Warlock 90–99: Crit and Penetration builds

What a Warlock at level 90–99 should wear, learn and slot. Two play styles — Attack + Crit and Attack + Penetration — and three modes: Abyss, League Trial and Secret Realm. Numbers come from the game data as checked on 13.10.2026; names are the ones used in the English version of the game. What the portal calculated is marked (calculated), what the data cannot confirm — (not verified), and what follows from reasoning rather than from the tables — (logic). The fight against the Alliance boss is called "League Trial" in the game (the name "League Expedition" also occurs).

Key points

• At 90–99 the Warlock plays Twin Chaos. It is the Core skill; the Dark Gate set, the Transforming Staff and the Weaving Gauntlets all boost it. In every mode the best build with Death Wish reaches 87–94% of this combination's damage (calculated).
• Tactical and Ultimate skills are Hellrain and Felflame. The pair is within 96% of the best build of every mode; Endrain wins by up to 4% only in Abyss packs (13 or more targets), Hellhound Gate by up to 2% on a single target (calculated).
• The effects of the staff, gauntlets and set only work when the node of the skill is learned. Without the Twin Chaos node the items give stats only.
• Names are doubled: the Russian version calls the set "Тёмный Портал" and its items "Тёмные Врата" (in English both are Dark Gate); the same goes for "Воля смерти" and "Желание смерти" (both Death Wish).
• Stable Victory is a percentage of Hit Rating, not a victory. A Penetration gem does not fit into the weapon: weapons take Attack, Hit Rating and Crit gems. At 90–99 gems go up to level 9.
• The Avatar of Doom specialization is built on soul shards: a shard appears with a 10% chance when a skill is used, three picked-up shards turn the Warlock into a Shadow Demon for 15 s. It needs continuous damage on the target, so the Basic skill is Fester (logic).
• Night Shadow Leopard is not in the data: there is no such pet in this version of the game.

Equipment

There are no level 99 items in the game. Items come in steps, and by the end of the range you wear the best that exists:

Slot	Weapon	Gloves	Cloak	Shoulder pads	Chestplate	Legguards	Ring	Necklace	Bracers	Mark
Item level	96	96	90	90	92	92	94	94	98	98

Staff and gauntlets

• Transforming Staff (Lv. 96): Twin Chaos has a 43.2% / 28.8% / 6.4% chance to fire 1 / 2 / 3 additional chaos arrows; Core skill cooldown −15%.
• Weaving Gauntlets (Lv. 96): after a Tactical skill, the next Twin Chaos deals 180% more damage.

The other Lv. 96 staffs and gauntlets boost other skills, not Twin Chaos: Summoning Staff and Shocking Gauntlets — Hellrain, Raid Staff and Fiery Gauntlets — Felwreath, Withering Staff and Final Gauntlets — Endrain. The base stats of all Lv. 96 staffs are the same (Attack 1,312), and so are those of all gauntlets.

Set: cloak, shoulder pads, chestplate, legguards

Wear Dark Gate. It boosts the same Twin Chaos as the staff and gauntlets.

Cloak · Shoulder pads · Chestplate · Legguards

• 2 pieces — +2.5% Combat Penetration Boost, Core skill cooldown −15%;
• 4 pieces — Twin Chaos and Felwreath: damage +120%.

The Russian version calls the set "Тёмный Портал" and the items "Тёмные Врата" ("Dark Gate Cloak" and so on); in English both are Dark Gate. It is the same set. The 4 pieces turn on when the node of Twin Chaos or Felwreath is learned.

Why not Death Wish. It gives Hellrain and Endrain +110% damage and cuts Tactical cooldown by 15%, but Twin Chaos is used 3–4 times as often as the Tactical skill and makes up 61–64% of the build's damage (the Tactical skill 10–14%) (calculated). The best build with Death Wish is 6–13% weaker than Dark Gate, Death Wish with the staff and gauntlets for a Tactical skill 8–24% weaker, and two pieces of each set reach about 80% (calculated). Two pieces of Death Wish give +1.5% Combat Crit Boost; its items are called "Желание смерти" in the Russian version:

Cloak · Shoulder pads · Chestplate · Legguards

Accessories

Each slot has two effects to choose from. Which is better depends on your build.

Slot	Main choice	Replacement
Ring, 94	Shimmering Vision: +3% damage bonus and another +0.5% for each socketed gem of level 9 or higher, up to +8%	Demon Hunter: damage to mobs and bosses +5%
Necklace, 94	Elven Artificer: +3% damage bonus and another +1% for each Soul Forging level on this item	Step into Eternal Night: after the Ultimate skill, damage +10% for 10 s
Bracers, 98	Pack Leader: after a pet skill, 8% of the energy spent is returned	Thunder Curse Domain: when a basic attack hits, 30% chance of a lightning strike (damage rate 400%)
Mark, 98	Swordplay Master: while health is above 30%, +6% damage bonus	—

The ring's threshold is level 9 gems: change the ring together with the gems. With four such gems the ring gives 5%, with five — 5.5% (3% + 5 × 0.5%), but the two kinds of bonus (damage bonus and damage to mobs and bosses) cannot be compared by the game's formula ❔.

