Best Warlock build in Heroes of Hammerwatch 2

The Warlock is one of the many powerful classes you can unlock in Heroes of Hammerwatch 2 and it is an amazing one to master. 

Unlike the starting four classes in Heroes of Hammerwatch 2, you have to find the Warlock in the Temple map to unlock it. After you do so, there’s no turning back: It is easily one of the easiest and most powerful classes to play in the game. He’s in the S rank in our classes tier list for a reason.

Here’s everything you need to know to craft your perfect Warlock build in Heroes of Hammerwatch 2.

Best build for the Warlock in Heroes of Hammerwatch 2

In this Warlock build guide, we’ll touch upon the skills and attributes to get the most out of the class and compare his three specializations. Of course, as you progress through the NGs after defeating the final boss, you can adjust the build according to enemies and your playstyle. 

Skills and attributes

In terms of skills, your emphasis should be on Dark Ritual, which makes a circle around you that slowly deals damage to your enemies while also triggering after three seconds if you don’t leave the circle. It is a great way to deal AoE damage to enemies who like to swarm you. You can synergize it with passives like Drain Essence and Aura of Atrophy.

Drain Essence requires you to get your stacks by attacking enemies in close-range encounters, which recovers your health and mana regeneration. While Aura of Atrophy helps you take less damage from the enemies around you, which works in tandem with other abilities. 

Demon’s Tail is also a decent ability, but it’s very situational in usage. Use it to slow big-priority enemy targets and pair it up with your other skills. Ideally, invest heavily in the Intelligence and the Vitality stats along with a little Focus. Your overall point distribution should look something like this:

• Strength: 10
• Dexterity: 5
• Intelligence: 30
• Focus: 10
• Vitality: 25

The investment in Intelligence allows you to gain spell power, while Vitality gives you the health points to survive the enemy burst damage, especially in the later parts of the run or the Dark Citadel. You can take away some points from these two stats and put them in Focus to have better mana flow to use your abilities, but you can also get mana from your equipment.

Class specialization

After reaching level 10, you will have three class Specializations to choose from: Chaos, Souls, and Summoning. The Summoning specialization allows you to get Fiends and Gargoyle Servant, which are very powerful. They’re a bit mana-heavy, though, so make sure to put some points in focus and recharge your mana. 

Another specialization is Souls, which is your classic mage-like ability where you put down a vortex, and it slowly damages the enemy. This is also good if you want to take things into your own hands and face the enemies by yourself. Lastly, Chaos is a placement-based specialization where you need to be at a high enough level to learn the abilities and use them efficiently against the enemies. If you place your abilities wrong, chances are you’ll die instantly in higher NG runs.

Weapon

This might not be a shocker, but Warlock is played best as a melee character, and the Dirk is the perfect option for that. It also synergies well with the Drain Essence skill for the Warlock and it makes the magic staff look bad on the character. 

Equipment

You have a variety of equipment available to you as a Warlock, such as helmets and armor, and you should focus on the ones with high Vitality stats and passive skills that suit your melee playstyle. You also get a ton of armor in the early game, which gives you access to mana regeneration, and you want to wear them to enhance your mana if you’re not heavily investing in the Focus attribute. 

You can also upgrade your armor in the town and enchant them with better stats to curate them according to your playstyle. I usually go for the Vitality stats to keep myself beefy during the fights. You can also go for attack or something else that should also help you in your runs. 

Next up, you can read our guides to find secret rooms and learn about the best build for the Paladin class.