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Magic Warlock

The Magic 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 Magic Warlock uses Damage over Time Magic damage to lock up and suffocate his enemies. Being a caster build this is another powerful Warlock setup that plays pretty easily and should not have issues with many immunities. Definitely one of the best Warlock starter builds.

›Magic Warlock Skill Build

  • 20 Points to Miasma Bolt – A main skill of the build.

  • 20 Points to Miasma Chain – A main skill of the build.

  • 20 Points to Abyss – A main skill of the build.

  • 20 Soft Points to Enhanced Entropy – A main Passive skill of the build. Caps at 20 Soft Points so you do not need to max this out! At the end build, it should only take a couple of skill points to have it reach its cap.

  • 1 Point to Levitation Mastery – Lowers Weapon Requirements. Good for 1 point.

  • 1 Point to Summon Defiler – Useful for Binding Souls and Consuming for extra Magic Damage

  • 20 Points to Consume – Devour a Defiler for extra Magic Damage

  • 10 Points to Demonic Mastery – Can summon additional Defilers for more damage spread. 2 Summons at 5 Hard Points. 3 Summons at 10 Hard Points.

›Magic 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 Magic Warlock Need?

Enough for gear — However, remember that Levitation Mastery will reduce the requirements of your gear by a substantial amount.

How much Dexterity Does a Magic 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. A Magic Warlock is usually not the character you are going to run Max Block on.

How much Vitality Does a Magic 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 Magic 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.

›Magic 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.