How do YOU curate your warlock's spells known?

[TyGuy]

Do you plan ahead and take spells with upcast options?

Do you replace spells when your pact magic slots get high enough to make the low levels "not worth it"?

Do you never think the good 1st and 2nd level spells without upcast go out of style, and just keep the likes of shield, misty step, mirror image, etc?

[Crgaston]

My Fighter1 / Fey Bladelock 10’s current loadout:

1st- Armor of Agathys

2nd- Hold Person

3rd- Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Fly, Thunder Step

4th- Greater Invisibility, Conjure Woodland Beings (DM permission, used mostly for RP and scouting. Would probably have Shadow of Moil otherwise)

5th- Far Step, Synaptic Static

It feels bad burning a 5th level slot on most low level non-scaling spells. AoA is just so much better than a single use of Shield or Mirror Image at that point, and Why Misty Step when you can Far Step or Thunder Step?

[KorvinStarmast]

My Fighter1 / Fey Bladelock 10’s current loadout:
1st- Armor of Agathys
2nd- Hold Person
3rd- Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Fly, Thunder Step
4th- Greater Invisibility, Conjure Woodland Beings (DM permission, used mostly for RP and scouting. Would probably have Shadow of Moil otherwise)
5th- Far Step, Synaptic Static

For OP: I plan ahead.
For Crgaston: I like your spell suite.

[RSP]

You should keep character advancement in mind when selecting spells, and specifically, I dislike holding onto Shield past level 4, when you’re using a 3rd level slot on it. There are great spells to choose from at any higher level that outclass lower level spells that don’t scale.

AoA and Hex are great staples to build on and keep as they scale well. Suggestion, Counterspell, Fear, Hypnotic Pattern, Shadow of Moil, Sickening Radiance, Dimension Door, Synaptic Static and more, are all fantastic spells that I would say are hands down better than holding onto Shield (barring multiclass to get 1st level slots to cast it out of).

To this end, the Ring of Spell Storing is great for Warlocks, if you have another caster or two who can supply the lower level spells at a more efficient slot.

[bobofwestgate]

I'm playing a hexblade and my spells fall in three catagories

reaction based defense spells like shield and hellish rebuke

bonus action spells like misty step and hex

out of combat utility spells like invisibility and fly.

I don't have any real combat damage spells. I rely on my pact blade and eldritch blast. Though I may pick up Armor of Agythis at my next level. It's been damn useful in a campaign I've been watching online (critical role 2nd campaign)

[Keravath]

I have a level 10 character - 9th hexblade blade pact warlock with one level of shadow sorcerer. The shadow sorcerer level is extremely useful.

1) 2 first level spell slots for the 1st level spells. 2 very useful 1st level spells (shield and absorb elements). 4 useful cantrips.
2) 120' darkvision to supplement devil's sight
3) I have a ring of spell storing so casting shield, hex or absorb elements into it only takes 1 slot rather than 5. A single upcast shield takes up the entire space in the ring making it useless for a pure warlock.

Spell selection:
Warlock:
Hex (1)
Invisibility (2)
Darkness (2)
Misty Step (2)
Counterspell (3)
Fly (3)
Hypnotic Pattern (3)
Dimension Door (4)
Shadow of Moil (4)
Synaptic Static (5)

Sorcerer:
Shield (1)
Absorb Elements (1)

Invocations: Devils sight, Improved Pact Weapon, Thirsting Blade, Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast

The character is a melee hexblade with PAM/GWM/resilient CON, as a result, the bonus actions are generally spoken for so I don't take Far Step. In addition, the usual approach is to cast Shadow of Moil when entering combat so the two high level spell slots are usually reserved for this spell most of the time.

In terms of planning, I usually have an idea of what spells will be most useful to the character and pick those first then fill in with useful utility spells like invisibility, Fly and counterspell. Both invisibility and fly affect more people when upcast.

P.S. Shadow of Moil and Greater Invisibility are somewhat redundant from the warlock's perspective but Greater Invisibility can affect another creature while Shadow of Moil is self only. Taking greater invisibility depends on the specifics of the character build and party.

[XmonkTad]

My 5th level warlock has pretty much swapped out a spell after attaining each level. The low level spells that don't scale get replaced with a higher level one that I may actually use. Misty step sticks around because it is amazing, but other than that, dropping low level spells is a good way to go.

[Crgaston]

P.S. Shadow of Moil and Greater Invisibility are somewhat redundant from the warlock's perspective but Greater Invisibility can affect another creature while Shadow of Moil is self only. Taking greater invisibility depends on the specifics of the character build and party.

Nice work with that build. I always think Dragon Sorcerer of Fighter but you make a good case for Shadow here.

Note that Greater Invisibility is only an option for Fey Warlocks, so usually SoM is a no-brainer for offense.

