I started BG3 having never looked into warlocks much in my D&D campaigns. After trying out your warlock builds, they've become my favorite class. Love these!
Warlocks are so underrated. Hyper customizable, flavor, always useful, their play pattern also is not as 1:1 as many people make it out to be. Because their default action is always accessible and so reliable they can dump everything else into sheer utility and you end up with a character that can quite literally do everything you need.
I remember during my first tactician run (before Honor Mode was in the game), I was dreading the spider fight in act 1. At this point I didn’t know that the brood mother could be moved against her will, so I was pleasantly surprised when I casted eldritch blast, and sent her flying down the cliff to her death lol
Heh. "Fear" as a panic button. If you choose to become an Unholy Assassin of Bhaal, there's a pair of gloves you can purchase that add bonus force damage on critical hits, but for Eldritch Blast, they instead cause that beam to hit (and crit) twice.
Watching this as a new player whos a 3rd lvl cleric has made me want fo reroll, seem simple to follow and isnt as complicated as cleric imo. Great guide
ThankQ, just completed my first ever Honour run with ur guides, i used Wyll as the Origin character and used ur guides: Nature Cleric for Shadowheart, The Best Ranger for Astarion & The Best Fighter for Lae'zel. Was alot of fun seeing how everything plays into each other :3
I recently made a warlock that was 4 levels fighter and the rest warlock so that I could get 3 feats and stack crit chance. It was probably not the best but it was super fun and crazy high damage
@@Cephalopocalypse thanks for the response! I really wanted spell sniper, ability improvement and alert. With an elixir of bloodlust, action surge, and speed potion I could fire off 4 in my first turn, easily taking out 3-5 enemies on turn one.
Great video! I did a slightly alternative build with 12 levels of great old one warlock; I think that this character more than any other subclass in the game (outside of swords bard) benefits from band of the mystic scoundrel. That, combined with pact of the blade gives you the opportunity to cast 9 bonus action 5th level hold person’s/monster’s per day, which was really fun because those spells normally are so costly to cast. Using pact of the blade, 12 goo warlock with the final lifedrinker invocation to add to your melee damage made for a decent martial character with really good cc capability and a lot of different things to do on any turn, which was a lot of fun.
Thank you my friend this will be extremely useful 😊 Keep up the good work your builds really help me to both kick ass in the game and overall really enjoy it.
I feel like the non-Fiend subclasses are in a really weird spot in this game. I only run Wyll as Fiend because that's his canon Patron, and you actually interact with his Patron a lot, so it's hard to ignore. So, with that in mind, I would only run the other two subclasses on a Tav, but that also feels weird because it makes them mostly mechanically redundant with Wyll, forces you to split all of the good items, and you don't get Patron interaction at all. Edit: I think maybe you should have mentioned 2 levels of Paladin as another multiclass possibility. Smiting with Warlock spell slots is absolutely cracked. That definitely makes you play more like a Paladin than a Warlock though.
@@GeneralDingo Melee/ranged makes sense, but unfortunately that doesn't quite line up with my current playthrough either. If we're definitely doing one of each, it'd feel weird to make Wyll the ranged one considering his whole Blade of Frontiers shtick, and my current Tav would also want to be the melee one.
Yeah this is honestly the biggest gripe against playing a Warlock MC. You either only use Wyll and keep him as a Fiendlock or you shove his ass in camp and play as any Warlock you want. To me Warlock specifically seems like one of those classes where it feels having more than one will make the play through feel very mono.
My current playthrough is a lockadin, and with the right build those smites are ridiculous, plus with all the benefits of a ranged devil's sight warlock, can basically solo most encounters
Hey, thanks for making this build videos and explaining the mechanics. I am terrible at these games and it's my first time playing so this helps out a lot.
With full warlock build, I feel bad about using lv 5 warlock spell for darkness or hex hence I think multiclassing with other caster classes benefit warlock a lot
I would love to see a full party build centered around darkness. Maybe everyone takes two levels in warlock, or maybe some get blindness immunity from gear?
Warlock feels so odd to me in this game. I usually yoink 3 levels of it when I wanna do a build where I wanna dump strength and not be a dex build either. Like Paladin with Charisma as their main attack stat, pack of the blade is good for that. And as a bonus you get devils sight which is busted.
Your videos are great. There are lots of videos and guides that show where to find gear. I like that you focus on game mechanics and how builds can use those game mechanics. I do have a question. Most battles don’t last more than three turns but I don’t think you have suggested using arrow of darkness instead of darkness spell. I know that the area of the arrow is smaller but you don’t need to concentrate and use concentration on hex, haste or another spell.
My assumption is that he places higher value in Alert, especially for Honor mode. I was similarly surprised that he didn't mention a 3 level champion dip when he mentioned the 2 level dip.
I can't bring myself to make Wyll a goolock, because we meet his patron... I have a similar problem with Shadowheart and her deity. The rest of them... well I don't think their subclasses really define them as characters. In some cases I don't even think their classes do. Anyway... I think the fiend-lock will work fine in the party I'm contemplating.
I Wana see some builds that aren't covered by anyone and also might not be great but would be fun and rp friendly. Like a dual wield hunter rouge using the finesse longswords. Or maybe a dual wield hammer paladin war cleric thief. Also a melee/ throwing Eldritch knight wizard tempest cleric Thor build. These are all builds I've made but would love other people take on them.