Gems, special effects, refinement

In the Gem column: crit / penetration. A Penetration gem does not fit into the weapon, so it takes Crit in both styles.

Slot	Gem	Special effects (calculated order, best on the left; * = crit build only)	Refinement: crit	Refinement: penetration
Weapon, 96	Crit	Courage Blessing, Unyielding, Sharpness, Accuracy	Attack Bonus, Penetration Bonus, Attack	same
Gloves, 96	Crit / Penetration	Boom Boom Boom Boom!, Courage Blessing, Sharpness, Luck	Crit Bonus, Hit Bonus, Crit	same
Cloak, 90	Evasion	Courage Blessing, Stable Victory, Penetration, Sharpness	Attack Bonus, Damage Bonus, Penetration	same
Shoulder pads, 90	Attack	Boom Boom Boom Boom!*, Courage Blessing, Penetration, Sharpness	Attack Bonus, Damage Bonus, Penetration	same
Chestplate, 92	HP	Courage Blessing, Unyielding, Sharpness, Luck*	Attack Bonus, Penetration Bonus, Crit	Attack Bonus, Penetration Bonus, Attack
Legguards, 92	HP	Boom Boom Boom Boom!, Unyielding, Penetration, Luck	Crit Bonus, Damage Bonus, Crit	Crit Bonus, Damage Bonus, Penetration
Ring, 94	Crit / Penetration	Courage Blessing, Stable Victory, Penetration, Sharpness	Hit Bonus, Attack Bonus, Damage Bonus	same
Necklace, 94	Crit / Penetration	Courage Blessing, Unyielding, Sharpness, Accuracy	Attack Bonus, Penetration Bonus, Attack	same
Bracers, 98	HP	Boom Boom Boom Boom!*, Courage Blessing, Penetration, Sharpness	Crit Bonus, Attack Bonus, Damage Bonus	same
Mark, 98	HP	Courage Blessing, Unyielding, Sharpness, Luck*	Attack Bonus, Penetration Bonus, Crit	Attack Bonus, Penetration Bonus, Attack

• "Attack" is a flat amount, "Attack Bonus" is a percentage (the same for Crit, Penetration and Hit Rating); " Damage Bonus" increases all damage.
• Every line of the Refinement column belongs to the set of possible lines of its slot; the game has two such sets and the server decides which one applies to you ❔.
• Four special effects only appear on Golden Flashing items, a regular Mythic item has two or three — pick them from left to right. Which effect can roll on which slot the data does not say ❔.
• On bracers, Boom Boom Boom Boom! (+17% Crit on items 90–98) is better than Boom Boom! (+6.8%). Defensive gems (HP, Evasion) do not change damage (calculated).

Refinement, special effects and gems recalculated with the game formulas (calculated)

Refinement lines, special effects and gems are recalculated with the game's formulas (the client's CalCulatePhysDamage, tools/theorycraft.py in the portal; miss follows the client rule: step 0.01%, cap 75%) on the data of 13.10.2026; the game is rebalanced weekly (calculated). The base is typical: the shape of the "live mage" from the portal tests (Attack 29,480, Crit 14,123.5, Hit Rating 7,882.1, Penetration 12,936, Damage Bonus 108.8%), there are no real Warlock builds (not verified); shifting any single stat by ±50% does not change the best triples. In the Penetration build three Crit gems (gloves, ring, necklace) are swapped for Penetration gems. A line is taken at its expected roll value (normal stone 35/40/20/5% at levels 9–12, advanced 30/50/20% at 11–13); target triples are compared, the gap to the best triple of a different make-up is 1.9…3.0 pp.

• Ring and "Hit Bonus". The line pays off while Hit Rating is below 25% of the sum of Attack, Penetration and Crit (about 13.9% for the base; with twice the Hit Rating it gives 0) and adds about 3.0 pp to the best triple without it. If the character screen already shows 0% miss, take Penetration (calculated).
• Penetration build: "Crit Bonus" instead of flat Crit (Legs, Bracers, Gloves). The gain is +3.6 pp at the typical base and +1.0 pp at the crit_on threshold (13.3% of Attack + Penetration; about 33% for the typical base) (calculated).
• Special effects. The "Special effects" column is in the calculated order (best on the left): the percentage effects Boom Boom Boom Boom!, Courage Blessing, Stable Victory and Unyielding rank above the flat Sharpness, Accuracy, Luck and Penetration (calculated).
• Gems. The four offensive gems (Attack, Penetration, Hit Rating, Crit) are worth the same: +0.42% damage per gem; Attack was never worse in any of the 210 bases checked, the others lose at thresholds (Crit below crit_on, Hit Rating at hit_cap) no more than 0.8 pp (calculated). The model was not tested in combat, each slot is calculated separately from the other nine (not verified).

Skills and passives

Which skills to take

Max out each of the four branches: the skill, Skill Enhancement and the top of the branch; with the root that is 10 points, 40 in total. Another 9 go into the three passive rows and 1 into Warlock Attribute. 50 out of 50 in total.

