Baldur's Gate 3 best Warlock build guide
Channel might and magic with our Baldur's Gate 3 best Warlock build
What is a strong Baldur's Gate 3 Warlock build? In Baldur's Gate 3, Warlocks are a solid Class choice that can leverage an array of powerful Spells. Although they may not have the inherent power of melee masters such as Fighters or Barbarians, they can be, in many ways, much more powerful. In Baldur's Gate 3, your companion Wyll is a Warlock, so if you don't plan to build your own Warlock character, you can look to our Baldur's Gate 3 respec guide and respec your party mate to make him as mighty as possible.
A Warlock can be an asset to almost any party composition, dealing significant damage against enemies that might resist more common melee and ranged weapon attacks. If you're looking for the best Warlock build ideas in Baldur's Gate 3, here's everything you need to know, including the best Race, Subclass, Background, Eldritch Invocations, Pact, and Spells.
Baldur's Gate 3 Warlock build basics
Warlocks can use unique magic and supernatural abilities to achieve their desired objectives, which generally means wiping out enemies. The Warlock's primary attribute is Charisma, which confers benefits to their spellcasting abilities.
Warlock Weapon, Armor, and Class Proficiencies:
- Warlock Weapon Proficiencies: Simple weapons
- Warlock Armor Proficiencies: Light armor
- Warlock Skill Proficiencies (choose 2): Arcana, Deception, History, Intimidation, Investigation, Nature, Religion
- Warlock Saving Throws: Wisdom and Charisma
Warlock Subclass options
At Level 1, Warlocks can choose from the following Subclasses:
- The Fiend: Leverage corruption and destruction to earn dark blessings bestowed upon you.
- The Great Old One: This Warlock Subclass is bound to eldritch beings in the Far Relams, granting them powers over entropy and the mind.
- Archfey: You are endowed with the qualities of a lady or lord of the Fey, and can leverage their abilities within you.
Eldritch Invocations
At Levels 2, 5, 7, 9, and 12, Warlocks can choose from several Eldritch Invocations, with your choice of two at Level 2 and one at all other listed levels. The following Eldritch Invocations are available as you progress:
- Level 2: Agonizing Blast, Armor of Shadows, Beast Speech, Beguiling Influence, Devil's Sight, Fiendish Vigor, Mask of Many Faces, Repelling Blast, Thief of Five Fates, One with Shadows
- Level 5: Mire the Mind, Sign of Ill Omen
- Level 7: Book of Ancient Secrets, Dreadful Word, Sculptor of Flesh
- Level 9: Minions of Chaos, Otherworldly Leap, Whispers of the Grave
- Level 10: Lifedrinker
Pacts
At Level 3, your Warlock character can select a Pact.
- Pact of the Chain: Gain a familiar, which is a fey spirit that takes the form of an animal, imp, or quasit. At Level 5, the familiar can attack twice.
- Pact of the Blade: Summon a pact weapon or bind the one you're wielding to make it magical. This item uses its wielder's Primary Spellcasting Ability Modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity. At Level 5, you will gain an extra attack with your pact weapon.
- Pact of the Tome: Grants a grimoire that allows you cast grimoire called The Book of Shadows, which allows you to cast the Spells Guidance, Vicious Mockery, and Thorn Whip. At Level 5, you can also cast Animate Dead, Call Lightning, and Haste.
Best Warlock Race, Background, and Skills
Your Race, Background, and Skills are relevant to your Class as they can enhance and strengthen your character. Although your choices may vary based on your team composition, these are our picks for the best Warlock build.
The best Warlock Race is Githyanki.
The Githyanki Race grants Proficiency in all Skills of a chosen Ability. In this case, we recommend Dexterity, as our pick for the strongest Warlock build has a melee focus. Githyanki also receive Armor Proficiency with light and medium armor and Weapon Proficiency with shortswords, longswords, and greatswords. The additional proficiencies you gain from this Race are particularly helpful in the early game, as Warlocks can benefit from higher damage-dealing melee weapons that they could not use effectively otherwise. The Race also gains the Mage Hand Cantrip at Level 1, an improved Jump at Level 3, and the Misty Step teleportation Spell at Level 5.
The best Warlock Background is Charlatan.
