I finally tried your half cleric half paladin build... omg one of my favorites for sure... works so well with Minthara as well with so many bonus action options.
And here i was thinking about a Durge playthrough with lockadin. Made a build that imo is quite interesting too, basically a "Sorlockadin": - Vengeance pally 5 - Bladelock 3 - Storm Sorc 4 - Feats: ASI Charisma +2 and GWF - Using Birthright hat, with Hag's hair, +3 from mirror of loss, can get to 24 charisma - Sorcerer can get shield, for some nice extra armor class, for more tankiness, also fly as BA is nice, together with misty steps, there's nowhere to run from you. I'll try it right now, got me excited for the game again. hahaha
IDK if anyone even is curious about this, but from testing: A Pact of the Blade warlock wielding Balduran's Giantslayer as the Pact Weapon rolls damage as follows: 3+2d6+Cha+Str, instead of the usual 3+2d6+Str+Str
Hmm... So no double strength+char? A bit disappointing, although with other weapons, there is no STR accounted for damage rolls, so even one time STR is beneficial in that case.
The extra damage from Giantslayer is specifically a STR based rider. This build would be significantly better as an Oathbreaker Paladin 7 so they get the Aura of Hate adding CHA again doing 2d6+CHA+CHA+STR+3. And yes it is powerful if your ok with using Cloud Giants STR potions, although you technically lose out on a few points of damage because you can only get +7 CHA whereas Cloud Giant potion gives you +8 STR
This was my very first build on my first Balanced playthrough when the game launched. It was so powerful with an Astarion origin (ascended, naturally). I ended up accidentally becoming an Oathbreaker and rolled with it. I love the Aura of Hate on this build, though I really wish Spiteful Suffering was a bonus action like Vow of Enmity. After numerous playthroughs on a quest to find my favorite build, I’ve now come full circle and build another Honor mode DUrge lockadin. Not sure if I’m going to resist or embrace the urge, but I just love this class combo so much. Even without stacking extra attacks.
If you manage to get Ethel's hair, I recommend to respec and starting with 17 charisma in order to reach 20 charisma with the first feat and to be able to choose Alert directly with the second feat or vice versa.
Thank you for doing this! I wrestled a lot with which paladin multiclass I want for my first tactician playthrough, and settled on Bardadin (which I'm loving) - but I'm thinking of a short-rest based party for a future playthrough and anything lock is great for that.
Just invest 30 seconds of recording to random combat at least, Theory crafting is great but your viewers would get really hyped to see this build actually dishing out triple digit damage and then locking down half dozen enemies
Even for honor mode, I feel your old build is better if the player is playing a melee paladin instead of caster. The numbers are not close. The new build gives 5 total smites but two at level 4. The old build gives 9 smites. It doesn’t get level 4 smites but aura of hate basically applies an extra level of smite damage on every hit, even when you don’t smite. It’s like getting Improved Divine Smite at Paladin level 7. Warlock 8, Vengeance Paladin 4 Level 1 smites: 3x 2D8 Level 4 smites: 2x 5D8 5 smites at 16D8 total Warlock 5, Oathbreaker 7 Level 1 smites: 4x 2D8 Level 2 smites: 3x 3D8 Level 3 smites: 2x 4D8 9 smites at 25D8 plus 4-7 damage from every hit from Aura of Hate Also, vengeance paladin advantage can be received from Darkness Arrows. Finally, the Paladin extra attack applies to all weapon attacks including ranged. Blade warlock extra attack only applies to the pact melee weapon.
Seems like a valid point. @cephapocalypse? is the main difference that this build just stacks Charisma where the other ones has to also stack STR (maybe with potions)?
@@OtimoficationI'm curious about the statement you made regarding stats: Unless it's a different video, his stats listed are exactly the same. (8, 14, 16, 8, 12, 16) - the other video has the exact same stats listed. Regardless, I'm curious how much better then W5/P7 works vs the W8/P4 - as I am debating using this for my Dark Urge playthrough (and Oathbreaker seems like it would be a better fit....)
Just came across this video in recommended, and wanted to say it is one of the clearest videos to follow in making a build. Great job and an easy watch. I'm just starting a warlock run, and thought about adding paladin but seeing this I'm going to start pal, as you made total sense, and follow the build. Thank you, great video and will check out some of your other builds also
Great as always! Just wanna say I finished my honor run first try last night using one your party setups. The swords bard/fighter and eldritch knight thrower are goated for sure
I'm playing darkness team at the moment and already in the middle of act 3, so I can give you a feedback. Without having this guide updated I had to use my brain and playtest, and I disliked in action the variant you present for honor mode. The point is that lvl4 pact slots are awesome, but there are so few of them! And having some extra ways to spend those slots doesn't help either ) I ended up Warlock 5 - Vengeance 6 - Sorcerer 1. For Ancients or Oathbreaker I would do Lock 5 - Pal 7, but Vengeance 7 is an insult so I just picked shield spell from a level. This way I actually had some slots to play with, and Aura of Protection. Yeah, I don't get extra-extra attack, but I don't think this is the reason to avoid this split.
