I nominate Shadow of Moil for honorable mention for 4th level spell slots. It causes you to be "heavily obscured to others." Meaning that you can see out of it, but no one can see into it. It's essentially like Darkness + Devil's Sight, but without requiring you to take an invocation to make it work. It also gives you resistance to necrotic and deals retaliatory necrotic damage to enemies that hit you with melee attacks. It's great for ranged characters as a quick escape (enemies can't do opportunity attacks on you if they can't see you) and it's great for melee characters because it gives you extra survivability and deals damage to people who hit you at melee. It also gives you advantage on all of your attacks (because enemies can't see you). Honestly, this spell is INCREDIBLE in my books.
You have resistance to radiant damage, not necrotic. But otherwise you can hide in your black flame in daytime, while the sun is shining on you in front of everyone 😂
Amazing spell. You pretty much get adventage on your attacks. With hexblade you crit on 19. Combine it with great weapon master +10 dmg. So you attack 2 times on a turn with adventage, with a chance to crit on 19.
One 5th level spell that is similar to Scrying is Dream: Since Warlocks get their spells back on a short rest, knowing a single enemy that had been pestering you is effectively a death sentence. Cast Dream, choose a nightmare option and boom - you can sleep and your target can't (or rather does but can't benefit from it). Which eventually leads the target to suffer from exhaustion, and can be repeated over and over, for days or even weeks. And due to unlimited range, all the Warlock needs is to not leave a clue about who they are, and eventually, through a combination of Intel gathering and persistence, the target will reach exhaustion 6 and die in its sleep! Used this concept in a game once to kill a BBEG's lieutenant, the DM was "tilted but impressed"
I think I'm going to steal this for a villain to use on a friendly NPC. :D Maybe chain-cast it on everyone in the party once for a day where they RP having to get things done while tired and cranky from lack of sleep.
@@Draeckon it's an evil spell to use on your players, especially by someone like a Wizard (if having a Warlock BBEG isn't it) who can do a ton of prepwork in addition to this. Arcane Recovery allows a second attempt in the same day while also casting spells on the stronghold P.S. Make sure to have your PCs drink the CACTUS JUICE, IT'S THE QUENCHIEST!
@@natejablonski oh yeah definitely. That effect is similar to Sending, with the difference being that you can talk with the recipient for the whole duration and nobody, *literally nobody* can spy on you because you're not actually going to another plane of existence. You could contact a whole army in their sleep to coordinate them and no one will know
Loved the Eldritch Blast bit at the beginning, I think the cherry on top would've been if you showed the pieces of paper to the camera and they just had Eldritch Blast in big bold letters on all of them lol
@Ethertask Sebastian well Eldritch blast is a spell action not attack action, so extra attack won't work. Just action surge will have effect. So I'd say be a lvl 2 fighter so you get action surge and then the rest on warlock. By 17th lvl in warlock your Eldritch blast can fire 4 beams, you can action surge and fire another 4 beams. If you pick the same target for all the beams that packs a big punch. Add on agonizing blast for Cha modifier and something like repelling blast. You can punch for a ton of damage and if that doesn't kill them, you can repel them into a trap, someone's ground effect spell, or right off a cliff
@@ToTheKneeProductions Eldritch blast, like all cantrips, scale by character level, not by your level in the class you picked it with. If you have 1 level in warlock and picked up Eldritch Blast and have 16 levels of fighter, you still cast 4 beams
@@ToTheKneeProductions yeah. I don't really see higher level warlock multiclassing but they're good! No one goes up to lvl 3, and that's when you get your delicious pact boons and pact boon specific invocations! Book of ancient secrets is so good
@Ethertask Sebastian You can't cast a spell with extra attack because spells use the Cast a Spell action but you can cast another spell with Action Surge because that is giving you an additional action. Cutting down a foe in melee with extra attacks and then using action surge to Eldritch Blast some enemies at a distance is a viable option but I don't if I would build a character around it.
You left out two of my favorites - Darkness & Shadow of Moil. If you look at all of the spells in D&D, a huge portion of them require you to see your enemy. If you're using Darkness, you can't be seen by enemies that rely on Dark Vision. If you're using Shadow of Moil, you can't be seen by enemies that rely on dark vision or true sight. And as an added bonus, if you're fighting in dim light against enemies without dark vision, your allies can stand in the aura of Shadow of Moil and be unseen by the enemies. Not being seen is so useful. It gives you advantage on your attacks. It gives your enemies disadvantage on their attacks. It prevents enemies from getting opportunity attacks on you. And best of all, it protects you from a huge portion of the enemy's spellbook when facing casters.
darkness + devil's sight combo is great on white board optimisation but in most fight if you do not cast it way far behind everything to eldritch blast from long range, you will be a nuisance to your team. and even then, attacking with advantage for 1d10+cha is not good dmg. shadow of moil is way better since it will not be as much a nuisance to the rest of the team.
@@vincentcarrierthivierge9325 A Warlock using Eldritch Blast with its 120ft range should not be standing up in melee with the melee damage dealers and tanks. Darkness is not at all a nuisance to your teammates. It's quite easy for them to choose whether or not they're in your sphere of darkness, and there are advantages to being in the sphere of darkness - such as not being able to be targeted by spells or other magical effects (such as the rays from a Beholder - I've had party members choose to end their turn near me while fighting a beholder because of this). And if they don't want to be in my sphere of darkness, it's really quite easy for them to not stand inside the 15ft radius sphere. Damagewise, 1D10+Cha with advantage is very similar to 1D10+1D6+Cha without advantage. If you had a 60% chance to hit without advantage, you'll have an 84% chance to hit with advantage. So it'd be .55*(5.5+3.5+5) + .05*(11+7+5 ) = 8.85 versus .7425*(5.5+5) + .0975*(11+5) = 9.35625. In this case, you're actually dealing more damage with Eldritch Blast + advantage than you are with Eldritch Blast + Hex. And you're dealing it more consistently with a 84% chance to hit instead of 60% chance to hit.
The thing with Hex is, that you cast it with your last spell slot when you are sure, that you cannot Short Rest. It is normaly better to have Hex up for all fights on that adventuring day than a probably better spell in the first or second fight and none for the next four Fights
You can also open a portal to the plane of water to spray an ungodly amount of water in a building, down a cave, stop a city wide fire, or at an enemy.
Oooh! Is that why the patron made them a warlock in the first place? "But boss, I swore an oath to the Djinn so I could eventually get a Wish!" "Too bad, you get Gate. And you are going to cast it on Table Rock in the Oasis of Tears at moon-rise on the solstice. Fail Me At Your Peril!!"
Foresight was the 9th level I went with for my Warlock. It lasts a very long time without concentration, and helps eldritch blasts hit more which means more hex damage. In my case, I played a Celestial Patron Pact of the Blade, so this meant more Spirit Shroud damage, which was able to be buffed to 2d8 from the upcast.
For the spot on 9th level I always get divided by Foresight and True Polymorph. Granted that foresight needs "prep time" it packs so much power and for so long that it can really change the tide
One of my favorite spell combos for warlocks is what I call the Eldritch Gatling Gun. You combine Eldritch Blast with either summon aberration (beholder) or eventually summon fiend (devil), allowing you to make 4 ranged attacks at level 7 and 6 attacks at level 11. If you want to go even further, take crown of stars as your 7th level for an extra 4d12 ranged attack for an average of 105 points of damage per turn.
Dude, dude, I just basically made this same comment shortly before I saw yours, great minds think alike haha, I even refer to it as a Gatling gun too, also I never considered the summon fiend replacement, mainly cuz i use a old one pact warlock and just stuck to the far realm theme of summon abberation
@@kedarraman6690 Won't work level 5 and up since it'll be capable of targeting more than one creature when cast (2 beams at 5th, 3 beams at 11th, and 4 beams at 17th). And no, you can't twin a single beam, it just can't be done after 4th level.
