Eldritch blast.... ?

[Vim]

So I've been looking at the warlock class, and my more knowledgeable acquaintances tell me that eldritch blast is an amazing spell, but I'm really struggling to find out why. Yes, it deals a damage type that can't easily (at all?) be resisted, and it can ignore cover and add charisma bonus to the damage to top it off, but... that's not really very good as a meat and potatoes kinda spell... It's single target only, and you only get to take 1 shot per turn, and there's still a hefty chance that you just miss and do nothing with it.

I replaced a wizard I had in my party when I made the start to Palace of Ice, and brought along a warlock, and after playing through some 5-6 encounters, I have to say the warlock is not pulling his weight at all. He's being carried through every fight, and keeps forcing short rests just to chisel out a little bit of usefulness with his regenerating "spellpoints".

He does far less damage than my paladin, my ranger, and my cleric, and he has no real utility to speak of beyond being a damage dealer...

I guess I'm asking for help, since i'm pretty sure I'm missing something that's really important...

[Wizard of Woz]

Well just like every spell casting class they don't tend to shine until lvl 5 or so.

[Vim]

Originally posted by Wizard of Woz:

Well just like every spell casting class they don't tend to shine until lvl 5 or so.

Well I was level 10, and it was utter trash... so... not sure what you're getting at with this.

[Wizard of Woz]

Originally posted by Vim:

Originally posted by Wizard of Woz:

Well just like every spell casting class they don't tend to shine until lvl 5 or so.

Well I was level 10, and it was utter trash... so... not sure what you're getting at with this.

Then you are doing something wrong. I an not familiar enough with the 5e system to help, but this topic is created about once a month, if you actually search the forum you will probably find how to use a warlock properly.

[Barden]

Originally posted by Vim:

Originally posted by Wizard of Woz:

Well just like every spell casting class they don't tend to shine until lvl 5 or so.

Well I was level 10, and it was utter trash... so... not sure what you're getting at with this.

It's one of the best damage cantrips in the game, if not the best. It has a range of 120 feet, does 1d10 damage (more with modifiers), and you get two beams at 5th level, three at 11th level, and four at 17th level. Take powerful cantrip (not sure if that's a UB1 add on or not) and it will always do damage, even if you miss.

[acbatchelor]

You get a 2nd shot at lvl 5 and a 3rd shot at lvl 11.

[ChewBear]

Eldritch blast is the bread and butter of the Warlock. The best cantrip in the game. It has multiple rays just like a multi-attacking archer fighter. 3 rays at level 11 which you can target one enemy or multiple enemies if they are low health. So it's not a 1 target spell, it's a multi target spell. Does 1d10 damage of a damage type that is not really resisted. You can enhance it in many ways with invocations/feats.

Most common application is combining it with Malediction which does and extra +1d6 per hit. So bare minimum you should be doing 1d10 +5(agonizing blast) + 1d6 (maeldiction) per ray.

You can take the repelling blast invocation and knock foes off bridges or into effects setup by you or your team mates such as a wall of fire, blade barrier, ect...

So it's on par with Ranger for damage, definitely way more damage dealing than a cleric. It has utility if you build it in but it's different than other characters, so it take getting used to.

[Ommamar]

Originally posted by Barden:

Originally posted by Vim:

Well I was level 10, and it was utter trash... so... not sure what you're getting at with this.

It's one of the best damage cantrips in the game, if not the best. It has a range of 120 feet, does 1d10 damage (more with modifiers), and you get two beams at 5th level, three at 11th level, and four at 17th level. Take powerful cantrip (not sure if that's a UB1 add on or not) and it will always do damage, even if you miss.

Powerful cantrip is in the base game, I usually take that first then either the warlock feature or the feat that ignores cover. If you are looking for the warlock to replace a wizard as a damage dealer or crowd control they can't do that.

Depending on how you build them they can add the utility spells like fly, spider climb, and jump or you can add some Area effect such as fireball. They will only be able to cast those once or twice where the wizard will have many more spells to cast. I use Warlocks to replace my ranger or rogue if I want a different flavor while getting some utility spells.

[The Seventh Son]

Originally posted by Vim:

Originally posted by Wizard of Woz:

Well just like every spell casting class they don't tend to shine until lvl 5 or so.

Well I was level 10, and it was utter trash... so... not sure what you're getting at with this.

