I remember, I was driving my son to training and I was just getting excited, when a notification buzzed on my watch. I look away for a second to see what it is and notice only two words: D2 Warlock! Kum knew very well that there was no need to write more than that. Lucky I was parked because my heart was pounding so hard I was afraid it would jump out of my chest.
Let me clarify the context a bit: without any exaggeration, I consider myself a Diablo 2 veteran with tens of thousands of hours played since the release of that legendary classic way back in 2000. I spent many sleepless nights inventing various combinations of classes and skills, I mourned my dead hardcore characters, countless times I took my computer, monitor and peripherals to friends' houses where we farmed items together on the home LAN network, demolished Mephisto and attacked Ubers. Every few years, Blizzard surprised us with something new, first with two additional characters in the Lord of Destruction expansion, then every now and then with a patch or update where they balanced the game in one way or another, whether just small cosmetic details or adding new runewords.
Then came 2023 and Diablo 2 Resurrected, adapted to be playable on Switch with improved graphics.
And then silence. I thought, that's it. No more.
And then, for 2026, Blizzard announces D2 direct. I think again, logically, the Switch 2 is out, they will probably make a port with improved graphics.
And when there, bomb! 25 (in words: TWENTY-FIVE) years after the release of the Lord of Destruction Expansion, Blizzard announces the expansion Reign of the Warlock, where we meet a new character, Warlock, with 30 new skills, a book that only he can use as a shield, new unique equipment and sets, and new runewords.
I have to admit, at first, Warlock seemed to me like a combination of Necromancer and Sorceress.
Arise, Diablo, Lord of Terror!
Skills are divided into 3 categories: Chaos, Eldritch and Demon.
Chaos will allow you to control fire and miasma, and create sigils.
Fire skills are nothing special and I think that, apart from Apocalypse which does a lot of AoE damage and reduces the enemy's resistance to fire, you won't even use the others, except maybe at the beginning.
Sigils are symbols that you draw on the ground, and when enemies enter them, they cause certain statuses, such as slowing and weakening them, enraging them and attacking the closest friend or enemy, or exploding severely weakened enemies and causing damage to everyone around them.
Miasma is actually a forbidden magic that will envelop enemies causing them damage or will create an abyss (Abyss) from which it is impossible to escape and causes enormous damage.
The binding of Mephisto
Eldritch is based on hand-to-hand combat, allowing you to use levitating weapons to attack enemies and defend against them, or use several types of Hexes, curses that inflict certain statuses and damage on enemies.
Demon skills will allow you to summon demons from hell, or even in my opinion perhaps the most unbalanced skill where you can forever (or until death do you part) possess almost every demon you meet (except bosses, of course). So you can go through the game accompanied by Hephaestus. Yes, that Hephaestus, with all his skills and auras.
Lister the Tormentor, one of Baal's strongest supersoldiers is now on my side.
Among other things, it is important to mention improved Sunder charms, increased stash and loot filter (yes, you will no longer miss taking a rune because it was hidden in a pile of garbage), and Chronicle! Finally!
Until now, I kept my statistics of uniques and sets in an excel table, now it all comes inside the game, where at any time you have access to a list that says where and when you first found an item. Unfortunately, while it is possible to convert all of your old characters to the Reign of the Warlock expansion, the items you previously found will not be listed in the Chronicle database.
Is it worth all 20+ euros?
It depends.
If you're not a die-hard D2 fan and don't play it regularly, I'm afraid you'll get bored of Warlock quickly.
For the rest of us, with a bunch of loot drops, improved Terror Zones, and Uber Ancients, the expansion provides enough material for hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of play.
And admit it, you want to have an aura around your character or that glowing foot behind you, because in the D2 universe it will be enough to stand out from other mortals.
I’m all about traveling and Nintendo, not necessarily in that order.