One thing to keep in mind with Mystic Arcana due to them not using spell slots; you still want to do the things you were previously using your spell slots for (like all those already learned concentration spells). I find Soul Cage a strong 6th level Mystic Arcana. Cast as a reaction, no concentration, lasts for 8 hours, and NO SAVE. It has tons of utility including healing, info gathering, and gaining advantage on attack roll, ability check, or saving throws...and obviously very thematic. Ask the soul what's the safest path to get to the throne room...or where the prisoners are kept...? You get the idea. Bonkers when combined with Scrying...and includes my six favourite words for info gathering "to the best of their ability".
Summon Aberration is my favorite! My Death Slaad Bob loves to come out and rip the faces off of my enemies, and his regenerating HP and ability to inhibit HP regeneration on his targets brings immense value to an extra damage dealer / summon tank. I really enjoy the versatility of being able to summon a Star Spawn Emissary or Beholderkin based off of the needs of an individual encounter. It's like getting 3 different summoning spells in one!
I've been playing a warlock for over 2 years now in a continual campaign, and picking spells has always been the thing that I've spent the most time in research on, so you dudes' take on it is very valuable to me
The Fae warlock I DM for absolutely loves using fantasmal force. Once she convinced a Fae enemy it saw Titania looking pissed at it, it only realized the truth after teleporting away so the party was prepared by the time it returned.
My personal favorite Warlock spell is Darkness, for a tactic I call "Firing Range" Basically with the invocation Devil's Sight you can see perfectly in magical darkness, so if you can gather a group of enemies in one area, you can give yourself advantage on every single Eldritch Blast you do, at the cost of losing out on teamwork unless someone has like Blindsight or something.
This is viable until lvl 7 then replace darkness with shadow of moil in combat. You are heavily obscured and it makes bright light dim and dim light darkness in a 10ft area around you. It works better with the rest of the party that is unwilling to work with you.
I made an Armor of Agathys focused character. Is 3lv hexblade warlock and 2lv abjuration wizard. Gains a ward that blocks damage (reducing the impact on those temp HP from AoA, making them last longer and thus able to dish more damage because more hits before they fail) uses an invocation for mage armor at will to get 2 points restored to that ward outside combat each cast until maxed again. Also uses CHR for hits and has booming blade and green flame blade. Also blade ward for emergency resistance if you need to reduce a big hit on your temp HP.
The best 9th level Warlock spell is obviously Wish from the Genie spell list. With it you gain access to every spell including Simulacrum which (if you have a generous Dm) is broken on Warlocks. Your Simulacrum can’t regain spell slots, but with the right Feats and invocations can still be casting quite well. Also technically Mystic Arcanum don’t use spell slots so your Simulacrum could technically still regain sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth spells after a long rest, and the ninth level spell is wish.
I think everyone should keep in mind (and im taking this from Treantmonkm), warlock is completely a circumstantial spellcaster. I think it's smart to load up on 3-4 of your favorites for combat, but you're much better off picking the spells that are more situational as nice-to-haves. Because you only get 2 spell slots per short rest, you wont be casting most of your spells either way, so load up on some of those wacky spells.
miniNE- Exactly. I pick a short list that I might want in combat and then use the rest of my list for utility spells. Comprehend Languages, Remove Curse... stuff like that. Suggestion has great uses out of combat. Out of combat your slot limit is less of an issue (especially when you regain on a short rest), and its nice to be able to have those abilities to pull out to help when needed.
I would tend towards allowing Mystic Arcana that go well with a Warlock's Patron. For example a Warlock of the Fey could take Wall of Thorns, the Fiend Earthquake, or the Great Old One Maze (though maybe that would go better with the Elder Influence). This essentially follows the Genie precedent in having an expanded Spell List for the higher level spells.
My warlock has a fathomless patron, an ancient gold dragon (homebrewed and agreed with the dm) so I base what spells o choose around aquatic and dragon type themes. My at will mage armour is shining dragon scales, when I cast fly draconic wings extend from the armour. I also have the gift of the chromatic dragon feat which adds the wings as a reaction anyway
I'm really surprised Dream wasn't on here. It can be used to communicate across great distances, subtly try to influence other people's opinions, or do damage and deny the benefits of a long rest. At the very least it can let you know when a particular creature is sleeping or not which could be important.
I love Dream! I figured out a cool combo with Hexblade’s Accursed Specter because neither has a range, requires Line of Sight, or is restricted by Line of Effect. All you need is a way to communicate verbal commands to the Specter, which can be done at long ranges using a familiar and Voice of the Chain Master.
My home brewed Shaman uses the warlock spellcasting model. The idea being that the shaman can't use any magic but can talk to spirits that cast spells on the shaman's behalf.
For those moments that I decide not to choose eldritch blast, chill touch is my close second. Also, I always pick prestidigitation (if I hadn't chosen it from somewhere else first).
For Summon undead, Ghost is also worth considering because it has the fastest fly speed until Summon fiend with a 40ft hover. If you are small or have a bag of holding to spare you can ride it to give you flight for an hour, and the necrotic damage which can cause fear is also very spicy.
One thing to note about the summon spells. They last an hour, so if you have something that can reduce the length of your short rest (a bard casting Catnap or Genie patron) - summon, rest, bam! You have an extra spell slot for free. It can even stand guard while you're napping.
A nice tech for Hex, if you can pin down the enemy's casting stat, you can bully their Counterspells with disadvantage if they don't invest the full level of spell slot. Or just slap them with STR/DEX and watch them get bear-hugged to death by the Grapple Barbarian. Otherwise, you kind of outgrow it by level 5, but it's nice to have in your toolbelt if you have space for it. Honorable mention for 3rd-level, because there are just a lot of good 3rd-level spells, (Counterspell and Dispel Magic also go without saying) I'd offer Major Image. Warlocks don't get its level 6 slot scaling because WotC are butts, but even without that, having an entire illusion of up to 20ft cube is amazing. You can trap a golem inside of a wall that it's too stupid to disbelieve, you can wall off a hallway that you duck down, you can trick enemies into thinking you have more people in your party than there actually are, it's very versatile. Even the invocation Misty Visions, which is at-will Silent Image, is still amazing for some of these if you don't want to commit the spell slot. Hypnotic Pattern is also good enough at shutting down an area that it's basically the best not!Fireball that non-Fiendlocks get until Synaptic Static. Another one of those "if you have the space for it" spells, Tongues is great if you're the Persuasion Warlock that acts as the Party Face, and would like to actually communicate with the strange creatures of the world. For 4th-level, I'd actually throw in Charm Monster. Getting two targets of anything to come to your side or at the very least leave, WITHOUT CONCENTRATION, is often a lot spicier than using one Hold Monster, or sometimes even a double Banishment. DM was quite upset with me when I managed to nab both T-Rexes in a random encounter and then have them lead us towards the quest villain because we took good care of them. 5th-level is about as Your Mileage May Vary as it gets. If you have people you need to talk to, Dream is actually amazing to use during a Long Rest to just have an entire conversation in someone's dream, no Sendings required. Far Step is also surprisingly useful, being a double-range Misty Step that you can use each round, but it's Concentration; one for the tool belt. Mystic Arcanum of 6th-level, as great as Eyebite and Mass Suggestion are, and as thematically appropriate Summon Fiend is, for the discerning Warlock that wants to be a bit less conspicuous, (Tasha's) Otherworldly Guise is fairly decent, just as a matter of making you outright immune to certain damage types. Mental Prison can also be surprisingly nice as a pre-Forcecage shutdown tool. 7th-level, yeah, it's Forcecage or Plane Shift. Plane Shift specifically gets some interesting interactions due to it requiring you to land an attack roll, and if you pick up Distant Spell Metamagic, you can use it as a more permanent, non-Concentration Banishment. Gonna be devil's advocate here: Demiplane for 8th-level Arcanum. You can fill them up with all kinds of nonsense during long stretches of downtime, and then release it on unsuspecting enemies. Use one to hold all of your treasure, fill another completely with seawater, pull one up to keep some NPCs save while escorting them out of the dungeon.
