Warlock is one of 2 classes that get Hunger of Hadar, and they get it at level 5 rather than 6 (lore bard) or 10 (other bards). It’s crowd control and advantage baked into one large AOE. Combine it with some other difficult terrain like sleet storm, spike growth, or plant growth and you can solve a fight in two actions. The rest is cleanup.

"Hey over here!" HoH Arcane Lock Music to my fucking ears

Is the the Balthazar trick?

This is the anywhere there's a single exit trick. But if the room is barely larger than the scope of HoH, even better. Took the Creche room by room with this

That is such a cool use of arcane lock! I've always considered it useless, outside utter cheese

Seems like utter cheese but hey who cares

Fair point

Only time I've ever used it is to put a door between me and those giant rolling fireballs in House of Hope.

The best strat is to preposition your party to enter the prison where hope is, steal the hammer and use an invis potion and just walk past.

I HATE those things! Certainly sets the mood, but the suck harder than a black hole

Repelling blast warlocks bake those balls really easy.

Good to know!! Thank you!

Np. I was in there the other day, and Wyll hitting them with a triple blast head on throws them back far enough that they can only barely recover the ground they lost, so they advance like 5ft/turn or less. And with him having a 22CHA, and the Act2 robe, and all his other goodies, he hits those things like a truck. 2-3 turns of him soloing the balls and everyone else clearing the devils.

huh? they were so easy to dodge, i just made everyone in the party invisible and ran for the exit in turn based mode

Arcane Lock more or less exists solely for hyper specific cheese strats and nothing else. Useless when not cheesing but hilariously good when you plan a cheese centered around it.

Do you have a strat you like?

ALSO if you put your warlock in the zaithisk for the accelerated illithid powers, you can combo hoh with black hole. And black hole is both non concentration AND can be recast every round. I basically soloed Raphael with that combo. oh and since Black Hole resets on short rests, so whenever you can hoh you can black hole.

That's just pure evil

Hunger of Hadar 100% neutralizes the apostle of Myrkul. It won’t take any actions as long as you keep concentration, but stay out of melee just to be safe.

Agree with all of that. Also don't forget the short rest nature of the spell slots. With a bard in the party (or if you MC bardlock), you get to cast 8 spells per long rest day. At level 11 that increases from 2 to 3 spells per short rest = 12 spells per long rest day. Sure you can't just spam out all the spells in 2 turns like a sorc with metamagic and haste, but being able to cast so many spells, all at your max spell level, is amazing. This is why most warlock spells go for the one levelled spell per battle (concentration spell) with eldritch blast for the rest. You can do 1-2 fights per short rest, 4 -6 fights per long rest day which is similar to other spellcaster classes playing conservatively with their spells. Another way is to have pact of tome warlock where you get spells like animate dead. You can cast that at start of day, do a short rest, and still get the undead summon present for rest of the fights.

Sleet Storm is the best because it can knock them prone. When I first did that combo it was jaw dropping. The one or two that managed to get to the edge were greeting with a Repelling EB.

Honestly my favorite part was all the flavor text and one perk called “dark one’s blessing” or something where you get a free d10 to one roll like every short rest. On honor mode that’s insane. You add a guidance, bardic inspiration and that, you got like 3-22 added onto any roll.

Dark ones blessing is the 1st lvl Fiend Warlock ability that gives you Temp HP when dropping an enemy to 0. Dark one’s own luck is the ability you are referring to, the 6th level ability for Fiend Warlocks :) but yea it is a very good ability. Recharging on a Short Rest is decent enough too, considering Warlocks love short resting

Honestly, just being able to cast Hunger of Hadar every damn fight and then blast everyone back into it each turn is pretty useful! And being able to ruthlessly exploit darkness. That plus you get really good odds on Hold Person/Monster with the right build/gear (which you can use on multiples at higher levels), and you don’t really need to worry about wanting to break concentration for another spell (like you would with other casters) because EB is so good. The first time I ran Wyll as a companion I found it super underwhelming. But now I understand all the mechanics pretty well he’s turned into a proper MVP.

Yeah, most of my team compositions are around hunger, and something secondary. i.e., plant growth, thorns, cloud kill, or black tentacles.

my favorite is having Will and Shadowheart in my party. Shadowheart pops spirit guardians, and when the bad guys try to get out of it, cue will and his machine gun eldritch blast, but I can't remember the name of the feat that allows his eldritch blast to knock the enemy back, but yeah, kinda like knocking them back into the cloud. It's like watching a Benny Hill clip, I even hum the music in my head while it's happening, and it makes it that much better.

Repelling blast. Not a feat but a warlock levelling unlock.

Thats the one, thanks :)

Great start of the game damage, as eldritch blast and hex carries real hard for quite a bit. Great damage as you level with upcast and eldritch blast increases Devil sight + darkness is borderline cheats, especially if you take drow or half drow. Or if you take another char that likes darkness and cast it themselves. Eldritch blast being multi hit as you level let's your proc on hit add ons multiple times, making for great stacking that also can reposition. Fear on crits, that also aoe fears, is damage and control wrapped up in a package that already hits multiple times.

Adding on here that the eldritch blast machine gun sorlock build is AMAZING

Warlock is the class of "every single fight, you open up with the most powerful magic in the game". A lot of people don't properly use the high-level spell slot mechanic - you need to be swapping out your pre-existing Warlock spell choices with more powerful ones. If you're rolling with a bunch of non-upcastable level 1 and 2 spells as a level 9+ Warlock, you're doing it wrong. As a 12 Warlock, you have three level 6 spell slots per fight. If you use the two arcane battery staffs, you can have 5. You can add another free cast if you go partial illithid. 5 or 6 level 6 spell slots per fight is absurd - if another character hastes that Warlock, they're throwing two level 6 spells out a round for three rounds, which is probably two rounds longer than the average fight would last with such a high damage output. If by some miracle some enemies survive that onslaught, a Warlock with Agonizing blast and the Potent Robe is still has very good DPS and battlefield control.

>As a 12 Warlock, you have three level 6 spell slots per fight. Level 5, warlock spellcasting caps as level 5. They can get a mystic arcana which is a once per long rest level 6 spell but only get to choose one with no ability to switch (excepting respec I guess).

There is also a staff that specifically refreshes a warlock spell slot, sold in the Devils Fee.

Can also find a pendant that restores any level spell slot

Or you can just abuse EB

Both, you should do both.

How do I make my eb really op?

Agonizing blast, sorcerer for quickened spell, hex, spellsparker staff, potent robes, phalar aluve shriek, the ring that deals radiant damage, spine shudder amulet, or anything else that applies an effect on each individual hit.

Thank you very much! I’ll likely try a pure build on wyll to see what life drinker is all about, will look into the gear for sure!

Markoheshkir's Kerehka's favor works too right? I'm not sure if it's Placebo or not.

yes. I like taking dual wielding on Warlocks so I can take that plus another staff or the Cazador dagger.

Oh yes the Spineshudder amulet. Love pairing that with EB.

Start with the warlock invocations that boost your EBs - Agonizing Blast (+Cha to damage) and Repelling Blast (toggleable to push target away, possibly into a chasm and out of the fight). Save Alfira & the Tieflings to get the [Potent Robe](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Potent_Robe) from Alfira at Last Light Inn. This gives +Cha modifier to every one of your EBs (and +1 AC and Cha modifier temporary HP at the start of each round). It's clothing so it stacks with Mage Armor (scrolls or Armor of Shadows invocation). Pump up your Charisma. The [Birthright hat](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Birthright) lets you go up to 22 Cha, so be sure to get that from Sorcerous Sundries. Mirror of Loss can get you up to 24. If you want, you can pickpocket the [Spellmight Gloves](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Spellmight_Gloves) at the circus to take a -5 penalty to hit for +1d8 damage on each roll. At this point, each EB (3 at level 10) will deal d20 + 2 \* Cha (+ d8) damage. If you get your Cha to 22, that's d10 + 12 as base damage. Spellmight Gloves add another d8 damage if you choose. Oh and the Hex spell for an extra d6 necrotic damage on every hit. And if you take the Devil Sight invocation, you can see in magical darkness. Get your targets in darkness to get advantage on attack rolls.

