Baldur's Gate 3 - Warlock Mechanics Breakdown & Multiclass Options

greetings everyone hope all of you are having an absolutely fantastic day I have finally reached level 12 in my bg3 playthrough and that means we can start diving into class mechanics let's start with one of my favorite classes in the game warlock warlocks enter into a pack with a patron who provides them unique abilities in exchange for loyalty and dialogue you'll get unique options and conversations having to do with magic otherworldly beings or entering into contracts with Devils your primary ability is charisma which means it's used when you cast spells and depending on your choices it might also be checked when using weapons your bonus from Charisma will also be applied to multiple skills that are used in dialogue such as persuasion deception and intimidation usually you'll want your warlock to be the character who handles dialogue checks Constitution is also a very important stat because it will help increase your concentration role if enemies damage you while you are concentrated training on the spell then you must roll to determine if you can maintain concentration as you'll see later on this mechanic is very important for warlocks finally you'll want a couple of points of dexterity as this will give you more Armor class and initiative strength and intelligence do virtually nothing for warlocks and can be safely dumped wisdom doesn't help you offensively but defensively it protects you from many devastating crowd control spells so I would not dump it warlock gives you Proficiency in simple weapons and light armor this means when you attack with a simple weapon you can add your proficiency bonus to the roll and that bonus will increase over time it also means you can cast spells while wearing light armor and that light armor will not impose a disadvantage on your attack rolls disadvantage forces you to roll two dice and take the lower result it's very important that you only use armor and weapons that you are proficient with this class gives you warlock spell slots which means you regain all of your spell slots by just using h short rest as opposed to wizard Sorcerers and the like who need a long rest these slots will always be at your highest spell level so you don't have to manage how many level one or level 2 spells you are using up the drawback is you get significantly less slots than other spell casting classes by level 12 you will have three spell slots as opposed to sorcerer who would have 16. at level 1 you can select two can trips which are spells that could be used without expending a spell slot I have a separate video doing a deep dive on all the Spells and can trips so for this video I'll only highlight a couple I think you should take and the first one is Eldridge blast this spell will deal 1D 10 Force damage to an enemy there are very few enemies who are resistant to force damage and most of them are bosses who are resistant to all forms of damage anyway so force is one of your most Dependable damage sources in fact I think it's second only to Holy it's also important to note that the damage from this can trip scales which are character level not with your class level consequently syncing levels into other classes does not make Eldridge blast less effective there's another important note about how this can trip scales but we'll cover that at level two another cantrib you should strongly consider is friends which gives you advantage on Charisma checks advantage means you can roll twice and take the higher result which is a very powerful effect this bonus can be added while you are in a conversation so you don't need to cast it ahead of time there are a ton of Charisma checks throughout the game so you'll definitely want to pick this up be careful about using this if you are playing on tactician as NPCs on that difficulty can become hostile if they realize they are being Enchanted level 1 will also allow you to select two spells without a doubt one of these spells should be hex placing this spell on an enemy gives a disadvantage on an ability of your choosing that part is irrelevant what does help you is that that every time you damage that enemy you'll deal an additional 1d6 damage once a hexed enemy Falls you can place the hex on another enemy with just your bonus action no spell slot will be expended as long as you can maintain concentration on this spell consequently it's very important that your warlock has a high enough Constitution to clear those concentration checks because if it breaks you'll have to spend another spell slot to apply hexagon and warlocks only have two slots until Level 10. the other spell that I would choose is hellish rebuke this spell is triggered when an enemy damages you and it lets you deal 2D 10 fire damage to that foe this will use a spell slot but it's very satisfying to immediately give as good as you get if you are fighting in melee armor of agathis is worth considering as well every time an enemy damages you in melee this spell will provide 5 temporary hit points and deal 5 cold damage what's not obvious is when you look at the description is that this scales up depending on what spell level you use it on so casting it at spell level four will provide you with 20 temporary hit points and deal 20 points of cold damage on an enemy this is a very effective way to punish foes who try to take advantage of you in melee warlocks choose their subclass right at level one and you get three options the fiend is my favorite and the preferred choice for warlocks who specialize in damage at level one you get dark one's blessing which provides you temporary hit points equal to your charisma modifier plus your level every time you're down an enemy this HP does not stack but it does refill with each kill making your character more tanky at level 6 you get dark one's own luck which provides a 1D 10 bonus to an ability check this is potentially a monster bonus however it's only available once per short rest finally at level 10 you get fiendish resilience which let you gain resistance to one damage type cutting damage from that Source in half you could choose a new damage type every short rest which could be very useful if you know what type of enemy you are about to face each warlock subclass adds a few spells into your spell book and fame will give you access to damage options like scorching Ray Fireball and cone of cold the great old one is more