D&D 5E (2024) Pact Of Chain Warlock is really powerful now.

[ECMO3]

Yeah I would do chain and tome.

I'm not a fan of Pact of the Blade. Wifes playing one. It is invocation heavy and you're basically a bad Paladin. Tomes great for utility especially early on.

Class kinda seems to top out at level 11/12 as well. And its front loaded.

Im not even convinced Pact of Anything is the best approach. pact of all/lots the origin feats for example is very good. Think I would double down on control and eh on striker now.

I think agonizing Truestrike works better than Pact of Blade for a bladelock at most levels. The flat +3/4/5 and extra cantrip damage dice keep up fairly close with extra attack, you get scaling at 5, 11 and 17 and you only need one invocation for it.

 

[mellored]

I disagree. That's ignoring the potency of high level spells.

Like what?

Finger of Death once per day isn't as good as +4 AC and +2 damage on each attack.

Remember warlocks can't use their higher slots to upcast and they only get 1 spell. So their versatility is extremely limited. So if your against a litch, you may have a completely wasted level.

Level 17, with Foresight and another 5th level slot is a very good level. But there's a ways to go before you get there.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Like what?

Finger of Death once per day isn't as good as +4 AC and +2 damage on each attack.

Remember warlocks can't use their higher slots to upcast and they only get 1 spell. So their versatility is extremely limited. So if your against a litch, you may have a completely wasted level.

Level 17, with Foresight and another 5th level slot is a very good level. But there's a ways to go before you get there.

6th: eyebite (have used myself, quite effective), Tasha's bubbling cauldron (for more support benefits)
7th: finger of death of course, but also crown of stars and power word pain
8th: maddening darkness, dominate monster (does 8 hours really make that much difference?), or befuddlement if you expect to see at least one caster each day which is a pretty good chance at high level
9th: obviously foresight, gate, or true polymorph, sad that Warlocks don't get wish but oh well

Are these things insanely powerful? Not really, no. But they aren't pointless nothing like you portray them to be.

Also where is the +4 AC coming from...?

 

[Zardnaar]

I have found 5e Warlocks boring; but maybe my next 5e24 character will be a chainlock.

I think they're very interesting due to options.

Really good class up to 12 imho. Just not to exciting after that.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think agonizing Truestrike works better than Pact of Blade for a bladelock at most levels. The flat +3/4/5 and extra cantrip damage dice keep up fairly close with extra attack, you get scaling at 5, 11 and 17 and you only need one invocation for it.

I've been looking at celestial 6/paladin 3 for that.

 

[Zardnaar]

6th: eyebite (have used myself, quite effective), Tasha's bubbling cauldron (for more support benefits)
7th: finger of death of course, but also crown of stars and power word pain
8th: maddening darkness, dominate monster (does 8 hours really make that much difference?), or befuddlement if you expect to see at least one caster each day which is a pretty good chance at high level
9th: obviously foresight, gate, or true polymorph, sad that Warlocks don't get wish but oh well

Are these things insanely powerful? Not really, no. But they aren't pointless nothing like you portray them to be.

Also where is the +4 AC coming from...?

Probably paladin armor and shields.

As bladelock really tempted to MC out after 12.

Wife's one is a gith with a silver sword. She wanted racial weapons and medium armor (2015 gith iirc).

 

[ECMO3]

I've been looking at celestial 6/paladin 3 for that.

Since Divine Smite is now a spell, you can use pact slots to cast it. This makes Paladin-Warlock multiclasses quite a bit better than they were.

 

[Zardnaar]

Since Divine Smite is now a spell, you can use pact slots to cast it. This makes Paladin-Warlock multiclasses quite a bit better than they were.

Aware. Smite+Eldritch smite if needed.

 

[Mistwell]

Aware. Smite+Eldritch smite if needed.

Yeah makes for a very deadly critical hit

 

[Ancalagon]

To me, the biggest problem with the bladelock is fragility. The hexblade was almost "mandatory" not just because of the cha to hit feature (which is now available to all bladelocks, a good thing) but also for armor. It seems they aren't giving the new hexblade more armor (a good thing?), but that essentially means that a bladelock benefits immensely from a 1 level fighter dip. Fighting style, a bit of self healing, weapons masteries, con save proficiency, armor...

And honestly, it sorts of bothers me that the concept doesn't quite work without multiclassing.

edit: getting off-topic here. Back on pack of the Chain. Yes, Zardnaar is correct that there isn't enough invocations to be great with both blade and chain. However, taking just the basic chain pact and nothing else is already quite beneficial. The scouting potential alone...