As both a DM and Warlock player, I find build diversity increases considerably if the invocations are permitted to be assigned to any single cantrip. I am hoping this will be made official in the next version, whatever it ends up being called.
@@TheRealMuckluck If you look at the warlock invocations that work with eldritch blast, like agonizing blast. (adds chr modifier to damage) there is no reason that cannot be added to offensive cantrips like toll of the dead, chill touch, etc. If you consider the more exotic ones, like repelling blast, or grasp of Hadar, they can also be applied to the cantrip directly, like repelling blast to a magic stone or frostbite. Likewise, by using the rules presented in Tasha's on customizing the look of spells, flavor can be kept for others, simply by altering the appearance of the spell without actually altering any of its other mechanics. For example, chill touch as a hand grabbing and pulling an enemy 10 feet closer or eldritch spear increasing the range of a mage hand or a chill touch. With a vicious mockery, it could be described as insults so bad it repels, or causes the target to move closer with rage. Generally, just have the PC pick a specific cantrip that the invocation applies to.
Scatter can be incredible at 6th lv. Being able to rearrange players/creatures on the battlefield can set up, or swing an encounter. Or an escape. Good non-concentration option. Maddening Darkness at lv. 8 is a Great way to soften up a huge area with recurring psychic dmg and darkness. I love Forsight at lv. 9. Great effect, no concentration, 8 hr. duration.
I feel like thunderstep is a really good option for a warlock. Sure you can't go as far as dimension door, but it's the 2 for 1 of damage and the teleport that makes it amazing considering the limited spell slots of the warlock
I really like to take Thunder Step or Shatter at some point, because while warlocks aren't the best at AOE blaster, they are worth consideration and sometime get in some clutch minion busting. Both also have decent utility options as well, Thunder step is obvious as a teleport that you can bring a friend with you, and because of the wording of shatter, it let's you just delete barriers, doors, and non-magical mcguffins you just don't care about anymore. It works as a knock spell that also blows up the enemies on the other side.
One thing I don't hear often for True Polymorph is that you can transform any large object into an adult dragon. And if you maintain concentration on it for an hour, you've got a permanent dragon. So making a few adult metallic dragons (except for Gold since that is CR 10), you could have an army of good aligned dragons to help defend a kingdom or the like over the course of an in game month.
That intro of just EB is absolutely worth a like and comment before even continuing. Love you dudes. Also just to add in here, I had a warlock named peaches who took summon shadow spawn and I had her take the despair option.. Weight of Sorrow is one of the scariest control features I've ever read. The ability to cut down enemy move speed by a set 20 feet by simply having the spirit stand next to them, in a doorway or hallway (not even granting a saving throw) is completely devastating to melee combatants.
16:44 do you want to know something scarier than a flying warlock with Eldritch Blast? A small sized warlock riding a flying belolder with multiple eye beams and Eldritch Blast!
Probably if not the best 6th level Warlock spell would be Conjur Fey for the multiple options and spell usages you can get plus there is one CR6 fey creature "Endelyn Moongrave" who CAN NOT die unless it's a solar eclipse or a symbol similar so as long as you hold concentration it's up for the full hour.
More than looking for a damage boost, I use Hex to adversely affect my target's skill checks: * DEX to reduce their overall initiative in combat. * WIS to reduce their perception result to aid in the rogue's and ranger's stealth and deception checks. * INT to reduce their chances of investigating the wizard's illusions. * STR to reduce their chances to break out of the monk's arm lock. * CON to reduce their chance of maintaining concentration. * CHA to reduce their chances of persuading the town guard to take their side of the argument.
If I ever get a chance to actually play D&D instead of DMing, I am going to play a warlock. Thank you boys for all this wonderful information to help me make the best warlock I can.
Soul Cage is an amazing spell for 6th level. I gained so much info from it, since they have to answer truthfully. Plus it is very versatile and lasts basically all day.
I'm surprised no mention for Maddening Darkness. It's a crazy amount of damage with a huge area of effect, and pairs very well with Repelling Blast and Devil's Sight. It's much more useful for an 8th level as a Warlock.
To be fair, a number of these spells can be learned by a Wizard and they can learn many others. Additionally what is kind of strange "Sickening Radiance" is an Evocation spell when it sounds like it should be Necromancy.
Warlock is my class of choice but I'm not a big fan of hex. If all you have to do is damage then it's ok but there are so many better things to spend your spells slots and concentration on.
Warlock is a great reminder that you should always be looking for an excuse to use your cantrips. They cost nothing, so why not use them as often as you can? Especially if they have incredible utility like Prestidigitation or Guidance.
I read somewhere the DM just puts down reasonable/logical encounters and its up to the party to figure out how to succeed. The warlock among my players certainly used some interesting spellcasting including gaseous form and thunderstep to steal from a dragon and escape lol.
Play a Dao genie warlock and combine Spiked Growth with Eldritch Blast's movement invocations. At level 5, you can pull an enemy forward with the first shot and push them back with the second. This deals 2d10 + 8d4 + 2*Cha damage! Very few creatures will survive that level of punishment for long.
I really love the content you guys produce, gave me a lot of inspiration for characters and settings for my own games! Keep up the awesome work! Maybe a suggestion however is when you talk about a topic with a title, to keep that title somewhere on the screen but smaller. I sometimes lose track what spell is being talked about and it would help to give back some context
One thing I’m about to do is multiclass to a Sorlock and transmute Scorching Ray at 5th level, then Quicken Eldritch Blast while hex is up. There will be so many dice to roll.
Technically not a Warlock spell, but Mire the Mind gives you Slow, which I find to be a direct upgrade to Hex. Also I'm a sucker for transformations, so Shadow of Moil and Otherworldly Guise should be worthy of consideration.
I play a battlefield-control Warlock and get a lot of effective usage out of Banishment, Enemies Abound and Slow (through evocation). Just reached lvl9 in our CoS campaign and added Dream to my spell list so looking forward to some wider-scope shenanigans using that!
@@victoriahunter4684 Excellent, I did feel a pang of guilt though when my DM spent time foreshadowing and threatening that a large formidable creature stalking us in a cave system, only to delete it from the field with Banishment first turn and flee, avoiding the encounter altogether!
One of my best friends was playing a Warlock in a game where she was getting frustrated that everyone else was min maxing and leaving her in the dust, making fun of how weak her normally-optimized character was. So I taught her how to Coffee-Lock. Suddenly, everyone else is very scared of her character...her answer to what is her favorite Warlock spell is...Sorcerer spells.
Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast, from a higher-level Sorcerer/Warlock who uses Quicken Spell to cast it twice in the same round, who also happens to be an Aasimar who is adding radiant damage to the attack... all makes for a pretty effective attack mode in the final battle with the Big Bad.
The first time I ever played D&D the class I choose was Warlock. The Eldritch Blast joke at the beginning had me rolling LOL. That was like all I ever used. To the point where it was a running joke with the rest of the party because everytime my turn came up they all knew what I was about to do. LOL too good. Thank you both!
I love how Eldritch Blast is so good, there's a lot of instances where it's totally worth spending a feat to gain access to Eldritch Blast with other characters, spellcasters or not.
One thing I feel is never mentioned about Hex is that it can be used out of combat for the disadvantage effect; things like casting it on a guard to inhibit Perception or Insight checks so you can sneak or lie easier. It's an application I feel is rarely mentioned or utilized.
In addition, Initiative is technically a Dexterity ability check. If you can surprise an enemy, giving them disadvantage on their initiative roll can be downright nasty.
