Any good warlock links

[Whit]

I keep hearing people say warlock past lvl 5-6 is not an option and it’s only good as a multi class option with a dip of lvl 1-3 more likely. This is in regards to viability as a single class comparison to others as any class is “viable” but is the single class warlock far behind any other single class.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Here is my favorite "guide"
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...Guide-to-Power

Warlocks can be a bit tricky. I find them to be fighter like in that you're mostly going to use Eldritch Blast or Hex and your pact weapon if you go that route, in combat. BUT, when the time calls for it you get to drop a kick butt Dissonant Whispers or Fireball.

Their builds need planning to maximize your abilities.

You can do some socially crafty things also.

[Grod_The_Giant]

The Warlock can be finicky based on how many short rests your DM lets you take, but it's absolutely viable from 1-20.

[Tanarii]

I keep hearing people say warlock past lvl 5-6 is not an option and it’s only good as a multi class option with a dip of lvl 1-3 more likely. This is in regards to viability as a single class comparison to others as any class is “viable” but is the single class warlock far behind any other single class.

"People" are giving you bad info, provided the game has something approaching the standard adventuring day, which includes two short rests per long rest.

It is true that Warlock multiclass dips tend to be a very powerful option for characters with good Cha. But that's not the same as saying single class warlocks are not an option. It's easily on par with other single classes.

[bid]

Here is my favorite "guide"
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...Guide-to-Power

It completely misses the "from any class" extra cantrips for tomelock, though.

[ImproperJustice]

At upper levels, once they get their arcanums they start to hold their own again.
They kind of a hit a bit of a week spot in mid tier, at least it feels that way.

[Tanarii]

They kind of a hit a bit of a week spot in mid tier, at least it feels that way.

They actually are behind the curve, at least in terms of a straight spell point comparison to Long Rest spell casting feature casters and ingoring other class features, in the middle and end of T2.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

They actually are behind the curve, at least in terms of a straight spell point comparison to Long Rest spell casting feature casters and ingoring other class features, in the middle and end of T2.

Gimme some short rests and see how many L5 Dissonant Whispers my Warlock can cast in a day!

But yeah, if your DM has one encounter / 15 minute adventuring days...

[JakOfAllTirades]

I keep hearing people say warlock past lvl 5-6 is not an option and it’s only good as a multi class option with a dip of lvl 1-3 more likely.

That's because they won't STFU, not because their arguments have any merit. The people saying this haven't go the slightest idea how to play a single-class Warlock.

This is in regards to viability as a single class comparison to others as any class is “viable” but is the single class warlock far behind any other single class.

It's absolutely viable. Here's the best Warlock guide I've found: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...Guide-to-Power

As for the issue of Short Rests, I've posted on this before, so I'll reiterate:

[TIRADE]When you're playing a class based on short rests, the important thing to remember is that you don't have to wait for the DM to hand out short rests.

Any time during the adventure your group has an hour of downtime, or any time the rest of the group is busy and they don't absolutely need your character, the best possible use of your character's time is to take a short rest, and you can make that decision yourself.

Or, worst case scenario, the rest of the group is ready to move on, but you're out of resources; it's perfectly alright to say "My character needs to meditate for a while." And take your short rest while they wait. Game time: 1 hour. Table time: about 30 seconds unless some idiot decides to argue about it. Unless the adventure involves serious time pressure (yes, I know some of them do) it's a no-brainer; either stop and wait (in-game) for a while, or drag a reluctant character into the next combat with no resources who'll be a burden on the whole group. This shouldn't even be a question.

Just put your foot down and take some short rests when you need them. If someone in your group has a problem with that, it's their problem. And no, they shouldn't have a problem with you being able to enjoy playing your character. If everyone has a problem with it, find a new table with players who don't suck.

Just remember be polite about it. I've been playing short rest classes almost exclusively (I like warlocks) since 5E came out, and Short Rests havn't been an issue at one single table I've played at. I've found most players will accommodate a reasonable request for a short rest as long as it's not disruptive. And if there's no time for a short rest, just ask if anyone's got an extra healing potion. That always gets their attention. And you might get a healing potion. [/TIRADE]

[Talionis]

I think Warlock plays find till level eleven. At which point you have your third spell slot and start only getting Mystic Arcanums. You get one spell that can only be cast once a day and the spell list is abysmally small. Without any real balance for having both a small spell list only one spell choice ever and only one casting per day.