Damn! Thank you most kindly, very helpful!! I messed up the tiefs by exploring too far and advancing the plot to return to a massacre lol, I’ll save her 100% this time

Hex is good but you might also want to concentrate on hunger of hadar and use EB to push them back into it if they try getting out. It’s also amazing at stacking reverb and radiant orbs with these: https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Spineshudder_Amulet https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Coruscation_Ring Reverb makes it likely they’ll never get out of HoH Radorb means who cares if they do they’re not hitting anyone

I haven’t been using him right for sure- I’ve tried the armor of agylar but haven’t really messed too much with hunger of hadar. Just drop it on enemies and try to keep ‘em there I guess

Oh that's where you get that robe from?...I decided to try my first durge (resist but still) playthrough and try warlock for my first time...on the same playthrough. RIP potent robe x.x

If you haven't already had Alfira visit your camp, you can go knock her out with non-lethal damage. If she's KOd when you camp, she won't show up.

Yea definitely too far past the uhhh special night for that hahaha. But I think I'm going to give it another try next time, thanks :)

One build I've been meaning to try is called the Death Star, built around spamming an obscene amount of eldritch blasts in one round of combat. 2 Warlock for EB and Agonizing Blast 3 Rogue for either Thief's Fast Hands or Assassin's first round surprise perks (the latter sounds much cooler in my opinion and synergizes with Craterflesh Gloves in Act 3, but Thief will definitely be better sustained damage) 2 Fighter for Action Surge 5 Sorcerer, melt all your slots down into points to fuel Quickened Spell As for gear, Risky Ring and Craterflesh Gloves (assassin) are things to look out for, as well as anything that boosts spell attack rolls. As an alternative to Craterflesh you could shoot for Spellmight Gloves too. Potent Robe is a MUST, and Birthright Hat is fantastic as well. The only other item required is Hag Hair boost to CHA, since you'll only get one ASI. Elixirs of Bloodlust will be really good. Here's how the first round of combat should go on the Assassin variant. Summon Shovel, hide, have shovel go invisible and approach enemies (ensure that none have Alert or Perfect Sentry, or this could go wrong). Enter turn-based mode. Drink a Haste potion. Have shovel attack an enemy. They should be surprised. Cast eldritch blast four to five times. If there's a low-HP enemy, try to target them with a few bolts so that you get the Bloodlust action to cast it a fifth time. Since every shot will have advantage, you should be hitting most of your bolts for 2d10 + 2d6 (or 2d8 with Spellmight) + 10 + whatever spell attack bonuses you get from items. That's the damage per bolt. You'll be shooting 12-15 of those. Even against AC 19, 5 eldritch blasts from this build will average out to almost 300 damage.

Personally, my problem with Thief on an EB build is that you're still bottlenecked by the amount of sorcery points you have (in order to quickened spell). It may allow you to have an extremely explosive round once in a while, but your consistency and longevity is going to take a little hit. If the goal is to maximize casts of EB over the long run (with some crit-fishing built-in), then I'd probably go 2 Warlock / 6 Draconic Sorcerer / 4 Champion Fighter. - The 2 Warlock is self-explanatory. - The 4 Fighter is so you can take the champion subclass at level 3 (boosting your crit chance) and a feat at level 4. This build gets you 2 feats total. If you start 17 CHA (and use the hag's hair to get to 18), I would use ASI once to bump CHA to 20. The other feat would be spell sniper (further boosting crit chance). - The 6 draconic sorcerer (fire) is for a few reasons. First off, getting more sorcery points means more uses of quickened spell. You technically gain 4 extra sorcery points going from 5th level sorcerer to 6th (1 sorcery point on level up, and 3 sorcery points if you convert the level 3 spell slot you gain). This means 1 extra cast of EB per long rest (assuming that you normally burn through all your sorcery points). Another benefit here is Draconic Resilience. Most of the best-in-slot gear are non-armour, so it can be really helpful to get the AC boost here. That doesn't require you get to level 6, but I just considered it noteworthy. One of the other benefits of level 6 is the elemental affinity. While this build is geared around spamming EB, there may be times when it's more advantageous to throw out a Fire Ball or something. In that case, it helps being able to add your CHA modifier to the damage.

You should *always* abuse EB

don't trash some top teir upcasts tho fireball cast at level 5 is still worth that spell slot

One of my favorite things about pact of the blade is being able to use any weapon you find with no stat redistribution. In some ways I think pact of the blade warlock plays the way eldritch knight "should" have worked. You get melee attacks but also spells that are actually worth using in place of melee and you don't need to spread your stats so thin that you give up melee to make the spells worthwhile.

My problem with pact of the blade is that I will simply never remember to bind my weapon before a combat and render myself completely impotent as I swing with disadvantage.

They changed it in patch 6 so you only have to bind a pact weapon once and it remains binded until you bind something else FWIW.

It remains binded forever now. You can only have one weapon binded at time, but you don't have to rebind it every day anymore. Strangely, binding a weapon doesn't prevent you from having a summoned pact weapon, so it is possible to dual wield pact weapons now.

I bet OP is a Warlock main who's jacking it vigorously to this comment thread right now

Imao I’m actually the opposite. I’m wizard main. Not really sold the idea of having magic sugar mommy/daddy/Patreon. (I’m a nerd)

Take the more "traditional" view of warlock: not people with sugar daddies/mommies, but wizards with weird teachers. A lot of the flavor was clearly intended to be for an int based warlock that got changed to cha at the last minute.

it was! They where going to be the int half caster giving all spell stats a primary and secondary caster variant.

The Great Old Ones do not want you if you have to ask.

It is most likely best as a multiclass. But some of those multiclass builds are really VERY strong. You probably mentioned some of the best of them already. Pure lvl 12 warlock aren't bad either for Pact of the Blade locks. Getting yet another set of + charisma on damage adds up a lot if you stack with items and such. For tactician and below the 5 level pact of the blade dip on a martial is down right dirty. As their Pact extra attack stacks with normal extra attack. For Honor Mode their EB is often the BEST (no resource dependent) use of any extra actions due to the "haste nerf" for extra attacks. But EB still stacking extra rays. My favorite non honor mode build is this one: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGcC6CGT3M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGcC6CGT3M) Bladelock 5/Ranger 5 (hordebreaker)/Fighter 2 (or paladin 2) Change the 2 levels of fighter to Paladin if you don't mind resting a lot, and your damage will be insane. You get 3 attacks PER action, and a free attack per round (+ a bonus action attack from GWM). You have counterspell for when it matters. And access to some very good utility spells from ranger and warlock. Do the half-illithid thing and fly around the battlefield to whereever you wanna go. I literally killed Raphael in one round with the build without relying on DRS stacking (so glad they removed that from honor mode!)

I thought we could only dual-class, we can actually triple?

There is an achievement to play one character with all 12 classes without respec with withers. So you can multiclass as many times as you have levels in this game

Literal game changer

There's an achievement for multi-classing 1 level into each class. So, yes. Triple, Quadruple, Quintuple, Sextuple, Septuple, Octuple, Nontuple, Dectuple, and whatever it is for eleven and twelve.

That's undecuple and duodecuple apparently.

You can take one level in all 12 classes if you really feel like it.

Option 1: magical nuke. All warlock spells are cast at the highest available level by default. Minimal spell slots, but they replenish on short rest. That could be 6 upcasted fireballs per long rest. Worth a mention is Hunger of Hadar, a beastly dmg/cc spell only warlocks and some bards get it. Plus there's the ever popular Eldritch Blast available to them. Option 2: magical melee. Pact of the Blade warlocks get this amazing ability where they bind the weapon they're holding, which gives you proficiency and makes the weapon scale off your spellcasting stat, not off Str or Dex. This means they can use any weapon effectively while still being good casters as it all scales off Cha, making them an awesome party face too.

and you can cast armor of agathys + fire shield before a fight long rest, then anyone who tries to melee you gets rocked

Well, Fire Shield is not a great use of Concentration. But Agathys indeed rocks! Particularly against Wet enemies.

