Diablo 4 Boosting

In Diablo 4, only Necromancer and Warlock can summon a large army of minions, yet builds that rely heavily on these summons have always underperformed. Even Warlock setups that do lean on minions tend to use a swarm of demons mainly for support.

However, in Diablo 4 Season 14, while Warlock received some nerfs, several playstyles were also buffed. These changes allow Warlock's demons to deal massive direct damage to enemies. Below are the skills and gear you need for Minion Warlock build.

Season 14 Adjustments

Since the developers applied nerfs to almost every class, builds in Season 14 generally fall behind those from Season 13 in both damage and survivability. However, in the endgame, you can swap most of your gear for Mythic items, which partially offsets the impact of these nerfs. The only downside is that this extends the time needed to fully gear up your character.

Most Warlock builds remain largely unaffected in Season 14, but certain unique items - such as Ae'grom's Schism - received significant buffs. This unique armor now allows you to have 2 Ae'groms at once, double the activation rate, and double the generation speed of lesser demons. Moreover, its damage multiplier has been increased from 30–50% to 120–150%. If you upgrade it to its Mythic Unique version, the total multiplier jumps to an astonishing 2.95x, nearly tripling your overall damage. That is the main reason why Minion Warlock build is viable in Season 14.

Furthermore, the greatly enhanced Eye of Baal not only doubles the damage of Soul Shard skills but also provides an extra 50% damage multiplier (active while using a Soul Shard skill). All these mechanics come together perfectly, allowing you to watch idly as Ae'grom slaughters your enemies.

Minion Warlock Gear

• Unique Helm: Crown of Lucion
• Unique Chest Armor: Ae'grom's Schism
• Legendary Gloves: Remorseless
• Legendary Pants: Diabolical Armor
• Legendary Boots: Sadistic
• Unique Amulet: Seed of Horazon
• Legendary Ring: Demonic
• Legendary Ring: Crushing
• Legendary Sword: Malicious
• Unique Focus: Eye of Baal

Talisman:

• Legendary Horadric Seal
• Berú of Horazon's Chains
• Mlor of Horazon's Chains
• Phoba of Horazon's Chains
• Linta of Horazon's Chains
• Fer of Horazon's Chains
• Wyrdskin

Core Items

The following Diablo 4 items form the core of Minion Warlock build's damage output:

• Ae'grom's Schism: The cornerstone of the build, offering nearly triple damage.
• Eye of Baal: Doubles the damage of Soul Shard skills and adds a 50% damage multiplier (1.5x) when using those skills.
• Horazon's Chains Set: While Ae'grom is active, provides increased damage based on the number of Greater Demons you have summoned.

Even though Horazon's Chains Set was nerfed, its benefits remain outstanding. For each Greater Demon you control, Ae'grom grants you 15% increased damage (down from 30%). With two Ae'groms and three other Greater Demons, you get a 75% damage multiplier.

Moreover, each Tortured Wretch counts as a Greater Demon, and you can summon a surprising number of them. The 2-piece set bonus alone can nearly triple your damage output. Horazon's Chains Set also boosts movement speed, attack speed, enemy execution, extra advantage generation, and damage reduction from each Soul Shard demon - ultimately tripling your damage again.

Minion Warlock Skills

• Command Fallen (15/15): Mega Lunatic / Dominance / Wrath
• Bombardment (15/15): Endless Barrage / Telekinesis / Additional Demon
• Tortured Wretch (15/15): Punching Bag / Cost Reduction / Duration
• Dark Prison (1/15): Calamity Cage / Weaken / Fortify
• Sigil of Summons (15/15): Summon Hellwyrm / Damage / Cooldown
• Metamorphosis (4/15): Destruction Demon / Damage Scaling / Dominance
• Soul Shards: Legin Shards (Spawn Fragment)

How the Build Works?

Most of Minion Warlock build's damage comes from Command Ae'grom, which is granted by Legion Shards rather than the skill tree. By stacking large amounts of attack speed, Ae'grom attacks nearly twice per second. With 2 Ae'groms active, both demons deal their full damage.

At the same time, they continuously generate Lesser Demons, each dealing about 10% of Ae'grom's total damage. You can have up to 10 Lesser Demons on the field at once, and because they attack twice as fast as Ae'grom, this effectively adds the equivalent of an entire extra Ae'grom's worth of damage.

Even if you blow up all your Lesser Demons, they are immediately respawned. It takes only about three seconds after an explosion for every Lesser Demon to return. As a result, you almost never lose their damage output.

Tortured Wretch

Tortured Wretch is vital to the build's survivability. By further reducing skill costs, you can cast it more frequently and keep it on the battlefield longer.

After choosing Punching Bag variant, each Tortured Wretch directly absorbs damage equal to 30% of your maximum health, taking hits before you do. When a Tortured Wretch dies, it grants you Fortify and, more importantly, triggers an explosion that deals nearly 3000% weapon damage. That explosion is itself a significant source of damage.

Testing shows that with a Tortured Wretch on the field, you can simply tank all incoming attacks and remain incredibly hard to kill. This not only boosts your survivability but also removes the need to waste time dodging or repositioning.