I'm surprised you didn't at least give Hypnotic Pattern an honorable mention at Level 3, especially since you've praised it a lot in other videos. I personally think it's more broadly useful than Banishment, which you talked about in this video as a good 4th level spell choice. As you mentioned, Banishment can take 2 enemies out of combat when upcast to 5th level, but Hypnotic Pattern can take out more than that without even upcasting. And in most cases, incapacitating an enemy for a minute is just as useful as sending them into another dimension. It's sometimes even more useful; I've seen you use it yourselves in Drakkenheim to hypnotize a bunch of low-level minions then go around killing them one at the time. You can't do that with enemies in another plane. Don't get me wrong; Banishment is a great spell. It has some advantages, and in the right circumstances it can be so much more powerful than Hypnotic Pattern. It can take the BBEG from another plane out of the fight permanently instead of just for a minute, for example. I just think in most battles you'll get more mileage out of an AoE "neutralize the enemy" spell than a 1- or 2-target spell that in most cases does basically the same thing. Aside from that, I pretty much agree with the rest of your choices. I might offer Scatter as a decent choice for a Level 6 Mystic Arcanum (if you can't find a use for mass teleport every day, you're doing something wrong), but I think both Summon Fiend and Mass Suggestion edge it out.
My favorite uses of True Polymorph is to turn creatures into inanimate objects, and inanimate objects into creatures of up to CR 9. With enough time you can create a loyal army of just about anything like Young Silver Dragons, Elementals, and/or Constructs. I also like using True Polymorph as a tool for making monster summoning traps. You could turn just about any monster into any inanimate object. The monster would then stay in that form until dispeled. Then put said object wherever you need it along with a means in which to dispel the True Polymorph, such as a Glyph of Warding with a trigger to cast Dispel Magic. Just imagine going into a dungeon, and as the party gets halfway across a long narrow hallway they get flanked suddenly by a group of monsters that appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
Sickening Radiance, constant concentration area effect that adds exhaustion on a failed save. Combine that with repelling blast (and of course agonizing) on your eldtritch blast and you have an insanely powerful combo. Push anything into your Sickening Radiance area effect a few times and you can kill virtually anything, utterly irrespective of their hitpoints, simply by stacking six levels of exhaustion. You can use that right into epic.
Thank you for your hard work here, I am a new DM, having only run a campaign for the last year. Reading the source material is certainly much more different from actually running a game. Your and Mike's advice have enriched my DM'ing immensely!
Microwaved Frozen Dinner Combo: Casters use the following AoEs; Sickening Radiance, Sleet Storm, Plant Growth on group of enemies. Martials with Sentinel stand on perimeter & do Shove actions to keep enemies from escaping.
The UA ranger admittedly really early play test allows the ranger to cast hunters mark without concentration, it would be interesting if warlocks got that feature. I do think it comes online too early at level 1 as that makes it too dipable. And it makes me wonder a warlock with a level 1 dip into ranger with hex and hunters mark 2d6 on each attack?
My DM allows Warlocks to simply have their patron spells known for free, allows the subclasses to shine more and encourages taking less often chosen spells with your freed up choices. Before we started doing this everyone’s warlock basically had the same spell list lol
I play a high level GOO Warlock. Most of my 1-5 choices line up with those presented here, with a few nods towards exploration and thematic options that I can get away with because of my invocations and the fact that I got a Staff of Power and some Robes of the Archmagi covering my behind. My Mystic arcanum choices are: 6- Eyebite 7- Forcecage 8- Maddening Darkness 9- Psychic Scream
Just on Fly; one of the joys of upcasting Fly is that it only takes one characters concentration...opening up the opportunity for other casters to be flying and still be able to concentrate on something else.
No love for Shadow of Moil? Easiest way to get advantage for your eldritch blast, attacks against you have disadvantage, and you can't be counter spelled. Combine it with elven accuracy, and just fish for those crits.
My best warlock spell combo is Armor of Agathys (AA), darkness, and blade ward. With the darkness spell and devils sight invocation, your enemies won't have the visual feedback to learn to not hit the warlock, and the blade ward will maximize the the use of AA. Elemental adept pairs nicely with this, though it does eat 2 spell slots if you don't have another spellcaster to provide the darkness spell.
Loved the video, and another very tempting choice (imo) for information gathering in the 5th level range is Contact Other Plane, which also feels like it fits just right on a warlock, even more so than on a wizard
![วันเกิดเธอ (TO YOU) - PHUWIN [ OFFICIAL MV ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_ROx1Bj3T0Y/mqdefault.jpg)
Cast it at weddings, funerals, beach parties or just randomly at the shop because your party is taking 5 hours to buy a dagger and you're bored.
Sword and Shield?
You can also make it smell like strawberries.
Heheh crap guide BLAST here
I see you are a man of culture as well
So versatile that two will not likely blast the same
I nominate Shadow of Moil for honorable mention for 4th level spell slots. It causes you to be "heavily obscured to others." Meaning that you can see out of it, but no one can see into it. It's essentially like Darkness + Devil's Sight, but without requiring you to take an invocation to make it work. It also gives you resistance to necrotic and deals retaliatory necrotic damage to enemies that hit you with melee attacks. It's great for ranged characters as a quick escape (enemies can't do opportunity attacks on you if they can't see you) and it's great for melee characters because it gives you extra survivability and deals damage to people who hit you at melee. It also gives you advantage on all of your attacks (because enemies can't see you). Honestly, this spell is INCREDIBLE in my books.
Heavily agree. It's absolutely nasty on a hexblade.
You have resistance to radiant damage, not necrotic. But otherwise you can hide in your black flame in daytime, while the sun is shining on you in front of everyone 😂
Amazing spell. You pretty much get adventage on your attacks. With hexblade you crit on 19. Combine it with great weapon master +10 dmg. So you attack 2 times on a turn with adventage, with a chance to crit on 19.
@@Lostforface Came here to point out the same thing. A must for GWM Hexblades for sure
So many people I talk to sleep on this spell...
One 5th level spell that is similar to Scrying is Dream:
Since Warlocks get their spells back on a short rest, knowing a single enemy that had been pestering you is effectively a death sentence. Cast Dream, choose a nightmare option and boom - you can sleep and your target can't (or rather does but can't benefit from it). Which eventually leads the target to suffer from exhaustion, and can be repeated over and over, for days or even weeks. And due to unlimited range, all the Warlock needs is to not leave a clue about who they are, and eventually, through a combination of Intel gathering and persistence, the target will reach exhaustion 6 and die in its sleep!
Used this concept in a game once to kill a BBEG's lieutenant, the DM was "tilted but impressed"
Deliciously Cruel, and rather appropriate that Warlocks do it best. Have a cookie for sharing 🍪
I think I'm going to steal this for a villain to use on a friendly NPC. :D Maybe chain-cast it on everyone in the party once for a day where they RP having to get things done while tired and cranky from lack of sleep.
@@Draeckon it's an evil spell to use on your players, especially by someone like a Wizard (if having a Warlock BBEG isn't it) who can do a ton of prepwork in addition to this. Arcane Recovery allows a second attempt in the same day while also casting spells on the stronghold
P.S. Make sure to have your PCs drink the CACTUS JUICE, IT'S THE QUENCHIEST!
And Dream also has a friendly mode. It might not be useful all the time, but it is incredibly helpful when it comes up.
@@natejablonski oh yeah definitely. That effect is similar to Sending, with the difference being that you can talk with the recipient for the whole duration and nobody, *literally nobody* can spy on you because you're not actually going to another plane of existence. You could contact a whole army in their sleep to coordinate them and no one will know
I didn't realize 3rd Level was that powerful when upcast
Loved the Eldritch Blast bit at the beginning, I think the cherry on top would've been if you showed the pieces of paper to the camera and they just had Eldritch Blast in big bold letters on all of them lol
I wish they added Summon Celestial for the Celestial Warlock. Summoning a fiend when your patron is an angel seems weird.
Tbf, angels do also work for evil gods as well, could have one of those angels as your patron “end justifies the means” type of angel.
