mellored
Legend
Warlocks sit somewhere between a fighter and wizard, with a touch of rogue and illusionist. They have good at-will damage, good control, and a number of unique tricks up their sleeves. This makes them possibly the most well-rounded class.
[sblock=Color Code]
Goldenrod: You pretty much always take.
Deepskyblue: Usually the most optimal choice.
Blue: A good choice.
Black (no color): Passible, but not special.
Darkviolet: Situation, most of the time you should pass on this, but there are corner cases that can really make this good.
Red: Grade F, avoid. You just wasted your choice, or worse. [/sblock]
Short Rests
The game expectation is 2 short rests per long rest, and warlock (and monks) power is based on that. It's fine for them to have strong days and weak days, but if your campaign consistently avoids or allows short rests, it can be an issue. If your group doesn't come close to the expected short rest my suggested houserule is twice per long rest, anyone can use an action to take a short rest, spending their hit dice and recharging short rest things. Even allowing it mid-battle.
Stats:
Str: Dump it.
Con: Not only HP, but warlocks have some good spells to concentrate on.
Dex: Light armor or medium armor means you want some points here.
Int: Dump it.
Wis: Not used, but it's an important save so any remaining points can go here.
Cha: The casting stat. There are enough Cha independent spells that you don't need this but you'd still be gimped without it..
Race:
Warlocks have access to devils sight making darkvision less of a priority. This makes variant humans as the general top choice, though consider your party and campaign. Winged Tiefling or other mobile races options can be nice to keep you out of melee if you don't have a good front line, Half-Elfs + Elven Accuracy + Spells for advantage gives you the most damage. Mountain Dwarfs can also get you armor if you are going to be on the front line, and halflings lucky works with eldrich blast, skills, and saves giving a nice all round bump.
Patrons
Note that unlike clerics, you don't automatically get the patron spells. They compete for space with the basic warlocks spells. It's also important to keep in mind how they scale since your slots do.
© = concentration
Archfey: Adds some good control spells and features which can be used both in or out of combat. Blades are only interested in the greater invisibility as there are plenty of saving throws here. Greater invisibility is a big draw.
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Spells
©Faerie Fire: A good spell at level 1, but doesn't scale.
Sleep: Not as strong as the numbers might seem at first glance due to rounding errors, but strong control and bypasses saves and legendary resistances, though some things (elves) are immune to sleep. Scales well.
Calm Emotions: Possible to shut down a battle, but only if all the enemies fail their save. Replace with hypnotic pattern at level 5. Could have some out of combat uses too.
©Phantasmal Force: One of the few Int based saves in the game making it useful just for that. Add some creativity, and you can accomplish a lot, both in and out of combat.
Blink: You have a 50% chance to be untargetable each turn and it doesn't even take concentration. It also allows you to go through thin walls.
Plant Growth: Big penalty to mobility allowing you to kill melee with ease. Also a great way to help some farmers.
©Dominate Beast: Powerful, but short lived. Though animals tend to have weak wisdom saves so your likely to get several turns for it.
©Greater Invisibility: It's like darkness + devils sight, but castable on allies.
©Dominate Person: Powerful, but short lived. Unlike animals, there's a lot of saves here that make it easy to waste your slot.
Seeming: Disguise your party for 8 hours, no concentration.
Fey Presence: A way to protect yourself in battle, or to help you convince someone to do something.
Misty Escape: Another way to protect yourself in battle. Improves slightly as enemy multi-attack comes online.
Beguiling Defenses: PC's aren't usually targeted by charm, but Immunity is still immunity.
©Dark Delerium: Being charmed means it can't attack you, and it can't see anyone else to attack either, so you can take an enemy out of battle. Note that the spell ends if the target is damaged, but that still leaves them open to other kinds of spells. It's also on a short rest recharge.
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Fiend: Lots of THP and damage spells.
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Spells
Burning hands: Even at low levels you need a bunch of very weak monsters in a tight group for this to be worth using. And it scales poorly.
Command: A strong control spell without concentration, which can be used for both in and out of combat. Flee can make them provoke opportunity attacks, grovel can give advantage to your melee allies, plus any creative way you can come up with. Scales into mass command.
Blindness/deafness: Weak control, with a save every turn, but no concentration. Scales into mass blind.
Scorching Ray: Slightly more damage than Eldritch Blast. Which generally isn't worth a slot.
Fireball: Fantastic when you get it, but fades a bit over levels. Can still be useful against hordes. Scales poorly.
©Stinking Cloud: Generally worse then hypnotic pattern since it's a save every turn, and Con is generally a higher than Wis, but not always. Especially with repelling blast to shove creatures back into the cloud.
Fire Shield: Fairly low damage (9 vs 20 - 25 for Armor of Agathy) that requires you to be hit, though good duration without concentration. It will make you immune to a horde of rats thanks to the THP you'll get from killing them.
©Wall of Fire: Almost as much damage as a fireball, with better targeting, but requires concentration. Combo's with repelling blast.
