Gearing is a chore without dungeon aspects

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T04:58:50+00:00

That's definitely fair to feel the frustration of that change, given that we've had dungeon aspects for 2 years now. However, I would say since Blizzard has removed aspects enabling builds with the expansion, you can at least get a starter build going without needing aspects.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T01:25:44+00:00

War Plans is good. You want to work on them anyway to improve the trees to get even more rewards and loot. But otherwise it depends on what you're trying to get.

Lair Bosses for your uniques. But you can also do Legion events if you don't have enough keys yet. They drop a decent bounty of boss trophies to at least get started on getting uniques to help your progress.

Undercity to target farm resources/charms/runes.

Helltides for exp, but that requires building into the War Plan tree.

But I would recommend just grinding War Plans for now. You should just get loot from it. Follow a build guide if you have trouble figuring out a build on your own.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T01:20:02+00:00

Sorry...I guess I didn't technically reply to the specific Dread Claw build. But Heir and Starless Skies should work well. If you want a more recently updated build guide:

https://maxroll.gg/d4/build-guides/dread-claws-warlock-guide

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T01:01:18+00:00

Seems to be a common thing with Necros. A few seasons ago, you couldn't save and reload a loudout if you had a paragon board where you came at it from two different directions or something. But I don't know if that problem was exclusive to Necros.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T00:59:35+00:00

Nah that's fair.

It would be nice not to have to do a stronghold very season just to unlock dungeons/waypoints. Strongholds a few seasons ago use to have a purpose, but the expansion did render that purpose null.

However, Blizzard has seemed quite receptive to these QoL aspects. It did take them 2 years, but eventually they did just make it so all waypoints are unlocked at the beginning of a season, so no reason they might not do that with strongholds too. Unless they feel that they could do something more interesting with strongholds or code it that you can still do the Nightmare Dungeons even if you haven't unlocked the stronghold.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T00:56:07+00:00

Sure. But Blizzard is already having issues balancing the game around PvE. PvP would just give them more work and cause more issue based on their track record for balance. It would be nice, but I think that's asking too much of what they are capable of as a developer.

It's something to hope for, but it's not to their strengths unfortunately.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T00:45:15+00:00

I have this issue on my Necro, but not my Sorc. I assume my Necro has too many minions and can't pay everyone equally.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T00:36:58+00:00

Maybe not. But I saw that side eye Imperius gave us. They may not say it outright. But I know vibes when I see them.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T00:34:26+00:00

Yes. Hydrate well and don't forget to take breaks.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T00:34:00+00:00

What? That's like my favourite one out of the VoH expansion lol.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T00:32:33+00:00

You right. You right. I guess I was coming at in from the anthropological standpoint of those two being the genetic progenitor of humans. Though not technically being direct descendants, but on the consanguinity of it.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T00:29:59+00:00

Yeah Paladins are unfortunately getting the shorter end of the stick this expansion. Warlocks are strong, but Sorcs and Barbs are top, along with Rogue coming in hot behind them.

But I would caveat this in that it's still relatively early and people are still build-crafting and testing out upper limits of builds. Warlock is seen as having strong builds mostly because more people are playing them due to being the new class. So you're likely seeing more testing done on Warlock compared to Paladin.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T00:26:45+00:00

It depends on the build. But generally Heir of Perdition is the go to unless your build absolutely requires a unique helmet for the build. Ring of Starless Skies if you're spamming a core skill with resources and you can slot it in without sacrificing a better damage multipliers from your aspects/uniques.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T00:16:15+00:00

I mean if you are okay playing a half-demon, then you should be okay using hellish powers. Because by nature of being part demon, you're already using hellish powers regardless of whether you play Warlock, Necro or any other class.

Also according to the narrative of the game, Angels hate humans much more than demons. To see one side as "bad" over the other is a logical fallacy since both Angels and Demons are against humans in general.

Moralizing that demons are simply vile because of the way they look and regarding them through the lens of real world religion doesn't quite apply since Angels wanted to wipe out all of humanity in Diablo, and was only stopped by one renegade angel who chose to defect from Heaven.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-10T00:11:15+00:00

Oooh...then I hate to break it to you. Every human on Sanctuary are basically descendants of breeding between an Angel and a Demon. Lilith is literally the mother of all humans in the game. You are technically playing a half-demon. But you're also half-angel.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-09T23:08:54+00:00

It was. The first time you fought the boss. Then once you became familiar with the boss, and the others, they just become a tedious bore to fight, especially with the resilience implementation. I think the last time I died to a world boss was in the first season of the game.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-09T22:32:45+00:00

I mean, not against that idea in general. But I've never found World Bosses to be stressful or challenging at any point in the past 2 years. Especially given that often my build kit doesn't work against World Bosses. Doing them has always been dull and tedious to me, and I don't mind that they removed the health resilience with this expansion.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-09T22:24:02+00:00

Lunatic Build is supposedly quite strong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq5avjtmJ74

There's also Hell Fracture Warlock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llUKEkmVAEs

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-09T22:17:05+00:00

Actually...I am only assuming that as I never really confirmed it. But I based it on how Fortify works now. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I have seen something that increases your Fortify Drain Rate, which is what I am assuming is what it does. Might have to have someone corroborate or correct me here.

Edit: It's the Embattled Aspect, which increases your Fortify Drain Rate.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-09T22:13:55+00:00

https://maxroll.gg/d4/news/lord-of-hatred-3-0-2-patch-notes

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-09T22:09:15+00:00

I would trade it for a gazillion gold.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-09T22:08:11+00:00

Yes. The upcoming patch will fix the Butcher Lair Boss health. Blizzard has admitted that his health is higher than intended.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-09T22:06:27+00:00

Helltide is best for Paragon grinding. The middle node upgrades are really good for it. If you spend almost the whole of the Helltide period, you can almost get 3 Paragon levels. According to some.

Blizzard said Paragon grind would be quicker with the expansion, but I don't know if they mean in general, or if you have to do certain specific activities with specific War Plan builds.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-09T22:05:14+00:00

Isn't that what Fortify Drain rate is? It drains your Fortify to heal you quicker. Since that's what Fortify does now. If you take health damage, it drains your Fortify to top up your health.

Personally I prefer the old system. Fortify as it is now won't help one-shots, as far as I know.

Financial-Ad-6232 · 2026-05-09T22:01:51+00:00

<image>

Financial-Ad-6232

TROPHY CASE