DnD 5e – Warlock Pact Perks Breakdown (2023)

Last updated: March 16, 2022

introduction

In addition to their otherworldly patron (the sorcerer subclass), sorcerers also choose a pact boon at level 3, which provides a second major decision point for the character. Just like your subclass, your choice of Covenant Boon has a huge impact on how you play your character, and choosing a Covenant that suits your playstyle can go a long way to your character's effectiveness.

Some Eldritch summons are restricted to warlocks who choose a specific boon from the pact. Those opinions are mentioned below, but I still recommend reading mine.Eldritch Summons Breakdownfor tips on selecting and using individual views.

table of Contents

• introduction
• Disclaimer
  • new family options

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color-coding scheme that has become popular in Pathfinder build guides, which is easy to understand and read at a glance.

• Putrefaction: Bad, useless options or extremely situational options. Almost never useful.
• Orange: OK options or useful options that only apply in rare cases. Helpful sometimes.
• Verde: Good options. Often useful.
• Azul- Incredible options that are often essential to the role of your character. Very often useful.

We will not include third-party content, including DMs Guild content, in official content guides, as we cannot assume that your game will allow third-party or homebrew content. We also won't be covering any Unearthed Arcana content as it is not complete yet and we cannot guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

The following tips are based on currentCharacter optimization meta statesince the last time the article was updated. Please note that the status of the meta changes regularly as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time permits.

RPGBOT is unofficial fan content allowed under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. © Wizards of the Shore LLC.

pact of the sword^PHB

The Blade Warlock faces several problems. He tries to bring the use of guns to a class where there is little gun business. Wearing light armor means you'll almost certainly have to rely on a nifty weapon like a rapier or fight from a distance, and even then you're adding a frustrating amount of MAD to a class that otherwise does well with an attribute score.

Compared to a conventional Warlock, who would rely on Eldritch Blast for damage, Blade Warlock generally deals less damage. A warlock with Eldritch Blast deals 1d10 damage, as much as many two-handed weapons. Agonizing Blast allows you to add Charisma to the damage, which is at least equal to the damage bonus of a Strength/Dexterity weapon times the cost of one cantrip and one summon. Compared to the 2-3 views it takes to keep Pact of the Blade relevant, Agonizing Blast looks very attractive.

To dig into the math, you get two Eldritch Blast attacks at level 5, and thanks to the Thirsting Blade, you can perform a second attack with your pact weapon, so the level 3-10 options are more or less comparable in terms of damage output, especially when it's off. For whatever reason, you're putting skill increases on Dexterity instead of Charisma.

At level 11, Eldritch Blast gains a third bolt, adding another 1d10+5 damage for free, while Blade Warlock should cast another Summons on Lifedrinker, giving Bladelock a total damage bonus of up to +10 per attack, as long as both Dexterity and Charisma can catch him at 20. At this point, Bladebarrage has consumed an extra summon slot for slightly less damage (3d10+15 avg 31.5 vs something like 2d8+20 avg 29). The math gets even worse for bladelock when Eldritch Blast adds a fourth bolt at level 17, and that doesn't include Enhance Pact Weapon, which is another summon tax on bladelock. The addition of the Hex spell puts Eldritch Blast ahead of the bladelock, increasing the gap for each additional bolt Eldritch Blast provides beyond the two attacks available to most bladelocks.

Fortunately, Hexblade fixes these problems. Medium armor and shields drastically reduce your need for defensive prowess, and using your Charisma to attack and damage means you don't have to sacrifice casting to be effective with weapons. However, without Hexblade's Curse, your weapon's damage is still a bit behind Eldritch Blast+Dying Blast, so without this buff you're trading some of Eldritch Blast's damage for increased durability and the ability to use a weapon effectively.

Pairing Pact of the Blade with Expert Crossbow or Polearms Master is a popular and extremely effective build. You get three attacks, and with Thirsting Blade's damage bonus at level 11, you can easily outpace the damage output of Eldritch Blast + Agonizing Blast. These builds are expensive and require your Pact Boon, three Eldritch Summons, and a feat, but they are very effective.

chain pact^PHB

Pact of the Chain gives you a better familiar than other spellcasters usually have, but the improved familiar options aren't the only reason Pact of the Chain is interesting - Pact of the Chain has some very cool summoning options. powerful, including Chains of Carceri and Chain Master Reversal.

The biggest problem with Pact of the Chain is that you are heavily invested in your familiar and your familiar has max 10 hit points (goblin has 10 HP) so your familiar will likely die a lot. You don't have any special means of summoning your familiar again, so expect to spend 70 minutes and 10 gp to cast Find Familiar several times a day during the adventure.

To be successful with Pact of the Chain, you need to master how familiars work. Remember that family members act independently of you and act on their own initiative. They take orders from you, which you normally give verbally, unless you can use telepathy or something similar. You can make your familiar attack with your reaction by swapping one of your attacks during the attack action, but this attack is made on your turn and not on your familiar's turn, so if your familiar is not in attack range, you may be out of luck.

The Chain Master investment allows you to command your familiar to take the attack action on your turn, but that consumes your familiar's action, which you would otherwise spend to do something like turn invisible, so do it with high opportunity costs. associates.

You'll also need to figure out how to keep your familiar alive, so in combat, turning it invisible or dodging it when it's your turn is usually your best bet. Ideally, your familiar should take his turn immediately after yours, so he can break his invisibility by attacking with his Reaction, then instantly turn invisible before anything can kill him. Unfortunately, you are rarely so lucky. The setup action can help, but remember that it also consumes your familiar's reaction, so you may have to sacrifice an attack chance for your familiar to keep it invisible.

