I’ve seen many video game announcements in my day, but I don’t think any have been as truly unexpected as “new DLC for Diablo II in 2026.” From WoW Classic to StarCraft Remastered, Blizzard has no problem revisiting past glories, but new content for Diablo II never felt like something even on the table. While Diablo II: Resurrected felt like an inevitability, adding on to the game seemed (ironically) sacrilegious.
To me, Diablo II (alongside its 2001 expansion pack) is a perfect game. It’s impeccably paced, balanced, and infinitely replayable- all things that 2021’s Resurrected captured, while adding a visual update in the spirit of the original. But this perfection could only exist in its own untouched space, right? Diablo IV (and to a lesser degree, Immortal) was “modern” Diablo, and it was understood that is where the updates and additional content would occur.
And yet.
Here we are with a new, fully realized Diablo II class, and some surprising additions. Everything we thought we understood about Blizzard’s development process has been rendered obsolete as they have done the most audacious thing possible. Reign of the Warlock is the first significant addition to Diablo II in 25 years.
But is it any good?
After playing through the first act, my belief is an emphatic “hell yes.”
The Warlock class is the main event here, and it’s fascinating how naturally it fits. Unique, yet in line with what is expected from a D2 class, the Warlock provides an entirely new way to play. The newness of it all is what’s so exciting to me. While every other class in Diablo II has 25 years worth of deep guides and “best” ways to play, there are no preconceived notions about the Warlock. For me, it’s nice to once again be able to experiment with a build without a nagging voice in the back of my mind telling me to find a guide in order to maximizing my survivability for the end game. Here I’m just going with my gut and what feels fun.
The way I’ve been playing my ‘lock is primarily investing in the Demon skill tree. My character doesn’t do a whole lot of damage with his cool floating weapon, but I’ve put points into a summoned Goatman, who zooms around and attacks enemies for comparatively significant damage. Right now I’m still so early that it’s difficult to say whether or not my build will continue to be effective later in later acts and the end game, but I’m definitely enjoying experimenting with this new playstyle.
In addition to the new class, the Reign of the Warlock DLC brings with it some new features that range from welcome (loot filter and stash tabs) to completely unexpected.
The Chronicle allows you to see every unique item you’ve collected in the game. This meta feature will be for some players a new end game goal, incrementally increasing the percentage of items, sets, and rune words found. I’m curious to see if/when someone reaches 100%. Is it even possible?
This unexpected DLC release has caused me to drop everything else I’m playing, likely until the release of the Midnight expansion for WoW. I didn’t expect to be going this hard on Diablo II in 2026, but the devil works in mysterious ways.
All screenshots and video here were captured from the Steam version of the game running on my desktop PC.
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