Warlock 5e: DnD 5th Edition Class Guide – RPGBOT (2024)

Introduction

Warlocks draw magic power from a pact with a powerful otherworldly being, such as a powerful fey creature, a celestial, an elder deity, or a fiend. Warlocks are primarily a Blaster, Face, and Striker, but depending on your spells and subclass you can add Controller, Support, and a little bit of Healer to the Warlock’s role options within the party.

The Warlock is arguably the easiest of any spellcaster class to play. You get only a handful of spell slots at a time, and never have to juggle multiple spell slot levels. Warlocks learn spells permanently, so you don’t need to worry about changing your spells on a daily basis. Warlocks also get the most powerful damage cantrip in the game, giving them a solid, reliable option for damage output in between your big spells.

At the same time, the Warlock is one of the most customizable classes in the game. You get two major decision points with your Otherworldly Patron (the Warlock’s Subclass) and your Pact Boon, plus spells known and a pile of Eldritch Invocations. This wide degree of customization makes it easy to play warlocks back-to-back with very little overlap in your builds.

The Warlock typically fills the party’s Wizard-equivalent role, offeringoptions as a Controller and Striker, and with some minor investments theWarlock can also serve as the party’s Face. The Warlock falls a bit short interms of Utility spell options compared to similar spellcasters, but that canbe mitigated with Pact of the Tome and a few Invocation choices if your partycan’t compensate for that shortcoming. The Hexblade subclass also offers theability to serve as a Defender, though Hexblades still lean more toward damageoutput than durability.

After reading this handbook, I encourage you to read our supporting articles for the Warlock:

• Warlock Pact Boons Breakdown
• Warlock Eldritch Invocations Breakdown
• Warlock Races Breakdown
• Warlock Subclasses Breakdown
• Warlock Spells Breakdown
• Otherworldly Patrons and You

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Disclaimer
• Warlock Class Features
  • Optional Class Features
• Ability Scores
• Warlock Races
• Warlock Skills
• Warlock Backgrounds
• Warlock Feats
• Warlock Weapons
• Warlock Armor
• Multiclassing
• Warlock Magic Items
  • Common Magic Items
  • Uncommon Magic Items
  • Rare Magic Items
  • Very Rare Magic Items
  • Legendary Magic Items
• Example Warlock Build – Tiefling Warlock (Fiend)
  • Abilities
  • Race
  • Skills and Tools
  • Background
  • Feats
  • Levels

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.

• Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
• Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circ*mstances. Useful sometimes.
• Green: Good options. Useful often.
• Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.

Warlock Class Features

Optional Class Features are detailed below under Optional Class Features.

Hit Points: d8 is pretty good for adedicated spellcaster.

Saves: Wisdom and Charisma saves are greatfor resisting things like mind control and paralysis which might subdue you,but Warlocks will have lots of issues with effects that affect theirbodies.

Proficiencies: Light armor and simpleweapons are fine since you definitely won’t use weapons, but the skill list isfrustrating. You get two skills and access to a couple of Face skills, butmost of your non-Face skills are Intelligence-based.

Otherworldly Patron: Warlock subclasses are briefly summarized below. See our Warlock Subclasses Breakdown for help selecting your subclass.

• The Archfey: Fey are tricky, unpredictable creatures, and warlocks who swear pacts toThe Archfey gain spells and abilities to confuse, surprise, and charm othercreatures.
• The Celestial: Some warlocks swear pacts with celestial creatures, gaining the abilityto heal their allies and to cast some spells from the Cleric spell list,including several crucial healing options.
• The Fathomless: A powerful threat in and around water, the Fathomless gives you newspells related to storms and water, and you gain the ability to conjurespectral tentacles to attack your foes and to defend you from harm.
• The Fiend: The iconic warlock patron, The Fiend grants you a mix of abilities bothoffensive and defensive, including numerous sources of fire damage.
• The Genie: Make a pact with a genie of one of the four major elements, and gainbenefits like empowered spellcasting and a magic vessel which you can useboth as a spellcasting focus and as a resting place.
• The Great Old One: Your otherworldly master grants you abilities to assail the minds of yourfoes while protecting your own.
• The Hexblade: Forge a pact with a mystical force known only as “The Hexblade”, gainingthe ability to use Charisma for weapon attacks and other fantastic combatabilities.
• The Undying: Sworn to an undead master, you gain abilities to defy death and to keepundead at bay.

Pact Magic: Warlocks have a completelyunique form of magic. Unlike other spellcasters your spell slots are all thesame, and you only get a handful of them, but they recharge on a short rest.This means that you will need to rely much more heavily on cantrips, and useyour slotted spells when they can be the most effective. Because Pact Magicworks different from other spellcasting, be sure to double-check theMulticlassing rules before you look at other spellcasting classes.

For help selecting spells, see our Warlock Spell List Breakdown.

Eldritch Invocations: A major decision pointin your build, Eldritch Invocations offer a lot of very powerful options,including signature warlock options like Agonizing Blast which is primaryresponsible for why everyone likes Eldritch Blast so much. You get a total of8 invocations over the course of 20 Warlock levels (provided that you don’ttake the Eldritch Adept feat to get another), which feels like a lot but isn’tenough that you’ll be able to take everything you want. For help selectingEldritch Invocations, see ourWarlock Eldritch Invocations Breakdown.

