Diablo 2 Remaster

If you want an endgame farmer that deletes full screens, Cleave Warlock is built for that job. The playstyle is simple: you dive into a pack, swing once or twice, and the whole group collapses. It is the kind of build that turns dense Terror Zones into a nonstop chain of pulls where your pace is limited more by movement and loot clicks than damage. It also scales well with gear, so you can start with a workable setup and keep upgrading into a monster without changing the core playstyle.

Cleave Warlock is basically an AoE melee caster. You are resetting fights constantly, repositioning, and choosing angles that let Cleave hit the maximum number of bodies. When you do it right, you are always fighting in the best possible spot, and the build rewards that with absurd clear speed. If your goal is repeatable value farming in Hell, this is one of the cleanest high tempo options.

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The Character
Cleave Warlock is strong because it converts melee contact into wide area damage, and it does it with a kit that supports aggressive routing. In endgame farming, density is everything. Cleave thrives in density because every extra monster is extra damage efficiency. You are basically paid for pulling bigger packs. That is why it performs so well in Terror Zones, Chaos style layouts, and any area where monsters bunch up in hallways or around corners.
The other reason it works is survivability that scales with gear in a very direct way. Physical builds can stack leech, damage reduction, and block, then keep swinging to stay alive. When you combine that with teleport mobility from Enigma or raw defense from Fortitude, you get a character that can choose when to commit and when to reset. The end result is a farmer that can play fast without being forced into risky, glass cannon decisions.

Core items
For Cleave Warlock, your gear priorities are a strong weapon, mobility or damage armor, and a defensive layer that lets you stay in melee.

Core endgame pieces

• Weapon: Grief or Breath of the Dying as premium options, Death is also popular, Tomb Reaver and The Reaper’s Toll work in some setups
• Armor: Enigma for teleport farming routes, Fortitude for maximum damage and steady defense
• Shield: Stormshield for damage reduction and safety, Phoenix for damage and utility in more offensive setups
• Helm: Guillaume’s Face for crushing blow, Crown of Ages for tankier high end
• Gloves: Dracul’s Grasp for life tap style sustain, or a strong leech glove option
• Belt: Verdungo’s Hearty Cord or String of Ears for damage reduction and leech support
• Boots: Gore Rider for crushing blow and mobility stats, Sandstorm Trek for defensive utility
• Rings: Raven Frost is the standard for Cannot Be Frozen, plus a leech ring or Bul-Kathos style ring
• Amulet: Highlord’s Wrath is a classic, a strong rare can also work
• Swap: Call to Arms + Spirit for Battle Orders

Budget options:

• Weapon: Oath, Obedience, Honor, or any high damage unique you can get early
• Armor: Treachery, Duress, Lionheart, Duriel’s Shell
• Shield: Rhyme, Ancient’s Pledge, a decent rare with resists

Core spells and skill focus
Cleave Warlock is straightforward, but it only stays fast if you build around the right skills and put your points in the right places. Cleave is the core of the build, so it gets maxed first because every point increases your swing arc and improves real pack clear speed. After that, you max the key synergies that make Cleave scale and keep your uptime high: Mirrored Blades for stronger damage and much better single target pressure, Hex: Purge to spread an AoE hex while you are already hitting multiple enemies, and Eldritch Blast for sustain through life and mana returns when it procs on hexed targets. Demonic Mastery is the flexible layer. You do not always hard max it, but you aim for 10 or 20 effective points with +skills because every 10 points unlocks another summon and adds a lot of value for very few sacrifices. From there, you take the one point utilities that keep runs from falling apart. Bind Demon gives you a powerful demon with strong support effects, Consume adds a burst of life, run speed, and damage to keep tempo, and Sigil: Lethargy slows enemies and increases damage taken so dangerous packs become manageable. Any remaining points go into Levitation Mastery, since it boosts damage, attack rating, critical strike, and lowers weapon requirements, all of which directly supports your Cleave farming rhythm.

For point allocation, the practical rule is to max Cleave and its best damage synergies first, because that is where your clear speed actually comes from. After that, invest into survivability scaling, either defensive passives or utility that reduces downtime and stabilizes risky pulls. Early on, keep your one point panic and mobility tools, then decide what deserves more points based on real results in your runs. Breakpoints are not only attack speed. Consistency matters more: Cannot Be Frozen, enough resistances for the zones you farm, and enough life to survive burst damage spikes.

The Price

• Budget farmer: about 0.5 to 2 HR if you use cheaper armor and a mid weapon
• Mid tier: about 4 to 10 HR with a strong weapon, CTA, and solid defensive layers
• High end: about 12 to 30+ HR if you run Enigma plus a premium weapon plus top charms and jewelry

How to play it and how it works
You do not win with Cleave Warlock by pressing Cleave perfectly, you win by fighting the right packs in the right position. Always look for big, dense groups and skip small, scattered monsters because they waste time. Move fast to the next pack, then position yourself on the side of the cluster so Cleave can hit as many targets as possible with each swing. Use Cleave once and check what survives. If the pack is still thick, Cleave again. If only an elite or a few monsters remain, switch to your single target attack and finish quickly, then move on immediately instead of chasing one monster across the map. If you run into dangerous situations like Amplify Damage, Cursed, nasty aura stacks, or heavy ranged pressure, do not try to face tank it, step out, reposition, and re engage from a better angle. Keep Battle Orders up before risky pulls. The build works because you sustain through attacking and leeching, so your goal is high uptime with smart positioning and fast transitions, not standing still in bad spots.

Who this build is for
Recommended for: Players who love fast, aggressive farming and want constant tempo, anyone who wants a melee character that clears like an AoE build instead of slowly picking targets; Terror Zone farmers who want to erase dense maps with minimal downtime, and players who enjoy optimizing routes, pull size, and positioning to squeeze out more runs per hour.
Not ideal for: People who mainly want long boss fights as the core activity, players who dislike melee risk and would rather stay fully ranged and safe at all times, and anyone who hates how much performance depends on having a strong weapon and solid melee gear to keep damage and sustain consistent.

Build Comparison

Conclusion
Cleave Warlock is an endgame farming build for people who want momentum. You are not waiting for cooldowns or slowly kiting packs. You are creating a loop of pull, Cleave, loot, move, and the build rewards you for doing it faster and cleaner every run. Start with a functional weapon and basic survival layers, then decide whether your next major step is Enigma speed or weapon power. From there, upgrades are straightforward: better damage, better sustain, less downtime.