Melee Warlock Build Guide: Max Charisma Is TOO GOOD!! | Baldur's Gate 3

[@JDogth3Wise]

*PINNED* As pointed out in the comments, if you really want to min-max you can respec at Withers at level 4 and dump the points in DEX into another stat, if you would rather have wisdom over dex for saving throws!

[@rodebertrotklang7594]

but when you respec, you could do it from 4 levels warrior or Witcher TO this build :)

[@denderanmarajain6221]

Witchbolt ist the badest Choice because it is one the most badest Spells

[@rodebertrotklang7594]

@@denderanmarajain6221 especially when you get eldritch blast like in this build

[@TenInfi]

with no wis you're shitty in dialogues, most options in the game depend on wis

[@soopwizsoopwiz343]

Completely untrue. Illithid powers tend to depend on wis more than generic wis checks. Charisma is by far the most checked in conversations. All the way through the game.

[@wesleysherer7221]

This is the build I’m currently rocking. One thing: take Devil’s Sight earlier. It gives dark vision in regular as well as MAGICAL darkness, which regular dark vision doesn’t cover. This means that you can cast darkness on yourself and gain advantage on attack rolls on anything within your sphere of darkness, as well as make enemies roll with disadvantage to hit you because they can’t see you, dark vision or not.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Kind of clutch!

[@TitanEidolon]

Did you confirm that in the release version? Because it wasn't working in EA

[@hacklung]

It works in release

[@abwesend182]

It works half. You can see in darkness but cant cast on yourself

[@Just_G4]

I tried the Darkness melee build. If you're the one casting darkness, most of the time you'll only get 1 attack off as during their turn the enemies will just move out of the darkness, rendering the effect utterly useless. If you have somebody else casting darkness tho, that increases the potential of the combo. One big thing tho, you can't cast range attacks, even from inside the darkness, and most of the times your caster's and ranger's spells and attacks will be blocked by darkness, making it more of an inconvenience rather than advantage.

[@user-oe3yk9ci4j]

Probably unpopular, but I super appreciate the end of leaving the items up to us. I’ve been struggling wanting to use a build like normal because I’ve really enjoyed trying to make my own in this game. And I feel with how you laid this one out I can still add my own personal twist to it and keep my character my own. Good stuff man! Thanks!

[@Nusteyr]

If you are playing on the easiest difficulty, to add a new class, just increase the difficulty temporarily, add extra classes, and then remember to reduce the difficulty again

[@JDogth3Wise]

Clutch tip

[@rolandoresurreccion8216]

@@JDogth3Wise I didnt even know you can lower diff. def going for a lower diff and just enjoy exploring the game without stressing battle :D noob here sorry

[@nexusyang4832]

@@rolandoresurreccion8216 yeah, that's what i've been doing. just playing the game at my own pace. it's my game and i'll play/die how i want to. ain't no shame. :D

[@serious.business]

If you're playing on the easiest difficulty, you don't even need to multiclass. In fact, just put the game down and go play Peppa Pig Adventures.

[@Fuccubus]

@@serious.business as someone who plays the game on tactician, you need to put your ego down, you're eating it by the mouthful. Let them play how they want to play, its DnD, not a finals exam.

[@Flielow]

This build is amazing and is the build ive always wanted for my character. The melee, teleporting , casting and verbal manipulation. Everything I've always wanted in a Deathknight.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Glad you enjoyed! I found it to be so extremely versatile once I hit level 7

[@brytoncarder1419]

If u take 1 level into wizard u can also learn any necro spells u want too from scrolls

[@N1tr063nFr05trhym3]

@@brytoncarder1419 they will scale off int, though

[@pitafish]

I did pally2/warlock10 and it felt amazing. A 2 first level spell slots. Still got heavy armor and all weapons starting pally. Still got 5th level spell slots

[@Marco-Solo]

Dude this is exactly the guide I have been looking around for! Thanks a lot.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Hope it helps! Enjoy the build

[@Marco-Solo]

Not a lot of good spellsword multi class guides out yet so this is perfect.

[@JDogth3Wise]

@@Marco-Solo Spellblades are my favourite, I plan on Paladin next!

[@Scylon1]

​@@JDogth3Wisewas gonna say, I am doing a similar build with pally.

[@ArmitageShanksuk]

I'm doing really well with my Oath of Ancients Paladin/Wild Magic Sorc - infinite smite slots!@@JDogth3Wise

[@KilgorMaimphace]

This was the build I started as at launch. Minor changes. I picked deep gnome though so I have all saving proficiency except Dex.

[@benry007]

A few races come with medium armor if you wanted to skip the fighter dip and get warlock stuff sooner.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Yea I was tempted to do shield dwarf

[@malekal5315]

@@JDogth3Wise isn't the fighter dip still necessary to get the heavy armor proficiency though ? Would a warlock shield dwarf be enough to replicate this build ?

[@TyKazan]

Githyanki is prob the ultimate race for warlock cos free greatsword, longsword. Medium armour and astral knowledge can give you like 5 skill proficiencies

[@iifontaine]

@@TyKazan I’d argue that the greatsword and long sword proficiencies don’t really matter though because pact of blade makes you proficient in your weapon even if you otherwise wouldn’t be. I guess being prof in those two sword types is good pre lvl 3 but after that, not necessary. Starting with medium armour is great though and I’ll actually add that the best part about being a Gith imo is the invisible mage hand.

[@Travio247]

Good guide. I do the same but paladin instead of fighter cus I wanted an oath breaker evil warlock dark urge character

[@celuiquipeut6527]

I did paladin warl9ck too. Here is what i have learned from mistakes. Level your paladin to 5 first. Unless you plan to have 5 lvl of warlock. But you get all the goodies by lvl 3 with warlock. So lvl 5 paladin, then you get 3lvl in warlock. Afterward you finish with paladin!. Start with 16str, 10dex, 14con, 10, 10, 16. And when you get to your 3rd level of warlock, respect your stats. Thats when you take out your point in str, and move everything to CHA. Before you get your pact of the blade, having 10str is gimping you. I kept missing everything. So i respecced. Getting your 5 level is crutial.