focused on crowd control at level 1 you'll get Mortal reminder which is triggered when you land a critical hit and forces that creature along with all nearby creatures to pass a wisdom saving throw or they will become frightened until the end of their next turn frightened enemies cannot move and they have disadvantage on their ability checks and attack rolls personally I prefer crowd control options that completely prevent enemies from attacking but you can trigger this while dealing damage so it's definitely nice to have at level 6 you get in Tropic Ward which is a reaction that is triggered when an enemy attacks you this ability lets you impose disinfect advantage on the attack and if it misses you will have advantage on your next attack against the enemy for one turn this is nice but it can only be done once per short rest finally at level 10 you gain two different versions of thought Shield psychic reflection is triggered when enemies attack you with psychic damage and causes them to take the same amount of damage psychic resistance Cuts any psychic damage you take in half most enemies don't deal psychic damage but by level 10 you are just about in act 3 and you will run it to plenty of annoying bosses with crazy abilities so this is nice to have this subclass will give you access to crowd control spells like Tasha's hideous laughter slow and dominate person the last subclass is Arch fade which also has a crowd control Focus but with a dash of trickster in it as well at level 1 you'll get fave presence which allows you to charm or frighten enemies within 3 meters for two turns Charmed enemies cannot attack you so this can be very helpful when surrounded at level 6 you'll get get Misty Escape which is triggered when you take damage and makes you invisible on your next turn you can cast Misty's step which teleports you to a different location although that would break your invisibility this is a fantastic bailout option in a tight situation finally at level 10 you get beguiling defenses which makes you immune to charm effects I am probably 10 to 15 hours away from completing the game and can count on one hand the number of times I've been Charmed keep in mind I am on normal difficulty so this might be more useful if you are playing on tactician in addition to these mechanics you'll have access to tricks or spells like fairy fire call me motions and greater invisibility circling back to base warlock mechanics and level 2 you'll be able to choose one additional spell along with two Eldritch invocations these are passive features that provide additional functionality for your character the first one on the list is agonizing blast and this add your charisma modifier to the damage your Eldritch blast deals remember remember when I said that Eldridge blast gets more powerful as your character levels up well it's important to realize that it gets more powerful by adding more blast not causing your blast to do more damage so by level 10 instead of just one blast that does one d10 damage when you use the cantrip you'll fire off three different blasts that each deal 1D 10 Force damage this is important to note because any damage you add to the blast is rolled separately so the 1d6 necrotic damage from hex and the bonus from your charisma modifier would be added three separate times for one spell cast which is a massive increase in your damage output if you plan to use Eldritch blast a lot then this invocation is a must have let's skip down the list and also cover repelling blasts which pushes a creature 4.5 meters away from you when you hit them with Eldridge blast falling damage is very powerful in bg3 so knocking enemies off high purchase is a great way to eliminate them please note this pushback automatically happens when you hit so there's no roll and you're not asked if you want to do this it is a toggle so you can turn it off and you'll want to when fighting around bottomless chasms if you knock an enemy into an area you cannot reach their loot is gone forever once you have picked up these two invocations it's a great time to multi-class if your playstyle revolves around Eldridge blast you can get more Support options from Barton cleric or use Rogue fighter and sorcerer to pump out additional Force damage every turn more of that in the multi-classing section at the end please note melee Focus warlock should continue taking levels alright now let's comb through the full list of invocations armor of Shadows allows you to cast Mage Armor on yourself without expending a spell slot Mage Armor gives you a plus three bar bonus to AC as long as you are not wearing armor it also nullifies any unarmored passage you may have such as Barbarian AC bonus from Constitution or Monk's bonus from wisdom at best you'll get 15 or 16 AC playing this way and I don't think it is worth it multi-classing with cleric fighter or Paladin to pick up medium or heavy armor proficiency is a better way to protect yourself B speech allows you to speak with animals without expending a spell slot this is not the type of spell you use at all times and there are Scrolls or potions which allow you to switch it on when needed so I would skip this beguiling influence gives you Proficiency in deception and persuasion most likely you have Proficiency in at least one of these already and your high Charisma will help clear those checks so skip this Devil's sight gives you dark vision up to 24 meters this is actually well worth considering because in Act 2 Enemies love throwing down darkness and this pickup completely nullifies that through throughout the game making sure enemies are properly lit so you don't have disadvantage against them is something you have to watch out for there are certainly other ways to deal with the problems but this is not a bad pickup fiendish Vigor allows you to cast false life on yourself without expending a spell slot granting you seven temporary hit points most likely you'll want to skip this because you can only get temporary hit points from one source and you have probably either selected fiend as your subclass or you are using the armor of the gate to spell if for whatever reason you are not doing either of those things then fiendish Vigor will make you a little more tanky mask of many faces allows you to cast the sky itself at will without spinning a spell slot this lets you change your appearance but honestly I never found a need for the spell and even if I