D&D 5E Is the Warlock the Best Class?

[RSIxidor]

Charisma-caster classes are the best classes, and Warlock is the best of them, so yeah.

I also like the limit of two short rests before needing a long rest. I'd even give the option to continue going with short rests at the risk of exhaustion, if the players want some more flexibility.

 

[Krachek]

The warlock have some flaws.
In design I mean.
The pact of the blade need some rework. And rather than do it, they correct it by adding the hexbalde patron. What a shame.
The fey patron is a nice opening. It allow to play a warlock as a witch who serve a archFey. But the celestial patron is pushing too far. They should have add more option the existing patron and pact.

 

[Charlaquin]

The warlock have some flaws.
In design I mean.
The pact of the blade need some rework. And rather than do it, they correct it by adding the hexbalde patron. What a shame.
The fey patron is a nice opening. It allow to play a warlock as a witch who serve a archFey. But the celestial patron is pushing too far. They should have add more option the existing patron and pact.

Yeah, the blade pact is definitely the weakest option. Shadow Blade and the SCAG cantrips help, as does the Eldritch Smite Invocation, but it’s still a suboptimal melee combatant. Hexblade is good, but ironically better with Tome or Chain than Blade. But gishes in 5e are all pretty awkward, and the Blade Warlock, while it suffers from this, is still very playable, even if it won’t be the MVP of the party.

 

[Salthorae]

I don't know, I wasn't involved in the games referred to. "nothing but blasting" was said I think.

I can think of a couple of warlock characters who seem interesting to me, but I haven't had opportunity to play them yet.

As others noted, EB is the easiest thing to do for a warlock and the most boring. If that's all they did and the DM did nothing with patrons... well, none of that is the classes fault

I don't like playing bards - but I can tell just how powerful they are, especially Lore. The thing with bards is if they are played well you barely notice they are there - they act as power multipliers for other classes.

I would rather play a character that hits things or blows stuff up, but I'm well aware that that is probably not the most effective tactics.

"Played well" is pretty subjective here.

I played my lore bard in a way that my party and I thought was "played well" and you couldn't help but notice he was there. I certainly didn't multiply anyone else's power but my own.

He was the party face, he was the party blaster, and if asked by the group, he'd sing Songs of Rest to help people recover on short rests

Like with the EB Warlock trap. There are tons of different ways to play a bard. You can just be in the background handing out Bardic Inspiration and casting Enhance Ability, Cure wounds, etc. If that's what you want to do, but it's definitely only one way to play them.

Mine WAS blasting/blowing things up and wrecking things in combat even as he used cutting words to keep himself safe from harm in combat.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

This is a pretty common grievance with the Warlock, but honestly, if you find the Eldritch Blast spam boring, then don’t build an Eldritch Blast warlock. There are so many other viable ways to play a warlock, if you think the class is nothing but blasting, you’re not looking hard enough. Also, if Eldritch Blast spam warlock is boring, what does that say about Fighters?

I'm just reporting what other people have said, but I think the issue is, an eldritch spam warlock is easy to build - other warlocks require a deeper understanding of game mechanics. And frankly most of my group have little interest in game mechanics.

 

[Charlaquin]

I'm just reporting what other people have said, but I think the issue is, an eldritch spam warlock is easy to build - other warlocks require a deeper understanding of game mechanics. And frankly most of my group have little interest in game mechanics.

For sure. EBS warlocks are the easiest to build and to play, and they are one of the most effective ways to build a warlock in terms of pure DPS. It’s a great option that makes the class more approachable for players without a lot of experience or interest in the mechanical side of things to pick up and play. I’d say that’s to the class’s credit. I don’t think it’s really difficult to break away from that EBS style though, if one is so inclined.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

if it won’t be the MVP of the party.

I tend to find the MVP is they player who understands the rules best, no matter what class they play...

 

[Charlaquin]

I tend to find the MVP is they player who understands the rules best, no matter what class they play...

Very true.

 

[Dausuul]

I'm just reporting what other people have said, but I think the issue is, an eldritch spam warlock is easy to build - other warlocks require a deeper understanding of game mechanics. And frankly most of my group have little interest in game mechanics.

The thing about EB spam is that you don't need a lot of the warlock build space to do it. One cantrip, one invocation, one 1st-level spell and you're ready to roll. That leaves all your other spells, invocations, and cantrips to play with - to say nothing of skills, feats, racial abilities, etc.

Not to sound like a broken record, but I think this comes back, again, to short rests. A big part of the fun and variety in warlock play comes from your spells. If you don't get to take a rest and refresh those spell slots, you will spend most of your time spamming at-will abilities, and it's gonna get tedious regardless of whether you're spamming EB, or pact weapon attacks, or what have you.

 

[Pauln6]

My Tome Warlock is very versatile out of combat but I'm struggling to find the right spell choices for my combat showstoppers.