Multiclassing with Warlock

[TyRawDogg]

So i was thinking if i could multiclass with warlock and fighter. does the extra attack feat work with being able to cast eldritch blast multiple times?

[Chaosolous]

I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

[Dusk_Army]

Extra Attack applies only to weapon attacks, which includes throwing things, but not spells. However, Action Surge will allow you to cast Eldritch Blast an additional time in a turn. There isn't much reason to multiclass just for that, since you could also just take the Magic Initiate feat and select Eldritch Blast; Cantrips scale with your total level, not your level in a given class.

[Drosta]

Eldritch blasts gets multiple attacks which scales with character level. It does not get more of them from "extra attack" but Multi classing with fighter isn't a bad decision in some circumstances. Depending on what you want to do. Action surge is good, being that it's on short rest along with most of the rest of your resources. And it performs just as well for your Eldritch blast attacks as it does for a full fighter. If for example, you want that character to lean into Crititcal hit chance then a champion is a decent option many people playing warlock go for because it's another source of 5% increased Crit chance.

[Mike Garrison]

Fighters get extra attack at level 5, but they get improved extra attack at level 11. That third attack per action is a big deal. 50% more attacks. So you typically want to use at least 11 levels for fighter (assuming you aren't just doing a "dip" to get weapon proficiency and action surge).

You need two levels of warlock to get agonizing blast.

And then for fighter you want strength. For warlock you want charisma. (CON is good for both, so at least that part works.)

Meanwhile, you have another option ... Pact of the Blade. With that, your warlock gets to use any weapon (like a fighter does) and gets to use it with CHA instead or STR or DEX (so you can maximize the one stat). You still get extra attack at level 5.

If you really want to, you could do a 2-level dip into fighter just to get action surge. That will cost you a feat versus all 12 levels in warlock, but it would give you that extra action every short rest.

[Raz]

Another option is to just go full Eldritch Knight and pick up Warlock Initiate and learn Eldritch Blast that way if Eldritch Blast is all you wanted out of Warlock. You'd get more Spell Slots, keep Heavy Armor, get 3x Attack, and still have Eldritch Blast.

[Mike Garrison]

I am personally not a fan of just adding eldritch blast to fighters. Fighters use weapons. That's what they do best. Typically a fighter will do more damage swinging a greatsword three times than they would with three eldritch blast beams. And no, you can't do both with the same action.

Eldritch blasters want to stay out of melee range. Fighters (typically) want to get into melee range. The lack of synergy is just hard to overcome.

[Raz]

Originally posted by Mike Garrison:

I am personally not a fan of just adding eldritch blast to fighters. Fighters use weapons. That's what they do best. Typically a fighter will do more damage swinging a greatsword three times than they would with three eldritch blast beams. And no, you can't do both with the same action.

Eldritch blasters want to stay out of melee range. Fighters (typically) want to get into melee range. The lack of synergy is just hard to overcome.

Eldritch Knight... War Magic + Daredevil Gloves + Diadem of Arcane Synergy + Ability Drain. Daredevil Gloves cast spells at melee range with no disadvantage. You get four attacks in a single turn. Three blasts from Eldritch Blast, one from the Greatsword. Eldritch Blast causes a condition on the target, you trigger Arcane Synergy to add your spell casting modifier to your melee attacks.

Synergy with versatility on changing your effective range from close to long whenever you need to.

[Mike Garrison]

I suppose if you are not playing Honor Rules, you could go six levels in fighter and six levels in PotB warlock.

That would give you extra attack as a fighter and extra attack as a warlock. They stack (non-Honor rules), so you would still end up with three melee attacks.

You would still get three feats (Warlock 4, Fighter 4, Fighter 6). You would only get 3rd level spells for warlocks, but that still gives you Hunger of Hadar, which is the best warlock spell.

Your pact weapon uses CHA instead of STR, so unlike a typical fighter you would want to dump STR and put everything into CHA. Maybe 14 DEX to max out using medium armor and help your initiative and dex saves. If you started level 1 in fighter you could even go for heavy armor and dump DEX, probably putting everything you could into CHA and CON.

Note that if you play Honor Rules the pact weapon extra attack does not stack with the Fighter extra attack.

Of course, if you are wearing armor that means you are not wearing the Potent Robe, which hurts your Eldritch Blast damage. So this would probably be more of a melee-inclined fighter/warlock.

[Mike Garrison]

Originally posted by Raz:

Originally posted by Mike Garrison:

I am personally not a fan of just adding eldritch blast to fighters. Fighters use weapons. That's what they do best. Typically a fighter will do more damage swinging a greatsword three times than they would with three eldritch blast beams. And no, you can't do both with the same action.

Eldritch blasters want to stay out of melee range. Fighters (typically) want to get into melee range. The lack of synergy is just hard to overcome.

Eldritch Knight... War Magic + Daredevil Gloves + Diadem of Arcane Synergy + Ability Drain. Daredevil Gloves cast spells at melee range with no disadvantage. You get four attacks in a single turn. Three blasts from Eldritch Blast, one from the Greatsword. Eldritch Blast causes a condition on the target, you trigger Arcane Synergy to add your spell casting modifier to your melee attacks.

Synergy with versatility on changing your effective range from close to long whenever you need to.

