Ai actually hav a tattoo tht Ai wholesomely & wholeheartedly regret getting tht says Grandmaster Wankster ohn mi delt ,, imma just keep getting tankesque temp tats ohn mi neck tho
Immediately I'm fascinated, because I know how important a spell like shield is, but Warlocks really can't waste their slots on that... Can't wait to see how this one works!
Just two levels of Warlock grants two extra lvl 1 slots that can be used with a Sorcerer’s lvl 1 slots to cast Shield, which means you could have 6 lvl 1 slots if you focus on Sorcerer over Warlock. And their are ways to cast Shield for free such as a Strixhaven background.
They can - Ring of Spell Storing. 500GP for that 5 combined Levels of Spell in a Ring free to use as the Spell would be used - kinda "insta-Scroll". I normally go with 1 or 2 Elemental Abvsorption and 3-4 Shield Shield in it. Also, *EVERYONE* can recharge that Ring for you as well, allow you to "cast" spells you do not have.
This is great! I was sort of expecting Pact of the Chain with Gift of the Ever-Living Ones invocation but Pact of the Tome to get Shillelagh is an awesome idea. I love tank builds.
I’m so glad you’re giving celestial warlock the attention it deserves. It’s very thematically fulfilling with its mechanics and all of its features are honestly pretty good. Easily one of my favorite subclasses
As a DM, I was surprised when the Paladin in my Phandelver campaign took the Interception Fighting Style, because I didn't think it would come up much. Hands down the best tank I have seen in play, and that was in a party with an artificer with Sentinel. Interception saved the other PCs countless times. Then that ancients paladin took heavy armor master, and of course got aura of protection eventually. My point being, she was a super effective tank and didn't have a soft taunt.
I think the soft taunt helps against intelligent enemys or blood thirsty dms (Not necessarily a bad thing). Most tables can prob get away with tanks running forward to engage. I think most tables play at low levels anyways.
Dangit I JUST made a warlock(esque) tank for my own youtube channel I am about to start lol. You and the dungeon dudes have inspired me to create my own, I hope to be a wonderful addition to the DnD youtube community!
Make sure to let us know the Channel. I’ve watched all of Colby’s and Chris’ videos (except Pathfinder 2e as I’m learning 1e already for a friend’s game). It would be good to have another to listen to whilst I work.
@@anxander Just made it, still working on quality (and I didn't know stage fright came up with this sort of stuff too >.< agh haha). It is called Ill Dice DnD, and you'll know it by it's bright neon blue d20! I only have one build up right now, but have a ton more ready and just need to actually find time to make the videos for them!
It's has amazing synergy! Honestly, I made to Paladin 8 and then went Warlock 8. I know it's not an ideal split, but what I lost in damage I gained in utility and Pact of the Chain has helped me a lot. Plus, counterspell on a Paladin is fun.
Great Illumination and background. It’s great to see your favorite RUclipsrs invest in their content because that means they are getting the views and recognition they deserve. ❤
@benry007 probably it would end up looking a lot like a party of all glass cannons. Faced with that a lot of dms will send enemies that hit hard and die easy. You might think this sounds toxic. But this would keep combats shorter and improve the games tempo. And you could occasionally throw out a fight with more tanky and less hard hitting enemies to make sure your tank party remembers exactly how tough they are.
I am thinking for Eldritch Invocations instead of Repelling Blast go with Grasp of Hadar so you can keep pulling enemies back into melee range in case they want to break off and attack your allies.
I’d say use Lance of Lethargy it’s the perfect remedy to keeping the enemies close by but unable to chase Allie’s effectively. Bonus it can drop a flying enemy with a slow fly speed since if they start thier turn with 0 mvmt they drop to the ground and will take fall damage.
I think firbolg is an underrated tank race because of their Hidden Step ability + Powerful Build. Hidden Step can be seen as a BA dodge due to invisibility, and either they attack you at disadvantage or move away and risk getting hit. Ofc if you attack the invisibility ends, yet it’s still a great option. Slap down Sentinel feat and you be set. Imagine grappling big foes in heavy armor and at the end of the turn, become invisible. That way they will have to break the grapple, or focus on attacking you at disadvantage.
Honestly something I hope they do for the One DnD playtest is removing the duration on cantrips like Shillelagh, or at least extending them to something like until your next long rest. It’s just extra bookkeeping or silly workarounds to get to the same endpoint of basically always having it available.
Toad was amazing! Saw them in concert like 10 years ago, open field standing room only. Dulcinea was a fantastic, but Coil will always be my go to album
This is a really cool build. I've been wanting make a warlock that can tank and this is super fitting! Definitely will be giving this build a chance! Love your videos, keep up the excellent work!
I've started doing Hexblades by just taking a dip into warlock for the curse feature and the hex spell and then going for other multi hit classes like fighter or monk or something along those lines
What this character needs is a Ring of spell storing to get Find steed or greater steed to cast, added from a friendly bard or paladin. Suits cavalier start, adding the extra armour of Agathys to the mount, extra mobility...spider climb cast on a horse, should also allow the rider to stick to the horse :D Warhorse with plate barding would be fun just for the extra hit, especially with the extra hit points.
The blue background was good. Glad you didn't go green. Always nice to learn someone else is a Toad the Wet Sprocket fan. Their "Walk On the Ocean" music video was my introduction to their music. From the sounds of things, a ring of evasion and gauntlets of ogre power (upgrade to a belt of giant's strength) would do well for this build.
I find it intersting Healer Tank very Pally. I did my Tanklock as an Undead Warlock. The Form of Death can make you feel a little like a Barbarian getting 1d10 +Warlock Level. You also can cause them to be frigtened making there attacks at disadvantage. Later you get the option to turn your attack into necrotic samage and mone per turn do extra gamage and even at 14 you get resistance to weapon damage while in dread form. In my backgound I took the haunted one backgound and my Patron is hunting me down to take my body for his own. He is the first Lord Da John of the house of Vue.