Or have it be a subjugated fiend.
or ask your DM if you can change the flavour without changing the mechanics
@@Pyrous56 good angel and good deity but the angel got the better end of the deal. Cause all sunshine and rainbows is boring.
Loving the Eldritch Blast Bit at the beginning, really lightened my day.
@Ethertask Sebastian well Eldritch blast is a spell action not attack action, so extra attack won't work. Just action surge will have effect. So I'd say be a lvl 2 fighter so you get action surge and then the rest on warlock. By 17th lvl in warlock your Eldritch blast can fire 4 beams, you can action surge and fire another 4 beams. If you pick the same target for all the beams that packs a big punch. Add on agonizing blast for Cha modifier and something like repelling blast. You can punch for a ton of damage and if that doesn't kill them, you can repel them into a trap, someone's ground effect spell, or right off a cliff
@@ToTheKneeProductions Eldritch blast, like all cantrips, scale by character level, not by your level in the class you picked it with. If you have 1 level in warlock and picked up Eldritch Blast and have 16 levels of fighter, you still cast 4 beams
@@yuvalsela4482 yeah sorry you're right. But either way you don't really need more levels in fighter than 2 or 3. Those invocations are spicy
@@ToTheKneeProductions yeah. I don't really see higher level warlock multiclassing but they're good! No one goes up to lvl 3, and that's when you get your delicious pact boons and pact boon specific invocations! Book of ancient secrets is so good
@Ethertask Sebastian You can't cast a spell with extra attack because spells use the Cast a Spell action but you can cast another spell with Action Surge because that is giving you an additional action. Cutting down a foe in melee with extra attacks and then using action surge to Eldritch Blast some enemies at a distance is a viable option but I don't if I would build a character around it.
You left out two of my favorites - Darkness & Shadow of Moil. If you look at all of the spells in D&D, a huge portion of them require you to see your enemy. If you're using Darkness, you can't be seen by enemies that rely on Dark Vision. If you're using Shadow of Moil, you can't be seen by enemies that rely on dark vision or true sight. And as an added bonus, if you're fighting in dim light against enemies without dark vision, your allies can stand in the aura of Shadow of Moil and be unseen by the enemies.
Not being seen is so useful. It gives you advantage on your attacks. It gives your enemies disadvantage on their attacks. It prevents enemies from getting opportunity attacks on you. And best of all, it protects you from a huge portion of the enemy's spellbook when facing casters.
darkness + devil's sight combo is great on white board optimisation but in most fight if you do not cast it way far behind everything to eldritch blast from long range, you will be a nuisance to your team. and even then, attacking with advantage for 1d10+cha is not good dmg. shadow of moil is way better since it will not be as much a nuisance to the rest of the team.
@@vincentcarrierthivierge9325 A Warlock using Eldritch Blast with its 120ft range should not be standing up in melee with the melee damage dealers and tanks.
Darkness is not at all a nuisance to your teammates. It's quite easy for them to choose whether or not they're in your sphere of darkness, and there are advantages to being in the sphere of darkness - such as not being able to be targeted by spells or other magical effects (such as the rays from a Beholder - I've had party members choose to end their turn near me while fighting a beholder because of this). And if they don't want to be in my sphere of darkness, it's really quite easy for them to not stand inside the 15ft radius sphere.
Damagewise, 1D10+Cha with advantage is very similar to 1D10+1D6+Cha without advantage. If you had a 60% chance to hit without advantage, you'll have an 84% chance to hit with advantage. So it'd be .55*(5.5+3.5+5) + .05*(11+7+5 ) = 8.85 versus .7425*(5.5+5) + .0975*(11+5) = 9.35625. In this case, you're actually dealing more damage with Eldritch Blast + advantage than you are with Eldritch Blast + Hex. And you're dealing it more consistently with a 84% chance to hit instead of 60% chance to hit.
@@gabrielrockmanmost broken shit ever in Baldurs Gate as well, considered and OP tactician-difficulty strategy
The thing with Hex is, that you cast it with your last spell slot when you are sure, that you cannot Short Rest. It is normaly better to have Hex up for all fights on that adventuring day than a probably better spell in the first or second fight and none for the next four Fights
If you have a fly speed and you're above an enemy, pulling enemies towards you with Grasp of Hadar will lift them 10 ft up and they fall prone.
pov you’re genie warlock
@@OceanVista76 POV you just cast spike growth and are about to cheese grater your enemy with grasp of hadar and repelling blast
I might have to take that spell at some point for my gem dragonborn
@@Dezbood there really aren't any rules of "landing properly" if you fall from 10ft or more you automatically take damage and fall prone
@@rookie2128Exactly, this is an automatic, no saving throw, no ability check tactics.
Gate is an interesting pick that you can take to summon your patron to the prime material plane.
You can also open a portal to the plane of water to spray an ungodly amount of water in a building, down a cave, stop a city wide fire, or at an enemy.
And then you can blast them with Eldritch Blast ™️
*my celestial warlock with a coutal patron who is sort of like Garfield*
Ummm, perhaps not.
Oooh! Is that why the patron made them a warlock in the first place? "But boss, I swore an oath to the Djinn so I could eventually get a Wish!" "Too bad, you get Gate. And you are going to cast it on Table Rock in the Oasis of Tears at moon-rise on the solstice. Fail Me At Your Peril!!"
Patrons can be powerful enough to block this effect, if they are "deities and other planar rulers".
Foresight was the 9th level I went with for my Warlock. It lasts a very long time without concentration, and helps eldritch blasts hit more which means more hex damage. In my case, I played a Celestial Patron Pact of the Blade, so this meant more Spirit Shroud damage, which was able to be buffed to 2d8 from the upcast.
Foresight is it. For my Hexblade. Dude is a nightmare
The warlock in my party makes great use of combining Awakened Mind and Suggestion. He's made a hill giant enemy just walk home.
I love putting out a Sickening Radiance and then using Repelling Eldritch Blast to push enemies back into the area.
I'm a fan of the same with Hunger of Hadar.
For the spot on 9th level I always get divided by Foresight and True Polymorph. Granted that foresight needs "prep time" it packs so much power and for so long that it can really change the tide
The dirty trick is picking up Metamagic Adept. Extend Spell + Foresight. Add in Aspect of the Moon to be Heimdall.
One of my favorite spell combos for warlocks is what I call the Eldritch Gatling Gun. You combine Eldritch Blast with either summon aberration (beholder) or eventually summon fiend (devil), allowing you to make 4 ranged attacks at level 7 and 6 attacks at level 11. If you want to go even further, take crown of stars as your 7th level for an extra 4d12 ranged attack for an average of 105 points of damage per turn.
Take three levels of sorcerer to twin spell eldritch blast
Dude, dude, I just basically made this same comment shortly before I saw yours, great minds think alike haha, I even refer to it as a Gatling gun too, also I never considered the summon fiend replacement, mainly cuz i use a old one pact warlock and just stuck to the far realm theme of summon abberation
@@kedarraman6690 Won't work level 5 and up since it'll be capable of targeting more than one creature when cast (2 beams at 5th, 3 beams at 11th, and 4 beams at 17th). And no, you can't twin a single beam, it just can't be done after 4th level.
@@ScrewBall105 jeez man maybe so but at least it's there as a homebrew option if the dm believes in chucking actual hordes of monsters at you
@@ScrewBall105 quickened spell would work though
Congratulations Monty on getting your doctorate! Might be late on this, just found out about your achievement.
I just noticed this in the intro, didn't know if it was a joke title or real - does anyone know what the doctoral thesis was on?
@@cameronhector9074 eldritch blast
I wish the invocations effected more then just Eldritch Blast. Like Sword Burst also has the push effect. That would just be so cool.
Couldnt agreed more.
Just ask your DM.
One thing to keep in mind with Mystic Arcana due to them not using spell slots; you still want to do the things you were previously using your spell slots for (like all those already learned concentration spells).
