Any good Warlock builds for the Underdark? I'm barely making it out alive

[nichoudha]

After randomly encountering a level 7 Vampire while my party is all level 4s, I think I need to rework my Warlock's skillset. I tried looking online first, but it seems unhelpful. Most of it is just "shoot eldritch blast" as if that solves everything. Any tips?

I should specify, only characters in my party are my Warlock, Shadowheart, Wyl, and Gale. I missed out on everyone else.

[Actalo]

Why two warlocks or did you reclass wyll?

In my opinion warlocks are jack of all trades, master of none. Their best magic are cantrips which, while never run out, are a far cry from the higher tier spells of Wizards and Sorcerers - and their martial pact of the blade will never be as good as a straight forward fighter.

I've always used them as a buffer for when I needed a class that could do both martial and magic reasonably well - but not specialized.

So for builds - Go Pact of the Blade and get devil sight.

Or go Cantrips with Eldritch Blast and make sure to get all the upgrades for it.

Just keep in might that Eldritch is governed ranged attack so if your attack bonus is low, you're less likely to hit with it.

[Zygfryd]

Dang, I thought I explored the whole place, but Larian is better at hiding locations than Fromsoft...

Anyway, scrape by until you get level 5, that's when you get a massive power boost to both Eldritch Blast and your pact. It's also a point where you might want to respec one of your warlocks from familiar to tome pact, because Call Lightning can be great against groups of enemies that are hard to pin down with Cloud of Daggers.

The other warlock should definitely use blade pact to be able to frontline in a comp like that, but spec him for Eldritch Blast too, so he doesn't need to get close unless necessary.

[Lur Nen Rue]

stay strong, warlock is currently buggy atm, letting pact of blade lv 5 extra attack to stack with other martial. By lv 10 you are now stronger than lv 11 fighter
and the current meta-bugged build is warlock bard with 2 extra attack per action and flourish

[LordAnubis]

At level 4, Warlock is pretty lackluster. Your feat should be Ability Increase to bump your CHA to 19 (assuming you started with 17). Have you completed the Auntie Ethel quest? If so, what was the outcome?

Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast invocations should be your primary attack each round. Focus on keeping melee enemies pushed back with repelling blast so they are forced to use their movement/dash each round. Warlocks are not jack of all trades.

What pact did you chose at level 3? Pact of the Blade is going to feel weak unless you multiclass; since BG3 did away with Hexblade, they don't get medium armor or shield proficiency. Also what race did you pick and what are your ability scores?

[nichoudha]

Originally posted by LordAnubis:

At level 4, Warlock is pretty lackluster. Your feat should be Ability Increase to bump your CHA to 19 (assuming you started with 17). Have you completed the Auntie Ethel quest? If so, what was the outcome?

Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast invocations should be your primary attack each round. Focus on keeping melee enemies pushed back with repelling blast so they are forced to use their movement/dash each round. Warlocks are not jack of all trades.

What pact did you chose at level 3? Pact of the Blade is going to feel weak unless you multiclass; since BG3 did away with Hexblade, they don't get medium armor or shield proficiency. Also what race did you pick and what are your ability scores?

Tiefling. I mainly played blind, but this recent experience has made me realize I need to find an actual good combo with the Warlock. I never finished the Ethel quest because it was annoying with its odd glitches.

[nichoudha]

Originally posted by Actalo:

Why two warlocks or did you reclass wyll?

In my opinion warlocks are jack of all trades, master of none. Their best magic are cantrips which, while never run out, are a far cry from the higher tier spells of Wizards and Sorcerers - and their martial pact of the blade will never be as good as a straight forward fighter.

I've always used them as a buffer for when I needed a class that could do both martial and magic reasonably well - but not specialized.

So for builds - Go Pact of the Blade and get devil sight.

Or go Cantrips with Eldritch Blast and make sure to get all the upgrades for it.

Just keep in might that Eldritch is governed ranged attack so if your attack bonus is low, you're less likely to hit with it.

What're the upgrades for Eldritch Blast? I don't think I've ever seen Devil Sight. Again, the character is level 4.

[Actalo]

The upgrades are part of your Eldritch Invocations list. When you first make a character you'll get to pick two, I believe. Then at certain levels you get more.

Eldritch Blast has two upgrades - Agonizing and Repelling Blast. Agonizing adds your CHA modifier to each beam damage and Repelling knocks enemies back. Devil Sight makes it so you can see in Darkness.