Slot	Skill (all three modes)
Basic	Fester
Core	Twin Chaos
Tactical	Hellrain
Ultimate	Felflame

• Core skill — Twin Chaos. The staff, gauntlets and four pieces of Dark Gate boost exactly it. Next to it in the same branch is Felwreath: the set boosts it too, but it needs different gear (Raid Staff and Fiery Gauntlets), and the nodes are mutually exclusive. By the calculation that combination is stronger on a single target: boss 7%, League Trial with mobs 2–4%, equal in packs. The calculation assumes the target stands in the wreath and within 3 m of its centre (logic, not tested in combat); if the boss runs around, stay on Twin Chaos.
• Basic skill — Fester: it applies Corrosion (on hitting a target that already has it, it spreads to the three nearest enemies) — continuous damage, without which the soul strike and the Agony Resonance stacks do not work (logic). Other Basic skills were not compared (not verified).
• Tactical and Ultimate skills: Hellrain and Felflame. A slot has two branches with mutually exclusive roots, and a branch has two mutually exclusive skills: Tactical — Hellrain or Endrain, Shadowecho or Shadowbrand; Ultimate — Felflame or Felmeteor, Hellhound Gate or Helllord Gate. Each branch costs 10 points, so the choice does not change the budget. The portal calculates the "share" of a build: damage per fight with the set, staff, gauntlets, summoned creatures, continuous damage and the Possession hits (higher is better; 100 is the best build of the mode, gear and the other skill are chosen to fit) (calculated):

Tactical skill	Abyss: packs (23-26)	Abyss: boss	Secret Realm (5)	League Trial: boss only	League Trial: boss and mobs, k = 0.5 (logic)	League Trial: boss and mobs, k = 1 (logic)
Hellrain	96	100	100	100	100	100
Endrain	100	98	98	98	98	99
Shadowbrand	96	100	100	100	100	100
Shadowecho	96	100	100	100	100	99

Ultimate skill	Abyss: packs (23-26)	Abyss: boss	Secret Realm (5)	League Trial: boss only	League Trial: boss and mobs, k = 0.5 (logic)	League Trial: boss and mobs, k = 1 (logic)
Felflame	100	98	98	98	100	100
Felmeteor	100	96	96	96	97	98
Hellhound Gate	97	100	100	100	100	99
Helllord Gate	98	96	96	96	98	98

• Tactical. Hellrain is at least 96% in every mode. Endrain is better only in Abyss packs (13 or more targets, by 4%), and on one target and in the League Trial it is 2% weaker; both Abyss phases together give 99% against 100%, a tie. Shadowbrand and Shadowecho equal Hellrain on a single target (within 0.5%) and are weaker in packs.
• Ultimate. Felflame is at least 98% in every mode. Hellhound Gate is stronger on 1–7 targets (by up to 2%), but all of its damage comes from the summoned hounds (not tested in combat). Felmeteor is 2% weaker than Felflame on few targets and equals it only from 18 targets.

Passives: Class Core Passive and Core Passive

Row	Bonus 1 (3 points)	Bonus 2 (3 points)	Attack + Crit	Attack + Penetration
IV	+7.5% Combat Attack Boost	+11.7% Combat Crit Boost	Bonus 2	Bonus 1
V	after the Core skill, +11.25% Attack Bonus and +6.75% Crit Bonus for 10 s, cooldown 15 s	the same after a Tactical skill	Bonus 1	Bonus 1
VI	+5% Combat Attack Boost	+7.8% Combat Crit Boost	Bonus 2	Bonus 1

The three bottom rows of Talent: in each you pick one node, Bonus 1 or Bonus 2 (that is what the game calls them), and a row takes 3 points. Rows are unlocked by class promotion, not by level: Warlock T4, T5 and T6, the condition is Inscription Rating 1,000, 2,500 and 7,000.

• In T4 and T6 Bonus 1 gives Combat Attack Boost and Bonus 2 gives Combat Crit Boost. The bonus is a percentage of its own stat, so the Crit node (11.7% / 7.8%) beats the Attack node (7.5% / 5%) only if your Crit is above 64% of your Attack (7.5 : 11.7 = 5 : 7.8) (calculated). In "Attack + Crit" that is usually so (logic), so take Bonus 2; in "Attack + Penetration" Crit is lower, take Bonus 1.
• In row T5 Bonus 2 gives the same after a Tactical skill. The Core skill is used three times as often (4.3 s against 13 s cooldown), so take Bonus 1 (calculated).
• The last point of the 50 goes into Warlock Attribute: node 2 (+1.5% Crit Bonus per point) beats node 1 (+0.5% Attack Bonus) while Crit is above a third of Attack (calculated), so take node 2 in both styles. Nodes 3 and 4 give Defense Bonus +1% and Evasion Bonus +1.5% per point.

Inscriptions

Inscriptions are put on in the Runes menu. The main inscription and two support ones are available at once, the 4th and 5th slots are unlocked by class promotion (not verified for the Warlock). The main inscription is listed first.

