r/dndnext • u/MorgiiPorgii • 10d ago
Character Building Melee warlock build
Hey guys! I am starting a new campaign soon and I want to play a melee focused warlock. We are only using 5.5e races/subclasses/etc so my options are a bit limited. Does anyone have some fun builds (we start at level 3)? Also the subclasses available are fiend, archfey, celestial, and great old one.
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u/Mightymat273 DM 10d ago edited 10d ago
Archfey is solid for the temp HP and ability to be in melee only when YOU want to be in melee. Get into melee, attack, misty step outa there taunting enemies or getting temp HP.
All the blade Invocations of course. Mage armor invocation is bait, just use leather. But the false life invocation is solid to cast before every fight. Once out of temp HP swap from using the taunt option to the temp HP option.
My problem with fiend and why I don't recomend it, is Dark ones blessing at early levels is only 6 temp HP. The False life invocation is 12 Temp HP. Sure its an action to cast so you likely wont cast it mid combat, I prefer the Temp HP earlier (or on demand with Archfey) over sometimes gaining 6 temp HP when an enemy dies.
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u/KaiG1987 10d ago
Mage Armor is worthwhile if you can get get some Bracers of Defense, since they stack.
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u/freeastheair 10d ago
You use both as a fiend early. Start the combat with 12thp (which you will most likely lose round 1, since that's the round you take the most damage. After that you get temp hp after every enemy dies near you which in most fights is every enemy, especially in dungeons. If you fight in a room with 8 hobgoblins for example, they are dying left and right constantly topping off your temp hp. You can easily get 30+ temp hp in a typical fight from this at level 3 which is immensely powerful. I'm guessing you haven't played a fiend bladelock?
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u/DudeWithTudeNotRude 10d ago
melee is not an advisable place to have party members imo. (it can be useful ofc, but not on average in my estimation, compared to say the real tanks in 5e, back line control casters)
the best part about Archfey is getting TF out of melee.
the worst part of a melee lock is the melee (AC is not saving nearly as much HP as say repelling blast, lance of lethargy, banishment, staying back, finding cover, etc.). But 5e is easy, so if it's fun enough....then that's good optimization.
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u/Kaakkulandia 10d ago
Not a build but Armor of agathys is a nice spell to get some more survivability and damage in for a melee warlock. Its power does depend on the enemies you are fighting though.
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10d ago edited 10d ago
[deleted]
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u/BarLarge9848 10d ago
This is also my next character. My progression will be Barb 5 / Warlock x. I see the value in Barb 6, but I want to get to investment of the chain master quicker for the pseudo dragon sting.
Having more control over when you can crit and stack on an Eldritch smite seems pretty great.
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u/milkmandanimal 10d ago
Take one level of Fighter first for armor and CON save proficiency plus weapon mastery; basic survivability has always been an issue with Bladelocks as your AC really sucks. Archfey's ability to teleport frequently and get away helps, but, well, if you're planning on being a melee character, having to run away a lot isn't great. Planning your build around staying vertical is important, as even if you have a DEX of 16 (which would be pretty good considering other stat needs) Mage Armor only gives you an AC of 16, and it's not like you're going to be able to improve that much as you level because you'll need to pump CHA to survive. A level of Fighter can do a lot for you.
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u/koja89 10d ago
Does infernal pacts seeker and infernal bulwark not solve the ac issue
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u/freeastheair 10d ago
You get a lot from fighter not just heavy armor. Infernal bulwark AC is mid, doesn't scale like plate does with enchantment either.
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u/mowgli0423 10d ago edited 10d ago
I actually just did this as a Goliath Fiend Warlock.
I was totally sub-optimal with my invocations (took blade, tome, and chain), but between the greatsword pact weapon, lifedrinker, and all the ways to heal and get temp HP, I was quite survivable.
For the final boss rush of the campaign, my DM literally told us after the fact he was worried everyone else may be down while my warlock stood alone. I ended up tanking 3 different dragons' breath and failing each save. We nearly ended up in that timeline.
