News April 28, 2026

Diablo 4 streamer Mekuna has become one of the first players to reach Torment 12, the new hardest difficulty tier introduced in the Lord of Hatred expansion, completing the ascent from a fresh level 1 character to a level 70 capable of surviving the highest challenge content in approximately 17 hours of non-stop grinding.

The achievement comes as Blizzard had publicly stated that Torment 12 would be "really fucking hard," setting high expectations for the new difficulty ceiling. Mekuna's run was broadcast live on Twitch, with viewers watching the sorceress power through the torment tiers using an unconventional lightning-based build.

What Changed

Lord of Hatred introduces a significantly expanded difficulty scaling system with multiple Torment tiers reaching far beyond previous caps. Key details from the achievement:

Reached level 70 character in roughly 17 hours starting from level 1

Completed the climb to Torment 12 by hour 20 of continuous streaming

Used a sorceress build centered on the lightning variant of the Blizzard skill instead of the traditional ice version

Initially played through the campaign as the new warlock class before switching to sorceress for the speedrun

New activity skill trees can push monster difficulty even higher than standard Torment tier caps allow

What This Means for Players

The speedrun demonstrates that while Torment 12 presents a significant challenge, it is not impossible for well-optimized builds. Mekuna's lightning-based Blizzard variant approach—rapidly stacking damage circles to clear enemy packs in seconds—shows the potential power scaling available with the new skill trees and item crafting systems.

Players should note that leaderboards are set to go live soon, which will provide concrete data on viable end-game builds across all classes including paladins and warlocks. The expansion has effectively reset previous benchmarks for character power measurement.

What's Next

With Mekuna's achievement setting an early benchmark, the community will likely see continued optimization of speedrun strategies as more players reach maximum level and experiment with new skill tree combinations. Blizzard's upcoming leaderboard system should provide standardized competitive metrics once activated.