With the release of Diablo 2: Resurrected Season 14 and Patch 3.2.0, the era in which Warlock class, specifically its most reliable Echoing Strike build, absolutely dominated the meta has finally come to a definitive end. Consequently, if you are still playing as a Warlock at this stage, you should have likely shifted your focus to Hex: Purge build, or perhaps other pure physical damage playstyles. However, regardless of which build you choose, you must re-master the art of applying damage and curse effects to enemies, as the game has now significantly reduced the associated trigger probabilities. In this guide, we will outline exactly what you need to do to achieve this objective, and deal sufficient damage to your foes, ensuring you can still enjoy a satisfying combat experience despite the mechanics having been nerfed. What exactly are curse effects? In D2R, for Warlock class, a curse effect actually refers to a specific affix that can be applied to enemies, allowing the caster to trigger Amplify Damage. It is worth noting that Necromancer possesses a skill of the exact same name; be careful not to confuse the two. More specifically, this Curse effect reduces a monster's PDR by 100%. Even when facing monsters that are otherwise immune to physical damage, this effect will still reduce their physical resistance by 20%. Changes to curse trigger mechanics When you, as a Warlock, summon a demonic minion, it will automatically attempt to trigger and apply the curse effect to enemies while engaging them in combat. Previously, the chance for a demonic minion to trigger this Curse effect was a generous 75%; however, Patch 3.2.0 has slashed this probability down to a mere 5%. In other words, whereas a demon used to successfully apply a curse three out of every four attacks, it now has only a one-in-twenty chance of successfully triggering the curse effect with each attack it launches. Fortunately, however, there is an accompanying buff: once a demonic minion successfully triggers Amplify Damage via Curse effect, that effect will now apply as AoE. This functions as if your summoned demon had directly cast an AoE curse spell; consequently, you no longer need to apply the curse to individual monsters one by one. How to increase the curse trigger chance? Although Amplify Damage has been buffed, any demon remains effectively idle until the curse actually takes effect. Therefore, if you wish to play builds centered around this mechanic in Season 14 and the updated RotW expansion, the key lies in finding ways to independently boost the curse's trigger rate. In most cases, this depends on the specific type of demon you summon. Hell Witch This demon possesses an innate Amplify Damage ability; additionally, she utilizes basic magic arrow attacks and casts Blood Mana Curse. However, Blood Curse is ineffective against monsters, as they do not possess any mana to be drained. Conversely, this implies that in many situations, Hell Witch can single-handedly apply curses to entire packs of monsters without requiring any external assistance. Based on this, the curse coverage provided by Hell Witch is decent, though it becomes significantly more effective when paired with a Teleport-and-Stomp tactical approach. To execute this strategy, you must first equip Enigma Runeword. Pit Lord This type of demon is immune to almost all forms of damage, with the exception of physical and magic damage. Furthermore, by entering Stone Skin state, they can become completely immune to physical damage as well. They also possess a flame breath attack and move at a relatively high speed. Consequently, they can apply curses not only through their standard attacks but also via their flame breath, which has the potential to trigger the curse effect with every instance of damage dealt. However, in actual combat, Pit Lord's overall frequency of curse application is generally not particularly high, as they only choose to utilize their the flame breath attack sporadically. Fortunately, by exploiting Multishot affix found on Elite monsters, you can enable Pit Lord to unleash three streams of the flame breath simultaneously. Such an empowered Pit Lord can even serve as a direct meat shield for you, allowing it to tank hits from even the most powerful bosses. Further empowering Hell Witch Since Pit Lord is capable of acquiring both Curse and Multi-shot affixes, Hell Witch can naturally benefit from them as well. With the combined support of these two affixes, and given her innate ability to cast Amplify Damage curse, her consistent curse coverage is elevated to an even higher level. Provided you have Enigma Runeword equipped, as you continuously teleport across the map, the curse effects take immediate hold, resulting in an ever-increasing frequency of curse application. However, to ensure your Hell Witch demon gains all the aforementioned buffs, you must upgrade it to at least Unique Demon tier; to achieve this, you will need to invest a minimum of 15 points into Bind Demon skill. Furthermore, if you intend to utilize Consume Demon to acquire additional buffs, or wish to simultaneously summon other demons to fight alongside you, you will also need to sink a significant number of points into Demonic Mastery. When tallied up, these point investments will quickly consume a vast majority of your total available skill points, leaving you unable to allocate those precious points toward your character's own active combat skills or other utility-focused support abilities. Advanced options It is highly recommended that you seek out a demon possessing the curse, Multishot, and Holy Freeze Aura affixes simultaneously. Holy Freeze Aura requires no direct skill point investment to enhance; provided that the combined level of your relevant summoning skills reaches a total of 20, your summoned minions will automatically gain the aura enchanted property, granting them a chance to randomly spawn with this specific aura active. This particular combination proves exceptionally efficient for applying curses, as the damage triggered by Holy Freeze Aura itself is capable of activating the associated curse effects. If you are unable to secure a demon with this specific aura, it remains a viable strategy to utilize gear bearing Curse or Multishot affixes to provide supplementary damage support. In summary, if you have the means to independently acquire these specific types of demons, you have the opportunity to continue playing as a reliable Warlock build, leveraging the power of curses, in the current version of D2R! Good luck!

