Warlock Subclass Tier Ranking (Part 3) In Dungeons & Dragons 5e 

Imagine being a paladin and suddenly bam you summon a tentacle

Insert Hentai joke here. lol

Roll for tickle time!

Wrestling themed fathomless warlock with tavern brawler feat, pact of the blade who summons improvised weapons like a folding chair, and the tentacle is your tag team partner.

I do this same this, every single time

"Ah yes, the floor is made out of floor" moment.

"people die when they are killed"

the archer class is made up of archers

@@rodrigonoffs1369 the quote is "The Archer class *Really* is made up of Archers" if you're going to quote Fate, at least do it right.

Wasn't that a "sasuga" line anyways? So a more normal translation would be something like "As you'd expect from an Archer [your eyesight is really good]".

That’s awesome.

Sonic the hedgehog?

That or a paladin with a trusty steed.

Genius

Thats what your familiar is for.

A Decanter of Endless water is now the party's most sacred treasure.

Haha I just imagined a warlock creating koi ponds throughout the world

I think the mile distance restriction is super lame though

Yes, but it’s only one mile. It’s not teleportation circle, or even teleport, by any means. Not really a get-out-of-jail three card that it sounds like

@@sunstar8782 A Mile is longer than you think it is. And It's not made for world teleportation. I'd rather have this than the utterly broken version in the UA. You just gotta be smart with it

you could also do this as a tome lock take find familiar. Then pick the owl and use it to fly for a good distance

Also you can double your overland travel pace by sleeping in the vessel while your invisible flying imp travels toward your destination for 8 hours.

I just replied with this exact thought! 😅😂👍🏼

@@andrewmcmillan229 oh that is awesome

Yeah if they didn't give it the S Tier I was going to bring this up. Genie Warlock is the best infiltrator bar none.

On the other hand there is so much versatility with the vessel... For example escaping deadly trap. Are you in a closed room, can't get out and the ceiling is moving to crush you? Just get the vessel to a position that you feel is most likely close to an exit and bring your party in. When it gets crushed you appear in the closest unoccupied place i.e outside of the room. Basicaly it can get you away from almost any effect that is on timer. Do you want to escape jail? Even if the jailer took your vessel just perform a ceremony that will summon you a new one (you don't need any components for that) put your hand through the bars hop in and hop out... you are outside of your cell. Unlock a easy travel option... Let familiar or some other summon carry the vessel while you and your party rest inside. Use it as temporary jail... Trap something in bag of holding or portable hole and leave it in there. Or get them in there and put Dimensional shackles on them, since it blocks any extradimensional movement it will prevent them from leaving when you get out. Btw even if you dip in just two levels like me in my current campaign you can still bring in your party if they get in bag of holdings or portable holes. It doesn't have the benefit of the improved short rest but otherwise has all of the advantages. Just be creative and this feature alone elevates Genie in S tier and you can get it just for one level dip, add bonus damage scaling with your proficiency and this makes it the best option for one or two level dips to warlock for any ranged build.

Doesn't it knock prone as well

Genius

@@KingYejob genie-ous

Also if you take earth genie you get spike growth and you can push and pull them trough the spikes for 4d4 damage per each blast.

@@nomass7600 this ends up being OP. you can dribble them up into the air or then drag them grater style across the Spike Growth.

Give the ring as a gift!

Once a Genie Warlock, the warrior tied the ring with me, the rogue and the wizard to an arrow and then threw it inside a city we had to help capture. The DM had planned an entire dungeon for us to enter inside and was absolutely shocked and laughed so hard he could not stop. We managed to open the doors for the main army from the inside with this absolutely stupid move

Take pact of the Chain and your Familiar can pretty much sneak you in anywhere.

The shenanigans that you can do with this subclass makes it an S rank in my books. May not have the power of a Hexblade, but it has so many fun things that it can do, one of the best easy.

@@LupineShadowOmega Yes your familiar can carry it and turn invisible while wearing it turning you and everyone else inside invisible with pact of the chain. Especially if you chose an imp

true :)

If you can breathe underwater, can’t you also speak underwater? I don’t understand why you wouldn’t be able to speak if you were able to breathe

@@yooooo8600 Depends on how you're breathing I guess? Gills probably wouldn't let you speak.

Before hearing their ranking for either, I'd say Fathomless is an A and genie is probably an A for me as well, maybe high B.

