WARLOCK DAMAGE: Eldritch Blast and True Strike D&D 5.24 Player's Handbook 2024

[@DarthRamzes]

I think it's great that casters have noticeably lower single target damage. They have spells, which gives them either better multiple target damage or battlefield control.

[@ArBleizhMor]

With a warlock I think that's less true. It's more of a martial arcane archer with limited spellcasting. It probably barely does more single target damage than vastly better spellcasters like sorcerer.

[@xolotltolox7626]

​@@ArBleizhMor Just say half caster man...

[@ArBleizhMor]

@@xolotltolox7626 Well, I would but mystic arcana and having fewer normal slots makes them a little unique in that respect.

[@guamae]

@@xolotltolox7626 They were proper half-casters in one of the UA... but are back to 'exotic casters' now...

[@AnaseSkyrider]

​@@guamaeThey cast spells of 1st to 9th level. They are still full casters.

[@breathetyb8467]

One thing I think I remember from your 2014 talk about the warlock baseline is that the point of it is that you can take 2 levels warlock, rest in any class without regard to damage (all healing or role play spells for example) but still do the baseline. I think that gets lost if we change the baseline to assume abilities from higher warlock levels. I think either no change or new baselines should be set separately for melee vs ranged vs full caster Besides, cloud of daggers is better than EB+hex now in most of tier 2.

[@MyRegularNameWasTaken]

Every time Chris talks about setting a new baseline I feel like he's missing the point of what his baseline was supposed to do, and every time I feel vindicated by comments like this.

[@glimftw7255]

Yep. It's not just baseline dmg, but it's RANGED and has baked in CC to throw monsters back into webs, sleet storms and such.. But ngl i'm glad hexblade is not available at lvl1 and you need to go lvl3 in order to get subclass. You don't need to feel THAT bad not going Lock on some builds.

[@mpetrov2402]

I feel lime a baseline is supposed to be like a constant - lets say the speed of light, gForce of the earth etc. Those things are usefull for calculation of other things. In our case we wana see the constant( baseline) in relation to other builds so we know how good is this build and if a 2 level dip in warlock can beat it. Everything close or under the baseline is extremely mediocre.

[@J4203-b4r]

I agree. The point was that every warlock can do this damage without focusing their build on single target damage, meaning any character built for damage should at least beat it. If we're assuming that warlock uses features and spell choices to optimize their damage (like Mystic Arcanums or their Boon choice) we start moving away from that.

[@Bacon_and_Busch]

With the Rogue needing to go full Caster stat just to get an extra 2d6 with True Strike... I also feel a little sideways about the build concepts. However, there is still a lot of value. I watch the optimizers for bizarre ideas anyways.

[@larstollefsen1236]

I really appreciate pointing out the colorblind lines for me, I had to infer it from context before.

[@Chris_the_Nerd]

On the bright side it’s nice to know that the Shillelagh gimmick I was going to use on my Celestial Warlock is not abysmal for a support-focused character.

[@Bacon_and_Busch]

I feel like Shield+Shillelagh>Quarterstaff>Topple Mastery, maybe even Shield Master is going to thump for the builds that can manage it.

[@LuxTheSlav]

Add GFB to that and it SLAPS.

[@Mothwater]

@@Bacon_and_Buscheldritch knight or paladin plus magic initiate druid come to mind

[@wolf-vh4ze]

i know this is focused on the 2024 rules only, but I really like the idea of agonizing blast and repeling blast being used on booming blade

[@Firestarfury]

My group has just started a new campaign and the DM is picking and choosing a few things out of the new rules he wants to use, including letting me do exactly that :)

[@James-kv3ll]

@@FirestarfuryOh boy, a DM that just arbitrarily decides what rules to follow and ignore. Sounds fun….

[@anthonydaquet7934]

@@James-kv3ll Booming blade and green flame blade are listed under expanded rules so should be allowed with 2024 regardless

[@James-kv3ll]

@@anthonydaquet7934 Did I say otherwise? If it wasn’t changed in the 2024 material you should use it. If it was changed then you should use the new version. This cherry picking bullsht just makes things more complicated unnecessarily

[@Firestarfury]

@@James-kv3ll it is, actually! It’s a private game amongst friends so we’ll change whatever we want as we like and he’s my favorite DM I’ve ever had :)

[@emulationemperor8924]

If you want to get extra semantic and split hairs, I could see an argument where you can apply Agonizing Blast to True Strike right away, but only if you make True Strike deal radiant damage instead of the weapon's damage. Because then that is damage specifically from the cantrip.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

If I want to get extra semantic I would point out that you mean pedantic, not semantic.

[@PalleRasmussen]

​@@TreantmonksTemplebe nice Chris, you usually are.

[@jeremybooth933]

With this reasoning you can also change shillelagh damage to force damage and take agonizing blast again for shillelagh and add your charisma modifier again

[@emulationemperor8924]

@TreantmonksTemple dang, you're right though. That's why you're a build and rules master and I watch your videos for build ideas.

[@cenauge]

I'm in the "it works immediately" camp, because True Strike meets the requirement of being a cantrip that deals damage. Eldritch Blast is a cantrip that deals damage, even though if you miss it does not deal damage. Conditions where "this cantrip might not deal damage" cannot be disqualifying. And technically, although you use a weapon to attack with True Strike, there is an argument that the damage (even if you don't change it to radiant) is coming from True Strike. The weapon is a material component and you are making an attack with it, but the source of the damage is True Strike--it's just that all the variables involved with the damage (minus the damage specified in the spell description) are copies of what you would deal if making a single attack normally.

[@ProjectPTSheep]

"if you are colourblind blue is the top line", thank you for not forgetting us btw you can change the shape of icons on the graph to make it easier

[@creditroll176]

i believe in the past hes said the tool he uses to make these graphs doesnt let him change the icons, which is unfortunate

[@TreantmonksTemple]

The graph maker I use doesn't provide that option (I checked)

[@neoman4426]

@@TreantmonksTemple Could I suppose do it in post, take a screenshot and manually put like, the class's icon or something in an image editor. That's a lot of extra work, but technically possible.

[@aimerw]

@@neoman4426 I think they mean for each data point on each line, so a diamond for level 1, 2, 3, etc., for one line, a dot level 1, 2, 3, etc., for a second, a triangle for each level for a third, etc. As Chris said, though, the graph he uses does not do it.

[@J4203-b4r]

Small correction on Finger of Death on the optimized True Strike build: The 50.1 damage number for True Strike was including the 25% chance of a sentinel proc, which casting Finger of Death does not prevent. Factoring that out it does slightly increase damage.

[@SortKaffe]

30:22 Yes, *Finger of Death* is still worth casting at level 20, and the damage numbers should be slightly higher for levels 14-20 due to this error.

[@jas0616]

Just a note for the warlock eldritch blast baseline: if you're gonna take Pacts (as you clearly do here at level 5), the build benefits from Pact of the Chain/Investment of the Chain Master. Even if you don't want to cheese the "Help" action, which is admittedly dubious, you can use your bonus action to have your familiar attack. Looking at the options, Imp is the best for this. And you can use the same turn in which you cast Hex to have it go invisible (or have it start invisible), so the first of 3 attacks per combat is at advantage. This nets you about 6-7 damage (depending on enemy armor class, since the Imp doesn't improve its to-hit) per level starting from level 5. This could work for any build, of course, especially since you can have more than one pact now, but you took Tome for utility; an invisible shapechanging familiar also gives utility (in a different way), but you can also use it to boost damage.