One thing you seem to have left out of your number crunching is that the Gift of the Raven Queen’s resistance to all damage can only be gained pbtpd. So even with the best possible scenario, even at higher levels of play, you’d only be taking half damage on the first six rounds of combat. This would noticeably reduce the number of rounds survived.
you're not wrong, but its sorta the way he does the scenarios. he goes into more depth about it in other vids. Essentially his reasoning is most tables don't do more than 1 major combat a day so if an ability can be used for about 4-5 rounds, he considers it all equal as otherwise. the RTD is more of just a sorta numerical value showing how well they do against berserkers or a fireball cuz you aren't gonna face those scenarios for 20+ rounds or even 6+ rounds. So he always assumes "best case scenario" for every build and it gives a decent rough idea as for many tables the difference between being able to do something 6 times vs 8 times in many games is minimal for most tables as a lot, including his, of tables don't even see 8 rounds of combat in any given day. Ill admit its a touch harder to explain then i thought when i started lol.
@@deansmith3947 I get that he assumes the best case scenario and that combat is extremely unlikely to last for 30 rounds. But I’m just saying that without breaking the stated mechanics of the game, he would only have resistance for the first few rounds. This is honestly much more of an issue at lower levels, when there would be far fewer uses. The level 6 boss, for instance, dealing his calculated 9 damage per round would shoot up to 18 after the third round because there would be no more resistance. The odds of surviving 7 more rounds at that amount of punishment are significantly lower.
@@NINJAfries07 He explains all of it in the video. he would even agree with you, but he does it that way for consistency. He sets his parameters and sticks to them. I mean im not gonna sit here and explain something he explains in this video and every other tank video. He'd even admit (in every tank video) that it isnt a perfect system but it does show the builds' strength in an optimal situation as long as it is something you can do for most of your 1 main combat a day as thats how most tables, including his, run. You talk about the odds of surviving 7 rounds, how many combats make it past 3? and even then, most non boss monsters would be dead therefore youd take less damage. If you are able to come up with a formula that encapsulates all possible scenarios, im sure he'd love to get it from you. But unitl then, you're kinda just griping to gripe
Colby, what you're looking for in Celestial Warlock is Shillelagh+ GFB to hit two targets, giving you (2d8+10) first target +(1d8+5) second target, effectively giving the extra attack. Combine that with summon undead/fey/shadowspawn and you're comfortably over treantmonk's baseline. You can then mix in 2 levels of scribes wizard for fire magic missile, and two levels of fighter for action surge to get a little bit of nova in there, and then just finish out warlock. Build doesn't require any special feats, but combining it with Tiefling for flames of Phlegethos basically gives you a fire armor of Agathys that stacks with normal armor of Agathys.
This was a build that I did not fully see coming and I'm happy I didn't. 😶 It went a different direction, which admittedly was very nice. 😊 Great job yet again Colby. 😀
Before I watch this, my first 5e build was a Hexblade/Echo knight. Some half plate, a +1 shield, and a ring of spell storing loaded with shield spells made me practically untouchable. An amulet of health helped the MAD to give me plenty of HP. Armor of Hexes and Mirror Image gave extra layers of defense so I could square off against bosses 1v1. Gotta say, I was extremely happy with his staying power.
I played a barbarian to 5 and then went to hexblade. Was kinda fun. Demonic fury. If you love cheese darkness really helps when tanking. But tables seems to hate it (understandably banned on most).
Have you looked into the War-barian? You take barbarian to 5 and then warlock the rest of the way. You then use armor of agathys and if you went efreet genie warlock you get fire shield eventually. Neither require concentration. Also the wildspacer background provides the tough feat for free.
Currently playing a shadar-Kai hex-swordsbard to great effect as a tank/controller that can dish out some decent damage in a pinch. Super fun. Glad to see shadar-Kai are getting some focus in the community.
Great video as always. Love the use of Shileigle on the warlock. Would love to see a tank build that used the fear mechanic in place of the soft taunt. I realize it gives disadvanatge on everyone including you, but in my experience DMs tend to have NPCs hit the non tanks even while taunted anyway.
My warlock tank build is 5/6 levels barbarian and the rest warlock, I took zealot barb but you could take ancestral if you like but I took celestial warlock obviously and with Pack of the Chain because of Gift of the Everliving ones. This made the D6’s into just 6hp and while raging that’s basically just 12 hp per die used. This and the fact reckless attacks are normally incentive enough to attack me made for a pretty good tank. Oh and armor of agothis is also basically doubled. So that’s a thing too.
I never really liked the Interception fighting style when I first got into 5e. I couldn't think of any situation where it would be your first choice. And then I built my feral little Halfling Beast Master who rides her Primal Companion into battle. It's not her first fighting style, but she does take at least one level in Fighter, so she needs a style from their list. Now she has a way to reduce damage against her mount, which she's within five feet of at all times.
One of my first character ideas was a rune knight with cloud rune to get a reaction ranged block that turns an opponents attack against their friend, and a fathomless to use all other reactions to limit dmg by a d8 with a lot of area coverage. The cloud rune also synergizes with charisma.
I played a celestial warlock tank; it worked out pretty well. I started as a level 1 fighter and went straight warlock after that. Thematically it worked. He was a peasant who wanted to be a knight but the order only accepted those of noble birth. The solar who ran the order saw he was a pretty good dude and gave him a chance to serve without technically being a knight. My one mistake was choosing a variant human with heavy armour mastery. I wanted to combine that with blade ward and see if I could make armour of agathys really go far. It worked out spectacularly in a couple fights but was ultimately a niche ability. It was summoning at level 6 (warlock 5) that really made me a better tank. A Despair Shadowspawn could slow down enemies and made me more effective at keeping monsters away from the party. If I could do it all again, I wouldn't bother with heavy armour mastery. Mobile or War Caster would have made better choices. I went chain at level 3 for gift of the everliving ones. It hurt my damage but I decided it was a good trade to keep party members alive and survive better. And the sprite was fantastic out of combat.
I heard of this combo where you cast Flaming Sphere, cast Booming Blade on someone the next turn, then move the sphere up to them. They take damage if they move, and they take damage if they don’t. And since Celestial Warlocks have Flaming Sphere as part of their expanded spell list, this build could totally use that combo if you want to improve your damage.
Hey Colby, you probably know this by now already, but anyway: Since an arcane focus can be some kind of staff, and since the rules on staves state that any staff, magical or not, can be used as a quarterstaff, you can shillelagh your arcane focus and need not worry about War Caster.