With the ease of obtaining scrolls there should never be a time when a party member has nothing to contribute. Then there are elemental arrows and thrown items.
I noticed an error. You mentioned the Animate Dead from Pact of theTome being nice because it upcasts well, however the spells from Pact of the Tome don't use the Warlock spell slots, they're simply once per long rest free casts that are always their basic level. Animate Dead is therefore only ever 1 skeleton or 1 zombie, which is still nice because it's an extra body for no resource cost, but nowhere near as useful as a higher level Animate Dead spell.
I think Devil's Sight is a bit overrated. It is very easy to play the darkness game without it- just move out of darkness before attacking and then retreat back in afterwards. We have a movement action for a reason, after all. Personally, I prefer fiendish resilience, which provides free health at the cost of an action and is a great quality of life ability. Step on a trap? No problem, recast fiendish resilience. Took a hit in the last fight? No problem, recast fiendish resilience. Oh, and it can proc tempestuous flight if you are playing a storm sorcerer. Really good.
it's hard to argue for building mono warlock other than using 12 bladelock as it's the only actual pact that gets rewarded for going 12 levels of warlock. with the help of bhaalist armor it's a very consistently solid martial, albeit with a lower ceiling compared to other top dog martials like fighters or paladins. for eldritch blast builds, machinegun sorlock is definitely better than mono warlock and 10 evocation 2 warlock has actually great scaling as an endgame respec option, allowing eb to scale off both charisma and intelligence.
I tend to agree - warlock doesn't get much out of levels 10-12, which is why I suggest a lot of 3-level multiclasses even for builds that want to primarily stay warlock. Still though there's a lot of players who don't like to multiclass and it's actually very hard for them to find info on how to build the character so I wanted to help out! I think monoclass bladelock is risky generally - without multiclassing it's hard to get the burst damage or survivability melee characters need, though the level 12 feature is really enticing of course
@@Cephalopocalypsehonestly the biggest problem with monoclass bladelock is it takes forever (quite literally act 3) to really come online and that’s not very “fun” for most people who just wanna enjoy actually playing a bladelock. I remember doing an HM run with Fiend Wyll Bladelock and prior to act 3 my main play pattern was a mix of darkness->eb or hex->eb with occasional melee hits here and there for “flavor.” However when it does come online it’s extremely satisfying and honestly to me feels like the best representation of an actual Gish class in the game. Running around with harmonic dueller in one hand and infernal rapier on the other hitting for bare minimum 45 damage a pop is extremely satisfying. Even more so knowing you can reliably fall back on several powerful spells as a full caster. Sadly you only get to experience this for like 15% of the actual game lol :(
Yeah, I agree! The pact of the tome spell access is a little disappointing. I'd have liked something more akin to the circle of the land druid maybe, where we get a choice of really meaningful expanded spell access
great warlock guide. Ive been using warlock recently for a change but have the most trouble figuring out how to best use that class. One question: why not use arrows of darkness instead of the darkness spell to save concentration? Also being in darkness alone gives you protection but not advantage unless you hide. If the target is is darkness you’ll have advantage. So I guess the idea is to have you and the target in darkness?
Activate a cloud of Hunger of Hadar first round. It does damage at the start AND end of the round. Then just use Repelling blast to keep knocking everyone back into it.
Have you messed with level 20 mods? And if so, do you think you'll do any build videos for it? It does make the game too easy, but there's so much more room to do make crazy builds
ceph why not use arrows of darkness instead of the spell? i’d love to see a video with your thoughts on consumables .. arrows. Elixirs, potions, throwables.
Generally I don't like builds to rely on consumables, but of course that's a great way to produce darkness! Darkness is also so good in general that the more ways you have to make it the better
I'm curious about using this as a Durge build (Thematically i feel like GOO warlock suits Durge very well) but i think i'll take 17 cha so i can use the Hag hair, is it better that I go Human so i can pick up the extra skill or is Half Drow still best? I think doing a few levels of Storm sorcerer is also pretty good for this since its the Durge default but i'm undecided on how many levels i should take (though i'm leaning towards 3 so i can quicken) Also is it better to try and get crit reduction gear to try to proc the GOO fear?
In the main vault of the Counting House of Act 3 there is a set of +2 Studded leather Armour which adds +2 to initiative rolls. Failing the Potent robe, I would use that.
Warlock ( Fiend ) 2 + Sorcerer Lvls. is better than all Warlock. Waay more spells & Spell slots. Eldritch Blast+ Agonizing Blast gives you reliable damage with a Cantrip, and combines with Hex or Hunters Mark, allowing you to conserve Spell Slots in long battles.
Why Fiend specifically? Dark One’s Blessing, especially with just two Warlock levels is easily powercrept by Potent Robe, whereas Great Old One’s Mortal Reminder is more situational, but if you go for crits, when it comes up, it’s really good. If there’s something I’m missing though, please tell me.
Almost 43 mins and only 2 of those related to gear. Please start breaking gear down to acts and where to get them. Current approach is not very useful for such a long video.
Different players will find gear in very different orders, so I think it's much more useful to provide good heuristics for choosing it than to provide a checklist. If this game was more linear it could make more sense to break it down by level, but it's just not predictable what gear each party will have available, and it's too easy for people to feel they have to constrain their playthrough to find specific gear when the opposite is true.
As someone who loves itemization, I actually support his educational, fundamental lessons for new players. I do admit I think some builds that revolve around specific pieces of gear would be very appreciated. My mind goes to a Psychic damage/Resonance Stone/Shadow Blade Ring as an example. Hyperspecific gear requirements that still have a fun and unique playstyle worth covering in a video.