If you're level 10 then you're attacking twice per turn with Eldritch blast as warlock, not once. What's more, you add your agonizing blast damage to each individual beam. At level 5 you can deal 2d10+8or10 (if you don't have at least 18 on your eldritch blast warlock build idk what's going on) damage and push the target back 4 squares each turn. Then Warlock has their own version of Hunter's Mark so it becomes 2d10+8or10+2d6 damage and push the target back 4 squares. That's an average of 26-28 damage a round no crit. max 42 no crit 74 crit damage. at level 5. This is comparable to a melee attacker using a versatile weapon 2h or a polearm and either the weapon is magic with +1d6 damage or they also have a spell or ability that allows them to add more dice. Except the Warlock can hit from over 100 feet away.

If the cantrip isn't pulling the weight by itself, then you really need to evaluate your play-style and maybe read up on some guides or watch someone else play. It's just such a straight forward cantrip with no special info needed to make it work. It's like asking how to make a heavy crossbow work when you have hunter's mark.

[Barden]

Clearly not an issue with eldritch blast, sorry.

[Doombringer]

Originally posted by ChewBear:

Eldritch blast...
...on par with Ranger for damage, definitely way more damage dealing than a cleric. It has utility if you build it in but it's different than other characters, so it take getting used to.

In this game with the over-buffed weapons it actually doesn't come close to ranger damage, especially with the palace of ice crossbows.

[sgrey]

I've played only the timekeeper warlock so far and on one side I really like it, on the other side it's a little underwhelming. The severe limit on spells is a problem, even the warlock spell for increased damage is limited. On the other hands, the there is some utility with counters and response actions, and Eldritch Blast is pretty good.

Here is what I personally find to my liking: the spell damage is great. If you enable invocations to go with it that increase the damage and the ones that push the enemy back, you can get out of some tight spots by pushing melee fighters away from you or other party members and then running away without triggering the idiotic 100% attack of opportunity. In addition you will get other invocations that will allow you to cast more than one blast at the same time, so you can either target the same enemy more than once or several enemies. The damage over time for me is also quite nice. In addition you get special features for warlocks, like either casting haste without debuff later or augmenting certain powers and stuff.

Basically you have add the right invocations to the spell so that it becomes powerful. In addition, the powerful cantrips feat is a must imo for this class. The issue here is that there is a specific non-obvious way to play the class and you need to learn how before you do. Also, it will not do a massive AOE damage, unless you waste one spell slot. For this problem is solved with scrolls. You craft and buy scrolls with the spell you want to use and then use those instead in the fight.

Basically if your warlock "sucks", I recommend the following. Check how you specked them first. Maybe your stat allocation for this class is not that great and if you change them, it will improve. Then learn all invocations and select which ones you like. There are some specific ones for each warlock type, but I think all of them get the modifiers to make Eldritch Blast more powerful. Select those and darkvision, then you can block your enemies sight while you will be able to blast them for about 2 turns. So basically, read up on the class a little to make sure you are utilizing it properly. It really is not a bad class. But it also doesn't really replace the wizard in the same way. Do not play it as a wizard with a different class name because it's not. I have battle cleric with me for AOE damage together with the warlock, so you can think about changing the party around as well.

[Morgian]

For the OP:
The warlock is a ranged damage dealer like an archer, but based on eldritch blast. With the invocations it is better than most ranged weapons. But yes, you have to take lots of short rests to make use of the renewing spellpoints. If you do he gets to cast a spell or two every fight without needing to sleep.
On the other hand, the fighter is very good at dishing it out, as seems to be the ranger (rolled one for a new game). So the warlock is an alternative if you want something new.

[SIlverblade-T-E]

Warlocks REGAIN SPELL SLOTS ON *SHORT* RESTS!
Added to Eldrtich Blast, and possibly powers from specific paths, they can be amazingly powerful, you just have to think about what spells to take, build etc :)

[Doombringer]

Originally posted by Morgian:

For the OP:
The warlock is a ranged damage dealer like an archer, but based on eldritch blast. With the invocations it is better than most ranged weapons.

Again, this just isn't true in this game.
In palace of ice you get a 1d10+3d8+3+Dex damage crossbow that marksman rangers can shoot 4 times/turn.
In the other campaigns it is 3x 1d8+1d10+1+Dex(+2 with bracers of archery).
And those aren't even using special bolts/arrows.
Compared to eldritch blast which does 3x 1d10(+1d6 with malediction)+Cha...

Warlock is not bad, but eldritch blast is not the same as a spam weapon attacker with the high damage weapons found in this game.

[reylliam]

Yes, like others have mentioned, the short rest is important. As long as you remember to do your short rests to recharge your spell slots your warlock will keep up well. I think in tabletop the warlock has more mods to their Eldritch blast than Solasta has provided in-game, so if you ever do go tabletop, give it another review.