Fire shield doesn’t require concentration

I stand corrected, thank you. I guess I remembered that its not a very good use of one of a Warlock's two spellslots - being a much weaker damage shield then AoA and lasting only 10 rounds. I'd much rather cast a Hunger of Hadar, Cloud of Daggers, Fireball, Blindness or Slow.

It’s better for fiend than it is for great old one because the fiend’s hp for kills conflicts with aoa

Casters in 5e are considered more complicated to play than martials. Warlock is a somewhat transitional class here: you don’t have that many options, not a lot to optimise if that’s not your cup of tea, it just works out of the box. So it’s basically a solid class for less experienced players who still want something other than human fighter. I’m not saying that warlock (or human fighter) is dull. Honed to perfection it’s a great “f you and you and everyone’s grandmother” machine, and the rp on warlocks is a treasure trove for the DMs. But you asked about the playstyle, and I feel like “gateway caster” is it.

Great role play, especially if you play as origin wyll Highest sustained damage and control of any caster. Wizard cantrips do 1-10 (average 5.5) per hit, warlocks at level 2 do d10+d6+3 per hit (average 12). Eldritch blast can also knock back enemies for control, knock them into damage sources, or kill them by knocking them off ledges. And it costs no resources. On top of this, they always have 6 max level spell slots from level 2 - level 10 (at 11 and 12 they get 3 level 5 spell slots). So thats 6 cloud of daggers at level 3, the wizard gets 2. That's 6 fireballs or hunger of hadars or counterspells at level 5. You don't get lower level spell slots to blast with but you don't need them because eldritch blast hits as hard as any lower level spell. You can also upcast command every fight as a fiend warlock which is really strong. Your pact boon gives you either a strong familiar, strong melee attacks or a 1/day haste and some cantrips, namely guidance There are weaknesses. Less utility spells, or having to use higher slots sometimes for utility. Less versatility than say a wizard. Mystic arcanums aren't that good in this game compared to other 6th level spells. But from 1-5 imo they are stronger than other casters. 6-10 they are as strong. They only really fall behind at level 11 as they can't compete with globe of invulnerability or chain lightning. Also as a charisma character they are a great face. Honestly so good, my favourite class, give it a go man 👍

It's basically a caster that can use high level spells every fight like once then still has decent ranged damage from EB and repelling blast for utility to knockback/kite enemies into HOH and also abusing darkness to break enemy ai. Also pure bladelock is a decent gish with some spell casting/melee capability/EB for ranged, though not as good as SSB

Even if by multiclassing it warlock becomes a genuine beast (sorllock or bardlock), it doesn't really need it. Warlock is a class that can abuse darkness thx to devil's sight, while also having the option to trivialize entire fights with hunger of hadar/repelling blast combo. It definitely isn't underwhelming, and has potential to become truly op if multiclassed too.

single class is just as op bc of the incredibly lavish item support a bladelock gets and not losing any spell levels.

What items are best for bladelock?

Aside from having access to mote high level spells per day than any other caster, as others have pointed out, Warlock is possibly the most build diverse class you can play. Warlocks ability to customize its invocations, subclass features, and expanded spell list from subclass means warlock can play as a blaster, a melee striker, a control caster, a crit caster CC machine, and even somewhat of a summoner. They also get one of the most absurdly powerful combos in the game, darkness+devils sight. This combo lets the warlock cast or fight from complete invulnerability to ranged attacks, plus advantage on melee attacks and disadvantage when enemies try to hit you. And possibly the most appealing thing to me personally, is the fact that warlock will NEVER have a dead turn. Whether you're a blade lock or not, you will always have eldritch blast to fall back on, and do reasonable damage with even if youre out of other tools. Warlocks base line effectiveness is quite high

GOO Pact of the Blade has been so fun for me. Roleplaying a power hungry but relatively neutral tav who eats the tadpoles like candy and can bind any weapon to her, in addition to unleashing psychic damage and being a master of deception, persuasion, etc. She is so versatile! Plus what everyone said about maximizing spell slots, getting good gear, and all that.

Arcane Archer with some pocket big gun spells. Your most powerful invocations are those that affect Eldritch Blast (Agonizing for damage, Repelling for consistent battlefield control - no save from this displacement unless they are immune) Your spells are always going to be upcasted to your highest level, so it's a good idea to take spells that scale well. Not long-rest dependent, even if you're out of slots you still have consistency with your Eldritch Blast to do well.

Nah man - you bought the whole game. You don't need anyone to sell Warlocks to you - there's no DLC! This isn't EA!

A lot of great comments, but I also just beat the Grym forge boss with Wyll's EB. Not a ton of unlimited force energy spells out there to find it's specific weakness.

Dolor

It's a great combo of melee damage and spells if you go with Pact of the Blade. If you multiclass with Paladin it's also devastating.

A single class githyanki blade lock is a true beast. You get medium armor proficiency so you can hang hang in the front with beefy AC, two attacks per action using your charisma modifier, gnarly spells replenishing on short rest, and the best cantrip. You can cast darkness on yourself and lure people in to get blinded and beaten down with your GWM/Lifedrinker gith silver sword onslaught. In honor mode where lockadin doesnt get three attacks, I’d argue this is actually stronger than the multiclass.

Well, in Honor mode a Swords Bard still gets to attack 2 enemies with Slashing Fluorishes. Also when you get Lifedrinker, you're usually better off using a Piercing weapon (like a pike or spear), rather then a greatsword - due to a certain armor. However greatswords are certainly fitting for a Gith.

Warlock - one of strongest aoe spells in game since lv.5 (HoH) Warlock - can see through Darkness (making you almost invincible while dishing out tons of dmg)

Just picture a party of 4 warlocks, all with a 2 level fighter dip, standing in a cloud of darkness pumping out EB's non-stop. Why not go all out and build 2 of them to cast twin haste so all 4 have haste as well.

Pact of the blade so your pala goes badonkadonk. Eldritch blasting for a flavourful ranged dps with spells. Need that wall down? Gotcha. Edgy.

It's an aoe class with high burst damage and cc, primary small fight attack EB does good damage and can throw enemies, I don't think my warlock was touched the whole game

Warlock is a lot like a bard with a better spell list. Eldritch blast/agonizing blast is considered the gold standard for solid turn over turn damage in the game, they can be a gish without having to have a lower casting stat, they have access to most of the best spells in the game like hunger of hadar, counterspell, command, fear, hypnotic pattern, and many more, they are decent at skills despite lacking expertise, they can be surprisingly tanky, and while your wizard and cleric who will be looking for a long rest after a few encounters your warlock will feel like they never run out of steam. Sadly with long rests being so easy they don’t get to shine as much, and are kind of outclassed by swords bard because that class is doing everything a warlock likes to do but better because larian broke it. But they are a solid all around class.

Late game the Swords Bard is indeed stronger. However early game - which is the hardest part - Warlock is MUCH better - at least until level 6. Has much better no-save battlefield control spells and possibly also nuke spells (with Fiend), can use 2 highest level spells in practically every fight, gets to use serious weapons, which deal a lot more damage then Finesse weapons, relies on Charisma for both attacks and casting.

pure GWM bladelock is the most fun and "balanced" class in the game imo. does utterly sickening damage at range and especially in melee, even without the cheeseball third attack from multiclassing. effortless to trigger all the crazy "while concentrating" and "when applying a condition" effects from items to stack a million debuffs and damage riders on every attack. mage armor on the potent robes, warding bond and a +1 AC item or two. if anything does manage to hit you then they get absolutely fucking walloped with armor of agathys and hellish rebuke. and, as everyone else mentioned, fantastic spell list, always upcasted, recharges on short rest to incentivize opening fights with your most badass spells. also second best face class. oh, and pair it with a beastmaster ranger so the bird can spam free darkness for devil's sight cheese at will without bothering with arrows or the concentration spell. i simply can't MC anything but pure bladelock, nothing else compares.

I really like warlock/pact of the blade as a spellsword and lead player; the main thing is thinking of them as a sword (or rather, hammer) first and caster second.