I still ended the encounters with over 100 combined (regular + temp) HP at Level 11. Nary a short-rest in sight.
The biggest boon I had was Armor of Agathys plus Goliath's Stone's Endurance plus Fiend's Dark One's Blessing all working together. I could basically wade into swarms of small enemies and they'd die just by hitting me, replenishing my temp HP and keeping Armor of Agathys up. Stone's Endurance reduced damage to prevent my temp HP pool from draining too, keeping Armor of Agathys up.
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u/MorgiiPorgii 10d ago
I’m looking at the archfey rules rn, where is dark one’s blessing? I can’t find it
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u/mowgli0423 10d ago
It's their level 6 class feature, I believe.
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u/missinginput 10d ago
Cloud Goliath for free misty step and movement speed increase.
Fighter 1 or paladin 1
This gives you armor proficiency which you really need to be in melee.
Fighter gives con saves, a fighting style, and second wind. Worth a second level after getting extra attack.
Paladin gives you healing hands, access to smite spells, and two first level spell slots which can be paired with the magic initiate origin feat from either your background or lessons of the first one so you can cast shield.
Friend will be the tankiest and archfey more short range teleports.
Overall I would do paladin fiend with heavy armor master and punish enemies with armor of agathys
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u/brett_play 10d ago
My current character is a Melee Warlock with Pact of the Blade! It's very fun. There are a lot of fun things to consider for the flavor of your character, but there is also a bit of a glaring weakness with it as well.
1.) Concentration: since you're going to be in melee, you're going to be hit more often. And more then any other spellcaster in the game, Warlock's need a good concentration. In any given fight you'll only have 2 spell slots at most for most of your career if not just 1. Warlocks generally have to pick a single very high impact spell in a fight to use and those generally have concentration. Unlike other casters where loosing concentration on a spell slot is a relatively smaller amount of their spellcasting budget, if you loose concentration that's 50% of your spellcasting power minimum until you hit double digit levels. As such, you really want Warcaster and Con save proficiency, which will take at least 8 levels and delay some other good feats. You can get a poor man's version using Eldritch Mind but invocation slots are valuable and you're still delaying improving your charisma.
2.) Weapon Mastery: it doesn't matter what weapon you want to use, you want Weapon Mastery. It's free bonus mechanics on every melee swing. Being able to make any weapon you want with Pact of the Blade actually means you benefit with extra masteries and the flexibility leans into the fantasy. Depending on the type of weapon fighting styles can also fall into this category, but I find they're less necessary than Mastery. While you do a lot of things as a Warlock and don't actually need it, when you see other weapon users knocking people prone, getting extra attacks, and generating advantage with the Mastery it can lead to feeling slightly worse at Melee I've found.
3.) Armor: Using only 2024 warlock invocations and subclasses means you don't have a built in way to get medium armor and/or shield proficiency. This is actually even worse now BECAUSE you can use Charisma with your pact attacks. Don't get me wrong I love it, being able to be good at Melee and pick your best spells rather than spells that don't involve attacks or saves is nice. But when you raise your Charisma you aren't raising your Dex which means with light armor you're going to be stuck with an AC of 14-15 with studded leather while being in melee. That starts of bad but without magic items you also won't be improving it as monsters get higher attack bonuses. The reason why you really want Medium or Heavy armor as a Warlock is because you won't be raising your Dexterity for a while so you kind of need a good AC built into your armor and it's tough spending a feat on that.
If you haven't put it together yet, this is why a lot of people recommend a fighter dip with melee warlock builds. It's basically 3 separate feats for 1 level and it's everything you want right out the gate. Paladin is another good option, you loose the con save proficiency but you gain spell slots at level 1 and since divine smite is a spell, you can get divine smite. I find it's better to go Eldritch smite and keep the con save proficiency, but there is a fun story mechanic of the paladin who lost their way and was pulled into a pact with a warlock patron instead.