Flame Strike: A weaker, smaller fireball.
Hallow: Adventurers usually don't have lairs to protect, but you have some good choices. Vulnerability to force or fire damage are good options.
Dark One's Blessing: Warlocks should be doing your share of killing, so this will add a lot of toughness. Note that you can KO a creature with a melee attack, so carry a bag of rats and just knock them out as needed. Be careful about replacing Armor of Agathys THP.
Dark One's Own Luck: Good for saving against hold person, and for making stealth checks, but only 1 die and it's a maybe.
Fiendish Resilence: Resistance is good, but only 1 type means it's not going to be effective unless you know what you're facing. Piercing is probably the best default, Slashing for bladelocks.
Hurl Through Hell: Instant control that you can't waste, plus some damage. Just note that it's after your next turn.
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Great old one. Out of combat utility, that's great for intrigue campaigns.
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Spells
Dissonant Whispers: Enemies who run will provoke OA's making this great for low levels, but it doesn't scale, and neither do most OA's.
©Tasha's hideous laughter: The best level 1 control spell, but it get's replaced quickly.
Detect Thoughts: Good utility. Try and capture some enemies.
©Phantasmal Force: One of the few Int based saves in the game making it useful just for that. Add some creativity, and you can accomplish a lot, both in and out of combat.
©Clairvoyance: A good way to spy and gather information.
Sending: Long range secret communications is another good spy feature.
©Dominate Beast: Powerful, but short lived. Though animals tend to have weak wisdom saves so your likely to get several turns for it.
©Evard’s Black Tentacles: A decent zone of control with a little damage. Better with repelling blast to shove creatures back inside.
©Dominate Person: Powerful, but short lived. There's a lot of saves here that make it easy to waste your slot.
©Telekinesis: Rarely useful in combat given that most melee creatures are strength based, and ranged wouldn't be bothered by being up in the air unless you drop them off a cliff. Out of combat mage hand can cover most of the use cases, though 1000lbs is big lifting power and it has twice the range.
Awakened Mind: Secretly talk to people nearby, and in any language.
Entropic Ward: A small boost to defense. Note that your advantage is 1 attack, not 1 turn, so just 1 of the Eldrich Blasts rays.
Thought Shield: Even in an intrigue based game, there're very few enemies that will attempt to read your thoughts or deal psychic damage.
Create Thrall: No save charm. Note that unconscious, stunned, petrified, paralyzed, and hypnotic pattern all work. Plus all the fun spy stuff you can do.
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Undying: Self-healing and some support at level 9. Better in undead campaigns.
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Spells
false life: Just worse than Armor of Agathys
Ray of Sickness: Worse damage than eldrich blast, weak effect that requires a second save and scales poorly. Not to mention the large number of creatures immune to poison.
blindness/deafness: Weak control but it doesn't take concentration.
©silence: some utility and some combat application, but casters can generally just walk away and you risk silenceing yourself as well.
feign death: I don't see any good use for this.
speak with dead: Can really short cut some campaigns, less useful in others. Also can be gotten at-will with an invocation.
©aura of life: As long as your up, so are your allies. Though that makes you a big target and you won't have darkness to hide in. Consider bladeward or dodge.
death ward: A great use of any extra spell slots you have left before a short rest.
contagion: most battle will be over before this applies. Chain can use their familiar to sneak in and cast this ahead of time.
legend lore: A good way to gather information.
Among the Dead: Nice sanctuary effect a not terribly uncommon enemy. Plus a weak cantrip.
Defy Death: Death saves are at the start of your turn, so you might not miss a turn after being knocked down. You might also want to carry a rat with you to knock out and heal if you havn't used this before a short rest. The HP doesn't scale though.
Undying Nature: Good for going underwater.
Indestructable Life: A lot of healing for you.
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Celestial: Adds some healing, including revivify and greater restoration.
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Spells
cure wounds: Could be a good use of any extra spell slots you have before a short rest.
guiding bolt: Nice at first level, but doesn't scale well.
©flamingsphere: Good bonus action damage.
lesser restoration: These effects tend to fade by themselves before you can touch someone.
daylight: you have light as a cantrip. And you probably don't want to dispell darkness.
revivify: Can be a real lifesaver. Literally.
guardian of faith: You rarely need to protect a space. But could be good for tight dungeons.
©wall of fire: Nice damage. Combo's extremely well with repelling blast.
flame strike: Stick with wall of fire.
greater restoration: This can be a campaign changer.
Bonus Cantrips: Sacred flame is a nice backup if you have disadvantage, and light is a useful cantrip. But generally you'll stick with Eldrich Blast + Agonizing Blast.
Healing Light: A great way to get someone off the ground. You generally only want to use 1 die at a time.
Radiant Soul: A little extra damage with sacred flame and wall of fire. But still generally better to use Eldrich Blast.
Celestial Radiance: Nice scaling THP for the party. This really pushed the Inspiring leader feat down a few notches.