Let me give you some good pointers for warlock equipment then. The Potent Robe is exceptional, Quick spell gloves, cloak of the weave, boots of stormy clamour, and spineshudder amulet. A few of these aren't obtainable early game but if they're all amazing for a build centered around Eldritch Blast. Look up any of these on the bg3 wiki for info on where to obtain them
You are quite inaccurate in your explanation of darkness and advantage/disadvantage more generally. Advantage squares the probability of an unfavourable outcome and disadvantage squares the probability of favourable outcome. It is totally wrong to say its a +8 swing. For starters, your chance to hit and their chance to miss are completely independent variables. It makes no sense at all to add them together. It is actually impossible for the best/worst of 2 rolls on a d20 to ever be equivalent to plus 8. The largest absolute change to chance of success is equivalent to +5 to your roll. If you have a 50% of an outcome and roll with advantage/disadvantage, it chances the likelihood of that outcome to 75%/25% respectively, an absolute change in likelihood of 25% either way, which is equivalent to a modifier to your roll of 5. There is no way to get a larger absolute shift than this. With a d20, all increments are a 5% shift in absolute chance. So if you have a 55% chance and roll with advantage, then your chance of success increases by 24.75%, which is slightly less. If you have a 60% chance, then with advantage, your chance increases by 24%, if its 65% with advantage, your chance increases by 22.75% and so on, all the way to having a 95% chance with advantage only increasing your chance by 4.75%. And if you roll with advantage with your base chance decreasing by 5%, these figures are inversed. So you never get more than the equivalent of + or - 5 to your roll in absolute terms from advantage/disadvantage. And aside from adding the effect sizes of your chance to hit and their chance to miss making no sense as the variables are independent as mentioned, even your claim that the individual effect size is +/-4 is not really a helpful characterisation. This is closest to being true when the base chances are either 30% or 70%, in which case a roll with advantage or disadvantage which be either a 19% or 21% chance in percentage chance in absolute terms. As previously mentioned, for 50/50 chances, its equivalent to a modifier of 5 and for 10% or 5% chances, its absolute effect size equivalent to a modifier of roughly 2 or 1 respectively. However, in terms of assuring outcomes, advantage/disadvantage are actually more powerful effects the more likely/unlikely the base probability is. With the d20 system, there is always a base 5% chance of an event due to critical rolls, which is far from trivial. With advantage, that 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 chance of the expected outcome not occurring is changed to 1 in 100 or 1 in 400 respectively. Whilst going from 1 in 20 to 1 in 400 in absolute term is less than a 5% change, or less than a modifier of 1, in proportional terms it makes that outcome 20 times less likely, so this can be extremely useful. Just saying its like +4 is not informative. If you can hit on anything but a 1, a +4 bonus would do absolutely nothing for you, whereas advantage would reduce the likelihood of missing by a factor of 20. If you could mathematically only hit on a 20 (independent of the critical success rule), a +4 modifier would increase your damage output by 400%, whereas rolling with advantage would increase it by slightly less than 100%. Its a fundamentally wrongheaded understanding of the mechanic.
I'm referring to the swing in relative advantage in a fight, not the absolute shift in probability per attack - while it's possible I could have spent more time on the concept, you seem to have understood that but then deliberately misread the statement for the purpose of your reply. And yes, it's true that advantage is more impactful near the center of the distribution than at the edges - which is what matters, since those are the dice rolls you have to actually make in practice. Also, it's really a waste of time to type out something this detailed but also this rude - you'll get much better results if you try to make your points politely.
@@Cephalopocalypse But a +4 modifier can only be understood in terms of an absolute percentage shift, because that is what straight numerical modifiers are. They are +/-5% for every point, with the qualification that they are bounded by the 18 point range between critical failures and successes, outside of which they cease to matter. Hence why the effect is fundamentally not the same as a rolling with advantage or disadvantage. And those rolls you have to make in practice quite frequently involve very high or very low probabilities. They are not uniformly distributed around 70% or 30% probabilities. And I am not clear what rude about my post. I didn't sugar coat the inaccuracies, but I was hardly gratuitous in anything I said. Arguably, describing accurately explaining something as "a waste of time" is rude. Accusing me of deliberately misunderstanding your point is also rude and untrue. There is nothing I was reading uncharitably. It is indeed totally inaccurate to characterise darkness as being the equivalent of a +8 modifier, and someone who doesn't understand the mechanics taking that statement at face value will be badly mislead.
Sure! I can definitely clarify how this was rude. Knowing how this one got away from you will be useful for any professional communication you might have to make in future, so I hope you take this criticism in good faith. There were really three rude things about your comment: First, the basic premise of your reply. You heard what you perceived was an inaccuracy, and went directly to correcting rather than asking for clarification. If you approach a discussion with more humility, you'll avoid alienating your audience, even if you're right. In this case that would also have prevented a misunderstanding, since you responded to something different from the point that was being made. Second, the proportionality of your response. You disagreed with a single line in a 40 minute video, and in reply posted a lengthy and condescending lecture on probability, rather than a simple disagreement. You assumed your audience to be completely ignorant, which is not an approach that will engender dialogue. Third, your choice of rhetoric and language. Phrasing like "fundamentally wrongheaded" is far from not sugarcoating - it's an escalation to an emotional appeal. That can be a valuable rhetorical tool in some arenas, but this is a fundamentally low-stakes discussion; we're talking about a video game. That kind of emotional language in this context is not a hallmark of good-faith argumentation; you've declared that you are unconvincable no matter the reply. In that way, it's purely used as an ego boost for the speaker, rather than a tool of clarity or analysis. Hope that helps!
