Warlock Builds

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Waldo52
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Warlock Builds

Post by Waldo52 » Fri Oct 22, 2021 3:49 pm

What kind of warlock builds are currently viable? The class is so new that there's nothing relevant on the wiki yet.

I'm particularly interested in a dexterity focused option that capitalizes on the stealthier aspects of the class but don't know if that would work.

Eyeliner
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Re: Warlock Builds

Post by Eyeliner » Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:57 pm

I'm not going to claim to have all the answers but your options will include going for 24 dex for precision blast (incredible accuracy with the blast but if you want 24 charisma too it will be a struggle), going 20 dex and eldrich blast mastery (best damage but eats almost all available feats and I think will require sticking with a single pact) or just having high enough dex (16+?) to hit enough of the time and then focus on charisma benefits and possibly a summons.

There's so many variations it's hard to give a build and the question is as much "what are you willing to give up?" as "what do you want to do?". Depends on the pacts you want to take of course too.

Archnon
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Re: Warlock Builds

Post by Archnon » Fri Oct 22, 2021 11:14 pm

Warlock is a really beautiful class because you can really tailor it around RP with tremendous diversity without ever sacrificing power.

So, other than sneaking, what RP are you interested in.

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Waldo52
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Re: Warlock Builds

Post by Waldo52 » Sat Oct 23, 2021 5:03 pm

Archnon wrote:
Fri Oct 22, 2021 11:14 pm
Warlock is a really beautiful class because you can really tailor it around RP with tremendous diversity without ever sacrificing power.

So, other than sneaking, what RP are you interested in.
I like the idea of a once good and honest man who made a bargain with some hags in a swamp. His family was abducted by slavers and in his desperation to save them he resolved to gain supernatural powers by any means necessary. The coven cut a bargain with him that made him the magical powers he would need to find and destroy the slavers, but in return he must come back to the swamp at every full moon with a head.

Archnon
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Re: Warlock Builds

Post by Archnon » Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:59 am

So, that is something to work with. Options off the top of my head:


Hag-Blaster:
Warlock 30, 3 pact feats + 3 Blast feats + 2 Chain feats + Precision blast
18 Charisma, 18 Dex, some Con and Int at start, End at 24+ dex.
Pros: Epic hag pact sleep hits on the chain so in PVE this build is just a machine.
Cons: Mind Immunity dungeons and bosses will give you trouble. Elves are your enemy. Also, Hag pact has great Crowd Control spells but you will rely on your blaster so not super sneaky. Subpar saves relative to other builds.

Hag-Summoner:
Warlock 30, 3 pact feats + 3 Summons Feats + 2 of Choice + Dark Blessing
18 Charisma, 18 Dex, some Con and Int at start, End at 24+ charisma.
Pros: Nice DC's on spells and summons can be really nice, Great saves. And you can be somewhat sneaker not running around lazering things
Cons: Mind Immunity dungeons and bosses will still give you trouble. Elves are your enemy. lean heavy on your summons.

Variant: You can dip Hexblade here, 5 levels, for Curse and Set Trap as well, could make a fun combo. Then you can replace Dark Blessing with something else as you get it for free with Hex. Taking 5 levels lets you pick up an extra curse. Curse of life would net you i think 15% DI, or you can take the one that lowers saves to icnrease your chances of hitting sleep/nightmare/phantasmal killer on targets.

For both of these builds, do not discount the power of Nightmare once things are asleep. averaged 100 damage on that and you can get 2 of them before the target wakes up. Not to mention the state debuff on the curse.

Fey-Summoner:
Do the above build but with fey pacts. You get most of the same Crowd Control spells but you get positive energy blasts to heal your summons. Replace a hag in the woods with an unseelie fey in your backstory and you can have it. Oh, and did we mention that at the end you realize the fey were the ones who stole your family in the firstplace. Noone saw that coming!

Abyssal-Caster (I am running this one now and love it):
Warlock 30, 3 Hag Pacts + 3 Abyssal Pacts + 2 Summons feats (1 for free with Abyssal Epic) + Dark Blessing
Pros: Abyssal pact gives some nice Evocation spells so you can pretend to be a Trueflame for a bit, and then if you are careful pretend to be a wild mage. The chaotic nature can be really fun and it fits the RP well enough (Hags come from the abyss). Overall, this build is great, you don't have the nice blaster damage but you can infinicast around 2 saves (reflex and will) with a few fortitude thrown in. You get around that whole mind immunity thing, and frankly, you can hit elves still (stupid non-sleeping villains). You get great saves yourself and epic summons when things get dicey. Lots of room to play a surface Warlock here with minimal risk, so long as people aren't cheesing it hard.
Cons: You will eventually summon a volcano on yourself and your team. On top of that, the evocation spells can hit allies you have to be a bit careful and play it off differently in different crowds.

Final note: Dark invocations can be taken as general feats in epic levels. Veil and Gate can be decent ones to take with regular epic feats to add in some flare for pve.

No idea how any of these ideas would do PVP but PVE they are all pretty awesome.

Have Fun!!!!

p.s. Take Brew potion and herbalism. Nothing says I trained with a Hag like standing over a vat of poison.

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Waldo52
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Re: Warlock Builds

Post by Waldo52 » Sun Oct 24, 2021 5:13 pm

Archnon wrote:
Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:59 am
So, that is something to work with. Options off the top of my head:


Hag-Blaster:
Warlock 30, 3 pact feats + 3 Blast feats + 2 Chain feats + Precision blast
18 Charisma, 18 Dex, some Con and Int at start, End at 24+ dex.
Pros: Epic hag pact sleep hits on the chain so in PVE this build is just a machine.
Cons: Mind Immunity dungeons and bosses will give you trouble. Elves are your enemy. Also, Hag pact has great Crowd Control spells but you will rely on your blaster so not super sneaky. Subpar saves relative to other builds.

Hag-Summoner:
Warlock 30, 3 pact feats + 3 Summons Feats + 2 of Choice + Dark Blessing
18 Charisma, 18 Dex, some Con and Int at start, End at 24+ charisma.
Pros: Nice DC's on spells and summons can be really nice, Great saves. And you can be somewhat sneaker not running around lazering things
Cons: Mind Immunity dungeons and bosses will still give you trouble. Elves are your enemy. lean heavy on your summons.

Variant: You can dip Hexblade here, 5 levels, for Curse and Set Trap as well, could make a fun combo. Then you can replace Dark Blessing with something else as you get it for free with Hex. Taking 5 levels lets you pick up an extra curse. Curse of life would net you i think 15% DI, or you can take the one that lowers saves to icnrease your chances of hitting sleep/nightmare/phantasmal killer on targets.

For both of these builds, do not discount the power of Nightmare once things are asleep. averaged 100 damage on that and you can get 2 of them before the target wakes up. Not to mention the state debuff on the curse.
Fascinating.

The hexblade version with set trap particularly interests me. With only 25 'lock levels would this be considered "dispell bait"?

MRFTW
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Re: Warlock Builds

Post by MRFTW » Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:27 am

If you took both Abjuration spell focuses, you'd be at 27 CL Vs dispels with the lock/hex.

This is right on the cusp of 'dispel bait'. Too low CL for me personally, but I've seen people having that and doing just fine, I am just a cautious player.

Worth noting that trap damage doesn't get boosted by hag pact, it's hard ranks in use traps only. Trap gear and lock pacts should just make the traps harder to detect and disarm, if the wiki is correct.

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