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Cleave Warlock

The Cleave Warlock guide

Written by MrLlamaSC for Icy Veins, shown here with his permission. Read the original on Icy Veins· Skills and items link to their pages.

›Introduction

The Cleave Warlock uses Area of Effect to dominate mobs in a full circle around himself with every swing. Because he is melee character, there is a need for Attack Rating and some decent Gear so this character may take a little bit of extra farm compared to a caster or summoner Warlock.

›Cleave Warlock Skill Build

  • 20 points to Cleave – The main Skill of the build. Every additional point increases the arc of your swing.

  • 20 points to Mirrored Blades – A Synergy for Cleave + good for Single Target fights as it swings a bunch of times at once at one monster.

  • 20 points to Hex: Purge – A Synergy for Cleave + adds an AoE Hex. Since we are already hitting a lot of monsters at once, this hex will help blow up mobs even faster.

  • 20 points to Eldritch Blast – A Synergy for Cleave that grants life and mana as it procs. Also very useful as it only works against hexed monsters but we Cleave all around us.

  • 10 or 20 soft points to Demonic Mastery – Every 10 points allows for another summon. Add a few points to get either up to 10 or 20 with all of your +skills from gear.

  • 1 point to Bind Demon – Bind a powerful demon with curse and Fanaticism to really step up your game.

  • 1 point toConsume – Consume a Goatman for increased Life, Run/Walk Speed, and Damage.

  • 1 point toSigil: Lethargy – Slows enemies and increases damage taken.

  • Remaining points to Levitation Mastery – Increases Damage, Attack Rating, Critical Strike, and lowers Weapon Requirements. Definitely a must have.

›Cleave Warlock Stats Discussion

The following section discusses how many attribute points should be allocated to each of the primary stats.

How much Strength Does a Cleave Warlock Need?

Enough for gear — However, remember that Levitation Mastery will reduce the requirements of your gear by a substantial amount. So that 200 Strength item may actually only require 100 Strength.

How much Dexterity Does a Cleave Warlock Need?

Enough for Gear — Dexterity is great for increasing Block Chance, particularly with Stormshield, but if you are not planning on investing points to max that out, it is often not worth taking any additional Dexterity, as the return on Defense is very low.

How much Vitality Does a Cleave Warlock Need?

Everything else into Vitality — 250+ points. Every excess attribute point should be allocated to Vitality, as long as you can meet the Strength and Dexterity requirements of your items by the time you wish to equip them. Not only does this increase your Life total, but this also increases the chance for Healing Potions to crit, doubling their healing output. Further, additional Life reduces the chance that you will be put into hit recovery.

How much Energy Does a Cleave Warlock Need?

Nothing — Allocating attribute points to Energy in a final build is universally considered sub-par for almost every character due to the widespread availability of Mana Potions. While leveling, if you find yourself struggling with Mana you can allocate a few points to Energy that you can then remove with a respec later on.

›Cleave Warlock Mercenary

You can either hire a Defensive (Holy Freeze) or Offensive (Might) Desert Guard Mercenary in Act 2, Nightmare difficulty, depending on whether you want to slow monsters for added safety or improve the overall damage of your Mercenary.

For more comprehensive leveling advice, please refer to our Warlock Fastest Leveling Build.