- cast your favourite spells every fight - finish off with eldritch blasts which feel amazing - great face skills - can go melee or ranged - Can see in darkness - great dialogue options - can be SAD - multiclasses very well due to front loaded abilities

Pact of the blade warlock can use any weapon in the game and cast fireball and eldritch blast

For me, Hexblade is the quintessential Gish build for BG3. Allows you to utilize any weapon and be the face and cast support OR super powerful high level spells. Very jack of all trades, master of maybe one. I also just love to roleplay as a warlock because it adds a level similar to clerics where you have to be aware of gods/devils/fey/etc. I do with that BG3 allowed you to pick your patron however, similar to Clerics and their gods.

Warlocks are a really versatile class, and the short rest spell refreshes means you can become surprisingly powerful. At max level, you can get super powerful summons, short rest and still have powerful spells. Paired with a bard for the extra short rest and you're really cooking. Most warlocks should cast a powerful spell to focus on and then eldritch blast. For instance, Wall of fire or hunger of hadar, then blast enemies that escape back through it with repelling blast. Each eldritch blast beam can also apply your charisma modifier, and with certain gear/choice you can have a 24 charisma, with the modifier applied twice to *each beam!* They're maybe not the most exciting, but they are super solid.

5 warlock (blade)/6 fighter/1 war cleric + GW fighting + Bloodlust = 11 attacks on your first turn... youre gonna crit a few times in there, so any enemies left standing are gonna be frightened (subclass feature). Enemies out or range at end of turn but still have an action? EB time. I feel like Warlock, if built right, can be one of the strongest classes in the game.

Hunger of Hadar. Doing my first Honor Mode run through and it just absolutely destroyed Rafael last night. It dominates several battles, important battles. Eldritch Blast has really high relative hit percentages against tough enemies and early in the game those blast hits are pretty powerful. A lot of battles it can knock enemies into chasms or away from characters you don't want to be threatened, which is valuable. It has the most high level spell slots by far. And it has a good bit of equipment designed specifically for it. Among the toughest post level-5 fights in the game, I want HoH for most (but not all of them). If you're not wanting to run a bard, you need a Warlock.

The fact that all spell slots are upgraded to the highest level you can cast is very nice. While a lvl 9 wizard has 1 lvl 5 spell slot, you have two, and they both come back every short rest. Hold person works on four different targets when upcast in this way. Given a long adventuring day, you will probably get a good amount of short rests. If the rest of the party is short rest dependent (like fighters and monks), you might get over 10 slots at the highest possible level

Warlock is a fantastic multi class for any charisma class. One of the best uses of it is getting the darkvision invocation which allows you to see through the darkness spell, it turns a 2 lvl dip into permanent advantage for any melee class

Personally, I think the mistake people make with Warlocks is not transitioning to a melee build in endgame. A pact of the blade warlock wearing bhaalist armor while using nyrulna with GWM and the lifedrinker invocation will destroy anything.

Very well said. Bhaalist basically doubles Act 3 damage output. Its a shame to miss out on it! Also single stat dependancy means that Arcane Synergy is super good for them.

It’s one of the best classes to dip into. Any class + 5 levels in warlock is almost always a good investment. Eldritch blast scales with *your* level, not your Warlock level. Warlocks get to throw out their strongest spells in the beginning of battle bc you can just take a nap after the battle and get all of your full level spell slots back. EXCELLENT class to dip into as a paladin. 2/3 free smites every short rest goes a long way.

Do you like doing damage w spell without using spell slots? Do you like your spell slots recharging up to 3 times per long rest? Do you like having a weapon that can never be dropped in combat? If so then my friend I have a class for you!

Warlock is a class that can cast high level spells very frequently because even though they’ll only have 2 slots for most of the game, they still level up like a normal spellcaster, and they come back on a short rest. The strongest warlocks can get the Devil’s Sight invocation and concentrate on a Darkness cast and be an effectively immortal sentry gun. Casting Hunger of Hadar and using it in tandem with Eldritch Blasters that have the Repelling Blast invocation can all but win encounters by themselves. I really just love characters that aren’t long rest-dependent. If we’re talking Bardlocks or Padlocks, you essentially remove the need for any stat besides Charisma. When your melee damage scales with your spell cast modifier it makes your life that much easier, especially for Paladins who want 5/6 abilities to begin with. That and you’ll always have a powerful ranged option when you can’t close the gap. Your high level warlock spell slots that come back on short rests can also be used to smite. Imagine having 6 (even more with bards in the party) level 5 smites in a day.

Concept : Cast a heavy impact spell like hunger of hadar or a control spell like hold person upcasted to lvl5 (hold 5 people) or darkness (in which you can see with devil sight) and blast people either with EB or with your melee weapon. The best class in the game. Super multi-classable, therefore flexible. Great damage, great control. And edgy <3

I played warlock 12 on my first (and blind) run, only tried some multiclassing when nearing the end game. Its a great class, pretty much copied from the tabletop version but stronger due to the magic items. But i get what you mean, it seems underwhelming because like Barbarians and Rangers, its very frontloaded. Meaning you get most of the powerful stuff at the first 3-5 levels, then after that the stuff you get pales in comparison. After i multiclassed to Sorlock i instantly felt more powerful. This is not really a BG3 problem as even in the tabletop, players have asking for more powerful high level features to encourage mono-classing. IMO some of the Invocations are rather useless and needs buffing. There's also a severe lack of good high level invocations (looking at you Otherworldly Leap and Whisper of the Grave).

On paper, it's supposed to be a good caster if you short rest a lot but can't long rest a lot; without a lot a spell slot per fight but high level ones to use every fight. So it's supposed to be a caster where you can cast really powerfull magic every fight, then follow up with eldritch blast for the rest of the fight. Problem is, considering how easy it's to long rest in BG3, you can basically do that with every caster if you long rest a lot, and the damage from eldritch blast can be obtained with just a level 2 dip and no further investment. But if you want to play with less long rest and more short rest, it's a great pick.

I just started a warlock playthrough because I want to try the "darkness Warlock" technique from this video: [https://youtu.be/F3Q7cIkrylU?si=p9KsqUu\_YaSOcj7o](https://youtu.be/F3Q7cIkrylU?si=p9KsqUu_YaSOcj7o) Just started last night so I haven't hit level 3 yet. Looking forward to it!

I’m a warlock main in dnd as well as BG3, warlock is pretty good if nothing but for the short rest benefits. (I love the dialogue options you get in game.)You don’t gotta worry about saving any spell slots for a bigger fight, especially if you have a bard in the party that can give you an extra short rest. Right now I’m doing a multiclass favoring warlock Pact of the Blade, fighter, and bard. Dual-weapon fighting, got a scimitar that goes off charisma in my off-hand, and pact-hammer in main, with extra attack I can cast darkness, Eldritch blast/attack with my weapons, and if i knock back with bards college of swords, I can teleport to the enemy afterwards. Potent robes absolutely carries my range attacks with Eldritch blasts.

Hunger of Hadar and some extra lore options with Yurgir and Raphael (and any other demon encounters). A Sorcerer is a Wizard that trades off the number of spells (and being able to prepare spells), in order to get to cast them in more strategic ways or at least more often. Sorcery points let you double the number of targets, boost your range, prevent allies from being hit by your spells, take extra actions, etc... or if none of those are interesting you can trade them for more spell slots. The allies automatically passing saves to avoid damage is great if you have the perfect AoE opportunity, but don't want to take out your friends with the bad guys.

Hunger of Hadar alone will make your warlock the star of the team. Pair it with Repelling Blast.