@@Cephalopocalypse It was an inaccuracy. It wasn't perceived. I don't need to clarify what is meant by saying that applying advantage to your rolls and disadvantage to enemy rolls is equivalent to +8. Its not. There is no reading, no matter how charitable, where this is accurate. If someone says "2+2 = 2", you don't need to seek clarification. Its just wrong. I will grant, I did not go to pains to be diplomatic. But to repeat, my post was not gratuitously offensive. Maybe it was blunt. At least it was accurate, which is more than can be said of your criticisms of me. You object to me describing equating rolling with advantage with a +4 modifier as wrongheaded, after a detailed explanation to justify the statement. But you have no problem accusing me of wilfully misunderstanding your post, which is to say, being dishonest, without any justification at all. Is it less rude to make baseless accusations of dishonesty than to make well supported claims of someone fundamentally misrepresenting a mechanic? It is not, by the way, a single line. I have seen a handful of videos and this mischaracterisation of advantage has appeared more than once, with this one being notable for committing the additional error of adding the effect size of completely independent variables. As for the audience, you aren't the only person who might read the comment, nor do I know how detailed your understanding is, beyond what you have actually said. If you don't know what someone knows and are trying to explain something, it is best to assume ignorance. Some of your audience may have no detailed understanding of the rules and may take the statement that devils sight + darkness is equivalent to a +8 modifier as accurate. Its not. And you finish talking about me lacking good faith. Nothing I have said is in bad faith. Being diplomatic and being good faith are not interchangeable. You can be diplomatic in your tone and bad faith in the substance of what you say and conversely, you can make entirely earnest statements in a non diplomatic manner. The passage: "That kind of emotional language in this context is not a hallmark of good-faith argumentation; you've declared that you are unconvincable no matter the reply. In that way, it's purely used as an ego boost for the speaker, rather than a tool of clarity or analysis." Is more than a little ironic, as well as untrue. No, I have not made the declaration I am "unconvincable no matter the reply" or said anything comparable. This is a wholesale and obviously derogatory fabrication. And the claim that I acted purely to boost my ego is baseless and given there is a very obvious alternative explanation for my post - namely correcting a clear error in your video - is uncharitable on your part. Needless to say, that is neither polite, nor good faith.
![[Act 3] Solo Warlock - Disrespecting Raphael - Honour Mode](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Gdsv8ghVX18/mqdefault.jpg)
Honor Warlock (Race: Half Drow)
Abilities: 8 Str, 14 Dex, 16 Con (+1), 8 Int, 12 Wis, 16 Cha (+2)
Skills: Persuasion, Intimidation, Deception +5
Level 1 - Warlock
Cantrips - Eldritch Blast, Bone Chill or Friends
Spells - Hex ©, Dissonant Whispers
Subclass - Great Old One
Level 2 - Warlock
Spells - Armor of Agathys
Eldritch Invocations - Agonising Blast, Devils Sight
Level 3 - Warlock
Pact Boon - Pact of the Tome
Spells - Darkness ©
Replace: Dissonant Whispers w/Cloud of Daggers ©
Level 4 - Warlock
Cantrip - Bone Chill
Spells - Misty Step
Feat - Ability Improvement (Charisma 18)
Level 5 - Warlock
Spells - Hunger of Hadar ©
Eldritch Invocation - Repelling Blast
GAIN: Animate Dead, Haste, Call Lightning from Pact
Replace: Cloud of Daggers © w/Counter Spell
Level 6 - Warlock
Spells - Fear
Level 7 - Warlock
Spells - Banishment ©
Eldritch Invocation - Dreadful Word
Level 8 - Warlock
Spells - Evard’s Black Tentacles ©
Feat - Alert
Level 9 - Warlock
Spells - Hold Monster
Eldritch Invocation - Minions of Chaos
Level 10 - Warlock
Cantrips - True Strike
Spells - Telekinesis ©
Level 11 - Warlock
Mystic Arcanum - Create Undead
Spells - Hellish Rebuke (any)
Level 12 - Warlock
Spells - Witch Bolt
Eldritch Invocation - Mire the Mind
Feat - Ability Improvement (Charisma 20)
Gear:
Daredevil Gloves, Sentinel Shield, Callous Glow Ring, Birthright, Potent Robe
I layer spike growth with hunger of hadar for extra damage, and when someone walks out, I use eldritch blast to push them back in
Yep! That's an incredible combo
I started BG3 having never looked into warlocks much in my D&D campaigns. After trying out your warlock builds, they've become my favorite class. Love these!
Warlocks are so underrated. Hyper customizable, flavor, always useful, their play pattern also is not as 1:1 as many people make it out to be. Because their default action is always accessible and so reliable they can dump everything else into sheer utility and you end up with a character that can quite literally do everything you need.
I remember during my first tactician run (before Honor Mode was in the game), I was dreading the spider fight in act 1. At this point I didn’t know that the brood mother could be moved against her will, so I was pleasantly surprised when I casted eldritch blast, and sent her flying down the cliff to her death lol
Heh. "Fear" as a panic button.