I suppose, but that uses up your head item slot and your hand item slot. There are a lot of great items for fighters that use those slots. Some that give bonus damage. Some that give attack roll bonuses. One (Legacy Of The Masters) that does both!

[Raz]

Originally posted by Mike Garrison:

Originally posted by Raz:

Eldritch Knight... War Magic + Daredevil Gloves + Diadem of Arcane Synergy + Ability Drain. Daredevil Gloves cast spells at melee range with no disadvantage. You get four attacks in a single turn. Three blasts from Eldritch Blast, one from the Greatsword. Eldritch Blast causes a condition on the target, you trigger Arcane Synergy to add your spell casting modifier to your melee attacks.

Synergy with versatility on changing your effective range from close to long whenever you need to.

I suppose, but that uses up your head item slot and your hand item slot. There are a lot of great items for fighters that use those slots. Some that give bonus damage. Some that give attack roll bonuses. One (Legacy Of The Masters) that does both!

Annnndddd what's stopping a person from using Eldritch Blast at range then moving in with the sword in the case of not wearing Daredevils? There is a ring that completely replaces the helmet and gives the same buff but when you attack with a Cantrip instead if that slot has to be something like Sarevok's helm.

[Mike Garrison]

The thing is, having played warlock a lot, I generally don't think there is a big benefit to multi-classing with fighter. The OP's question was answered (which is that no, extra attack does not apply to eldritch blast, or indeed any other spells).

With Pact Of The Blade, armor of shadows (for free mage armor), Potent Robe, and some of the other non-armor clothing that boosts AC, you can have a pretty decent AC and get two melee attacks per action. Or you can eldritch blast. It's actually a pretty strong melee-or-ranged combo, without ever multiclassing at all.

If you instead want to play as a fighter, I wouldn't bother trying to add eldritch blast. I mean, you can, and we've discussed a bunch of ways to do it, but ultimately as a fighter you would rather use your weapon attacks as much as possible, so eldritch blasting would be of limited, situational value.

[Drosta]

2 levels of fighter for action surge doesnt hurt the eldritch blast lock. but if you're looking just to get more casts of eldritch blast per round then i prefer the Sorlock personally. better versatility, not that you can't also take the 2 levels of fighter AS well, for the action surge

Originally posted by Mike Garrison:

The thing is, having played warlock a lot, I generally don't think there is a big benefit to multi-classing with fighter. The OP's question was answered (which is that no, extra attack does not apply to eldritch blast, or indeed any other spells).

With Pact Of The Blade, armor of shadows (for free mage armor), Potent Robe, and some of the other non-armor clothing that boosts AC, you can have a pretty decent AC and get two melee attacks per action. Or you can eldritch blast. It's actually a pretty strong melee-or-ranged combo, without ever multiclassing at all.

If you instead want to play as a fighter, I wouldn't bother trying to add eldritch blast. I mean, you can, and we've discussed a bunch of ways to do it, but ultimately as a fighter you would rather use your weapon attacks as much as possible, so eldritch blasting would be of limited, situational value.

but how would you go about getting that suggested robe mike? do you have to make a series of content restricting choices for 1.5 full acts? or is it not that important to playing this build? asking for a friend. :P (im kidding dude, lets not get into it here too)

[jonnin]

The extra attack bug/exploit aside, consider hard before multiclassing.

The warlock gets a large number of level 5 spells per day (you do need short rests to get the most from it so not all in one fight), more than anyone else by a huge margin. It also gets some cool powers -- lifedrinker is pretty solid, a level 6 spell (though the choices are a bit poor). Conj elemental is ok but usually a scroll for that one, kind of a weak power up.

But the real deal are those upcasted level 5 bombs. Even that old arms of hadar is pulling 6d6 and reaction stripping in act 3 fubars several boss mechanics. Hellish rebuke is now doing 6d10 for a free hit. Ye olde cloud of daggers which can't be avoided is punching 10d4, and so on. With a bard helping, you have *12* level 5 spells like those and others that are very strong every long rest, while your wizard etc are lucky to get half that many level 5s and 6s per long rest, only managing that many with items (some of which the warlock can use too) or burning sorcery points and elixirs.

One level of fighter costs you lifedrinker (adds CHA to your weapon damage a second time for POTB/HB warriorlocks) in exchange for armor, shield, second wind. But more than 1 level dip in anything costs you that third spell slot, and if you lose that, you may as well stop at level 5.

[Angel]

Originally posted by jonnin:

The extra attack bug/exploit aside, consider hard before multiclassing.

it's been confirmed as intended by larian themselves

[jonnin]

Originally posted by Angel:

Originally posted by jonnin:

The extra attack bug/exploit aside, consider hard before multiclassing.

it's been confirmed as intended by larian themselves

Yes, buts its also vetoed in 5e rules specifically and is pulled out of honor difficulty for a reason. I don't care -- I use it too, and its nice, but its not really legit. I throw potions and that is also not legit... BG3 DM is generous.

Don't want to go off on that tangent again, its been talked over enough. My point was to evaluate what you get for multiclassing (one melee attack) vs what you give up (a lot of aoe magic power). Both ideas work great, just seems that the rather amazing magic a 12th level warlock can do is very underrated.