[@jas0616]

Also, I don't know what happened exactly but I think you miscalculated the Blight damage on your Eldritch Blast Optimized build. Somehow you have it go from 19.9 damage at level 6 to 19.0 damage at level 7. Looks like you just replaced Hellish Rebuke with Blight, which is more damage than Hellish Rebuke, but it takes place of an Eldritch blast, and it's *not* more damage than one Eldritch Blast **and** one Hellish Rebuke, so it's actually advantageous to keep Hellish Rebuke for damage purposes using your pact slots unless you're fighting a plant creature, even in place of one of the weaker Eldritch Blasts you'd have during your Summon Fiend combat. So if you completely ignore Blight and use the spell slots you would have used for it instead on Hellish Rebuke, you deal about 1.5 more damage each round, and that gets bigger as you level up: 1-4: 5.9, 8.8, 9.3, 9.9 5-10: 18.7, 19.8, 20.4 (+1.4), 22.1 (+1.4), 22.7 (+1.6), 23.7 (+1.6) 11-16 (2/SR HR): 38.4 (+3.7), 41.8 (+3.7), 43.5 (+4.1), 43.6 (+4.1), 43.7 (+4.1), 43.8 (+4.1) 17-20 (3/SR HR): 68.5 (+9.6), 68.6 (+9.6), 75.0 (+7.5), 75.1 (+7.5) I calculate the boon based on hit chance of each attack. The first one has a hit chance of 100% (84% + 16% * 100% chance of having CP available). The second one has a hit chance of 97.4% (84% + 16% * 84% chance to still have CP available). The third and fourth have a hit chance of 95.3% (84% + 16% * 70.6%) and 93.5% (84% + 16% * 59.27%). Doing it that way (I'm not 100% sure that's correct, but it feels correct) yields only about 6.3 damage per round from the boon, but I can't find any other reason why I'd be doing so much less extra damage at 19 and 20 than you. It's the same build, just played more optimally. Best I can come up with is it's just a weird aggregation of rounding errors. Also, sorry for trickling these in, I'm not watching the full video all the way through in one sitting unfortunately.

[@jas0616]

And on the True Strike baseline build, I don't know if you were intentionally holding back but you can actually smite 2.5x per Pact Slot per day due to Magical Cunning, which gets you a marginal increase but still not much different than your baseline Eldritch Blaster. Blaster has it in Tier 1 but in Tier 2 True Strike ekes ahead and stays there (even considering the lagging level from the fighter dip)

[@jas0616]

Also that carries through to the True Strike Optimized build, with similar deltas. And note that you compared Finger of Death damage against 125% True Strike damage (Sentinel included) at level 20, so it is indeed worth casting, representing about 6 damage more than a True Strike attack. The fact that it's close is still remarkable, though.

[@KaitlynBurnellMath]

I do object on some level to including things like using all your spell slots on eldritch smite in the baseline. The old baseline obviously assumed some spell use (it assumed hex) but the old baseline definitely left some room to assume that you are saving some spell slots for problem solving or utility or emergency saving someone with dimension door. You could achieve the baseline while providing value other than damage. I don't think that true strike build can maintain that DPR without sacrificing all their utility.

[@Chrosteellium]

Something Colby pointed out for the new pact of the blade is that, as long as you have a 13 strength, there isn't anything rules as written that says you can't use a great sword as your pact weapon. Which means you can then take GWM eventually!

[@sir_gort]

Yippee. Greatsword Warlock lives on.

[@Chrosteellium]

@@sir_gort and made easier because the Hexblade rules specify that you have to use a weapon that can be weiled 1-handed.

[@jacobmonroe3899]

GW warlock doesn’t have a damage problem, but their defenses however are just terrible unless you Multiclass.

[@lattekahvi1298]

@@jacobmonroe3899 you should totally take a fighter or paladin dip with gw warlock, you get fighting style, which works really well with greatsword and you get armor proficiencies and bit of extra hp

[@jacobmonroe3899]

@@lattekahvi1298 Sure, if your DM allows multi-classing.

[@lurker1999]

Have you considered making a "tier-normalized" damage chart? I often hear you say in your videos that tier 1 and 2 is the most often played tier. You can reflect this bias in your chart by weighting the damage at each level by some tier weight. You could even poll your community to help determine the weights for each tier.

[@josephrion3514]

Tier 2, Tier 1, Tier 3, Tier 4. Most weighed to least weighed with tier 1 at 1.0 and tier three at .5 and tier 4 at .2 and tier two at 1.5 like for most campaigns? But having even weight i think favors people who start late tier 2 and play into tier 3. (Those number weights are just just arbitrary)

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I figured by showing the whole graph you can weight based on the levels you're most interested in

[@martl8615]

I suggested adjusting the relevance by multiplying by inverse of the level. Your level one low damage is 20 times as important as your level twenty high damage.

[@lurker1999]

@@TreantmonksTemple yeah that's totally fair. I would also expect that all your damage curves would turn into bell curves. Thanks for all your hard work nonetheless!

[@Miggy19779]

Nah that's not nearly as useful as different tables have different play levels, this way we see the whole picture

[@jonmoore4050]

My 2 cents: the weapon is a spellcasting focus for True Strike; as written in the spell description the attack role & damage are from the spell and spellcasting ability, not the weapon description (no difference if its a dagger, longsword, bow, glaive, dart, etc.). The weapon must simply be held for the casting (range of self). People just don’t like change & are resisting the new RAR. Personally, I think it unlocks a lot of creative and innovative ways for warlocks to increase damage. The challenge, as you pointed out, is boosting armor class.

[@GroovyLemming]

One thing I considered is doubling up on Agonizing Blast by taking Pact of the Tome and taking Shillelagh *and* taking True Strike and taking Agonizing Blast on *both*. If you were Pact of the Blade as well, this basically *triples* up on the primary effect, so that's not great, but with Agonizing Blast added to 2 Cantrips, and if you go Celestial Warlock for Radiant Soul, after 6th level (and once you have a 20 Cha) you attack for 1d10+1d6+20 points of damage (+5 cha for attack, +10 for two different agonizing blasts, +5 for radiant soul). If at 9th you take Lifedrinker, then by 17th your consistent damage (albeit single attack) is 6d6+20 (2d6 Shillelagh, 3d6 True Strike, 1d6 lifedrinker), or around 38 average damage before *any* other spellcasting is taken into account, with some bonus healing. If you use one of myriad ways to get Advantage on your one attack per round, that's pretty good consistent damage from just cantrips. With a Paladin dip and Eldritch Smite, you could in theory add 12d8 damage from smites, which I'd save for when it makes a real difference. (like if you crit!) There's probably something like a Warlock/Paladin/Valor Bard build that also manages to add an Extra Attack in there without losing the bonus damage from True Strike. Although I think the *real* strength of the Warlock is now that Mystic Arcanum don't take a spell slot and ergo, you could in theory do a Mystic Arcanum *and* another leveled spell in the same round. There's probably a way to build a Sorlock that takes advantage of this, but I haven't really looked that strongly at that yet.

[@johngeralt]

Shillelagh won't work with Agonizing Blast.

[@rupert7565]

Basically, is a base warlock above the base warlock baseline. Good vid.