Pact Boon: Where Otherworldly Patron defineswhere you get your powers, Pact Boon defines how to apply them. Pact Boonoffers several options which all offer very different abilities, producingvery different types of warlocks. As additional warlock options have beenreleased in new sourcebooks, the effectiveness of the pact boons has shifteddramatically. Pact Boons are briefly summarized below. For help selecting yourPact Boon, see ourWarlock Pact Boons Breakdown.

Mystic Arcanum: Pick your favorite spells.Remember that the spell slots for these spells don’t scale, so it’s fine topick spells which won’t scale with spell slot level.

Eldritch Master: This is reallydisappointing for a capstone ability. You can already get your spell slotsback with a short rest, so all this does is save you 59 minutes of standingaround. If you have an issue with rests taking too long, find a way to castCatnap.

Optional Class Features

Introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Optional Class Features offer ways to add additional features or replace existing ones. These rules are optional, and you should not assume that your DM will allow these features without consulting them first.

Assessments and suggestions for specific Optional Class Features are presented here, but for more information on handling Optional Class Features in general, see my Practical Guide to Optional Class Features.

Additional Warlock Spells (Addition):Everything added by this optional feature makes sense on the Warlock’s spelllist, And surprisingly few of them are additions from existing sources (just4). Most of the new spells are published or re-published in Tasha’s Cauldronof Everything.

I recommend allowing the expanded spell list on all warlocks. The new spellsadd a lot of interesting options for the Warlock which encourage them to gobeyond staple options like combining Eldritch Blast with whatever leveledspell, encouraging the Warlock to have a more diverse and interesting spelllist.

Pact Boon Option: Pact of the Talisman(Addition): A new Pact Boon option.

I recommend allowing Pact of the Talisman on all warlocks. It’s neat andoffers some new play options for the Warlock, but it’s not more powerful thananything else available.

Eldritch Versatility (Addition): Like otherspellcasters, the Warlock gains the ability to retrain a cantrip. Second, youcan retrain Pact Boon. That’s a pretty big decision point, and fortunately itallows the Warlock to retrain any invocations which require your previous boonat the same time so you’re not left crippled for several levels. Finally, youcan retrain your Mystic Arcana choices. It was always weird that you couldn’t,so I’m glad to see that change.

I recommend allowing Eldritch Versatility on all warlocks, though retrainingPact Boon makes me nervous. You can’t get anything which you couldn’t alreadyhave, so it doesn’t make your character more powerful, but retraining yourPact Boon can be almost as impactful as changing your subclass. As a DM Imight allow it, but only if the player was really unhappy with whatever theychose.

Ability Scores

Charisma is all you need unless you’re going for Pact of the Blade and notalso taking Hexblade for some reason.

Str: Dump. Melee Warlocks might want a bit toresist grapples and similar issues. If you take a class dip to pick up heavyarmor, melee Warlocks can emphasize Strength, but with Hexblade it’s stilleasier to focus on Charisma.

Dex: Melee Warlocks need 14 Dexterity topad their AC, but Hexblades use Charisma for attack and damage. Other Warlocksstill need some for AC.

Con: Everyone needs hit points. You don’tneed a ton because you can depend on Fiendish Vigor for an easy hp boost, butyou still don’t want to skimp on Constitution.

Int: A bit for Knowledge skills is nice,but if you don’t have any you can dump it.

Wis: Only needed for saves, and you’reproficient so your proficiency will mitigate a poor Wisdom score.

Cha: Spells.

Warlock Races

Charisma bonuses are crucial, but there’s little else that’s truly a must-have so there’s lot of room to explore the benefits of other racial traits. Races with natural flight, innate spellcasting, and traits which improve your durability are all helpful and can make up for the Warlock’s tiny pool of spell slots.

For a classic warlock feel, consider the Tiefling (many varieties work well, including the standard Asmodeus Tiefling) or a human. If you want something durable, consider the updated version of the Goliath or the Tortle. If you want a powerful long-ranged caster, consider the fairy or the winged variant tiefling.

For help selecting a race, see our Warlock Races Breakdown.

Warlock Skills

• Arcana (Int): One of the most importantknowledge skills in the game.
• Deception (Cha): Important for anyFace.
• History (Int): Situational, andfrequently useless in many campaigns.
• Intimidation (Cha): Important for anyFace.
• Investigation (Int): Helpful, but youprobably don’t have enough Intelligence or skill choices to justify it.
• Nature (Int): One of the more importantknowledge skills in the game, but the creatures which you can identify withNature diminish greatly in number as you gain levels.
• Religion (Int): One of the most importantknowledge skills in the game.

Warlock Backgrounds

This section does not address every published background, as doing so would result in an ever-growing list of options which don’t cater to the class. Instead, this section will cover the options which I think work especially well for the class, or which might be tempting but poor choices. Racial feats are discussed in the Races section, above.

Since Warlocks already have high Charisma and access to two Face skills, look for Persuasion, bonus languages, and possibly Insight. If you have high Dexterity, you could also pick up some Rogue skills and Thieves’ Tools proficiency.