Abyss

Option	Main	Aux 1	Aux 2	Aux 3	Aux 4
Option 1	Sin Domain	Stasis Field	Pause Field	Mirror Device	Winterless Art
Option 2	Arcane Domain	Stasis Field	Pause Field	Mirror Device	Winterless Art

In a long fight all three domains give about the same (calculated, full stars): Arcane Domain — 15% constantly, Sin Domain — up to 16% (+48% for 10 s at most once every 30 s), Vengeance Domain — 15% on average over its 80 s cycle (20 s of +88.8%, then 60 s of −9.6%). The game's own Balance preset suggests the Arcane Domain.

League Trial

Option	Main	Aux 1	Aux 2	Aux 3	Aux 4
Vengeance	Vengeance Domain	Lone Lamp Art	Dreamforge Art	Daybreak Art	Dawnflower Art
Sin	Sin Domain	Stasis Field	Pause Field	Mirror Device	Winterless Art

The Vengeance option has no fields that speed up Vengeance, so it triggers at the 30th second of the fight. The choice between the options depends on the fight length: Vengeance is a burst that can be timed to the boss kill window, Sin is a steady bonus (logic).

Secret Realm

Option	Main	Aux 1	Aux 2	Aux 3	Aux 4
Vengeance at 1 s	Vengeance Domain	Quick Field	Rapid Field	Speed Field	Lone Lamp Art
Fallback: Vengeance at 16 s	Vengeance Domain	Quick Field	Speed Field	Dreamforge Art	Dawnflower Art

The "Vengeance at 1 s" set triggers at the 1st second by the rule below (calculated; whether the initial cooldown has a lower limit the data does not say). The fallback set is for fights where Vengeance is needed later (16th second). The game's own Extreme Speed preset (Vengeance Domain, Daybreak Art, Rapid Field, Lone Lamp Art, Quick Field) triggers at the 6th second. After its 20 s of action Vengeance gives a penalty of up to −9.6%, so a very early Vengeance is not always better (logic).

When Vengeance Domain triggers

Without fields, Vengeance Domain first triggers at the 30th second of the fight. Fields move this time: percentages add up, and Speed Field subtracts 5 seconds. The rule has not been verified by the client (not verified).

Fields	Triggers at
no fields	30 s
Quick Field (−30%)	21 s
Quick Field + Speed Field (−5 s)	16 s
Quick Field + Rapid Field (−50%)	6 s
Quick Field + Rapid Field + Speed Field	1 s
Rapid Field (−50%) + Pause Field (+50%) — they cancel each other out	30 s

Specialization: Avatar of Doom

When a talent skill is used there is a 10% chance to create a soul shard. A picked-up shard hits the souls of all enemies under the Warlock's continuous damage (up to 10 targets, damage rate 700%) and gathers 1 charge. At 3 charges the Warlock becomes a Shadow Demon for 15 s: 8 demonic auras (by the game text) around the Warlock hit random enemies within 15 m for 550% damage; one target takes no more than 60 hits per transformation. While the transformation lasts no shards are created; after it 80% of health is restored. A shard lives 6 s (by the buff data, not verified). There are 20 points in the specialization, one of them taken by the core; a node opens when the required number of points is spent (the core counts).

Node	Max	After N points	What it does (values by level from the data)
Avatar of Doom	1	0	core: soul shards and the transformation
Void Siphon	2	1	shard chance +5/10 pp (to the base 10%)
Abyssal Call	3	12	auras +4/8/12 (by the action tables +1/2/3 hits per 0.5 s tick on top of the base two)
Agony Resonance	4	5	for each shard that damaged an enemy, aura damage +0.5/1/2/3%, up to 15 times
Shadow Diffusion	3	1	aura radius +30/60/100%
Demonic Synergy	3	6	the Basic skill during the transformation has a 30/60/100% chance of one more aura (550%) that heals 15% of max HP
Bone Torment	5	12	aura damage to one target grows by 0.5/1/1.5/2/3% per hit, up to 15 times
Shadow Trail	5	15	every aura hit causes a small explosion (up to 5 enemies within 3 m), damage rate 30/60/90/120/150%
Nightmare Sprint	2	1	on entering combat you at once gain 1/2 shard(s)
Soul Vessel	4	6	max HP is higher during the transformation (3/6/10/15 in the data, unit ❔); no damage
Dead's Draw	5	1	shards fly to the character at 4/5/6/8/10 m/s

What the data does not say

1. Distance to the shard: 10 m in the calculation; standing without Dead's Draw a shard cannot be picked up, on the run without the node 60% are (logic).
2. Continuous damage on the target is needed by the soul strike and Agony Resonance; in the calculation the target and the three nearest mobs have it, without it the loss is 2–7% (logic).
3. Pace and area of the auras: 4 hits per second by the tables, "8 auras" by the game text (at twice the pace the loss is up to 3%); the Shadow Trail explosion hits the target and half of the enemies within 3 m, with no neighbours the loss is 5–7% (calculated).