Ilithid Charm almost always sticks when you have helmet of arcane acuity, so with solo playthrough it could help a bit. With Oathbreaker, it feels always better to use PAL 7/WAR 5 because of the CHAR bonus to the melee attacks. However, with other cases and in honor mode, it may be better to go with sorcerer route PAL 6 (for Aura of Protection) and SORC 6, which gives a much more smites with two attacks, natural 10 round haste and more versatility because of the helmet of arcane acuity+ring of mystic scoundrel and feats to CHAR and DEX. Then you go with double finesse blades (both with bonus to crit) or one plus Viconia's shield, so although the singular output and the amount of attacks per action will be smaller, the amount of crits, smites, defense and control spell will be incredible. This is a great choice for team playthoughs and possibly better for honor mode. If we go with Warlock and 3 attacks, maybe it's better to use Balduran's helm+ sword and gloves of cloud giant strength and not use so much spells, because there will be 7 smites or less.
if going as a main. i think its best to start as warlock, as that lets you make use of some stuff earlier, like the comand spell, to get the everburn easier. and because the biggest utility from going paladin first, the ability to wear heavy armor, is pretty underwhelming up until the point withers joins anyway if not all the way near the end of the first act.
Amazing, per usual! This may be one I try as solo. Do you plan to do a solo-honor mode build video? I've seen many Gloomstalker Assassin lone wolf videos, but not much for other builds.
Another fun multiclass option with these 2 is to throw in some sword bard. Ive done a 7 bard / 3 lock / 2 paladin mix and let me tell you its a blast. It doesnt fully come online until end game, but combining flourishes with lvl 4 smites is so fun.
I gotta gush about it somewhere, full Pact of the Blade warlock, exclusively fire spells, helldusk set and Hellfire greataxe is my current build and its so amazingly fun
I would prefer to go more Paladin than Warlock (or actually Paladin 6/Warlock 5/Sorcerer or Bard 1). You won't get 4th level slots, but you get MORE slots (9 vs 5). Also with Charisma so high, the Aura of Protection just improves every saving throw you have so you won't be failing many. I like throwing one level of Sorcerer in there because it is a full caster and increases your smite slots, and you can add some useful spells that you can't get from either Paladin or Warlock (like Shield, Magic Missile, or Chromatic Orb).
they are separate things entirely, but yes you can use your great weapon master bonus action attack, and bloodlust additionally granted action attack in the same turn. Note: in honour mode bloodlust doesn't give you your typical "full" action back; it only allows you to attack once with the additionally granted action
What are your thoughts about making a 'most fun full party guide'? So maximum meaningful choices, strategies that are neither repetitive nor overpowered. Basically in the spirit of the tier list you did
After 2 levels in Paladin and 5 in Warlock, wouldn't it make more sense to put the rest in Sorcerer, especially on honour mode? In that case you will get some very powerful spells to twin, like: Haste and Hold Person. And the higher Warlock levels are mostly for Smites anyway.
You should definitely start as pure Warlock until 6 then respec. Easier early game and you don’t need to worry about losing your oath if you do the hag’s hair.
This build, while quite powerful in mid and late game, is not optimal for early game given the lack of strength (unless mitigated with elixirs or by your pact at lvl 3 Warlock), postponing your feat, and the two level delay in getting your second attack. If you’re going this build route, look at respec’ing out of strict Paladin around lvl 7 or 8 vice splitting levels early.
I would really like to see some gameplay especially between acts. I feel like I’m so much weaker than the rest of my party. And then missing everything at lowest level. What’s the game play look like once spell slots are gone? In one fight I run out of spell slots and then what? Can’t long rest all the time due story. Early on so much misses. Act I felt really bad - so it would be great to get gameplay tips especially for the first act and very early levels.
One way to do it is to start with Paladin. All classes before level 5 feel squishy and weak in some way but at least with Paladin you are a fighter when spells run out at that level. Another way is to start Warlock. You may not have heavy or medium armor but you have eldritch blast that can push people back. Take it to level 5 pact of the blade if you want to get in close. Build won't really take off until level 7 anyway you slice it but I prefer paladin 5 first because damage progression is good with those levels.
I have a weird question: are you Cameron Abadi from the ones and tooze podcast? And if not... you have a voice doppelgänger out there. love your work (or, both your works haha)
How would you rate this build compared to a Bardadin / Sword Bard + Vengance Paladin build? Most probably focussing on finesse weapons to counter the MADness? Going the finess route is especially nice with wearing the Bhaalist Armour and using one or two of the OP daggers in the game. Regarding feat choice, I think that both the Lockadin and the Bardadin would benefit greatly from changing one Ability Improvement into Savage Attacker, which works great with smites, critical smites and additional damage dice from equipment. But you already covered that very well in your video, presenting your case for choosing GWM.
if you bind Shars spear of evening it is piercing damage as well as the darkness every turn. I have not gotten it yet, but plan to use that with GWM/SAVAGE Attacker. Of course the armor competes with potent robes, so just depends on if you are melee or ranged focused. For me a paladin is melee. so running dark urge.
@@jameskelsea6048 This is my current run and it is ridiculous, my other characters feel kind of pointless because wyll just oneshots 3 enemies at the start of every fight if they are close enough, the bahalist armor is just so much stronger than anything else in the game, you do not even need to cast darkness because the once per short rest aoe attack from the spear does it for you. I have GWM and Alert.
1:33 i quite like paladin(8)/warlock(4) you do lose a little bit with the extra attack from from enhanced pact from lv 5 warlock, but since that's not something you can use in honor mode, it feels like a good excuse to go with that ratio. and i feel like you gain alot from the third feat. allowing for alert which means less investment into dex. i would love if heavy armor master allowed you to invest into constitution instead of strength. but since it doesnt, getting it, does feel like a waste of stat. spell sniper is also a good choice for extra feat for thorn whip so you can pull enemies either towards you, or away from "softer" allies.
Awesome! In tabletop you get a lot more cool options as well - hexblade warlock, as well as the green-flame blade and booming blade cantrips, make this combo even cooler
Thanks for this! On HM, how much "worse off" are you if you take the 7/5 pal/war split for the oathbreaker feature? I would think the extra damage is still quite nice.