[LudicSavant]

You may like the first build here.

[Tanarii]

Gimme some short rests and see how many L5 Dissonant Whispers my Warlock can cast in a day!

But yeah, if your DM has one encounter / 15 minute adventuring days...

Based on a standard adventuring day, two short rests.

I don't think the warlock suffers exceptionally in the 5-10 range, despite that, when you consider the whole package.

[Solusek]

Single class warlocks do hit a slump between about levels 6-10. I think they are perfectly fine at level 1-5 and from 11+, though. Level 11 is really good: you get to 3 dice on Eldritch Blast, a third spell slot per short rest, and the first of the mystic arcana spell slots. Warlock is a great class in the teens.

[XmonkTad]

Single class warlocks are quite good, and can be very fun. But they do make really powerful dips. 2 levels of warlock is excellent for any Cha class, and can even help support a non-cha class played with high cha (rogues for magic stone and enchanters).

To me, warlocks have felt reliant on their invocations. This is the primary reason I would play a single-class warlock. They're inferior spell casters (at later levels) and bladelocks have a huge drought between 5 and 14. So invocations are the main draw I see.

[Man_Over_Game]

Here's the comparison of the value of spell slots, when converted into a universal currency (such as Sorcery Points, or the optional Spell Points system):

Level 3
Wizard: 14 points
Warlock: 6 points per Short Rest

Level 5
Wizard: 27
Warlock: 10 points per Short Rest

Level 7
Wizard: 38
Warlock: 12 points per Short Rest

Level 9
Wizard: 57
Warlock: 14 points per Short Rest.

The Warlock does get a big jump in power, gaining 50% more spell slots (from 2 to 3 per Short Rest) as well as a Mystic Arcanum spell.

I'd say that the Warlock does best when a high level spell is necessary for your playstyle. For example, even though a level 5 Wizard might have over 3x the spell slot value of a Warlock (with no Short Rests), the Fiend Warlock can afford to cast Fireball x2-x3 times more than the Wizard throughout the day. Find those game-changing spells, and spam them with reckless abandon.

That way, even a Wizard with Shield, Mirror Image, and a bunch of other low level spells might find themselves to be a bit jealous with all that firepower.

[tieren]

Spell point analysis doesn't adequately account for the free castings of certain spells without slots from warlock invocations.

At low and mid levels a warlock with infinite level one spell slots for silent image feels like a better illusionist than a wizard trying to do that with a handful of slots.

[Man_Over_Game]

Spell point analysis doesn't adequately account for the free castings of certain spells without slots from warlock invocations.

At low and mid levels a warlock with infinite level one spell slots for silent image feels like a better illusionist than a wizard trying to do that with a handful of slots.

Sure, but nobody has ever said Warlock was bad for non-combat benefits.

[dragoeniex]

I misinterpreted "good warlock links" and slid in all ready to encourage you to play whatever non-edgy, empathetic cinnamon roll warlock you wanted. Live your stereotype-breaking dreams!

But, ah... seeing as that's not actually what you meant...

Selling Your Soul at a Premium has already been linked a couple times, so instead, have this other guide I considered when building my warlock: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthr...-Warlock-Guide

Xanathar's isn't included, but it's still covers a fair bit.

[tieren]

Sure, but nobody has ever said Warlock was bad for non-combat benefits.

Are you implying they are bad for combat?

I found eldritch blast to be all the combat power I needed for hp damage. I almost never take leveled spells that cause hp damage, and if I did it would have fun utility (thunderstep, hunger of hadar, etc...)

From 5-7 for instance I would cast one leveled spell every combat and never ran out of magic to use. So I might cast faerie fire on my first turn to give the party advantage, then eldritch blast for a turn or two (most fights end quickly) During an escort quest we were attacked and I cast an upcast invisibility to hide the npcs. I used hypnotic pattern to neutralize an entire encounter, etc...

All while dropping as many huge sized illusions (15' cube) as my little fey heart desired without using any slots, I could charm with a glance or teleport away from damage and turn invisible. I took the ice block invocation to protect me if anything too big came along. I also controlled an invisible fling familiar who could scout whole areas for me giving me an awful lot of information a diviner would need to spend slots to obtain.

I played him as a full caster (none of that armor and weapons stuff) and loved it I felt incredibly magical all the time and never felt like I was lacking anything.

Treating warlocks like less than full casters is a mistake/

[Man_Over_Game]

Are you implying they are bad for combat?