did there are Scrolls available to cast it skip it one with shadows lets you become invisible as long as you don't move and don't do anything useful as a get out of jail free card but still a waste of an invocation finally FIFA 5 phase lets you cast Bane using a war black spell slot once per rest Bane imposes a 1d4 penalty on three enemies attack rolls and saving throws as I have already mentioned you get very few slots and Bane doesn't do nearly enough to justify using one let alone burning an invocation at level 3 you get access to level 2 spells if you are fighting at range I think the best option is Misty step which only calls the bonus action and will let you teleport just about anywhere within 18 meters this makes it very easy to reach a high vantage point and still have an action and lay down punishment it's a great option for melee characters as well but you might prioritize mirror images as a way to better protect yourself this spell lasts for 10 turns and will make three duplicates of your character each one increasing your armor class by three every time you successfully evade an attack one of the duplicates will disappear fantastic protection during tough battles you will also be able to select one of three pack booms packed of the chain gives you a faith familiar which is basically a pet that can act independently during combat they can fly go invisible pull switches attack enemies and just generally cause Havoc enemies will also sometimes Target them so this isn't a bad option but their damage and health doesn't scale well so it's not that great pact of the blade lets you summon or bind a weapon so that it's attacking damage rolls use Charisma instead of strength or dexterity you cannot drop or throw this weapon and you automatically become proficient with whatever weapon you buy the summon weapon is mediocre so you should always bind weapons found out in the field you can move the bind to another weapon allowing you to always use the best one that's available obviously if you want to be a melee warlock this is absolutely a must-have finally pact of the tone will give you access to a greater variety of spells starting with the cantrips guidance vicious mockery and Thorn whip none of these spells are useful for you but better options come later on still your issue as a warlock is having too few spell slots to use not how much variety there is in the selections so I don't think this option is worthwhile at level 4 you get another cantrip spell and defeat at level five yep Eldritch blast will get another beam increasing his damage and allowing you to Target two separate enemies with it whatever pack you have chosen also receives an upgrade packed of the blade will provide an extra attack with your bound weapon needless to say you want this and now finally warlock has served its purpose for melee builds this is a great time to move into cleric fighter Paladin or some other class that will help significantly increase the damage you can do if you have selected pact of the chain then you're familiar is supposed to get another attack but that is broken at the time of this video instead they could only attack an additional time once per short rest even when this gets fixed I still say the familiars are not worth it unless lyrion Buffs them pact of the tone will give you anime dead haste and call lightning haste is an incredible spell that will significantly increase your damage output you gain an action and increase of plus two to your AC advantage on dexterity saving throws and your movement speed will be doubled all for 10 turns you have to concentrate to maintain this so you cannot have hacks on at the same time but an extra action will almost certainly pump out more than one D6 damage so this is an acceptable sacrifice this level also gives you access to level 3 spells and somebody on your team needs to be able to cast Fireball it does eight D6 fire damage and even on the save targets take half damage this just absolutely melts groups otherwise I would strongly recommend picking up counter spell this is activated when an enemy uses a spell and gives you the opportunity to nullify that casting if the in enemy spell is level three or lower this will automatically work otherwise you have to roll in the difficulty of the check is based on the level of the spell you want to nullify there's really a fight where I don't trigger this and it's a fantastic way to mitigate damage against your team finally hypnotic pattern is one of the best crowd control spells in the game completely incapacitating enemies who fail a wisdom save you can select another invoke patient and now there are two additional options admire the Mind lets you cast slow with the warlock spell slot this will reduce the armor class of up to six enemies by two the dexterity throws by two and their movement speed will be cut in half obviously this is a really nice debuff that can impact a large group sinaville Omen lets you cast bestow curse with a warlock spell slot this will give the enemy disadvantage on checks and saving throws or attacks or it will allow you to deal additional damage to the enemy or it will take the enemy's action random crowd control is counterproductive so skip this level 6 gives you another spell and level 7 gives you access to spell level four there's nothing in the list that significantly moves me for a warlock most likely you'll just up cast the spells that you have you can also select another invocation and there are three more options book of ancient Secrets lets you cast Ray of sickness chromatic orb and silence once per long rest without expanding spouse lie in my opinion none of these spells really match with a warlike bill by level 7 so I would skip this Dreadful word lets you cast confusion using a warlock spell slot there is no reason to cast confusion over hypnotic pattern so skip this sculptor of Flesh lets you cast polymorph using a warlock spell slot this spell will turn your enemy into a sheep which is hilarious but if the Sheep's hip points drop to zero the enemy just returns to its original form with its original hit points this could be useful against powerful bosses but overall I would skip it at level 8 you get another spell and defeat at level 9 you get access to level 5 spells and honestly there's not a bad choice here flame strike will rain down fire and holy damage on enemies and even if they make the save they'll take half damage Kona