What Blizzard announced
On October 5, 2026, Blizzard posted an official forum update: starting November 16, 2026, you will no longer be able to transfer existing Expansion characters into Reign of the Warlock. Eligible characters should be transferred before that date if you want them on the ROTW side.
Blizzard’s stated reason is economy health: closing a path for items gained through automated farming to enter Reign of the Warlock, and protecting a fair experience for players. The post is advance notice so players have time to finish any transfers they still want.
Source: Update to character transfers in Diablo II: Resurrected — October 5, 2026.
What “Expansion” vs Reign of the Warlock means here
In D2R after Reign of the Warlock launched, characters live on separate tracks — similar to how Classic and Expansion characters were split historically. An Expansion character is one that has not been converted into Reign of the Warlock. A Reign of the Warlock character can play ROTW content (including the Warlock class and ROTW-era economy) with other ROTW characters.
Transfer / convert is one-way into ROTW. If you are still deciding whether to buy or play the DLC at all, start with Infernal Edition vs Reign of the Warlock — you need the ROTW product before a transfer is useful.
What transfers (and what does not)
When you convert a character from Expansion to Reign of the Warlock:
- Moves with the character: level, skills, quests, waypoints, mercenary, equipped gear, inventory, and the character’s personal stash.
- Does not move automatically: the Expansion shared stash. Blizzard’s Shared Stash PSA states clearly that when transferring a character, the shared stash does not transfer with the character.
That shared-stash rule is the #1 reason players panic after converting — the gear is not deleted; it is still on the Expansion shared stash. You need an Expansion character (even a fresh mule) to pull it out and ferry it across.
Source: Reign of the Warlock Shared Stash PSA.
Shared stash checklist before you convert
Do this for every character you plan to move — especially if you might convert all of them:
- Open the Expansion shared stash and decide what must live on ROTW (high runes, trade stock, build cores, charms).
- Move those items into the personal stash or inventory of the character you are about to transfer.
- Convert that character to Reign of the Warlock.
- On ROTW, unload inventory / personal stash into the ROTW shared stash.
- If you already converted everyone: create a new Expansion character, use it to access the old shared stash, load items onto that mule, then transfer the mule (or ferry via inventory) — Blizzard’s PSA covers this recovery path.
Repeat until the Expansion shared stash only holds items you are willing to leave behind after November 16.
Pre-deadline checklist (before November 16, 2026)
- List Expansion characters you still care about — mains, mules, and any offline-to-online edge cases you rely on.
- Confirm you own Reign of the Warlock / Infernal Edition on that Battle.net account and platform.
- Run the shared-stash ferry above before mass-converting.
- Convert every Expansion character you want on ROTW before the cutoff. After November 16, that path closes for existing Expansion characters.
- Leave on Expansion only what you intend to keep playing there — friends who stayed, classic economy, or characters you accept as Expansion-only forever.
This page is not about copying LoD single-player .d2s files into D2R offline folders. Those “import old save” guides answer a different query. Here the intent is Expansion → Reign of the Warlock character conversion and the November 16 online deadline.
After you transfer
ROTW characters play with other ROTW characters. Once your mains are across, pick a build path: Warlock builds if you are picking up the new class, or Warlock leveling if you start fresh instead of converting. Stash discipline still matters on ladder resets — see what happens to items at ladder reset so Withdraw Only tabs do not catch you twice.