[@LordAnubis85]

Fighter 2, Warlock 7, Sorcerer 3. Use your 1st lvl sorcerer spell slots to apply hex and to reapply it if your concentration is ever broken. Use the remaining 2nd level slots plus your 4th level pact magic slots to fuel your metamagic to quicken EB's. You'll want to respec into this once you get to level 4 (fighter 1 / warlock 3 so you can use CHA to attack). 1st level fighter, dump DEX and STR, use heavy armor, a reach weapon, CON saving throw prof. Go Pact of the Blade and use a reach weapon (important so you aren't Eldritch Blasting in melee at disadvantage). At max level, you'll have Attack, Extra Attack, Haste Eldritch Blast + Quickened Eldritch Blast. That's 8 attacks per round that can be sustained by converting Warlock spell slots into sorcery points. Once per day you can action surge EB for 11 attacks in one round. Start with 17 CHA, take the option from the Hag to bump CHA to 18 then take ASI to take CHA to 20. You won't need any other feats on this build as this isn't a Polearm Master/GWM build; though if you sacrifice your 4th level pact magic slots for 3rd level, you could take 1 less level of Warlock and one more of Sorc, giving you another feat to take either Polearm Master or Great Weapon Master. GWM is probably better since you'll want to use your bonus action to quicken an EB instead of making a measly blunt end polearm attack.

[@Sanyex]

sounds interesting. could you maybe go a bit deeper? :D like what to level up in which order

[@LordAnubis85]

@@Sanyex So the early levels just depend on your personal play style. I would recommend levels 1-5 just stick to either Fighter or Warlock (Pact of the Blade) for Extra Attack at 5. Race does not matter on this build so pick whatever, just make sure to set your ability scores based on what you pick so you aren't useless early on. At level 6, you will want to respec; when you respec, you'll pick Fighter at level 1 for the CON saving throws and martial weapon and all armor proficiency. For your fighting style, I highly recommend the +1 to AC, but Great Weapon Fighting is also a solid pick since we will be using a 2-handed reach weapon. Set your ability scores to 8 STR, 8 DEX, at least 14 CON, 15 CHA with +2 to take it to 17, rest of the points how you like. If you take the +1 ability score from the Hag, put it in CHA to round it out to 18. Use heavy armor for the AC and a reach weapon (pike, halberd, glaive). Then go 5 levels of Warlock, taking Pact of the Blade at 3 so you can use your CHA to attack/damage with your melee weapon. At level 5 Warlock, you'll know 3 invocations; Always take Agonizing Blast on any warlock build. For the other two, I suggest Repelling Blast (to help control the battlefield) and Devil's Sight (this is why race doesn't matter since Devil's Sight gives you superior darkvision and fighter gives you all the proficiency you need). For your feat, you have two options: ASI to take CHA from 18 to 20, or Polearm Master. Read below to help you decide. Now here is where the build can diverge slightly, depending on if you want action surge or not. If you want a second feat, Polearm Master + Sentinel makes the deadly PAMLock build in tabletop but caps your CHA at 18, which should be good enough. Enemies take an opportunity attack when they enter your reach (and you have advantage on that attack) and if you hit them they end their movement, outside of their melee range but within yours. Then you can repelling blast them back so they get locked in this loop of trying to attack you and failing. In which case, you'll want 4 levels of Sorcerer before taking Warlock to 7. If you'd rather have action surge, then take 4 levels of Sorcerer (we still want quickened spell meta magic for those juicy Eldritch Blasts), 1 level of Fighter and finally take Warlock to 6. You still have two ASI/Feats to chose but you sacrifice 4th level pact magic slots as well as a 4th invocation. You could also do Fighter 1 / Warlock 5 / Sorcerer 4 / (4th class) 2 - to pick up two levels of something else, like Bard for an extra short rest per day for your pact magic slots plus extra normal spell slots to convert to sorcery points or use however. Or two levels of Paladin for a second fighting style and Divine Smites (these will compete with your conversion of spell slots into sorcery points, but with this build, you'll have two 3rd level pact magic slots plus three 3rd normal slots; so you'll have options for quickening an Eldritch Blast or Divine Smiting for 1d10 + 1d6 (hex) + 4d8 radiant + 4. Is this the highest damage melee build possible? No, far from it. But it's extremely versatile and fun to play.

[@hilburnlayton]

I don’t think you can triple class

[@Dexiray]

@@hilburnlayton you can use all the classes at once lol

[@LordAnubis85]

@@hilburnlaytonThere's literally an achievement for multiclassing into every class in a single playthrough without respecing. Why would you think you can't take more than 2 classes?

[@nyghtreign8210]

Once you get to BG you can purchase the hat that adds +2 to CHA which can give you 22!

[@heychadwick]

Don't forget that low level spells scale up, too. Armor of Agathys gives you 5 Temp HP per level, but also does the same damage to anyone that hits you. I know you get Temp HP when you kill someone, but this starts off before combat. I have had a number of 10-15 pt attacks hit me early in the combat and this just saves my bacon. I then get the Temp HP back before the fight is over by killing things. Arms of Hadar is also a good one to take when facing hordes of things like Goblins.

[@DynaLight]

Great build, I was toying around with something similar and something I thought would be pretty strong was to pick Drow as my race to get a free cast of darkness at level 5 and take Devil Sight as my Invocation to be able to attack in complete darkness

[@JDogth3Wise]

I saw that exact thing recommended

[@Demogarose]

yup, it's an old trick from the tabletop game. basically free Advantage for yourself and Disadvantage for your enemies.

