D2R Season 13 Echoing Strike Warlock: The "Nuclear" Endgame Guide

Diablo 2 Resurrected Season 13 is in full swing, and while everyone was hyping the Summoner Warlock as the safest starter, the theorycrafters have unearthed a build so devastatingly powerful that it comes with a warning: "Playing this build may ruin the other classes for you." Welcome to the Echoing Strike Warlock—a build that doesn't just kill monsters; it erases them with Physical and Magic Damage that leaves no enemy immune.

The "By FAR the Strongest" Build

The Echoing Strike Warlock is "by FAR the strongest build the Warlock class has to offer." Cast Echoing Strike, and your weapon's ethereal projectiles boomerang out, piercing entire packs and hitting every target multiple times. Paired with Hex: Purge, your enemies are battered by exploding Physical and Magic Damage—meaning no monster is ever completely immune.

Skill Breakdown & Core Mechanics

Must put 1 point into these key skills:

Consume (for your pre-fight damage boost)

Bind Demon (for capturing your ideal pet)

Max out the following skills in this order:

1.Echoing Strike: Your primary damage dealer. Scales with FCR and weapon damage; benefits from Deadly Strike and Critical Hits.

2.Mirrored Blades: Key synergy and single-target burst.

3.Blade Warp: Essential mobility until Enigma.

4.Hex Purge: Drastically improves area clear speed.

5.Demonic Mastery: Reach Level 20 via +Skills for max minion slots.

6.Sigil: Lethargy: Remaining points for control and damage.

Combat Strategy: From Pre-Fight to Cleanup

The Pre-Fight Ritual

1.Summon Goatman and immediately Consume him for massive Damage % and survivability.

2.Cast Hex: Purge to enable your AoE clear.

3.Use Bind Demon to summon your captured pet. If you don't have one yet, make finding Hephasto The Armorer your top priority.

4.If your Demonic Mastery is high enough (level 10+), add a Summon Defiler as a permanent minion. It provides Damage Reduction via Blood Oath and applies "Shared Damage" to groups.

5.If you have Call to Arms on weapon swap, cast Battle Command twice, then Battle Orders. This is crucial for keeping your mercenary alive in high player settings.

General Gameplay Loop

Travel: Use Blade Warp (and later, Teleport from Enigma) to zip between packs. Blade Warp can phase through walls, bars, and doorways—use this to your advantage.

Engage: Against a pack, position your cursor close to your character and unleash Echoing Strike. The projectiles will spread wide, covering the entire group.

Focus: Against a boss or tight corridor, aim your cursor far past the target. This narrows the spread into a near-singular line, allowing all five echoes to hit on both the outgoing and return trip—"shotgun" style.

Control: Drop Sigil: Lethargy on any Elite packs or Bosses. It reduces their Physical Damage Reduction while providing powerful crowd control.

Immunities? The Echoing Strike Warlock essentially doesn't concern itself with Immune enemies. Your damage is split between Physical and Magic, and the Cursed affix from your Bound Demon breaks Physical Immunities in most circumstances. If you encounter something that just won't die? Let your mercenary and demon handle it while you reposition.

Advanced Combat Techniques

The Baal Problem: Because your Bound Demon applies Amplify Damage, you can't use Life Tap wands. This becomes an issue against Baal, whose Chilling Armor reflects missiles. Solution: Position your Bound Demon directly between you and Baal to intercept the reflected projectiles.

Mephisto Fights: Your mercenary may die quickly to Mephisto's attacks. Don't panic—let your tanky Bound Demon handle the aggro while you deal damage from a safe distance.

Cursor Placement Mastery: Practice switching between close and far cursor placement until it becomes muscle memory. The difference between clearing a pack in 2 seconds vs. 5 seconds often comes down to this single skill.

Engorge for Healing: If your Bound Demon gets low on health, use Engorge on a nearby corpse to heal him up instantly.

Gearing Your Echoing Strike Warlock

The build has several gear variants, each optimized for different stages of your journey and different goals.

Starter Setup: Getting Off the Ground

The Echoing Strike Warlock requires surprisingly little to get started.

FCR Priority: Reach the 75% FCR breakpoint first. This is easily achieved with a Spirit Sword.

Weapon Choice: Any solid weapon with high Enhanced Damage works, but remember the Warlock's unique perk: you can wield two-handed weapons in one hand! +All Skills or +Warlock Skills are also top priorities.

Defensive Stats: Keep your resistances capped. Look for "Cannot Be Frozen" (CBF) on gear—it's more important than you think.

Early Pet Goal: As soon as possible, use Bind Demon on Hephasto in Nightmare or Hell. Target the "Cursed" affix (for Amplify Damage) and preferably the Fanaticism aura.

Mercenary: An Act 2 Might Mercenary with an Insight polearm solves mana issues and buffs your damage. Outfit him with Treachery and Bulwark for survivability and life leech.

Standard Endgame: Peak Efficiency

FCR Target: Maintain the 125% FCR breakpoint for maximum mobility and teleport frames.

Ideal Weapon: Doom in a Thunder Maul base. Why? It offers:

Massive Enhanced Damage

Deadly Strike (chance to deal double damage)

The FCR needed to hit the max breakpoint

All Resistances—a stat notoriously hard to cap on this build

Attribute Allocation: Put enough points into Strength to equip your gear, then pour the rest into Vitality. Aim for ~3000 Life after Battle Orders.

Mercenary: Upgrade to an Act 2 Might Mercenary with a Pride polearm for the Concentration aura. Call to Arms (CTA) on your weapon swap is nearly mandatory to keep your merc alive in high player settings.

Essential Swap: Carry a Staff of Teleportation on swap until you can afford Enigma.

Specialized Variants: Magic Find & Ubers

Once you're fully geared, you can optimize for specific goals.

Magic Find Variant: Stack as much MF as possible while maintaining the 75% FCR breakpoint. A weapon like Gull or Blade of Ali Baba on swap is excellent. Use Hel Runes in sockets to manage strength requirements—Levitation Mastery makes this much easier.

Uber Killer Variant: The Maximum Damage setup uses high-end gear like Last Wish and runs at the 75% FCR breakpoint. This variant exists for one reason: the fastest Uber kills possible. It requires pre-buffing resistances and careful positioning, but the results speak for themselves.

Ready to gear up your Echoing Strike Warlock? Browse D2R Season 13 Items for Spirit Swords, Doom bases, Last Wish, Enigma, and all the endgame gear you need.

Endgame Progression & Goals

Your journey with the Echoing Strike Warlock doesn't end when you hit level 99. Here's what to work toward.

Gearing Priorities at Each Stage：

Hunting Hephasto: Your top endgame goal is a perfect Hephasto from Hell River of Flame with Cursed (procs Amplify Damage) and Fanaticism aura (attack speed/damage boost). His fixed spawn makes him much easier to farm than random demons.

The Enigma Milestone: Once you have Enigma, Blade Warp becomes Teleport. Mobility skyrockets, you can pixel-stack minions on bosses, and farming efficiency goes through the roof.

The Verdict

The Echoing Strike Warlock isn't just a build; it's a statement. It's for players who have mastered the basics and are ready to experience the absolute pinnacle of Season 13's power. It demands high APM, pre-buffing, and costly endgame gear. But for those willing to put in the work, the reward is a character of unmatched destructive potential.

As the pros warn, it may just ruin every other class for you. Consider yourself warned.

What do you think of the Echoing Strike Warlock? Are you going to try and assemble the gear for this "nuclear" build? Let us make a bold attempt in Diablo 2 Resurrected!