Even played Un optimally this build is still nuts. I used a mod to get the Celestial pact warlock for story reasons, but basically I ended up with Paladin 2/Warlock10 because the idea was my character abandoned her oath towards the end game but didn't want to be an oathbreaker, and she formed a pact with Dame Aylin to basically allow her to stop the elder brain. I kept paladin 2 with no oath mostly because I really wanted her to still have access to smite, and 2 lv 5 smites every short rest is no joke. I can only imagine how strong this build s when you're actually optimizing it. Great vid as always!
This might be such a dumb question that y'all might think I'm being sarcastic, but I'm truly not. I am clearly missing something here. In the video he talks about all the smite attacks you'll be hitting, like it's Oprah handing them out to her audience ... but I only have 2 warlock spell slots and 3 level 1 slots from the paladin. That's basically 2 strong attacks, which are used up in my very first round of attack. After that, I'm just a heavy weapon user landing 10 - 22 damage. What am I missing? 2 powerful attacks doesn't seem like that OP of a build, so I must be dumb!! Please enlighten me someone :) edit: Also, the author talks about the band of mystic scoundrel and how you can use your bonus action for spells ... That means you literally get 2 big damage smite attacks, 2 bonus action command person or whatever, and you are left with only one level 1 smite. Again, I clearly am missing something because a build that only does 2 huge attacks on their first turn then becomes a weak melee character with no more level 1 spells until long rest, seems like it might be the very worst build in the game, not the best. ???
For all paladin/warlock builds, isn’t Oath of Vengeance’s main feature (Vow of Enmity) somewhat redundant or even useless because any build with warlock devil’s sight can use arrow of darkness to get advantage against the target? Vow of Enmity last for ten turns but battles rarely last that long and you want the darkness for defense anyway.
I consider this build for my next playthrough which will be after patch 7. For evil rp reasons I wanna do an Oathbreaker, will that invalidate anything in this build? (Before lv 10 that is.) I also wanna do a costum run but with all combat related at honor difficulty, do you know that will affect for exemple Pact of the blade etc?
My personal best Lockadin is Paladin 2/ Warlock 5/ Abjuration Wizard 5, for honour mode. Vow of enmity is not needed because permanent advantage is easy to get from items, most paladin spells are meh so you don't need many of them. Armor of Agathys+ Arcane Ward makes this build unkillable, wizard levels give more spell slots for smites and better outright spells to cast, including Shield and haste. Use Lump's tiara to boost intelligence if you don't have the attribute points to boost intelligence otherwise.
@@JohnDoe-tx1sj I leave the wizard levels for last. You can start with paladin for the smites, but I prefer getting the warlock levels first to get darkness and devil's sight by character level 3 and extra attack by level 5.
Sounds like a fun build. I like abjuration a lot. Guessing this would give you (3) third level spell slots and (2) third level warlock spells? Maybe later could replace lumps tiara with fire acuity or arcane acuity to set up command spells, etc. Would need something like gloves of dexterity to free up the points though.
@@jameskelsea6048 That is exactly how it works for me. Gloves of Dexterity is indeed a great option, but I usually have someone else in the party who needs them more. If I don't, I like combining either the helmet of arcane acuity with the band of the mystic scoundrel to get bonus action casts of enchantment/illusion spells at a high DC, or just use the Hat of Fire Acuity and get the bonus spell save DC by casting Scorching ray. But I usually stick with the warped headband of intellect, because I usually have someone else in the party handle the crowd control.
sorry to have to ask here but I need to know - for the swordsbardarcher character you've made a few videos on, I rocked duergar as my Tav, and am now realising I don't have proficiency with longbows or heavy crossbows... entirely too late to redo the run, is there somewhere in the game i can get proficiency to avoid having to dual wield hand crossbows all game?
Could you also post a build guide for your favorite version of a always-stay-in-camp-buff-caster follower? Would it be Transmutation Wizard 2 / Life Cleric 10 with high Wisdom and medicine prof., or would a different combination be better? What are the best spells for a camp follower like this? My guess would be Longstrider, Mage Armour, Darkvision, Aid, Death Ward and maybe even Freedom of Movement?
How would Duke Ravengard´s Longsword fit in this Build? Would it work with Birthright (only to 22), the Mirror of Loss or the Ability Points to reach CHA 24 or even 26? Wolud be insane... sorry i´m not so into the game... just an idea in my head right now :D
I believe it should work so you have 26 CHA. The game is pretty smart to give you +2 from Birthright to get you 22 CHA which is Birthright's cap. Then +2 from Duke's sword to get you to 24 CHA which the sword's cap. Finally the mirror's +2 gets you 26 which has no restrictions. Technically you can get +3 from the mirror if you also get Patriar's memory since it gives +1 CHA. And with Ethel's hair +1 bonus to CHA which also has no restrictions you can get 28 CHA.
main character needs only 1 feat (and hag) to get to cha 20. any suggestions for the 2nd feat? leaning towards Alert (tactician/ half orc / oathbreaker / greatsword). txs
This seems like a solid build to respec into when you hit level 7, but delaying your extra attack by two levels seems like a very poor decision. Otherwise, amazing content as always.
I’ve tried this build out and I always seem to get my concentration broken. It feels like war caster is a must have. Any tips on what might be going wrong for me?
Question: I read something about the order of classes being important? So if you take Warlock first, another class second, it will not work with the Charisma for attack or something? Is there anything to it? For some reason my character always had a really low hit-chance even with 20 CHA AND bound weapon it only was like 25%?
the last class you spec into is the stat modifier for scrolls and items, this does not apply in this case because both warlock and paladin use CHA. If you for example went paladin who uses CHA into cleric it would switch to WIS.