Searing Vengence: Nice emergency heal exactly when you want it, plus some piddly damage. Note that death saves are at the start of your turn, so you don't miss a turn, but it also means that the blind is only for your turn. Still, you can move away and get advantage on Eldrich Blast. It's even ally friendly.
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Hexblade: Adds Numbers (AC, damage, health). Despite the name, you may completely ignore weapons. The ratings are based on a melee blade. Eldrich blasters / bowlocks shouldn't take the smite spells for instance, the short range of the curse makes reduces your range advantage, get's even less out of armor of hexes, and doesn't benefit from AC as much when hiding behind allies.
[sblock]
Spells
shield: A good defensive spell, even in 5th level slots.
©wrathful smite: A nice control effect that can keep this going at higher levels, even though the damage doesn't scale.
©blur: A decent defense, but completely outclassed by darkness + devils sight, which is both longer duration, and adds offense.
©branding smite: non-scaling damage with a very niche application.
blink: A good defensive without concentration.
©elemental weapon: Less damage and defense compared to darkness+devils sight, but last longer. At level 17+ foresight, this becomes the go-to buff for weapon users. Eldrich Blaster's might still want this for an allyfighter.
©phantasmal killer: Good combo of control and damage.
©staggering smite: Low damage and a weak effect.
©banishing smite: good combo of control and damage.
cone of cold: I have no idea what this has to do with hexes or blades, but it's nice to have an AoE.
Hexblades Curse: Hex + cure wounds in a single non-concentration bonus spell. Though a bit short on the range. Scales well with both levels and multi-attack / multi-rays.
Hex Warrior: +5 AC for eldrich blasters, +3 AC and getting to ignore Str for bladelocks. Sword and board can also work, though not as well.
Accursed Specter: CR 1 isn't going to be much use for combat, and it can't speak, and won't understand you if you don't pick the right corpse. However, since it can fly through walls, it makes a great scout, so you should have at least 1 battle where you know when to pre-cast darkness. Consider taking the tongues spell.
Armor of Hexes: Only works on your cures target, and takes your reaction, which can compete with OA's and polearm reasons. Still worth using if it comes up.
Master of Hexes: Now you can enjoy the bonus damage all battle long. It doesn't even take an action to switch targets, letting you keep your bonus attack for crossbow expertise/polearm master.
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Pacts:
Blade (without hexblade): No armor, multiple attributes, spending 3 invocations, to deal the same damage you could do with eldrich blast. Not to mention, all warlocks can grab booming blade for a melee option.
Blade (with Hexblade): Hexblade adds the missing pieces of armor and let's you focus on a single stat. There are several options of setups to go with. Also, keep in mind, you can switch weapons, just in case if you need bludgeoning damage.
Polearm + Great Weapon + Advantage: Assuming reaction attacks half the time, you can do Double damage over eldritch blast, but at a hefty cost of your warlock's spells (darkness+devils sight/shadows of moil/foresight+elemental weapon), 2 feats, and 3 invocations (possibly skipping agonizing blast). Great weapon master without advantage doesn't really add any damage. Polearm Master is still a strong no matter what.
Sharpshooter + Advantage + Archery Style: About 50% more damage then eldrich blast, while keeping the advantages of range, but still a bit of an investment. If you find a magic crossbow, you can add Crossbow Expertise to boost it to almost double damage of EB.
Featless Without weapon feats, your spending 3 invocations to deal the same amount of damage as eldritch blast, just in melee.
TWF, don't get anything. Life drinker and improved pact weapon only works with 1 weapon, so it's ever going to be 1d6 damage.
Blade Invocations:
Thirsting Blade: Your basic multi-attack. If you don't take this, there's no reason to be blade.
Lifedrinker: Your next damage bump. If you don't take this, there's no reason to be blade.
Improved Pact Weapon: +1 to hit and damage is hard to pass up. Required for bowlocks. Though trade it out if you find a magic weapon.
Eldrich Smite: There are usually better uses for your spell slots (darkness). But prone can be worth it if you the right allies to take advantage of it. Note that you can only use warlock spell slots. Confirmed as intentional.
@JeremyECrawford
Eldritch Smite works with warlock spell slots only—the ones you get from Pact Magic. #DnD
Chain: You get an improved familiar, all of which fly, most are invisible. Note that their invisibility only breaks when attacking or taking damage, meaning all other actions, including help action, pickpocketing, and casting a touch spell through them (except sprite) are fair game. You can change familiars as the situation needs at the cost of a little gold, including into any of the normal familiars.
Imp: Invisibility, Magic Resist, Devils Sight, Shape Change, and immunity to poison and fire. Toughest of the bunch with the most resistances and highest HP, it's got a decent chance to survive a hit, just not 2.
Pseudodragon: Magic Resist, Blindsight, Advantage on Perception, Limited Telepathy 100. NO Invisibility, but it's the fastest flyer. Note that you have telepathy 100 to your familiars so this might be bit redundant, but it could be used as a translator.