Rotation

To maximise the efficiency of the damage engine, you need to obtain free Greater Demons through multiple methods. Your Soul Shard mechanic ensures that every time you cast a Greater Demon skill, you get extra cast speed for your Lesser Demon skills. Additionally, for every 200 demons that die, you gain a free cast of a Greater Demon skill.

Therefore, use Hellfire version of Bombardment to continuously kill demons around you. Use Command Fallen with Mega Lunatic enhancement: it not only detonates a large demon but also spawns four smaller demons. These methods quickly rack up demon deaths, granting you extra free casts of Greater Demon skills. This lets you use Tortured Wretch without consuming your Dominance resource.

Furthermore, each activation of Command Ae'grom kills all Lesser Demons on the field, which translates to an extra ten demon deaths per activation (with a cooldown of about 5s). Combined with the sustained casting of Bombardment and Command Fallen, you never have to worry about maintaining buffs or resources - they replenish themselves automatically.

Although this build may seem like a meme, it can still clear at least Tier 115 in The Pit, so you can easily handle Torment 12 content. If you upgrade your gear to Mythic items, it becomes even stronger. Overall, its power level probably ranks just below Apocalypse Warlock.

Although 3.1 PTR has concluded, its content allows us to form a preliminary assessment of Diablo 4 Season 14 and the experience it offers. This enables you to invest time and effort into progressing immediately upon the season's launch, without the need for trial and error.

With this in mind, we present a guide for rapid leveling in Season 14 to help you reach the endgame and begin farming more efficiently. While specific leveling details may vary by class or build, the strategy provided here is broadly applicable, leveraging the new seasonal mechanics.

Initial preparations

When starting a new Diablo 4 season, you have the option to replay the campaign; however, to accelerate your leveling and farming, it is best to skip it and dive straight into the action.

Before doing so, once you have created your new character, we recommend equipping a pet capable of automatically picking up loot for you; this will significantly boost your combat efficiency.

Choosing the right mercenary

If you own the first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, and have completed its final chapter, your first step should be to select a mercenary that aids in leveling. If you haven't yet completed Vessel of Hatred campaign, you will unlock mercenaries gradually as you progress through it.

Assuming you have already unlocked this mechanic, we recommend prioritizing Subo for Season 14 leveling experience, followed by recruiting Varyana as your second mercenary.

Subo not only provides a movement speed boost but also reveals map information, allowing you to pinpoint resource locations early in the season and continuously acquire new items to upgrade your character's gear.

As for Varyana, her value lies primarily in damage output. She wields dual axes and a two-handed hammer to deal rapid damage to enemies, while also applying crowd control effects such as stun, crowd control and more.

Furthermore, her passive skills grant you a stacking movement speed bonus during combat, with a stack added for every ten enemies defeated.

Generally, speed is the top priority when leveling. Since your overall damage output won't match endgame levels, killing more enemies quickly is the key to gaining XP.

Crafting a leveling build

For any Diablo 4 class, there are various leveling builds available to choose from each season. You can try out a new build for the new season or stick with an existing one, but don't forget to tweak it to account for seasonal mechanic changes.

Since these builds usually require you to unlock skill points through leveling and farm specific gear for crafting, you won't have a fully optimized leveling build right from the start; instead, you'll refine it as you progress.

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Prioritize seasonal activities

With the exception of Season 13, which launched alongside a new expansion, new Diablo 4 seasons typically feature exclusive seasonal activities. These not only offer a fresh experience but also provide XP and other rewards.

In Season 14, this mechanic takes the form of Pandemonium Ruptures. These ruptures spawn randomly across the world in three different tiers, appearing even within Nightmare Dungeons and Helltides.

Monsters pour out of these ruptures; slaying them grants XP and extends the rupture's duration, leading to greater rewards when it closes. You may also encounter Rupture Goblins, which open additional ruptures when defeated.

Farm high enemy density activities

As previously mentioned, the key to faster leveling is killing large numbers of enemies quickly. Therefore, farming high-density activities with a suitable build allows you to gain more XP in a shorter amount of time.

To this end, prioritize Nightmare Dungeons and Helltides. Nightmare Dungeons generally offer lower difficulty, while Helltides feature short spawn intervals and long durations; both provide a steady stream of enemies.

More importantly, both activities are closely linked to Pandemonium Ruptures, with ruptures frequently spawning within them.

Notably, closing enough Pandemonium Ruptures in Season 14 Nightmare Dungeons, or defeating the returning Realmwalker, can unlock a new mini-dungeon called Deathtoll Chamber.

Completing special objectives within this dungeon yields generous rewards, potentially including Betrayer's Husks, the keys needed to unlock the hoard for Exalted Lair Boss.

The drop rate for this item is likely higher here than in other locations. However, this mechanic only becomes available after Season 14 launches.

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Other XP boosting tips

Before you start XP farming through various events, don't forget to visit Alchemist to craft elixirs or incenses. Using them before combat grants you various buffs, sometimes including increased XP gains.

Additionally, completing events as part of a group provides an XP boost. It is also worth noting that starting in Season 14, the game allows you to team up for War Plans; completing these group objectives is another excellent way to earn XP.

That covers our overall leveling strategy for Season 14. However, once the season officially launches, remember to tweak the details based on your specific class and build! Have fun!