I just absolutely hate and how much they changed it from the UA version it really was flavorful back then it was honestly amazing

Remember that the community doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Remember how many S rankings berserker barbarian got and the fact that the chronurgy wizard got a B

free bonus action stuff to do is always awesome

yeah, genie is also good, but by no mean a whole rank above fathomless

I actually made a theorical build that included that multiclass with a Mercy Monk with the Tabaxi race for the ultimate unarmed attack. I wouldnt call the build op, but it was a fun experiment

Neat. Rules-wise, technically the swarmkeeper damage isn't part of the weapon attack, though, so wouldn't qualify for piercer. (Although as a DM I'd allow it if someone was willing to put in that much work to apply all three of slasher, crusher, and piercer at the same time).

@@KaitlynBurnellMath Yeah, the exact wording doesn't quite allow it, but most GMs I personally know would allow it. Also, a Tabaxi monk way of mercy(which can use slashing as unarmed via its feline's claw feature), if Piercer+Swarmkeeper is accepted, can activate all three, plus stunning strike and hand of harm poisoned condition on one strike each turn. That's one hell of a punch (I really, really like the image). Then again, I wouldn't even call it overpowered since you burn fast through your Ki points and its one punch each turn, the subsequent ones aren't as formidable. But thats a fun build for a one shot

@@lepatriote5767 I made a similar theoretical build that's...pretty bad, lol, but basically let's you deal every damage type in one hit (in 2 rounds). D&D shorts said he might do a video on it eventually. It does require the currently UA feat Gift of the Chromatic dragon to pull off tho...

@@pyrobob5724 noice

Find Familiar alone adds a lot, because now the party can all go into the vessel, and the familiar could carry you around, let alone the role play options you mention.

You are a monster and a devil. Good job, this is brilliant. Devilish, but brilliant nonetheless

@@kevinglass1186 Not quite. A normal familiar can't talk to the group and dies in a single hit. The Pact of the Chain ones can communicate effciently, are more resilient and can just do much, much more, including casting some spells / abilities on their own. The Quasit and Sprite for example can turn invisible until they attack - so bascially as long as it wants.

Thus sounds awesome, did the party know pvp was allowed? It could be a problem if the party stops trusting eachother

My genasi genielock's patron is her mom, and we have a lot of fun roleplay in the game because of that! I also did a shitton of research into djinn lore to make it more accurate

Did the same myself, but for me Fire Genasi and with an Efreeti mother. Because of the way their society works, she has a figure head husband and takes lovers in order to father children to serve her. Usually sorcerer genasi or genie. But every once in awhile she gets an "ungifted child" and so makes them a warlock while forcing them to prove their worth.

Yes it’s weird that they forgot that

They generally don’t really take multiclassing into account when doing these

My paladin is about the take the genie warlock basically to get the wrath feature. It being based on PB instead of warlock level means any class could benefit from it. The problem i ran into with hexblade was i found i didnt always use the curse before a rest. where this is just always on, amazing. very S. Plus now I plan to use the bottle to get a short rest. the party i play in hates short rests for some reason. now I can hop in a ring and get the slots back once a day weather they stop for me or not. amazing.

I love this concept, it’s so brilliant. That ability is already strong but creating your own retreat spot is ingenious

Giving the party a Decanter of Endless Water is now a game changer.

5th level cause you’re a warlock, but still!

For a limited time, water soaks into the ground pretty quick if its not there often enough for the ground to be saturated. But, yes as a escape plan for if a raid goes wrong or something it should work.

@@Ahglock I mean, there is a point. But if the players actively went out of their way to make a pond in a creative way, I'd just let them do it.

Breathe everything, nothing can stop you

Ah, the cheese grater combo! I wonder, does the enemy get shorter with each pass?

Saw this happen with my druid and a warlock with the pushing eldritch blast. It's devastating!

Yes but eventually the enemies dealing bludgeoning damage will be doing so magically and negate this completely.

@@BigPurpleCarrot read it, RaW it only says bludgeoning no mention of non magical or not.

@@BigPurpleCarrot except this is flat bludgeoning resistance like a barbarians rage, it’s all bludgeoning including magical

On top of the fact that Bludgeoning is a more common damage type that any elemental dmg, or even poison, falling damage is also bludgeoning. And there is confirmation from the devs that resistance to bludgeoning does affect fall damage. Also since you can add your prof bonus in magical bludgeoning damage to any attack including spells, there are some cool shenanigans that can be done with the Crusher feat.