There's a really idiotic requirement to have a free hand for spells that contain somatic component but not material one. So if it's S+M and you're holding a focus, you're good. But if it's V+S/S you need a free hand or Warcaster
I had to make an interesting rules call on Armor of Agathys, once. I had a Twilight Cleric teamed up with a Warlock and while the Warlock still had maybe 2 or 3 temp HP from Armor of Agathys, Twilight Sanctuary gave him, like, 8 temp hp. We talked about whether replacing the old hp would get rid of the Armor spell or if the warlock could choose not to take the new temp hp for a bit, but I just made the call that it gave the Armor of Agathys spell a new set of temp hp to work with. Probably not rules as written or intended but it seemed like a cool combo and made for a great character moment.
I played a pact of the tome warlock until a few month ago and I regret I didn't think about this cantrip. This character was tricked by their patron into believing they had become a druid. This cantrip would have been a perfect fit in their backstory 😄
I’ve been mulling over a cheese build with undead warlock. Go armorer 3 or 4. Pick up taunt with thunder gauntlet and bag of holding infusion. Then when you use the 14 level warlock ability you either get in the bag and float out as a ghost with ally or familiar to carry the bag. Undead level 6 you don’t need to breathe. So now you have a taunt attack and damage resistance like a barb and you can cast spells.
I couldn't find a single rule that prevents any character from just taking an Artificer's Thunder Gauntlets and using them. They're just listed as Simple weapons
Well done! I recently tried to make a kind of "Reverse Tank" recently, which I call *"The Ancestral Samurai".* This one is pretty simple. Variant Human, Ancestral Guardian Barbarian + Samurai Fighter. Pick the Sharpshooter feat to start with, and go Barbarian. For stats: 13 Str, 16 Dex, 16 Con, 8 Int, 12 Wis, 8 Cha. Go with Ancestral Guardian and take it to lvl.5, then swap over to Fighter and go Samurai the rest of the way. Of course, focus on increasing Dex and Con each to 20 first, then PYF feats or just increase your Wis from there. The whole idea is that your Ancestral Protectors feature works on any weapon attacks while raging, not just melee. That means that, while you can't Reckless Attack or add Rage damage to your attacks, you can hit an enemy from a far distance and give that enemy disadvantage on attacks made against anyone but you AND any creature other than you has resistance to damage from attacks made by that enemy. Pair that with the Archery fighting style, Fighting Spirit, and Sharpshooter to deal some hefty burst damage, and you've got a pretty capable "Barbarian Archer" build. You've got a high HP, high AC, damage resistances from Rage, and if you stay at a distance they'll probably have a hard time even reaching you anyway, while still being able to dish out some decent damage and making the rest of your party more tanky in the process. (Some Bracers of Archery and/or a Belt of Dwarvenkind would also go great with this build.)
That's a pretty good idea, and I thought about something similar in the past, with going sharpshooter and using a longbow on a 5th level straight classed ancestral barbarian. Class progression here seems a little difficult to me though, I probably if I had the choice would go for 5 fighter levels first and then the 3 barbarian levels before jumping back into fighter. Although you lose out on fast movement and an extra feat, it kind of solves some of the redundancy there, and you could get your 2nd extra attack at level 14 instead of level 16. Also, I really like this combo. Fighting spirit's temp HP would pair well with the rage damage resistances as well and makes up for the loss of reckless attack for your nova round with your ranged weapon
For that bit about dealing more on radiant damage as a DPS warlock the answer is likely pact of the blade or gunner with Spirit Shroud. Potentially Divine favour with a paladin dip if you got the blade pact route.
Fun coincidence, I've recently been making a Tomelock of my own with Shillelagh :D The shillelagh is a small part though, just one of the spells I picked from the Tome because it felt fitting. She's gonna be one of my backup options if my current cleric dies, and a fun opposite to three of the current characters in the party who view magic through a scientific lens, all very wizardlike in their attitudes, even the sorcerer. This warlock would think she does wizardlike magic (in the sense that stuff is in a book and magic is science), but she's not a researcher and doesn't pretend to be. She thinks it's more just "follow the recipe" type deal. But here's the catch: the text in her book is ever-changing, the "recipes" are always in flux, but she follows them faithfully and somehow it always works. The sorcerer in the party is already baffled to hell and back about her own magic being so non-scientific, and I'd be excited to see the character's (and the player's) reaction to that, especially since I'd only be able to introduce this character in the event that the cleric (my current character, who's been helping the sorcerer figure out the magic) dies.
I literally just started playing a Warlock tank in a campaign recently. I'm getting suspicious that you're tapping into my games. Watch, next you'll make a ninja that only throws darts (the best weapon in the game)... Lol love the video and build, as always 💙
@Jake Warman Ah, I haven't yet! Been slowly working through his older videos but haven't gotten to that one. Makes sense that he'd already have build for that already. I'll have to skip ahead to it, I'm always looking for inspirationon for new dart builds lol. Thanks for the heads up!
Have you ever considered adding an ally to the spreadsheet? Like add an average damage reduced to allies per turn. I would be very interested in how all the tank builds perform in a stat like that
One feat option for this build (and indeed any cavalier build) should probably be sentinel. Keeping an enemy close is really important to the build and sentinel is probably the best way to do that.
I’m playing an earth genasi celestial warlock for my next campaign. Pact of the chain, Gift of the Ever-living ones Invocation, starting feat: telekinesis (BA shove). Keep AC low to be a juicy target. Use telekinesis to shove teammates out of melee with enemy(they can choose to fail the save so they don’t receive an attack of opportunity) to force enemy to attack you or move away triggering your attack of opportunity (war caster feat at level 4) using Lightning Lure to pull them back into range. Important Spells: Blade Ward (can cast as a BA occasionally), Mind Sliver and Sacred Flame (for ranged encounters and different saving throws), Cure Wounds, Lightning Lure, Enthrall, Find Familiar. Will probably add Fear based spells later. Not sure what I’ll do for later levels but that covers the first ~10. Biggest Pro: crazy healing and crowd control Biggest Con: weak to longer battles (high turn count). And large AOEs (and/or small rooms) that may take out your invisible familiar.