If you choose to become an Unholy Assassin of Bhaal, there's a pair of gloves you can purchase that add bonus force damage on critical hits, but for Eldritch Blast, they instead cause that beam to hit (and crit) twice.
Watching this as a new player whos a 3rd lvl cleric has made me want fo reroll, seem simple to follow and isnt as complicated as cleric imo. Great guide
Was really busy the past few months. Now binging all the videos again. Great videos as always. Keep them up!
Thanks very much! Welcome back :D
I propose a drinking game for "This is the best spell in the game"
They're good spells brent!
ThankQ, just completed my first ever Honour run with ur guides, i used Wyll as the Origin character and used ur guides: Nature Cleric for Shadowheart, The Best Ranger for Astarion & The Best Fighter for Lae'zel. Was alot of fun seeing how everything plays into each other :3
I recently made a warlock that was 4 levels fighter and the rest warlock so that I could get 3 feats and stack crit chance. It was probably not the best but it was super fun and crazy high damage
That's actually a great way to build it! While you lose the 5th level slot, the extra feat can definitely be more useful sometimes
@@Cephalopocalypse thanks for the response! I really wanted spell sniper, ability improvement and alert. With an elixir of bloodlust, action surge, and speed potion I could fire off 4 in my first turn, easily taking out 3-5 enemies on turn one.
Eldritch gatling gun bro
Great video! I did a slightly alternative build with 12 levels of great old one warlock; I think that this character more than any other subclass in the game (outside of swords bard) benefits from band of the mystic scoundrel. That, combined with pact of the blade gives you the opportunity to cast 9 bonus action 5th level hold person’s/monster’s per day, which was really fun because those spells normally are so costly to cast.
Using pact of the blade, 12 goo warlock with the final lifedrinker invocation to add to your melee damage made for a decent martial character with really good cc capability and a lot of different things to do on any turn, which was a lot of fun.
Thank you my friend this will be extremely useful 😊 Keep up the good work your builds really help me to both kick ass in the game and overall really enjoy it.
I feel like the non-Fiend subclasses are in a really weird spot in this game. I only run Wyll as Fiend because that's his canon Patron, and you actually interact with his Patron a lot, so it's hard to ignore. So, with that in mind, I would only run the other two subclasses on a Tav, but that also feels weird because it makes them mostly mechanically redundant with Wyll, forces you to split all of the good items, and you don't get Patron interaction at all.
Edit: I think maybe you should have mentioned 2 levels of Paladin as another multiclass possibility. Smiting with Warlock spell slots is absolutely cracked. That definitely makes you play more like a Paladin than a Warlock though.
Yeah, two warlocks doesn’t hurt though. Also, you could use them in a run where you leave Wyll in camp.
One ranged Warlock and one melee Warlock works nicely.
Or just go 4 Eldritch Blast Sorlocks.
@@GeneralDingo Melee/ranged makes sense, but unfortunately that doesn't quite line up with my current playthrough either. If we're definitely doing one of each, it'd feel weird to make Wyll the ranged one considering his whole Blade of Frontiers shtick, and my current Tav would also want to be the melee one.
Yeah this is honestly the biggest gripe against playing a Warlock MC. You either only use Wyll and keep him as a Fiendlock or you shove his ass in camp and play as any Warlock you want. To me Warlock specifically seems like one of those classes where it feels having more than one will make the play through feel very mono.
My current playthrough is a lockadin, and with the right build those smites are ridiculous, plus with all the benefits of a ranged devil's sight warlock, can basically solo most encounters
perfect timing
Nice!
you releasing this the day after i started a new game with warlock is so troll lol
i like 9 fiend 3 lore bard! lots of skills and cutting words and song
Also excellent! Great at filling in the action types warlocks normally don't get, too
Absolutely love your videos! They are so helpful and the format is great! Would love more detail on the gear, but what you already include is great!
Thanks very much!
Thank you for keeping up the build videos. Ur the best!
Hey, thanks for making this build videos and explaining the mechanics. I am terrible at these games and it's my first time playing so this helps out a lot.
With full warlock build, I feel bad about using lv 5 warlock spell for darkness or hex hence I think multiclassing with other caster classes benefit warlock a lot
Also, 2 levels of bard gets you song of rest. So you'll have an extra short rest which can do wonders for a warlocks longevity
I would love to see a full party build centered around darkness. Maybe everyone takes two levels in warlock, or maybe some get blindness immunity from gear?
Thanks so much for the support yet again! Darkness party is definitely on the way :D
Commenting for support
Thanks!
Me: takes pact of the tome and gets vicious mockery.
Also me to random npc: your father is a minor illusion
GREAT AS ALWAYS!
Thanks very much!
Warlock feels so odd to me in this game. I usually yoink 3 levels of it when I wanna do a build where I wanna dump strength and not be a dex build either. Like Paladin with Charisma as their main attack stat, pack of the blade is good for that. And as a bonus you get devils sight which is busted.
Your videos are great. There are lots of videos and guides that show where to find gear. I like that you focus on game mechanics and how builds can use those game mechanics. I do have a question. Most battles don’t last more than three turns but I don’t think you have suggested using arrow of darkness instead of darkness spell. I know that the area of the arrow is smaller but you don’t need to concentrate and use concentration on hex, haste or another spell.
Im curious why you didnt pick up spell sniper? Further reducing your need roll to crit with Eldritch Blast would be extremely useful. Thanks
My assumption is that he places higher value in Alert, especially for Honor mode. I was similarly surprised that he didn't mention a 3 level champion dip when he mentioned the 2 level dip.