Cole does the same thing with cold damage and hold monster lets you paralyze a creature they won't be able to move or act and hits within three meters are always Critical Hits so this is a great option for your melee warlock you can also select another invocation minions of chaos allows you to conjure an elemental I haven't played around with Elementals so not sure how useful they are but it's always nice having another body on the field otherworldly leap let you cast enhancedly without using a spouse lot being able to LEAP far makes traversing areas significantly easier so this is definitely something to consider Whispers of the Grave allows you to kind of speak with dead without spending a spell slot by this time you have figured out how to regularly use this spell in wasting an invocation on it doesn't make sense at level 10 you can pick up another cantrip and a spell you also get the Final Extra beam added to Eldridge blast so now you can Target three different enemies with one casting of the spell keep in mind again these increases are based on character level so you might be a level 2 warlock but would still receive this additional power at level 11 you finally gain your third warlock spell slot congrats you also get Mystic Arcanum which lets you cast one level six bow without expending a spell slot once per long rest if you can punch past a creature's Constitution saves flesh to Stone will slowly petrify them making them unable to move and much easier to hit it's devastating against bosses finally at level 12 you could pick up a spell beat and one last invocation life drinkers added to the list and it causes your melee attacks to deal additional damage equal to your charisma modifier without question this is great to have if it aligns with your play style alright now that we have talked about the basic mechanics let's walk through a few multi-classing options I definitely haven't played this game enough to know all the ins and outs so let me know down in the comments what are some great combinations I've missed barbarian's main claim to fame is Rage which cancels any ability for you to use spells consequently They Don't Really mix well with warlocks bards also use Charisma as their cast ability and they are arguably the best support class in the game multi-classing into this will improve your skills provide some fantastic crowd control options and let you buff your party members with bardic inspiration great choice if you are focused on support multiple cleric domains can provide heavy armor proficiency which will make you significantly more durable their Spellbook uses your wisdom bonus which will probably be low but that won't matter if you're focused on supporting healing or if you want to use it as a quick dip war in particular is a great option for melee warlocks since War priest charges let you make additional melee attacks as a bonus action Druids can provide you with medium armor and shield proficiency but I prefer getting them from a different class from a melee standpoint Druids focus on wild shaping or summoning weapons neither of which messes well with your warlock from a rain's perspective their primary ability is wisdom which again you won't have much of so it's not not a good fit finder provides you with medium armor and shield proficiency along with a fighting style I really like the defense fighting style here since it will give you a plus one bonus to Armor class and combining them with medium armor should make you significantly tankier even better at level 2 you'll get action surge which let you use another action during your turn once per short rest that is fantastic regardless of how you are playing and I think a lot of my builds will contain two levels of fighter this class also gets more Feats than any others so you could take five levels of warlock to get your extra attack and then take six levels of fighter to get three feeds overall keep in mind that the extra attack you get from fighter at level 5 will not stack with the one you already have monk is all about dealing unarmed damage along with making the most out of a high wisdom score so I don't think it meshes well here Paladin is amazing for any melee Centric play style it will give you medium armor and shield proficiency C while also allowing you to Smite enemies as part of your melee attacks smites add significantly more damage and they look amazing so this is well worth having palancers use Charisma as their primary ability just like warlocks and they are fantastic healers due to their lay on hands ability so this class just makes you more durable all the way around Rangers can provide heavy armor proficiency if you select the ranger Knight favorite enemy option this is a significant boost for your character as there are a ton of really nice heavy armors to choose from it will also let you add another skill proficiency Rogues will give your Melee character sneak attack dice allowing you to punish enemies when you have advantage against them as long as you are using a finesse weapon technically this is great but personally I think smiting is the better way to go such as available whether you have advantage or not Rogue will also let you select expertise in a couple of different skills including sleight of hand which could be varied benefit to your character the thief subclass gives you an extra bonus action which could be very useful if you combine it with a sorcerer Sorcerers get metamagic Feats and one of them is quick and spell which allows you to use a spell as a bonus action instead of an action this sounds great but you only get one bonus action and oftentimes you'll need to use it to reactivate hacks combining two levels of warlock two levels of fighter three levels of thief and three levels of sorcerer would allow you to apply hacks and then unload three uses of Eldritch blast in one turn annihilating the vast majority of bosses in the game right off the bat last on the list is Wizard which uses intelligence as his primary ability and I don't think it meshes particularly well with warlock that completes my review of warlock mechanics if any of this was unclear or you have just some general feedback please leave a comment below and I'd be happy to provide more information hope all of you enjoyed this video take care

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Length: 25min 26sec (1526 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 13 2023