Quasit: Invisible, Magic Resist, Shape Change, Immunity to Poison, Scare. Scare is 1/day, 1 target, with a save every turn, so it's unlikely to have much impact.
Sprite: Invisibility, Ranged Attack, and Heart Sight. NO magic resist, but highest stealth. Familiars can't attack unless you spend an action for them, but it can still be helpful if you sent it ahead. Still flying ranged attackers can auto-win some battles, even if it takes an hour of game time. Heart Sight won't break Invisible, and it's also the only feature in the game that lets you see someone's alignment.
Chain Invocations:
Chains of Carceri: A 5th level spell at-will is powerful, and those are the types of enemies you tend to face at a higher level. Could be a nice security if you summon demons.
Gift of the Ever-Living Ones: With just hit dice, this comes out to an additional 1.75 HP per level, a bit less than +2 Con. But warlocks tend to rely on THP or staying away. Better if your celestial or are tanking for a friendly cleric.
Voice of the Chain Master: You can already telepathically talk to your familiar and see though its senses at 100', so this just extends the range and lets you talk. It's unlikely you'll need more range in most campaigns, though you could potentially send out your sprite to clear a rat nest while you sit in a tavern.
Tome: 3 extra cantrips from any class, considering you get 2-4, that's a big increase. Warlocks already have the best attack cantrip in the game (eldritch blast), so use this to expand your utility a lot. Some good ones include guidance, toll the dead (ignores disadvantage), shillelagh + booming blade/green flame blade, light, and vicious mockery (V only), mage hand, minor illusion, friends, and prestidigitation.
Tome Invocations:
Book of Ancient Secrets: You can collect every ritual spell in the game. Though this is somewhat dependent on your DM to drop them. Comprehend Languages, Illusory Script, Unseen Servant, and Contact other planes are on the warlock spell list and can be learned that way. Identify, Detect Magic, Find Familiar, Detect Poison and Disease, Speak with Animals, Alarm, Tenser's Floating Disk, Find Familiar, and Purify Food and Drink are your other starting options.
Aspect of the Moon: Warlocks aren't the best at spotting things, but some eyes are better than none.
[sblock=DPR comparisons at level 12]
Assuming +5 Cha gives 65% chance to hit.
*Crits not included, but would only add a point or 2.
A blade lock without hexblade would have the same 18 or 20 Str (same to-hit and bonus damage), but only have 16 Cha for lifedrinker. And be -1 or -2 damage, for 2 or 3 attacks.
~ -3 damage. (not to mention the lack of armor).
Keep in mind, spells like hold person can deal far more damage then darkness or hex, particularly if you have damaging allies. Or perhaps casting synaptic shock if you're against a group.
Eldrich Blast, 20 Cha, Agonizing Blast, 1 free feat (31.5 damage, .65 to hit)
= 20.475
+advantage (.8775)
= 27.64125
+Elven accuracy (.957125 to hit)
= 30.1494375
+ hex (42 damage).
= 27.3
Booming Blade 20 Dex or Str or Cha (hexblade), 1-handed, 1 free feat (18.5 damage / 32 if they move, .65 to hit)
base / if they move.
= 12.025 / 20.8
+ avantage (.8775)
= 16.23375 / 28.08
+ elven accuracy (.957125 to hit)
= 17.7068125 / 30.628
HexBlade and Board, 20 Cha, thirsting blade, life drinker, improved pact weapon, 1 free feat (31 damage, .7 to hit)
= 21.7
+ advantage (.91 to hit)
= 28.21
+ elven accuracy (.973 to hit)
= 30.163
+ hex (37 damage)
= 26.6
HexBlade Polearm Master, 18 Cha, great weapon master, thirsting blade, life drinker, and improved pact weapon. (70.5 damage .40 to hit)
= 28.2
-great weapon master, +2 Cha (46.5 damage, .7 to hit)
= 32.55
+ advantage (0.64 to hit)
= 45.12
+ polearm's reaction attack half the time (85 damage)
= 34
+ polearm's reaction half the time, and advantage (85 damage, .64 to hit)
= 54.4
+ polearm's reaction half the time, and elven accuracy (85 damage, 0.784 to hit)
= 66.64
HexBlade Sharpshooter, 20 Cha, thirsting blade, life drinker, improved pact weapon, fighter 1 for archery style (level 13). (51 damage, .55 to hit)
= 28.05
+ advantage (0.7975 to hit).
= 40.6725
+ elven accuaracy (.908875 to hit)
= 46.352625
+ crossbow expertise (magic handbow), 18 Cha(67.5 damage, .875 to hit).
= 59.0625
+ crossbow expertise (magic handbow), 18 Cha, elven accuracy(67.5, .908875 to hit).
= 61.3490625
Fighter, 20 dex, crossbow expertise, sharpshooter, archery style. (74 damage, .5 to hit)
= 37
+ Advantage* (.75 to hit)
= 55.5
+ Elven Accuracy* (.875 to hit)
= 64.75
*Advantage is much harder to get for the fighter, also get action surge, sublcass features, and an extra feat.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Color Code]
Goldenrod: You pretty much always take.
