Hideous Blow Warlocks

[Waldo52]

Are melee oriented hideous blow warlocks viable? What are some good pacts for such a character? Can undead pact ever work with such a steep CON requirement on an inherently MAD build?

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's played one of these. Mind you, I'm not a super powergamer so hearing that they're "playable" or "just decent" wouldn't be a deal breaker as long as there are some significant pros to outweigh the cons.

[BlinkDelight]

Are melee oriented hideous blow warlocks viable? What are some good pacts for such a character? Can undead pact ever work with such a steep CON requirement on an inherently MAD build?

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's played one of these. Mind you, I'm not a super powergamer so hearing that they're "playable" or "just decent" wouldn't be a deal breaker as long as there are some significant pros to outweigh the cons.

Funny you should ask, I was just looking over an old build! Hideous Blow builds are very unique, and likely not what you imagine when looking over their abilities. The best way to describe them, or at least the way I play them are glass cannons. You should be capable of three shotting a Prismatic Dragon, or any other creature in the game largely. (Remember Hideous Blow is a TOUCH ATTACK. It will always hit at max level, even against a Prismatic Dragon.) I built my character to be able to deal about 200 magic damage an attack, yet even at level 30 she only has around 200 health (even with bear's endurance.) STR is actually more important then CHA for the damage boost, then you need at least 18 DEX for the Eldritch Mastery. So in the end, CON, WIS, and INT are all low to support your base 18 CHA, 18 DEX, and 26 STR for max damage. You will always want to be HASTED. That is the most important part of the build, as without haste you will only be using Hideous blow once a round. Haste will make it twice a round, doubling your damage. Your armor class will also be largely terrible. I'd recommend going Unseelie Fey for max haste and for the 55% concealment, or, going infernal for the extra damage and easy assessable summon to tank for you. My last recommendation, do not adventure solo. Especially for an Unseelie Fey Hideous Blow Warlock, you will want someone to guard you at all times while you crank out that crazy damage. Using Hideous Blow when your by yourself against multiple enemies leaves you flat-footed and very vulnerable as you have to really commit in using it (as it can also be interrupted!). Just remember to grab Epic Spell Penetration to ensure it does always work, and it can still interrupt enemy spellcasting with a 200 damage Concentration DC!

[MRFTW]

I crept on someone soloing the bottom layers of the Deep Wells with on, so it must be quite good. They were undying pact and seemed to be having a great time with no real struggles, They looked like they were built as a bruiser rather than the glass cannon described above.

The stat spreads are rough, though, but the damage potential is very nice.

[In Sorrow We Trust]

I don't know if this is on the right track. the damage won't be great but it's very survivable:

[BlinkDelight]

I don't know if this is on the right track. the damage won't be great but it's very survivable:

It’s definitely on the right track, however it doesn’t have the ability to cast spells xD.

[In Sorrow We Trust]

I don't know if this is on the right track. the damage won't be great but it's very survivable:

It’s definitely on the right track, however it doesn’t have the ability to cast spells xD.

you can't get both EDR, eldritch armor and spells. you have to pick what you want to lose

[Waldo52]

I don't know if this is on the right track. the damage won't be great but it's very survivable:

It’s definitely on the right track, however it doesn’t have the ability to cast spells xD.

you can't get both EDR, eldritch armor and spells. you have to pick what you want to lose

LMAO SPELL FREE WARLOCK!

IS this something you've actually tried out or is it just a theorycraft thing you put together?

[In Sorrow We Trust]

It’s definitely on the right track, however it doesn’t have the ability to cast spells xD.

you can't get both EDR, eldritch armor and spells. you have to pick what you want to lose

LMAO SPELL FREE WARLOCK!

IS this something you've actually tried out or is it just a theorycraft thing you put together?

I haven't tried this one. I'm running a 27 warlock 3 blackguard version with fathomless that works pretty well though

[Eyeliner]

I played one that was undying with 20 str, 18 con, 24 charisma. But no dex and like 10 int, can't remember.

Gave up eldritch armor and expertise so AC was middling but had spells and tier 6 undead and agonizing blast for more damage. It was a monster in PvE, not sure how well it would have done in PvP. Could do the same with a strong summons probably with less con and 13+ intelligence for expertise.

One thing though... it felt like one of those characters that would inevitably get screwed when a dev tinkered with the class. Like hideous blow locks barely work so sooner or later they'll get a revision and who knows if the stats I picked would work then.

[AstralUniverse]

Orog or another race with similar stats, makes a pretty decent 20 lock 10 pm with undying 3, hideous 1 and mastery 1. 16 str, 18 con, 24 cha.

There's also the Kalo special. Which is Drow (obviously), goes 24 str, 16 dex, 12 con (ouch), 8 wis, 14 int, 18 cha and goes eldritch armor with improved expertise. It gets mastery 2 and has a spare feat that can be used for the cool warlock -ward or if you're abyssal/infernal you can use do summon 1, get summon 2 for free, and guard the summon. it gets epic caster scaling and "perma" haste like epic summon would so it's very good for pve speedruns even at lvl 30 content.