[KyleG]

As a newly minted fifth level im running
Eldritch Blast, Prestidigitation and Toll the Dead for Cantrips

Armour of Agathys
Hellish Rebuke
Hex

Mirror Image
Misty Step

Fear

Although im considering swapping out Mirror Image for something before we start the next level next week, just not sure what for.

[Crgaston]

For OP: I plan ahead.
For Crgaston: I like your spell suite.

Thank you!

As a newly minted fifth level im running
Eldritch Blast, Prestidigitation and Toll the Dead for Cantrips

Armour of Agathys
Hellish Rebuke
Hex

Mirror Image
Misty Step

Fear

Although im considering swapping out Mirror Image for something before we start the next level next week, just not sure what for.

What Patron and Pact are you playing?

I'd definitely swap Mirror Image if you have AoA.

As far as base Warlock spells go, Counterspell is good if you're facing casters, but worthless if you're not.

Hunger of Hadar is great at levels 5-6. It falls off after that. Same for Hypnotic Pattern.

Fly is worth having and keeping since it scales, especially if you have some heavy melee allies. Many times I've given allies Fly and just hung back and Eldritch Blasted so as to avoid Concentration checks.

[KyleG]

Thank you!



What Patron and Pact are you playing?

I'd definitely swap Mirror Image if you have AoA.

As far as base Warlock spells go, Counterspell is good if you're facing casters, but worthless if you're not.

Hunger of Hadar is great at levels 5-6. It falls off after that. Same for Hypnotic Pattern.

Fly is worth having and keeping since it scales, especially if you have some heavy melee allies. Many times I've given allies Fly and just hung back and Eldritch Blasted so as to avoid Concentration checks.

Oops, Hexblade - Blade pact, unoptimised playing with 2 short swords for the most part although my DM lets me free summon my blade so i do mix it up.

[Crgaston]

Oops, Hexblade - Blade pact, unoptimised playing with 2 short swords for the most part although my DM lets me free summon my blade so i do mix it up.

OK, cool. I was guessing Hexblade, so my earlier thoughts still stand.

I'd definitely be looking to swap MI.

AoA lasts an hour, so it's much easier to cast pre-combat which means it doesn't cost an action after Initiative is rolled. That means you get to start fighting a whole round earlier. At this level 15 THP will probably soak 1.5-2 hits, so between that and Counterspell, or being able to pop a Hunger of Hadar, Hypnotic Pattern or Fly as an opener, you should see an equal or greater degree of damage reduction while having a greater effect on the encounter than simply using MI.

[DracoKnight]

I’m currently playing a 6th level Hexblade in Orden.

He’s a Variant Human, and I took Magic Initiate Warlock - representing that he had a curse placed upon him as an infant.

His spells are:

Magic Initiate:
Cantrips
- Booming Blade
- Prestidigitation
1st Level
- Hex

Warlock:
Cantrips
- Eldritch Blast
- Mage Hand
- Minor Illusion
1st Level
- Armor of Agathys
- Hellish Rebuke
3rd Level
- Blink
- Elemental Weapon
- Fly
- Gaseous Form
- Thunder Step

I tried to focus on spells that wouldn’t just pump out damage, but also served some other utility, as well as on things that will scale well. Currently the only spells I have that don’t get more powerful with level are Blink and Gaseous Form, which I think are probably still worth the 5th level slot I’ll be spending on them later. When we hit 7th, which should be here in a week or two, I’m planning on taking Shadow of Moil and maybe swapping Elemental Weapon out; I thought it was gonna be a solid damage buff, but as it turns out, I’d just rather have Hex in just about every situation.

[Rentirith]

I am currently playing a 10th level celestial warlock of the tome and initially wanted to go for a bit of a mix of nature/divine, so I had shillelagh and druidcraft as some of my tome spells. Later on I decided that I would focus on illusions and fire/radiant damage, going for a bit of a light-mage feel, with some other useful spells thrown in. I dropped hex a bit ago just because I have better things to use concentration on.
Cantrips:

• druidcraft
• eldritch blast
• friends (barely use this anymore unfortunately)
• green-flame blade
• guidance
• light
• minor illusion
• sacred flame

1st level:

• protection from evil and good
• find familiar (ritual)
• detect poison and disease (ritual)
• purify food and drink (ritual)
• alarm (ritual)

2nd level:

• flaming sphere
• misty step

3rd level:

• counterspell
• fly
• hypnotic pattern

4th level:

• dimension door
• wall of fire

5th level:

• dream
• synaptic static

invocations:

• agonizing blast
• mask of many faces
• devils sight
• book of ancient secrets
• misty visions

The only reason I don't have cure wounds is because my DM got rid of it for me since we have 2 other healers in the party, so it would have been a bit much. Any thoughts from anyone about how to be an even better light-focused warlock? invocations for the future, etc?

[Wizard_Lizard]

My warlocm has burning ands, scorhing ray, and fireball, we recentlycam axross a monster with fire resistance, needless to say, I swapped out a lot of spells.