Deepskyblue: Usually the most optimal choice.
Blue: A good choice.
Black (no color): Passible, but not special.
Darkviolet: Situation, most of the time you should pass on this, but there are corner cases that can really make this good.
Red: Grade F, avoid. You just wasted your choice, or worse. [/sblock]
Short Rests
The game expectation is 2 short rests per long rest, and warlock (and monks) power is based on that. It's fine for them to have strong days and weak days, but if your campaign consistently avoids or allows short rests, it can be an issue. If your group doesn't come close to the expected short rest my suggested houserule is twice per long rest, anyone can use an action to take a short rest, spending their hit dice and recharging short rest things. Even allowing it mid-battle.
Stats:
Str: Dump it.
Con: Not only HP, but warlocks have some good spells to concentrate on.
Dex: Light armor or medium armor means you want some points here.
Int: Dump it.
Wis: Not used, but it's an important save so any remaining points can go here.
Cha: The casting stat. There are enough Cha independent spells that you don't need this but you'd still be gimped without it..
Race:
Warlocks have access to devils sight making darkvision less of a priority. This makes variant humans as the general top choice, though consider your party and campaign. Winged Tiefling or other mobile races options can be nice to keep you out of melee if you don't have a good front line, Half-Elfs + Elven Accuracy + Spells for advantage gives you the most damage. Mountain Dwarfs can also get you armor if you are going to be on the front line, and halflings lucky works with eldrich blast, skills, and saves giving a nice all round bump.
Patrons
Note that unlike clerics, you don't automatically get the patron spells. They compete for space with the basic warlocks spells. It's also important to keep in mind how they scale since your slots do.
© = concentration
Archfey: Adds some good control spells and features which can be used both in or out of combat. Blades are only interested in the greater invisibility as there are plenty of saving throws here. Greater invisibility is a big draw.
[sblock]
Spells
©Faerie Fire: A good spell at level 1, but doesn't scale.
Sleep: Not as strong as the numbers might seem at first glance due to rounding errors, but strong control and bypasses saves and legendary resistances, though some things (elves) are immune to sleep. Scales well.
Calm Emotions: Possible to shut down a battle, but only if all the enemies fail their save. Replace with hypnotic pattern at level 5. Could have some out of combat uses too.
©Phantasmal Force: One of the few Int based saves in the game making it useful just for that. Add some creativity, and you can accomplish a lot, both in and out of combat.
Blink: You have a 50% chance to be untargetable each turn and it doesn't even take concentration. It also allows you to go through thin walls.
Plant Growth: Big penalty to mobility allowing you to kill melee with ease. Also a great way to help some farmers.
©Dominate Beast: Powerful, but short lived. Though animals tend to have weak wisdom saves so your likely to get several turns for it.
©Greater Invisibility: It's like darkness + devils sight, but castable on allies.
©Dominate Person: Powerful, but short lived. Unlike animals, there's a lot of saves here that make it easy to waste your slot.
Seeming: Disguise your party for 8 hours, no concentration.
Fey Presence: A way to protect yourself in battle, or to help you convince someone to do something.
Misty Escape: Another way to protect yourself in battle. Improves slightly as enemy multi-attack comes online.
Beguiling Defenses: PC's aren't usually targeted by charm, but Immunity is still immunity.
©Dark Delerium: Being charmed means it can't attack you, and it can't see anyone else to attack either, so you can take an enemy out of battle. Note that the spell ends if the target is damaged, but that still leaves them open to other kinds of spells. It's also on a short rest recharge.
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Fiend: Lots of THP and damage spells.
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Spells
Burning hands: Even at low levels you need a bunch of very weak monsters in a tight group for this to be worth using. And it scales poorly.
Command: A strong control spell without concentration, which can be used for both in and out of combat. Flee can make them provoke opportunity attacks, grovel can give advantage to your melee allies, plus any creative way you can come up with. Scales into mass command.
Blindness/deafness: Weak control, with a save every turn, but no concentration. Scales into mass blind.
Scorching Ray: Slightly more damage than Eldritch Blast. Which generally isn't worth a slot.
Fireball: Fantastic when you get it, but fades a bit over levels. Can still be useful against hordes. Scales poorly.
©Stinking Cloud: Generally worse then hypnotic pattern since it's a save every turn, and Con is generally a higher than Wis, but not always. Especially with repelling blast to shove creatures back into the cloud.
Fire Shield: Fairly low damage (9 vs 20 - 25 for Armor of Agathy) that requires you to be hit, though good duration without concentration. It will make you immune to a horde of rats thanks to the THP you'll get from killing them.
©Wall of Fire: Almost as much damage as a fireball, with better targeting, but requires concentration. Combo's with repelling blast.
Flame Strike: A weaker, smaller fireball.