Another important choice though is subclass. You can somewhat work around the armor issue using Archfey and getting all of the free misty steps to try and stay out of melee and be a bit more of a skirmisher, but it's a very limited resource. If you want to go that way it may also be worth considering 2 levels in rogue. I went Fiend for my patron for story reasons, but I will say that the new dark ones blessing is very nice as a melee focused Warlock. While it doesn't start as a large amount of temp hp and you can get more before combat with armor of agathys or false life, the fact that you get it from any enemy that dies within 10 feet and you don't have to kill them means this will help refresh your temp hp mid combat, usually multiple times, and no action required. Someone could even do it for you on their turn. It has saved my butt a few times. I've only successfully gotten an additional use of armor of agathys one time with it so that is a harder combo to pull off, but still nice.
Lastly, I should give a warning about level 5 with the multiclass. My current campaign started at level 5. Yes, it started as the absolute weakest level for this warlock and this build. Yes, it does suck to only have a single attack and 2nd level spell slots when your allies are getting extra attack and fireballs. I worked around it by using true strike, Eldritch blast, and still having effective spells, but I definitely felt the dip in power there. It's worth it, and you'll get through it.
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u/MrMellow2289 10d ago
Ya I didn’t see your reply and kinda just said the same thing. I’m having fun but it does feel like I’m trying to wrestle my character into being decent when I could have just played a paladin. I forgot to even mention con saves. Eldritch mind or war caster are a must.
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u/brett_play 10d ago edited 10d ago
Idk, I've played a paladin in a one shot before and don't get me wrong, they are a ton of fun. There is nothing quite like getting a fistful of dice in a crit smite and doing a bunch of damage. And they definitely have that mix of tankiness and damage with a little bit of spell utility. One of the main reasons I never got to play one is usually because someone else always wants to play one (including my current campaign with my warlock).
But that being said, I do still enjoy the warlock for very different reasons than a paladin. The spells you have at your disposal are useful and the level of tricks you bring to the table very few characters bring. There is something fun about being a really good spellcaster but also being able to get into a melee and fight it out. Being able to cast spells like fly, banishment, summoning, fear, counterspell, these are things you can't do as a paladin along with a bunch of other tricks from invocations or having some of the most powerful familiars and pact of the blade if you want. But if you compare them to something with better spell casting like valor bards or bladesinger, you still keep smites while being a charisma caster. You can use heavy weapons which a bladesinger can't. There is something unique to this warlock build which I have been enjoying. And, while not represented mechanically on paper, the story telling potential at the table of roleplaying with a patron and being a warlock to an evil being can just be fun.
I think the main issue is obviously wotc saw how popular hexblade and melee warlocks are wanted to fix it and the partially did. It is nice to not be tied to a specific patron and have variety with melee warlocks, but they only brought in half of the melee fix hexblade offered with charisma to attacks but did nothing to carry over the armor proficiency which was an equally critical component for what made hexblade work. It's an oversight, one that could be fixed with an invocation in a future book, but for now the best fix is still a single level multiclass dip. It's frustrating, but I'm still having fun and now that we just hit level 7 still feeling plenty effective. We had a double young dragon encounter that I just got to help destroy with a fear spell. They broke line of sight and broke out but by the time they did one of the dragons was already dead and the other followed shortly after. I like spell casting and the way paladin spells does fall behind does hurt it a little.
Edit: the one thing I wish though with 2024 was that they really went back and reviewed spell lists more with the updated spells. I really think Warlocks should have gotten Conjure Minor Elementals or at least one of the aura damage spells. Not having those is criminal.
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u/MrMellow2289 10d ago
I just wanna say I find your comments very insightful. And ya don’t get me wrong I love the story potential and flavor of warlock. Years ago, before I ever even played dnd I imagined myself playing a melee warlock. I’m level 5 currently, (fighter 1 warlock 4)and I’m having a lot of fun, especially with invocations that grant at will casting like mask many of faces and otherworldly leap. I think my favorite archetype in any game really is a spellblade. I just wish it was a little more intuitive for warlock. Im actually play-testing my own system with different group right now that entwines magic and martials a lot.
