S-TIER | BUILD DEMONISTE Chaînes d’ombre (@NickTew) | SAISON 13

ENDGAME | PIT PUSH | SPEED FARM WARLOCK

Build Overview

The S-Tier Umbral Chains Warlock build created by @NickTew is one of the most surprising discoveries of Season 13: a skill almost entirely overlooked by the community that turns out to be capable of generating individual hits reaching tens of trillions of damage. The core mechanic revolves around the fact that Umbral Chains explode upon each expiration or maximum stretch — and by spamming them, every cast triggers an explosion. Combined with the Epicenter variant that creates chains between you and your superior demons, the result is devastating: with five or six active demons at all times, each cast produces an explosion on each individual link.

The build's raw power is also explained by the synergy between the chains set, the Soul Shards (each counting as a superior demon), and the Juggernaut's Aspect coupled with The Hemat Stone. The Hemat Stone amplifies the passive bonus of Demonic Command, allowing you to instantly gain 16 Overpower stacks on each use — and the Banished Lord's Talisman converts that into 172% increased damage on a near-permanent basis. The build excels particularly against Bosses: @NickTew confirmed killing Mephisto T10 almost instantly and reaching phase 3 of Mephisto T12.

Another major strength: permanent access to Hex through the Abyss ritual, guaranteeing 100% Critical Strike Chance under all circumstances. The build requires no basic skill since Wrath management is entirely handled by Demonic Command and the Wrath glyph. This is a high single-target DPS Endgame build, recommended by @NickTew as a direct alternative to the Hell Fracture build, sharing the same skeleton with simply a different weapon and skill.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Recommended Gear

This build's gear philosophy follows a clear four-stage progression: level up with well-aspected legendaries, then introduce key uniques, and finally switch to mythics to push the most demanding content. At every stage, the absolute priority remains damage multipliers (Critical Strike Damage, Vulnerable Damage) and life on all defensive pieces. @NickTew particularly emphasizes not stacking Critical Strike Damage on every piece — diversifying with Vulnerable Damage avoids diminishing returns.

Starter: In the early phase, the build runs with properly aspected legendaries. The helmet carries the Aspect of Heavenly Strength for an immediate defensive and offensive boost, while the chest is paired with Juggernaut's Aspect, the backbone of Overpower scaling. For the amulet, Edgemaster's Aspect improves mobility, and Accelerating Aspect on a ring ensures good Attack Speed. The legendary weapon can carry any compatible damage aspect.

Endgame Uniques: The first major transition is introducing Godslayer Crown on the helmet, which provides a chained enemy grouping effect that is particularly useful. Footfalls of the Waning World on boots are essential — they allow you to spam Nether Step permanently for mobility and durability. Prioritize the Maximum Evade Charges or Attacks Reduce Evade Cooldown affix on them, otherwise the item loses its value. The Hemat Stone replaces the amulet at this stage: it multiplies the passive bonus of Demonic Command and generates up to 16 instant Overpower stacks, making the Banished Lord's Talisman in the Seal extremely powerful. Scourge of Duriel becomes the main weapon — it drops from Duriel, as its name implies. Gloves switch to Aspect of Arrogance to maximize Critical Strike Damage.

Mythic Uniques: This is the tier where the build reaches its full potential. Heir of Perdition replaces the helmet and brings 80% increased damage — a Greater Affix on Core Skills is ideal but a clean copy is still excellent. Tyrael's Might on the chest is pure defense: look for the Greater Affix on Damage Reduction and a masterwork crit on it. Footfalls of the Waning World and The Hemat Stone are kept. Scourge of Duriel remains the main weapon and must be tempered with Attack Speed on at least one weapon piece. Pants can carry the Coagulation aspect for Bosses or a Damage Reduction aspect for very high Pit tiers.

Speedfarm: The fast farming variant swaps in Godslayer Crown on the helmet (grouping via Chaining), uses Tyrael's Might for durability, and integrates Banished Lord's Talisman at the amulet slot to permanently maximize damage per Overpower stack. Ring of Starless Skies (mythic) replaces one of the rings to bring the Greater Affix Attack Speed and cost reduction — aim for a masterwork crit on Attack Speed. @NickTew notes he is considering removing Ring of Starless Skies from the Mythic setup since Attack Speed is not critical and the ring slightly reduces raw damage.

On all offensive pieces (gloves, weapons, rings), the affix hierarchy is: Critical Strike Damage Multiplier > Vulnerable Damage > Shadow Damage or global multiplier. On defensive pieces, prioritize life, resistances, and Armor. For Tempering, consistently look for damage per Overpower stack on offensive pieces, and barrier generation on the amulet and boots.

Horadric Seal S13

The Horadric Seal is the new mechanic of Season 13 and fits perfectly into this build. For the Charms section, Banished Lord's Talisman is the one absolute priority: with 12% increased damage per Overpower stack and a maximum of 16 stacks thanks to Demonic Command boosted by The Hemat Stone, that's 172% permanent damage. To craft it, you first need to obtain a raw Banished Lord's Talisman then run it through the Horadric Cube with three other charms. On the Seal itself, prioritize Greater Affixes in Critical Strike Damage and Attack Speed; skill ranks in Abyss or Occult if available (both apply to Umbral Chains), followed by Maximum Life, resistances, and global stats.