Thorough as ever. Thanks again for these.videos
I can't bring myself to make Wyll a goolock, because we meet his patron... I have a similar problem with Shadowheart and her deity. The rest of them... well I don't think their subclasses really define them as characters. In some cases I don't even think their classes do.
Anyway... I think the fiend-lock will work fine in the party I'm contemplating.
love the content! keep um coming!
Thanks very much! More every day :D
which of the cleric subclasses would you recommend for a 3 level dip? dipping early would help with warlock armor access
I Wana see some builds that aren't covered by anyone and also might not be great but would be fun and rp friendly. Like a dual wield hunter rouge using the finesse longswords. Or maybe a dual wield hammer paladin war cleric thief. Also a melee/ throwing Eldritch knight wizard tempest cleric Thor build. These are all builds I've made but would love other people take on them.
With the ease of obtaining scrolls there should never be a time when a party member has nothing to contribute. Then there are elemental arrows and thrown items.
I noticed an error. You mentioned the Animate Dead from Pact of theTome being nice because it upcasts well, however the spells from Pact of the Tome don't use the Warlock spell slots, they're simply once per long rest free casts that are always their basic level. Animate Dead is therefore only ever 1 skeleton or 1 zombie, which is still nice because it's an extra body for no resource cost, but nowhere near as useful as a higher level Animate Dead spell.
I think Devil's Sight is a bit overrated. It is very easy to play the darkness game without it- just move out of darkness before attacking and then retreat back in afterwards. We have a movement action for a reason, after all. Personally, I prefer fiendish resilience, which provides free health at the cost of an action and is a great quality of life ability. Step on a trap? No problem, recast fiendish resilience. Took a hit in the last fight? No problem, recast fiendish resilience. Oh, and it can proc tempestuous flight if you are playing a storm sorcerer. Really good.
Love your content! 🫶🏻🥳
Thanks!
it's hard to argue for building mono warlock other than using 12 bladelock as it's the only actual pact that gets rewarded for going 12 levels of warlock. with the help of bhaalist armor it's a very consistently solid martial, albeit with a lower ceiling compared to other top dog martials like fighters or paladins. for eldritch blast builds, machinegun sorlock is definitely better than mono warlock and 10 evocation 2 warlock has actually great scaling as an endgame respec option, allowing eb to scale off both charisma and intelligence.
I tend to agree - warlock doesn't get much out of levels 10-12, which is why I suggest a lot of 3-level multiclasses even for builds that want to primarily stay warlock. Still though there's a lot of players who don't like to multiclass and it's actually very hard for them to find info on how to build the character so I wanted to help out!
I think monoclass bladelock is risky generally - without multiclassing it's hard to get the burst damage or survivability melee characters need, though the level 12 feature is really enticing of course
12 Bladelock Gith for medium armor with the astral sword GWM and lifedrinker is pretty underrated
@Officer_Tepenny if there was an undead patron in bg3 that would be perfect for a Vlaakith loyalist type of character
@@SoI_Badguy facts
@@Cephalopocalypsehonestly the biggest problem with monoclass bladelock is it takes forever (quite literally act 3) to really come online and that’s not very “fun” for most people who just wanna enjoy actually playing a bladelock. I remember doing an HM run with Fiend Wyll Bladelock and prior to act 3 my main play pattern was a mix of darkness->eb or hex->eb with occasional melee hits here and there for “flavor.”
However when it does come online it’s extremely satisfying and honestly to me feels like the best representation of an actual Gish class in the game. Running around with harmonic dueller in one hand and infernal rapier on the other hitting for bare minimum 45 damage a pop is extremely satisfying. Even more so knowing you can reliably fall back on several powerful spells as a full caster. Sadly you only get to experience this for like 15% of the actual game lol :(
Any chance more honour mode boss videos will come out? Act 2 has had more legendary bosses than I was expecting. 😅
I just wish pact of the tome let me copy down rituals.
Yeah, I agree! The pact of the tome spell access is a little disappointing. I'd have liked something more akin to the circle of the land druid maybe, where we get a choice of really meaningful expanded spell access
great warlock guide. Ive been using warlock recently for a change but have the most trouble figuring out how to best use that class. One question: why not use arrows of darkness instead of the darkness spell to save concentration?
Also being in darkness alone gives you protection but not advantage unless you hide. If the target is is darkness you’ll have advantage. So I guess the idea is to have you and the target in darkness?
Activate a cloud of Hunger of Hadar first round.
It does damage at the start AND end of the round.
Then just use Repelling blast to keep knocking everyone back into it.
Have you messed with level 20 mods? And if so, do you think you'll do any build videos for it? It does make the game too easy, but there's so much more room to do make crazy builds
Dark Urge (Slayer) honor mode character, please!
ceph why not use arrows of darkness instead of the spell? i’d love to see a video with your thoughts on consumables .. arrows. Elixirs, potions, throwables.
Generally I don't like builds to rely on consumables, but of course that's a great way to produce darkness! Darkness is also so good in general that the more ways you have to make it the better
Fav class!
I'm curious about using this as a Durge build (Thematically i feel like GOO warlock suits Durge very well) but i think i'll take 17 cha so i can use the Hag hair, is it better that I go Human so i can pick up the extra skill or is Half Drow still best? I think doing a few levels of Storm sorcerer is also pretty good for this since its the Durge default but i'm undecided on how many levels i should take (though i'm leaning towards 3 so i can quicken) Also is it better to try and get crit reduction gear to try to proc the GOO fear?
