Hi I'm currently in a homebrew campaign my character is warlock lvl 4. I'm still fairly new and I haven't really gotten a hang of creating a good attack combo yet. So far I have hex and eldritch blast which works pretty well so don't really want to change those 2 and I have the chain pact. My main issue is when I either haven't summoned my familiar or if the familiar is killed ( summoning takes 1min or 10 turns), during fights I have an empty bonus action slot with not much I can do, what is a good way to use it? And as much as I love eldritch blast, it feels like that's all I do, it would be nice to switch around with a few spells. I'm also planning to multiclassing as a sorcerer to counter this issue with quicken spell. Any advice would be good in general since I have limited understanding in warlocks, thanks.
In another thread we were talking about Warlock tactics, and one thing that came up was the idea of learning to lean into the idea of being a dedicated Eldritch Blaster. Don't think of it as being a spell-caster limited to a single spell, but think of it more as being like a martial fighter... just like the Ranger will be firing arrows round after round, you'll also be firing eldritch blasts the same way.
What form does your Familiar take? With the increased options of Pact of the Chain, what form you prefer can make a big difference. If you have an Imp or a Sprite, a good tactic is to have them turn invisible and take the Help action each turn to give you advantage on your first Eldritch Blast each round (or, alternatively, you could assign them to help someone else in the party, like the Rogue to get sneak attacks). The Help Action doesn't break invisibility, so you could have a little invisible partner flying around the battlefield creating havoc.
As for Bonus actions... Hex is probably your go-to bonus action, so you don't want anything too demanding as a regular Bonus Action every round so that you can freely move your Hex as targets die. That said, a good option is to take the Telekinetic Feat from Tasha's... it does a few things, but most importantly it gives you a free bonus action shove you can use to push or pull enemies and allies. This could be especially useful if you're trying to keep your distance and focus on Eldritch Blast damage, or if you drop an AOE spell like Hunger of Hadar you can focus on shoving and pulling enemies into it. Combine it with Repelling Blast and you can basically shove and pull people all over the battlefield.
Telekinetic Feat is great, because there’s probably SOMEONE (friend or foe) worth shoving or pulling every round. And, it helps CHA progression!
A couple levels of Rogue for Cunning Action is another option... especially Mastermind, so you can Help from range as a bonus. Otherwise though, largely wasted features...
To use your Familiar... not a lot of options, it’s a crappy pact boon, and you should switch to Tome as soon as your DM allows you, and just get a normal familiar through Book of Ancient Secrets. Help actions is a good use for them, but being Invisible-but-unhidden doesn’t really make them much safer while doing that. You could also waste time casting Dragon’s Breath on them I suppose, but again... familiar shenanigans aren’t your job, you’re a blaster.
On a slight tangent, to help keep your familiar alive, remember when a warlock makes an attack using your familiar in combat, it uses its reaction to make the attack. It still has its own action - it can use this action to take the dodge action to give all attacks disadvantage (or turn invisible, if it's an imp, sprite, or quasit).
I don’t really consider a familiar part of combat. They cost too much to summon when they’re knocked to 0 HP and they really don’t make a huge impact. In my opinion they’re best for exploration and role playing. They’re especially good for spying!
You should just look to be that arcane archer, and get mileage out of your Eldritch Blast. You have a damage type few have resistance to, its magical damage, and you can do it as often as needed. Hex is a nice spell to stack it with; though be sure to weigh the options of using one spell slot.
Your familiar is not ideal as a combatant. What you should look to do is place the familiar in positions in battle where its presence can help. Help action is nice, but also an invisible imp can get opportunity attacks when a monster inadvertently moves away from it. They also make excellent scouts. I think the special familiars are more useful than going for some ritual spells with Pact of the Tome. Leverage their versatility.
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Hi I'm currently in a homebrew campaign my character is warlock lvl 4. I'm still fairly new and I haven't really gotten a hang of creating a good attack combo yet. So far I have hex and eldritch blast which works pretty well so don't really want to change those 2 and I have the chain pact. My main issue is when I either haven't summoned my familiar or if the familiar is killed ( summoning takes 1min or 10 turns), during fights I have an empty bonus action slot with not much I can do, what is a good way to use it? And as much as I love eldritch blast, it feels like that's all I do, it would be nice to switch around with a few spells. I'm also planning to multiclassing as a sorcerer to counter this issue with quicken spell. Any advice would be good in general since I have limited understanding in warlocks, thanks.
In another thread we were talking about Warlock tactics, and one thing that came up was the idea of learning to lean into the idea of being a dedicated Eldritch Blaster. Don't think of it as being a spell-caster limited to a single spell, but think of it more as being like a martial fighter... just like the Ranger will be firing arrows round after round, you'll also be firing eldritch blasts the same way.
What form does your Familiar take? With the increased options of Pact of the Chain, what form you prefer can make a big difference. If you have an Imp or a Sprite, a good tactic is to have them turn invisible and take the Help action each turn to give you advantage on your first Eldritch Blast each round (or, alternatively, you could assign them to help someone else in the party, like the Rogue to get sneak attacks). The Help Action doesn't break invisibility, so you could have a little invisible partner flying around the battlefield creating havoc.
As for Bonus actions... Hex is probably your go-to bonus action, so you don't want anything too demanding as a regular Bonus Action every round so that you can freely move your Hex as targets die. That said, a good option is to take the Telekinetic Feat from Tasha's... it does a few things, but most importantly it gives you a free bonus action shove you can use to push or pull enemies and allies. This could be especially useful if you're trying to keep your distance and focus on Eldritch Blast damage, or if you drop an AOE spell like Hunger of Hadar you can focus on shoving and pulling enemies into it. Combine it with Repelling Blast and you can basically shove and pull people all over the battlefield.
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Telekinetic Feat is great, because there’s probably SOMEONE (friend or foe) worth shoving or pulling every round. And, it helps CHA progression!
A couple levels of Rogue for Cunning Action is another option... especially Mastermind, so you can Help from range as a bonus. Otherwise though, largely wasted features...
To use your Familiar... not a lot of options, it’s a crappy pact boon, and you should switch to Tome as soon as your DM allows you, and just get a normal familiar through Book of Ancient Secrets. Help actions is a good use for them, but being Invisible-but-unhidden doesn’t really make them much safer while doing that. You could also waste time casting Dragon’s Breath on them I suppose, but again... familiar shenanigans aren’t your job, you’re a blaster.
I strongly recommend Telekinetic.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
On a slight tangent, to help keep your familiar alive, remember when a warlock makes an attack using your familiar in combat, it uses its reaction to make the attack. It still has its own action - it can use this action to take the dodge action to give all attacks disadvantage (or turn invisible, if it's an imp, sprite, or quasit).
I don’t really consider a familiar part of combat. They cost too much to summon when they’re knocked to 0 HP and they really don’t make a huge impact. In my opinion they’re best for exploration and role playing. They’re especially good for spying!
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You should just look to be that arcane archer, and get mileage out of your Eldritch Blast. You have a damage type few have resistance to, its magical damage, and you can do it as often as needed. Hex is a nice spell to stack it with; though be sure to weigh the options of using one spell slot.
Your familiar is not ideal as a combatant. What you should look to do is place the familiar in positions in battle where its presence can help. Help action is nice, but also an invisible imp can get opportunity attacks when a monster inadvertently moves away from it. They also make excellent scouts. I think the special familiars are more useful than going for some ritual spells with Pact of the Tome. Leverage their versatility.