If you’re having trouble deciding, here are some suggestions:

• Acolyte^PHB: Insight, two languages, and a knowledge skill.
• Charlatan^PHB: Fun, but not terribly useful for a Face, and the idea of being a realspellcaster pretending to be a spellcaster is just silly.
• City Watch^SCAG: Insight and two Languages, but Athletics is essentially worthless.
• Cloistered Scholar^SCAG: Two Knowledge skills and two languages.
• Courtier^SCAG: Exactly what you need to be a Face.
• Criminal^PHB: Good if you want to be your party’s Rogue-equivalent.
• Faction Agent^SCAG: Insight, and you can pick whatever Face skill or Knowledge skill youwant. Two languages, too!
• Guild Artisan^PHB: Two Face skills not on the Warlock’s skill list, plus a language.
• Knight of the Order^SCAG: Persuasion, a knowledge skill, and a language.
• Sage^PHB: Two languages and two knowledge skills.
• Urban Bounty Hunter^SCAG: Good if you want to be a Face or if you want to be your party’sRogue-equivalent.
• Urchin^PHB: Good if you want to be your party’s Rogue-equivalent. Probably betterthan Criminal since you can already get Deception.
• Waterdavian Noble^SCAG: Persuasion, a language, and a bad knowledge skill.

Warlock Feats

Thissectiondoesnotaddresseverypublishedfeat,asdoingsowouldresultinanever-growinglistofoptionswhichdon’tcatertotheclass.Instead,thissectionwillcoverfeatswhichIthinkworkespeciallywellfortheclassorwhichmightbetemptingbutpoorchoices.

• Alert^PHB: Warlocks only get a few spell slots, so when you use them they need tohave a huge effect on the challenge at hand. Going first makes a lot of yourspells more effective because you can get their effects up and runningbefore enemies can respond.
• Athlete^PHB: Awful.
• Actor^PHB: In a highly social game, this opens up some interesting options andallows you to further capitalize on your excellent Charisma.
• Cartomancer^BoMT: This would be great, but the Warlock gets Pact Magic instead of Spellcasting, so you don’t qualify.
• Charger^PHB: Even Blade Pact Warlocks should just use Eldritch Blast if you’re at arange long enough to justify charging.
• Chef^TCoE: An interesting choice for melee warlocks, but definitely complicated.High-damage weapon-using warlock builds frequently rely on their BonusAction to attack in addition to crucial options like Hex and Hexblade’sCurse, so spending your Bonus Action to eat a snack can be a hard choice.Inspiring Leader may be more effective even if you’re planning to keep allof your treats for yourself.
• Crossbow Expert^PHB: Hexblades can absolutely make Crossbow Expert work. Hex and Hexblade’sCurse both benefit greatly from additional attacks, and even EldritchBlast+Agonizing Blast can’t keep up with Crossbow Expert, especially onceyou add Lifedrinker. However, this requires your Bonus Action for two roundsto set up, and in that time other warlocks are happily doing other thingswhich don’t require resources that need a short rest to recharge. Sincecombats generally last around three rounds, in most cases you can except toget your combo set up and start using the Bonus Action attack from CrossbowExpert an average of once per encounter.
• Defensive Duelist^PHB: Blade Pact Warlocks might enjoy this to help compensate for the Warlock’slack of AC.
• Dual Wielder^PHB: Two-weapon fighting usually isn’t a good option without the FightingStyle, but the Warlock has some unique interactions here. Hexblades canapply the benefits of Hex Warrior to two weapons: one that you touch after along rest, and then to your Pact Weapon. However, without the Fighting Style(Two-Weapon Fighting), you still don’t get to add Charisma to your damagerolls with the Bonus Action attack. You do still add other damage bonuseslike Hex and Hexblade’s Curse, but that places a ton of strain on your BonusAction. This will take two turns to set up, which is a hard commitment whencombats can only be expected to last around 3 turns. If you still want toexplore two-weapon fighting, consider taking Fighting Initiate for FightingStyle (Two-Weapon Fighting).
• Dungeon Delver^PHB: Warlocks don’t have the skills to back this up.
• Durable^PHB: Pick up Fiendish Resilience, and it will go a long way to compensate fora lack of healing options.
• Eldritch Adept^TCoE: Once you hit 20 Charisma, most warlocks have a lot of room for feats butare still straining to get every Eldritch Invocation that they want. You canonly take this once, but one extra invocation can still be verypowerful.
• Elemental Adept^PHB: The Warlock’s most iconic spell, Eldritch Blast, deals force damage andisn’t compatible with Elemental adept.
• Fey Touched^TCoE: While the best spell options here are already available to the Warlock,adding two additional spells per day is essentially two additional spellslots. For the Warlock, that’s a significant benefit. The 1st-level spelloptions are difficult, but if you select Hex you can use the daily 1st-levelcasting of Hex and all that you lose is duration. Hex already lasts an hour,and in many cases that’s plenty. You’re locked into Misty Step and whatever1st-level spell you pick, so you want it to be one that you’re going to caston a daily basis.

  For more advice on Fey Touched, see ourSpellcasting Feats Breakdown.