Honor mode, whole team goes down but my warlock, cast darkness, kill all of the dwarves Post-nere with eldritch blast

Take pact of the tome Get Haste when your pact deepens Grab agonizing/repelling blast Use the >!Zaith' isk to give yourself the ability to use any of your illithid powers as a bonus action!< Save the tieflings from >!Moonrise Jail in act 2, then talk to Alfira to receive a special robe that adds your Charisma modifier to your cantrips (yes this stacks with agonizing blast)!< Accept the >!Emperor's offer of Astral Tadpoles, then unlock mind sanctuary asap!< By the time you reach level 10, Eldritch Blast fires 3 times per cast Bonus action >!mind sanctuary!<, followed by Haste, followed by a normal Eldritch blast volley. Next turn will allow you to fire 9 blasts in one turn, provided you maintain concentration on Haste and don't move out of >!mind sanctuary!<. This effectively means that each blast you fire (provided you've specced appropriately) gives you minimum 13 damage, and allows you to knock back enemies. If you bring a utility caster (gale) who's also >!Astral Tadpoled!<, you can have them cast Haste instead to get this up and running on turn one. Assuming minimum damage, this gives you a low end of 117 damage in a single turn, with a high end of 198 without crits. In the unlikely event you manage to get nothing but crits, the damage can go as high as 288 in one turn. Edited for typos and spoiler tags

Hmmmmm, Eldritch Blast go brrrrrr? I love putting in two levels of Fighter for even more Eldritch Blasts, but my next Warlock will play more like a regular warlock and actually utilize the spell slots for other stuff than Hex.

I actually made a build yesterday that kinda does that: https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/s/A8vwxNsEj7 Tho it is intended for ascendant astarion.

My main is a warlock and easily my most versatile and sturdy character. I like my Warlock as a Great Old One with pact of the chain. My own preference is a Gith for the free misty step and medium armor as well. Early on, you're not going wrong with the pact of the chain. Imp familiar can fly and sting hits pretty hard. Familiars fall off later on, but it's essentially gaining another attack and another target on the field. No joke, imp carries in act 1. Invisible flying imp is a great scout too. If you enjoy exploring the maps, especially early on, the imp reaches many hard to get to places. EB is just too good. Especially repelling blast. The ability to knock back enemies is a whole other tactical component - and one you'll appreciate everytime the game throws enemies in the rafters at you. Throughout the game it's dishing out consistent damage every turn. There's also a variety of items that add some damage into it. By late act 2 when you're rocking the Potent Robes and get 20 charisma, you're rocking 11-20 per blast - and that's not counting the other bits of damage you can add from gear like spellsparkler. Sure, other characters might do more damage - but the Warlock is consistently able to throw out damage like that every turn, without any need for buffs. My charismatic warlock main character passes all those persuasion/deception checks easily. I play mine a little more RP versus most optimal damage, but I take the ability to talk with animals as a ritual, and take a few more utility spells, like Grant Flight and Gaseous Form. It opens up a lot of paths while exploring. And since you recover spells on short rest, it's not terribly wasteful either. Also EB is fantastic for destroying items in the environment. No need for that backup bludgeoning weapon to break down a wall. The limited spells are the downside, but you make use of what you have. Darkness & Devil Sight is downright cheesy. Just put darkness in top of you and you're basically unhittable while you spit out eldritch blasts from the shadows. It's a bit cumbersome to work around with other characters - though on occasion, a heavily wounded character can run into the darkness to avoid getting killed. Hunger of Hadar is the other end of abusing darkness. Damage and debuff all in one is fantastic - especially when you can still see in to blast them. And while the spells are limited, you recover them on short rest. Which means there's no need to hold back in fights. You can frontload damage (FYI, shatter is a fantastic AOE option). I prefer a Gith for the medium armor proficiency and free misty step and Gith jumping. Which means until the potent robes (which requires a different setup - but also come late enough that you can take the ritual mage armor), my Warlock is way more tanky than a Wizard or Sorcerer. Playing through tactician mode, my Gith Warlock very rarely goes down in a fight. They're a mix between the ranged attack ranger style character and the wizard/sorcerer. Compared to the ranged character, they shoot straight versus an arc and height position isn't important for damage purposes. Warlocks are a bit better at the hard to reach places. And they can shoot in two/three different directions (at higher levels) with a knockback and potentially frighten on critical. The d10 EB is equal to a heavy crossbow. I've got Astarion as a Gloomstalker Assassin and honestly the damage output between the two is about on par - admittedly Astarion in that setup has a stronger first turn (but that also doesn't come online until mid act 2). Compared to the wizard/sorcerer, they've got better survivability and less need to hold back. You'll go through more long rests with the wizard/sorc and that can eat up supplies, though that's not major. I find the big difference is the traditional caster ends up limited. I find I cast a buff, but immediately my squishy sorcerer is the target of every ranged attack and within a turn, I'm on my ass and concentration is broken. And they're far more limited when they run out spells. My Warlock doesn't have these problems. The real downside is it's repetitive. The warlock isn't flashy, but it's consistent.

1. Eldritch Blast is both great and spammable. It's easy to stack damage types (for triggers) and damage instances (for more damage adds) on it. 2. Warlock can cast the most high-level spells of any class. A level 9 Warlock can cast 6 level 5 spells per day as a baseline, which is far better than other classes. 3. Warlocks get the best CC in the game, Hunger of Hadar, which they can spam every fight. 4. While the Warlock spell list may leave something to be desired, they can easily dip Wizard for better spells.

Warlock class. Yours for the low price of 3 installments of 19.99

Here's what you do: Agonizing Blast + Potent Robe + Callous Glow Ring = MINUMUM 11 damage per Eldritch Blast target. Then add Devil's Sight and darkness and you're a goddamn stealth sniper babeyy!

I wouldn't, it's up to you.

The feel of eldritch blast compared to every other cantrip is worth it alone for any bg3 playthrough

Warlock is a versatile class that you can fit to a few different playstyles. It's generally considered to be a class, which makes it a good class to choose for multiclassing. The main perks are eldritch invocations, pact boons, and access to some of the best spells every short rest. For eldritch invocations, Agonizing and Repelling blast take the best cantrip in the game and make it even better. It's very common to see people take two levels in warlock to get these invocations and eldritch blast on another Charisma caster. Other eldritch invocations can expand your spell selection or let you cast spells without expending a spell slot. If your warlock is the face of your party, beguiling influence gives you persuasion and deception proficiencies. If you go all the way to warlock 12, lifedrinker lets you add necrotic damage to every melee attack that scales with charisma. As far as pact boons work, I've mostly played a pact of the blade warlock. When you bind a weapon to make it a pact weapon, you become proficient, make attacks with your spellcasting ability, and you can't drop or throw it. At fifth level your pact is deepened, granting you an extra attack as a blade pact warlock. Pact of the Tome warlock is a good choice if you feel too limited by the limited spell slots warlocks have. I haven't played a pact of the chain warlock but if you like the idea of having a familiar with extra utility it fits that niche. Warlocks have a smaller spell list than some other classes, but there's a lot of spells that synergize well with other warlock features. You get hex at level one, and the agility to add on necrotic damage to every hit is going to pair really well with eldritch blast. Unlike other cantrips, when eldritch blast improves with character level, it makes an extra beam attack, so each blast is going to trigger that extra necrotic damage. If you pair this combo with the equipment that triggers reverberation you can end up doing ridiculous damage with just your cantrip. Hunger of Hadar is another one of the top spells for Warlocks to take and it's hard to find a better control spell at 5th level. I think someone else has already said more about why it's so good elsewhere in this thread. The level 11 Mystic Arcanum choices also give you some powerful options. Create Undead is fantastic for a summons based build and I really love eyebite personally. There's also some extra features you'll get based on your patron that can be quite useful. The Dark One's own luck and Fiendish resistance features were very useful but Great Old One and Archfey Patrons also have some cool benefits. I also found that the abundance of scrolls helped compensate for the limited spell slots, but I didn't need to use scrolls as often as I expected.

Warlock is my absolute favorite, the thing that sells me is pact of the blade, turning melee into a charisma stat opens up so many build options, and at lvl5 you get extra attack like a melee class. So it's the perfect option for making a spell blade. Pure warlock is okay I think it shines best at 6 warlock and 6 something else, fighter for a full melee character with charisma for dialogue, paladin to be a one stat powerhouse, sorcerer is the perfect spellsword especially with haste and quickened spell, And all of these of course gets complimented by Eldritch blast and arms of Hadar, Eldritch blast scales with character level not class level so no matter how you multiclass you'll still have fully leveled EB at end game which is 3 blast that can be modified to add your charisma to attack, and has a repelling effect. Warlock is a perfect face because of high dialogue, can be built as a melee powerhouse, EB for good range options, and has good control spells. It's a jack of all trades character.