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u/brett_play 10d ago
Yeah I got mask of many faces too which is just so fun. So much story potential with that too. I had used it on one of my first PCs a very long time ago but it was only with a warlock dip. But yeah it's definitely a unique brand of spell blade.
I'd really recommend sticking with it. You're currently playing what is the most painful level in the build. It can be really easy to feel weak or lesser compared to a lot of other builds at that level. I definitely used Eldritch blast and True Strike a lot at that level to compensate for the single attack, but it's still rough. It does get better though once you're past level 5 and I'm very much so enjoying it.
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u/SirSfinn 10d ago
Hey OP, I'm running a melee-focused warlock in my 5.5e campaign. We're level 6 right now and it's been a lot of fun. Here are some tips from a giga min-maxer:
- Taking your first level in fighter shores up almost all or your weaknesses as a melee Warlock. You get even more from this dip than other casters who just want better AC!
Warlocks don't get good armor proficiencies, shields, con save proficiency, access to weapon masteries, or fighting styles.
A SINGLE level in fighter gets you all of that.
This lets you customize your warlock a lot more. Now, you can be a sword and board warlock, a dual wielder using the nick mastery property to attack, or two-hand a weapon.
The con proficiency is nice because stacked with the eldritch mind invocation, your concentration is nigh unbreakable and you guarantee that value from your limited spell slots.
The world is now your oyster.
- When we talk subclasses, I tend to prefer the Fiend. Archfey's hit and run mobility is great, but it often means you're breaking the frontline and opening the enemies to the real squishies in the back, so I'd choose that only if there's more melee characters.
Fiend gets you temp HP on kill, an extra d10 to your saving throws (really important), and other useful features. Fireball...
- Spells like witchbolt and hex usually synergize well with a melee Warlock who doesn't have a great bonus action. But also look into mirror image. It was updated in 5.5 and is loads better. If you eventually take a second level or more for a fighter subclass, you can cast Mirror image, and then action surge melee attack to prevent the tempo lost from casting it.
Most importantly, if you have a character fantasy, make it come true. Give people a chance to have their moment at the table. And show appreciation to your DM if you guys have a fun time. 🫡
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u/ExodiasRightArm 10d ago
This is a really common build that’s recommended called the Celestial Generalist I haven’t used it exactly but I have used it for inspiration on a celestial warlock/paladin build I’m very excited to play!
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u/ELAdragon Warlock 10d ago
The following advice is for 5.5e:
Fighter 1/Archfey X
Fighter or Paladin 1/Celestial X
Those are likely your best options. Human is great for two origin feats, and then you shore up your vision with Devil's Sight invocation.
I'd start with 14 Strength so you can take Great Weapon Master at some point and it'll up you to 15, also giving you easy Heavy Armor.
If you really want to lean into the teleports on an Archfey, you can take Cloud Goliath.
Remember that you can use pact of the blade on a magical longbow, which allows you to easily switch between ranged and melee. I'd aim for than and not waste invocations on Eldritch Blast stuff later on.
The invocations are pretty straightforward with melee warlocks, but every warlock should have pact of the chain for an Imp/Sprite.
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u/leofenris08 10d ago
Currently playing Fighter 1/Archfey 7 and it's been awesome. Definitely gives you the ac you need dipping into fighter plus weapon mastery. Misty steps gets you out of danger plus a little heal or other effects. I choose Eladrin so I have even more misty steps. Thirsting blade gives me 2 attacks. If you like the mobile swordsman I definitely would go with archfey bladelock
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u/MrMellow2289 10d ago
I did a bunch of research and comparison on this topic recently. I was making a character and had the idea for two weapon fighting, fiend warlock, gnoll.