If you're lucky enough to have access to long-lasting buff spells like Mage Armor and Aid, they're great ways to increase your familiar's durability on the cheap. However, these options can be hard for the warlock to find, so you may have to rely on other casters in the party.

new family options

Kobold

Flight, the highest HP of any known option at 10 hp, a long list of resistances and immunities, enhanced Darkvision, Devil's Sight, shapeshifting and invisibility for free. The Imp is an absolutely peerless explorer.

The poison attack can be effective when you first get the goblin, but the DC never increases, so it's not effective for long unless you take investment from the chain master. It can also be tricky for the imp to attack on your turn, as its poisonous stinger is a melee attack and familiars act on their own, which can allow enemies to spend a long time away from your familiar before you can command it. . stroke. It's a bit tricky, but consider casting Magic Stone to give your goblin a temporary ranged attack.

Goblins also have human-like hands if art is to be believed, allowing for some opportunities like turning doorknobs and using tools.

If you're worried about taking your goblin places where a goblin isn't welcome, he can transform into a raven, which increases his flight speed by 20 feet and doesn't take away the ability to deal poison damage or turn invisible or so. In fact, you may want to keep your goblin as a raven forever.

The goblin is the longest-lived family option, and if you plan to send her out exploring on her own, the goblin is hard to beat. They also work well if you like to use dark magic, so they can offer your familiar an easy way to fight in combat without juggling invisibility.

pseudodrache

Excellent flight speed, keen senses, dark vision, and blindsight. The sting from the pseudo-dragon's tail inflicts the poisoned state for a full hour and can even knock the target unconscious. Combined with the Chain Master's investment, Pseudo-Dragon's Stinger is a powerful debuff that you can apply once and then send your familiar hiding for the rest of the encounter, making it extremely effective while also posing minimal risk. for your own safety.

The Pseudo-Dragon can't match the Imp's abilities as a scout, but with blind sight and keen senses, keeping your Pseudo-Dragon close by to search for hidden things and invisible enemies is very effective. Blindsight also allows your pseudo-drake to overcome magical darkness, making it easier to use your familiar in battle, which is especially important since the pseudo-drake cannot turn invisible.

Looks

Very similar to the Goblin, except that it can't fly in its natural form, so expect your quasit to spend most of its time as a bat. The quasi trades some of the kobold's scouting abilities (namely Devil's Sight) and some of its poison damage to add the poison status to its attacks. That seems like a pretty good trade off, especially with the Chain Master investing in increasing DC, but the Quasi still faces the challenge of using melee attacks without the tactical option of abusing dark magic since he's on magic and not can see the dark You'll have to be content with juggling invisibility, and at this point why not use a sprite, since he can attack from afar?

Botavara

Escape, invisibility and human hands. On its own, that's pathetic compared to the imp. But add inversion to the chain, and the sprite's bow attack suddenly becomes an easy vehicle for the poisoned condition, making it easy to debuff enemies during a fight and make it extremely difficult for enemies to combat while putting your familiar on. at minimal risk.

The sprite's arrows can knock creatures unconscious, but their Constitution check result must be 5 or less (rather than failing by 5 or more) for this to happen, and since Constitution checks tend to be high , in most cases your career will be unlikely. .

The Sprite is very much a glass cannon. Despite having the highest AC of all familiars at 15, they only have two hit points. So if they get hit, they will almost certainly die instantly. Fortunately, they can attack from a distance, so many enemies simply can't reach them. Against enemies that can attack from afar, you'll want to keep your sprite invisible as much as possible.

The sprite also lacks everything other than flight and stealth, making it an effective scout. No dark vision or anything. If you must send your familiar exploring, be prepared to give it a light source, turn it invisible, and hope no one notices the light coming from the air without a visible source.

Talismans Pack^TCoE(Optional)

Please note that the talisman pact is an optional class feature and may not be available in your game. If you wish to use Pact of the Talisman, please discuss it with your Dungeon Master and refer to the Optional Class Features section of mysorcerer's handbookfor a guide on how to integrate it into your game.

The Talisman Pact is the simplest of the Pact Perks, requiring no action on the part of the Warlock and requiring little additional investment for the Talisman to be useful. If you want to focus on other parts of Warlock and Pact Boon doesn't appeal to you, Pact of the Talisman is a good choice. It also has the unique advantage of allowing you to share the talisman with another creature, which makes it an interesting support option, and if you're nervous about the complexity of playing a warlock, sharing your talisman can be a great way to do it. offloading some of that complexity onto someone else in the group.

The unique summons for the Talisman Pact add additional benefits to the Talisman, all of which are defensive in nature. They will work well to keep you alive, but you will find that the talisman is more effective if you lend it to an ally who will draw a lot of attacks, especially if you learn Rebuke from the talisman.

Pact of the Tome^PHB

Pact of the Tome builds on the Warlock's ability as a spellcaster, giving him more casting options and the option to cast ritual spells using the Book of Ancient Secrets summon. Access to ritual casting is a huge advantage, providing a lot of utility that the warlock can't normally provide due to their limited pool of spell slots.

Warlocks get one less cantrip than most dedicated spellcasters, and adding three more when you get Pact of the Tome can give you a lot of useful options. You probably don't need any offensive options since Eldritch Blast is so effective with such little investment, but don't feel limited to Eldritch Blast. Note that cantrips can come from any spell list, so options like Shillelagh and Vicious Mockery are worth trying.