Gameplay Tips

The core principle of the build is that Umbral Chains is your primary action — spam right-click constantly on enemies. Each cast that expires or reaches its maximum range generates an explosion, and since you're spamming them, you get continuous explosions on each of the links created with your superior demons. Try to position yourself close to enemies to maximize the efficiency of the Epicenter variant: the chains and explosions cover a better area when you are near the melee.

The most important skill to manage is Demonic Command — do not spam it. Activate it roughly every 8 seconds. By pressing it too often, you consume all your Dominance and lose your Overpower stacks. The goal is to permanently maintain your 16 active Overpower stacks so that the Banished Lord's Talisman in your Seal performs at its peak. Use Sigil of Summons as soon as it is available, ideally on an enemy to spawn the Hellwyrm and activate Paragon nodes. Bombardment is handled by pressing it twice quickly to build your Annihilation stacks and allow you to spam Apocalypse.

Apocalypse is not used for its own damage but for its debuff: after use on a target under Hex, it takes 100% additional damage for 6 seconds. Apply it every 6 seconds on large packs or Bosses to permanently double your damage. To go all-in on Bosses, replace Blazing Scream with the Profane Sentinel — this extra superior demon scales the chains' damage and raises the Fathomless Paragon node. Against Bosses, two presses of Bombardment instantly fill your stacks to spam Apocalypse.

For enemy grouping — essential to maximize the AoE of Umbral Chains — several options exist depending on your gear. The Wild Bolt aspect on the amulet (transfiguration) pulls distant enemies every 2 seconds and is the recommended comfort solution. The Cryone rune combined with Nagu offers a permanent vortex but requires adjusting the bar. Godslayer Crown groups enemies via Chaining at the cost of a slight offensive loss. Regardless of the method chosen, Umbral Chains naturally slows all enemies, which helps with zone control.

On defense: use the Nagu and Prid runes together for near-permanent uptime on Dark Prison, which applies Weaken (45% Damage Reduction), Fortify, and a global slow on all nearby enemies. Combine with the Kurr and Q runes to generate a barrier in combat — tempered on the amulet and boots, this barrier can reach nearly 100% of your life pool, doubling your effective resistance. Make sure to include at least one Lucky Hit Life on Hit roll somewhere on your rings for continuous sustain.

Talent Tree

The build's main skill is of course Umbral Chains pushed to rank 15. The priority upgrade nodes are Wrath Refund to permanently sustain the resource, Chain Burst which multiplies explosion damage, and Capture Damage. The Umbral Chains unique (which grants the Epicenter variant) is fundamental in the Endgame version: without it, the build loses the vast majority of its damage by removing the chains between you and your superior demons. Regarding the Heavy Harpoon node (50% damage): use it on Bosses only, as in The Pit it constantly knocks back enemies, making clearing more tedious.

Dark Prison is played at rank 14–15 depending on the variant, with the Cooldown Reduction, Chain Aura, and Fortify upgrades. This skill is activated for free by the Prid rune, so you do not need to cast it manually. It permanently maintains Weaken (45% reduced damage taken), Fortify, and a massive slow on all nearby enemies.

Nether Step is leveled to rank 15 with Extra Charge, Gloomwalker, and Movement Speed. Combined with Footfalls of the Waning World and Evade Cooldown Reduction affixes, you can chain Nether Steps almost endlessly by attacking normally. This provides both increased mobility and enhanced durability.

Sigil of Summons only requires one rank (1/15) — it primarily serves to activate the Fathomless Paragon node and, depending on chosen upgrades, to periodically summon an extra Hellwyrm for one more superior demon. Bombardment is leveled depending on the variant (1 to 6 ranks) and serves as the Hellfire skill to rapidly build the Annihilation stacks needed for Apocalypse. In the Speedfarm variant, Rampage replaces Blazing Scream and Nether Step to maximize clearing speed.

The build's key passives include permanent access to Hex via the Abyss ritual, which guarantees 100% Critical Strike Chance under all circumstances. The chains set itself brings a very strong damage increase proportional to the number of active superior demons — with 5 to 6 simultaneous demons, the multiplier is considerable. Each demon summon also provides a damage spike, and Demonic Command delivers them instantly every 8 seconds.

Mercenary S13

Paragon

This build's Paragon board revolves around five carefully selected boards. The Starter Board hosts the Wrath glyph at rank 150, which literally generates infinite Wrath in combination with Demonic Command — you will never need a basic skill. The Chaos board follows immediately to amplify interactions with Abyss mechanics and chain explosions.

The Greater Hex board receives the Destruction glyph at rank 150 for massive DPS, and activates the Greater Hex node whose 25% Damage Reduction bonus is always active thanks to permanent Hex availability. The Ritualism board increases damage with each Sigil use, and the Fathomless board — permanently activated by Bombardment which instantly summons seven demons — receives the Empowered glyph at rank 150.

The Wrath, Destruction, and Empowered glyphs form the build's core offensive trio. Eldritch Sight is also cited by @NickTew as a utility glyph on this board to improve visibility of mechanics and effects in combat. The Abyssal glyph intervenes on the Chaos board for a 100% additional damage multiplier, fully exploiting the fact that Umbral Chains is an Abyss skill.

On the linking nodes between boards, prioritize Maximum Life and Damage Reduction nodes to compensate for the class's inherent defensive weakness. Key offensive nodes such as Damage per Overpower Stack (tempered on gear) combine directly with Banished Lord's Talisman scaling to create an exponential damage curve as you accumulate your stacks. If you do not yet have rank 150 glyphs, the build works at lower levels — progression is linear and the leveling order follows that of the glyphs listed above.