ES vs Magic Chain vs Pure Demon ?
not fire, i think the spell cost too much mana as a SSF


as a first char no leveling gear all SSF

This post was edited by num2007 on Mar 20 2026 01:51pm

Doesn’t matter too much initially, whichever leveling build looks more fun to you. Regardless of what you start out with though, I wouldn’t switch to ES until you are getting 4-5 blades from mirror synergy and at least an ok insight. From there go get your cursed aura demon, holy freeze is hot because it’ll amp everyone that gets slowed. You can easily switch out the aura for w/e you prefer once you’re a little beefier.

Once your skills are there and you have your demon you can face roll hell without any real issues using starter gear and your insight (really with just the insight, it’s so busted), you just gotta get there level wise

This post was edited by dubstepmammoth on Mar 20 2026 02:07pm

I mena, I was really talking about those early level like 1-40 before I have 4-5 ES blades.

Like if you had to restart a new ladder tomorrow what build would you start has before swtiching to ES?

-goat?
-fire even if hard on mana?
-just levitation and hexblade manual cast?
-chaos/chain/miasma ?

This post was edited by num2007 on Mar 20 2026 02:36pm

im testing right now in single palyer with reset

from lvl 1 to lvl 8, so far :

and so far Hex Blade seems the best way to level starting at lvl 1
full Goat is fine for AFK too and jsut running passively killing stuff around, goat is more lazy

but i still suggest Hex Blade for active palystyle so far

fire cost too much mana to be usefull

EDIT : at level 12 miasma chain is just better thne everything else
might consider to level without spell until level 12 next ladder

This post was edited by num2007 on Mar 20 2026 03:19pm

just play echo

magic chain is slower and doesn’t scale as well early, demon setups need more points and feel worse without gear

echo works fine even ssf, just get insight asap and stack some fcr, that’s all you need

don’t overthink skill choices for leveling, most of your power just comes from hitting breakpoints and having mana sustain

Fire is really easy until nightmare act 4. Then you can go abbys or echoing strike.

Just play with no gear and dont bother putting stats. Talent echo

You should spec fire. Not sure if magic or demon is viable for leveling

theres no mana issues lol, warlock fire spell has absurd dmg per mana cost. just slap on any big + mana items like spirit or random magic ring

/e and also hex siphon

This post was edited by daanno2 on Mar 20 2026 08:40pm

Fire into ES is the best progression.
I mean... for a SSF walkthrough they're all strong...
you could literally spec in all directions and still easily go through norm and NM, and then respec to whatever you preferred playing along the way...
but yeah... the clear winner is Fire into ES.

Leaf + stealth + Lore
insight on merc (that you will later use yourself when you respec to ES)

Go through norm and NM as fire, until you meet these 3 conditions respec:
lvl 44+ (you want to dump at least 15 hard points in mirrored blades to be worth using ES)
you acquired insight
you reached NM a4

Before that point, Flame Wave is just the best skill early
you can fix your mana with pots and tir runes before you get insight
it just melts all mobs as you keep running forward to your next objective

1 in each demon skill (except consume)
20 flame wave
20 ring of fire
If you still havn't respec'd, then reach lvl 10 demonic mastery then add points in consume
but respec ASAP to ES to go through hell with a bond demon with cursed

This post was edited by SinsOfTheSun on Mar 20 2026 08:51pm