Just quoting some random dataminer from battle net forums, who may know the real details or may have source = made it the fuck up
The claim is that the HP cap is different for different classes of demon, as the patch notes indicated, with Lister & Hephasto both having a capped base HP of 20000 + 1000 per addition player up to 27000 in P8
whereas spearwomen have cap of 13200 + 660 up to 17820 in P8
When do these caps apply? Does any of that actually track?

Spearwomen have an HP range of 80-115% of monlvl, with 7447 monlvl in TZ96 (used for level 96 trash and 99 uniques alike, base HP is before the +3 levels)
that should be 5957-8564 for trash mobs in P1, 11914-17128 for uniques.
If the numbers from datamining are accurate, and if they indeed apply before P8 scaling, then getting a unique would fully double the HP
If the cap is applying after P8 scaling, then both trash mobs and uniques would always have 17820 hp since they all have way higher HP than that (26.8-38.5k for trash mobs)
This is something we should be able to test for: Simply binding a trash mob vs unique in a P8 game and see whether its actually ~2x the tankiness. Wouldn't be the easiest thing to find replicable DPS sources without much variance, at least in PvM, and the HP ranges still make it tougher to lock down, but eh

From my own binds I would say there is a clear difference in tankiness between a generic spearbae and an elite one. For the generic, I felt like I had to babysit her and this alone slowed down my clear speed. After switching to an elite version I picked up in WSK 1, I can Death Mark her into herald groups with a lethargy and just sit back in the distance throwing some apocs and flame waves. Needing to engorge only happens seldomly. I often do not even need to do this, nor teleport away to keep her safe. Only vs extremely high damage herald groups like vipers and certain types of urdars that are also rocking might, extra strong, extra fast, etc.

Based on the numbers I was looking at, WSK1 has the best variety and is fortunately tucked away enough outside of the normal boss rushing/leveling routes, that it should be somewhat reasonable to find the ideal waifu there in a p8 tz, but if not then one would run straight to ancient's way, then the frozen river, and finally frigid. Worst case scenario is going to the Ruined Temple in a3 and binding Sarina Battlemaid. She won't have jab, but she does come with a maid outfit and a cute name. Tough choice.

so does sunder charm help break immune for your tainted ? read it some where mention sunder works for trap sin which trap is being deem as summon monster > hmm

Is there a tl;Dr?

I skimmed though and wondered what the qol / budget / hardcore versions are?

Qol : obsession main / Merc insight?

Budget versions : What's the priority ? Prebuff with skills then DPS?

Hardcore versions ? Have your taintlock died before? What was the scenario and how to prevent that?

Early game progression till getting tainted ?

Guide to top ... 4 minion skills ? Holy freeze ? LE? Witch amp?

Need a guide compiled

after alot of testing i ended up with my initial version just fell more smooth to me, running max bb with 2 defillers and max bind demon, without tainted, i know probably is not the best but i dont know why i fell that 2 defiller is just too good to pass, i even keep using fana on spearwoman and with 2 defillers the curse is proc quite often.
Probably just fell better to me becouse i played alot more. anyway




QOL you can use obsession on a teleport staf and have high mana soo you probably wont need insight if you running tainted version infinity if kind of mandatory, better to run insight on yourself then on merc if needed ( if have bo barb you run insihgt on second hand)

for max dps always prebuff, is not that long to do anyway, unless you doing some fast games like chaos/baal/cow games, that wont be a problem at all i usually prebuff and do full tz games

im playing hardcore with the version i mentioned before the bind demon never die i even did ubers, but i tested also the tainted lock version and if you go for the 1 point bind demon full blood oath, tainted will rarelly die, even bind demon wont die, just have less dps on bind

im pretty sure there is alot of fun routes, probably fire is the strongest if solo, i personally rushed on p8 with hex bane and felt absurdly strong

you can just read the topic xD

This post was edited by m4rin1 on Jun 4 2026 04:04am

For P8 tz late, dclone, baals, you need everything enigma, infi (this is biggest fire damage boost you can feel), sunder, torch, ani, max +skill items. I like obsession because of all the fcr, stats, res.

Otherwise it is slow and fire immune struggle, boil non-fire component is weak. Until you have all the late game gear and 30+ demon skills, it's a party build - works great with cold sorc, pala or B tier solo build.

More comfort/qol gameplay seems to me with tz Lister and 2x tainted, you do not need to take care of him, his monster intelligence is good, he is fat and blocks everything, tanks. Not all your minions are ranged - that is annoying, they always go to range etc.

The basin wiki has a typo, the data is incorrect. They list the matrons den variant in WSK sheet. The actual WSK version is just identical to frigid, river, ancients way. The matrons den version has vastly higher hp and damage, but can't be terrorized. And thus is stuck at level 83 (86 unique) and if you bring it to tz96 it will have very low chance to hit. We ruled it out pretty early on in pokemon thread. But the other 4 areas have identical stats in TZ. Only difference is cold strike vs power strike



Yes, it must be equipped when tainted are summoned. Doesnt matter if its removed after that, but you cant use full skillers either
8 skillers, flame rift and torch anni. But then tainted just set fire resist to 95%, and after infinity its set to 78%. It can't be reduced below that except with LR curse (also 1/5 effect). Your -fire pierce wont affect tainted, just sundering the resist to 95

Same is also true for bone break on bound demon, it musf be equipped as you join the game. And it appears that bone break sunder makes amp damage reduce enemies by 40% dr (2/5 instead of 1/5 effect, but not the claimed full -100).

This post was edited by Goomshill on Jun 4 2026 04:15am

what about renewed flame rift with max -res and other -fr equip , will it helps ? to reduce fire immune mob to even lower fr for tainted

This post was edited by Onyxdian on Jun 4 2026 04:17am

they only benefit from the sunder part, the other stats dont apply to the summons

The affixes other than the sunder effect are just normal item affixes, same as if they were on gear. The resist penalty, pierce, bonus skill %, etc. They don't affect tainted. You can lock in fire sunder on prebuffing tainted, then put on your gear you wear while in TZ which may use flame rift anyway depending on gear, but we have a good build using bone break

It also means if a charm is only for prebuff, you can use the cheap LOD sunders

This post was edited by Goomshill on Jun 4 2026 04:32am