For a more defensive version with paladin aura, is there any merit in 8 pal/4 lock, or even just still 7/5 for 3rd-level warlock slots even if the bonus attack does nothing?
So I’m in act 2 (level 8) honor mode running this build along side a throw warrior and the warrior does SO much more damage. Does this take longer to come online, am I doing something wrong, or is the damage for a thrower just that out of proportion?
@@yvon_souche Yes. At level 9 now, I'll get about 40 damage on the warlock smites, so 80 1st round if I exhaust both smites. By comparison, my throw warrior hits for about 25 each throw using no resources. Add in action surge and I'm around 100 1st round (125 if I use a war cleric bonus action). And from round 2 on, the warrior's advantage only grows since I've used up the paladin's smite resource. So at no point in the fight does the paladin have an edge barring a crit. Is my number lower than it should be for this build? Because I expected Paladin to out burst the warrior and I'm not getting that at all.
@@davidlantz3302 I just remembered that I actually don't agree with something in the video : you should take savage attacker as a feat. It rerolls all damage dice, including smite and crit ones. This is a huge boost of damage output for this build (or any other paladin build). Other than that, I think I see the issue here : are you using your smites on regular strikes ? You really want to use them on crits only, because smite damage dice also gets doubled on crits. That's where your burst damage should come from. Band of the mystic scoundrel is extremely good on this build, cause it lets you hit your target once, paralyze it with Hold person, then dump two massive lvl 3 crit smites in its face. This is generally enough to delete anything. ^^ If you don't have this item or don't want to use it, try to crit fish in some other way, be it gaining advantage on your attack rolls (with Darkness for example) or lowering your crit treshold with other items. That should do the trick. :) Also, keep in mind that all damage dice get doubled on a crit, including Hex / Hunter's mark, etc. Bonus action spells that you have access to with this build. I hope this helped ! Feel free to ask me more question, I'll answer if I can.
monoclass bladelock I'd generally recommend if you have a specific reason to want to stay monoclassed - otherwise multiclasses like this (for melee damage) or sorlock (for spellcasters) will usually be stronger
Yes! You can use the tactician build unchanged or go pal 8 / lock 4, though I generally prefer the 7/5 split even on honour - just use ethyl's hair or items to max charisma while still getting the feats you need.
This video couldn’t have been published at a better time, I’ve spent the day looking at melee warlock options
Same! I plan on running a Paladin build for my fresh new Dark Urge and this will fit like a glove.
Wow i was thinking the same😮
my fingers gravitate towards eldritch blast, but I'm fighting the voices and going melee
This video had advantage because he cast true strike before recording it.
no combat showcase is criminal
I finally tried your half cleric half paladin build... omg one of my favorites for sure... works so well with Minthara as well with so many bonus action options.
I've been using g that build on my HM play through. Love it
I almost mytliclassed minthsrs yo cleric yesterday. It sounded good in my head but I was exhausted so ended up not committing
Awesome, glad you're enjoying it!
Wait he has a cleric paladin build guide
@@MaSeshieldIt comes in pints?! I’m getting one
And here i was thinking about a Durge playthrough with lockadin. Made a build that imo is quite interesting too, basically a "Sorlockadin":
- Vengeance pally 5
- Bladelock 3
- Storm Sorc 4
- Feats: ASI Charisma +2 and GWF
- Using Birthright hat, with Hag's hair, +3 from mirror of loss, can get to 24 charisma
- Sorcerer can get shield, for some nice extra armor class, for more tankiness, also fly as BA is nice, together with misty steps, there's nowhere to run from you.
I'll try it right now, got me excited for the game again. hahaha
IDK if anyone even is curious about this, but from testing:
A Pact of the Blade warlock wielding Balduran's Giantslayer as the Pact Weapon rolls damage as follows: 3+2d6+Cha+Str, instead of the usual 3+2d6+Str+Str
Hmm... So no double strength+char? A bit disappointing, although with other weapons, there is no STR accounted for damage rolls, so even one time STR is beneficial in that case.
The extra damage from Giantslayer is specifically a STR based rider. This build would be significantly better as an Oathbreaker Paladin 7 so they get the Aura of Hate adding CHA again doing 2d6+CHA+CHA+STR+3.
And yes it is powerful if your ok with using Cloud Giants STR potions, although you technically lose out on a few points of damage because you can only get +7 CHA whereas Cloud Giant potion gives you +8 STR
@@slasherhawk There are gloves that give you 23 strength. They suit the Balduran's Sword well.
@@michadybczak4862Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength. They’re from Raphael’s House of Hope.
This was my very first build on my first Balanced playthrough when the game launched. It was so powerful with an Astarion origin (ascended, naturally). I ended up accidentally becoming an Oathbreaker and rolled with it. I love the Aura of Hate on this build, though I really wish Spiteful Suffering was a bonus action like Vow of Enmity.
After numerous playthroughs on a quest to find my favorite build, I’ve now come full circle and build another Honor mode DUrge lockadin. Not sure if I’m going to resist or embrace the urge, but I just love this class combo so much. Even without stacking extra attacks.
If you manage to get Ethel's hair, I recommend to respec and starting with 17 charisma in order to reach 20 charisma with the first feat and to be able to choose Alert directly with the second feat or vice versa.
Thank you for doing this! I wrestled a lot with which paladin multiclass I want for my first tactician playthrough, and settled on Bardadin (which I'm loving) - but I'm thinking of a short-rest based party for a future playthrough and anything lock is great for that.