• Fighting Initiate^TCoE: Blade pact warlocks may enjoy the additional capabilities offered by aFighting Style. Adding Fighting Style (Archery) to a Crossbow Expert buildcan turn an already high-damage build into a truly frightening offensivethreat. Interception might be helpful for Pact of the Chain users becausenegative damage to your familiar may keep it alive more effectively thantrying to make attacks miss their sub-13 AC or trying to give themresistance to damage with their single-digit hit points.
• Gift of the Chromatic Dragon^FToD: The weapon buff is only useful if you share it with an ally. ReactiveResistance is the important part of Absorb Elements without eating a spellslot or a spell known.
• Gift of the Gem Dragon^FToD: Telekinetic Reprisal is only good if you plan to get hit, and that’s abad plan.
• Gift of the Metallic Dragon^FToD: Potentially useful for hexblades. Cure Wounds is probably only to getused if you make it to a rest with extra spell slots, but Protective Wingsgive you a protection option similar to the spell Shield without eating aspell slot.
• Great Weapon Master^PHB: Hexblades can make effective use of two-handed weapons, which makes thisa possibility. Hexblade’s Curse allows you to score a critical hit againstthe target on a 19-20, which makes it more likely that you can trigger thefirst portion of the feat. If you use Darkness with the Devil’s Sightinvocation you can easily get Advantage, making the second half of the feata safe and reliable option. However, the weapon which you touch with HexWarrior can’t be two-handed property, so your best bet is a Versatile weaponlike a longsword. Once you gain Pact of the Blade, your Pact Weapon can betwo-handed, and Hex Warrior extends to your Pact Weapon, so you can upgradeto a greatsword.
• Gunner^TCoE: A blade pact warlock with firearms as pact weapons would be insanelycool, but there is very little reason to do so. If you’re going to spend afeat to get better with ranged weapons, Crossbow Expert is massively moreeffective than Gunner. The Bonus Action attack’s damage output is simply tooeffective for the Warlock. Gunner does allow you to use a firearmeffectively while adjacent to enemies, but since you still need two hands toreload you can’t do shield+pistol, so being in melee with a gun is dangerousand you should try to avoid it whenever possible.
• Heavily Armored^PHB: Tempting for a Hexblade, but the Strength requirements for full platemake heavy armor unappealing.
• Healer^PHB: Find a Cleric.
• Inspiring Leader^PHB: You have the Charisma to back this up, and it removes the need forFiendish Vigor. You can even make it target your familiar, which is anincredibly large increase to their durability considering that mostfamiliars have single-digit hit points.
• Keen Mind^PHB: Awful.
• Linguist^PHB: Use magic.
• Lucky^PHB: Good on anyone.
• Mage Slayer^PHB: Too situational.
• Magic Initiate^PHB: The cantrips are tempting, but if you really need these abilities youshould select Tome Pact.

  For more advice on Magic Initiate, see ourSpellcasting Feats Breakdown.

• Martial Adept^PHB: Not useful enough with only one superiority die.
• Medium Armor Master^PHB: Heavy armor isn’t appealing for Hexblades because of the Strengthrequirements to wear it, so medium armor master can allow you to match heavyarmor AC without caring about Strength. That’s nice, but it’s also only adifference of +1 AC. A feat is too previous for so little.
• Metamagic Adept^TCoE: Excellent on any spellcaster. While warlocks generally don’t have enoughspell slots to make metamagic impactful, simple options like extending Hexor Hunger of Hadar can dramatically improve the efficiency of some of theWarlock’s best spells. It can also make options like Fireball an easiergo-to thanks to options like Transmuted spell. For advice on MetamagicAdept, see ourSorcerer Metamagic Breakdown.
• Mobile^PHB: Blade Pact Warlocks might enjoy this so that they can remain safely outof reach, but you still need to have another melee character to tank foryou.
• Moderately Armored^PHB: If you’re not getting by in light armor as a non-hexblade, you need to gostraight to heavy. Multiclass.
• Mounted Combat^PHB: It’s hard to play a mounted character without a special mount ability ofsome kind.
• Observant^PHB: Warlocks don’t have the skills or abilities to support this.
• Piercer^TCoE: The Strength/Dexterity increase is helpful for non-hexblade warlocks whotake Pact of the Blade, but it’s mostly wasted for the Hexblade. The rerollmechanic is nice, and works well between your weapon damage die and Hex. Thecritical hit mechanic is nice, but the Hexblade is the best option to makeit meaningful. It’s hard to find a warlock where this is an easy fit, andyou’ll likely have better results from Crossbow Expert.
• Polearm Master^PHB: Hexblades can make effective use of polearms. I would probably stick to aquarterstaff or spear (spear was added in errata in 2018) so that you canuse a shield to compensate for the Warlock’s relatively poor AC and lowhitpoints, but maybe you’re braver than I am.
• Resilient^PHB: Proficiency in Constitution saves really helps with Concentration, not tomention how common Constitution saves are. If you care primarily aboutConcentration it’s easy to compare this to War Caster. Advantage works outto a little more than +3, so once your Proficiency Bonus hits +4 Resilientbecomes the more effective option of the two.
• Ritual Caster^PHB: If you really want rituals, Pact of the Tome is generally a betteridea.
• Savage Attacker^PHB: This is a bad feat. The largest damage die (d12), yields an average of 2extra damage per turn.
• Sentinel^PHB: It’s hard to justify this for a Blade Pact Warlock, but you might be ableto make it work.
• Shadow Touched^TCoE: Most of the spells are already available to the Warlock, but the freespells per day effectively mean more spell slots, which is a boon for anywarlock. Fey Touch has more and better spell options, but if you like FeyTouched you’ll likely enjoy Shadow Touched for the same reasons.

  For more advice on Shadow Touched, see ourSpellcasting Feats Breakdown.

• Sharpshooter^PHB: Warlocks don’t use ranged weapons with the possible exception ofHexblades, but even then Crossbow Expert is a better choice.
• Shield Master^PHB: Warlocks don’t get Shield Proficiency by default.
• Skilled^PHB: Warlocks can get all of the skills which they’re any good with from theirclass and background.
• Skulker^PHB: Sniping is for Rogues.
• Spell Sniper^PHB: Removes the need for Eldritch Spear, and makes Eldritch Blast even morereliable. If you can’t fit this into your build, a Wand of the War Mage willallow you to ignore up to half cover, which isn’t quite as good but it canstill be very helpful.

