D&D 5E Warlock, Pact of the Blade, Melee

[Quartz]

I think glaive (or other polearms) is the best pact weapon in the long run, due to 2x 1d10 + str + cha mainhand attacks and a 1d4+cha offhand attack.

How are you getting the second main attack? As far as I can see, the warlock only gets one attack action.

 

[holyground]

How are you getting the second main attack? As far as I can see, the warlock only gets one attack action.

The invocation Thirsting blade:
Prerequisite: 5th Level, Pact of the Blade Feature
You can attack with your pact weapon twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

 

[bganon]

I think people are searching for the best warrior/mage (gish) options in 5e. The EK is a lot more limited in terms of spells and spell progression than the pact blade warlock or the valor bard so those start to look appealing (fireballs, flight and two attack per round by level 6!). But then the latter two are very limited in terms of armor, weapons and combat abilty compared to the EK. So it is hard to find the sweet spot. The Oath of Vengeance or Oath of the Ancients Paladin is probably the closest to that sweet spot but the are divine and thus more defensive/less flash than an arcane warrior.

Exactly, I think of the eldritch knight as something like 80/20 warrior/mage, while the bladelock is more like 30/70. Valor bards and war clerics seem to me like they might be closest to 50/50, maybe leaning a bit more toward mage, while paladins can go from 80%+ warrior to maybe 60/40 if they don't burn all their slots on smites.

Of course, it depends on where you put "50% warrior". My criteria is something like "spends 50% of combat swinging a weapon well enough to not just be wishing for more spells instead". I think bladelocks don't quite meet this - they're generally going to better off opening with a debuff and 1-2 eldritch blasts before closing to melee for mop-up.

 

[ForumFerret]

Also I think it's easy to overlook, but using Eldritch Blast with someone in your face imposes Disadvantage on the Warlock. The Blade Pact warlock doesn't care, though - and can still stack Hex and Agathys and weapon and str and cha if he so chooses.

Interesting thought re: repelling blast and Polearm Master. Does forced movement like the knock back from repelling blast provoke Attack of Opportunity?

 

[Quartz]

The invocation Thirsting blade:
Prerequisite: 5th Level, Pact of the Blade Feature
You can attack with your pact weapon twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Thank you.

 

[Andor]

Interesting thought re: repelling blast and Polearm Master. Does forced movement like the knock back from repelling blast provoke Attack of Opportunity?

Nope. The description of opportunity attacks requires that you be using your own movement. Forced movement doesn't provoke, with the specific example of being hurled by a magical explosion.

 

[ForumFerret]

Ah, that's a shame. It opens a bucket of tactical options for guys who can shove/pull/etc

 

[kerbarian]

Ah, that's a shame. It opens a bucket of tactical options for guys who can shove/pull/etc

Warlocks have a number of persistent area effect spells that they can shove people back into on later rounds using Repelling Blast. It's not OA shenanigans, but it can still be fun.

For warlocks that get stuck in melee.... obviously blade warlocks are in good shape. For others, switching from Eldritch Blast to something like Poison Spray is a big step down. It might be better to just use Eldritch Blast with disadvantage.

One way to address it is the Crossbow Expert feat, which lets you make ranged attacks in melee without disadvantage. Not sure if that's worth a feat for non-blade warlocks. I'd need to see more actual play (and at somewhat higher levels) to get an idea of how often casters get stuck in melee.

 

[trentonjoe]

Exactly, I think of the eldritch knight as something like 80/20 warrior/mage, while the bladelock is more like 30/70. Valor bards and war clerics seem to me like they might be closest to 50/50, maybe leaning a bit more toward mage, while paladins can go from 80%+ warrior to maybe 60/40 if they don't burn all their slots on smites.

Of course, it depends on where you put "50% warrior". My criteria is something like "spends 50% of combat swinging a weapon well enough to not just be wishing for more spells instead". I think bladelocks don't quite meet this - they're generally going to better off opening with a debuff and 1-2 eldritch blasts before closing to melee for mop-up.

What I am trying to do is build someone who is better swinging their sword than using EB.

I went with:

• Mountain Dwarf
• 16,10,16,8,10,15
• Archfiend pact
• 1st level spells: Hex, Hellish Rebuke
• 2nd level incantations: Agonizing Blast (CHA to EB damage), Fiendish Vigor (False Life as a Cantrip)

Here's my issue:

at 1st level my melee damage is 1d10 +3, which is pretty much the same as the Eldrich Blast damage at 2nd level if I flip the STR and CHR scores.

at 12th level I can add the Cha damage to my melee attack but what about levels 2-11?


What am I missing?

 

[RandomCitizenX]

Has anyone looked at multiclassing with a Paladin to get smite, which you can then use by burning those quick recovering Warlock spell slots?