Thanks! I was starting to think stealing had a big nerf because I kept getting caught despite all the slight of hand buffs.
bro i literally started a lockadin solo run yesterday, what devilish timing
Just invest 30 seconds of recording to random combat at least, Theory crafting is great but your viewers would get really hyped to see this build actually dishing out triple digit damage and then locking down half dozen enemies
this youtuber copied other channel's build and not playing the build himself
Even for honor mode, I feel your old build is better if the player is playing a melee paladin instead of caster. The numbers are not close. The new build gives 5 total smites but two at level 4. The old build gives 9 smites. It doesn’t get level 4 smites but aura of hate basically applies an extra level of smite damage on every hit, even when you don’t smite. It’s like getting Improved Divine Smite at Paladin level 7.
Warlock 8, Vengeance Paladin 4
Level 1 smites: 3x 2D8
Level 4 smites: 2x 5D8
5 smites at 16D8 total
Warlock 5, Oathbreaker 7
Level 1 smites: 4x 2D8
Level 2 smites: 3x 3D8
Level 3 smites: 2x 4D8
9 smites at 25D8 plus 4-7 damage from every hit from Aura of Hate
Also, vengeance paladin advantage can be received from Darkness Arrows. Finally, the Paladin extra attack applies to all weapon attacks including ranged. Blade warlock extra attack only applies to the pact melee weapon.
Seems like a valid point. @cephapocalypse? is the main difference that this build just stacks Charisma where the other ones has to also stack STR (maybe with potions)?
@@OtimoficationI'm curious about the statement you made regarding stats: Unless it's a different video, his stats listed are exactly the same. (8, 14, 16, 8, 12, 16) - the other video has the exact same stats listed. Regardless, I'm curious how much better then W5/P7 works vs the W8/P4 - as I am debating using this for my Dark Urge playthrough (and Oathbreaker seems like it would be a better fit....)
@@gronkdamage @ceph didn't respond so I really don't know. I was hoping @Cephalopocalypse would respond and clarify.
Just came across this video in recommended, and wanted to say it is one of the clearest videos to follow in making a build. Great job and an easy watch.
I'm just starting a warlock run, and thought about adding paladin but seeing this I'm going to start pal, as you made total sense, and follow the build. Thank you, great video and will check out some of your other builds also
Thanks very much! Good luck with the run!
You're the best for this I've been using the old one and am so happy for a remaster of it!!
Awesome!
I watched your older video just last night because I wanted Wyll to be a Lockadin. Talk about timing!
Awesome, good luck with the run!
I am glad someone on here update their builds. I used the last build a lot with Minthara and Wyll paythroughs. Only difference I kept Wyll as a fiend.
Great as always! Just wanna say I finished my honor run first try last night using one your party setups. The swords bard/fighter and eldritch knight thrower are goated for sure
Just discovered your channel very recently with your “Best Evil Playthrough Builds” and this update to Palalock is very great to watch. Earned a sub!
I'm playing darkness team at the moment and already in the middle of act 3, so I can give you a feedback. Without having this guide updated I had to use my brain and playtest, and I disliked in action the variant you present for honor mode. The point is that lvl4 pact slots are awesome, but there are so few of them! And having some extra ways to spend those slots doesn't help either )
I ended up Warlock 5 - Vengeance 6 - Sorcerer 1. For Ancients or Oathbreaker I would do Lock 5 - Pal 7, but Vengeance 7 is an insult so I just picked shield spell from a level.
This way I actually had some slots to play with, and Aura of Protection. Yeah, I don't get extra-extra attack, but I don't think this is the reason to avoid this split.
I've been having a fun time running my lockadin in my honor mode playthrough, just finished act 2
Thank you for the build, I think I asked for this a few weeks ago and you did it
Ilithid Charm almost always sticks when you have helmet of arcane acuity, so with solo playthrough it could help a bit.
With Oathbreaker, it feels always better to use PAL 7/WAR 5 because of the CHAR bonus to the melee attacks. However, with other cases and in honor mode, it may be better to go with sorcerer route PAL 6 (for Aura of Protection) and SORC 6, which gives a much more smites with two attacks, natural 10 round haste and more versatility because of the helmet of arcane acuity+ring of mystic scoundrel and feats to CHAR and DEX. Then you go with double finesse blades (both with bonus to crit) or one plus Viconia's shield, so although the singular output and the amount of attacks per action will be smaller, the amount of crits, smites, defense and control spell will be incredible. This is a great choice for team playthoughs and possibly better for honor mode.
If we go with Warlock and 3 attacks, maybe it's better to use Balduran's helm+ sword and gloves of cloud giant strength and not use so much spells, because there will be 7 smites or less.
ayyyy!!!! this is the exact update video i asked for and you delivered!
if going as a main. i think its best to start as warlock, as that lets you make use of some stuff earlier, like the comand spell, to get the everburn easier. and because the biggest utility from going paladin first, the ability to wear heavy armor, is pretty underwhelming up until the point withers joins anyway if not all the way near the end of the first act.
Amazing, per usual! This may be one I try as solo. Do you plan to do a solo-honor mode build video? I've seen many Gloomstalker Assassin lone wolf videos, but not much for other builds.
For Tactician I like a 5 lvls Paladin + 5 lvls Warlock + 2 lvls Bard for 3 "charisma" attacks and an extra short rest
Another fun multiclass option with these 2 is to throw in some sword bard. Ive done a 7 bard / 3 lock / 2 paladin mix and let me tell you its a blast. It doesnt fully come online until end game, but combining flourishes with lvl 4 smites is so fun.