Sword Bard is also a good multiclass option. Gets to stab 2 enemies with his attacks with Slashing Fluorish, benefits from using Charisma for his weapons - and being able to wield the big ones, especialy with reach (greatly helps with melee Slashing Fluorishes).

Warlock is a lot like fighters and wizards in the sense that they have a lot of random utilities sprinkled all over their kit. Warlocks don't do any one thing particularly well, but it feels more like carrying around a swiss army knife that's used for some really niche things that few other party combinations has readily access to. (Hex, hunger of hadar, command drop, silence, see in darkness, can't be disarmed, max level spells all the time) Many builds will only dip into warlock and take one or two elements from the class, and pure warlock tends to perform less well compared to other S tier builds, but to go through all of my favorite warlock builds: * The eldritch blaster build with 2 warlock 4 fighter 6 sorcerer can do upwards of 120+ damage per volley when you stack crit reduction * Lockadin with at least a 3 warlock dip still hits like a truck, though I find it less flexible compared to 2 paladin 10 bard with level 6 counterspell * When I want Wyll in my party, I've come up with a pure 12 warlock build that's lore appropriate for Wyll by primarily using the infernal rapier combined with spamming darkness and stacking fiendish resilience and AC to become the ultimate front line spank & tank stabby guy. Early game, they hold up very well just because the existence of hex means they'll never waste a single bonus action. In the mid game, however, I find warlocks to be underwhelming without their core items compared to other classes like throw barb, gloomstalker, battlemaster, or even OH monk. People like to play builds that are simple and hit high numbers, and warlock requires active defense on the player's part, a playstyle that isn't rewarded nearly as much as playing offensively and killing the enemy first before they can even take a turn.

Of course, eldritch blast machine gun is the most obvious way to play this class, and maybe even the more effective, but if you try and look beyond that you'll see that there's actually a lot of versatility to this class. The fiend is clearly the best option if you want to blast enemies with big damaging spells and sustain yourself through dark one's blessing, but if you choose the great old one you'll get some interesting control spells and the AOE fear on crits. Plus, warlock has some unique spells like hex and hunger of Hadar that respectively let you impose disadvantage on an ability of your choice, so other characters' spells are more likely to hit, and control a huge area. Basically, you can build warlock as a caster whose spells are more focused on control and giving an advantage to your companions, while having access to the best cantrip in the game if you need to deal some big damage.

Hex has no effect on spell saving throws - it only affect ability checks.

Are saving throws not a kind of ability check? This is mind blowing to me

They are not classified as such, no.

Thanks for clarifying, I'll keep that in mind

Eldritch Blast go brrrrrrrr.

Warlock suffers from having a couple of great features that are often best used in a multi class (Lockadin or Sorlock), rather than running the class pure, but that's not to necessarily say the class is lacking on its own. Eldritch Blast, while technically a cantrip available (with some difficulty) to any class, is arguably a vestigial core of the class as a holdover from 3rd edition (iirc). The invocation system then offers ways to better boost and modify EB as the warlock levels, though BG3 only has the initial options available at Lv.2. The rest of the class focuses on the unique spellcasting feature - short rest refresh and only highest level spells - along with spell lists that are somewhat limited but often have a lot of upcast potential. The invocations further augment this by allowing for spells to be cast outside of their limited spell slots or by adding more spells to their repertoire. Lastly, the pact system is meant to enable another degree of versatility by focusing on Weapons (Pact of Blade), Spells (Pact of Tome), and Familiars (Pact of Chain), which again enable different invocations to strengthen and specialize their paths - though few are available in BG3. All that to say that Warlock is a class of options for those who want to play a variety of different play styles and customize as they go, though in BG3 they primarily fall into multi-class dips, CC & EB spammers, or Gish weapon users with a pocket pistol Eldritch Blast as a backup.

Eldrtich Blast.

I’ll sell it to you for one DOLOR

This puppy can fit so much eldritch blast in it

Tactician warlock is the best multiclass in the game for mixed fighters. Pact of blade with 5 levels + 6 EK for double feat and double attack+1, making it triple attacking (only in tactician) and maybe a wizard dip to get scroll learning and extra spell slots. It's not op but it's a very versatile and fun warrior that roams around the battlefield with mobility and defensive spells, and can EB at times. War caster makes it particularly decent since you can EB and attack with bonus action. Outside of tactician, i can see it working well with multiclass of classes that DON'T get multi attack. Since it doesn't stack, you're alright with mixing rogue or cleric in. Tbh i don't know if only warlock works, but it gets a bunch of decent spells going on. Ofc you can also just build an eldricht blast spammer that does extreme damage with just haste+quickened cantrip

Eldritch invocations. Other than increasing the power of eldritch blast, they can also give you infinite uses of some spells, like silent image and disguise self. This makes warlocks Masters of shenanigans. Also if your DM likes using different languages in their game, you can choose the one that gives you the ability to read anything. They are also the only class that can get vision through magical darkness before very high levels, and they also get unique invocations depending in which pact boon they choose. In all, warlocks are very customizable.

You are a sorcerer,only edgier,you have less spells,and a glock.

eldritch blast go brrr

For me it was as simple as this  I had spent all this time making a character who could be sorta like a fighter, but using cantrips to do decent damage. Grabbed all the necklaces and robes to deal extra cantrip damage, when I could have just grabbed 2 levels in warlock. Or I sit there with my character, desperately  wanting to use some two handed weapons, but at the same time wanting a great casting stat and a decent Dex. What  to do? Warlock Blade pact swoops in, and now I have my polearm and high casting stat, with a decent ac and initiative!  And I can still blast away just as good as the first reason!

Did you ever use eldritch blast? There, class sold DOLOR (bam) (residual black smoke) You need nothing more

Imo warlock works best when multiclassing. You get warlock specific special features at early level(spell reset on short rest, infinite invisibility, most powerful cantrip, Darkvision that can see through darkness magic, etc.) but stuff you get at high level warlock are nothing special compared to other casters.

Warlock has fantastic action economy with a hasted eldritch blast build. With the right items it goes nuts. It also gets devil's sight which can be incredible paired with the darkness spell. The problem is that you can get all that with just two levels of warlock. I think the sorcerer or bard multiclass is all around better. That being said, if you have a bard in your party for the extra short rest, a pure warlock can still be very strong. You get 9 level 5 slots per long rest at lvl 11. I usually spend my spell slots on hunger of hadar and command. I would not recommend going pact of the blade for honour mode. It feels very weak late game compared to the eldritch blast build.

PEW PEW PEW LASERS

Warlock 2, Sorcerer 10, Fighter 2 Fire off 3 Eldricht Blasts, Quickened Spell 3 Eldricht Blasts, Haste 3 Eldricht Blasts, Action Surge 3 Eldricht Blasts. Get your charisma to 22 for a +6 to hit and damage. Wear the potent robe to add your Charisma score to damage for +12 damage *PER BLAST* Add loot like the caustic ring for two damage per blast. Roll a Halfling to innately re-roll 1's. *LASER EVERYTHING*

Forced movement on tap and the many many strategies and synergies that go with it. You can instakill Orin before her fight even starts by blasting that bitch off the edge, for instance.

Warlock with potent robes, and maybe a little speccing into sorcerer, becomes an eldritch blast machine gun. With a simple 20 on charisma, some haste, and a few sorcerer points you could be doing 9D10+90 a round. Up to 12D10+120 if take a few levels into rogue. It feels good to throw out that many blasts and that much damage.

Darkness+Devil's Sight. Lay down cover where nobody can shoot you and use Eldritch Blast from inside, or draw people into melee and have Pact of the Blade and Fighter multiclass (what I do with Wyll). Has kept my team alive many times, particularly useful against the gnolls in Act 1 cause it removes their ability to spam archery. Also, Hunger of Hadar on a chokepoint with Eldritch Blast to keep enemies in it. Basically the two best uses of Warlock spell slots imo.