  For more advice on Spell Sniper, see ourSpellcasting Feats Breakdown.

• Tavern Brawler^PHB: Unarmed Warlocks aren’t a thing.
• Telekinetic^TCoE: While the warlock does have options to use their Bonus Action, most ofthem involve spending spell slots. That means that on most turns your BonusAction is going to go unused. In those cases, Telekinetic adds a useful wayto spend your Bonus Action to have a tactical impact. Moving a creature 5feet often isn’t a big deal, but it’s enough to break grapples and sometimesit’s enough to force enemies into hazardous places like the area of ongoingspells.
• Telepathic^TCoE: Unlike many sources of telepathy, including those offered by some races,this telepathy still uses languages, so the benefits are minimally appealingeven for a Face. You do get to increase a mental ability score, whichreduces the cost of the feat, but the benefits are primarily the ability tocommunicate while being stealthy.
• Tough^PHB: Blade Pact Warlocks might consider this since Warlocks don’t really haveenough hit points to be a melee character.
• War Caster^PHB: If you’re a Hexblade, you want this. Juggling your weapon to cast spellsis annoying, but the ability to reliably maintain Concentration when youtake damage means that you can reliably maintain Concentration even whiledrawing a lot of attacks. For other subclasses, consider Resilient(Constitution) instead because mathematically it’s more effective thanAdvantage as your Proficiency Bonus increases.
• Weapon Master^PHB: You get all of the weapon proficiencies that you need to function.

Warlock Weapons

Only Blade Pact Warlocks actually need weapons, which means that onlyHexblades should be using them. Your choice of weapon matters fairly little,and Pact of the Blade allows you to change your weapon easily (unless you’vebound a magic weapon), so you can easily choose a weapon to suit thesituation. Hexblades get proficiency with shields, and since warlocks haverelatively low hit dice and hexblades still only get medium armor I think ashield is a good idea most of the time.

• Whip: One-handed and reach mean that youdon’t need to be in enemies’ reach to attack, and you can still hold ashield in your other hand.

Warlock Armor

• Leather: Starting Gear
• Studded Leather: The best armor mostWarlocks can hope for.
• Half Plate: Hexblades’ best armor.

Multiclassing

This section briefly details some obvious and enticing multiclass options, but doesn’t fully explore the broad range of multiclassing combinations. For more on multiclassing, see our Practical Guide to Multiclassing.

• Bard: One level gets you some basicspellcasting. Two gets you Jack of All Trades. Three gets you Expertise anda college. Bards are also Charisma-based spellcasters, so multiclassingbetween the two is relatively easy.
• Fighter: Starting as a Fighter gets youheavy armor and shields, which opens up a lot of options for a Blade PactWarlock. Fighting Style is also nice. Two levels gets you Action Surge, butyou won’t get a lot from a martial archetype so I wouldn’t go that far.
• Paladin: Like a Fighter, you can getheavy armor and shields, which is good for Blade Pact. Two levels gets youCharisma-based spellcasting, a Fighting Style, and Divine Smite which allowsyou to burn your spell slots to add a bunch of radiant damage to the attack.It’s a great way to capitalize on Warlock spell slots refreshing on a shortrest, but you will usually be able to do much more with your spell slots bycasting spells than by adding a few d8s of damage to a weapon attack.
• Rogue: Sneak Attack only works withweapons, so Hexblade is the only good combination with rogue unless you’retaking a class dip solely for Expertise. If you’re going Hexblade+Rogue, Iwould go Hexblade Warlock 2/Rogue X rather than building around Warlock, andif that’s your plan you should be looking at the multiclassing section of myRogue Handbook.
• Sorcerer: Sorcerers are alsoCharisma-based spellcasters, but their features (with the exception ofMetamagic) are very level-dependent, so you need to devote yourself toleveling as a Sorcerer to benefit from sorcerer levels unless you’re justtake a class dip for Font of Magic and Metamagic. If you go that route, it’s probably so thatyou can quicken Eldrith Blast. 3 levels of sorcerer gets you two types ofMetamagic, and if you convert all of your Sorcerer spell slots to SorceryPoints you’ll get a total of 11 per day. You can also convert your Pact Magicspell slots into Sorcery Points, allowing you to recharge on a short rest. Your subclass can offer some usefulstuff, too, but you’ll only get the 1st-level feature unless you go all theway to 6th level. Draconic Bloodline is a good, easy choice, and ShadowMagic’s 1st-level features are very powerful even if they’re a bit morecomplicated.

Warlock Magic Items

Common Magic Items

• Dark Shard Amulet: Easy access to all of thoseweird, situational cantrips that aren’t worth learning permanently. A DC 10Arcana check isn’t hard as long as you have Proficiency, so even if youdumped Intelligence to 8 you still have better-than-even odds of success.Unfortunately, this does require Attunement and you can only attempt to useit once per day, so you may abandon this in favor of other items later inyour career.
• Moon-Touched Sword^XGtE: It’s fun to make a magic item your pact weapon, but Improved Pact Weaponmakes this functionally obsolete.
• Ruby of the War Mage^XGtE: Improved Pact Weapon already allows warlocks who use weapons to use theirpact weapon as a spellcasting focus.