The model calculates expected damage in 0.5 s steps (the transformation tick) for all 205,832 valid layouts (of 540,088 that sum to 20); shards are taken as an expectation, a random draw of shards gives 0.95–1.05 of the calculation, so differences of 2–3% between the top layouts are noise. Damage is in shares of "100% Attack per second", the character sheet multiplier is not included (calculated). The main layout of a mode is the robust one: in the worst of those cases it loses the least against the best layout for that case ("maximin"). The base optimum is the best layout under the base assumptions; it can be noticeably worse if the assumptions do not hold (calculated).

How it is calculated

Abyss: running through packs to the boss (6 targets, 60% of the time on the run, 200 s) and standing at the boss (1 target, 200 s). League Trial: you stand, the boss and waves of mobs. Secret Realm: a tank holds the monsters, you can stand or move (5 targets, 60 s). Durations and numbers of targets are assumptions (calculated). The layouts were calculated with the rotation Twin Chaos, Hellrain, Felflame and the Dark Gate set; if Endrain is used instead of Hellrain, the best layout of a mode stays the same or loses no more than 0.8% (calculated).

Mobs in the League Trial

The only target you have to kill in the League Trial is the boss. Mobs appear in timed waves (the first at second 16, then every 73 s; about seven are alive on average, with a peak of 12–13) and live 38–64 seconds: slimes and murlocs (game data). The auras hit random enemies within 15 m, so mobs take part of the hits: side damage and personal points grow, the boss kill speed does not. How many mobs end up in the skill area is unknown ❔, so the layout was checked both ways (no mobs in the area; mobs under fire, a share of 0.5 and 1, a fight of 5 to 29 minutes). The table shows the share of the optimum each layout gets in each scenario (calculated; the mob share and the fight length are assumptions):

Layout	Nodes	Boss only, 5 min fight	Mobs half in the area, 10 min fight	All mobs in the area, 29 min fight	All mobs in the area, 5 min fight
Robust	Void Siphon 2, Abyssal Call 3, Agony Resonance 4, Bone Torment 3, Shadow Trail 2, Nightmare Sprint 1, Dead's Draw 4	90%	91%	86%	86%
Base (mobs in the area)	Void Siphon 2, Abyssal Call 3, Agony Resonance 4, Synergy 3, Shadow Trail 5, Dead's Draw 2	85%	100%	100%	100%
Boss only	Void Siphon 2, Agony Resonance 3, Bone Torment 5, Shadow Trail 3, Nightmare Sprint 2, Dead's Draw 4	100%	59%	59%	60%

Mobs in your skills' area — take the base layout; you hit only the boss — "Boss only"; the robust layout is insurance against the unknown mob share and shard distance (it has Dead's Draw 4). Damage to mobs is counted with weight 1 (personal points); at weights 0; 1.2; 1.5 the best layout is the same or differs by one point (logic).

Layouts by mode

In a cell: the points in the robust layout and, in brackets, in the base optimum (if they differ).

Node	Max	League Trial	Secret Realm, standing	Secret Realm, moving	Abyss, packs and boss
Avatar of Doom	1	1	1	1	1
Void Siphon	2	2	2	2	2
Abyssal Call	3	3	3	3	3
Agony Resonance	4	4	4	4	4
Shadow Diffusion	3	0	0	0	0
Demonic Synergy	3	0 (3)	1 (3)	0 (3)	0
Bone Torment	5	3 (0)	0	0	1 (0)
Shadow Trail	5	2 (5)	5	5	4 (5)
Nightmare Sprint	2	1 (0)	2 (0)	2 (0)	2
Soul Vessel	4	0	0	0	0
Dead's Draw	5	4 (2)	2	3 (2)	3
Total points		20	20	20	20

In the worst of the cases checked the robust layouts give 86 to 95% of their scenario's optimum (on average 89–97%), the base optima — 68 to 94% (calculated). In the boundary cases (shards farther than 35 m, the cap of 60 hits removed) both lose more, see below.

• Every column has Void Siphon 2, Agony Resonance 4, Abyssal Call 3 and Shadow Trail (2–5).
• One enemy and the cap of 60 hits. The auras make 4 hits per second, over the transformation 4 × 15 s = 60: exactly the cap. So Abyssal Call helps only when other targets are near; a single boss needs Bone Torment and Shadow Trail ("Boss only": Void Siphon 2, Agony Resonance 3, Bone Torment 5, Shadow Trail 3, Nightmare Sprint 2, Dead's Draw 4) (calculated).
• Dead's Draw is the most fragile node. A shard lives 6 s and flies at 4/5/6/8/10 m/s by level, so it arrives from 24/30/36/48/60 m. At a distance of 35 m the layout with level 2 loses up to 66% (26% in the Abyss packs); if shards are picked up standing, the node is almost useless (the loss "without the node" is 2–3%). Where shards lie is unknown ❔: when in doubt put 3–4 (calculated).
• Abyss. Packs only (robust): Void Siphon 2, Abyssal Call 3, Agony Resonance 4, Synergy 1, Shadow Trail 5, Nightmare Sprint 2, Dead's Draw 2 (worst case 94%); boss only: Void Siphon 2, Abyssal Call 3, Agony Resonance 4, Bone Torment 5, Dead's Draw 5 (90%). If the boss has minions near it, the base boss layout loses up to 38%, so the robust one takes Abyssal Call 3 (calculated).
• Secret Realm. "Standing" and "moving" differ only in how shards are picked up: standing Dead's Draw 2 and one point of Synergy, moving Dead's Draw 3 (logic).
• League Trial. The robust layout keeps 86–91% of the optimum in the four scenarios of the table above.