Charlatans gain Deception and Sleight of Hand Proficiency Bonuses. Deception helps the character to hide the truth about various matters in your interactions, while Sleight of Hand grants checks on manual trickery such as lockpicking, pickpocketing, and hiding items.
The best Warlock Skill Proficiencies are Arcana and Intimidation.
Arcana measures an ability to tap into knowledge about Spells, magical items, and entities, while Intimidation is geared toward using the threat of force to get what you want and ensure others conform to your will.
Best Warlock Subclass
The best Warlock Subclass is The Fiend. The Fiend grants the Dark One's Blessing passive at Level 1, which, upon killing an enemy, grants temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier and your level. At Level 6, you'll earn Dark One's Own Luck for a 1d10 to an Ability Check once per Short Rest. At Level 10, you'll earn Fiendish Resilience, an Action that allows you to become resistant to a chosen damage type, which you can change after each Short Rest.
Best Warlock Eldritch Invocations
The best Warlock Eldritch Invocations by each level are:
- Level 2: Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast
- Level 5: Armor of Shadows
- Level 7: Book of Ancient Secrets
- Level 9: Minions of Chaos
- Level 10: Lifedrinker
Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast add damage and a knockback effect to your Eldritch Blast, which is your powerful Warlock damage-dealing Spell. Book of Ancient Secrets and Armor of Shadows add Spells to your Spellbook that do not take up Warlock Spell Slots. Minions of Chaos adds Conjure Elemental to your Spell list, while Lifedrinker is a must-have because it adds Necrotic Damage to your melee.
Best Warlock Pact
The best Warlock Pact is Pact of the Blade.
Pact of the Blade will allow you to summon a melee weapon and automatically gain Proficiency with it while you have it equipped. Because the weapon is considered magical, the Warlock can use its Charisma modifier for Attack and Damage rolls when the player wields it. With this Pact, Warlocks can also use an Action to convert a weapon they are holding into a Pact weapon until their next Long Rest, conferring the same benefits. Ultimately, this provides more versatility in combat when not using Spells.
At Level 5, Pact of the Blade Warlocks gain an Extra Attack with the Pact weapon. This makes the Warlock an exceptionally powerful damage dealer at Level 10, should the player choose the Lifedrinker Eldritch Invocation.
Best Warlock Spells and Cantrips
Warlocks start the game with two known Cantrips and one Spell Slot in addition to any granted by the Race, Subclass, and other variable options.
Best Warlock Cantrips
The best Warlock Cantrips are:
Level 1 Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Friends
Level 4 Cantrip: Blade Ward
Level 4 Cantrip: Mage Hand
Best Warlock Spells
Note that Spell Levels do not correspond with character levels. Typically, Spell Levels increase with every other character level.
These are the best Warlock Spells by Spell Level:
Level 1: Burning Hands (The Fiend), Hex
Level 2: Scorching Ray (The Fiend), Blindness (The Fiend)
Level 3: Fireball (The Fiend), Hold Person
Level 4: Blight, Hunger of Hadar
Level 5: Hold Monster, Banishment
Level 6: Circle of Death
Best Warlock Feats
Warlock can choose Feats at Levels 4, 8, and 12. The best Warlock Feats are:
- Level 4: War Caster
- Level 8: Resilient
- Level 12: Lucky
War Caster is a powerful first pick because it gives Advantage on Saving Throws to hold Concentration, giving you a better opportunity to maintain Concentration when taking damage. Resilient simply allows you to increase an Ability by +1, and we suggest adding this to Constitution to increase your Proficiency Bonus because, when paired with War Caster, you are much more likely to win your Saving Throws when an enemy Action attempts to break your Concentration. Finally, Lucky grants three Luck Points per Long Rest, which you can use to gain Advantage on Attack Rolls, Ability Checks, or Saving Throws. You can also use them to make an enemy reroll their Attack Rolls.
That's everything you need to know to make a powerful melee Warlock in Baldur's Gate 3. Be sure to also check out our guide to multiclassing, or, if you're looking to take your relationship to the next level with one of your companions, you can also see our Baldur's Gate 3 romance guide. And, as you're building your companion group in the newest game from Larian Studios, you'll also want to take a look at our best builds guide for a breakdown of all of the Classes in a nutshell.
Disclosure: Former RPS deputy editor Adam Smith (RPS in peace) now works at Larian and is the lead writer for Baldur's Gate 3. Former contributor Emily Gera also works on it.