Hallow: Adventurers usually don't have lairs to protect, but you have some good choices. Vulnerability to force or fire damage are good options.
Dark One's Blessing: Warlocks should be doing your share of killing, so this will add a lot of toughness. Note that you can KO a creature with a melee attack, so carry a bag of rats and just knock them out as needed. Be careful about replacing Armor of Agathys THP.
Dark One's Own Luck: Good for saving against hold person, and for making stealth checks, but only 1 die and it's a maybe.
Fiendish Resilence: Resistance is good, but only 1 type means it's not going to be effective unless you know what you're facing. Piercing is probably the best default, Slashing for bladelocks.
Hurl Through Hell: Instant control that you can't waste, plus some damage. Just note that it's after your next turn.
[/sblock]
Great old one. Out of combat utility, that's great for intrigue campaigns.
[sblock]
Spells
Dissonant Whispers: Enemies who run will provoke OA's making this great for low levels, but it doesn't scale, and neither do most OA's.
©Tasha's hideous laughter: The best level 1 control spell, but it get's replaced quickly.
Detect Thoughts: Good utility. Try and capture some enemies.
©Phantasmal Force: One of the few Int based saves in the game making it useful just for that. Add some creativity, and you can accomplish a lot, both in and out of combat.
©Clairvoyance: A good way to spy and gather information.
Sending: Long range secret communications is another good spy feature.
©Dominate Beast: Powerful, but short lived. Though animals tend to have weak wisdom saves so your likely to get several turns for it.
©Evard’s Black Tentacles: A decent zone of control with a little damage. Better with repelling blast to shove creatures back inside.
©Dominate Person: Powerful, but short lived. There's a lot of saves here that make it easy to waste your slot.
©Telekinesis: Rarely useful in combat given that most melee creatures are strength based, and ranged wouldn't be bothered by being up in the air unless you drop them off a cliff. Out of combat mage hand can cover most of the use cases, though 1000lbs is big lifting power and it has twice the range.
Awakened Mind: Secretly talk to people nearby, and in any language.
Entropic Ward: A small boost to defense. Note that your advantage is 1 attack, not 1 turn, so just 1 of the Eldrich Blasts rays.
Thought Shield: Even in an intrigue based game, there're very few enemies that will attempt to read your thoughts or deal psychic damage.
Create Thrall: No save charm. Note that unconscious, stunned, petrified, paralyzed, and hypnotic pattern all work. Plus all the fun spy stuff you can do.
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Undying: Self-healing and some support at level 9. Better in undead campaigns.
[sblock]
Spells
false life: Just worse than Armor of Agathys
Ray of Sickness: Worse damage than eldrich blast, weak effect that requires a second save and scales poorly. Not to mention the large number of creatures immune to poison.
blindness/deafness: Weak control but it doesn't take concentration.
©silence: some utility and some combat application, but casters can generally just walk away and you risk silenceing yourself as well.
feign death: I don't see any good use for this.
speak with dead: Can really short cut some campaigns, less useful in others. Also can be gotten at-will with an invocation.
©aura of life: As long as your up, so are your allies. Though that makes you a big target and you won't have darkness to hide in. Consider bladeward or dodge.
death ward: A great use of any extra spell slots you have left before a short rest.
contagion: most battle will be over before this applies. Chain can use their familiar to sneak in and cast this ahead of time.
legend lore: A good way to gather information.
Among the Dead: Nice sanctuary effect a not terribly uncommon enemy. Plus a weak cantrip.
Defy Death: Death saves are at the start of your turn, so you might not miss a turn after being knocked down. You might also want to carry a rat with you to knock out and heal if you havn't used this before a short rest. The HP doesn't scale though.
Undying Nature: Good for going underwater.
Indestructable Life: A lot of healing for you.
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Celestial: Adds some healing, including revivify and greater restoration.
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Spells
cure wounds: Could be a good use of any extra spell slots you have before a short rest.
guiding bolt: Nice at first level, but doesn't scale well.
©flamingsphere: Good bonus action damage.
lesser restoration: These effects tend to fade by themselves before you can touch someone.
daylight: you have light as a cantrip. And you probably don't want to dispell darkness.
revivify: Can be a real lifesaver. Literally.
guardian of faith: You rarely need to protect a space. But could be good for tight dungeons.
©wall of fire: Nice damage. Combo's extremely well with repelling blast.
flame strike: Stick with wall of fire.
greater restoration: This can be a campaign changer.
Bonus Cantrips: Sacred flame is a nice backup if you have disadvantage, and light is a useful cantrip. But generally you'll stick with Eldrich Blast + Agonizing Blast.
Healing Light: A great way to get someone off the ground. You generally only want to use 1 die at a time.
Radiant Soul: A little extra damage with sacred flame and wall of fire. But still generally better to use Eldrich Blast.
Celestial Radiance: Nice scaling THP for the party. This really pushed the Inspiring leader feat down a few notches.