Uncommon Magic Items

• Broom of Flying^DMG: Easily overlooked, but one of the best ways to get flight for anycharacter. It doesn’t require attunement, and has a fly speed of 50 feet,though many medium characters will exceed the 200 pound limit to reduce thespeed to 30 feet, but even then 30 feet fly speed with no duration cap andrequiring no action after speaking the command word is absolutelyincredible. The only drawback is that you’re using the item’s speed ratherthan giving yourself a fly speed, so things that improve your speed won’tmake the broom move faster, and you can’t Dash with the broom. Even so, Ihonestly can’t justify why this is only Uncommon considering howexceptionally good it is.
• Cloak of Protection^DMG: Good on any character, but it requires Attunement and it’s not veryinteresting.
• Goggles of Night^DMG: Crucial for races which don’t get Darkvision, especially if your partycan’t cast the Darkvision spell for you.
• Pearl of Power^DMG: For a class with so few spell slots, an extra slot (even if it’s only upto third level) is a huge benefit. However, Rod of the Pact Keeper doesn’tcap the level of the spell slot and also provides a bonus to your spellattacks and DCs, and it’s the same rarity. Pearl of Power is still good, butRod of the Pact Keeper is much better.
• Rod of the Pact Keeper^DMG: +1 to spell attacks (Eldritch Blast!) and save DC’s, and you can use it toregain a spell slot once per day. Unlike a Pearl of Power, the spell slotcan be of any level, so it doesn’t diminish in effectiveness as you gainlevels.
• Shield, +1^DMG: +1 AC, no attunement. Nothing fancy, but very effective. Unfortunatelyonly the Hexblade gets proficiency, but if you’re a Hexblade it’s anexcellent boost to AC.
• Slippers of Spider Climbing^DMG: The next-best thing to flight. Walking up a wall has all the benefits offlying out of reach at a much smaller cost than even the lowest-level itemwhich provides magical flight.
• Staff of the Adder^DMG: The snake attack doesn’t benefit from Hex Warrior, Shillelagh, etc. soyou’re stuck using your Strength to attack.
• Staff of the Python^DMG: A decent low-level summon. At CR 2, the Giant Constrictor Snake isexcellent at incapacitating single targets, especially if they have poorbonuses to Athletics and Acrobatics. With blindsight, the snake can evenfunction is area of magical darkness or other sight-blocking conditions likefog or smoke, allowing the snake to be useful well above what its CR wouldsuggest. Keep in mind that the snake’s 12 AC and 60 hit points won’t standup to repeated attacks, so plan to revert the snake to its staff formquickly or risk losing the item permanently.
• Stone of Good Luck^DMG: Excellent on literally any character, but if you just want better defensea Cloak of Protection may be more effective. Stone of Good Luck shines ifyou’re heavily reliant on skills and ability checks (like Face skills), andability checks include Initiative rolls and checks to counter/dispelthings.
• Wand of Detection^DMG: This saves you the trouble of learning Detect Magic and spending a spellslot on it, which is a frustrating tax unless you took Pact of the Tome orthe Ritual Caster feat.
• Wand of the War Mage^DMG: Rod of the Pact Keeper is better if you want more from your leveledspells, but Wand of the War Mage is better if you just want to spam EldritchBlast and can’t fit Spell Sniper into your build.
• Weapon, +1^DMG: Blade pact warlocks can take Improved Pact Weapon to get the samebenefit.
• Winged Boots^DMG: Excellent on its own, but Winged Boots are more limited in use than abroom of flying, and they require Attunement.

Rare Magic Items

• Amulet of Health^DMG: Setting your Constitution to 19 means that you don’t need to put AbilityScore Increases into it unless you’re really certain that you want 20Constitution. Less ASI’s into Constitution means more room for feats.Combining this with Resilient (Constitution) or War Caster can do a lot tomake Concentration easier.
• Armor of Resistance^DMG: Excellent, but unpredictable in most games since you can’t perfectlypredict what sort of damage you’ll face. Fire and poison are safechoices.
• Armor, +1^DMG: +1 AC, no attunement. Nothing fancy, but very effective.
• Barrier Tattoo (Rare)^TCoE: For non-hexblades, this is way better than Mage Armor and you don’t needto raise your Dexterity past 14 to still have good AC. For the Hexblade, gofor +1 half plate instead.
• Bell Branch^TCoE: The detection effect suffers the same problems as the Ranger’s PrimevalAwareness, plus it’s blocked by total cover (walls, etc.) so even ifapplicable creatures are nearby you can’t guarantee that you’ll detect them.The option to cast Protection From Evil and Good is nice, but then this isessentially a wand of a 1st-level spell. Not good enough for the rarity.
• Bracers of Defense^DMG: Get a Barrier Tattoo (Rare).
• Cloak of Displacement^DMG: Among the best defensive items in the game. Taking damage from any source(spells, etc.) suppresses the effect temporarily, so make a point to killanything that can damage you without an attack roll.
• Elven Chain^DMG: One less AC than Barrier Tattoo (Rare), but it doesn’t requireattunement, so in a game with abundant magic items Elven Chain may be abetter choice.
• Flametongue^DMG: Mathematically the +2 bonus to attack rolls from a +2 weapon will be amore consistent improvement to your damage output, especially with damagebonuses like Hex and Hexblade’s Curse.
• Ring of Evasion^DMG: A great way to mitigate damage from AOE spells and things like breathweapons which can often be problems from front-line martial characters,especially if you’re not build around Dexterity.
• Ring of Protection^DMG: Cloak of Protection is lower rarity and has the same effect.
• Ring of Resistance^DMG: A fine item in a vacuum, but a Ring of Spell Storing full of AbsorbElements will be much more effective.
• Ring of Spell Storing^DMG: Fill it with Absorb Elements and Shield, and recharge it wheneverpossible and this is a spectacular defensive asset.
• Rod of the Pact Keeper^DMG: +2 to spell attacks and save DC’s, and you can use it to regain a spellslot once per day. For more, see Rod of the Pact Keeper under Uncommon MagicItems, above.
• Shield, +2^DMG: +2 AC, no attunement. Nothing fancy, but very effective. Unfortunatelyonly the Hexblade gets proficiency, but if you’re a Hexblade it’s anexcellent boost to AC.
• Wand of the War Mage^DMG: See Wand of the War Mage under Uncommon Magic items, above.
• Weapon, +2^DMG: This will beat the attack/damage bonus from Improved Pact Weapon, butcombining Improved Pact Weapon with a magic weapon that doesn’t provide anattack bonus (Flametongue, etc.) may be more effective.
• Wings of Flying^DMG: Broom of Flying is much better, lower rarity, and doesn’t requireattunement.