[@theformation3781]

19:01 speaking of ranger, I think there's a way to increase (single target) ranger damage in tier 3 we haven't considered (legitimately because ranger has so many ways you can build them) that being as follows: Wisdom based ranger, shillelagh, quarterstaff+shield, dueling fighting style; jumping straight to tier 3 here's a 4 round breakdown: Round 1: using our action we cast conjure animals, bonus action we use shillelagh. Conjure animals does 3d10 on failed save, and we position it in such a way that to avoid taking CA damage the enemy has to willingly move out of our reach, so you get an opportunity attack on them. Thus we have a guaranteed offturn damage method since either the enemy moves and we get a possible opportunity attack, or they don't and have to save against CA and there is no other course of action. SInce we pumped our wisdom I'm vaguely assuming the saves for CA are 60% chance of failure, and 60% of 3d10 and 60% of d12+5+2 (from dueling fighting style) aren't that different that we can't just assume a 50% chance of either happening, and we end up with offturn ~9 more damage. Then on turn 2 we attack thrice courtesy of polearm master, move CA to wherever the enemy is (since it moves 30 feet, we could face enemies that would be too fast for this but to be honest shadow monk could also face blindsight/truesight opponents and CA occupies a huge space on the batlefield, it's a fair courtesy) and deal that damage, and put the enemy in that exact situation (either stay and get hit by CA or leave and get hit by opportunity attack). Additionally quarterstaff has topple so there's a chance of advantage as well. A ranger can do this in 3 combats conservatively at level 11 only using 3 slots and combat 4 really is where you probably make assumptions about other spells, possibly shifting to a bow+hunter's mark if we abide by the half spell slots only. Even when we recognise first round setup rangers end up doing enough damage in subsequent 3 rounds that it ends up being very respectable for 3 combats. As for the fourth combat I don't know how a ranger would reliably do damage except for perhaps polearm master+summon beast, but there also taking sentinel is the only real way to semi-guarantee anything offturn so maybe not. At level 14 though you can replace the fourth round with summon woodland beings for basically the same strategy as before but more damage, and this strategy pretty much fixes ranger's single target dps issues in tier 3

[@tamvu2229]

I see Warlock video, I subscribe. Great video!!!

[@sillvvasensei]

Fighter 1 / Fiendlock 19 is not bad. The catch is that you need to focus on STR, not CHA. You get heavy armor, polearm master, great weapon master, and heavy armor master to raise STR to 20. And your spells of choice generally don't need a high CHA: Hex, Armor of Agathys, Spirit Shroud, and Foresight. Eventually, you can get your CHA to 18 at level 16, and then either STR to 21 or CHA to 19 and level 19 with Boon of Combat Prowess. As for subclass, Armor of Agathys is great with Dark One's Blessing and situationally Dark One's Resilience. They can replenish your Temporary Hit Points and give some damage resistance.

[@brannenpfister2579]

Why Fighter over Paladin? Paladin gets you cure wounds.

[@sillvvasensei]

@@brannenpfister2579 CON Saves for concentration.

[@brannenpfister2579]

@@sillvvasensei I Feel like pact slot cure wounds with gift of the ever living ones is better than that. Maybe that’s a personal take. Con saves can be picked up with Resilient CON. And fighter makes you very weak to Wisdom Saves, which are usually more detrimental, right?

[@sillvvasensei]

​@@brannenpfister2579 yeah CON saves can be picked up with a feat, but then you wait until MUCH later to do so unless you delay maxing your STR.

[@brannenpfister2579]

@@sillvvasensei Right I agree. I just think eldritch mind/war caster gets you there until those later levels. I’d rather be able to heal 85 hp to myself as an action than have con proficiency. I guess that’s just my preference. Seems more powerful, given I already likely have a +2-3 with advantage on con saves already.

[@JimNZ]

Love your channel! I realised I've been doing a similar build (fey subclass) ... and there's another extra way to deal dmg with this build: Misty Escape.. dmg... and you misty step 10 feet on top of the bad guy.... but you are an enlarged Goliath that turns his 125kg into 1ton... and you land over the enemy (or enemies, since your size is Large) and produce improvised damage. Depending on the DM that's normally between 3 to 6d10. Moreover.. otherworld leap.. and you jump on top of them too :D

[@hunterthorne4671]

This has all been really cool info! I don’t think warlocks should be doing as much damage as a martial certainly not for single target damage, so this is nice to see!

[@mrmuffins951]

I feel like the Warlock could benefit a lot from Greater Invisibility. As a 4th level spell, you’d get access to it as a 7th level Warlock and it would probably help DPR for the rest of tier 2 which seems to be lacking the most here. Plus Warlocks already can cast regular Instability, so Greater Invisibility makes sense thematically too.

[@SortKaffe]

*Shadow of Moil* (from XGE) is strictly better than *Greater Invisibility* in combat, and much better thematically too

[@LP-zn8sc]

​@@SortKaffe if you're only looking at the phb though it's not there. For whatever reason.

[@Wanderingsage7]

One thing Ranger and warlock have going for them is that, going off of half remembered 2014 monster stats, monsters you fight don't tend to have or use ranged attacks. That's partly why fly and levitate were so good. (That and WOTC didn't give fly a fail condition really and levitate comes with its own feather fall effect.) So you could snipe enemies from the other side of the map with nigh impunity without retaliation. That might be the reason they removed the damage boost from sharpshooter, iunno.

[@greyelf1537]

I'm looking forward to the pact of the blade video. I could see building such a warlock like a paladin. do a fighter dip for heavy armor, have your stat alignment order be str>cha>con or str>con>cha, grab a greatsword, graze, gwm, sentinel, etc, cast hex, and go to town. I could also see a pam build which weaponizes the bonus action after hex is cast. at level 13, that's 4 attacks all getting the bonus hex damage. 5 if you count the reaction attacks from sentinel and pam. I think the pact of the blade warlock is gonna be awesome.

[@caleb4836]

Big difference between EB and TS that I’m surprised you didn’t point out is that EB is at range and the TS build is melee. Mediocre damage at range is much more useful than in melee, and you are sacrificing less if what makes you a warlock to get there. Another thing I’d have been interested to see is if the other summon spells like (summon undead) can make up the difference in t2 and t3 rather than just the once a day use of summon fiend.

[@abcrasshadow9341]

True strike doesn't have to be melee thoo, you could if need be just use a ranged weapon with TS

[@mogalixir]

@@abcrasshadow9341 I think the issue is you lose some feats going ranged as well as you are not using Eldritch Smite so it'll be summon spell minus using the slots for smites plus whatever damage you can get out of an extra invocation. Maybe you take Pact of the Chain and use a familiar with your BA and a summon as a free action.

[@DeadmanwalkingXI]

The True Strike build does have vastly better AC for whatever that's worth. Like, an easy 20 or potentially more vs. a 16 on the Eldritch Blast version.

[@MsNathanv]

@@DeadmanwalkingXI The EB version can benefit from Gaze of Two Minds however. Personally, I'd be aiming for this a lot faster than TM is. I don't think EB-lock is a great build, but it is probably the only build that can afford to single-class thanks to the defensive benefits of this invocation.

[@DeadmanwalkingXI]

@@MsNathanv Eh. I think any ranged or Dex-based build can single-class. A lot of those are Eldritch Blast builds, though, it's true.

[@TheRealGridius]

Excited for this one! Got a player who wants to play the new warlock and want to see what it can do!