Searing Vengence: Nice emergency heal exactly when you want it, plus some piddly damage. Note that death saves are at the start of your turn, so you don't miss a turn, but it also means that the blind is only for your turn. Still, you can move away and get advantage on Eldrich Blast. It's even ally friendly.
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Hexblade: Adds Numbers (AC, damage, health). Despite the name, you may completely ignore weapons. The ratings are based on a melee blade. Eldrich blasters / bowlocks shouldn't take the smite spells for instance, the short range of the curse makes reduces your range advantage, get's even less out of armor of hexes, and doesn't benefit from AC as much when hiding behind allies.
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Spells
shield: A good defensive spell, even in 5th level slots.
©wrathful smite: A nice control effect that can keep this going at higher levels, even though the damage doesn't scale.
©blur: A decent defense, but completely outclassed by darkness + devils sight, which is both longer duration, and adds offense.
©branding smite: non-scaling damage with a very niche application.
blink: A good defensive without concentration.
©elemental weapon: Less damage and defense compared to darkness+devils sight, but last longer. At level 17+ foresight, this becomes the go-to buff for weapon users. Eldrich Blaster's might still want this for an allyfighter.
©phantasmal killer: Good combo of control and damage.
©staggering smite: Low damage and a weak effect.
©banishing smite: good combo of control and damage.
cone of cold: I have no idea what this has to do with hexes or blades, but it's nice to have an AoE.
Hexblades Curse: Hex + cure wounds in a single non-concentration bonus spell. Though a bit short on the range. Scales well with both levels and multi-attack / multi-rays.
Hex Warrior: +5 AC for eldrich blasters, +3 AC and getting to ignore Str for bladelocks. Sword and board can also work, though not as well.
Accursed Specter: CR 1 isn't going to be much use for combat, and it can't speak, and won't understand you if you don't pick the right corpse. However, since it can fly through walls, it makes a great scout, so you should have at least 1 battle where you know when to pre-cast darkness. Consider taking the tongues spell.
Armor of Hexes: Only works on your cures target, and takes your reaction, which can compete with OA's and polearm reasons. Still worth using if it comes up.
Master of Hexes: Now you can enjoy the bonus damage all battle long. It doesn't even take an action to switch targets, letting you keep your bonus attack for crossbow expertise/polearm master.
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Pacts:
Blade (without hexblade): No armor, multiple attributes, spending 3 invocations, to deal the same damage you could do with eldrich blast. Not to mention, all warlocks can grab booming blade for a melee option.
Blade (with Hexblade): Hexblade adds the missing pieces of armor and let's you focus on a single stat. There are several options of setups to go with. Also, keep in mind, you can switch weapons, just in case if you need bludgeoning damage.
Polearm + Great Weapon + Advantage: Assuming reaction attacks half the time, you can do Double damage over eldritch blast, but at a hefty cost of your warlock's spells (darkness+devils sight/shadows of moil/foresight+elemental weapon), 2 feats, and 3 invocations (possibly skipping agonizing blast). Great weapon master without advantage doesn't really add any damage. Polearm Master is still a strong no matter what.
Sharpshooter + Advantage + Archery Style: About 50% more damage then eldrich blast, while keeping the advantages of range, but still a bit of an investment. If you find a magic crossbow, you can add Crossbow Expertise to boost it to almost double damage of EB.
Featless Without weapon feats, your spending 3 invocations to deal the same amount of damage as eldritch blast, just in melee.
TWF, don't get anything. Life drinker and improved pact weapon only works with 1 weapon, so it's ever going to be 1d6 damage.
Blade Invocations:
Thirsting Blade: Your basic multi-attack. If you don't take this, there's no reason to be blade.
Lifedrinker: Your next damage bump. If you don't take this, there's no reason to be blade.
Improved Pact Weapon: +1 to hit and damage is hard to pass up. Required for bowlocks. Though trade it out if you find a magic weapon.
Eldrich Smite: There are usually better uses for your spell slots (darkness). But prone can be worth it if you the right allies to take advantage of it. Note that you can only use warlock spell slots. Confirmed as intentional.
@JeremyECrawford
Eldritch Smite works with warlock spell slots only—the ones you get from Pact Magic. #DnD
Chain: You get an improved familiar, all of which fly, most are invisible. Note that their invisibility only breaks when attacking or taking damage, meaning all other actions, including help action, pickpocketing, and casting a touch spell through them (except sprite) are fair game. You can change familiars as the situation needs at the cost of a little gold, including into any of the normal familiars.
Imp: Invisibility, Magic Resist, Devils Sight, Shape Change, and immunity to poison and fire. Toughest of the bunch with the most resistances and highest HP, it's got a decent chance to survive a hit, just not 2.
Pseudodragon: Magic Resist, Blindsight, Advantage on Perception, Limited Telepathy 100. NO Invisibility, but it's the fastest flyer. Note that you have telepathy 100 to your familiars so this might be bit redundant, but it could be used as a translator.
Quasit: Invisible, Magic Resist, Shape Change, Immunity to Poison, Scare. Scare is 1/day, 1 target, with a save every turn, so it's unlikely to have much impact.
