying on p8.
The main difference about dps loss is felt against bosses/ubers/ancients/heralds.

ES will still be a very high-end build option for general purposes.
But early farming p8?
Better use the alternative builds:
Fire was already the best starter, now it will have easier access to an early sunder.
Miasma is great for lower player count, to not struggle with immunes.
Blood boil + tainteds is great, should still have absurd dmg after the tainted nerf, can deal with fire immunes cuz of blood boil’s phys dmg.
Cleave/bane/eldritch blast is surprisingly good (and fun if you like melee).
Even demon machine + mirrored blades is good, barely untouched (only the demon tree).

ES just wont be the early power house that it was.
The horazon set is a potential great starter pack now for 2 reasons:
Enchant’s AR% now matters.
You want to use 2-hand weapons, which means you don’t have access anymore to spirit/phoenix/SS. This means every ES warlock will want Ars Dul Meph. It will be hard to get, leaving no real good options except some cheap splendor grimoire. Horazon set may not be optimal, but it’s fixing that early need of a grimoire.

Maybe i am here in the right place?

I can't bind a DEMON with aura, but i saw some people can do? Why it says i cant?

And how it works? Do i need to HOLD that skill to bind one? Oder click once?

How its works to bind a demon to me...


------------
I found this:

The bound demon gains extra affixes based on your skill level when binding it:
Level 5: Extra Strong
Level 10: Extra Fast
Level 15: Spectral Hit
Level 20: Aura Enchanted

But i need lvl 20 to get AURA for more DAMAGE?
Or which combination is good in combination with ES? Echoing strike

This post was edited by Mezzimo on May 27 2026 03:58am

20 HARD skill points. So it needed to be maxed. Not level 20 with + skills from gear.

What excactly was the patch notes?
Link?