The Infernal Breath Warlock build, which was underwhelming in Season 13, has received substantial buffs in the Season 15 PTR. The build now hits quadrillions of damage while maintaining great survivability and mobility. It sits in a comfortable spot between Pit 135 and 140 with reasonably minmaxed gear, offering a safer alternative to builds that are likely to get nerfed. This guide covers everything you need to Diablo 4 Gold know to set up and optimize this build on the PTR.
Enjoy an 8% discount. Use code: Lily
Core Mechanics and Skills
The build revolves around several key interactions that transform Infernal Breath from a mediocre skill into a devastating damage dealer.
Volatility and Sigil of Chaos
Sigil of Chaos provides the volatility needed to power the build. While this buff is active, using any ability can cause other abilities to become volatile. You want to ensure you have volatility active before using Infernal Breath to maximize damage.
Infernal Breath as the Main Attack
Infernal Breath is your primary damage skill. You can channel it, and the longer you hold it, the more damage it deals when released. The damage stacks infinitely as long as you have enough Wrath to continue channeling.
Season 15 introduced coordinated buffs to Infernal Breath, including stronger base scaling, larger bonuses on key variants, and a substantial increase to Explosive Death's damage, radius, and per-hit bonus. This represents an intentional push by the developers to make the skill viable.
Sire of Sin and Explosive Death
Sire of Sin guarantees the Explosive Death variant for free, ensuring Infernal Breath always triggers its explosion at the end of the skill. The ring also provides a 20-30% damage increase to Infernal Breath across all variants.
This is crucial because the explosion damage increases by 10% for each hit the breath lands on enemies. The longer you hold the skill, the more hits land, and the bigger the final explosion.
Rampage for Mobility
Rampage allows constant jumping around the battlefield, providing excellent mobility for speed farming. The higher your attack speed, the more speed you gain. This skill also benefits from Vanguard Shard, which summons additional demons when casting Archfiend skills.
Cauterization and Survivability
Cauterization converts incoming direct damage into fire damage while Volatility is active. This synergizes perfectly with stacking fire resistance. Combined with the Diabolical Armor chest piece providing significant damage reduction, the build offers excellent survivability.
Anathema of the Primes
This unique enables you to use abilities as core skills instead of through dominance, which allows spamming them in the first place. Early in the season, you can use this as a two-handed weapon even if it's just a unique drop.
Class Mechanic: Soul Shards
The recommended setup uses Vanguard Shard with Warden Fragment.
Vanguard Shard summons an extra copy of Archfiend abilities when used, including Rampage, Infernal Breath, and Profane Sentinel.
Warden Fragment increases damage of Hellfire Demonology Skills by 30% while in Demonform.
Gear and Stat Priorities
The build prioritizes maximum life on every piece of gear, as it provides both damage and survivability.
Helmet Options
Currently using Harlequin Crest, but the build could transition to Leoric's Crown if it gets fixed. Leoric's Crown would allow using the splinter that gives extra attack speed and crit chance, with the bonus amplified by Leoric's passive.
Key Uniques
Anathema of the Primes: Allows using abilities as core skills, bypassing dominance costs
Sire of Sin: Provides Explosive Death for free and increased damage
Hands of Apotheiosis: Grants metamorphosis upgrades for free and increased effectiveness
Tibalts Will: Provides resource generation through unstoppable
Diabolical Armor: Provides significant damage reduction
Infernal Homunculus: Provides a massive damage multiplier
Stone of Jordan: Equalizes resistances to fire resistance
Stat Priorities by Slot
Offensive items should include:
Enough Critical Strike Chance to hit 100%
Critical Strike Damage on every piece
Vulnerable Damage where possible
Defensive items should include:
Maximum Life on every piece
Willpower for damage scaling
Fire Resistance (synergizes with Stone of Jordan and Diabolical Armor)
Gems and Splinters
Rubies in weapon for fire damage
Sapphires in pants for Willpower
Splinter focusing on attack speed, critical strike chance, damage reduction, and maximum life
Charms
Prioritize Hellfire or Demonology skill ranks. Fire Resistance is ideal, and with a fully optimized charm setup, you may not need fire resistance on gear pieces.
Skill Tree Priorities
Key skill choices for the build:
Command Fallen: Basic skill for volatility and minion generation
Dark Prison: Provides fortify and reduces damage from distant enemies
Rampage: Mobility skill, take Killstreak Damage and Demonic Smash
Infernal Breath: Max this skill with Ramping Damage, Expensive Damage, and Demonic Breath
Sigil of Chaos: Allocate remaining points here with Volatility Duration and Chain Reaction
Terror Swarm: Ultimate skill with Searing Infestation to keep it with you, and Pull to group enemies
Paragon Boards and Glyphs
Board Order:
1. Eldritch Site (first board)
2. Fathomless (Vanguard glyph)
3. Dynamism (Attrition glyph)
4. Demonic Spicules (Demonologist glyph)
5. Greater Hex (Hell Forge glyph)
The Advantage node on the Greater Hex board provides max resource if needed to use abilities.
Rotation and Playstyle
1. Activate Sigil of Chaos to gain volatility
2. Use Terror Swarm to pull enemies and apply vulnerable
3. Channel Infernal Breath; the longer you hold it, the more damage the final explosion deals
4. Use Rampage for mobility between packs
5. Maintain Dark Prison for survivability
Final Thoughts
The Season 15 PTR buffs to cheap D4 Gold Infernal Breath have transformed this build from a disappointment into a serious contender. With multiple related nodes receiving coordinated buffs, this looks like an intentional push by developers to make the skill viable. The build offers quadrillions of damage, excellent mobility, and strong survivability. While it may not top the leaderboards, it sits in a comfortable position that is less likely to receive nerfs compared to builds pushing into Pit 140-150. With Leoric's Crown potentially adding even more power, this build could become one of the strongest and most versatile options for Season 15.