[@callbackspanner]

I know no warlock DPR build is going to be good, but there is one more hybrid bladepact/cantrip gimmick build that's been floating around. It's not pure PHB24 as it does use a Xanathar's cantrip, but the PHB24 compatibility rules allow it, so it might be worth considering. The build centers around magic stone. Bonus action to imbue 3 stones with magic which can either be thrown by any creature or, notably, used as sling ammunition. The main means of attack is bonding with a magic sling as your pact weapon, and using it to hurl multiple enhanced magic stones per turn. It also benefits from archery fighting style from a fighter dip. Tier 1 if it is allowed you can put agonizing blast on both magic stone and true strike, attacking for 1d6 + 3xCHA on your own turns. Tier 2+ switch to pact of the blade and use thirsting with other standard blade invocations to hurl multiple agonizing + repelling stones. If you can account for minions within the party in tiers 1/2 taking and using the excess stones per cast, the damage contribution actually would add up to decent amounts. I expect it still falls behind dedicated damage dealers in tier 3/4, but at least among warlock builds I don't see this any worse off than the rest. Of course since the "core" of this only needs 2 warlock levels, it could also lead to interesting multiclass builds. Anything that can make use of agonizing+repelling magic stone and/or agonizing true strike. A valor bard throwing 1 true strike and 1 normal stone per attack, a fighter using these stones alongside battle master maneuvers and tactical master properties to control the battlefield, or a rogue using the enhanced true strike to sneak attack with a sling and debilitate their foes.

[@CrawfishFiesta]

Out of curiosity, why would the Great Old One subclass not increase damage and be used for the optimized build? Starting with level 6, they would have advantage in half of the combats using the short rest assumptions, you’d have higher chance of landing any saving throw dependent spells starting at level 10, and the aberration could be summoned without concentration to layer on additional damage starting at level 14?

[@Notsogoodguitarguy]

Well, the aberration only lasts 1 minute, and at 5th level it only does 2 attacks. The question is, can you get more damage out of it than it takes to activate it? Cause you also gotta remember that you can't Hex + Aberration in the same turn, as both require a spell slot. And then you're left with 1 spell slot and you gotta use your feature to get back 2. The good thing about summoning spells is that they last 1 hour, meaning they can potentially last you 2 encounters AND you potentially don't need setup. With the 1 minute duration, you defeat both those upsides.

[@DeadmanwalkingXI]

Generally, Treantmonk has been assuming a new enemy every round, which makes GOO's Advantage only apply for one round per usage. That's not true in play, but it is true you probably don't get it all fight when using it, on average.

[@znail4675]

@@DeadmanwalkingXI I think he assumes a new enemy every other round, not every round.

[@DeadmanwalkingXI]

@@znail4675 It might have varied by specific situation, but that's possible.

[@ManualdeSobrevivencia]

That's what I'm doing with my current blade lock on a table that's switching to the new rules at this point. GOO + GWM + PAM with a fighter dip for armor, masteries and later action surge. When I did my calculations I assumed Eldritch smites on crits and hex could be up for the entire day later on and you still can have all of your slots available after using it at the start of the day. + The psychic damage reflect which I assumed 25% of the time 10% of all damage I'd be taking would be psychic and assumed a rough monster damage estimate for each level. It equates to minimal damage of around 0.5-1 DPR

[@mrinfinity5557]

Personally, i think pact of the blade with a pact slot casted shadow blade is the best. Youre getting something like 3d8+4 at tier 2, 4d8+5 at tier 3, which turns into 6d8+8 at tier 2 because of thirsting blade, 12d8+15 at level tier 3 with new devouring blade

[@ElocNodnarb]

Would love to see your graphs all stacked up so far! This is all so fascinating. This video did NOT turn out the way I expected it to. I excepted to see Warlock turn out really well. I understand that (especially) PoB was broken but suddenly being bottom of the pack, even with decent effort, is really unfortunate.

[@shilohbarasher1112]

I'm surprised you didn't use pact of the chain with investment of th chain master for tier 2 as it greatly increases your damage especially if you choose an imp familiar

[@TreantmonksTemple]

If the familiar starts stining and remains alive, it is definitely a damage booster if the enemy isn't immune

[@BobHerzog1962]

It may not be the best for damage. But I still had fun as a celestial warlock throwing glowing javelins. And since it was at level 6 I added +12 to each of the radiant damage rolls so that was nice. And as a celestial warlock I hat options to add something else to most fights.

[@cueball6969]

Spear of Ra vibes

[@andrewmcmillan229]

The neat thing about warlocks is how flexible they are and how much you can change your build as you level up. You could play an Eldritch blaster in tier 1 and tier 4 when that’s decent damage and something else in tier 2 and 3

[@jocelyngray6306]

I've taken to using Scorching Ray on my warlock in BG3. At 9th level, getting 6 attacks with scorching ray stacks the Hex dice. Level 5 scorching ray plus Hex is (2d6 fire + 1d6 necrotic)x6, or 18d6 (63). EB is 3d10+3d6+15 (42). Scorching Ray synergizes with all the attack focused things an EB focused warlock aims for. Blight is 8d8 (36, save half) as a 4th; scorching ray+hex is 15d6 (52.5, multiple attacks). GOO can change damage to psychic.

[@calsecaz]

Scorching Ray is only on the Fiend Warlock list, so no GOO interaction, but against no fire resistant, probably much better/sinergic than blight (which in high levels might be resisted as well)

[@stoephil]

You can get the Elemental Adept feat to bypass any resistance (not immunity though, but you can still do Force with EB in that case).

[@peon9584]

For colorblindness accessibilty you could differentiate between graph lines with different shapes. Like use squares as points for line A and triangles as points for line B.

[@galago1236]

I still love eblast warlock as a baseline. I know you focus on the new 2024 stuff right now, but I've crunched numbers using Spirit Shroud and it delivers. I also assume advantage on the first attack thanks to Pact of the Chain, as it's not as restrictive as before for a standard warlock, becoming an invocation rather than a crossroad feature. At level 4 I take Spell Sniper since Spirit Shroud requires to be within 10ft of the ennemy. Standard ASI at level 8, than Resilient CON at level 12 to help Eldritch Mind secure concentration checks. At level 1: 8.4 DPR ( eblast, hex, pact of the chain ) At levels 2-3: 11 DPR ( agonizing blast ) At level 4: 11.8 DPR ( spell sniper ) At levels 5-7: 21.6 DPR ( 2nd eblast ) At level 8: 23.1 DPR ( capped charisma ) At levels 9-10: 30.2 DPR ( spirit shroud cast at 5th level ) At levels 11-16: 42.6 DPR ( 3rd eblast ) At levels 17-18: 55.1 DPR ( 4th eblast ) At levels 19-20: 62.1 DPR ( boon of combat prowess ) The overall average is 34 DPR, which is less than the base greatsword fighter (36.2) but more than everyone else, including the no-subclass barbarian (33.4). So, you'd have to optimize your character to be above this baseline, which is the point. Still, I feel like it is reachable.

[@valerius88]

Minor note, but the Spell Sniper feat would probably give a very slight increase in damage for the EB builds, due to ignoring some cover, negating disadvantage in melee range, etc.

[@matthewconlon2388]

Agonizing Blast on Create Bonfire! Add that to the grapple-drag teams.

[@ElManReborn616]

My pick for an e-blast build was goo. Does ok in a vacuum

[@Varatho]

I believe ranged damage should be valued higher than melee damage. Firstly because you have to actually get into melee range which often costs a full turn or more of combat. Secondly, because ranged damage is inherently safer than melee damage due to not being in range of a lot of reprisal attacks. I would give any ranged dpr build a 20-25% "value bonus" when considering what to play.

[@SortKaffe]

For sure! But staying at range quickly becomes boring, so I'm a big fan of the *Sharpshooter* nerf and *EB* trailing behind!