Nice. I ran a sorcerer that had a lot of HP (21) at level 2. He has +3 from CON (Loxodon so uses CON for AC as well; was custom so +2 CHA, +1 CON) and had +2 HP per level from spelljammer background, wildspacer. If he had been a hill dwarf, he would have gotten another +1 hp per level. Add in some good spell choices, and keep leveling up, and it's a tank.
I know you ruled out Armorer from the beginning, but RAW there's actually nothing preventing Thunder Gauntlets from working with Hex Warrior. Might be something to try another time :)
Just from the description and image I'm thinking a warlock using armor of agathys and perhaps a magic initiate feat so you can use shillelagh with charisma instead of wisdom You're most likely also taking the polearm master feat for your tanking needs as well
Honestly I thought you'd be taking amulet warlock and taking all the rebukes and stuff so I completely forgot about tomb allowing you to take shillelagh
if you take shillelagh with magic initiate druid, you can only use it with wisdom pact of the tome warlocks are the only ones that can use it with charisma
You know, I've actually made a pretty decent Support Warlock. Specifically a Celestial Pact of Tome Warlock with a splash in Bard, probably Lore Bard. So, what do we get out of it? Well, quite a bit actually. We get Cure Wounds, Revivify, and both Lesser and Greater Restoration on a short-rest recovery that automatically promotes as you gain levels, we get a pool of d6's of healing that can be used at range to pick people up off the ground, and at level 10 you basically get a feat for free to give temp HP to the whole party on a short or long rest. As far as Pact of Tome, you pick up the pact-specific Invocation to get basically All The Ritual Spells(tm). This includes things like Secure Shelter, Detect Magic, Identify, and more, so a ton of out of combat utility. You also get some more cantrips, which is never bad. Oh, and you can still pick up Agonizing Blast, because why wouldn't you, and more battlefield control with Repelling Blast and Grasp of Hadar. Finally, you pick up Bard splash for more skills for more utility, Song of Rest for more downtime healing which reduces the amount of in-combat healing you need to do, inspiration, and some useful support spells. For example, with Lore Bard, you can pick up Bless. After all, the only thing we want from Warlock after level 10 is maybe the feat or stat boost at level 12, so a splash into Bard just works. Especially if you can get Bard 2 early enough to make Song of Rest especially useful in the early game.
Summon Shadowspawn is a really good 3rd lvl Warlock spell option for tanking and control, and would be really flavourful for a Shadar kai being torn between his lineage and his Celestial Warlock patron...
I made a pact of the blade fiend warlock (10) barbarian (5) character once (played to level 15 then the campaign was over) and it is an amazingly tanky and does decent damage. Eldritch Smite while Raging to crit fish with reckless attacks works amazing and without raging you even have a decent option to attack with eldritch blast. Resistance through rage and temporary hitpoints through kills make up for the lowerish Con Score to make Charisma and Strength work. The only thing lacking is the soft taunt, even though you have some options to mess with the opponents movement and sentinel as always is an option.
Warlock build
Me: Alright!
Not going Hexblade
Me(Gustavo Fring Voice):Explain yourself.
I think I’ll just call this build “The Wank”
I really screamed for laughter as I read that 😂😂😂
I had the same exact thought.
Ai actually hav a tattoo tht Ai wholesomely & wholeheartedly regret getting tht says Grandmaster Wankster ohn mi delt ,, imma just keep getting tankesque temp tats ohn mi neck tho
I didn't laugh at this, I just nodded in appreciation. It's perfect.
OMG ITS HAPPENING!!! Another fine addition to the tank collection. :3
[insert General Grievous here]
This might be my favorite of Randall's character arts for your builds, even before getting into the build itself.
I thought the same myself and it has some tough competition.
Immediately I'm fascinated, because I know how important a spell like shield is, but Warlocks really can't waste their slots on that... Can't wait to see how this one works!
Just two levels of Warlock grants two extra lvl 1 slots that can be used with a Sorcerer’s lvl 1 slots to cast Shield, which means you could have 6 lvl 1 slots if you focus on Sorcerer over Warlock. And their are ways to cast Shield for free such as a Strixhaven background.
@@jeffersonian000 and one use from magic initiate
@@k0pstl939
Hence the word “such”.
@@jeffersonian000 yes, I was just adding another example
They can - Ring of Spell Storing. 500GP for that 5 combined Levels of Spell in a Ring free to use as the Spell would be used - kinda "insta-Scroll".
I normally go with 1 or 2 Elemental Abvsorption and 3-4 Shield Shield in it.
Also, *EVERYONE* can recharge that Ring for you as well, allow you to "cast" spells you do not have.
This is great! I was sort of expecting Pact of the Chain with Gift of the Ever-Living Ones invocation but Pact of the Tome to get Shillelagh is an awesome idea. I love tank builds.
I’m so glad you’re giving celestial warlock the attention it deserves. It’s very thematically fulfilling with its mechanics and all of its features are honestly pretty good. Easily one of my favorite subclasses
The Tanklock (Warlock Tank): D&D Build #132
Level 1:(see above) [fighter 1, fighting-style & race]
Level 2:(see above) [warlock 1 & patron]
Level 3:(@18:50) [warlock 2 & eldritch invocations]
Level 4:(@20:22) [warlock 3, subclass & swap eldritch invocation]
Level 5:(@25:30) [fighter 2]
Level 6:(@26:13) [fighter 3 & subclass]
Level 7:(see above) [warlock 4 & ASI]
Level 8:(@34:11) [sorcerer 1 & subclass]
Level 9:(@37:21) [fighter 4 & ASI]
Level 10:(see above) [warlock 5 & eldritch invocation]
Level 11:(@41:03) [fighter 5]
Level 12:(@42:18) [warlock 6]
Level 13:(@43:15) [fighter 6]
Level 14:(see above) [warlock 7 & eldritch invocation]
Level 15:(@46:52) [warlock 8 & ASI]
Level 16:(@48:54) [warlock 9 & eldritch invocation]
Level 17:(@) [warlock 10]
As a DM, I was surprised when the Paladin in my Phandelver campaign took the Interception Fighting Style, because I didn't think it would come up much. Hands down the best tank I have seen in play, and that was in a party with an artificer with Sentinel. Interception saved the other PCs countless times. Then that ancients paladin took heavy armor master, and of course got aura of protection eventually. My point being, she was a super effective tank and didn't have a soft taunt.
