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Of the three ways to become a warlock inBaldur’s Gate 3, aligning yourself with an unknowable entity that probably seeks to end all mortal existence is the best choice you can make. By becoming one of The Great Old One’s agents you gain incredible cosmic powers to control the minds of those around you. Most of that involves letting enemies glimpse the infinite to shatter their minds.
When existential terror doesn’t work, you can always fall back on the one thing that warlocks always do best: Eldritch Blast. In fact, warlocks of the Great Old Ones make some of the best Eldritch Blasters around, inflicting both incredible damage and mortal fear on their unfortunate targets.
5 plus Constitution modifier
Simple weapons
Light armour
Spellcasting Ability
Charisma
This build leans into what a warlock does best:immense ranged damage with Eldritch Blastsupported by useful debuff and utility spells. You’ll make a great face thanks to your high Charisma score, but you’ll need support from the rest of your companions for non-speaking skill checks.
Your early game is just going tostack damage sources alongside Eldritch Blast. Later, you’llstack crit chance-increasing effectsto make the most out of Mortal Reminder, which has a chance to make enemies frightened whenever you land a critical hit.
Although The Great Old Ones providea selection of excellent debuff spells, you’ll be sticking tostandby warlock spells Hex and Hellish Rebuketo augment much of your damage. Pact of the Tome providesHastefor even more Eldritch Blasting later on, and your late-game equipment will provide even more opportunities to blast away with abandon.
High Charisma and incredible cosmic powerare everything you need to succeed in Baldur’s Gate 3.
8(-1)
16(+3)
14(+2)
10(0)
Charismais yourspellcasting modifier and yourmost important stat. Give that a solid +3 modifier to start and expect to get it to 20 as soon as possible.Dexterity at 16provides a solid boost to your armor class, whileConstitution at 14provides a decent number of hit points.
Intelligence,Wisdom, andStrengthcan be sacrificed to boost your three primary stats. Wisdom and Intelligence are at 10 just to avoid negative modifiers, while Strength is at 8 as the minimum required to perform some jumps (which can later be augmented with spells).
You’ll start by picking your subclass (The Great Old Ones, in case you’d forgotten), and then go about picking your spells.Eldritch Blast is key to the build, so be sure to grab it.Friendsis a nice cantrip for passing conversation checks, whileHexprovides a bonus action and a nice damage buff.Hellish Rebukeis a great reaction spell that can often kill enemies on their turn.
At level two, pick upCharm Personto give you more social options, and bothAgonising and Repelling Blastsas your Eldritch Invocations. The first adds your Charisma modifier to your Eldritch Blast, vastly improving its damage. Repelling Blast pushes enemies away, which can result in your Eldritch Blast pushing enemies off of cliffs.
Level three brings your Pact choice, which should bePact of the Tome. This gives youGuidanceas a cantrip and will later provideHasteto further improve your damage output.Misty Stepis an incredibly useful spell that can teleport you to hard-to-reach places and also get you out of a jam in combat.
Increase your Charisma by two at level four, and pick upMage HandandInvisibility. Level five bringsDeepened Pactand another Eldritch Invocation.Beguiling Influenceprovides two useful skills, but feel free to respec at Withers if you’ve already got deception and persuasion as proficiencies.Counterspellis a must-have third-level spell for any spellcaster.
Learn to fly at level six withGrant Flight, then learn to teleport at level seven withDimension Door. Another Eldritch Invocation bringsBook of Ancient Secrets, which providesRay of Sickness,Chromatic Orb, andSilence.
Level eight brings another two Charisma andBanishment, while level nine brings Minions of Chaos and theConjure Elementalspell.Hold Monsteris another great save-or-suck spell to add to your arsenal along withDominate Personat level 10.Minor Illusionis a fine cantrip to pick up, but feel free to pick whatever you want here.
Level 11 gives usDominate Beastfor yet another way to mind control something, and for the Mystic Arcanum spell, pickEyebite. This spell can utterly ruin bosses if it lands, and if not, there’s always Haste to fall back on.
Level 12 bringsGaseous Formas a great way to sneak your way through certain challenges, but feel free to pick whatever spell you prefer.Your last Eldritch Invocation is also up to you. What’s important is topick Spell Sniper as your feat. This reduces the number required to critical hit with your Eldritch Blast, which will combine with your gear to greatly increase your crit chance.
Best Races For A Great Old Ones Warlock
Several races provide beneficial bonuses to the Great Old Ones warlock.Below we have the potential races ranked best to worst.
Elf
Wood Elf is by far the best race for this build. You getextra movement, advantage against being charmed and sleep effects,Darkvision, perception and stealth proficiency, and proficiency withshort bows,longbows, andshortswords: everything you will need to equip the late-game build.
Drow
Drow will give youshortswords, but you don’t get shortbows or longbows.Dancing Lights, Faerie Fire, and Darkness are all good spells and almost make up the shortcoming, but not quite.
Githyanki
Githyanki provides almost everysword proficiency,Astral Knowledge, andmedium armor proficiency, which can make for some interesting variations on the suggested builds.Mage Hand,Enhance Leap, andMisty Stepare all good spells, but you’ll get most of them just following the build.
Dwarf
Duergar is the best choice here forDuergar Resilience,Superior Darkvision, advantage against being poisoned, and both the Enlarge and Invisibility spells. Gold is second place for the extra hit points, and Shield in third for medium armor.
Half-Elf
You get towield a shield, which is nice, and you have most of the benefits of being an elf, but you don’t get the weapon proficiencies that really make this build pop.
Human
Like half-elf, but without the elf bonuses and25 percent more carrying capacity. The shield proficiency is nice, but not required.
Halfling
Everyone lovesHalfling Luckandadvantage against poison and frightconditions are nice, but you’re missing a lot of proficiencies you’ll want later.