I need a pact of the blade Warlock. Pretty please?
I was excited about tome but I dont think animate dead scales with your warlock pact magic level? I think it's stuck as a 3rd level spell right?
Tome of Frontiers! Hero of the Gate.
I forgot to take potent robe after completing the quest, is there any other chest armor piece you would recommend?
In the main vault of the Counting House of Act 3 there is a set of +2 Studded leather Armour which adds +2 to initiative rolls.
Failing the Potent robe, I would use that.
I play durge in my current playthrough and didn't get the potent robe either, such a bummer.
Warlock ( Fiend ) 2 + Sorcerer Lvls. is better than all Warlock. Waay more spells & Spell slots. Eldritch Blast+ Agonizing Blast gives you reliable damage with a Cantrip, and combines with Hex or Hunters Mark, allowing you to conserve Spell Slots in long battles.
Why Fiend specifically? Dark One’s Blessing, especially with just two Warlock levels is easily powercrept by Potent Robe, whereas Great Old One’s Mortal Reminder is more situational, but if you go for crits, when it comes up, it’s really good. If there’s something I’m missing though, please tell me.
@@quintonclothier6171 gives you temp HP with every kill..you're already built to Crit/ Sneak Attack in the 1st Rd..
Personal preference ?
@@aaronhumphrey2009 Fair. I just prefer Potent Robe, which does the same, at the beginning of your turn, as it doesn't take up your subclass.
How do you change their backgrounds? I can’t find anything for it when I am respecccing to get persuasion
Sadly you can't change the backgrounds of the companions (or your main character after you start the game)
FTA
every warlock a goolock, archfey when?
Check out my video "the perfect strategist!"
Almost 43 mins and only 2 of those related to gear. Please start breaking gear down to acts and where to get them. Current approach is not very useful for such a long video.
He makes these builds to be as item Independent as possible. Just apply yourself for earlier acts
Different players will find gear in very different orders, so I think it's much more useful to provide good heuristics for choosing it than to provide a checklist. If this game was more linear it could make more sense to break it down by level, but it's just not predictable what gear each party will have available, and it's too easy for people to feel they have to constrain their playthrough to find specific gear when the opposite is true.
@@Cephalopocalypse Very much agreed. Things should work independent of their gear.
As someone who loves itemization, I actually support his educational, fundamental lessons for new players. I do admit I think some builds that revolve around specific pieces of gear would be very appreciated. My mind goes to a Psychic damage/Resonance Stone/Shadow Blade Ring as an example. Hyperspecific gear requirements that still have a fun and unique playstyle worth covering in a video.
Let me give you some good pointers for warlock equipment then. The Potent Robe is exceptional, Quick spell gloves, cloak of the weave, boots of stormy clamour, and spineshudder amulet. A few of these aren't obtainable early game but if they're all amazing for a build centered around Eldritch Blast.
Look up any of these on the bg3 wiki for info on where to obtain them
Gg
FIRST
Nice!
You are quite inaccurate in your explanation of darkness and advantage/disadvantage more generally.
Advantage squares the probability of an unfavourable outcome and disadvantage squares the probability of favourable outcome.
It is totally wrong to say its a +8 swing. For starters, your chance to hit and their chance to miss are completely independent variables. It makes no sense at all to add them together.
It is actually impossible for the best/worst of 2 rolls on a d20 to ever be equivalent to plus 8. The largest absolute change to chance of success is equivalent to +5 to your roll. If you have a 50% of an outcome and roll with advantage/disadvantage, it chances the likelihood of that outcome to 75%/25% respectively, an absolute change in likelihood of 25% either way, which is equivalent to a modifier to your roll of 5.
There is no way to get a larger absolute shift than this. With a d20, all increments are a 5% shift in absolute chance. So if you have a 55% chance and roll with advantage, then your chance of success increases by 24.75%, which is slightly less. If you have a 60% chance, then with advantage, your chance increases by 24%, if its 65% with advantage, your chance increases by 22.75% and so on, all the way to having a 95% chance with advantage only increasing your chance by 4.75%. And if you roll with advantage with your base chance decreasing by 5%, these figures are inversed.
So you never get more than the equivalent of + or - 5 to your roll in absolute terms from advantage/disadvantage.
And aside from adding the effect sizes of your chance to hit and their chance to miss making no sense as the variables are independent as mentioned, even your claim that the individual effect size is +/-4 is not really a helpful characterisation. This is closest to being true when the base chances are either 30% or 70%, in which case a roll with advantage or disadvantage which be either a 19% or 21% chance in percentage chance in absolute terms. As previously mentioned, for 50/50 chances, its equivalent to a modifier of 5 and for 10% or 5% chances, its absolute effect size equivalent to a modifier of roughly 2 or 1 respectively.
However, in terms of assuring outcomes, advantage/disadvantage are actually more powerful effects the more likely/unlikely the base probability is. With the d20 system, there is always a base 5% chance of an event due to critical rolls, which is far from trivial. With advantage, that 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 chance of the expected outcome not occurring is changed to 1 in 100 or 1 in 400 respectively. Whilst going from 1 in 20 to 1 in 400 in absolute term is less than a 5% change, or less than a modifier of 1, in proportional terms it makes that outcome 20 times less likely, so this can be extremely useful.