This is the way, I feel like spells like Armor of Agathys disincentivise attacking the tank
I might try this
I think the soft taunt helps against intelligent enemys or blood thirsty dms (Not necessarily a bad thing). Most tables can prob get away with tanks running forward to engage. I think most tables play at low levels anyways.
Dangit I JUST made a warlock(esque) tank for my own youtube channel I am about to start lol. You and the dungeon dudes have inspired me to create my own, I hope to be a wonderful addition to the DnD youtube community!
Can’t wait to see your contribution to the community!
Make sure to let us know the Channel. I’ve watched all of Colby’s and Chris’ videos (except Pathfinder 2e as I’m learning 1e already for a friend’s game). It would be good to have another to listen to whilst I work.
Please do say what the account is, I love D&D build accounts and it'd be an honor to support you on your journey
@@anxander Just made it, still working on quality (and I didn't know stage fright came up with this sort of stuff too >.< agh haha). It is called Ill Dice DnD, and you'll know it by it's bright neon blue d20! I only have one build up right now, but have a ton more ready and just need to actually find time to make the videos for them!
@@jameswebb4545 I just made it and I put up my first build, it is called Ill Dice DnD!
Conquest pally undead warlock will be good, but not sure how much i would invest in warlock... with fallen Aasimar would be funny!
It's has amazing synergy! Honestly, I made to Paladin 8 and then went Warlock 8. I know it's not an ideal split, but what I lost in damage I gained in utility and Pact of the Chain has helped me a lot. Plus, counterspell on a Paladin is fun.
I love apsect of the moon, never needing sleep and being able to keep watch all night (which according to the book counts as the long rest) is amazing
Great Illumination and background.
It’s great to see your favorite RUclipsrs invest in their content because that means they are getting the views and recognition they deserve. ❤
So can we yell "tanks assemble" ?
I wonder what a party full of tanks would look like🤔
@@benry007 Every combat encounter becomes a war of attrition
@benry007 probably it would end up looking a lot like a party of all glass cannons.
Faced with that a lot of dms will send enemies that hit hard and die easy.
You might think this sounds toxic. But this would keep combats shorter and improve the games tempo.
And you could occasionally throw out a fight with more tanky and less hard hitting enemies to make sure your tank party remembers exactly how tough they are.
Defenders, ASSEMBLE!
I just love your content, it's so warm and welcoming and wholesome. I always look forward to your videos.
I am thinking for Eldritch Invocations instead of Repelling Blast go with Grasp of Hadar so you can keep pulling enemies back into melee range in case they want to break off and attack your allies.
That was my first thought.
Death Knight vibes! Combine it with Lance of Lethargy for real Death Grip flavor
This is neat, but it can only be used once per turn. Its half as good as repelling blast at lvk 5, and a third as good at 11
I’d say use Lance of Lethargy it’s the perfect remedy to keeping the enemies close by but unable to chase Allie’s effectively.
Bonus it can drop a flying enemy with a slow fly speed since if they start thier turn with 0 mvmt they drop to the ground and will take fall damage.
I think firbolg is an underrated tank race because of their Hidden Step ability + Powerful Build. Hidden Step can be seen as a BA dodge due to invisibility, and either they attack you at disadvantage or move away and risk getting hit. Ofc if you attack the invisibility ends, yet it’s still a great option. Slap down Sentinel feat and you be set.
Imagine grappling big foes in heavy armor and at the end of the turn, become invisible. That way they will have to break the grapple, or focus on attacking you at disadvantage.
TGIT! Thanks Colby!
Thanks Colby! You’re the most optimal optimizer!
Oh my goodness, I love Dulcinea! I didn't as much when it first came out, but it's their album that I go back to the most.
This may be my favorite recent build; you pulled in some stuff you don’t usually use for this one!
Thanks Colby
Celestial warlock & Divine Soul sorcerer - inspired choices and a good reminder that there are more than one or two subclasses worth taking.
Holy crap this concept is dope
thank you for the perfect timing on a video. Really. Been tough recently, but this is an absolute distraction into something I love. Thanks.
Honestly something I hope they do for the One DnD playtest is removing the duration on cantrips like Shillelagh, or at least extending them to something like until your next long rest. It’s just extra bookkeeping or silly workarounds to get to the same endpoint of basically always having it available.
that Artwork is SO FREAKING SICK
office looking good brother!
Toad was amazing! Saw them in concert like 10 years ago, open field standing room only.
Dulcinea was a fantastic, but Coil will always be my go to album
That artwork SLAPS! Chef’s kiss Randall👌 Now for the build
After almost a year following the chanel i realized you sing on some videos and i didnt knew it will make me this happy XD
Pretty much all of them! 😂
My guess was way off! But I'm glad you still surprising me. This was a fun build. 👍
Long sleeve welcome home shirt would be nice.
Glad you liked the write up of the character
This is a really cool build. I've been wanting make a warlock that can tank and this is super fitting! Definitely will be giving this build a chance!
Love your videos, keep up the excellent work!
With the new scaling of shillelagh, the damage output will be better!!! Wooo
Celestial Warlock goes well with Pact of the Tome! I played one a while back and it was a lot of fun!
Yay! More Colby!!!!
Banger video (I'm assuming, Haven't started it yet)
Another banger of a build. Totally gonna steal ehhem ehhem I mean borrow this build hehe.
Excellent as ever. Great build.
I’ve been playing a celestial warlock/fighter multi-class for about a year and it’s great to see a very similar build here! 😮😊
Great job on the background. Looks great.
This is a fascinating build! Great work as always, Colby!!
I've started doing Hexblades by just taking a dip into warlock for the curse feature and the hex spell and then going for other multi hit classes like fighter or monk or something along those lines
Why would anyone need to guess? Hasn't everyone else watched and memorized all your videos?
Exactly!? People be slacking if they need to guess!! Who hadn't read those spreadsheets 150 times
What this character needs is a Ring of spell storing to get Find steed or greater steed to cast, added from a friendly bard or paladin. Suits cavalier start, adding the extra armour of Agathys to the mount, extra mobility...spider climb cast on a horse, should also allow the rider to stick to the horse :D Warhorse with plate barding would be fun just for the extra hit, especially with the extra hit points.