[nichoudha]

Originally posted by Actalo:

The upgrades are part of your Eldritch Invocations list. When you first make a character you'll get to pick two, I believe. Then at certain levels you get more.

Eldritch Blast has two upgrades - Agonizing and Repelling Blast. Agonizing adds your CHA modifier to each beam damage and Repelling knocks enemies back. Devil Sight makes it so you can see in Darkness.

Devil sight isn't needed for night vision races.

[Actalo]

Devil's Sight: You can see normally in darkness, both magical and non-magical, to a distance of 120 feet.

Superior to Darkvision. but yeah, in most cases, having Darkvision is enough.

[Shells]

You can leave Wyll pure class Pact of the Blade Warlock for the full 12 levels since they will fix the 3 APR bug sooner or later. Here is how it goes.

Lv 2: Pick Agonising and Repelling Blast.
Lv 3: Pick Pact of the Blade; grab the excellent +1 halberd (+1d6 electric) from the Arcane Tower in the Underdark once you are around lv 4/5 so you can beat the boss on the top level. Oh, and don't forget to grab the ring before you attack.
Lv 4: CHA+2
Lv 5: Extra Attack, Devil's Sight
Lv 6: Now this is important. You should be at the end of act 1 by now, and if you take the Mountain Pass you can get a ring, iirc., that gives a fixed DEX of 18 and +1 AC. Voila, you don't need medium armor proficiency anymore.

Respec aproximately into:
STR 8
DEX 8 (18 with item)
CON 15 (16 by lv 8, wear Mintharas light armor for advantage on CON saves)
INT 12
WIS 12
CHA 17 (20 by lv 8)
Again, take +2 CHA on lv 4. (You will probably have a few spare point, so you might even consider going with 16 CON, incresing it to 17 on lv 8 and taking Resilient (CON) on lv 12.)

Lv 8: CHA+1, CON+1

etc.

You get your third Eldrich Blast ray on lv 11 which I regard as very helpful for battle field control and at lv 12 you can pick the infusion that gives you +5 to melee damage.

No fighter levels needed and a good Jack of all Trades build. Not uber powerfull but very versatile.

If you need to have Gale around, the DEX-item is probably better for him. In this case a dip (1-4 levels depending on preference; if so preferably Battle Master) into Fighter is advisable.

[LordAnubis]

Originally posted by nichoudha:

Devil sight isn't needed for night vision races.

Not completely true. Devil's Sight is needed if you want to attack within your own Darkness spell. Darkvision, both regular and superior, are not enough to see in magical darkness. Only really needed for melee warlock builds though.

[nichoudha]

Originally posted by Shells:

You can leave Wyll pure class Pact of the Blade Warlock for the full 12 levels since they will fix the 3 APR bug sooner or later. Here is how it goes.

Lv 2: Pick Agonising and Repelling Blast.
Lv 3: Pick Pact of the Blade; grab the excellent +1 halberd (+1d6 electric) from the Arcane Tower in the Underdark once you are around lv 4/5 so you can beat the boss on the top level. Oh, and don't forget to grab the ring before you attack.
Lv 4: CHA+2
Lv 5: Extra Attack, Devil's Sight
Lv 6: Now this is important. You should be at the end of act 1 by now, and if you take the Mountain Pass you can get a ring, iirc., that gives a fixed DEX of 18 and +1 AC. Voila, you don't need medium armor proficiency anymore.

Respec aproximately into:
STR 8
DEX 8 (18 with item)
CON 15 (16 by lv 8, wear Mintharas light armor for advantage on CON saves)
INT 12
WIS 12
CHA 17 (20 by lv 8)
Again, take +2 CHA on lv 4. (You will probably have a few spare point, so you might even consider going with 16 CON, incresing it to 17 on lv 8 and taking Resilient (CON) on lv 12.)

Lv 8: CHA+1, CON+1

etc.

You get your third Eldrich Blast ray on lv 11 which I regard as very helpful for battle field control and at lv 12 you can pick the infusion that gives you +5 to melee damage.

No fighter levels needed and a good Jack of all Trades build. Not uber powerfull but very versatile.

If you need to have Gale around, the DEX-item is probably better for him. In this case a dip (1-4 levels depending on preference; if so preferably Battle Master) into Fighter is advisable.

I already mentioned picking the Underdark...