[@TheDepleteduranium]

Used this many times over the years in multiple campaigns. Darkness is also just amazing for locking down an area while in combat, especially paired with anything that makes difficult terrain

[@Jpruitt1018]

This also works with half-drow if you want to still get the civil militia weapon proficiencies.

[@fojcek8684]

Is Devil Sight needed when you have Superior darkvision?

[@ZoneZero253]

You can always go fighter and then repec later on into your preferred build

[@wyattwilliams3641]

A note for players, if you have used wizard to learn spells through scrolls you KEEP those learned spells. which means that say you multiclass as like a cleric and level up wisdom and keep INT low, you can use high level wizard spells by boosting your INT with equipment while also having access to high level spells as well as all cleric spells. heres a video for reference kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIKxhqVvbsd2kMk

[@JDogth3Wise]

Wow OP

[@derriennovak666]

Sounds like an oversight/bug. Just like the fact that warlocks extra attack stacks with the one from warrior :)

[@Vincentpanh]

@@derriennovak666 i don't see any problem with it, the maximum number of attacks is still 3, when multiclass, you loose a lot of benefit from your original class, exchange those benefit for 1 extra attack is okay to me.

[@derriennovak666]

@@Vincentpanh I first thought you're talking about the wizard thing. OK so if you talk about warlock, that's Definitely a bug and will be fixed. That's not an opinion or an if. It's on the steam forums by a dev and the ingame description specifically states that different "extra attack" traits do not Stack with the blade. I personally don't really care. Oh and it's not 3. You probably forgot about the absolutely broken haste that they have in bg3, which imo should also be changed, it trivializes every single fight even on tact. Pretty much every single boss fight can be finished in 1 round if haste is buffed preemtively. You can either stop using haste or reduce your party size to 1 or 2 to have anything remotely resembling a challenge.

[@VenomGamingCenter]

​@@derriennovak666who cares. Single player game. Maybe stop trying to police others fun that won't affect you in the slightest.

[@ceegronlee]

I finished the game blind and now I'm playing a new game with this character and I love it!

[@JDogth3Wise]

Glad you enjoyed the build!

[@ceegronlee]

@@JDogth3Wise Just hit lvl 6! :)

[@ozav6205]

I think it would be best to play to lvl 6 as a pure pact of the blade warlock with mid armor feat and then respec into your build, makes early game much much easier

[@MrImperatorRoma]

I just repec’d into this yesterday. Was rocking a crossbow fighter until then, but wasn’t very fun when most turns either wiffed, or just nuked a dude off the screen. I love halberds so being able to teleport around and bash heads in was much more enjoyable.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Glad you enjoyed the setup as much as I did!

[@rolandochapa5873]

Five videos later, I found the one that I will play in my campaign. Thank you for keeping it short and sweet.

[@vas9020]

I'm playing a pure pact of the blade warlock and somehow i've managed to get to 20AC with no armor. Just high dex from items, mage armor buff and a bunch of other AC bonuses from items. It's really fun, but dipping into fighter for the combat manouvers sounds really fun and i may try it! Really nice guide!

[@mrzoonix6368]

I'd go 5 fighter, 7 warlock. The extra attack from fighter 5 and warlock blade pack stacks. That means at least 3 attack/turn!

[@HoldMyBong]

Extra attacks on martial classes no longer stack with warlock

[@mrzoonix6368]

@@HoldMyBong yes it does. Be sure you re-pact your weapon after a long rest. It is disabled in honour mode though.

[@HoldMyBong]

@@mrzoonix6368 okay cool thank you

[@dificulttocure]

The alternative to not going Warlock L9 is going Fighter L5/ Warlock L7. At level 5 Fighter gets an extra action which is insanely powerful and allows you to make 3 weapon attacks each turn, which you can increase to 4 with the Great Weapon Master feat.

[@forsaken650]

I can't wait for BG3 to be released for PS5. I just hope it's still viable in September. I'm looking to play a class build like this. Thank you for uploading this

[@davidhujik3422]

Of course it will be viable!

[@ZoneZero253]

Gonna be a timeless game.

[@Xantexhunter]

Its Dungeons and Dragons, any builds are viable. Wether you're doing a roleplay build, a powerplay build, or something in-between. You make the character that YOU would enjoy playing as. That's the magic of Dungeons and Dragons.

[@dieminestinkt]

Don't worry this is just standard DND thing. Spellblade has always been that strong. Bg3 won't patch that.

[@moviebad109]

I sincerely doubt Larian will buff or nerf any conceivable build. The combat system is very accurately based on DND 5e, they’d probably have to convince wizards of the coast (owners of DND) to even allow them to alter any aspect of the games combat balance. And I won’t spoil anything, but the level of freedom you have in this game is VERY reminiscent of DnD. I just don’t see a game made in this spirit (that is nominally a single player game) would ever nerf it. The only real nerfs in divinity were the Lone wolf changes in the definitive edition. But even then, they kept the classic edition in the launcher, so you could still play the original game.

[@kingjaffa618]

Bindness with devils sight is underrated and chaotic. Remeber its not the same as dark vision it lets you see in the darkness spell while enemies cannot

[@JDogth3Wise]

Just put out a vid with that build today 😎

[@greenlitlleman]

If I understand it right, you can just sit inside your Darkness and no ranged attack can hit you and those who dare to attack you in melee are blinded?

[@kingjaffa618]

@@greenlitlleman exactly

[@bluffcitytri]

You should turn this in to a written guide as well!