Or make a small Shadar-kai and ride a squishier play, taking the mounted combatant skill :D
The blue background was good. Glad you didn't go green.
Always nice to learn someone else is a Toad the Wet Sprocket fan. Their "Walk On the Ocean" music video was my introduction to their music.
From the sounds of things, a ring of evasion and gauntlets of ogre power (upgrade to a belt of giant's strength) would do well for this build.
I made a tank Warlock like 5 years ago, can't believe I beat you to the punch! 🤣
Yay! You're back!!! Hope you enjoyed your time away 😁
Love the channel. Finally made the dice into the membership pool
Cool build
Ur videos are a great source of inspiration for npcs for my home game.great build!
I've watched so many of your videos lately (some multiple times)
I find it intersting Healer Tank very Pally. I did my Tanklock as an Undead Warlock. The Form of Death can make you feel a little like a Barbarian getting 1d10 +Warlock Level. You also can cause them to be frigtened making there attacks at disadvantage. Later you get the option to turn your attack into necrotic samage and mone per turn do extra gamage and even at 14 you get resistance to weapon damage while in dread form. In my backgound I took the haunted one backgound and my Patron is hunting me down to take my body for his own. He is the first Lord Da John of the house of Vue.
One thing you seem to have left out of your number crunching is that the Gift of the Raven Queen’s resistance to all damage can only be gained pbtpd. So even with the best possible scenario, even at higher levels of play, you’d only be taking half damage on the first six rounds of combat. This would noticeably reduce the number of rounds survived.
you're not wrong, but its sorta the way he does the scenarios. he goes into more depth about it in other vids. Essentially his reasoning is most tables don't do more than 1 major combat a day so if an ability can be used for about 4-5 rounds, he considers it all equal as otherwise. the RTD is more of just a sorta numerical value showing how well they do against berserkers or a fireball cuz you aren't gonna face those scenarios for 20+ rounds or even 6+ rounds. So he always assumes "best case scenario" for every build and it gives a decent rough idea as for many tables the difference between being able to do something 6 times vs 8 times in many games is minimal for most tables as a lot, including his, of tables don't even see 8 rounds of combat in any given day. Ill admit its a touch harder to explain then i thought when i started lol.
@@deansmith3947
I get that he assumes the best case scenario and that combat is extremely unlikely to last for 30 rounds. But I’m just saying that without breaking the stated mechanics of the game, he would only have resistance for the first few rounds. This is honestly much more of an issue at lower levels, when there would be far fewer uses. The level 6 boss, for instance, dealing his calculated 9 damage per round would shoot up to 18 after the third round because there would be no more resistance. The odds of surviving 7 more rounds at that amount of punishment are significantly lower.
@@NINJAfries07 He explains all of it in the video. he would even agree with you, but he does it that way for consistency. He sets his parameters and sticks to them. I mean im not gonna sit here and explain something he explains in this video and every other tank video. He'd even admit (in every tank video) that it isnt a perfect system but it does show the builds' strength in an optimal situation as long as it is something you can do for most of your 1 main combat a day as thats how most tables, including his, run. You talk about the odds of surviving 7 rounds, how many combats make it past 3? and even then, most non boss monsters would be dead therefore youd take less damage. If you are able to come up with a formula that encapsulates all possible scenarios, im sure he'd love to get it from you. But unitl then, you're kinda just griping to gripe
ooh you know what i want to see too? a bruiser type character, one that tries to bring as much damage as possible while still having solid defenses
I think the Oathbreaker might be the one that best qualifies there...
Welcome back. Last week was so empty without an episode.
T-Shirt idea (feel free to use it). Front: D4 logo - Back : This is where I belong.
Colby, what you're looking for in Celestial Warlock is Shillelagh+ GFB to hit two targets, giving you (2d8+10) first target +(1d8+5) second target, effectively giving the extra attack.
Combine that with summon undead/fey/shadowspawn and you're comfortably over treantmonk's baseline. You can then mix in 2 levels of scribes wizard for fire magic missile, and two levels of fighter for action surge to get a little bit of nova in there, and then just finish out warlock.
Build doesn't require any special feats, but combining it with Tiefling for flames of Phlegethos basically gives you a fire armor of Agathys that stacks with normal armor of Agathys.
Colby! With playtest 8 now, we have buffed Shillelagh, which helps the club/quarterstaff so much!
A... Wanklock? I had to 😂
Impressive as always, hope youre doing well and I'm excited to see what you have in store for the future
How did i not think of that, LMAO
would have to have a pump action shotgun as a weapon
This was a build that I did not fully see coming and I'm happy I didn't. 😶 It went a different direction, which admittedly was very nice. 😊 Great job yet again Colby. 😀
Before I watch this, my first 5e build was a Hexblade/Echo knight. Some half plate, a +1 shield, and a ring of spell storing loaded with shield spells made me practically untouchable. An amulet of health helped the MAD to give me plenty of HP. Armor of Hexes and Mirror Image gave extra layers of defense so I could square off against bosses 1v1.
Gotta say, I was extremely happy with his staying power.
I played a barbarian to 5 and then went to hexblade. Was kinda fun. Demonic fury. If you love cheese darkness really helps when tanking. But tables seems to hate it (understandably banned on most).
Ah it's the classic Melee Tomelock. I've had something similar sitting in the back of my head ever since the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide tbh.
Have you looked into the War-barian? You take barbarian to 5 and then warlock the rest of the way. You then use armor of agathys and if you went efreet genie warlock you get fire shield eventually. Neither require concentration. Also the wildspacer background provides the tough feat for free.
finally a dnd video
Currently playing a shadar-Kai hex-swordsbard to great effect as a tank/controller that can dish out some decent damage in a pinch. Super fun. Glad to see shadar-Kai are getting some focus in the community.
Great video as always. Love the use of Shileigle on the warlock. Would love to see a tank build that used the fear mechanic in place of the soft taunt. I realize it gives disadvanatge on everyone including you, but in my experience DMs tend to have NPCs hit the non tanks even while taunted anyway.
