Maxroll has published a Diablo IV leveling guide for Season 13, Season of Reckoning, built around the Dread Claws Warlock and its Abyss-themed damage loop. The guide leans on positioning, heavy area damage and a path meant to get players through the early season quickly without requiring resources, tempers or aspects already unlocked.
The build’s opening sequence is set out in clear steps. Dread Claws becomes the Core Skill at level 3 and is the main button the guide wants players to spam for AoE, while Nether Step arrives at level 4 as the mobility tool. Rampage comes online at level 8 as the build’s secondary resource skill, and Hellion Sting is the Basic Skill used to generate resources and occasionally apply a powerful damage-over-time effect.
That structure gives the leveling plan its first real edge. The tier list behind it ranks builds by movement speed, survivability, ease of play, damage output and total time to reach level 70 in a season-start scenario with no resources, tempers or aspects unlocked. In that frame, the Dread Claws setup is presented as an allrounder: fast enough to move, sturdy enough to stay alive and strong enough to erase packs without dragging out the climb.
The power spike sharpens as the guide adds upgrades in sequence. At level 9, Hellion Sting is supercharged by the Eviscerate upgrade. At level 14, Eviscerate is paired with Tail Spikes, and at level 15, Encircling Terror is unlocked alongside Laalish from the Mastermind Shard. Encircling Terror summons a circular AoE around both the player and their Greater Demon, giving the build a wider damage zone exactly where it wants to fight.
From there, the guide shifts toward burst and control. Tail Spikes and Eviscerate can be combined to melt elites or bosses in seconds while refilling Wrath, which solves one of the usual leveling problems: a build can clear trash quickly but stall when a tougher target appears. The Dread Claws setup is built to avoid that trap, and Hellion Sting is the single-target answer when the player needs it.
The later milestones only extend that pattern. At level 20, the Abyssal Titan variant unlocks for Rampage, and at level 34, Nether Step - Recall Shadows can semi-automate repositioning. That matters because the guide is not selling a finished endgame loadout; it is framing a season-start leveling resource, one that tries to smooth out the messy part of the campaign before players have the gear to force their own path.
The broader context is that Warlock was introduced with Diablo IV Lord of Hatred, and this guide treats the class as a practical answer to early-season pressure rather than a novelty. By the time the build reaches level 70, the picture is simple: the guide favors a Warlock that can move, group, survive and kill, and in Diablo 4 Season 13, that is enough to make Dread Claws look like the shortest road through the opening stretch.