[@obezy8705]

I think a much more powerful build would be 5 warlock/7 eldritch knight. Get agonizing blast devils sight and darkness as early as possible so lvl 4 with 1 lvl of fighter first, this makes your character very broken from act 1 as you can just cast darkness and shoot eldrich blast without ever getting hit. Then level fighter until figher level 5 be sure to get shield and extra attack as eldritch knight, shield will make it so that even if enemy somehow hit's you through darkness you can react and cast shield to make you self almost completely untouchable. Then level up warlock until lvl 5 for deepened pact to add another attack with pact blade weapon so 3-4 attacks and 6-7 attacks with action surge/haste. Finally suggest get to lvl7 fighter for warmagic to cast eldritch blast and melee with bonus action this goes well with the arcane synergy ring

[@drunkensailor775]

A thing about misty step, if you got paladin warlock 5/5 you can cast misty step wihtout wasting warlock spell slot + either 2 levels of wizard or 2 levels of fighter, wizard for spell slots and versatility, fighter for action surge, you can do 6 attacks at current version of the game with action surge and palalock.

[@Ouch193]

If anyone wants recommendations for equipment, I have some! Weapon(s): *Halberd of Vigilance, Githyanki Crossbow.* (HoV is probably the best halberd, at least from all the ones I’ve found. +1d4 FORCE damage for free, +1 to Initiative, advantage on perception, AND advantage on reaction attacks; the last of which combo’s perfectly with the Riposte combat maneuver.) *Edit:* I just tried the Invisible Pike from the Githyanki area and it slaps as a piercing damage substitute/slightly earlier option! Headpiece: *Diadem of Arcane Synergy.* (Hex counts as a condition. It’s insane! Just by using Hex, you get +5 to ALL your weapon hits for 2 turns. Then you use Concentrated Blast and Hex again. If you don’t wanna *burn* spell slots, maybe you could use Alchemist’s Fire to inflict “Burning”? [pun intended] Haven’t tried it.) Cloak: *Cloak of Protection.* (This is just a very nice default option, because to be frank I only have one cloak and it’s this one lmao.) Boots: *Disintegrating Night Walkers.* (So you can have a different spell then Misty Step, AKA even more flexibility! I personally like Hunger of Hadar as the extra spell.) Armor: *Adamantine Splint Armor.* (This is just one of your best options for heavy armor period, and you can get it in Act 1! [You get a total of 19 AC btw.]) Gloves: *Ichorous Gloves.* (When you deal acid damage, make a small AOE of 1d4 acid damage. You can imagine how *handy* that is with the Caustic Band; pun intended.) Rings: *Strange Conduit Ring, Caustic Band.* (SCR for double-whammy on using Dex Hex then going in for melee; I’ve tested it out and it goes crazy! Then CB to combo with the gloves for +2 acid damage per melee attack.) Necklace: *Amulet of Restoration.* (Because you don’t have any really good support options, and stuff like second wind and rally are only single-target.) Hope this helps someone, stay safe, and have a good day/night! Btw, if you have any recommendations to change anything, let me know!

[@MikeM-hf1qk]

The usual way to do this is paladin (oathbreaker) and warlock. You get Pretty much all the same benefits + smite and 2 more level 1 cha spell slots for hex. You can use warlock slots to smite and then get them back with a short rest. Then either go 2/10 for fiendish resistance or 3/9 for control undead and dreadful aspect. If you are considering fewer than 9 in warlock (possibly for a third feat) remember that it will lower your warlock spell slot level from 5 to 4.

[@Achilles1391]

This is exactly what I was thinking about doing before release, glad to see its actually a good idea.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Works out pretty nice, just make a party to support you + one other melee brawler

[@vocondus9585]

Exaclty what I wanted. Thank you.

[@nathanbarnhart7823]

Something to add to this: using skin burster poleax gives you up to -5 damage taken per hit and force conduit which is another -1 damage taken per strike you deal, meaning when things hit you, they’ll deal almost no damage (often no damage at all)

[@onokenfudou3394]

That setup is almost what my friends call the "Bastard" combo, if we had Hexblade as a subclass and get the Sentinel feat in adition to Polearm Master, you essentially become a wall since you can reduce people's speed to 0 once you hit them with it, and doing so as a hexblade just makes it better to keep engaged in short range combat, making you quite strong in the frontline since you'd have access to smites, hexblade's curse and Hex all together. Let's pray they add more subclasses to it, I would love to play Sun Soul Monk with Hexblade multiclass for funsies.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Agreed, I predict many subclasses being added through modding so I am looking forward to that

[@datahaunt227]

If you decide not to go with a halberd, you can use the sussur greatsword to silence foes, or the joragal greatsword for the massive line aoe swing. My build uses that with a ring so my attacks do acid damage, and by the temple of shar, my friends were yelling at me because my clone almost wiped our team

[@maxwellturner727]

Where do you get these weapons ?

[@wastedviking6280]

In the old editions Warlocks could add their eldritch blast to their melee attacks, I miss that :C

[@JDogth3Wise]

That would be god tier

[@buddha2923]

Great guide! Trying to decide between this build and Hexadin

[@FrensKafka]

Gotta love a good ol padlock

[@ajja2387]

@@FrensKafka yeah blackguard is pretty op

[@zaydharris6376]

Great video im going to use this build for my first play through

[@beardmaster6208]

You can miss the opportunity to have the hag bonus stat if she's mad at you. First time I saw her I knew she was a hag. So called bullshit for not knowing where the sister was and after that she was mad at me for the rest of the quest. So she never proposed me a bargain for the increases stat.

[@jamiath3891]

You can still get it by when you fight her drop her below 30 hp she runs away in side her fireplace you fight her again and if you drop her to 20 hp and skip turns she will try and talk her way out and offer the plus 1 agility score

[@Brian_Gawl]

Pro tip. you don't need a mod to multiclass at the lowest difficulty. Before you level up, change the difficulty. Level up and choose to multiclass. when done, change the difficulty back.