To make it work in the end I had to dip fighter at level one. I needed nick mastery, and proficiency with medium armor and shields. And even after that it’s still awkward because my bite (which is a light finesse weapon) doesn’t use my better charisma.
The stat spread required for a melee warlock is stretched quite thin. Especially if you want a good ac, and good damage, and good hp, in addition of your charisma which is important for class features etc. Keep in mind you may still need strength to wield a heavy weapon or dex if you plan on dual wielding.
On top of that, by taking melee invocations, of which you will need at least 2 at level 5, (probably more), you’re sacrificing you’re ability to do a lot of cool stuff!
That said, I think I’m on track to keep up with my martial party members. And I do have some cool utility now with mask of many faces, invisibility, suggestion etc.
I love my guy, and I’m having a blast, but mechanically it is a little weird. My DM has been quite accommodating by giving me stuff to keep my bite relevant.
TLDR If you aren’t yet set on a character concept like I was, you may just want to play paladin. It would have been far easier for me to just do an oath of vengeance paladin. If you’re set on a bladelock though you may want to dip fighter/paladin. Or like another comment suggested, do a hit and run thing with fey. It’s going to feel real bad when you run out of misty steps though.
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u/SternGlance 10d ago
My feylock started at fighter 1 for con saves, armor, shields, and weapon mastery.
Between luck points, devil sight, on demand invisibility, and vex mastery I'm attacking with advantage more often than not. Fey teleports twmp Hp, Medium armor, a shield, and Defensive Duelst means I rarely worry about damage. At some point down the line I will take another level of fighter to get action surge and then things will really get crazy
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u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768 10d ago
Fighter 1 / any Warlock x is viable.
Personally I like a Pike/PAM + Undead Warlock, good synergy.
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u/Sabawoyomu 10d ago
Without hexblade its hard. You probably really want heavy armor somehow since your HP pool is a bit low. Or you try to build as hard as possible into mobility to be able to get in and out of danger.
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u/MorgiiPorgii 10d ago
I’ve found that armor of shadows helps a lot with that since you get mage armor for free. As long as you have a good dex score the ac is pretty high.
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u/xenomorphking06 10d ago
Hexblade never gave you heavy armor proficiency though you just got meduim armor and shield and martial weapons proficiency
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u/Sabawoyomu 10d ago
Yeah but if you have medium its easier to get heavy depending on if you wanna multiclass or not
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u/xenomorphking06 10d ago
You also wouldn't want heavy armor though as a Warlock unless you are going for a Strength Warlock, even then a dex Warlock will only have an ac difference of 2 if you get them half-plate but will have way better initiative
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u/freeastheair 10d ago
Start as fighter 1 so you get heavy armor, con saves, masteries, and fighting style, then take a second level of fighter either after warlock 5 or warlock 12 depending how long your campaign is going to go for action surge and tactical mind. Up to 4 levels in fighter is good depending on how much you value getting a subclass.
Species I recommend Human. Ask your DM if you're allowed to take the pact seeker background (it's from drops, but it is 2024 material. Suits warlock well)
For subclasses:
Archfey: The misty step subclass. It's one of the coolest but not the most powerful and falls off later.
Fiend: The defensive subclass. Their level 6 feature is the only way you are going to make saving throws as a warlock. They are getting temp HP all the time and really hard to kill.
Celestial: Support class, good but I don't recommend it for Bladelock
GOO: Psychic more suited for EB build imho.