[@Xorrin]

In the case of the ranger you also have to consider that most of their spells are against multiple enemies, so the damage is higher, just not against a single target

[@xolotltolox7626]

​@@SortKaffehow is melee more exciting when you just stay in melee range hitting eachother with no option to move because everything and their dog has an opportunity attack, and there is no point to moving anyways, because movement is so free in 5E

[@Miggy19779]

This was one of my big gripes in 2014. Ranged build were more powerful and that's just silly. It is right for melee to outdo ranged damage because it's massively more risky

[@Miggy19779]

​@@xolotltolox7626it's more exciting coz you can get clobbered into the ground much more often. Risk is exciting

[@kozmayhem7520]

And revised and remade the hexblade with new features. Focusing on armor of Agathys and special hexes that work like battle masters maneuvers.

[@oshermdaddy2058]

This was a wonderful thing to wake up to on my birthday

[@nodcast-]

It’s my birthday too! Happy birthday, stranger!

[@oshermdaddy2058]

@@nodcast- u as well homie

[@ricklawrence2515]

Happy birthday

[@xolotltolox7626]

Happy Birthday

[@aimerw]

Thing to note is that Musician, depending on the reading of ally, does not apply to the person who takes the Feat. 5e appears to refer to allies as exclusively others, as can be in a feature such as Sneak Attack. As such, Musician is best served being _applied_ to characters that can get the most out of going first on Initiative, but not _taken_ by those characters. Which tend to be casters due to the impact of spells cast to prevent/mitigate enemies turns, or to cast AOE before melee get in the way. So, while I do think someone in the party should take Musician (unless your DM hands out HI at rests like candy on Halloween), I would not recommend the caster be the one to do so. Oh, sure you can use Heroic Inspiration on another roll, but what single roll _you_ make has such a big impact as the Initiative roll? The occasional Saving Throw against you if the DM has informed you of what you are saving against, possibly. However, Initiative is always at play, and made before any such maybe possibly could be roll. Furthermore, casters have better choices from the Feats than melee, so are often the ones that would prefer to take something else. Mostly because Lucky and Alert also work on Initiative, but also Magic Initiate for an extra Spell Slot at the early levels or Tough to avoid being one-rounded. Martials on the other hand benefit less from the Initiative increases (particularly melee who often actually prefer the enemy to go first and move towards them so the player can close in and attack afterwards) and have poorer other choices (from Savage Attacker to Tavern Brawler - which is alright for the attack roll any-size 5ft push, but still passable). The exception is generally Rogues who benefit a lot from Lucky (for Attack rolls) and Magic Initiate (Wizard for True Strike) so don't burden Musician on them, either. TL;DR - take the Musician Feat with one Fighter/Barbarian/Monk/Ranger/Paladin, not the caster or Rogue (but DO give the HI from the Feat to the caster and Rogue!)

[@lukorama10]

Going by the wording on Agonizing Blast, you could get double value with booming / green flame blade, since they have two damage rolls.

[@mydir2772]

I am so looking forward to see how the moon druid does, once the monster manual comes out.

[@wayneslater5531]

Hey Chris! I love these and i have one small suggestion, could future charts always have the "new baseline"? I think it will help tremendously when comparing the builds, just to keep things in perspective. Bonus points if it is always the same color too. Thank you!

[@sharmelfattakhov5041]

Just looking at single-target damage, hellish rebuke might be the best lvl 1 spell and probably lvl 2. Because unlike action-based spells like magic middle or guiding bolt it doesn’t interfere with your attack, and is also capable of doing some damage even if an opponent succeeds on their safe. This spell was mostly outshined by better reaction options like shield and counterspell(well, 1-st lvl defensive spells are far more valuable than damaging ones) but is actually very solid

[@SortKaffe]

Took me a hot minute to figure out, you meant *Magic Missile* before auto-correct interferred 😅 I agree *Hellish Rebuke* is good early on. For a melee character, *Armor of Agathys* can protect you _and_ do more damage at all levels now that it's only a *Bonus Action,* assuming the damage is always proc'd at least _once,_ and sometimes _twice._

[@sharmelfattakhov5041]

⁠@@SortKaffeI also made a comment about that actually) I agree, AoA is very good now that it doesn’t interfere with your attacks

[@mattdahm4289]

Thanks Treantmonk! ❤

[@Dddeltari]

I like TS for a warlock summoner. Investment of the chain master plus summon fey/aberration/celestial depending on the level seems like a really enjoyable play style with decent (if unreliable) damage

[@justjp2784]

If you are doing multiclass with the true strike build you could multiclass with the optimized EB build, you could get 2 or 3 levels of sorcerer and get quicken EB + adv with sorcery incarnate. You get shield, lvl1 spell slots for hex, shield and hellish rebuke

[@larstollefsen1236]

I'm excited to see Valour Bard vs Celestial weapon Warlock now. Even if Magical Secrets and _Conjure Minor Elementals_ will likely make it a forgone conclusion in later levels.

[@SortKaffe]

At level 6 and 7 respectively, *Extra Attack* and *Fount of Moonlight* would probably already put *Valor Bard* ahead _(assuming Warlock doesn't have access to _*_Shadow Blade,_*_ _*_Spirit Shroud,_*_ and _*_Shadow of Moil_*_ from XGE)._

[@znail4675]

Conjure Minor Elementals is totally broken so any class using it will beat any class that doesn't have access to it.

[@James-kv3ll]

Why Celestial Warlock? He was only using that because of True Strike. But a regular Pact of the Blade Warlock isn’t using true strike.

[@CivilWarMan]

@@James-kv3ll I can't speak for the person you responded to, but I'd go Celestial for a regular Pact of the Blade Warlock because I'd probably dip one level of Paladin on it. Beyond the armor and shield training, Radiant Soul actually makes Divine Smite and Searing Smite better than Eldritch Smite from a pure damage perspective. At 18-20 Charisma, it's roughly equivalent to adding an additional d8 to the damage of those spells. I'd still take Eldritch Smite on that build, though, since it can stack with Divine Smite. Between the two, if you go full nova you could theoretically one-shot Strahd with the average damage of a single lucky crit at level 10. All that being said, if I were going single-class Blade Warlock, and couldn't dip Paladin for the smiting shenanigans, I'd probably go Great Old One.

[@James-kv3ll]

@@CivilWarMan I like your idea not for the Nova but more so for the utility. With a Paladin dip you get better armor, weapon masteries, divine favor, and shield of faith. Combine that with Magic Initiate (cleric) for Healing Word. Now you have a really good supper character that is very tanky and deals decent sustain damage. I’d also choose to use my SS on Searing Smite over regular divine smite any day of the week now unless I’m fighting undead. If I was focussed on damage.

[@neoman4426]

A fun idea for a build, pull Tome+Blade, get access to a Mastery property. Shillelagh on a club, and whatever Nick weapon (probably Scimitar as it's the highest damage) as the Pact Weapon. Gets the two weapon fighting flurry of attacks build, but with one of the weapons being a one handed 2d6 weapon at high levels (or 1d12 at the mid high ones)

[@SortKaffe]

*Thirsting Blade* only lets you make two attacks with the *Scimitar* _(your Pact Weapon),_ so you'll never be able to follow up with a *Shillelagh* or *Nick* attack _(if you have a _*_Club_*_ in the other hand)._ However, you could pick up *Shillelagh* via *Magic Initiate* (Druid), and either leave *Bladelock* behind after 2 levels _(picking up Agonizing Blast and Eldritch Mind first)_ and and go *Valor Bard,* or leave *Bladelock* after only 1 level to go *Swords Bard* _(if you prefer the _*_Two-Weapon Fighting_*_ style and _*_Blade Flourish_*_ over being able to weave in a cantrip during *Extra Attack*)._

[@znail4675]

@@SortKaffe This can be solved by making the club the pact weapon. The upside would be that you can actually hit 3 times with the club then by using the bonus action as you did hit with another weapon as part of the attack action with the nick attack.