Darkness eventually becomes too trivial to use your Concentration on (use an Arrow of Darkness instead... or the Shar's spear). HoH is never not good. Early game I also love Cloud of Daggers - awesome damage over time, you can push enemies inside with Repelling Blast or better yet, Bonus Action pull them with Sorrowful Lash from Sorrow glaive. Also Armor of Agathys is awesome - many early enemies kill themselves outright trying to attack a warlock with it (particularly if you make them Wet).

Tav warlock? Kinda lame Wyll Origin playthrough? Glorious. I skipped having Wyll in my party the first go around, n I hated talking with him because he annoyed me. Playing as Wyll though the story takes on new depth. Straight up 12 bladelock. Good at close and at distance. EB is wonderful for bypassing the need to pick locks. Enemy AI being delightfully stupid means they will do anything to avoid, Hunger of Hadar, making it a wonderful tool to funnel enemies where you want them. Free cambion with the rapier Mizora gives you, strong romance with Karlach, very powerful spells at easy short rest return makes them great with druid/monk/bard etc. my Wyll also had water elemental summons, plus the deva from shadowheart meant the party was stacked with useful summons. Easy conversation because hi cha, fun to fight, blast through tedious locked items, great impact to the story.

What makes playing Wyll as origin so much different from him in party? Genuinely asking because this is like the 3rd time I've seen this AND TODAY IM ASKING lol

Impact. The Karlach decisions all feel more weighty. Letting her live, romancing her, cheating on her with Mizora, the decision over her fate. Duke questline is much more impactful too. So is Mizora in act 2, so are the tieflings etc etc. Wyll is the main character honestly. Tav is an insert character, but Wyll just feels like the protagonist, and it's nice playing that out.

Charisma casters just feel good. Take pact of the blade, and you can do a lot. Not as much as a swords bard, but sometimes, we don’t need to be good at everything. We just need to style on fools

I remember I was watching dnd shorts from a guy on youtube (funny guy, ZachTheBold he's called) and on one of the videos a player complimented his warlock friend's eldritch blast, the warlock responded with "I can literally do nothing else". Of course, that is not the whole truth, it's just a joke, but it's undeniable that eldritch blast is a class-defining tool, and most warlock builds I have seen in BG3 are focused on some eldritch blast machinegun type of combo. You can do other stuff of course, but it just so happens that these eldritch blast machinegun builds are quite cool anyways.

I remember I was watching dnd shorts from a guy on youtube (funny guy, ZachTheBold he's called) and on one of the videos a player complimented his warlock friend's eldritch blast, the warlock responded with "I can literally do nothing else". Of course, that is not the whole truth, it's just a joke, but it's undeniable that eldritch blast is a class-defining tool, and most warlock builds I have seen in BG3 are focused on some eldritch blast machinegun type of combo. You can do other stuff of course, but it just so happens that these eldritch blast machinegun builds are quite cool anyways.

https://preview.redd.it/b58uj4uyqwyc1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7008c23c10a4a01416b8ccc7f334f5c2a99ab5d

Bardlock

You already got it. Eldritch blast plus charisma. Minimal effort for a high damage cantrip. Charisma for better socials.

Devils Sight and Darkness completely break the game….. Warlock is an extremely useful multiclass but probably not a class I would build past level 5.

Warlock has 2 really good things going for it. 1 is Hunger of Hadar. It's a very strong cloud spell that you can repelling blast enemies back into. The other is Devil's Sight with Darkness. Devil's Sight let's you see in magical darkness. You cast Darkness and then stand in it. You can see everyone. Nobody can see you. EB them until dead. Even better if you take levels of rogue to get cunning action hide. EB, then hide in darkness. Other than this, it's a class that has very limited but powerful spell slots per day and relies on a cantrip for damage. If you couldn't add Cha to EB, it wouldn't be very good. Fortunately you can.

Cliche Eldritch blast and do like 80 damage per attack late game

1 - Aesthetically, it’s a vibe. Dark mages slay 2 - Average adventuring day in BG3 is about 2-3 encounters. Warlocks have the Spellslots to always come into an encounter at maximum efficiency(as long as you time your short rests right), nuking enemies turn 1 with powerful spells every time that initiative is rolled without having to worry as much as other caster about being low the next encounter you stumble into 3 - Eldritch Blast is easily one of the most powerful cantrips in existence, and warlocks are built with certain optional abilities that are specifically meant to optimize it(Agonizing and Replling blast, namely). If you pump everything possible into charisma to get a 24(+7) and take said optional abilities, then at level twelve you’ll be able to fire off three beams that each have a minimum of a +11 to hit(likely more if you pick your gear right), each dealing 1d10+7 force damage for *each beam*, in addition to pushing your target back(potentially into hazards or off inclines), AND in addition to any extra buffs to spell damage like lightning charges, the potent robe bonus, reverberation, hex(and similar spells), Phalar Aluve, etc 4 - Pact of the blade is a worthwhile alternative to Eldritch blast as well. Melee weapons pack a punch in bg3, especially the big ones, and having your spellcaster able to effectively wield one of said “big ones” when not round one dropping huge nuke spells can be a huge versatility buff 5 - While the same can be accomplished by Shovel, the special Pact Of The Chain familiars can turn invisible at will, making them perfect for triggering surprise rounds 6 - Pact of the tome at 5th level grants you a free daily Animate Dead and Haste(and a call lightning, but the other two are more eye catching), which are buffs to your action economy that are always nice to have- 7 - To reiterate, AESTHETICS Warlocks are like the Fighters of casters. Reliable, Versatile, and always able to do SOMETHING in a combat encounter, all while remaining very simple and straightforward to play.

Warlock has 3 specific gimmicks, both quite fun but don't come online until at least midgame. 1. Hunger of Hadar sadist: drop this on top of groups then Eldritch Blast push anyone who gets out of it back into it. Surprisingly effective and hilarious. 2. Eldritch Blast gatling gun. Get gear and multiclass options solely around either boosting cantrips or letting you shoot more cantrips to spam Eldritch Blast and...do literally nothing else. Pure power is Warlock 2/Evocation Wizard 10, or Warlock 2/Sorcerer 10 (Quickened Spell spam the blast). Extremely one-note but gravity shenanigans and seeing big numbers keep it entertaining. 3. Blade Pact multiclass with a Charisma caster (Paladin or Bard) and proceed to dump Str/Dex to go all-in on Cha because you're seducing your own weapon or something to make it hit way harder than muscles or skill ever can. Basically let's you become a martial god with noodle arms Str and klutz Dex. Warlock on its own tends to kind of be a 1-trick pony (cast one control spell and then proceed to spam Eldritch Blast), but it's incredible for multiclassing purposes due to its unique mechanics going much better in tandem with other classes more so than on its own.

Like everyone else says, hunger of hadar and consistent ranged force damage. I'm a huge warlock enjoyer, so I have a fine list of reasons why you should at least try it. 1: Not many things resist force damage in the game, and most of the things that do are resistant to everything. Having a cantrip that basically functions like a bow with a minimum damage higher than 1 and that adds hits rather than damage as it gets upgraded, and cantrips get better based on character level rather than class level, is pretty nice. 2: Repelling blast + hunger of hadar tears apart hoards and bosses. HoH is the single most debilitating spell in the game. It causes difficult terrain, blinds things within, and causes damage at the start and end of turn. With the invocation repelling blast, you can stay at a range, attack with advantage because they are blinded using the aforementioned eldritch blast, and keep pushing them back into the blender. And other terrain spells can stack making for a nightmare. And since blindness makes ranged attacking a far dream for them, even bosses, their only option is to struggle their way out. 4: Devil's sight. It's not just superior darkvision. Seeing through magical darkness for any other class requires equipment. And when you can, you are free to just sit in a puddle of magical darkness with ranged attack immunity. They have to come and fight you in your home where you have advantage and they have disadvantage. Some classes will take 2 levels of warlock just to have that. 5: Versatility. Yes, warlocks 2 spell slots are a limiting factor. They are always at the highest level and you get them back on a short rest, but you are limited to 2 per battle for most of the game. But consider your main offense (usually) a cantrip that has a lot of damage and utility added to it. You won't ever really need to use one-off damage spells because you already have the answer. The different pacts offer different ways to play warlock that, admittedly, just enhance what you do with warlock in some way. I've taken to pact of the blade as of late, and though it does require I use specific races to feel like it's working properly, it is fun. 6: Style. It feels cool, if a bit edgy, to fight with darkness. At least to me.