Keep up the good work, very easy to follow while just listening at work
Thanks, glad to hear it!
awesome guide. i would love to see an oathbreaker guide from you :)
He already made one: ruclips.net/video/LWJv2qh3Nso/видео.htmlsi=01df3TmP2auFn0KB
I love your builds! Could you please do a party comp that focus on darkness, like an evil party of shadow assassins? That would be awesome!
Already done! You can find it under "the best evil party"
I gotta gush about it somewhere, full Pact of the Blade warlock, exclusively fire spells, helldusk set and Hellfire greataxe is my current build and its so amazingly fun
I’m literally doing a Wyll Origin Run right now and was thinking of dipping into Paladin, this is perfect!
He also has some paladin coded dialogue options so this is a great idea.
Great video, thank you ! If I want to go solo, is it better to take a shield or stay two handed ?
No Way I was just thinking of starting up a campaign as a lockadin, Thanks!
This is a great vid as usual. NGL though, I came here hoping for a shields tier list! 😅
This is definitely my favorite character archetype
ayy perfect timing, I just started this build last night from the previous video
Nice! Good luck with the run!
I would prefer to go more Paladin than Warlock (or actually Paladin 6/Warlock 5/Sorcerer or Bard 1). You won't get 4th level slots, but you get MORE slots (9 vs 5). Also with Charisma so high, the Aura of Protection just improves every saving throw you have so you won't be failing many. I like throwing one level of Sorcerer in there because it is a full caster and increases your smite slots, and you can add some useful spells that you can't get from either Paladin or Warlock (like Shield, Magic Missile, or Chromatic Orb).
Great video but I had to watch it at 2x speed
I love your videos, they're always nice to follow. One thing that would be cool to see is recommended gear for earlier levels as the build progresses
Love all your videos man!
Thanks!
a big plus for great weapon master is the bonusaction attack on kill or crit
Does that stack with bloodlust elixir?
they are separate things entirely, but yes you can use your great weapon master bonus action attack, and bloodlust additionally granted action attack in the same turn. Note: in honour mode bloodlust doesn't give you your typical "full" action back; it only allows you to attack once with the additionally granted action
Super fun build. Wish I could think of this stuff. Every build I attempt to create is super gimped.
What are your thoughts about making a 'most fun full party guide'? So maximum meaningful choices, strategies that are neither repetitive nor overpowered. Basically in the spirit of the tier list you did
stay tuned ;)
After 2 levels in Paladin and 5 in Warlock, wouldn't it make more sense to put the rest in Sorcerer, especially on honour mode? In that case you will get some very powerful spells to twin, like: Haste and Hold Person. And the higher Warlock levels are mostly for Smites anyway.
You should definitely start as pure Warlock until 6 then respec. Easier early game and you don’t need to worry about losing your oath if you do the hag’s hair.
banger after banger with you. outstanding
Thanks!
Perfectly timed video again
awesome
This build, while quite powerful in mid and late game, is not optimal for early game given the lack of strength (unless mitigated with elixirs or by your pact at lvl 3 Warlock), postponing your feat, and the two level delay in getting your second attack. If you’re going this build route, look at respec’ing out of strict Paladin around lvl 7 or 8 vice splitting levels early.
I would really like to see some gameplay especially between acts. I feel like I’m so much weaker than the rest of my party. And then missing everything at lowest level. What’s the game play look like once spell slots are gone? In one fight I run out of spell slots and then what? Can’t long rest all the time due story. Early on so much misses. Act I felt really bad - so it would be great to get gameplay tips especially for the first act and very early levels.
warlocks regain their spell slots on short rest or song of rest from bards. try bringing a bard along, or two
One way to do it is to start with Paladin. All classes before level 5 feel squishy and weak in some way but at least with Paladin you are a fighter when spells run out at that level.
Another way is to start Warlock. You may not have heavy or medium armor but you have eldritch blast that can push people back. Take it to level 5 pact of the blade if you want to get in close. Build won't really take off until level 7 anyway you slice it but I prefer paladin 5 first because damage progression is good with those levels.
I have a weird question: are you Cameron Abadi from the ones and tooze podcast? And if not... you have a voice doppelgänger out there. love your work (or, both your works haha)
How would you rate this build compared to a Bardadin / Sword Bard + Vengance Paladin build? Most probably focussing on finesse weapons to counter the MADness?
Going the finess route is especially nice with wearing the Bhaalist Armour and using one or two of the OP daggers in the game. Regarding feat choice, I think that both the Lockadin and the Bardadin would benefit greatly from changing one Ability Improvement into Savage Attacker, which works great with smites, critical smites and additional damage dice from equipment. But you already covered that very well in your video, presenting your case for choosing GWM.
if you bind Shars spear of evening it is piercing damage as well as the darkness every turn. I have not gotten it yet, but plan to use that with GWM/SAVAGE Attacker. Of course the armor competes with potent robes, so just depends on if you are melee or ranged focused. For me a paladin is melee. so running dark urge.
@@jameskelsea6048 This is my current run and it is ridiculous, my other characters feel kind of pointless because wyll just oneshots 3 enemies at the start of every fight if they are close enough, the bahalist armor is just so much stronger than anything else in the game, you do not even need to cast darkness because the once per short rest aoe attack from the spear does it for you. I have GWM and Alert.
1:33 i quite like paladin(8)/warlock(4) you do lose a little bit with the extra attack from from enhanced pact from lv 5 warlock, but since that's not something you can use in honor mode, it feels like a good excuse to go with that ratio. and i feel like you gain alot from the third feat. allowing for alert which means less investment into dex. i would love if heavy armor master allowed you to invest into constitution instead of strength. but since it doesnt, getting it, does feel like a waste of stat. spell sniper is also a good choice for extra feat for thorn whip so you can pull enemies either towards you, or away from "softer" allies.