I find Soul Cage a strong 6th level Mystic Arcana. Cast as a reaction, no concentration, lasts for 8 hours, and NO SAVE. It has tons of utility including healing, info gathering, and gaining advantage on attack roll, ability check, or saving throws...and obviously very thematic. Ask the soul what's the safest path to get to the throne room...or where the prisoners are kept...? You get the idea. Bonkers when combined with Scrying...and includes my six favourite words for info gathering "to the best of their ability".
Summon Aberration is my favorite! My Death Slaad Bob loves to come out and rip the faces off of my enemies, and his regenerating HP and ability to inhibit HP regeneration on his targets brings immense value to an extra damage dealer / summon tank. I really enjoy the versatility of being able to summon a Star Spawn Emissary or Beholderkin based off of the needs of an individual encounter. It's like getting 3 different summoning spells in one!
I've been playing a warlock for over 2 years now in a continual campaign, and picking spells has always been the thing that I've spent the most time in research on, so you dudes' take on it is very valuable to me
This was easily my favorite opener you've ever done. More like this please! 😁
The Fae warlock I DM for absolutely loves using fantasmal force. Once she convinced a Fae enemy it saw Titania looking pissed at it, it only realized the truth after teleporting away so the party was prepared by the time it returned.
foresight+ crown of stars+ eldritch blast + hex is just juicy man
My personal favorite Warlock spell is Darkness, for a tactic I call "Firing Range"
Basically with the invocation Devil's Sight you can see perfectly in magical darkness, so if you can gather a group of enemies in one area, you can give yourself advantage on every single Eldritch Blast you do, at the cost of losing out on teamwork unless someone has like Blindsight or something.
Drop the darkness over yourself, not the enemy, for the same advantage + disadvantage (I think?), except it impedes the melee fighters less.
@@SimonClarkstone You also can cast Darkness on a small object, put it in your mouth, then open and close your mouth to turn it on or off.
This is viable until lvl 7 then replace darkness with shadow of moil in combat. You are heavily obscured and it makes bright light dim and dim light darkness in a 10ft area around you. It works better with the rest of the party that is unwilling to work with you.
I really like scorching ray for the fiendlock. Paired with hex at 5th lvl slot is 6 rays for a potential 18d6 dmg.
Wow! 😍 🔥
I made an Armor of Agathys focused character. Is 3lv hexblade warlock and 2lv abjuration wizard. Gains a ward that blocks damage (reducing the impact on those temp HP from AoA, making them last longer and thus able to dish more damage because more hits before they fail) uses an invocation for mage armor at will to get 2 points restored to that ward outside combat each cast until maxed again. Also uses CHR for hits and has booming blade and green flame blade. Also blade ward for emergency resistance if you need to reduce a big hit on your temp HP.
The best 9th level Warlock spell is obviously Wish from the Genie spell list. With it you gain access to every spell including Simulacrum which (if you have a generous Dm) is broken on Warlocks. Your Simulacrum can’t regain spell slots, but with the right Feats and invocations can still be casting quite well. Also technically Mystic Arcanum don’t use spell slots so your Simulacrum could technically still regain sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth spells after a long rest, and the ninth level spell is wish.
i don't think they're counting subclass specific spells
I think everyone should keep in mind (and im taking this from Treantmonkm), warlock is completely a circumstantial spellcaster. I think it's smart to load up on 3-4 of your favorites for combat, but you're much better off picking the spells that are more situational as nice-to-haves. Because you only get 2 spell slots per short rest, you wont be casting most of your spells either way, so load up on some of those wacky spells.
miniNE- Exactly. I pick a short list that I might want in combat and then use the rest of my list for utility spells. Comprehend Languages, Remove Curse... stuff like that. Suggestion has great uses out of combat. Out of combat your slot limit is less of an issue (especially when you regain on a short rest), and its nice to be able to have those abilities to pull out to help when needed.
I would tend towards allowing Mystic Arcana that go well with a Warlock's Patron. For example a Warlock of the Fey could take Wall of Thorns, the Fiend Earthquake, or the Great Old One Maze (though maybe that would go better with the Elder Influence). This essentially follows the Genie precedent in having an expanded Spell List for the higher level spells.
My warlock has a fathomless patron, an ancient gold dragon (homebrewed and agreed with the dm) so I base what spells o choose around aquatic and dragon type themes.
My at will mage armour is shining dragon scales, when I cast fly draconic wings extend from the armour. I also have the gift of the chromatic dragon feat which adds the wings as a reaction anyway
I'm really surprised Dream wasn't on here. It can be used to communicate across great distances, subtly try to influence other people's opinions, or do damage and deny the benefits of a long rest. At the very least it can let you know when a particular creature is sleeping or not which could be important.
I love Dream!
I figured out a cool combo with Hexblade’s Accursed Specter because neither has a range, requires Line of Sight, or is restricted by Line of Effect.
All you need is a way to communicate verbal commands to the Specter, which can be done at long ranges using a familiar and Voice of the Chain Master.
My home brewed Shaman uses the warlock spellcasting model. The idea being that the shaman can't use any magic but can talk to spirits that cast spells on the shaman's behalf.
For those moments that I decide not to choose eldritch blast, chill touch is my close second. Also, I always pick prestidigitation (if I hadn't chosen it from somewhere else first).
As a celestial warlock, I used summon abberation to summon biblically accurate angels!
For Summon undead, Ghost is also worth considering because it has the fastest fly speed until Summon fiend with a 40ft hover. If you are small or have a bag of holding to spare you can ride it to give you flight for an hour, and the necrotic damage which can cause fear is also very spicy.
One thing to note about the summon spells. They last an hour, so if you have something that can reduce the length of your short rest (a bard casting Catnap or Genie patron) - summon, rest, bam! You have an extra spell slot for free. It can even stand guard while you're napping.
I took extended spell with Metamagic Adept for a similar reason! Catnap I have not heard of, but surely that breaks concentration?
Well this episode will be an (eldritch) blast!
A nice tech for Hex, if you can pin down the enemy's casting stat, you can bully their Counterspells with disadvantage if they don't invest the full level of spell slot. Or just slap them with STR/DEX and watch them get bear-hugged to death by the Grapple Barbarian. Otherwise, you kind of outgrow it by level 5, but it's nice to have in your toolbelt if you have space for it.
Honorable mention for 3rd-level, because there are just a lot of good 3rd-level spells, (Counterspell and Dispel Magic also go without saying) I'd offer Major Image. Warlocks don't get its level 6 slot scaling because WotC are butts, but even without that, having an entire illusion of up to 20ft cube is amazing. You can trap a golem inside of a wall that it's too stupid to disbelieve, you can wall off a hallway that you duck down, you can trick enemies into thinking you have more people in your party than there actually are, it's very versatile. Even the invocation Misty Visions, which is at-will Silent Image, is still amazing for some of these if you don't want to commit the spell slot.
Hypnotic Pattern is also good enough at shutting down an area that it's basically the best not!Fireball that non-Fiendlocks get until Synaptic Static.
Another one of those "if you have the space for it" spells, Tongues is great if you're the Persuasion Warlock that acts as the Party Face, and would like to actually communicate with the strange creatures of the world.
For 4th-level, I'd actually throw in Charm Monster. Getting two targets of anything to come to your side or at the very least leave, WITHOUT CONCENTRATION, is often a lot spicier than using one Hold Monster, or sometimes even a double Banishment. DM was quite upset with me when I managed to nab both T-Rexes in a random encounter and then have them lead us towards the quest villain because we took good care of them.
5th-level is about as Your Mileage May Vary as it gets. If you have people you need to talk to, Dream is actually amazing to use during a Long Rest to just have an entire conversation in someone's dream, no Sendings required. Far Step is also surprisingly useful, being a double-range Misty Step that you can use each round, but it's Concentration; one for the tool belt.