@@grayrook8637 Fair enough not as bad as I thought then

Same

It's been out for a few months. I'm shocked they didn't throw it in.

i started playing one on sunday night, the avatar mode has already saved me in the opening combat. I'd already decided that i'm not running it pure though.

god me too

Yeah, I'm kinda disappointed since I love the Undead patron passionately. It's become my favorite warlock subclass and my strongest PC currently is a level 15 Undead warlock. Rhorakas, I love you so much.

Spike Growth doesn't require concentration, so you can do some Hex shenanigans. Edit: Was wrong, oops.

@@Karxrida It does require concentration, plant growth doesnt require it.

@@JoshityJosh Oops, my bad. When I was looking on D&D Beyond I didn't see the tag. It's still a stupidly good spell to have on a Warlock, though.

The warlock themself can get a familiar, even one with invisibility and flight.

@@Sheamu5 I roleplayed that my Warlock (he was a Pact of the Tome warlock) had his Familiar living inside the vessel and it would just be too lazy to come out if it got “killed” until I summoned it again. I also had the spell Unseen servant in my Grimoire that also lived in the ring but had a Wand of Conducting that it would play whenever I rested inside my vessel XD

Balloons

Basically it would add an extra D6 to your eldritch blasts if you are in an open area you can fly above your opponent. That is D10+D6+charmod per hit and 2 concentration checks of 10 DC. Take Genie warlock with Djinni patron and you can be doing that while greater invisibility is up and they will not even be able to really know where it was going to be coming from to target you for retaliation. When you are tossing 3-4 EB's per turn it is stellar continuous damage potential for just a cantrip. Even better if you hex them.

adarian only once per turn -> Grasp of Hadar: Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with your Eldritch Blast, you can move that creature in a straight line 10 feet closer to yourself.

@@adarian can't hex AND be invisible at the same time. it's one or the other

@@sixpack4blue Someone else can cast Greater Invisibility on you while you cast Hex on your target

@@maid_of_heart3261 well, yeah. The opposite is true as well... if you have access to GI someone could cast fly on you and accomplish the same... but we're are talking about the abilities of a single subclass here not what a party of spell casters can accomplish together....

Not really? Hexblade would do just...better? Like overall. By a lot. The only thing Fathomless has going for it in Satlmarsh is the theme of it and the fact that you can breathe/swim....which just play a Triton BOOM free warlock class ability + stats!!!! Saltmarsh doesn't go far enough to take advantage of the 14th level ability and the 10th level ability is only good in ship combat(small area) so that falls off as well....its all around...just okay. Hexblade will just mash the damage making things trivial and if you're triton-bonus points for having free swim/water breathing.

Heck, that combo works even at level 2. Both invocations+a hit from the tentacle means any monster with 30 feet of move speed can’t move up to you.

Yeah, I've done this in TftYP: Dead in Thay. It was crazy good, and also Lethargy and repelling blast also combines great with Evards Tentacles. The fact that you have 5 tentacles uses per day means it's almost always available.

repelling blast and lance of lethargy are once on each of your turns, so you can't do it with both blasts

@@christianfairfaxpk Repelling Blast does not have that restriction, and can be done on every hit.

@@christianfairfaxpk only the lance has that restriction but repelling blast doesn't so the higher level you are the more you can push enemies away. meaning at level 17 you can push foes 40 feet and slow their movement by 20.

This right here. People may not realize it yet, but as an 18 year old who’s played dnd regularly for the past 4 years. I can say in confidence that kids that play dnd will be the bright minds that the world needs from the new generation

Yesssss

My idea was a sailor that stopped his crew from killing a merfolk so the deity saved him when they tossed him overboard. So now he is on a revenge mission to find the people who tried to kill him. Not really evil but a good story.

Because most brains are like this: . Your brain is like this: @

Is the common assumption that Warlock are always evil, wich is really limiting one of the most versatile (in terms of roleplay) classes. This is a porting of 3.5 where Warlocks where ALWAYS taking power from hell, but 5e let's you get every kind of patrons. Even Great Old One could be good(your patron is Bast, who is actually a benevolent elder god,or Norden, that isn't "good" but just wants to kill other cultist so... Good actions for wrong reasons?). You have like... Infinite possibilities

@@micheledelloglio5820 Aaah that old chestnut. It really is a shame to because I main the class, and I've gotta say as someone who prefers to be a caster. I love that I can't just use magic to solve any and every problem, it really motivates me to role play well. Also it's even more fun and compelling if your dm makes your patron quite involved in the main story

Okay

I think they should make a video discussing the different pact boons and the invocations associated with them

Me too

Me to warlock is my favorite class

Yeah, the only resurrection spell available for that is Revivify

@@carlosforma5978 Yup but it is still clutch when its your cleric that is dead, or heck anyone as it saves you a few hundred gold.