[@HenriqueSpecht]

club dont have light property, so nick doesn't work.

[@znail4675]

@@HenriqueSpecht Club got light and slow properties.

[@atingley0913]

Good morning Chris! A bit under the weather today but so happy for a new video! Best of luck on the push to 100k! You absolutely deserve it! Excited to see how the new Warlock stacks up, it's probably my fav class in 2014. The rp potential of having a patron while knowing i can easily contribute in combat while still having room for things like Eyes of the Rune Keeper is wonderful to me! Much love 💜 until the next video!

[@Melix0ff]

Chris, for color blindness you can simply make one line have dots!

[@jessie-buns839]

Other fun fact about this build is that it mostly leaves your BA open, so you could throw out some agonising magic stones to hirelings to fire off 1d6+(CHAX2) as a bonus action each round

[@BlueFoxXT]

I built a celestial blade pact warlock for a one shot and when I was calcing the DPR I found Summon Fey to be a more meaningful single target damage spell. I also increased my dpr with chain pact, with certain levels using investment and most levels after using the Help action to boost True Strikes damage. I don't think the numbers are exceptional but I think it helps a tad

[@PanSak01]

In level 7 the Archfey takes greater invisibility as a spell. Maybe that could make a difference, it is pretty similar with foresight in the result it has in the combat. Anyway if you don't allow spirit shroud or shadow of moil on your tables the warlock is cooked in terms of single target damage, I think.

[@LuxTheSlav]

Nah. Pact of the Blade+Booming Blade+Agonizing Blast (and Repelling to help proc) does respectable damage while leaving your spellslots for something like Armor of Agathys. Or you can even fully lean into the bladetrip playstyle, not take Thirsting Blade, and be Celestial to add 4x CHA to each GFB (against 2 targets). It'll be fine.

[@mattlockshin4744]

​@@LuxTheSlavHow do you do that with GFB? Celestial only procs once per turn against one target. What am I missing?

[@LuxTheSlav]

@@mattlockshin4744 Weapon damage + CHA (blade pact) as base, 1d8 fire damage + CHA (agonizing) additional, 1d8 fire + CHA (base secondary target) + CHA (agonizing - yep, different target, different roll, another +CHA) and another floating +CHA to either target from Celestial. So my bad - it's 5x +CHA :) I forgot GFB adds it to the secondary target by default (CHA @ 1-4 → 1d8+CHA @ 5-11, unlike Booming Blade's 1d8 → 2d8). You really need Repelling Blast though, for when the targets aren't within 5ft - Repelling Blast reads "when you _hit...",_ so you can hit your primary target and push them within 5ft of the secondary, then do all of the damage at once. The secondary has no save or attack - great for pushing a weaker mook into the boss and doing easy damage to it. Combine with a Fighter dip for the Push mastery (as well as heavy armor, shields and CON saves) for even more manipulating! And the Otherworldly Leap invocation for positioning. Only issue is, it comes online in tier 2, when GFB gets to roll d8 for fire damage - before that, it's basic weapon damage and +CHA secondary with no roll, so Agonizing starts applying at level 5.

[@mattlockshin4744]

​@@LuxTheSlavThanks for the explanation. I thought you meant you were doing 4 times Cha to each of the targets, and I couldn't figure out how you'd get that. But I also forgot that the extra damage from GFB was spellcasting mod + d8s (unlike BB, which is all d8s). So I appreciate you spelling it all out.

[@ThatsMe-s6g]

29:00 Warlock should get to add charisma four times. once for shillelagh, once for true strike, once for agonizing blast, and once for celestial. The only times you get 3 is if you are using ranged, because shillelagh only works on staff/club. Even then, you could use Magic Stone instead of Shillelagh and it should still apply 4 times.

[@xolotltolox7626]

As for true strike with agonizing blast, I can see it be a similar situation as a spell(like borrowed knowledge) giving you "you may add your profiency bonus to checks of a chisen skill" if you are already profiencient in that skill that spell does nothing, since you are already adding your prof-bonus. I could see a similar argument here, where because you are already adding your ability score modifier to damage rolls, it doesn't stack, but will have to wait for sage advice to confirm this Very good evidence that this book was definitely finished and proofread and totally not rushed out the door

[@PlayWatch_616]

So, i just punched some math and a ranged true strike build with a longbow or a heavy crossbow and the archery FS gives you about the same damage of the Shileght (or however it's written) and true strike build as long as you use the old improved pact weapon invocation, wich you can do because you don't have to take pact of the tome, and it is ranged so the advantage that EB has over this build cancels out. Now keep in mind this is my first time calculating damage the same way Chris does and i might have made some mistakes and i calculated only for level 7 with the same fighter dip and the intention to take GWM at a later level so idk maybe there is some mistake. Also don't try this at level one you won't do damage

[@xolotltolox7626]

Just type "Shill" and then hit the keyboard until it looks right

[@jasonwells3387]

I can't reconcile using Shillelagh first, then True Strike afterwards, since the bonus damage is provided by cantrips and it's... unusual to argue that changing damage from force to radiant is going to work. I may be too conservative to allow that. To me, it's either you're using Shillelagh with Blade pact and two more attacks per invocations, or using True Strike with a simple weapon and then progress with swinging once a round. The only thing I can think of is the 2024 GOOlock changing all spell cast damage as psychic, which then this application chain using Shillelagh, True Strike, Agonizing Blast and the 6th level rider to changing all damage to one source could work.

[@Xynth25]

The language for a ranged Pact of the Blade warlock is still there if you have a magic bow/crossbow/gun, thankfully, though without old Sharpshooter and Lifedrinker on every attack the power is obviously way down. Honestly kind of glad the ceiling on it is down a bit so I wouldn't feel horrible using it on DMs not ready for that. Eldritch Knight's swap an attack for a cantrip feature seems super juicy for it, but that's probably purely a white room build with zero nods to reality.

[@kozmayhem7520]

Yet another reason to blend the 2024 PHB and all 2014 books together. My tables dropped the divine smite nerf, the 2024 gloomstalker, made hunters mark concentration free and is Applied on the attack like the new Paladin vow of amity, changed the 2024 conjure minor elementals to a 3rd level and have it follow a similar Spirit shroud scaling. Dropped the 2024 changes to polymorph, counterspell, dropped the 2024 druids wild shape changes to the 2014 version, dropped the fixed background nonsense and allowed free Tasha style choices, and brought forward all the older spells, races, backgrounds, and feats. Changed the name of the old GTM master and Sharpshooter so they could also be chosen.

[@adamarcher3089]

can you use agonizing blast on shillelagh if you get it through pact of the tome?

[@DreadPirateDrew]

I have the same question. If that's the case, then you can get Agonizing Blast on True Strike and Shillelagh.

[@adamarcher3089]

@@DreadPirateDrew that was my thought. Agonizing blast is a repeatable invocation so theoretically it should but might need a bigger GM to advise

[@CivilWarMan]

Personally, though you went with Archfey for optimizing the single target Hex+EB Warlock, Great Old One seems like it should be the more obvious subclass, seeing as how they can use their telepathic link to give themselves advantage on attacks against their target at level 6 instead of having to wait until level 17 for Foresight, plus at level 10 they can debuff enemy saving throws with Hex, which they would be using anyway, plus they can cast Summon Aberration without Concentration, and the Aberration also gets extra damage from their Hex.