We are finishing a 3 year 5e campaign soon. This might be my next character
Awesome! In tabletop you get a lot more cool options as well - hexblade warlock, as well as the green-flame blade and booming blade cantrips, make this combo even cooler
Thanks for this! On HM, how much "worse off" are you if you take the 7/5 pal/war split for the oathbreaker feature? I would think the extra damage is still quite nice.
It's very strong! I meant what I said about literally any class split with at least pal 2 / lock 3 being excellent!
Even played Un optimally this build is still nuts. I used a mod to get the Celestial pact warlock for story reasons, but basically I ended up with Paladin 2/Warlock10 because the idea was my character abandoned her oath towards the end game but didn't want to be an oathbreaker, and she formed a pact with Dame Aylin to basically allow her to stop the elder brain. I kept paladin 2 with no oath mostly because I really wanted her to still have access to smite, and 2 lv 5 smites every short rest is no joke. I can only imagine how strong this build s when you're actually optimizing it.
Great vid as always!
This might be such a dumb question that y'all might think I'm being sarcastic, but I'm truly not. I am clearly missing something here. In the video he talks about all the smite attacks you'll be hitting, like it's Oprah handing them out to her audience ... but I only have 2 warlock spell slots and 3 level 1 slots from the paladin. That's basically 2 strong attacks, which are used up in my very first round of attack. After that, I'm just a heavy weapon user landing 10 - 22 damage. What am I missing? 2 powerful attacks doesn't seem like that OP of a build, so I must be dumb!! Please enlighten me someone :)
edit: Also, the author talks about the band of mystic scoundrel and how you can use your bonus action for spells ... That means you literally get 2 big damage smite attacks, 2 bonus action command person or whatever, and you are left with only one level 1 smite. Again, I clearly am missing something because a build that only does 2 huge attacks on their first turn then becomes a weak melee character with no more level 1 spells until long rest, seems like it might be the very worst build in the game, not the best. ???
For all paladin/warlock builds, isn’t Oath of Vengeance’s main feature (Vow of Enmity) somewhat redundant or even useless because any build with warlock devil’s sight can use arrow of darkness to get advantage against the target? Vow of Enmity last for ten turns but battles rarely last that long and you want the darkness for defense anyway.
I literally just started a new run with a pal/warlock this morning.
Thanks
This build strikes true!
Aura of Protection is 10/10 I like a 6/6 split but yea the extra attack thing in honor mode is understandable
finaly a paladin multi build I wanna try. ty 😅
I consider this build for my next playthrough which will be after patch 7. For evil rp reasons I wanna do an Oathbreaker, will that invalidate anything in this build? (Before lv 10 that is.) I also wanna do a costum run but with all combat related at honor difficulty, do you know that will affect for exemple Pact of the blade etc?
If you were putting together a party based on the Darkness mechanics, which builds would you use?
My personal best Lockadin is Paladin 2/ Warlock 5/ Abjuration Wizard 5, for honour mode. Vow of enmity is not needed because permanent advantage is easy to get from items, most paladin spells are meh so you don't need many of them.
Armor of Agathys+ Arcane Ward makes this build unkillable, wizard levels give more spell slots for smites and better outright spells to cast, including Shield and haste. Use Lump's tiara to boost intelligence if you don't have the attribute points to boost intelligence otherwise.
What does the progression look like for that build? Do you start off as a paladin?
@@JohnDoe-tx1sj I leave the wizard levels for last. You can start with paladin for the smites, but I prefer getting the warlock levels first to get darkness and devil's sight by character level 3 and extra attack by level 5.
Sounds like a fun build. I like abjuration a lot. Guessing this would give you (3) third level spell slots and (2) third level warlock spells? Maybe later could replace lumps tiara with fire acuity or arcane acuity to set up command spells, etc. Would need something like gloves of dexterity to free up the points though.
@@Mike-r4h I also like to start warlock for all that you mention, but also to rush hunger of hadar. It is just that good.
@@jameskelsea6048 That is exactly how it works for me. Gloves of Dexterity is indeed a great option, but I usually have someone else in the party who needs them more. If I don't, I like combining either the helmet of arcane acuity with the band of the mystic scoundrel to get bonus action casts of enchantment/illusion spells at a high DC, or just use the Hat of Fire Acuity and get the bonus spell save DC by casting Scorching ray.
But I usually stick with the warped headband of intellect, because I usually have someone else in the party handle the crowd control.
sorry to have to ask here but I need to know -
for the swordsbardarcher character you've made a few videos on, I rocked duergar as my Tav, and am now realising I don't have proficiency with longbows or heavy crossbows... entirely too late to redo the run, is there somewhere in the game i can get proficiency to avoid having to dual wield hand crossbows all game?
and yknow what, by complete coincidence, just found the gloves of archery. cheers!
Could you also post a build guide for your favorite version of a always-stay-in-camp-buff-caster follower? Would it be Transmutation Wizard 2 / Life Cleric 10 with high Wisdom and medicine prof., or would a different combination be better? What are the best spells for a camp follower like this? My guess would be Longstrider, Mage Armour, Darkvision, Aid, Death Ward and maybe even Freedom of Movement?
I will renovate now the request of a Tactician or Honor build on Dark Urge, lore-wise 🥺
Sweet video chief. Can we get a tierlist on all the tierlist videos?
