Diablo 2 is still going strong almost 26 years after its original launch in 2000. The series as a whole is 30 years old, and Blizzard Entertainment celebrated the milestone in a recent stream. The video held all sorts of update for the franchise, including a surprise DLC announcement for Diablo 2: Resurrected called Reign of the Warlock. And, in another twist, players don’t even have to wait to play to this new expansion.
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Reign of the Warlock is out now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC for $24.99 and comes with cosmetics for Diablo 4 and World of Warcraft. And while the old base version of Diablo 2: Resurrected, the 2021 remaster, has been delisted, it is now being sold in a bundle with Reign of the Warlock for $39.99, the original price of the vanilla Resurrected.
This expansion is centered around the new Warlock class. As noted in Blizzard’s big post about the update, Warlocks can hone in on one of the three skill trees: demonic binding, eldritch weapons, and arts of chaos. Demonic binding allows users to summon and use demons to do their bidding before consuming them for various and temporary buffs. The eldritch weapons tab lets players manipulate melee weapons telepathically. And chaos arts gives players the ability to cast spells that peck at enemies from a distance. The Warlock’s passive also lets him wield two-handed weapons with one hand, opening up more combinations.
As shown in the reveal trailer, the Warlock will also be voiced by actor Rahul Kohli. Kohli is known for his roles in the TV series Midnight Mass, as well as games like Gears 5 and the upcoming Saros. Kohli told Variety that he was surprised how this all came together, as he said he thought the casting email he received had a typo in it since it was about Diablo 2 and not Diablo 4.
Diablo 2‘s Warlock DLC Comes With Quality-of-Life Updates
The Warlock is the star of the DLC, but not the only thing in the expansion. New Terror Zones can jack up the difficulty of certain levels and allow for better drops. Hell difficulty even has supercharged foes called Heralds of Terror that stalk players and come back stronger every time. Loot filters let players focus only on items they want, and PC players can even share said filter settings.
New stash tabs have been added, meaning players can stack similar items on top of each other and have tabs for materials, gems, and runes. The Chronicle also lets players track every item they’ve ever collected, something geared toward those who love gear. While features like these are often found in free patches, Blizzard didn’t mention if any of these features would carry over to those who didn’t buy Reign of the Warlock.
This is part of a bigger push that will also see the Warlock class in Diablo 4 and the mobile title Diablo Immortal on April 28th and sometime in June, respectively. The two were detailed in the recent anniversary stream and are three all a little different. Immortal‘s is built around a hellish beast called the Soulgorger that swallows other demons. Diablo 4‘s is supposed to be the Warlock at the height of their powers, but the team is keeping this iteration of the class mostly under wraps until the Warlock developer update slated for March 5th.
Reign of the Warlock is a huge update for such an old game and its second expansion. Lord of Destruction came out in 2001 and added two new classes (the Druid and the Assassin), more weapons, a fifth act, and various gameplay changes. A second expansion was planned and would have contained MMO elements, but it was axed decades ago when members of Blizzard North departed in summer 2003.
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