Use your favourite features in-game with our Desktop App

Diablo 4 Build

Explosive Abyssal Chains

Season 13

Warlock

End Game

Ranged

Damage Over Time

Off-Meta

Pushing

By Wallzer

LIVE

Updated on May 8, 2026

May 8, 2026

Build Overview

Explosive Abyssal Chains is my first attempt at a Diablo 4 build. I went into the game completely blind and learnt the build crafting system from the beginning of the season. This is NOT a meta build, but one using skills I enjoyed the most, and as of the making of this guide, is T12 ready.

If you want to ask questions or leave suggestions for the build, be sure to head over to my Twitch.

There will also be a full build guide over on my YouTube, and the guide will be linked here.

Explosive Abyssal Chains utilizes Umbral Chains as the main source of damage, taking the Chain Burst Umbral Chains upgrade, and pairing it with the Scourge of Duriel, The Hemat Stone, and the Ritualist Shard w/ Abyssal Fragment to give insane amounts of Wrath regeneration, Overpower, and additional damage bonuses to Occult skills as well as Hex damage.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Great AoE
Good Single Target Damage
Fun off-meta build

On the squishier side if your barrier/Fortify gets hit hard
Not built for speed
Fairly Gear Reliant

Build Variants

There really is only one variant of this build, as I did a lot of switching and testing different skill combinations throughout my time on Warlock focusing on this one singular build.

Assigned Skills

Primary

Secondary

Soul Shards

Doom is going to be one of 2 ways we apply Hex. Take the Wrath Doom & Assimilation Doom side upgrades and the Jailer Doom major upgrade for this. Do not focus a lot of points here, this is mainly for applying Hex, not dealing damage.

Umbral Chains is the main point of Damage, using the Chain Burst Umbral Chains major upgrade, and essentially spamming it to create tons of high damage explosions. Add in the Wrath Refund Umbral Chains & Capture Damage Umbral Chains side upgrades to boost chain damage and get wrath back.

Nether Step is going to be the "get out of jail free" card, as well as a way to speed up our movement speed. I love utilizing Nether Step to get out of a bad situation, or to dodge any Champion modifiers that will one shot. Add on the Extra Charge Nether Step & Movement Speed Nether Step side modifiers with the Gloomwalker Nether Step major upgrade to give us the best options for this.

Sigil of Subversion is our 2nd way of applying Hex, and the one I recommend using the every time it comes off cooldown. Not only will this apply Hex to enemies, but once you get the trails going out of it, it will also build up a lot of Shadowform stacks as well. Add the Movement Speed Sigil of Subversion & Slow Sigil of Subversion side upgrades with the Infiltration Trails Sigil of Subversion major upgrade to allow those trails to go even further, almost always allowing you to travel between packs of enemies on the trail.

Terror Swarm is the Ultimate of choice here, over Apocalypse, mainly because of the cooldown, and the ability to apply Vulnerable to enemies with the Vulnerable Terror Swarm side upgrade. Add Pull Terror Swarm and the Devouring Swarm Terror Swarm upgrades alongside that.

Finally, we have Summon Vollach. Because we use the Ritualist Shard paired with the Abyssal Fragment, we can now stack Hex up to 4 times on an enemy, causing them to take more damage, and echo that damage around, adding to the AoE of the build. We also gain the ability to have additional stacks of Overpower, and allow Occult skills to apply Hex on hit, which gives Umbral Chains the ability to apply Hex as well now.

Equipment

HelmHeir of Perdition

Chest armorTyrael's Might

GlovesTidal Aspect

PantsAspect of Shelter

BootsUndying Aspect

AmuletThe Hemat Stone

Ring 1Aspect of Apogeic Furor

Ring 2Crushing Aspect

WeaponScourge of Duriel

OffhandAspect of Calamity

Equipment Priority

+10

The main stats we want to look for on the build will be the following:

Armor - Max Life, Armor, Resistances, Any Critical Damage or Crit Chance, Vulnerable Damage, Movement Speed, and Willpower

Weapons - High Weapon Damage, Crit Damage or Crit Chance, Vulnerable Damage, and Resource Cost Reduction or Cooldown Reduction

Jewelry - Willpower, Max Life, Crit Damage or Crit Chance, or Vulnerable Damage

Talismans

Talisman Priority

For 4/5 of the Horazon's Chains set, look for +2-3 to Abyss skills, then a High All Stats bonus on the 5th. Make sure to grab Banished Lord's Talisman as well, since we are spamming Umbral Chains, we use a ton of wrath and are almost always adding to our damage from it.

The seal really does not matter outside of the +1 charm slot so you can have 6. If you manage to get a Mythic Seal and can remove the set cost by 1, then add in the Temerity charm for even more survivability.

Skill Tree

Available

0 (0)

Spent69 (14)

Leveling Path

Paragon Board

Wrath & Destruction are adding to Critical Strike Damage, which is a huge part of the build, so focus on those first

Empowered is next, adding to Overpower Damage

Abyssal & Mastermind follow up, adding to our Abyss damage, which is every single damaging skill we have in the build, which is why we are choosing this.

How it Plays

The main thing you need to know about this build, is that you have to essentially be hitting Umbral Chains all the time for damage, so be constantly aiming around, and spamming the key for it, so you can be shooting out chains and exploding them all the time.

Add in Sigil of Subversion whenever the cooldown is up onto a group of enemies, and try to kill as many in the sigil as possible, so you can chain the paths that shoot out of it into your next one, constantly keeping the Hexing of enemies up.

With Summon Vollach, you actually want to hit this whenever you can, so keep an eye on the icon to see when you have enough Dominance to use it, as this is how we are going to add a ton of bonuses to our Damage. Keeping up as many of the summons as possible is key. You will know if you don't have one up, as they will be chained to you, so if you don't see one of your demons chained to you, activate it again to keep them up.

How it Works

At the beginning of a Pit run, for example, start by hitting Summon Vollach as many times as you can, to get your Summons up, then when you see your first group of enemies, throw a Sigil of Subversion on them, then go to work spamming Umbral Chains. Toss in a Terror Swarm and keep the Umbral Chains spam up. Whenever you see Summon Vollach able to be used, use it, to keep damage as high as possible. Mix in a few uses of Doom to add more Hexing. If you see your health start to go down, or maybe a Champion Sword coming to end your life, Nether Step out of the way, and then continue back in the rotation of Summon Vollach, Sigil of Subversion, Umbral Chains.

1. Build Tracker 2. Build Overview 3. Strengths and Weaknesses 4. Assigned Skills 5. Equipment 6. Talismans 7. Skill Tree 8. Paragon Board 9. How it Plays 10. How it Works

Featured Builds

Dread Claws Warlock Endgame Build Guide

Updated on May 8, 2026

Apocalypse Warlock Endgame Guide

Updated on May 8, 2026

Blessed Hammer - Hammerdin

Updated on May 8, 2026

Clash Paladin Endgame Build Guide

Updated on May 8, 2026

1+ Trillion DPS God of Blood - Bloodwave build guide Pit 120+ capable

Updated on May 8, 2026

View All

Become a Creator

Want to earn rewards by sharing your builds with your community?