D&D 5E Warlock - What is it actually good at?

[Blue]

Darkness doesn't have that big a radius, so it's worth taking.
Obviously don't use it in a cramped area though.

Yeah - I see people white-rooming Darkness+Devil's Sight into "I'll have advantage on every attack in every encounter" and ignore the party-unfriendliness in many circumstances.

 

[WhosDaDungeonMaster]

Since this thread is about Warlocks, I guess it is a good place to ask a question:

If the maximum spell level slot for a Warlock is 5th, why do they have 6th and higher level spells in the list on page 210 and how can they ever learn or use them?

 

[Gavin O.]

Since this thread is about Warlocks, I guess it is a good place to ask a question:

If the maximum spell level slot for a Warlock is 5th, why do they have 6th and higher level spells in the list on page 210 and how can they ever learn or use them?

At level 11, the warlock gets something called a Mystic Arcanum. This arcanum is a 6th level spell that you can cast once and recharges on a long rest. You get 7th level arcanum at Warlock level 13, and so on. The reason the Arcanum work this way is because the level 6-9 spell slots aren't designed with the idea that a PC could cast them four times per short rest, they're meant to be limited to one use per day.

 

[WhosDaDungeonMaster]

So, just to make sure I have this clearly, a 17th-level Warlock would have 4 spells at 5th-level casting (whether the spell is 1st through 5th, it is always cast as a 5th), which you can recover during a short rest (so maximum 12 spell slots a day). Plus the arcanum gives 1 each of 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. For a total of 16 spells slots.

I would assume the arcanum spells don't HAVE to be from the 6th-level and higher lists. I mean, I could use Witch Bolt for my arcanum, casting it as a 6th-level spell, for instance.

Am I missing anything?

 

[Volund]

So, just to make sure I have this clearly, a 17th-level Warlock would have 4 spells at 5th-level casting (whether the spell is 1st through 5th, it is always cast as a 5th), which you can recover during a short rest (so maximum 12 spell slots a day). Plus the arcanum gives 1 each of 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. For a total of 16 spells slots.

I would assume the arcanum spells don't HAVE to be from the 6th-level and higher lists. I mean, I could use Witch Bolt for my arcanum, casting it as a 6th-level spell, for instance.

Am I missing anything?

"Choose one 6th-level spell from the warlock spell list as this arcanum." The spell has to be from the list specified by the warlock ability table on PHB 106.

I misunderstood mystic arcanum when I first played a warlock but then after re-reading saw that they don't have spell slots. "You can cast your arcanum spell once without expending a spell slot." Warlocks don't have a 6th, 7th, 8th or 9th level spell slot, and can't use arcanum "slots" to upcast lower level spells. They are more like class abilities that can be used once per long rest.

 

[WhosDaDungeonMaster]

So then Warlocks can't cast any of their 1-5 level spells using Arcana (6-9) to make them more powerful if they wanted? Interesting...

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So then Warlocks can't cast any of their 1-5 level spells using Arcana (6-9) to make them more powerful if they wanted? Interesting...

A weakness of the class, that bothers me even though it’s minor. I just see no need for not being able to waste my 9th level slot on armor of agythis if I want to, ya know?

 

[CapnZapp]

Other than that, by themselves they're not really "good" at anything, if we're talking optimization.

This.

The class is a clear example of anxious design that gets caught in the details.

 

[CapnZapp]

They are good at Eldritch Blasting. If you like Eldritch Blasting everything until your enemies die then Warlock is the class for you.

Ayep.

The problem is, a large portion of players turn to the class for jobs it doesn't do particularly well.

Instead of choosing the class for the few things it does do well.

 

[Dessert Nomad]

One thing that's interesting about the Warlock is that it's a class that really seems to want to multiclass more than any other class. Getting a level of any other spellcaster is great, since you get a rack of utility cantrips, some useful first level spells that you can upcast with your pact spells, and some regular first level spell slots to let you cast hex (or other L1 utilities) if you've used up your pact slots. Mixing with martial classes helps melee locks become much better, and rogue synergizes with some of the 'trickster' Warlock abilities. Dipping to warlock from another class is also really great, they have a lot of useful abilities in the first 1-3 levels that can really help a lot of other builds. With other classes 'do I even want to multiclass' is a question, with Warlocks it's more 'what am I going to multiclass with?'.