[@SortKaffe]

Reading *GOO,* my first thought was that it would be user for Treantmonk's updated *Hex+EB baseline.*

[@CivilWarMan]

@@SortKaffe It probably would be a good baseline, since the baseline should generally be a) OK but not necessarily great damage, and b) really simple. I've heard a couple people suggest him using Monk as a new baseline, but I don't think that would be a good idea because Monk is generally more complicated to build and play, since you have to juggle different ability scores and Monk resource management. If not Hex+EB, I'd probably use a generic Fighter as the baseline.

[@NoNo-tl9gb]

I think this goes to show (excluding outliers like CME from a race/background and spirit shroud) spellcasting damage dealers are fairly balanced with martials.

[@lattekahvi1298]

charger specifies attack action, so no true strike/booming blade/greenflame blade shenanigans sadly, though you can always ask your dm to allow charger feat to work with weapon attack cantrips, because it would make sense to be able to use your momentum when chargins someone with true strike

[@bukharagunboat8466]

With the E Blast build you want Spell Sniper, so you can use the Cantrip in melee.

[@JamesSonOfBaboonzo]

If you do a 1 level dip into Paladin on the Celestial True Strike build you get Bless for concentration and Divine Smite/Searing Smite that let you add your Cha to damage again.

[@CivilWarMan]

Slight correction: Radiant Soul is once per turn, so you wouldn't be able to add your Charisma to both True Strike and Divine/Searing Smite at the same time. The exact wording of Radiant Soul does leave a good argument in favor of it applying to all instances of Searing Smite's damage, though, meaning that a level 10 Paladin/Warlock casting Searing Smite with a 5th level Pact slot could deal 10d6+8 Fire damage over two turns at minimum, assuming the enemy hit with it succeeds on the saving throw.

[@JamesSonOfBaboonzo]

@CivilWarMan wow that is kinda annoying that they changed it to once per turn, but it does make Searing Smite a cooler combo in one way. You could Searing Smite one target one turn, and True Strike them or another target on the next turn and aply the Radiant Soul damage to both the 2nd proc of Searing Smite and True Strike that turn.

[@cavejohnson605]

Been planning a genielock character using the new rules (sans the part forcing what origin feat and ASI you get because locking those behind specific backgrounds is dumb). So I get Magic Initiate at level 1 for free mage armor. Then Shadow Touched at lvl 4, ASI to CHA at lvl 8, and weapon master at lvl 12 so I get the nick property on the scimitar I'll be using for Pact of the Blade. This, along with full investment in pact of the blade should be much better than these blast-only baselines. Good to know I shouldn't even consider blast-only or True Strike based builds at all!

[@hoopty-westside]

I think you're doing a great job at presenting "simple" damage...but at least for myself, I want to see ultimate optimized damage. I get it.... going over the basics....but damnit if this isn't an optimized channel and I wanna see the MOST optimized build (not just rule breakdowns!)

[@Cutculain]

You might want to consider shillelagh and two weapon fighting on the charisma focused build. Oddly I found that Hexblade converted to 2024 rules would probably still be the highest dual wielding dmg. Ps. I apologize if my view might be skewing the numbers. I routinely watch on my tv not logged in and then come to the app to comment and like the vids.

[@joshrossman3796]

spell caster gives you utility option in combat and out. you should give point system to utility so you can say yes it has 27 DPR but it only has 10 in utility, so when you do the Dex Warlock you can see the trade off.

[@p.h.744]

I do like these videos. Thank you for going through all that trouble. As limited as single target damage is as an indicator for roleplaying. Frontliners do need it. I just hope there will be a summary video in the end. I'm loosing the overview.

[@AndrewJohnson-oy8oj]

I realize that there are a functionally infinite number of moving variables in a calculation like this. That said, resistances seem to not be part of the equation. Eldritch Blast is force damage, to which few enemies are resistant in tier 2, and practically none in tier 1. Whereas many enemies will be resistant to piercing and/or slashing in tier 2, and a non-zero number of enemies in tier 1.

[@janjavorsky5403]

I wonder why Chris didn´t use pact of the chain, investment of the chain master and an imp when optimizing for damage. It takes two invocations. It doesn´t interfere with the eldritch blast too much and gives way to weaponize the bonus action to get some damage boost. And it also hugely improve utility of the character.

[@JJV7243]

WOW if a single attack true strike build is so effective - I can't wait to see a melee cleric that utilizes true strike and gets the wrathful smite spell via shadow touched (and uses all his spell slots on it). Might actually work just fine!

[@Finalplayer14]

I'm curious wouldn't it have been better to use Crusher instead of Charger so you can launch Large or smalller targets prone via Crusher + Repelling Blast? Also doesn't Charger only work on the Attack Action not the Magic Action thus making it not work with True Strike?

[@SortKaffe]

*Charger* does indeed require the *Attack action,* so using *True Strike* _(outside of the the _*_EK_*_ or _*_Valor Bard_*_ Extra Attack),_ it would definitely be better to take either *Crusher* for pushing or *Speedy* for mobility.

[@aimerw]

Was Darkness + Devil's Sight considered? There is an issue with needing pre-combat casting to get the best effect, but it does last 10 minutes so unless ambushed there is a good chance you have it going. You could work on a consideration that it is pre-combat cast 50% of the time or something, even allow it to cover two combats per use (four rounds is less than half a minute) 50% of the time. The party unfriendly part is not an issue for a ranged build like EB, since you don't need the target to be within the Darkness, just yourself. As a melee build you can always use your weapon interations to uncover/cover the weapon the Darkness is cast on. In the True Strike build it would replace one or two of the Eldritch Smites per rest depending on if you are able to chain the Darkness across combats, but in turn you would get eight rounds of Advantage if pre-combat cast. Maybe just use Eldritch Smite instead if not able to pre-combat cast. Would likely replace Repelling Blast Invocation since the effectiveness of that is reduced on a one-hit build. Not a super amazing increase in damage without a magic weapon adding to the damage per hit, but still _very_ rough calculations put it at about a 5.5 or 2 DPR increase (replacing one or two Smites per rest) at level 11 (so from a DPR of 28.4 to 33.9 or 30.4) if pre-combat cast - still quite noticeable.

[@joshuasmith9061]

One question, you can't use pact of the blade with true strike since the conjured weapon has no cost, right? Unless it's a bonded magic weapon. Would have preferred he stuck to a ranged true strike build for the comparison and used a heavy crossbow. He could drop repelling blast for another invocation with that weapon. However, no eldritch smite without legacy content for this build.

[@FoozleMoozle]

For the True Strike baseline and build, I would actually just use a greatsword instead of shillelagh if you are intending on starting with a warrior class at level 1 anyway. Frees up the bonus action for casting shillelagh, and gives you the level 17 damage for shillelagh build starting at level 1. Only real con is you cannot use a shield.

[@GabrieleGarulli]

Random question, but at around 23:18 you have the True Strike page opened from DnD Beyond. How are you getting these Dice icons to show up?

[@shoulung6203]

Just a note, spirit shroud is still showing up on spell lists in dnd beyond.

[@lincolnkovalskicarasilo5488]

The most expected video from this series.

[@Cyotis]

I was thinking that a Sword and Board Battle Master Fighter is really good at baiting out missed opportunity attacks so they can get a Riposte attack. Sap gives Disadvantage on the enemies next attack. Plus you have heavy armor and a shield for good AC.

[@kaeles3548]

You could use both pact of the blade and shillelagh and make 3 attacks with charisma and 2d6 dmg per attack. Combined with polearm master and it would be a 1d4 on top plus maybe a 2d6 reaction

[@erenerikci3263]

Best thumbnail ever

[@uchihajunior5648]

You can use agonizing blast on magic stone, so it may deal 1d6 + (2×CHAmod), then craft or find a magic sling and then bond with that as your pact weapon, then you will have 3 attacks that deal 1d6+10 damege each.