[@keegan6356]

RIP Auntie Ethel died before I could even get the cutscene.

[@daLiraX]

5 + 7 is usually the DND choice, to get the second attack from Fighter (stacks with second attack from Spellblade = 3 attacks)

[@allegg9072]

6 + 6 a decent option?

[@JDogth3Wise]

Would end up with an extra feat so thats always good!

[@imblackmagic1209]

you can also replace your fighter levels with paladin levels, you gain a bit more stuff, although i don't know if you can use your warlock slots to use divine smite, but it's a known meta build in tabletop dnd

[@justr1809]

I did bard/fighter. The warrior poet type. Imagine in a fight spelling out poems about love while smashing enemies with a two handed hammer.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Epic

[@subj3kt172]

I would actually recommend starting out as Warlock, pumping up that CHA, DEX, and CON, then once you reach level 4 you can respec to start with a level of Fighter and change your attributes up. In the early game, 3 levels of Warlock with the right Invocations and Spells will be much more effective than a split. Also, ditch Witchbolt. If you're using that instead of Eldritch Blast/Hex, you're just crippling yourself. Hex persists between encounters so long as you don't lose Concentration on it. Instead, consider Armor of Agathys, which will in turn free up an Invocation for either Repelling Blast or Devil's Sight.

[@JDogth3Wise]

I only recommended witch bolt because the other L1 spell choices you can pick there seemed meh, and I'm regretting it 😅

[@Nerdspren]

What would be your ability point spread before and after the respec?

[@_hex3r]

@@Nerdspren It's probably switch dex for wis. Not sure, though. (Starts with cha, dex and con and respecting to cha, con and wis)

[@lightsourced]

@@_hex3r is dex unnecessary after a certain amount of levels? Would it then be 14 wis, 8 dex?

[@_hex3r]

@@lightsourced I don't think so. It seems it's a matter of preference for save throws. Dince at lvl 4 you'll already use charisma to roll attacks instead of the main attribute(for this build, he had dex)and you'll pick your pick fighter level, you can safely switch for wisdom for save throws, which in my experience it's used more often.

[@LaSpookyPR]

Ketheric thorn started to listend to my chemical romance😂the bangs lol

[@johnryan3622]

Great weapon fighting doesn’t increase your damage by much in 5e, something like 1 extra damage on average. I’m not sure if Larian tinkered with something behind the scenes tho. Usually better to take the +1 to AC as your first.

[@JDogth3Wise]

To each their own! I found the damage bonus helpful

[@Primoris]

By starting as a Fighter we gain Heavy Armor proficiency, by starting as a Fighter we gain Heavy Armor proficiency.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Minor typo

[@MortalMilka]

I'm still not even finished my first playthrough but I'm already eying a Bard Fighter mix in my head and this gave some really nice pointers.

[@JDogth3Wise]

3 levels of fighter is god tier with essentially any other class in DnD!

[@MortalMilka]

@@JDogth3Wise Yes I was thinking somewhere along those lines too. I'm hoping that my friend will finally buy it and I will have a reason to start a new playthrough.

[@cc66bb44]

try paladin 5 sword bard 7 super

[@MortalMilka]

@@cc66bb44 Not sure if I'm okay with the Paladins righteous bullshit

[@Si1adan]

@@MortalMilka U can be Oathbreaker

[@sylvesterflakes129]

2-3 levels of Fighter, 5 levels of Warlock, 4-5 levels of sorcerer

[@JDogth3Wise]

Okay I can see doubling up on spell slots to make a more caster heavy but melee capable character for sure

[@havok4103]

I think this could be more focused and dialed in.... Fighter2, lock5, sorc5, sorc will get you an extra EB. + haste... Just sit back and nuke everything on turn 1. Conversely speaking tune melee with pali5, fighter2, lock5 + haste=hex smitey Mcsmiter face.

[@bazyl3357]

Ok, I guess you don't know this but, fighter extra attack stacks with bladelock extra attack, so if you go fighter 5 / warlock 5 you will get 3 attacks. Yes I know this is not how it supposed to work in 5e, but this is how it works in game. Other extra attacks don't stack.

[@f4rhodesia273]

Came here to say this. It essentially boils down to do you want level 5 spells or an extra attack. IMO going 5 in fighter for the extra attack and 7 in lock to get level 4 spells is the way to go

[@superfails8338]

Oh boy ANOTHER reason to start a new playthrough nice!

[@JDogth3Wise]

Hope you like the build when you try it!

[@superfails8338]

@@JDogth3Wise I've been running this on my first tactician playthrough and its honestly awesome I always feel like I have options when I get in a fight, and the 20 charisma is just chefs kiss

[@mirmonkey1]

I went with level 1 War priest then multi'd into warlock. Maybe a dumb thing to do, but it lets me use a bonus action to take another swing on my sword lol, plus it gave me heavy armour prof. With pact of the blade I can swing 3 times with my sword which is nice.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Pretty nice combo!

[@BW022]

I've done that twice in PnP (once tempest domain and once nature) and its insanely versatile. I'm doing a hill dwarf -- cleric(nature)/1, warlock(arch fey)/x. * Heavy armor and shields * Use battleaxe or warhammer. * Take thorn whip as a druid cantrip -- to pull folks to you. * Speak with animals is a ritual, so cast away. * You have lots of cantrips -- guidance, light, bladeward, thorn whip, etc. so eldritch blast is fine. * Use your two cleric spell slots are perfect for powering Hex or shield of faith as your warlock spells get higher level. * Many cleric spells are great even at low levels. Cure wounds scaled when cast using your warlock levels. * Remember to put hex (strength) on foes for easy push or knock downs. * Remember when you are about to short rest, you can blow all your warlock slots on healing. * You can totally turtle -- darkness + armor of agathys, and if you really need it... blade ward, and I've tanked six or seven creatures. * Understand how armor of agathys works at higher level spell slots. If you cast it using a 3rd-level spell slot, any time a creature hits you they take 15hp of damage. If they hit you for 6hp, they take 15hp, you take 6hp (from your temporary 15). Put blade ward up, you only take 3hp.