How would Duke Ravengard´s Longsword fit in this Build? Would it work with Birthright (only to 22), the Mirror of Loss or the Ability Points to reach CHA 24 or even 26? Wolud be insane... sorry i´m not so into the game... just an idea in my head right now :D
Works with mirror buff up to 24 char, yes
I believe it should work so you have 26 CHA. The game is pretty smart to give you +2 from Birthright to get you 22 CHA which is Birthright's cap. Then +2 from Duke's sword to get you to 24 CHA which the sword's cap. Finally the mirror's +2 gets you 26 which has no restrictions.
Technically you can get +3 from the mirror if you also get Patriar's memory since it gives +1 CHA. And with Ethel's hair +1 bonus to CHA which also has no restrictions you can get 28 CHA.
Thank You, good Sir
Any chance we get an Oathbreaker version? I think 9/3 or 8/4 other way around is still strong
main character needs only 1 feat (and hag) to get to cha 20. any suggestions for the 2nd feat? leaning towards Alert (tactician/ half orc / oathbreaker / greatsword). txs
I'll be doing my first Honour Mode run with this build. Thx!
my first honor run ended when fighting the hobgoblin in act 1.
This seems like a solid build to respec into when you hit level 7, but delaying your extra attack by two levels seems like a very poor decision. Otherwise, amazing content as always.
Demon + Saver it’s been so long
I’ve tried this build out and I always seem to get my concentration broken. It feels like war caster is a must have. Any tips on what might be going wrong for me?
wasnt there a problem with darkness also causing the blind effect which devils sight didndnt prevent? did they ever fix that?
Question: I read something about the order of classes being important? So if you take Warlock first, another class second, it will not work with the Charisma for attack or something? Is there anything to it? For some reason my character always had a really low hit-chance even with 20 CHA AND bound weapon it only was like 25%?
the last class you spec into is the stat modifier for scrolls and items, this does not apply in this case because both warlock and paladin use CHA.
If you for example went paladin who uses CHA into cleric it would switch to WIS.
@@bgnin Thank you :)
Can you do a mutant and bull run thanks man keep doing what you do
Commenting to cast bless on the RUclips algorithm
Cheers!
For a more defensive version with paladin aura, is there any merit in 8 pal/4 lock, or even just still 7/5 for 3rd-level warlock slots even if the bonus attack does nothing?
Yes, all of those are great options! I genuinely meant what I said about any split that included at least pal 2 / lock 3 being awesome
Would you ever do solo builds for honor mode?
thx a lot!
Was hoping for another equipment tier list…..
Helll yea new bg3 vid
So I’m in act 2 (level 8) honor mode running this build along side a throw warrior and the warrior does SO much more damage. Does this take longer to come online, am I doing something wrong, or is the damage for a thrower just that out of proportion?
Did you bind your pact weapon after every long rest ?
@@yvon_souche Yes. At level 9 now, I'll get about 40 damage on the warlock smites, so 80 1st round if I exhaust both smites. By comparison, my throw warrior hits for about 25 each throw using no resources. Add in action surge and I'm around 100 1st round (125 if I use a war cleric bonus action). And from round 2 on, the warrior's advantage only grows since I've used up the paladin's smite resource. So at no point in the fight does the paladin have an edge barring a crit. Is my number lower than it should be for this build? Because I expected Paladin to out burst the warrior and I'm not getting that at all.
@@davidlantz3302 I just remembered that I actually don't agree with something in the video : you should take savage attacker as a feat. It rerolls all damage dice, including smite and crit ones. This is a huge boost of damage output for this build (or any other paladin build).
Other than that, I think I see the issue here : are you using your smites on regular strikes ? You really want to use them on crits only, because smite damage dice also gets doubled on crits. That's where your burst damage should come from.
Band of the mystic scoundrel is extremely good on this build, cause it lets you hit your target once, paralyze it with Hold person, then dump two massive lvl 3 crit smites in its face. This is generally enough to delete anything. ^^
If you don't have this item or don't want to use it, try to crit fish in some other way, be it gaining advantage on your attack rolls (with Darkness for example) or lowering your crit treshold with other items. That should do the trick. :)
Also, keep in mind that all damage dice get doubled on a crit, including Hex / Hunter's mark, etc. Bonus action spells that you have access to with this build.
I hope this helped ! Feel free to ask me more question, I'll answer if I can.
Which build would you favor between this one and your Bladelock 12?
monoclass bladelock I'd generally recommend if you have a specific reason to want to stay monoclassed - otherwise multiclasses like this (for melee damage) or sorlock (for spellcasters) will usually be stronger
how well does this compare to gloomstalker or battlemaster if youre not burning your spell slots every fight?
How does this build pairs compared to the Bard+Paladin build?
I'm debating this or 10 warlock 2 paladin simply for the fifth level spell slot upgrade over the extra feat.
Also great! I'd also consider a 3/9 split, for some paladin subclasses the level 3 feature is better than the level 10 warlock feature
So, uh, how do we use minor illusion? You mention it in every build, but I never get to use it because I bumble into every combat without any prep.
It's more of a meta strat but if you know a fight is coming you can drop it down and lure all the enemies to that location before starting combat.
Gonna trash my current, error-ridden play-thru so I can try this one.
Is oathbreaker still a viable option in honour mode and if so whats are the breakpoints for that?
Yes! You can use the tactician build unchanged or go pal 8 / lock 4, though I generally prefer the 7/5 split even on honour - just use ethyl's hair or items to max charisma while still getting the feats you need.
@@Cephalopocalypse Perfect, thank you!
Uploading any brotato today?
If only we could fit true strike on it. #almost perfect
How does the oathbreaker version stack up to this with aura of hate?
What does my lockadin miss so much? I bind my weapon so it uses charisma but 2/3 are always miss attacks 😅