Very Rare Magic Items

• Absorbing Tattoo^TCoE: Good, but too high rarity to devote to a single damage type. Get a Ringof Spell Storing and fill it with Absorb Elements.
• Barrier Tattoo (Very Rare)^TCoE: The fixed AC matches full plate, so you don’t need to worry aboutDexterity to boost your AC and you don’t even suffer Disadvantage onDexterity (Stealth) checks. Hexblades should go for +X breastplate instead,since it’s equivalent or better AC and doesn’t require Attunement.
• Armor, +2^DMG: +2 AC, no attunement. Nothing fancy, but very effective.
• Bow of Melodies^BoMT: This is clearly intended for valor bards who insist on existing despite all warnings that they should stop, and despite this blatantly clear design intent, a hexblade may be the superior user. Grab Skill Expert to get proficiency and expertise in Performance, and you’ve unlocked the +2 bonus. Hex Warrior lets you use Charisma for attack and damage so you don’t need to split focus between Charisma and Dexterity (arguably College of Valor’s biggest challenge). Finally, grab Thirsting Blade for the second attack and Lifedrinker. You now get two attacks that use your Charisma for the attack and apply three times your Charisma modifier to damage, not to mention the flat +2 from the bow. No spells required, but Hex or Spirit Shroud certainly add to the combo.
• Manual of Bodily Health^DMG: Permanent Constitution bonus and raises your cap by 2. Unless you’reusing a magic item that fixes your Constitution as a specific score, this isexcellent.
• Rod of Hellish Flames^BoMT: The damage resistances are nice, but you’re here for the ability to maximize fire or necrotic damage once per day. Easily missed but very important: It’s not “the first damage roll” like most similar effects. You simply don’t roll damage. That means that this works with spells that do repeated or ongoing damage such as Dragon Breath, Fire Shield, Hex, Illusory Dragon, Scorching Ray, Spirit Shroud, and Wall of Fire. Yes, it’s only once per day, but you can get a ton of mileage out of that single use. Not all of those are on your spell list, but I really want you to understand the possibilities here.
• Rod of the Pact Keeper^DMG: +3 to spell attacks and save DC’s, and you can use it to regain a spellslot once per day. For more, see Rod of the Pact Keeper under Uncommon MagicItems, above.
• Shield, +3^DMG: +3 AC, no attunement. Nothing fancy, but very effective. Unfortunatelyonly the Hexblade gets proficiency, but if you’re a Hexblade it’s anexcellent boost to AC.
• Spellguard Shield^DMG: Basically only useful against spellcasters, but if you’re facing aspellcaster there are few better defenses.
• Staff of Fire^DMG: Fireball is a great spell, but it’s often a hard choice for the Warlockbecause they get so few spell slots to spend so you need to get a ton ofefficiency out of every spell slots. Access to Burning Hands and Fireballfrom an item makes it much easier to fit those spells into your arsenal.
• Staff of Ice^DMG: Cone of Cold for quick AOE damage and Wall of Ice for a combination ofdamage, area control, and utility. Wall of Ice is a good spell that’snormally exclusive to the Wizard’s spell list, and it can be a usefulutility in addition to its offensive uses.
• Staff of Power^DMG: A +2 quarterstaff, +2 to spell attacks (though not to spell DC’s for somereason, so you may want another focus), +2 to both AC and to saving throws,20 charges, and 9 spells which you can cast. This is powerful, versatile,and all around just an exceptionally powerful item.
• Tome of Leadership and Influence^DMG: Permanent Charisma bonus and raises your cap by 2.
• Weapon, +3^DMG: Mathematically spectacular. It’s difficult to beat the math here.