It's the third week of ARC Raiders Season 4, and the challenges have grown tougher this week. Not only are there four combat-related trials, but you'll also have to take on difficult enemies such as Shredders and Bombardiers. Achieving a high score this week may be difficult, but reaching three stars is something most players can manage. So, what does it take to get three stars this week? Let's take a look. Season 14 May 25-31 Trials First, here's an overview of this week's tasks: Damage ARC enemies in the Red Lakes Deal as much damage as possible using a Blaze Grenade Deal damage to Shredders Loot Weapon Crates Damage Bombardiers Aside from some classic trial tasks, the one limited to Red Lakes area appears for the first time – though its difficulty is not very high. Completing these trials under map conditions that offer double points will be far more efficient. Be aware that under those conditions, ARCs tend to respawn faster, so teaming up will make completing the trial safer. Damage ARC Enemies in the Red Lakes This task can only be completed inside Red Lakes area of Dam Battlegrounds. You simply need to deal damage to ARC enemies there, no kills required. Each small ARC, such as a Wasp, gives 121 points, but attacking large ARC enemies yields even more points. The higher the damage, the more points you earn. The easiest way to finish this is to join Queen event. You can simply put 3 Deadlines at the right moment then you can easily get over 20,000 points. Alternatively, use high-powered weapons like Equalizer, Jupiter, or Hullcracker to deal damage from a distance. Also, a Leaper often wanders around that area and respawns roughly every 16 minutes between raids. Another approach is to lure a Rocketeer or a Vaporizer into Red Lakes – defeating them grants a huge number of points. Eliminate just two Rocketeers, or one Rocketeer plus one Vaporizer, along with a few Wasps, and you'll hit the roughly 1600 points needed for three stars. Not recommended in Hurricane mode, though – visibility is too low. Electromagnetic Storm or Night Raid modes work much better. Deal as much damage as possible using a Blaze Grenade This trial requires you to inflict as much damage as possible with a single Blaze Grenade – damage from multiple grenades does not stack. So the key is to get several ARC enemies grouped together before throwing the grenade; the score can then be impressive. On Dam Battlegrounds map, you'll need plenty of Blaze Grenades. Some players may already have its blueprint. Blaze Grenade blueprint is a drop of the industrial style, so industrial-style containers are your best search targets. Try searching Primary Facility or the loading bay area at Stella Montis. However, these areas contain all kinds of ARC Raiders blueprints, so finding Blaze Grenade blueprint requires a bit of luck. Large ARCs like Bombardiers or Bastions are ideal targets. Against Bastions, grenade placement is crucial: don't throw it directly at them – throw it at their feet for maximum damage. Leapers are also a good choice, as they have many legs and joints – a single grenade hitting multiple body parts yields a higher score. Basically, if you successfully locate these ARCs and throw a Blaze Grenade, you'll reach three stars. Damage Bombardiers You can obviously complete this trial together with others. Killing one Bombardier gives about 2800 points, while three stars only need 3000 points. That means fully killing one Bombardier and dealing a small amount of damage to a second is enough. You can even combine this with Blaze Grenade task – two grenades thrown at a Bombardier will do the mission. If you want a higher score, try killing multiple bombers per round. At the underground crossing below the main road in The Blue Gate, a Bombardier often patrols, respawning around the 15-minute mark. Of course, that limits you to at most two spawns. Loot Weapon Crates Each Weapon Crate gives 1000 points, so you need only loot three Weapon Crates to reach three stars, and it is not very difficult. Buried City and Riven Tide are both good choices, as they have many weapon crate spawn points. Buried City, in particular, is small, easy to navigate, and has roughly 24 to 25 weapon crate spawns, which is highly efficient. If you have Keys, using them is strongly recommended, because most Key Rooms contain a weapon crate. However, if you do use keys, try to do so under Hurricane or Night Raid map conditions – sometimes under Electromagnetic Conditions, the rooms end up without a weapon crate. Deal damage to Shredders Stella Montis is the best map for this. Destroying one Shredder gives about 693 points, and three stars require roughly five destroyed. Use Bettina or Hullcracker to attack their lower thrusters – two shots will destroy one; hitting the upper part takes three shots. Note that Stella Montis has no double-point periods, so both Day Raids and night Rraids work, though Shredders seem to respawn more often at night. The overall difficulty of this week's trials comes more from competition with other players than from the tasks themselves. The new trader's goods have many players farming large ARCs, so achieving a high score may require a bit of luck.