Sprite: Invisibility, Ranged Attack, and Heart Sight. NO magic resist, but highest stealth. Familiars can't attack unless you spend an action for them, but it can still be helpful if you sent it ahead. Still flying ranged attackers can auto-win some battles, even if it takes an hour of game time. Heart Sight won't break Invisible, and it's also the only feature in the game that lets you see someone's alignment.
Chain Invocations:
Chains of Carceri: A 5th level spell at-will is powerful, and those are the types of enemies you tend to face at a higher level. Could be a nice security if you summon demons.
Gift of the Ever-Living Ones: With just hit dice, this comes out to an additional 1.75 HP per level, a bit less than +2 Con. But warlocks tend to rely on THP or staying away. Better if your celestial or are tanking for a friendly cleric.
Voice of the Chain Master: You can already telepathically talk to your familiar and see though its senses at 100', so this just extends the range and lets you talk. It's unlikely you'll need more range in most campaigns, though you could potentially send out your sprite to clear a rat nest while you sit in a tavern.
Tome: 3 extra cantrips from any class, considering you get 2-4, that's a big increase. Warlocks already have the best attack cantrip in the game (eldritch blast), so use this to expand your utility a lot. Some good ones include guidance, toll the dead (ignores disadvantage), shillelagh + booming blade/green flame blade, light, and vicious mockery (V only), mage hand, minor illusion, friends, and prestidigitation.
Tome Invocations:
Book of Ancient Secrets: You can collect every ritual spell in the game. Though this is somewhat dependent on your DM to drop them. Comprehend Languages, Illusory Script, Unseen Servant, and Contact other planes are on the warlock spell list and can be learned that way. Identify, Detect Magic, Find Familiar, Detect Poison and Disease, Speak with Animals, Alarm, Tenser's Floating Disk, Find Familiar, and Purify Food and Drink are your other starting options.
Aspect of the Moon: Warlocks aren't the best at spotting things, but some eyes are better than none.
[sblock=DPR comparisons at level 12]
Assuming +5 Cha gives 65% chance to hit.
*Crits not included, but would only add a point or 2.
A blade lock without hexblade would have the same 18 or 20 Str (same to-hit and bonus damage), but only have 16 Cha for lifedrinker. And be -1 or -2 damage, for 2 or 3 attacks.
~ -3 damage. (not to mention the lack of armor).
Keep in mind, spells like hold person can deal far more damage then darkness or hex, particularly if you have damaging allies. Or perhaps casting synaptic shock if you're against a group.
Eldrich Blast, 20 Cha, Agonizing Blast, 1 free feat (31.5 damage, .65 to hit)
= 20.475
+advantage (.8775)
= 27.64125
+Elven accuracy (.957125 to hit)
= 30.1494375
+ hex (42 damage).
= 27.3
Booming Blade 20 Dex or Str or Cha (hexblade), 1-handed, 1 free feat (18.5 damage / 32 if they move, .65 to hit)
base / if they move.
= 12.025 / 20.8
+ avantage (.8775)
= 16.23375 / 28.08
+ elven accuracy (.957125 to hit)
= 17.7068125 / 30.628
HexBlade and Board, 20 Cha, thirsting blade, life drinker, improved pact weapon, 1 free feat (31 damage, .7 to hit)
= 21.7
+ advantage (.91 to hit)
= 28.21
+ elven accuracy (.973 to hit)
= 30.163
+ hex (37 damage)
= 26.6
HexBlade Polearm Master, 18 Cha, great weapon master, thirsting blade, life drinker, and improved pact weapon. (70.5 damage .40 to hit)
= 28.2
-great weapon master, +2 Cha (46.5 damage, .7 to hit)
= 32.55
+ advantage (0.64 to hit)
= 45.12
+ polearm's reaction attack half the time (85 damage)
= 34
+ polearm's reaction half the time, and advantage (85 damage, .64 to hit)
= 54.4
+ polearm's reaction half the time, and elven accuracy (85 damage, 0.784 to hit)
= 66.64
HexBlade Sharpshooter, 20 Cha, thirsting blade, life drinker, improved pact weapon, fighter 1 for archery style (level 13). (51 damage, .55 to hit)
= 28.05
+ advantage (0.7975 to hit).
= 40.6725
+ elven accuaracy (.908875 to hit)
= 46.352625
+ crossbow expertise (magic handbow), 18 Cha(67.5 damage, .875 to hit).
= 59.0625
+ crossbow expertise (magic handbow), 18 Cha, elven accuracy(67.5, .908875 to hit).
= 61.3490625
Fighter, 20 dex, crossbow expertise, sharpshooter, archery style. (74 damage, .5 to hit)
= 37
+ Advantage* (.75 to hit)
= 55.5
+ Elven Accuracy* (.875 to hit)
= 64.75
*Advantage is much harder to get for the fighter, also get action surge, sublcass features, and an extra feat.
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