Taking this with the wildspacer background for early tough feat giving extra hp
Probably Fiendish Vigor for more temp hp with no slot cost
Surprised to not see Tomb of Levistus on this build.
It's fun for sure, I just hate how it prevents us from doing anything :)
You just made me realize that pott is literally the budget version of both other invocations! Familiar and a magic weapon, plus bells and wistles
My warlock tank build is 5/6 levels barbarian and the rest warlock, I took zealot barb but you could take ancestral if you like but I took celestial warlock obviously and with Pack of the Chain because of Gift of the Everliving ones. This made the D6’s into just 6hp and while raging that’s basically just 12 hp per die used. This and the fact reckless attacks are normally incentive enough to attack me made for a pretty good tank. Oh and armor of agothis is also basically doubled. So that’s a thing too.
Finally, we can do the full tank party
I never really liked the Interception fighting style when I first got into 5e. I couldn't think of any situation where it would be your first choice.
And then I built my feral little Halfling Beast Master who rides her Primal Companion into battle. It's not her first fighting style, but she does take at least one level in Fighter, so she needs a style from their list. Now she has a way to reduce damage against her mount, which she's within five feet of at all times.
One of my first character ideas was a rune knight with cloud rune to get a reaction ranged block that turns an opponents attack against their friend, and a fathomless to use all other reactions to limit dmg by a d8 with a lot of area coverage. The cloud rune also synergizes with charisma.
I played a celestial warlock tank; it worked out pretty well. I started as a level 1 fighter and went straight warlock after that.
Thematically it worked. He was a peasant who wanted to be a knight but the order only accepted those of noble birth. The solar who ran the order saw he was a pretty good dude and gave him a chance to serve without technically being a knight.
My one mistake was choosing a variant human with heavy armour mastery. I wanted to combine that with blade ward and see if I could make armour of agathys really go far. It worked out spectacularly in a couple fights but was ultimately a niche ability.
It was summoning at level 6 (warlock 5) that really made me a better tank. A Despair Shadowspawn could slow down enemies and made me more effective at keeping monsters away from the party.
If I could do it all again, I wouldn't bother with heavy armour mastery. Mobile or War Caster would have made better choices.
I went chain at level 3 for gift of the everliving ones. It hurt my damage but I decided it was a good trade to keep party members alive and survive better. And the sprite was fantastic out of combat.
I heard of this combo where you cast Flaming Sphere, cast Booming Blade on someone the next turn, then move the sphere up to them. They take damage if they move, and they take damage if they don’t. And since Celestial Warlocks have Flaming Sphere as part of their expanded spell list, this build could totally use that combo if you want to improve your damage.
Hey Colby, you probably know this by now already, but anyway: Since an arcane focus can be some kind of staff, and since the rules on staves state that any staff, magical or not, can be used as a quarterstaff, you can shillelagh your arcane focus and need not worry about War Caster.
There's a really idiotic requirement to have a free hand for spells that contain somatic component but not material one. So if it's S+M and you're holding a focus, you're good. But if it's V+S/S you need a free hand or Warcaster
I had to make an interesting rules call on Armor of Agathys, once. I had a Twilight Cleric teamed up with a Warlock and while the Warlock still had maybe 2 or 3 temp HP from Armor of Agathys, Twilight Sanctuary gave him, like, 8 temp hp.
We talked about whether replacing the old hp would get rid of the Armor spell or if the warlock could choose not to take the new temp hp for a bit, but I just made the call that it gave the Armor of Agathys spell a new set of temp hp to work with. Probably not rules as written or intended but it seemed like a cool combo and made for a great character moment.
I played a pact of the tome warlock until a few month ago and I regret I didn't think about this cantrip. This character was tricked by their patron into believing they had become a druid. This cantrip would have been a perfect fit in their backstory 😄
I’ve been mulling over a cheese build with undead warlock. Go armorer 3 or 4. Pick up taunt with thunder gauntlet and bag of holding infusion. Then when you use the 14 level warlock ability you either get in the bag and float out as a ghost with ally or familiar to carry the bag. Undead level 6 you don’t need to breathe.
So now you have a taunt attack and damage resistance like a barb and you can cast spells.
I couldn't find a single rule that prevents any character from just taking an Artificer's Thunder Gauntlets and using them. They're just listed as Simple weapons
Well done! I recently tried to make a kind of "Reverse Tank" recently, which I call *"The Ancestral Samurai".*
This one is pretty simple. Variant Human, Ancestral Guardian Barbarian + Samurai Fighter.
Pick the Sharpshooter feat to start with, and go Barbarian. For stats: 13 Str, 16 Dex, 16 Con, 8 Int, 12 Wis, 8 Cha. Go with Ancestral Guardian and take it to lvl.5, then swap over to Fighter and go Samurai the rest of the way. Of course, focus on increasing Dex and Con each to 20 first, then PYF feats or just increase your Wis from there.
The whole idea is that your Ancestral Protectors feature works on any weapon attacks while raging, not just melee. That means that, while you can't Reckless Attack or add Rage damage to your attacks, you can hit an enemy from a far distance and give that enemy disadvantage on attacks made against anyone but you AND any creature other than you has resistance to damage from attacks made by that enemy.
Pair that with the Archery fighting style, Fighting Spirit, and Sharpshooter to deal some hefty burst damage, and you've got a pretty capable "Barbarian Archer" build. You've got a high HP, high AC, damage resistances from Rage, and if you stay at a distance they'll probably have a hard time even reaching you anyway, while still being able to dish out some decent damage and making the rest of your party more tanky in the process.
(Some Bracers of Archery and/or a Belt of Dwarvenkind would also go great with this build.)
That's a pretty good idea, and I thought about something similar in the past, with going sharpshooter and using a longbow on a 5th level straight classed ancestral barbarian.
Class progression here seems a little difficult to me though, I probably if I had the choice would go for 5 fighter levels first and then the 3 barbarian levels before jumping back into fighter. Although you lose out on fast movement and an extra feat, it kind of solves some of the redundancy there, and you could get your 2nd extra attack at level 14 instead of level 16.