[@jessie-buns839]

Why craft a magic sling when you could hire three schlubs to follow you around, carry a familiar and cast magic stone through your familiar and have THEM chuck the stones?

[@uchihajunior5648]

@@jessie-buns839 becouse that's dm dependent... and they may die too quickly, and by being a magic sling it counts as the pact weapon, so you can use lifedrinker and eldritch smite with it.

[@jessie-buns839]

@@uchihajunior5648 True but best of both worlds with hirelings. You could always get three tiny servants constructs or something. And if they die... Well you still have your normal damage output

[@CivilWarMan]

I don't think True Strike+Agonizing Blast+Radiant Soul is good for the primary source of damage from a Celestial Blade Warlock, but it is a good supplement to Opportunity Attacks for one with Warcaster+Sentinel. Primarily, I think the go-to Blade strategy for a Celestial Blade Warlock is with a 1 level Paladin dip, with the primary damage spell being either Divine Smite or Searing Smite cast with a Pact slot, and with Eldritch Smite if you need to go full nova since you can stack Eldritch Smite with the Paladin smite spells. At Paladin 1/Celestial Warlock 9, assuming Charisma 18, Divine Smite alone deals 6d8+4 for a non-critical hit, increased to 7d8+4 against Fiends and Undead. For Searing Smite, there is a good argument that, since it deals Fire damage, Radiant Soul applies to all instances of Searing Smite damage, since it's worded "when a spell you cast deals Radiant or Fire damage" instead of "when you cast a spell that deals Radiant or Fire damage", and each instance of Searing Smite damage happens on a different turn. If so, then that same Paladin/Warlock casting Searing Smite deals a *minimum* of 10d6+8 Fire damage over two turns, with additional damage happening over future rounds if the target fails the Con save. And even if the DM vetoes Radiant Soul applying to every Searing Smite tick, that would still be 10d6+4 over two turns, which is still not bad. To break it down numbers-wise, Divine Smite on that character deals an average of 31 damage, while Searing Smite deals an average of 43 over two turns (21.5 on the Warlock's turn, and then another 21.5 at the start of the enemy's turn). If the DM doesn't let Radiant Soul apply to all Searing Smite ticks, that's still 39 damage (21.5 on the Warlock's turn, 17.5 on subsequent turns).

[@Quibbleman]

It seems like the optimal way to augment a EB focused warlock's damage is to use Summon Undead. The skeletal from can attack at range, so it probably wont die, and it will eventually be making 2 attacks dealing close to as much or more than the EB damage per hit, which would nearly doubling the damage output at level 7. Throw in magic stone and a familiar with investment of the chain master and your familiar would have a ranged attack some of the time dealing 1d6+5. That seems like it would out damage the optimized build by a ton, and its all ranged attacks.

[@goblin12]

Cant wait for the bladelock build. Imagine the warlock true strike being compared to a thief rogue using truestrike and truestrike scrolls lol

[@Antare5]

It wasn't by any means transformative, but I tried following your math for the Eldritch Blast build and instead of going for blight+Hex for damage, I plugged in Summon Aberration (Beholderkin form) and saw some decent boosts from levels 7 to 10. It's not overtaking Shadowmonk, but I think in practice a blastlock won't feel so abysmally behind its competition, particularly the GooLocks that are leaning into their theme.

[@SuperSorcerer]

If you assume that starting at level 5 you concentrate on summon fey instead of hex then you get really decent on tier 2 (it is probably one of the best damage builds at level 7 when summon fey is cast at level 4).

[@WarElephantss]

Why would you take Alert at lvl 16? isn't it an Origin Feat? I know it's good, but there surely are better general feats there.

[@SortKaffe]

For a spellcaster focusing on _combat,_ it's debatable whether there is a _better_ *feat* in the PHB? *Alert* is arguable better the _later_ you get it. At level 17, it adds a whopping *+6 to Initiative!*

[@thefoolishone7815]

Warlocks can also grab a origin feat as an invocation so you don't need to use a asi/full feat

[@LP-zn8sc]

I also would maybe try to take eldritch mind over warcaster. Not sure if any cha feats would boost damage though.

[@jasminebryant4238]

I always thought Foresight was a no brainer for a Warlock and should be included when discussing 17+

[@Sepiriel]

I want to see the TWF Shillelagh and Pact of the Blade Warlock, with either a Fighter or Paladin dip I figure that would work better.

[@Spam1192]

In my experience, spending your pact slot on Witch Bolt does a hell of a lot more damage than hex would provide (assuming you hit with the initial bolt). However this is obviously one pact slot per enemy which might skew the numbers.

[@TimChecko]

I kinda feel there is some left on the table here especially tier 2 and up. First Summon Fey and summon undead (always go for paralysis if fighting reasonable constitution) are both way better options than hex that come online at level 5. you mentioned Summon Fey in your ranger build but worth noting how well it synergizes with Warlock since the tricksy gives you a fey bonus action 10 ft darkness cube each round and there you are with an invocation allowing you devilsight. Thats way better than even your own darkness since its only 10ft so less party contention and can be placed each round. Your kind of uncovering that the warlock damage spells arent that much over the EB, which makes them a trap. instead weaponize your other action economy either through Armor of Agathy, hellish rebuke or Eldritch smite for free use. (Worth noting, have the wizard polymorph you while you have that armor of agathy up) of course this was a straight build but there is so much multi-class options since everything comes online early. Go sorcerer 3 for quicken and now convert those slots into endless quicken for a 2xeb each turn (the pew-pew-pew-pew sorcerer?). for your melee go paladin 3 (or more) for an oath of devotion melee build option. just so much to work with.... That said huge fan chris love the content.

[@Hawkeye9165]

So fascinating.... great vid as always Chris. Really appreciate the time and effort you put into these, it's so concise and transparent. I'm totally bricking it to see when you finally get round to the Druid as I suspect they will also be near the bottom of the pack (assuming we ignore "THE" broken spell which I'm sure will be fixed in the errata). :-)

[@matthewbouboulis4840]

Great video as always. I was curious if it would be worth it to take agonizing blast again for shillelagh? Does it work or is it worth it?

[@craigeubanks2374]

The true strike build should apply agonizing blast to both true strike AND shillelagh. Double dipping like that might be a little cheesy, but if agonizing blast applies to the damage of true strike it also applies to shillelagh, since pact of the tome turns it into a warlock cantrip.

[@CivilWarMan]

The argument that Agonizing Blast can apply to Shillelagh is on shakier ground than it is with True Strike. With True Strike, since the weapon attack is baked into the casting of the spell, it's easier to argue that the spell itself is doing damage, especially when True Strike starts directly adding damage to the attack. With Shillelagh, there is no attack baked into the spell, it just buffs the weapon. While you probably aren't casting Shillelagh unless you plan to attack something, attacking with the buffed weapon is not required, whereas the only time you aren't dealing damage after casting True Strike is if you miss. On top of that, the damage scaling of Shillelagh doesn't add damage directly to the attack like True Strike does, but modifies the damage die of the weapon. I'm not saying that letting Agonizing Blast work on Shillelagh is necessarily an invalid reading, but you are probably going to have a lot less luck with it than you would with True Strike. You'll get tables that will allow it for both, that won't allow it for either, or will allow it for True Strike but not Shillelagh, but probably close to none that would allow it for Shillelagh but not True Strike.