Magic stones

Stones come in six shapes: round shield, triangle, prism, tower shield, star, moon. The combination bonus turns on when the five slots hold stones of five shapes from one of the four combinations; only the shape matters. The Warlock has four combinations, each with a star and a moon:

• 1) round shield, triangle, prism, star, moon → Avatar of Doom - Enhanced: the transformation 5 s longer (15 → 20 s)

• 2) round shield, triangle, tower shield, star, moon → Void Siphon - Enhanced: shard chance another +10 pp

• 3) two triangles, tower shield, star, moon → Abyssal Call - Enhanced: aura hit damage rate +200 (550 → 750)

• 4) two round shields, prism, star, moon → Shadow Trail - Enhanced: Shadow Trail explosion damage rate +100 (150 → 250 at level 5)

• For combination 3: Howler Triangle, Punisher Triangle, Strategist Tower Shield, Star of Sorrow (any Star), Moon of Tenacity (any Moon): Rapid Strike 130, Fierce Assault 65, Wound Control 65, and Rapid Strike Bonus and Wound Control Bonus of 40% each (calculated from level 3 stones).

• For combination 4: Swiftstrike Round Shield, Woundmaster Round Shield, Woundmaster Prism, a Star and a Moon: Rapid Strike 100, Wound Control 100, Wound Control Bonus 60% (calculated).

• Sets without a Star and a Moon do not turn a combination on: "pure Rapid Strike" (Swiftstrike Round Shield and Prism, Howler and Punisher Triangles, Standard Bearer Tower Shield) — Rapid Strike 230, bonus 100%; "pure Wound Control" (Woundmaster Round Shield and Prism, Strategist and Commander Tower Shields, Howler Triangle) — Wound Control 165, bonus 140%. These are just sets of stats.

Rapid Strike boosts the damage of basic attacks and the Core skill (+1% per 30 points), Fierce Assault — of Tactical and Ultimate skills, Wound Control — of pet skills. Which of them the aura damage belongs to is not recorded in the data, and the effect of all three in combat has not been checked ❔, so it cannot be said which set is stronger by its stats (not verified).

By the specialization model (the gain in expected damage from the combination itself at the robust layout, without stone stats and potentials; node layouts were calculated without combinations ❔): combination 3 is better on a single target (League Trial, boss only: +23% against +9% for combination 4), combination 4 adds +100 to the Shadow Trail explosion, which hits up to 5 enemies, so it is better on groups (Abyss +19%, League Trial with all mobs in the area +19% against +16%) and useless without that node. Combination 1 lengthens the transformation, but no shards are created during it, and on a single target the cap of 60 hits is already reached (−10% against +23%). In the Secret Realm all four are close (+12%…+21%) (calculated).

Potentials. Class potentials work only with their own combination: Doomsday Embers (1), Void Soul Corrosion (2), Abyssal Whisper (3), Shadowbrand (4). Specialization Empowerment boosts the soul strike, the auras and the Shadow Trail explosion for every learned node, Specialization Resonance — Agony Resonance and Bone Torment. It makes sense to take the potential of your combination and Specialization Empowerment (logic); the potential numbers in the data are raw ❔.

Artifacts

Every artifact has small cells (offensive and defensive) and a central one for the core.

Artifact	Cells (attack / defense)	Core
Doom Harbinger (Lv. 64, basic skills)	2 / 0	Doom Harbinger - Omen or Doom Harbinger - Curse
Doomsday Echo (Lv. 70, core skills)	2 / 2	Doomsday Echo - Aftershock
Void Staff (Lv. 74, tactical skills)	2 / 2	Void Staff - Annihilation or Void Staff - Rift
Legion Bond (Lv. 80, ultimate skills)	3 / 3	Legion Bond - Enslave / Legion Bond - Summon / Legion Bond - Bond

An artifact boosts the skills of one slot: Doom Harbinger (Lv. 64) — Basic, Doomsday Echo (Lv. 70) — Core, Void Staff (Lv. 74) — Tactical, Legion Bond (Lv. 80) — Ultimate (this is how the skill nodes are laid out in the game tables) (check against the nodes in the game). The core goes into the central cell.

• Omen: after a Core and a Tactical skill there is a chance that a Basic skill fires as well. Curse: any skill has a 20% chance to apply burn, bleed, slow or paralysis to the target for 5 s and deal another hit. Which of the two is better the portal did not calculate (not verified).
• Aftershock: Basic and Core skills hit harder on a wounded target, +3% for every 15% of health it has lost.
• Annihilation: every 90 hits there is a chance to cast the Ultimate skill at once; Rift: the same when the target has two or more types of debuffs, the debuffs are then removed. The chances in the data are raw (not verified).

