While it might not be the Act VI many long time fans have been clamoring for, myself included, Blizzard Entertainment announced a major new update to the iconic Diablo 2: Resurrected, Reign of the Warlock.
The Reign of the Warlock update is the first major content addition to Diablo 2 in 25 years and will see a ton of new additions, most notably the eight class, the Warlock.
As is accustomed in Diablo 2, the Warlock will have different skill tree branches. The first is the summoning branch which will allow the Warlock to summon 3 demons, the Goatman, the Tainted and the Defiler. With this branch players can bind a demon from the world similar to the Necromancer, however they can only bind 1 at a time. Should you choose to keep that demon, it will fight alongside you. Or you can consume it which will give your character buffs that will last throughout that play session.
It’s an interesting dynamic and will challenge players to figure out what the best combinations are. Of course this is Diablo 2 we are talking about, so players will likely have the best builds figured out by the time you are reading this.
The Warlock will also have it’s own melee branch should you choose to go that route as well, making the Warlock a very balanced character that will enjoy many different builds.
New Items, Runewords & Enemies
If you thought the addition of a new character was exciting, there’s plenty more. Blizzard has introduced many new unique items to find and new Runewords that can be created. While we haven’t seen a list of what those items are just yet and how good they may be, anything new in terms of loot is a welcomed site. Diablo 2 has long been lauded for its loot system and fans are eager to see anything new.
Additionally, there are new and exciting way to play Diablo 2 Resurrected as Blizzard has introduced a new enemy that will stock you throughout the game, that grows stronger each time you defeat it. You can also obtain items connected to the Ancients that when collected and imbued within the Horadric Cube will let you fight the Ancients again, only this time they will be even more powerful.
Terror Zone Changes
Lastly there is a new addition to the Terror Zones. Players can collect items that will let them manipulate the Terror Zone in their game, allowing them to choose what act they want the Terror Zone to be active in. This will make the entire act a terror zone significantly boosting your chances of better items when magic finding.
Lastly, there are many quality of life improvements with this update, including more stashes, organized stashes that allow you to stack items of the same kind on top of each other and more. There is also a new chronicles section that will allow players to keep track of what items they have which has been a long asked for feature.
My only real question is going to be if this splits the community, and if it doesn’t, how will it work. Reign of the Warlock is a paid DLC. Will that mean the new items and runewords can’t be found by players without it? Or will there be separate lobbies. Or perhaps the items are for everyone and it is simply the Warlock and the quality of life upgrades that are in the DLC.
However it ends up working, the fact that Diablo 2: Resurrected saw such a big update has this Diablo 2 lifer beyond happy and ready to jump back into Sanctuary and defeat Diablo and Baal many times over once more.
The Reign of the Warlock DLC for Diablo 2: Resurrected is available now on all platforms. Diablo 2: Resurrected is now also available on Steam.