Gnome
Gnome Cunningcan make you surprisingly difficult to ensorcell.Darkvisionis also good to have, but none of the subraces provide much else for this build.
Tiefling
Fire resistance,Darkvision, and a few spells that you’re not likely to use.Asmodeus Tieflingis best, but you’re unlikely to castProduce Flame, you already learnHellish Rebuke, andDarknessis good, but hardly a game changer.
Half-Orc
Savage Attacksdoes nothing since you’re not making weapon attacks.Intimidationproficiency is good, but you’re able to get it elsewhere.Relentless Enduranceis also good, but better for your party’s tank. Look elsewhere.
Dragonborn
Abreath weapon and aresistanceisn’t enough to recommend this race over any other.
Cloak
The Lifebringer
Gain three temporary hit points for each Lightning Charge you have.
Amulet
The Protecty Sparkswall
+1 to spell save DC. Gain +1 to AC and all saving throws so long as you have Lightning Charges.
Pearl of Power Amulet
As an action, regain a spell slot up to third level.
Ring #1
The Sparkle Hands
Successful unarmed attacks gain two Lightning Charges. When imbued with Lightning Charges, attacks against metal constructs or enemies wearing metal armor have advantage.
Ring #2
Disintegrating Night Walkers
Can’t be enwebbed, entangled, or ensnarled, and can’t slip on ice or grease. Cast Misty Step once per short rest.
Off-Hand Melee Weapon
The Spellsparkler
1d6 bludgeoning damage. Gain two Lightning Charges whenever you deal damage with a spell or cantrip.
Bow of Awareness(if proficient)
None
N/A
The early game isall aboutLightning Charges. Each Lightning Charge adds lightning damage to your Eldritch Blast, and each Eldritch Blast adds Lightning Charges thanks to theSpellsparkler. Combine with your Hex spell, and you’ll notice Eldritch Blast will out-damage most dedicated damage spells most of the time.
TheProtecty Sparkswallprovides a little bonus to spell save DC and armor class, andThe Lifebringergives you temporary hit points.Ring of Protectionfurther enhances your armor class and saving throws.Disintegrating Nightwalkersprevents some annoying mobility issues and also provides a freeMisty Step, andFetish of Callarduran Smoothhandsprovides a free Invisibility.
Pearl of Power Amuletprovides your warlock with a desperately needed third spell slot in the early game, but itonly works until level sevenwhen your slots become fourth level.
If you went human or half-elf,Safeguard Shieldwill provide yet more defenses, and if you went elf (as recommended),Bow of Awarenessprovides +1 to your initiative rolls. Going first in combat is a huge bonus as you’ll often be able to take out a target before the opposing side can respond.
+2 Charisma (up to 22).
Cloak of the Weave
+1 to spell save DC and spell attack rolls. Cast Absorb Elements once per short rest.
Potent Robe
+1 AC. Add your Charisma modifier to your cantrip damage. At the beginning of each turn of combat, gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier.
Spineshudder Amulet
Inflicts two turns of Reverberation whenever you deal damage with a ranged spell attack.
Quickspell Gloves
Cast a cantrip as a bonus action once per short rest.
Coruscation Ring
Inflicts Radiating Orb on the target whenever you deal spell damage while illuminated by a light source.
Boots of Stormy Clamour
Inflict two turns of Reverberation on a target whenever you inflict a condition.
Knife of the Undermountain King
1d6 + 2 slashing damage. Reduce the number required for a critical hit by 1. When your damage dice rolls two or less, reroll and take the higher result. You have advantage on attack rolls against lightly or heavily obscured targets.
Rhapsody
1d4 +1 piercing damage. Gain +1 to attack rolls, damage, and spell save DC for each slain foe up to a maximum of +3. Chance to inflict bleeding while attacking with this weapon from hiding or while invisible.
Off-Hand Ranged Weapon
The Dead Shot(if proficient)
1d8 + 2 piercing damage. Reduce the number required to critical hit by 1. Double your proficiency bonus when rolling attacks with this weapon unless you have disadvantage.
The late-game buildmaximizes both your damage and crowd-control potential byleveraging the Reverberationstatus conditionand critical hits. Mortal Reminder causes every creature within a small radius to make a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened every time you land a crit. Reverberation stacks reduce your target’s stats, deal extra thunder damage, and can knock opponents prone if they fail a Constitution saving throw. And since you’ll be shooting a ton of Eldritch Blasts, you’ll do that a lot.
The late game brings a certain tension between Haste and Hex.You’re better off casting Haste as your concentration spell in longer fightsto get more attacks with Eldritch Blast, butshorter ones benefit more from using Hexusing your bonus action for a little more damage.
But first, some good, old-fashioned damage stacking.Birthrightbrings your Charisma to 22, whilePotent Robedoubles your Agonizing Blast Eldritch Invocation.Coruscating RingandCallous Glow Ringadd two more points of radiant damage and also help trigger Reverberation courtesy ofBoots of Stormy Clamour.Spineshudder Amuletguarantees Reverberation stacks whenever you Eldritch Blast.
Quickspell Gloveslets you Eldritch Blast as a bonus action, allowing you to use it twice on a single turn (although usually the turn after you cast Hex to increase your damage further).Cloak of the Weavehelps to increase your spell attack and spell save DC, and Absorb Elements is a nice reaction spell to have handy.
Knife of the Undermountain KingandThe Dead Shotare there to reduce your crit number by two. Combined with Spell Sniper, you’ll be critting on a 17 or higher, which means your Eldritch Blast will average out to activating Mortal Reminder on every fifth blast.Rhapsodyincreases your damage and hit chance with every kill you get.
Rhapsody does little against single-target bosses, so feel free toreplace it with Bloodthirstwhenever you find yourself without multiple targets.