The fourth core (Legion Bond) — by mode:

• Enslave (Abyss): every 12 skills cast give +0.8% damage and healing until the end of the fight, up to 16 times (up to +12.8%).
• Summon (League Trial and the Secret Realm where you can stand): if you stand still for more than 3 s, damage +8%, the bonus disappears when you move (logic).
• Bond (when the target moves): a bleed, and the target takes extra damage for every 5 m it moves (logic).

Tying the fourth core to the modes is a recommendation (the cores have no mode in the data). Numbers are for top-quality cores, the other core numbers are raw (not verified). Small offensive nodes take the Power Nexus (Basic and Core skills) or the Strong Nexus (Tactical and Ultimate), defensive ones — the Stable Nexus and the Resolute Nexus. Among the forging properties look for Fierce Assault, Rapid Strike, Wound Control (basic) and Eternal Core (the core no longer loses durability) (what to take is not verified).

Skill nodes. A node works on the skill it was made for, so you need the node of the skill you play. What it gives depends on the node level (numbers are without the Power or Strong Nexus embedded):

Node	What it does	Value at node level 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
Fester	+% to the next Basic skill on the target per proc (up to 4 times, 5 s)	3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 9 / 15
Twin Chaos	chance of one more Chaos Arrow (430%), % (in brackets, added per Basic skill use)	10 / 12.5 / 15 / 20 / 30 / 50 (+4 / 5 / 6 / 8 / 12 / 20)
Hellrain	5 extra hits, damage rate per hit, %	34 / 42.5 / 51 / 68 / 102 / 170
Felflame	2 extra hits on each target hit, damage rate per hit, %	20 / 25 / 30 / 40 / 60 / 100

The nodes of Endrain, Felwreath and Helllord Gate deal a "total" hit shared among the enemies in the area (one target takes no more than half), so in packs they are weaker than they look (calculated). Nodes do not change the choice of skills: Hellrain and Felflame stay at least 96% of the best build at any node level (calculated).

Pet emblems

Each of the three pets has its own slot shape: the first has triangles (△), the second hexagons (⬡), the third diamonds (◇). No more than two identical emblems per pet ("×2"); "Unique" means one copy. Numbers are for top-rank emblems (Crypt Archer, Bone Assassin and Spider only reach rank 4).

There are no layouts with four or five identical emblems here: the limit in the data is two. Such layouts cannot be assembled.

Level 90 emblems appear on the server in waves: the first from day 83, the second from day 139; there are no level 100 emblems, level 110 comes right after 90. The main rows are for a server older than 139 days, on a younger one take "before day 139". "By the model" is the portal's estimate: points of Attack, Crit, Penetration and Hit Rating are equal, percentages use the portal's weights; the model was taken from a baseline character, not from the Warlock, so a 1–3% difference is not significant (calculated). "Maximum bonus" is simply the maximum of one percentage.

Attack + Crit

Pet	Emblem 1	Emblem 2	Emblem 3	Emblem 4	Emblem 5	Total
First (all Unique), after day 139	Crypt Archer	Frenzied Blackdragon	Fel Hydra	Rampaging Hydra	Nightshade Blackdragon	Attack 2410, Penetration 1750, Damage Bonus 67.8%
before day 139	Crypt Archer	Hellwyrm	Frenzied Blackdragon	Fel Hydra	Rampaging Hydra	Attack 2810, Penetration 650, Damage Bonus 63.6%
Second, after day 139	Fel Thunderlizard (Unique)	Rampaging Greendragon (Unique)	Nightshade Tyrannosaur (Unique)	Phantom Lavagiant ×2		Crit 1750, Penetration 1100, Attack Bonus 26.6%, Crit Bonus 127.5%, Evasion 2200
after day 139, maximum Crit Bonus	Rampaging Greendragon (Unique)	Wind Sprite ×2	Phantom Lavagiant ×2			Penetration 1100, Crit Bonus 184.7%, Evasion 3500
before day 139	Bone Assassin (Unique)	Fel Thunderlizard (Unique)	Rampaging Greendragon (Unique)	Wind Sprite ×2		Attack 420, Crit 650, Penetration 1100, Attack Bonus 17.9%, Crit Bonus 99.7%, Evasion 1300
Third, after day 139	Lava Giant ×2	Phantom Statue ×2	Ice Bear			Attack 3500, Crit 400, HP Bonus 53.2%, Evasion Bonus 19.1%
before day 139	Ice Bear ×2	Lava Giant ×2	Obsidian			Attack 1700, Crit 800, HP Bonus 28.6%, Evasion Bonus 38.2%

Attack + Penetration

The first pet (△) takes the same emblems as for crit.