Mystic Arcanum of 6th-level, as great as Eyebite and Mass Suggestion are, and as thematically appropriate Summon Fiend is, for the discerning Warlock that wants to be a bit less conspicuous, (Tasha's) Otherworldly Guise is fairly decent, just as a matter of making you outright immune to certain damage types. Mental Prison can also be surprisingly nice as a pre-Forcecage shutdown tool.
7th-level, yeah, it's Forcecage or Plane Shift. Plane Shift specifically gets some interesting interactions due to it requiring you to land an attack roll, and if you pick up Distant Spell Metamagic, you can use it as a more permanent, non-Concentration Banishment.
Gonna be devil's advocate here: Demiplane for 8th-level Arcanum. You can fill them up with all kinds of nonsense during long stretches of downtime, and then release it on unsuspecting enemies. Use one to hold all of your treasure, fill another completely with seawater, pull one up to keep some NPCs save while escorting them out of the dungeon.
As both a DM and Warlock player, I find build diversity increases considerably if the invocations are permitted to be assigned to any single cantrip. I am hoping this will be made official in the next version, whatever it ends up being called.
Agonizing Mockery, anyone?
@@jcdenton2187 I hadn't thought of that...My next variant tiefling is doing this...
Sometimes words hurt...
But now they can hurt a lot...
How does that work? It sounds interesting, can you describe the process and/or give an example or two? Would be greatly appreciated :)
@@TheRealMuckluck If you look at the warlock invocations that work with eldritch blast, like agonizing blast. (adds chr modifier to damage) there is no reason that cannot be added to offensive cantrips like toll of the dead, chill touch, etc.
If you consider the more exotic ones, like repelling blast, or grasp of Hadar, they can also be applied to the cantrip directly, like repelling blast to a magic stone or frostbite. Likewise, by using the rules presented in Tasha's on customizing the look of spells, flavor can be kept for others, simply by altering the appearance of the spell without actually altering any of its other mechanics. For example, chill touch as a hand grabbing and pulling an enemy 10 feet closer or eldritch spear increasing the range of a mage hand or a chill touch.
With a vicious mockery, it could be described as insults so bad it repels, or causes the target to move closer with rage.
Generally, just have the PC pick a specific cantrip that the invocation applies to.
…I like this idea so much.
Scatter can be incredible at 6th lv. Being able to rearrange players/creatures on the battlefield can set up, or swing an encounter. Or an escape. Good non-concentration option.
Maddening Darkness at lv. 8 is a Great way to soften up a huge area with recurring psychic dmg and darkness.
I love Forsight at lv. 9. Great effect, no concentration, 8 hr. duration.
Scatter and foresight are great options and fit a lot of flavour
I feel like thunderstep is a really good option for a warlock. Sure you can't go as far as dimension door, but it's the 2 for 1 of damage and the teleport that makes it amazing considering the limited spell slots of the warlock
doesn't scale too well
@@madhurdhingra4525 true but it still feels good regardless of level dropping like 28 damage and also teleporting out with an ally
I really like to take Thunder Step or Shatter at some point, because while warlocks aren't the best at AOE blaster, they are worth consideration and sometime get in some clutch minion busting. Both also have decent utility options as well, Thunder step is obvious as a teleport that you can bring a friend with you, and because of the wording of shatter, it let's you just delete barriers, doors, and non-magical mcguffins you just don't care about anymore. It works as a knock spell that also blows up the enemies on the other side.
One thing I don't hear often for True Polymorph is that you can transform any large object into an adult dragon. And if you maintain concentration on it for an hour, you've got a permanent dragon. So making a few adult metallic dragons (except for Gold since that is CR 10), you could have an army of good aligned dragons to help defend a kingdom or the like over the course of an in game month.
The dragons are just like wild monsters
That intro of just EB is absolutely worth a like and comment before even continuing. Love you dudes.
Also just to add in here, I had a warlock named peaches who took summon shadow spawn and I had her take the despair option.. Weight of Sorrow is one of the scariest control features I've ever read. The ability to cut down enemy move speed by a set 20 feet by simply having the spirit stand next to them, in a doorway or hallway (not even granting a saving throw) is completely devastating to melee combatants.
16:44 do you want to know something scarier than a flying warlock with Eldritch Blast? A small sized warlock riding a flying belolder with multiple eye beams and Eldritch Blast!
'Eldritch Blast! That's it. Thanks for watching.' LoL!
Could you do a video on the best subclass combinations for multiclassing? Thanks!
Basically any summoning/buffing spell is what I use my warlock's limited slots on. Otherwise I just cast EB all day.
Probably if not the best 6th level Warlock spell would be Conjur Fey for the multiple options and spell usages you can get plus there is one CR6 fey creature "Endelyn Moongrave" who CAN NOT die unless it's a solar eclipse or a symbol similar so as long as you hold concentration it's up for the full hour.
This is probably the best intro I’ve seen in a long while.
More than looking for a damage boost, I use Hex to adversely affect my target's skill checks:
* DEX to reduce their overall initiative in combat.
* WIS to reduce their perception result to aid in the rogue's and ranger's stealth and deception checks.
* INT to reduce their chances of investigating the wizard's illusions.
* STR to reduce their chances to break out of the monk's arm lock.
* CON to reduce their chance of maintaining concentration.
* CHA to reduce their chances of persuading the town guard to take their side of the argument.
Gonna be playing an archfey warlock for my first ever actual campaign, I’m getting the vibe that I should pick up eldritch blast
Can honestly say I would watch a video of them talking about eldritch blast for 30 minutes.
As per the latest UA , it looks like bards get access to hex as well! (Which is good because they removed a ton of my favourite bard spells)
If I ever get a chance to actually play D&D instead of DMing, I am going to play a warlock. Thank you boys for all this wonderful information to help me make the best warlock I can.
Soul Cage is an amazing spell for 6th level. I gained so much info from it, since they have to answer truthfully. Plus it is very versatile and lasts basically all day.
I'm surprised no mention for Maddening Darkness. It's a crazy amount of damage with a huge area of effect, and pairs very well with Repelling Blast and Devil's Sight.
It's much more useful for an 8th level as a Warlock.
Just on Synaptic Static; it also has a concentration free ongoing debilitating effect; all with an INT (vs CON for Sickening Radiance) save.
Dang you guys talked about a lot of 3rd level spells.
(The captions were broken lol)
To be fair, a number of these spells can be learned by a Wizard and they can learn many others. Additionally what is kind of strange "Sickening Radiance" is an Evocation spell when it sounds like it should be Necromancy.
Warlock is my class of choice but I'm not a big fan of hex. If all you have to do is damage then it's ok but there are so many better things to spend your spells slots and concentration on.
Love the script on the screen now reading Dr. Monty “Dragons” Martin” .. So fitting.
Warlock is a great reminder that you should always be looking for an excuse to use your cantrips. They cost nothing, so why not use them as often as you can? Especially if they have incredible utility like Prestidigitation or Guidance.
I read somewhere the DM just puts down reasonable/logical encounters and its up to the party to figure out how to succeed. The warlock among my players certainly used some interesting spellcasting including gaseous form and thunderstep to steal from a dragon and escape lol.
Play a Dao genie warlock and combine Spiked Growth with Eldritch Blast's movement invocations. At level 5, you can pull an enemy forward with the first shot and push them back with the second. This deals 2d10 + 8d4 + 2*Cha damage! Very few creatures will survive that level of punishment for long.
17:03 fly up and use the invocation that pulls enemies towards you when hit with eldritch blast so they take extra fall damage
I really love the content you guys produce, gave me a lot of inspiration for characters and settings for my own games! Keep up the awesome work!
Maybe a suggestion however is when you talk about a topic with a title, to keep that title somewhere on the screen but smaller. I sometimes lose track what spell is being talked about and it would help to give back some context
One thing I’m about to do is multiclass to a Sorlock and transmute Scorching Ray at 5th level, then Quicken Eldritch Blast while hex is up. There will be so many dice to roll.