[@jiaan100]

​@@BW022armor of agathys is also good before a short rest, or hex and kill a summoned familiar

[@wildwurfler2782]

Its the better build

[@DrunknBraindead]

4th level fighter for the extra feat for Great Weapon Master in the mid- to endgame you have so much + to hit or sources of advantage that the -5 to hit is basically nullified giving you a straight up +10 damage on every attack which is very very big.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Yea I just started experimenting with that

[@lukaessusmunchkin656]

Man this game looks fun! Gotta check it out for sure

[@JDogth3Wise]

I may or may not have put in 55 hours in 5 days

[@MortalMilka]

@@JDogth3Wise I may or may not played almost 10 hours straight on sunday :D

[@mattblack4919]

Fantastic video ! Well explained. Thank you 👍

[@Prophitman8]

you dont need to add a mod to multiclass when playing on explorer. simply change the difficulty in the game menu screen and change it back when done. cheers!

[@antoniopecoraro5758]

I did a similar build my first playthrough, but I did Eldrich Knight. Kept Warlock at 5 and went all in on EK, At lvl 7 EK you get War Magic which lets you attack after using a cantrip. With the extra EK lvls I choose the feat that gives me advantage on concentration spells, and I had a ton of options to attack or control the battle

[@anthonyevans7668]

I went 7 fighter 5 lock with savage attacker, heavy weapon master and the ability upgrade to bring my charisma up. Shit rocks with life regen gear and EB giving shield. I never die, and they always do.

[@cyrusvile6622]

I have a similar build, but I changed it to 8 warlock, 2 fighter, and 2 Paladin. The smites scale with char level not Paladin level, and you get close to 90 heal every long rest. The result of your build is an extra 20 damage, versus 2 Paladin is similar to an additional 1 short rest. The second is a lot better.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Yea I'm trying another build with way more spell slots right now and I dig it

[@SidheKnight]

Which class did you start with and in which order did you level them, if you don't mind me asking?

[@cyrusvile6622]

@@SidheKnight fighter and Paladin as act 1, 2 are easy

[@marklanters1850]

I'd consider GWM instead of PAM cuz it's also kinda give you extra attack but more powerful + incredibly boost the dmg

[@ThanatosUA]

GWM PAM?

[@marklanters1850]

@@ThanatosUA great weapon master, polearm master

[@Youpalse]

That was my favourite build to play the game with, recommending it to my friend in honour mode now!

[@SDPhantomGamer]

If you don't want to install a mod, you can bump the difficulty up the moment you want to apply a new level, then lower it back down when you're done. Something to also keep in mind if an update comes out that breaks mods.

[@ajja2387]

Blackguard build is also op asf. Pala with warlock hits so fucking hard.

[@benry007]

Personally I prefer defense fighting style to great weapon master. GWM only adds just over 1 average damage per attack. The +1 AC is better in my opinion.

[@KroganWarlord]

The 1 damage thing sounded crazy so I tested(4x500) and I found it's even worse. Usually it gives on average well below 1 around 0.6-0.75. AC is definitely a lot better.

[@benry007]

@@KroganWarlord have played dnd for a while now. Its the same mechanics so the same math applies.

[@jiaan100]

It does get actually good if it rerolls additional damage(hex smite weapon effects etc), I heard it did for some things the ea but I never tested. 1.33 expected increase with a great sword, assuming +5 from str and +3 from weapon, 1.33/15 is almost a 9% increase in weapon damage. That's only the 2d6+str+3 and you'll probably more going on, so the AC is probably better in general, but it's not so bad that it's useless. It's also a little undersold by looking only at the average since it helps you avoid the bottom range of your damage, and that extra consistency is valuable.

[@jiaan100]

​@@KroganWarlordit should add 1.33 to a greatsword hit. 1/3 chance to reroll a d6, takes you from 1.5 to 3.5 on average when it does reroll. 1/3 chance of +2 damage is +.66 damage, or 1.33 with a greatsword's 2d6.

[@benry007]

@@jiaan100 I remembered it was around that amount but didn't feel like doing the maths or looking it up. The other thing I like about defense fighting style is you can switch between 2h and sword and board depending on the situation. That said once you have a feat like GWM you will be unlikely to use a weapon that isn't heavy again.

[@thefreshprinceofdathomir9460]

i'm still in act one, but honestly this build is so much fun to play.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Glad you enjoyed

[@philbrook6855]

You can go two levels of fighter and and get one level of cleric war domain. You will get a bonus attack with three charges for short rest. Since you're already operating in a short rest type of playstyle this works very well.

[@BombalurinaAI]

Level 5 warrior with warlock allows you to triple attack every turn or attack 6 times with action surge. It also increases your eldrich blast to 3 hits per action making you a railgun.

[@johnryan3622]

It’s worth noting builds that don’t come online until later are rough. Level 6 or 7 is many hours into the game. While this build is very strong I would consider playing pure fighter (or warlock, but as a ranged Eldridge blaster) until 6, then “RP” your character makes a pact, becomes a warlock, then respec into this build’s level 6. You really want to hit your lvl4 ASI and lvl5 extra attack ASAP. Without them, you’ll fall behind the curve in a very noticeable way from level 4 (maybe 8 hours in) to level 6 (maybe 16 hours in). It’s a lot of time to be behind, and respec is only 100 gold. Edit: great video by the way, this build is very strong! And for the theory crafters out there, storm cleric / sorcerer also has a few insane damage combos, hitting two separate targets for 48 or more damage each around lvl4 on one turn.