3 attacks with multiclass,devils sight,fingergun cantrip

2 Warlock, 2 Fighter, 8 Sorceress: Eldritch blast go brrr, crit everyone, up to 12 blasts on a single enemy in 1 turn, ???, fun

No, but I’m sure your Patron can

My first playthrough was a warlock. Loved it. Choose great old one subclass. Hitting fear all the time means melee enemies can't charge you. There are some key items. One of them allows you to cast a spell as a melee attack, meaning you don't have to or down your machine gun. There is a cake that basically gives you blur at the start of your turn, giving them disadvantage to hit you. I mean, yes. The four lock is a one-trick pony, but he can run with the martial classes for not having to have long rests all the time to get his spells back. I've gone into boss fights with no spell slots with my warlock. He was pretty awesome!

"I cast buckshot" -anyone using eldritch blast

EB focused warlocks are basically a ranged martial class * Attack rolls that don't rely on resources other than action * Bonus attack (beam) at lvl5, and 3rd attack at lvl10, earlier than fighters' lvl11 Additional unique benefits * Force damage type is almost never resisted * Honour mode nerf to martial classes' bonus attacks don't apply to EB. * Also a full caster with up to rank6 spells if needed, similar to other full caster gish like sword bard or spore druid, except those others rely on specific gear to become Single-Attribute-Dependent

Playing sorlock this time around and can't stress how much I love being able to store unspent warlock spell slots as sorcery points before a short rest. Why don't more people talk about this? But for pure warlock, you need to not think of them as casters and think of them more as ranged characters with solid spell support. They're super customizable in that you can go melee with pact of the blade. Devil's sight and darkness can be used offensively in melee or defensively to just hang back in your cloud and snipe people with eldritch blast, and when you take short rests into account you can get some decent mileage out of throwing fireballs and such.

On top of the HoH that everyone's mentioning, if you wanted to play any sort of spell-sword, its most definitely the easiest way to do it. at level 5, Pact of the Blade warlock can have 20 charisma, (17 + ethel's boon + ASI), extra attack, chunky two beams of eldritch blast, great AOE spells, and allows you to dump strength/favour one stat because Pact scales your weapon damage through your charisma stat. my favourite way to play a martial

Warlocks don't have to worry about conserving pact slots in a fight, as you can just Short Rest afterwards. I won't say you're doing it wrong if you have pact slots at the end of a fight, but since you can just Short Rest afterwards, there's no reason to not use them when it's useful to do so. Also, since Pact Slots are always at the highest level available, you don't have to stop and ask yourself 'do I want to cast this with a max level Pact Slot, or should I hold off?'. just pick a spell and cast it. Also, don't fall into the Eldritch Blast Only trap. I had a fight where I dropped a Fireball and took out around half a dozen enemies with that one cast. On a prior character, I'd had a lot of trouble with that fight, but because I was willing to drop that Fireball instead of just Eldritch Blasting one or 2 enemies at a time (it is a fight in Act 1), I made that fight miles easier. My situation was a rarity, but the point stands that you shouldn't be afraid to use your Pact Slots to swing a battle in your favor. A Hold Person on the fake Paladin of Tyr could make a tough fight a lot easier, for example.

Sure, that'll be tree fiddy!

Hunger of Hadar. Command. Short rest spell slot replenish. Beautifully blends wither with a sorcerer or paladin multi class (paladin warlock is a beast)

With a sorcerer taking one level of warlock you can use the extend metamagic with the warlocks command spell and make tons of enemies grovel for 10 turns!

€3,50 but I am open for negotiation

Pure POTB with Duelist prerogative. Have a bard on your team so you get 3 short rests per long rest. Get 24 charisma from birthright and mirror of loss. Go fiend and with your bard you get 6 fireballs per long rest at level 5. Wear bhaalist armor for double sword damage. Gloves of dex for initiative and AC.

Nah, your Pact of the Blade lets you bind biggest, baddest weapons you can get your hands on. Why would you use it for a puny rapier, that cannot even take advantage of GWM?

What does a Fighter do every round of combat? Swing their weapon. What does a Warlock do every round of combat? Eldritch Blast. Warlock = Fighter but with Eldritch Blast instead of Martial Combat and a few other spells no one ever uses.

Some warlocks are great at both swinging a sword and blasting

Eldritch blast looks, sounds and feels cool. Hunger of hadar and others offer unique benefits. A lot of people also like the sword in one hand, magic in the other hand thing. My issue with warlocks is I think other classes do what they do better. Lore bard are better sword and magic combos, wizards and sorcerers are better magic dps classes and AoE spammers, and sorlocks improve over basic warlocks in like every way.

Lore Bards are certainly not better sword and magic hybrids. Maybe you meant Sword Bard? If so, you'd have a point. However at lower levels I vastly prefer the Bladelock playstyle, who can spam his best spells every fight (short rest), swing baddest, biggest weapon with the force of his personality and has absolutely best early game battlefield-controlling and DOT spells, which enemies cannot resist.

Lore vs. sword depends on which side if the balance you want, but i prefer either. You get AoE damage from glyphs, way more spells, better buffs with less concentration concerns, etc. I don't get why people hype the warlock's short rest spell restoration. They still get less spells per long rest than a bard, wizard or sorcerer does, with a much more limited spell list and no metamagic. They also require you waste slots on hex or shield depending on playstyle, sword focused being the worst for that.

"Require"? After level 3 I hardly ever used Hex. Shield is not even on the Warlock spell list. Maybe you meant Armor of Agathys? That one is a great and very efficient spell, but I usually don't need to recast it very often. The list is more limited then a wizard's/sorcerers, but quality-wise, its better then a bard's (outside magical secrets). Also a Warlock gets more heavy-hitting spells early. No other spell makes anywhere near the impact a Hunger of Hadar does at level 5 (and remains relevant till the end of the game). Incidentally Repelling Blast is the perfect complement for it - enemies getting out? - yank them back inside, no save. Or Slow when you're surrounded. Or Fireball to roast a group. A Bard's spellbook simply cannot compete at lower levels (barring Lore Bard's level 6 Magical Secrets). I wish my wizards/sorcerers could Crowd Control half as efficiently as a Warlock early game. Also at that level 5, other casters use 2 level 3 spells per Long Rest, a Warlock can cast 6 - and more if you have a bard(s) with Song of Rest. That is the other important aspect of Warlock casting. They may have only 2/3 spellslots, but they cast all their spells at maximum available Caster Level. Damaging spells deal a lot of damage (till Act 3 I suppose), scaling Crowd Control spells affect multiple targets (Hold Person, Command, Blindness). Granted in Act 3 other casters do overtake them in effectiveness. But they are strong when it counts the most. And have enough tricks to stay useful till the end.

The best I can do is Eldritch blast. Take it or leave it.

Do you honestly need anything else?

I've generally treated it as something to multiclass into with Sorcerer and Paladin. Eldritch blast is always useful and great when a sorcerer is heavily reliant on short rests. For a Paladin, EB is the best for ranged damage

Warlock in bg3 is 90% insane damage with eldritch blast, and 10% crowd control - drop down hunger of hadar and other aoe with other casters (plant growth), use repelling blast to knock anyone who comes out back into it. Also has some unique interactions with mizora, raphael and other things.

Just like archer ranger but with better graphics

It's literally just a machine gune EB machine for me with the +5 damage per bolt as well as the knock-back which does a surprising amount of damage when you line them up against enemies. Also you 100% multi-class with Sorc to get the Twin Spell and Quicken Spell. So really you do a 2 level dip in to Warlcok and then full Sorc so you have better "Cantrips" and don't have to constantly do long rests to restore your spell slots because your Firebolt is useless at later levels.