Legendary Magic Items

• Armor, +3^DMG: +3 AC, no attunement. Nothing fancy, but very effective. It feelsunderwhelming at this rarity, but the math if good.
• Cloak of Invisibility^DMG: Invisibility is extremely powerful in 5e. Note that this is just theinvisible condition, not the spell spell Invisibility, so you can stillattack or whatever while invisible. Unless you’re playing a Defender andactively trying to draw attacks away from your allies, this is absolutelyamazing.
• Harp of Gilded Plenty^GotG: A floor of 10 on all of your Charisma checks, including both skill checks and ability checks like the check to dispel magic or counter a spell. College of Eloquence will get less benefit than most bards.
• Ioun Stone (Mastery)^DMG: Proficiency Bonuses apply to a lot of things and a +1 bonus goes a longway. But Attunement is precious and you’ll probably only get one legendaryitem. You can get +1 to all saves and all ability checks with a Stone ofGood Luck rather than just ones where you have proficiency, and they’reUncommon so they should be easy to find by this level. I might consider thison warlock subclasses which have features which depend on your ProficiencyBonus like Hexblade’s Curse, but otherwise a Stone of Good Luck will be moreeffective.
• Jester’s Mask^BoMT/a>: A +3 spellcasting focus, some excellent defensive benefits, and you don’t need to hold it in your hard.
• Luck BladeDMG: Bonuses to attacks and saves, a once per day reroll, and it can cast Wisha few times (maybe. 1d4-1 could be zero).Green if it can’t cast Wish.
• Orb of Skoraeus^GotG: Darkvision, see in magical darkness, a bonus to saves to maintain concentration, and mitigate 300gp of material component costs per day. This feels very tempting, but it’s just not good enough for this rarity. By this level, 300gp is a pittance, and you have access to magical options that make magical darkness much less of a problem.
• Ring of Spell Turning^DMG: Given the choice, I would much rather have a Mantle of Spell Resistancesimply because the Ring of Spell Turning doesn’t provide any protectionagainst area effect spells. Otherwise, this is a really fun item, and if itprovided Advantage on saves against area of effect spells it would shootstraight up to blue.
• Ring of Three Wishes^DMG: Provided that you didn’t go for The Genie as your Otherworldly Patron, youshould use this to do one of the things that risks permanently removing theability to cast Wish, such as granting 10 creatures permanent resistance toonce damage type. If you lose the ability to cast Wish, pass this off toanother ally who will never be able to cast Wish by any other means. Repeatuntil the last charge is used.
• Robe of the Archmagi^DMG: Combine the benefits of a Very Rare spellcasting focus, a Barrier Tattoo(Rare), and a Mantle of Spell Resistance. Those are three absolutelyfantastic items, and combining them on one item is spectacular.
• Rod of Lordly Might^DMG: Allows you to easily change your weapon damage type, and provides threepowerful offensive abilities which work in a variety of situations.
• Scarab of Protection^DMG: An upgrade from the Mantle of Spell Resistance, the Scarab of Protectionadds a limited benefit against necromancy and undead creatures, and doesn’ttake up your cloak slot, leaving you free to take items like a Cloak ofProtection or Cloak of Invisibility instead.

Example Warlock Build – Tiefling Warlock (Fiend)

Tari’th Darkmoon the Tiefling Fiendish Warlock

Your eyes search for the source of the purple blast that just blew pastyour hair. After adjusting from the momentary brightness, they land on aburnished orange Tiefling, her white eyes reflecting the violet hues of thefizzling spell. She stands tall and graceful with her leather armor andelegantly curved horns, her beauty as enchanting as her power. You’re sotaken by her captivating presence that several moments of intense study passbefore you even notice the small, scaly creature skittering across hershoulders.

— Boxed text provided by dScryb^{(affiliate link)}

Thisisa“StapleBuild”.Thisbuildissimple,andreliesonoptionsfromtheSRDandtheBasicRuleswhereverpossible.Ifyouneedafunctionalbuildwithnothingfancyorcomplicated,thisisagreatplacetostart.

The combination of Tiefling and Infernal patron place a lot of emphasis onfire damage. This is fine in most cases, though you’ll have issues againstenemies with resistance or immunity to fire damage. Fortunately warlocks canalways fall back on Eldritch Blast.

Abilities

Because we’re not using feats, there’s little incentive to spend the extrapoints to start with 15 Charisma, so we’ll make some adjustments to theability scores presented above to get the most out of our points. You couldswitch some points around to raise your Intelligence and/or Wisdom, butneither are important to the build so we won’t worry about it.

Race

Tiefling. The Tiefling’s ability scores line up nicely for the Warlock, andtheir racial spells are a nice complement to the Warlock’s limited spellslots.

Skills and Tools

With such high Charisma it’s easy to build the Warlock as a Face, so we’ll take Deception and Intimidation.

If your party already has a Face, it may be helpful to adjust your ability scores to raise your Intelligence, then pick up options like Arcana, History, Nature or Religion.

Also keep in mind that certain Eldritch Invocations can give you proficiency in more skills.

Background

None of the options in the basic rules are an especially good fit for us as aFace, unfortunately. Criminal gets us a redundant proficiency in Deceptionwhich we can trade for Persuasion, and Noble gets us Persuasion on its own, soeither of the two will work. If you pick Criminal, Thieves’ Tools proficiencyand Stealth will help you act as your party’s Scout, too.

If you chose to emphasize knowledge skills over Face skills, look at Acolyteor Sage.

Feats

With a singular focus on Charisma and a starting score of 16, there’s plentyof room for feats in this build. Elemental Adept (Fire) and Flames ofPhlegethos will both help keep your fire damage options useful, and MagicInitiate can help pad your spellcasting options.

Levels

At this level you can cast Hellish Rebuke as a racial spell, so knowing it as a Warlock spell is less useful. You don’t want to need Hellish Rebuke frequently, so consider replacing Hellish Rebuke with another 2nd-level spell like Mirror Image.