Just saying its like +4 is not informative. If you can hit on anything but a 1, a +4 bonus would do absolutely nothing for you, whereas advantage would reduce the likelihood of missing by a factor of 20. If you could mathematically only hit on a 20 (independent of the critical success rule), a +4 modifier would increase your damage output by 400%, whereas rolling with advantage would increase it by slightly less than 100%. Its a fundamentally wrongheaded understanding of the mechanic.
I'm referring to the swing in relative advantage in a fight, not the absolute shift in probability per attack - while it's possible I could have spent more time on the concept, you seem to have understood that but then deliberately misread the statement for the purpose of your reply. And yes, it's true that advantage is more impactful near the center of the distribution than at the edges - which is what matters, since those are the dice rolls you have to actually make in practice.
Also, it's really a waste of time to type out something this detailed but also this rude - you'll get much better results if you try to make your points politely.
@@Cephalopocalypse But a +4 modifier can only be understood in terms of an absolute percentage shift, because that is what straight numerical modifiers are. They are +/-5% for every point, with the qualification that they are bounded by the 18 point range between critical failures and successes, outside of which they cease to matter.
Hence why the effect is fundamentally not the same as a rolling with advantage or disadvantage.
And those rolls you have to make in practice quite frequently involve very high or very low probabilities. They are not uniformly distributed around 70% or 30% probabilities.
And I am not clear what rude about my post. I didn't sugar coat the inaccuracies, but I was hardly gratuitous in anything I said.
Arguably, describing accurately explaining something as "a waste of time" is rude.
Accusing me of deliberately misunderstanding your point is also rude and untrue. There is nothing I was reading uncharitably.
It is indeed totally inaccurate to characterise darkness as being the equivalent of a +8 modifier, and someone who doesn't understand the mechanics taking that statement at face value will be badly mislead.
Sure! I can definitely clarify how this was rude. Knowing how this one got away from you will be useful for any professional communication you might have to make in future, so I hope you take this criticism in good faith.
There were really three rude things about your comment:
First, the basic premise of your reply. You heard what you perceived was an inaccuracy, and went directly to correcting rather than asking for clarification. If you approach a discussion with more humility, you'll avoid alienating your audience, even if you're right. In this case that would also have prevented a misunderstanding, since you responded to something different from the point that was being made.
Second, the proportionality of your response. You disagreed with a single line in a 40 minute video, and in reply posted a lengthy and condescending lecture on probability, rather than a simple disagreement. You assumed your audience to be completely ignorant, which is not an approach that will engender dialogue.
Third, your choice of rhetoric and language. Phrasing like "fundamentally wrongheaded" is far from not sugarcoating - it's an escalation to an emotional appeal. That can be a valuable rhetorical tool in some arenas, but this is a fundamentally low-stakes discussion; we're talking about a video game. That kind of emotional language in this context is not a hallmark of good-faith argumentation; you've declared that you are unconvincable no matter the reply. In that way, it's purely used as an ego boost for the speaker, rather than a tool of clarity or analysis.
Hope that helps!
@@Cephalopocalypse It was an inaccuracy. It wasn't perceived. I don't need to clarify what is meant by saying that applying advantage to your rolls and disadvantage to enemy rolls is equivalent to +8. Its not. There is no reading, no matter how charitable, where this is accurate. If someone says "2+2 = 2", you don't need to seek clarification. Its just wrong.
I will grant, I did not go to pains to be diplomatic. But to repeat, my post was not gratuitously offensive. Maybe it was blunt. At least it was accurate, which is more than can be said of your criticisms of me.
You object to me describing equating rolling with advantage with a +4 modifier as wrongheaded, after a detailed explanation to justify the statement. But you have no problem accusing me of wilfully misunderstanding your post, which is to say, being dishonest, without any justification at all.
Is it less rude to make baseless accusations of dishonesty than to make well supported claims of someone fundamentally misrepresenting a mechanic?
It is not, by the way, a single line. I have seen a handful of videos and this mischaracterisation of advantage has appeared more than once, with this one being notable for committing the additional error of adding the effect size of completely independent variables.
As for the audience, you aren't the only person who might read the comment, nor do I know how detailed your understanding is, beyond what you have actually said. If you don't know what someone knows and are trying to explain something, it is best to assume ignorance.
Some of your audience may have no detailed understanding of the rules and may take the statement that devils sight + darkness is equivalent to a +8 modifier as accurate. Its not.
And you finish talking about me lacking good faith. Nothing I have said is in bad faith. Being diplomatic and being good faith are not interchangeable. You can be diplomatic in your tone and bad faith in the substance of what you say and conversely, you can make entirely earnest statements in a non diplomatic manner.
The passage:
"That kind of emotional language in this context is not a hallmark of good-faith argumentation; you've declared that you are unconvincable no matter the reply. In that way, it's purely used as an ego boost for the speaker, rather than a tool of clarity or analysis."
Is more than a little ironic, as well as untrue.
No, I have not made the declaration I am "unconvincable no matter the reply" or said anything comparable. This is a wholesale and obviously derogatory fabrication.
And the claim that I acted purely to boost my ego is baseless and given there is a very obvious alternative explanation for my post - namely correcting a clear error in your video - is uncharitable on your part.
Needless to say, that is neither polite, nor good faith.
Sure! Always up to you how to present yourself in the world. If you're happy with this kind of result, great! Keep doing what you're doing.