Pet	Emblem 1	Emblem 2	Emblem 3	Emblem 4	Emblem 5	Total
Second, maximum Penetration Bonus (both eras)	Frenzied Tyrannosaur (Unique)	Firekin ×2	Shadow Broodmother ×2			Attack 650, Penetration Bonus 128.3%, Evasion 3500
after day 139, by the model	Frenzied Tyrannosaur (Unique)	Nightshade Tyrannosaur (Unique)	Shadow Broodmother ×2	Firekin		Attack 650, Crit 1100, Attack Bonus 15.9%, Penetration Bonus 106.8%, Evasion 2850
Third, after day 139	Spider ×2	Phantom Statue ×2	Lava Giant			Attack 2850, Penetration 1320, HP Bonus 42.5%, Defense Bonus 38.2%
before day 139	Spider ×2	Bio Giant ×2	Lava Giant			Attack 650, Penetration 2620, HP Bonus 10.7%, Defense Bonus 38.2%, Evasion Bonus 57.2%

Spider is given for Bounty Quests and sold in the alliance contribution shop. Every rank step burns three copies of the previous rank, so one top-rank emblem takes nine root ones. League Trial emblems are hidden in the data, so they were not used as replacements.

Pets

The team has three pets. Night Shadow Leopard is not in this version of the game; another pet takes its place.

• Abyss and League Trial: Meteor (crit) or Dancer (penetration), Light Howl, Flame Demon
• Secret Realm: Soulclaw, Light Howl, Meteor; or Flame Demon, Light Howl, Meteor or Dancer (logic: instead of the leopard)

Meteor strikes again on a crit, so it is for crit; Dancer stacks Weakness on non-critical hits, so it is for penetration (logic). Light Howl boosts damage and healing for 7 s (10 s at 6★) and is free on a new server for the seven-day event (the reward for 420 points). Soulclaw needs only 0 stars; Flame Demon at 6★ pulls enemies to the centre of the storm. Budget replacements are Brightwing, Peachbean; by the data Overlord is a defense pet (taunt, self-heal), not a damage buff (not confirmed).

Badges

Set	Badge 1	Badge 2	Badge 3	Badge 4	Badge 5
Companion Along the Way (crit)	Gravity	Bladestorm	Elven Legacy	Ruling Sword	Twin-tailed Comet
Midnight Run (attack)	Royalty	Shadow Blades	Troll Empire	Twilight Eye	Darktide Surge
Free Rider (attack)	Meteor	Eternal Vigil	Blooming Future	Earth Ring	Destiny Tome
Long Journey (penetration)	Death Knell	Broken Barricade	Forest Ranger	Perfect Storm	Blazing Extremity

The sets are the same for all classes. Set bonuses turn on at levels 3, 6, 9 and 10; the set level equals the lowest badge level in it, so level them evenly. Crit prefers Companion Along the Way (Crit Bonus), Midnight Run and Free Rider (the last two give an Attack bonus), penetration — Long Journey (Penetration Bonus), Midnight Run and Free Rider.

Oracle

The Oracle opens at level 90. It has five stages: War Oracle, Wisdom Oracle, Future Oracle, Wealth Oracle and Mind Oracle.

How it works. Points accumulate in each stage separately. When the threshold is reached you can pray: the prayer spends its cost, and the bonus lasts 168 hours. Re-rolling the random stats costs 100 points. A stage opens when all the previous ones are open.

Stage	Threshold, points	Prayer cost
1. War Oracle	25,000	8,000
2. Wisdom Oracle	25,000	8,000
3. Future Oracle	40,000	8,000
4. Wealth Oracle	40,000	8,000
5. Mind Oracle	50,000	10,000

What earns points (the same for every stage):

Material	Points each
Statue Offerings	100 (from the Inscription Prayer and the Badge Lottery)
Inscription Core	2 (from wild map exploration, Hard Raid floors and the resource shop)
Inscription Essence	2 (from converting surplus inscription shards)
Cloths and threads	moonlight cloth 5; demon cloth 10; frostwoven cloth 20; silk thread 1; magic pattern thread 10; rune thread 100

What it gives. Permanent and random stats (Attack, HP, Crit, Penetration, Evasion and others); the values depend on the World Level of the server, not on your character level, and grow with it.

Towards level 100

• At 100 items of level 100–108 and gems of level 10 become available; the ring of the next step counts only gems of level 10 and higher, so change it together with the gems.
• There is no set for Twin Chaos among the level 100 items: Outland Echo boosts Demon Tyrant and Succubus (+120%), Blood Paladin — Shadowecho and Shadowbrand (+110%). At level 110 Eternal Imprisonment repeats Dark Gate (+120% to Twin Chaos and Felwreath), and Sunshard Coalition repeats Death Wish. What is better at 100–109 depends on whether you stay on Twin Chaos: the effects of the staff and gauntlets are tied to its node (logic). The weapons and gauntlets of level 100–106 were not examined.
• Inscription Rating 7000 means T6 and the T6 passive row. If you have not reached it yet, start now.

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(calculated) — computed from the game data, not tested in combat. (not verified) and ❔ — not confirmed by the data. (logic) — a conclusion from reasoning.

Not checked: real damage in combat, where the soul shards lie and whether they are picked up standing, continuous damage on the target, how many hits per second the auras make, which group of attributes the aura damage belongs to, the effect of Rapid Strike, Fierce Assault and Wound Control, which effects roll on which slot, which Doom Harbinger core is better, what share of the League Trial mobs falls into the skill area, what to use instead of the Night Shadow Leopard, how many Idol Offerings the lottery gives.