There is a lot more to Warlock rhan Eldritch blast, like Eldritch Blast.
Technically not a Warlock spell, but Mire the Mind gives you Slow, which I find to be a direct upgrade to Hex. Also I'm a sucker for transformations, so Shadow of Moil and Otherworldly Guise should be worthy of consideration.
I play a battlefield-control Warlock and get a lot of effective usage out of Banishment, Enemies Abound and Slow (through evocation). Just reached lvl9 in our CoS campaign and added Dream to my spell list so looking forward to some wider-scope shenanigans using that!
Banishment is one of my go to spells for warlock no matter the patron. I like. Controlling the battlefield as well
@@victoriahunter4684 Excellent, I did feel a pang of guilt though when my DM spent time foreshadowing and threatening that a large formidable creature stalking us in a cave system, only to delete it from the field with Banishment first turn and flee, avoiding the encounter altogether!
One of my best friends was playing a Warlock in a game where she was getting frustrated that everyone else was min maxing and leaving her in the dust, making fun of how weak her normally-optimized character was. So I taught her how to Coffee-Lock. Suddenly, everyone else is very scared of her character...her answer to what is her favorite Warlock spell is...Sorcerer spells.
Insane that Shadow of Moil and Foresight didn't get mentioned.
Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast, from a higher-level Sorcerer/Warlock who uses Quicken Spell to cast it twice in the same round, who also happens to be an Aasimar who is adding radiant damage to the attack... all makes for a pretty effective attack mode in the final battle with the Big Bad.
Lol yall dropped this right in the middle of the new One DnD stuff. Still gonna watch cause I love your videos
The first time I ever played D&D the class I choose was Warlock. The Eldritch Blast joke at the beginning had me rolling LOL. That was like all I ever used. To the point where it was a running joke with the rest of the party because everytime my turn came up they all knew what I was about to do. LOL too good. Thank you both!
I love how Eldritch Blast is so good, there's a lot of instances where it's totally worth spending a feat to gain access to Eldritch Blast with other characters, spellcasters or not.
One thing I feel is never mentioned about Hex is that it can be used out of combat for the disadvantage effect; things like casting it on a guard to inhibit Perception or Insight checks so you can sneak or lie easier. It's an application I feel is rarely mentioned or utilized.
In addition, Initiative is technically a Dexterity ability check. If you can surprise an enemy, giving them disadvantage on their initiative roll can be downright nasty.
I'm surprised you didn't at least give Hypnotic Pattern an honorable mention at Level 3, especially since you've praised it a lot in other videos.
I personally think it's more broadly useful than Banishment, which you talked about in this video as a good 4th level spell choice. As you mentioned, Banishment can take 2 enemies out of combat when upcast to 5th level, but Hypnotic Pattern can take out more than that without even upcasting. And in most cases, incapacitating an enemy for a minute is just as useful as sending them into another dimension. It's sometimes even more useful; I've seen you use it yourselves in Drakkenheim to hypnotize a bunch of low-level minions then go around killing them one at the time. You can't do that with enemies in another plane.
Don't get me wrong; Banishment is a great spell. It has some advantages, and in the right circumstances it can be so much more powerful than Hypnotic Pattern. It can take the BBEG from another plane out of the fight permanently instead of just for a minute, for example. I just think in most battles you'll get more mileage out of an AoE "neutralize the enemy" spell than a 1- or 2-target spell that in most cases does basically the same thing.
Aside from that, I pretty much agree with the rest of your choices. I might offer Scatter as a decent choice for a Level 6 Mystic Arcanum (if you can't find a use for mass teleport every day, you're doing something wrong), but I think both Summon Fiend and Mass Suggestion edge it out.
My favorite uses of True Polymorph is to turn creatures into inanimate objects, and inanimate objects into creatures of up to CR 9. With enough time you can create a loyal army of just about anything like Young Silver Dragons, Elementals, and/or Constructs.
I also like using True Polymorph as a tool for making monster summoning traps. You could turn just about any monster into any inanimate object. The monster would then stay in that form until dispeled. Then put said object wherever you need it along with a means in which to dispel the True Polymorph, such as a Glyph of Warding with a trigger to cast Dispel Magic. Just imagine going into a dungeon, and as the party gets halfway across a long narrow hallway they get flanked suddenly by a group of monsters that appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
Sickening Radiance, constant concentration area effect that adds exhaustion on a failed save. Combine that with repelling blast (and of course agonizing) on your eldtritch blast and you have an insanely powerful combo. Push anything into your Sickening Radiance area effect a few times and you can kill virtually anything, utterly irrespective of their hitpoints, simply by stacking six levels of exhaustion. You can use that right into epic.
Thank you for your hard work here, I am a new DM, having only run a campaign for the last year. Reading the source material is certainly much more different from actually running a game. Your and Mike's advice have enriched my DM'ing immensely!
Microwaved Frozen Dinner Combo:
Casters use the following AoEs; Sickening Radiance, Sleet Storm, Plant Growth on group of enemies. Martials with Sentinel stand on perimeter & do Shove actions to keep enemies from escaping.
Should have saved that Eldritch Blast joke for April 1st and actually done it.
Amazing (and funny) video that does a great job of helping to understand the unique casting style of warlocks.
The UA ranger admittedly really early play test allows the ranger to cast hunters mark without concentration, it would be interesting if warlocks got that feature. I do think it comes online too early at level 1 as that makes it too dipable. And it makes me wonder a warlock with a level 1 dip into ranger with hex and hunters mark 2d6 on each attack?
With all the improvements that _Xanathar's_ and _Tasha's_ brought to the ranger, few DMs are likely to allow the old ranger UA to be used anymore.
@@bigdream_dreambig I'm talking about the UA play test for 5.5 or 6e. The ranger, bard and rogue came out today for play testing.
@@Ahglock Ah. Got it.
My DM allows Warlocks to simply have their patron spells known for free, allows the subclasses to shine more and encourages taking less often chosen spells with your freed up choices. Before we started doing this everyone’s warlock basically had the same spell list lol
no love for hypnotic pattern?
Great content as always, but I feel like y'all's editing is slipping. You had 3rd level on the screen for 3rd-5th
YEEEAAAH ELDRITCH BLAST YEEEAAAH
Oh just Eldritch Blast? I’ll be on my way then🚣♀️
I play a high level GOO Warlock. Most of my 1-5 choices line up with those presented here, with a few nods towards exploration and thematic options that I can get away with because of my invocations and the fact that I got a Staff of Power and some Robes of the Archmagi covering my behind. My Mystic arcanum choices are:
6- Eyebite
7- Forcecage
8- Maddening Darkness
9- Psychic Scream
Just on Fly; one of the joys of upcasting Fly is that it only takes one characters concentration...opening up the opportunity for other casters to be flying and still be able to concentrate on something else.
No love for Shadow of Moil? Easiest way to get advantage for your eldritch blast, attacks against you have disadvantage, and you can't be counter spelled. Combine it with elven accuracy, and just fish for those crits.
Funny that Kelly mentioned Event Horizon in this video! I just dug out my copy yesterday for October's first horror weekend.
Just a note on "flying on a summoned demon": you need the creature to have "proper anatomy", so you may not be able to make the save
Feeble mind is not easy to land, but when you do, you're probably the hero of the encounter.
My best warlock spell combo is Armor of Agathys (AA), darkness, and blade ward. With the darkness spell and devils sight invocation, your enemies won't have the visual feedback to learn to not hit the warlock, and the blade ward will maximize the the use of AA. Elemental adept pairs nicely with this, though it does eat 2 spell slots if you don't have another spellcaster to provide the darkness spell.
Spike Growth (Dao Genie) Eldritch blast with Repelling Blast, Hand of Hadar, Agonizing Blast.
Loved the video, and another very tempting choice (imo) for information gathering in the 5th level range is Contact Other Plane, which also feels like it fits just right on a warlock, even more so than on a wizard