I found eldritch blast to be all the combat power I needed for hp damage. I almost never take leveled spells that cause hp damage, and if I did it would have fun utility (thunderstep, hunger of hadar, etc...)

From 5-7 for instance I would cast one leveled spell every combat and never ran out of magic to use. So I might cast faerie fire on my first turn to give the party advantage, then eldritch blast for a turn or two (most fights end quickly) During an escort quest we were attacked and I cast an upcast invisibility to hide the npcs. I used hypnotic pattern to neutralize an entire encounter, etc...

All while dropping as many huge sized illusions (15' cube) as my little fey heart desired without using any slots, I could charm with a glance or teleport away from damage and turn invisible. I took the ice block invocation to protect me if anything too big came along. I also controlled an invisible fling familiar who could scout whole areas for me giving me an awful lot of information a diviner would need to spend slots to obtain.

I played him as a full caster (none of that armor and weapons stuff) and loved it I felt incredibly magical all the time and never felt like I was lacking anything.

Treating warlocks like less than full casters is a mistake/

I'm not saying that. Most people who have complaint about Warlocks are targeting their combat effectiveness, not their non-combat effectiveness (which everyone universally agrees they excel at). Additionally, I said that to get the most out of a Warlock, you want to focus on useful, high level spells, which the Warlock can afford to spam. Then you gave some real life experience that supports that last bit.

We're on the same page.

[MThurston]

Lvl 10 hezblade gets a 50% chance of not being hit by their curse.

Pretty powerful vs single bosses.

[MilkmanDanimal]

It's fine, presuming you don't think of yourself as a, well, "real" spellcaster. Warlocks are magic archers, and you're going to fling EB over and over just like the Fighter is going to stab things over and over and the Ranger is shooting the bow over and over. You've got a few spell slots for dramatic moments, but EB is the bread and butter of the class for a reason, and the invocations you get can really flavor it to make it very usable.

I'm playing a 9/3 Fiendlock/Lore Bard right now, and it's ridiculously fun. A little bit of Bard gives me extra skills, Cutting Words/Inspiration, plus 4 1st and 2 2nd level spell slots for flexibility. I'm aware the character would likely be more combat effective with just 3 levels of Warlock, but don't care; being able to see in magical darkness and fire three EB beams where each hit can push back 10 feet and reduce speed by 10 feet means you can do all sorts of interesting stuff on a battlefield. Being able to cast at maximum level means lots of lower-level spells get really effective; Blindness affects four targets, Scorching Ray can have six beams, things like that.

Warlock's fine. I like the dip into Bard for both narrative and mechanical reasons, but single-classed absolutely works.

[tieren]

The thing I find is that there is a lot of good stuff to choose from, but you don't get enough resources to take a little of everything, you need to focus and build appropriately.

I play a halfling warlock of the archfey, I'm playing him as a true caster, a master of illusion and enchantment, full of tricks and whimsy. I took pact of the chain and love my sprite familiar (not most optimal but fits the fey character theme to a T). I have agonizing blast, misty visions, tomb of levistus, and sculptor of flesh (+cha to dmg, free silent images, ice block defense, polymorph once a day). I play in AL and the rod of the pact keeper is on the evergreen item list I can buy with my treasure points (currently have a +2); the wizards get wand of the war mage to boost spell to hit (but the rod also raises my DCs). I focused on spells like faerie fire, invisibility, hypnotic pattern, calm emotions, etc that focus on my charm and enchantment theme. Works amazingly well.

At my table is another halfling warlock with the Fiend patron and the pact of the blade. She likes to get into melee and fight in close quarters, has fiendish tools to help do that, took invocation for free false life castings, improved pact weapon, eldritch smite, etc... there isn't a lot of room in the builds for "cool stuff that would be neat but doesn't really fit", maybe an invocation and a spell selection or two.

And I love that we are the same race and single classed in the same class and both our characters are completely different in the feel and playstyle and both are well supported for the role they want to play.

I like to stay at range and have lots of tools to do that (misty escape, misty step, thunderstep, etc,,,). I have crap AC but with Mirror Image going I am still a pain to try to hit, and if something does get through the ice block is fun.

She like to slice and dice in melee and has lots of tools to do that. Her experience would definitely be that warlocks don't feel like full casters, despite her dropping a fireball here and there. My experience is they absolutely do. Its what makes comparisons so hard, particularly if only one metric is used (spell points).