[@johnryan3622]

Also, stated in a previous comment, the +1 AC is mathematically more useful than the great weapon fighting re-roll, unless Larian changed some thing behind the scenes (ex an interaction with karmic dice I’m unaware of). In 5e it only increases your average damage by about 1, whereas 1 more AC is very powerful in avoiding attacks.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Yea I had a storm sorcerer in my party cuz my buddy joined my game and his PC couldn't be kicked. At first I was frustrated... then I got the storm sorc powers and just CALL LIGHTNING spammed everything

[@Timepeace49]

you can just adjust difficulty. level up and then decrease difficulty after you level up and it will let you multiclass that character for the rest of the level up. no mod needed.

[@rhiethreal]

I was wondering about doing something like this but with dual wielding. Pole Arms might be superior, but dual blades are way cooler.

[@JDogth3Wise]

If you're going to dual wield I recommend just going eldritch knight fighter + thief rogue if you want the spellblade vibes

[@TheAsj97]

I have a suggestion. Have you tried out tavern brawler monk? I found it to be incredibly OP. Basically, it starts at level 5, you respec into Fighter 1/Monk 4 (Way of the open hand), and pick the tavern brawler feat and add another point to strength, so you should have at this point 18 strength. The other stats don't matter as much, I would add some points in Dex just for initiative, and of course Constitution. I would ignore Wisdom because the 1 level of Fighter allows the use of heavy armor (adamantine splint for early game is OP) and shield, and we don't have to worry about spells because of our subclass. We won't use weapons because of the tavern brawler perk which doubles our Str bonus to our damage. We won't have as much movement as a normal Monk, BUT, with our enormous Str PLUS the Monk's Step of The Wind Dash means we can jump for free for just 1 Ki and we can travel MASSIVE distances in one turn. Eventually you'll find a pair of gloves that sets your Dex to 18, at that point respec again and dump Dex entirely, add the rest into Con and Char (if you're the main character that helps with persuasion). Then just keep leveling Monk for the rest of the game, eventually you'll get Ki Resonance for some nice AOE, you might also want to get one more level of Fighter for action surge but I honestly don't think it's that necessary. Remember when you're at Moonrise to get the permanent +2 Str potion from the vampire fangirl, then you'll get 20 Str overall, meaning +10 damage to each punch. When you get your second feat pick ability improvement and max out Str, which means you'll get 22 STRENGTH, and +12 to punch damage. When you hit level cap, respec again, keep the same attributes, but now pick Fighter 1/Rogue 3 Thief/Monk 8, we'll lose Ki Resonance but that doesn't matter because we'll get Thief's extra bonus action. Now, in just one turn, this all means that at level 12 we got: 1d6+12 Punch, then 1d6+12 Punch 2d6+24 Flurry of Blows, then 2d6+24 Flurry of Blows For a grand total of 78 TO 108 DAMAGE in ONE TURN!! And it only costs 2 Ki. Alternatively, if you're out of ki, that still means 52 to 72 damage per turn, as long as you remember to action punch, then bonus action punch, then extra action punch, then bonus action punch. Edit: BTW, I forgot to mention, the Flurry of Blows tooltips are bugged, and they'll show your damage as if Tavern Brawler wasn't active, meaning 2d6 + 2xDex modifier instead of 4 times your Str modifier, but that is just a tooltip bug, the damage is calculated correctly in combat.

[@franks6349]

great video, u have me some really good ideas

[@JDogth3Wise]

Glad you like them!

[@Craz3t0wn]

just a little note on your comment at the end about swapping to higher level spells at each level. This is not necessary as Warlock since all of your spells are upcast to the highest possible level automatically, so if you like a certain spell or have just been having success with a lower level spell, don't worry about swapping it out, it will remain powerful.

[@TimV777]

is this only for warlock?

[@Craz3t0wn]

@TimV777 yes, as other caster classes you must chose to upcast manually when casting the spell.

[@erebosxlll5201]

I’m doing a build similar but doing Ranger Knight instead of fighter. 4 Ranger Knight. 8 Warlock. Same build as far as stats are concerned. Playstyle is similar. 4 Ranger for Colossal slayer and duel wielding feat for Mighty Weapons. Fiend warlock for pact of the blade. Misty stepping into a group with pact of the blade on followed by a cleave. On paper, should be disgusting.

[@agrofinis]

Wanted to play a Hexblade Warlock, but this seems like a fun alternative to try and makes a lot of sense since I plan on benching the Gith Fighter

[@JDogth3Wise]

Githyanki with this build would be sweet because you can use their insane jump in place of misty step fairly often

[@ubu334]

Doing a similar build. This is a great guide! Hex is a must have. Extra D6 per attack is very nice 👌

[@JDogth3Wise]

Is very nice, but IMO after like level 5 I stopped ever wanting to waste my spell slot on hex

[@ubu334]

@JDogth3Wise Thats very true. Only just got to higher level of play. Fireball is too fun tbh

[@sleshflex4170]

good build, one really underrated invocation is Beast speech, talkign to animals is kinda essential to not miss alot of stuff

[@freelancer1499]

Beautiful Stuff. Thank for sharing dude!

[@JDogth3Wise]

My pleasure!

[@RonnieMyers777]

I did 6 Warlock (pact of blades) & 6 swords Bard 😁

[@KukoDane]

Just got the game from my brother and ohh boy do I want to play a armour plated menacing mage!

[@JDogth3Wise]

Hope you enjoy

[@KukoDane]

Besides the mini map bug, Im beyond myself in pure power

[@KukoDane]

I would if I actually had a map/minimap xD But that seems to be a bug.

[@georgebeswick7549]

I'm currently have a Battlemaster Fighter 8/Celestial Warlock 12 character in a campaign, honestly she is so fun to play as.

