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

[ECMO3]

So, I'm now running a game with a Pact of Chain Warlock and he has one of those sphinxes. Holy, it's destroying everything. 1d4+2d6 radiant damage every round. It does more than the greatsword wielding barbarian. It has 24hp

They are 3rd level now and the character never goes into combat. Also, we are fighting lots of undead so the radiant damage is nerfing the zombie ability....but with how True Strike works now, radiant damage is pretty common place.

At low levels Pact of Chain is extremely powerful and the better familiars are all better melee combatants than most 1st level martials. It gets less powerful as you advance though.

 

[ECMO3]

So if you have armor of shadows and max dex, your AC is 18... but now you aren't maxing out your cha. And your dex won't be max for a while anyway.

It depends what you roll how quick you hit max dex. On point buy you hit 20 the same time you would hit it with any other class except Fighter.

If you are playing a character that is single class and hard melee I think you dump Charisma. You don't need it.

Otherwise... what other melee-focused character has less defensive capacity? A rogue perhaps? the 2024 monk's parry ability has made them far more resilient.

A 16 Con Warlock with Armor of Shadows, max Dex and a pact slot spent on Armor of Agathys and the defensive duelist feat is top flight in terms of defensive capacity. It is right there with defense-oriented Barbarians and Eldrtich Knight Fighters.

Armor of Agathys is effectively 2.5 hit points per level, which is statistically 5 points of Constitution per casting (10 points per short rest) and that is before you factor in the damage you do to enemies with it.

 

[Zardnaar]

So, I'm now running a game with a Pact of Chain Warlock and he has one of those sphinxes. Holy, it's destroying everything. 1d4+2d6 radiant damage every round. It does more than the greatsword wielding barbarian. It has 24hp

They are 3rd level now and the character never goes into combat. Also, we are fighting lots of undead so the radiant damage is nerfing the zombie ability....but with how True Strike works now, radiant damage is pretty common place.

Peaks between 3rd and 5th level.

Warlocks in general are very front loaded.