Also, I really like this combo. Fighting spirit's temp HP would pair well with the rage damage resistances as well and makes up for the loss of reckless attack for your nova round with your ranged weapon
For that bit about dealing more on radiant damage as a DPS warlock the answer is likely pact of the blade or gunner with Spirit Shroud. Potentially Divine favour with a paladin dip if you got the blade pact route.
Fun coincidence, I've recently been making a Tomelock of my own with Shillelagh :D
The shillelagh is a small part though, just one of the spells I picked from the Tome because it felt fitting. She's gonna be one of my backup options if my current cleric dies, and a fun opposite to three of the current characters in the party who view magic through a scientific lens, all very wizardlike in their attitudes, even the sorcerer. This warlock would think she does wizardlike magic (in the sense that stuff is in a book and magic is science), but she's not a researcher and doesn't pretend to be. She thinks it's more just "follow the recipe" type deal. But here's the catch: the text in her book is ever-changing, the "recipes" are always in flux, but she follows them faithfully and somehow it always works.
The sorcerer in the party is already baffled to hell and back about her own magic being so non-scientific, and I'd be excited to see the character's (and the player's) reaction to that, especially since I'd only be able to introduce this character in the event that the cleric (my current character, who's been helping the sorcerer figure out the magic) dies.
I literally just started playing a Warlock tank in a campaign recently. I'm getting suspicious that you're tapping into my games. Watch, next you'll make a ninja that only throws darts (the best weapon in the game)...
Lol love the video and build, as always 💙
Have you seen the needler? A very scary dart build
@Jake Warman Ah, I haven't yet! Been slowly working through his older videos but haven't gotten to that one. Makes sense that he'd already have build for that already. I'll have to skip ahead to it, I'm always looking for inspirationon for new dart builds lol. Thanks for the heads up!
Awesome build and artwork! Time to build Pact of the Tank Girls und Panzer's Yukari!
Have you ever considered adding an ally to the spreadsheet? Like add an average damage reduced to allies per turn. I would be very interested in how all the tank builds perform in a stat like that
would be fun to find a way to work it in. Need more time :)
One feat option for this build (and indeed any cavalier build) should probably be sentinel. Keeping an enemy close is really important to the build and sentinel is probably the best way to do that.
I’m playing an earth genasi celestial warlock for my next campaign.
Pact of the chain, Gift of the Ever-living ones Invocation, starting feat: telekinesis (BA shove). Keep AC low to be a juicy target. Use telekinesis to shove teammates out of melee with enemy(they can choose to fail the save so they don’t receive an attack of opportunity) to force enemy to attack you or move away triggering your attack of opportunity (war caster feat at level 4) using Lightning Lure to pull them back into range.
Important Spells: Blade Ward (can cast as a BA occasionally), Mind Sliver and Sacred Flame (for ranged encounters and different saving throws), Cure Wounds, Lightning Lure, Enthrall, Find Familiar. Will probably add Fear based spells later.
Not sure what I’ll do for later levels but that covers the first ~10.
Biggest Pro: crazy healing and crowd control
Biggest Con: weak to longer battles (high turn count). And large AOEs (and/or small rooms) that may take out your invisible familiar.
Nice. I ran a sorcerer that had a lot of HP (21) at level 2. He has +3 from CON (Loxodon so uses CON for AC as well; was custom so +2 CHA, +1 CON) and had +2 HP per level from spelljammer background, wildspacer. If he had been a hill dwarf, he would have gotten another +1 hp per level. Add in some good spell choices, and keep leveling up, and it's a tank.
Finally a dnd 5e video 🎉🎉🎉
I know you ruled out Armorer from the beginning, but RAW there's actually nothing preventing Thunder Gauntlets from working with Hex Warrior. Might be something to try another time :)
'Beating a dead horse...' AHA! The origin of Why a phantom steed. Better than cleric of sune + cavalier for That kind of mounted combat hur hur hur.
Just from the description and image
I'm thinking a warlock using armor of agathys and perhaps a magic initiate feat so you can use shillelagh with charisma instead of wisdom
You're most likely also taking the polearm master feat for your tanking needs as well
Honestly I thought you'd be taking amulet warlock and taking all the rebukes and stuff so I completely forgot about tomb allowing you to take shillelagh
if you take shillelagh with magic initiate druid, you can only use it with wisdom
pact of the tome warlocks are the only ones that can use it with charisma
@@finalfantasy50 I didn't know that
You know, I've actually made a pretty decent Support Warlock. Specifically a Celestial Pact of Tome Warlock with a splash in Bard, probably Lore Bard.
So, what do we get out of it? Well, quite a bit actually. We get Cure Wounds, Revivify, and both Lesser and Greater Restoration on a short-rest recovery that automatically promotes as you gain levels, we get a pool of d6's of healing that can be used at range to pick people up off the ground, and at level 10 you basically get a feat for free to give temp HP to the whole party on a short or long rest.
As far as Pact of Tome, you pick up the pact-specific Invocation to get basically All The Ritual Spells(tm). This includes things like Secure Shelter, Detect Magic, Identify, and more, so a ton of out of combat utility. You also get some more cantrips, which is never bad. Oh, and you can still pick up Agonizing Blast, because why wouldn't you, and more battlefield control with Repelling Blast and Grasp of Hadar.
Finally, you pick up Bard splash for more skills for more utility, Song of Rest for more downtime healing which reduces the amount of in-combat healing you need to do, inspiration, and some useful support spells. For example, with Lore Bard, you can pick up Bless. After all, the only thing we want from Warlock after level 10 is maybe the feat or stat boost at level 12, so a splash into Bard just works. Especially if you can get Bard 2 early enough to make Song of Rest especially useful in the early game.
Summon Shadowspawn is a really good 3rd lvl Warlock spell option for tanking and control, and would be really flavourful for a Shadar kai being torn between his lineage and his Celestial Warlock patron...
I made a pact of the blade fiend warlock (10) barbarian (5) character once (played to level 15 then the campaign was over) and it is an amazingly tanky and does decent damage. Eldritch Smite while Raging to crit fish with reckless attacks works amazing and without raging you even have a decent option to attack with eldritch blast. Resistance through rage and temporary hitpoints through kills make up for the lowerish Con Score to make Charisma and Strength work. The only thing lacking is the soft taunt, even though you have some options to mess with the opponents movement and sentinel as always is an option.
nice one