Is Eldritch Blast that strong?

[Matt [Reckless Boi]]

I've seen people say that warlock is the best ranged class during the early access period, mostly due to eldritch blast. Why tho?

[snilldog]

I made it to the level cap with a Warlock main. Warlock is really strong at first, but eldritch blast seriously loses power as the game goes on and they have a really low number of spell slots. My rogue and warrior were outputting way more damage near the end.

[goddam minilamb]

Does good damage, can use it every turn on warlock and add knockback.

[Hades]

range , high damage and can push on hit if warlock has the perck

[jurry123]

It's a long range damaging spell, which is a cantrip, so you can use it all the time

[The Ghost Pyro From Outerspace!!]

It's just a long bow, but you don't add stat to damage.

[Milkie]

It's a cantrip, isn't it? I know later on you can specifically build to strengthen it rather considerably, but even then... cantrips have no usage limit. That on its own limits how much damage it should be able to do compared to the stronger, spell-slot-limited spells.

[lefty1117]

Originally posted by The Ghost Pyro From Outerspace!!:

It's just a long bow, but you don't add stat to damage.

You can take a perk to add your charisma bonus to damage

[Indure]

It does 1d10 which is the hardest a cantrip can hit for. It does force damage which nothing has resistances for. Also warlocks have the ability to greatly increase its damage and utility at lvl 2 or 3.

[Pat]

Originally posted by Milkie:

It's a cantrip, isn't it? I know later on you can specifically build to strengthen it rather considerably, but even then... cantrips have no usage limit. That on its own limits how much damage it should be able to do compared to the stronger, spell-slot-limited spells.

at 17th level you can do max of 60 damage with all 4 beams.

[SpacePoon]

Originally posted by snilldog:

I made it to the level cap with a Warlock main. Warlock is really strong at first, but eldritch blast seriously loses power as the game goes on and they have a really low number of spell slots. My rogue and warrior were outputting way more damage near the end.

Warlock has infinitely more utility than Rogue or Warrior. Not to mention a powerful version of Find Familiar. It's not meant to be a damage class.

Low number of spell slots is a non-issue when Eldritch blast can be spammed and you can rest whenever you want.

[wirednight]

I'm not sure if it's the best, but it's certainly strong. Remember though you're only level 4 so really other classes haven't found their gear yet, and the wizards haven't gotten high level spells.

But to answer your question, for an invocation, eldritch blast is just nice. You can make it scale with your level, make it so it takes your charisma bonus, for a spell caster you get to wear light armor instead of robes, and when you do need that extra omph your spells aren't bad.

Compare that to a wizard at early stage where they only have one more spell slot then you do, and their evocations don't really scale as well, they wear robes, and they have junk for hit die. At higher level though wizards begin to shine with better and more spells. Still once a wizard pops all their spells they're useless, while a Warlock will keep going. A wizard will tend to have better aoe spells, while a warlock is still (mostly) single target.

Rangers will primarily be gear and feat dependent which you don't really have in EA yet. Once they start getting their magical bows, and better fears, it begins to smooth out a bit.

[Mememancer]

Eldritch blast starts strong and gains perks but after EA, we should start to see the archetypes of each caster more fully realized. Warlocks get fewer spells slots compared to Wiz or or Sor, focused much more on status ailments, debilitation and some damage.

[Moga CMDR]

I just wish it landed more ^_^

[robbtheguy]

Also don't forget hex, which - while a concentration spell - gives you an extra 1d6 damage on any damage you do to that foe and is a bonus action to cast. Lead with hex, eldritch blast (with the invocation that gives you CHA mod added to damage) and you are doing 1d10+3 force + 1d6 necrotic with a cantrip at 2nd level. When the foe is dead, you can use a bonus action to reapply your hex to another creature.

One issue I have, and it's probably not something you can code, is eldritch blast specifically targets creatures - you should not be able to target objects with it, it's the 'mimic finder' in tabletop 5th ed.

[Dobyk]

Well, if they implement the level scaling mechanic of Eldritch blast then the damage does scale as you gain more "bolts" to strike with. Combined with Agonizing blast I'd say it's an incredibly potent cantrip. It's not going to be as powerful as a slotted spell, but it's going to consistently provide a lot of damage.