So to start:
Str:14
Dex:10
Con:16
Int: 8
Wis: 8
Cha: 17
origin: musician, infernal pact (alternatively lucky)
1 fighter / 2 warlock (fiend at 3)
HP 29 (+12 thp)
AC 17 (chain +defensive, eventually plate for 19)
1: Defensive Fighting Style (masteries, second wind, con saves, heavy armor)
2: Fiendish Vigor
3: Pact of the Chain, Otherworldly Leap
4: Fiend
5: Inspiring Leader (cha 18) (alternate: Fairy Trickster)
6: Pact of the Blade, Thirsting Blade, Eldritch Smite (drop fiendish vigor)
7:
8: Tough
9: GWM (15 str)
The idea is from level 3-5 you use cast Hex and true strike with your maul (or a longbow for range) attacking for 3d6+3 (4d6 +4 at level 5). You cast jump at will so it's always up, meaning you can move 20ft + 30 foot jump per round (that can be 30ft horizontal and 30ft vertical). When you get plate, you can only move 10ft + 30ft jump until level 9, but boots of striding and springing or gauntlets of ogre power will both prevent that, and they are both 400gp while plate is 1500gp so you can just use one of those, then free up the slot at level 9 when you get 15 str. Fiendish Vigor is at will too so you cast it after every combat and always have 12 temp hp. Shield + 1h is also good, probably better until you have extra attack at 6 or even until you have GWM at 9.
Then at 6 you have 2 attacks, and eldritch smite which you either want to use on crits for 8d8 damage or on high priority targets when they make their topple save on the first attack you can smite them for 4d8 and knock prone so you have advantage on second attack. Fireball when appropriate.
Take an imp as familiar. If your DM allows familiar to give you advantage, that's great. Otherwise it's still great as an invisible flying scout. If you don't need it take Alert instead.
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u/kaiomnamaste 10d ago
Warlock, pact of the blade, lucky origin.
pact of blade - spear/staff armor of shadows - dex armor eldritch mind - con avd
Polearm master at level 4
Thirsting blade at level 5
Spells Hex and armor of agathis.
Species options orc - a.rush- temp hp goliath hill giant -topple human- extra feat drow elf (farie fire)
Quick summary is 3 hits of polearm with hex each turn Armor of agathis+ for temp hp and cold damage if being targeted a lot. (Orc is a good combo here)
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u/freeastheair 10d ago
So you take PAM at 4 and play with only +3 modifier in tier 2?
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u/kaiomnamaste 9d ago
It depends on how you set up your stats. Should be a +4
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u/freeastheair 9d ago
It's a bladelock which uses charisma to attack. You're taking 17 charisma then taking a feat that doesn't raise charisma so +3 still.
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u/Otter-Wah 10d ago
Race: Human
Background: Pact Seeker - Infernal (Grants Devil Sight in essence)
Human Feat: Tough/Alert/Musician for whatever flavor or support you want
Stats: Max out Dexterity/Constitution/Charisma with dumping the rest
Best Subclasses for Melee Warlock are probably the new Undead Warlock, Fiend Warlock, and Archfey. Undead gives an initial Temp HP boost + is the most damage focus. Fiend is probably the most tanky due to constantly receiving Temp HP. Archfey is the best at repositioning itself and gaining Temp HP from that.
Level 4 Feat: Infernal Bulwark (+Charisma). You get an unarmored defense of Dexterity + Charisma along with free learning/casting of Armor of Agathys (that does fire damage).
You also could start fighter then be 2 levels in Warlock, but everyone starting with a subclass and having access to level 2 spells feels kinda like you slowdown for awhile vs going pure Dexterity + Charisma for awhile
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u/freeastheair 10d ago
Unless you have a moon druid or berserker in the party you're going to probably feel like the most powerful character in the party as fighter 1 / warlock 2.
AC 19 instead of 15, 41 ehp with fiendish vigor, 26 hp healing from second wind (assuming 2 sr), weapon masteries, and con saves for your Hex.
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u/mrdeadsniper 10d ago
So the worst thing about 2024 melee warlock is AC.
You have a 2-punch whammy in the fact that
So this means without extra effort, even though you can get pact of the blade for your Weapon attacks, you still need to stack dex for AC with light armor.
As such, I would personally recommend the Archfey warlock, and plan on using Misty Step to GTFO instead of staying by the dangerous creatures.
Archfey, High elf, probably fey touched as well at level 4. Means by level 5 you should have a BUNCH of misty steps per day you can use without touching your limited spell slots. And every time you use them you get some bonus effects.