[@Th3og0ny]

So I've been playing a multiclass I've been referring to as the War Bard. The way I setup my character is a Zariel Tiefling Bard at lvl 1 to get Thaumaturgy. Cause you gain advantage at Performance and Intimidation, you can uncheck the Intimidation option in character creation and put it in whatever you want like athletics. Lvl 2, multiclass into Warlock. Lvl up bard again get a shortrest buff (since now your character can shortrest 3 times, you can get your warlock spell slots back and cast for a total of 6 times per longrest). The rest of the build you can do lvl 3 bard/lvl 9 warlock or lvl 4 bard/lvl 8 Warlock. On my tactician playthrough, not only am I hitting like a truck, I'm passing all my conversation checks.

[@ett32g]

I would refrain from dumping Wis as it will be needed vs mental spells

[@theraven8327]

Man! I wish someone had written these steps down. Video saved!

[@rickmaher44]

You really should have taken fighter to 5. Pact weapon and extra attack stack in BG3 so you can take 3 melee attacks a turn

[@jaoshoe1135]

This made me want to try it out in my next dnd campaign but you don’t get a second attack at level 5 :(

[@JDogth3Wise]

Well maybe you can do it in reverse? Go paladin to 5 and then warlock for the slots? Also maybe just ask your DM if you can sacrifice some other feature for a second attack!

[@DavidSantos-ix1hu]

I like the combo of magic missle snd eldritch blast,u can just spam spells from far and with the oact if the blade snd wild magic sorcerer it does nasty damage snd effectd from close snd far

[@casadogaspar]

I'm giving this build a try in my perma-death, no safe scum, difficult tactician on my channel Just minor changes at start 3lvl fighter for better armor and survivability (maybe 4lvl for feat) all lvl warlock? or maybe one more dip into fighter 5 to extra attack (don't now if matter that much as already has one with pact and using blast a lot) Half drow with purple eyes running from his past and trying to forget he has red eyes in the past. As it get a darkness cast for free it will be nice too. Well, I just need to not DIE now, as I already failed two times the challenge haha.

[@bdawg4231]

One thing you better take on your Warlock is Cloud of Daggers - What an insane OP spell.

[@martinbrugman8223]

Very helpfull in early stages.

[@bagrielapito]

a really good choice also is to have a 2 lvl dip into paladin for proficiencies, 2 lvl one spell slots and divine smite, so you can use your high level pact slots to smite and they reset on a shor rest

[@Crimsonfangg]

I went sorc/fighter because I liked blur and haste, but seeing all those melee dmg upgrades is making me want to switch.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Basically the same idea for the build, but yea being able to just go 20 charisma for high melee damage and spells gives you so much freedom to put points elsewhere or just be really tanky

[@illusion_of_democracy]

9 lvl warlock plus 3 lvl thief for the extra bonus. Ranged : Blast, blast, blast, offhand crossbow attack, stealth, repeat. Melee: Sneak attack, Sneak attack, Disengage, Stealth and go ranged again.

[@JDogth3Wise]

The more comments I read the more it feels like warlock is just the God tier multiclass choice for magic users

[@illusion_of_democracy]

@@JDogth3Wise true! and i forgot about Hex being a bonus action and the potentially 5 procs of it in one round. Thank you for your content btw . Keep up!

[@jigzdollosa2018]

ohhhh this built looks like a witcher build. thanks

[@BankruptGreek]

Instead of Fiendish Vigour take Devil Sight and pick the Darkness spell at one point or an other. Pretty much busted. I did some testing and you can clear the druids in the Grove almost solo with scum tactics / hiding in darkness. Alternatively it's a getaway card and a guarantee win vs melee characters as a Spear wielder since an enemy won't be able to escape darkness vs you

[@keithbaker4830]

Can you talk about gameplay about the build or how we are suppose to prioritize our abilities through the stages of leveling?

[@Mr_DGrim]

Take 5 levels fighter and 7 levels warlock you will get 3 attacks per turn like a lvl 11 fighter. it's an oversight of the devs :P that's how i build my lvl 5 paladin / 7 warlock.

[@theusernameicoodfind]

I’ve been doing this with paladin instead of fighter and it’s been pretty good but I’ll probably try this out too

[@JDogth3Wise]

I want to do a paladin for my next build video!

[@maikbaumann1250]

ye paladin is the better choice. the hexadin is famous for a reason. smite that is reuseable after short rest is just one benefit. oh an having 14 dex with heavy amour debateable, you dont get any dex ac in heavy armour. i would go willpower 14 (because alot of skillchecks are based around that)

[@kalzhae]

@@maikbaumann1250 I would still start with 14 dex until you get both an heavy armor (as you don't start with one) and unlock wither, then immediatly respec to drop the dex and improve something else (you can get both at the same place).

[@maikbaumann1250]

@@kalzhae agree yo need to respec once anyway or be a gimp pala for 1 level

[@blackyraypatrick9041]

Interesting Idea, Definitely wanted to make some Hexblade Paladin but I prefer the melee fighting and due to it went only for warlock till lvl 3 and did put the rest into paladin tree.

[@JDogth3Wise]

Could probably make something interesting by using the lower level warlock slots as just extra smites. Instead of 2 strong ones you have many weaker ones

[@blackyraypatrick9041]

@@JDogth3Wise exactly that was my idea. Im smiting my way through all the enemies lol :) and eldritch blast ist just my go to way, when I can't reach enemies. Of course it would be cool having some fireballs, but My sorcerer does that job already perfectly fine, so I prefered the added melee capabilities.

[@blackyraypatrick9041]

@@JDogth3Wise i use that build with wyll so now at least people can him call the "blade of frontiers" and not the "warlock/mage of frontiers"