Your math is a bit off. Firstly, 20' would be the diameter, not the radius. Second, a circle is a 2d object. It has an area but not a volume. 20x20x20 is about the size of a (pretty tall) 2 car garage.

@@umfpyro my math is fine though a little on the small side, the Space is a 20-foot-radius cylinder as stated, and the area of the floor is calculated by π times the radius (20 ft in this case) squared. πR^2. Or π * (20 * 20). π * 400 is approximately 1256.631 sq ft. I never intended to calculate the volume.

After running the numbers (Volume=πr²h) a 20' diameter by 20' high cylinder would be 6283 ft³. The area of its base would be a smidge over 314 ft²

@@jeanief.6036 You're right, I was under the impression that it was a 20' diameter not radius. Apologies for my mistake. It's basically an apartment in a bottle/ring/lamp.

@@umfpyro hey no problem, I made the diameter/radius mistake the first time I did the math too

I'm playing a Genie Marid Bladelock with a Whip. Spirit Shroud if they need to be offensive, but they're a great spike shield. Armor of Agathys + Shadow of Moil is amazing

Multiclass splash into Genie Warlock on a Rogue makes a lot of sense to me. You mostly only get one attack per turn, so only being able to apply Genie's Wrath only once per turn isn't a big downside, and it'll really smooth out damage output when you can't activate Sneak Attack. On top of that Genie's Wrath damage still scales up if you stay at one Warlock level. You get some cantrips you can use for Booming Blade or Greenflame Blade. Infiltrate somewhere, then hide the stuff you steal in your vessel. Work your way up to level 3 and you'll have a pact weapon (instant weapons were one of the big perks of the Soul Knife). Thirsting Blade at level 5 might also be handy, since sometimes getting two attacks to avoid the catastrophe of missing entirely could be really handy. Go all the way to 6 and you can fly. There's a lot that the subclass offers as a multiclass on a combat character, at nearly anywhere between 1 and 6 levels. Sure, you ~could~ go Hexblade and use Charisma for your attack rolls, but maybe you don't want to mainstat Cha and want high Dexterity--rogues do have a lot of important Dex skills.

@@DefinitelyNotBender By bringing in an oceanic patron for a Swashbuckler, that's beginning to feel very much like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies!

There will be a couple new subclasses in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, too (monk and ranger, to be released in mid-October), so I expect D.D. to cover Ravenloft's new bard and warlock at the same time they review those.

I mean think of it you could have one person with teleport carry your ring with everyone in there and bam instant mass travel. Have a sneaky rogue? Pop in and let the rogue sneak and if theyre caught get a surprise attack anyways Got a really fast character and your familiar is away for some reason? Pop in and have your fastest character dash over and over. Almost have a TPK? Wait till your turn and tell your familiar to run away and pop everyone in the ring. This is very powerful but the only using it once per day is.... Limiting lol

That's so sick. I'm actually going to start playing one tomorrow. My cleric died when I got an unlucky nat 1 on my death save which is sad but I decided to make a genie warlock and am hyped for it. Can't decided between djin and marrid though

Fathomless Warlock and Storm Sorcerer go well together.

@@drax1526 that’s an idea worth stealing…

There's also the Spirits bard, and when Fizban's Treasury of Dragons comes out in mid-October, the Drakewarden ranger and Ascendent Dragon monk will be added! 😁

Honestly, it's not even that bad as a bladelock (nowhere near as good as hexblade but still). You have spells like blur, fire shield and greater invisibility, or bludgeoning resistance, also a bit of extra damage with each attack... good stuff. Yeah, flying chain blaster is optimal for it but if you wanted, you could still play a decent bladelock with the right race, feat and/or class-dip choices.

I think it's a little further down in ranking because Celestial means making heavy spell choices and Warlock spell slots are already limited. You just really have to have a plan.

I was really hoping someone else figured this out!

I would say it's an A or even an S, especially if you want to stay in Warlock for all levels. I find it better than Fiend, and even though Hexblade is the best at the start, it gets worse after that. Genie stays strong, but not overpowered, so I would rate it as an S if you don't multiclass

@@JonathanMandrake I think you’re absolutely right. As I thought about it more and listened to the guys talk, I realized I’d really been underrating it.