Baldur’s Gate 3 Warlock guide

Getting magical abilities from outer beings and beasties has never been this easy.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

Outer entities of great cosmic powers that bestow great powers onto you? What’s not to love about that. Surely there can be no downsides to being an extension of power to an Eldritch being or Devil, right? Well not in Early Access! As with all classes, Warlocks are capped at Level 4. But what makes Warlock special is the blend of melee and spellcasting, as well as having access to the unique Eldritch Invocations, each of which are what make Warlocks special. Furthermore, unlike other spellcasters, Warlocks regain their expended spell slots after a short rest, but the payoff is that you won’t have as many spells as other spellcasters.

Warlocks in Baldur’s Gate 3

Warlocks in BG3 are nearly identical to their tabletop counterpart, maintaining a lot of the same spells and abilities. However, not all Eldritch Invocations have been adapted to the game just yet, and there are only a certain number of them available to choose from. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to make the best Warlock, either for your own character or for your one-eyed companion, Wyll.

Warlocks are a Charisma-focused class, so you’ll want Charisma to be your highest stat. With Dexterity or Wisdom as your second-highest, depending on if you want to delve in the hybrid melee and spellcasting aspect of Warlock or if you want to be solely ranged and spell-focused.

Best Races for Warlocks

As previously mentioned, you’ll want Charisma to be your highest stat. Then with the potential of Dex or Wisdom as your next highest. So these will be the best races for you to play as a Warlock:

• Tiefling: +2 Charisma then you can pick a subrace to specialise in your secondary stat.
• Half-Elf: +2 Charisma and +2 in whatever stat you want! Win-win!
• Drow: +2 Dexterity and +1 Charisma. If you want to be more up-close and melee, Drow’s the way to go!
• Human: +1 to all stats, the ultimate all-rounder!

Fiend or Great Old One?

The ultimate decision, did you make a deal with a devil or an Eldritch entity? Well, depending on the selected Patron, you’ll get different advantages and abilities. Although it’s still quite early in the game, we’ve not seen many role-playing aspects of either Patron, so for the time being it seems like Warlock is a purely mechanical class. If you hoped to select them based on potential role playability then you might need to wait till the game is fully released.

For the time being, we’ll take a look at what makes either Patron special.

The Fiend

Warlocks in service to fiends work towards corrupting, destructive ends, – intentionally or otherwise – and receive hellish blessings in turn. fiend Warlocks get special access to the spell Burning Hands and Command, but they also get the feat Dark One’s Blessings.

Dark One’s Blessing: When you reduce a hostile creature to 0 hit points, this gift from your patron grants you Charisma Modifier+Level hit points. (At least 1 temporary HP).

Then, you won’t see another class feature considering the level cap at 4. So you would fill out the rest of your character with Eldritch Invocations.

Great Old One

Warlocks bound to eldeitch being sin the Far Realms work towards inscrutable goals, gaining powers over entropy and the mind. One of the first things that Great Old One Warlocks get that Fiend ones don’t is access to two very powerful spells:

• Tasha’s Hideous Laughter: Can leave foes prone and incapacitated, leading to a nice opening for other classes to come in.
• Dissonant Whispers: Deals 3d6 Psychic Damage and can lead foes frightened.

However, that’s it. Considering players are capped at level 4, you won’t be seeing much from the Great Old One class just yet. So think of this subclass as simply giving you access to these two extra spells that wizards can learn…

Eldritch Invocations

Warlocks’ main gimmick is their access to Eldritch Invocations, a series of chosen features that grant you specific bonuses and boons.

• Agonizing Blast: When you cast Eldritch Blast, add your Charisma modifier to the damage it deals, unless it is negative.
• Armour of Shadows: You can cast Mage Armour on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot.
• Beast Speech: You can cast Speak with Animals at will, without expending a spell slot. 
• Beguiling Influence: You invoke your patron’s bewitching charm. You gain proficiency in the Deception and Persuasion Skills
• Devil’s Sight: You can see normally in darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 18 m.
• Fiendish Vigor: You can cast False Life on yourself at will as a 1st-level Spell, without expending a spell slot. 
• Mask of Many Faces: You can cast Disguise Self at will, without expending a spell slot. 
• Repelling Blast: When you hit a creature with Eldritch Blast, you can push the creature up to 4.5 m away from you.
• Thief of Five Fates: Once per long rest, you can cast Bane using a Warlock spell slot.

Arguably, one of the best invocations will always be Agonizing Blast. Considering Eldritch Blast will be your go-to cantrip, having this invocation makes it all the more lethal. As for your second invocation, that depends on preference. Early Access is abundant in animals to use Speak with Animals on, granting you some extra lore and even some fun interactions. However, being able to cast Mage Armour on yourself at will is equally useful and great. If you don’t have Darkvision, having Devil’s Sight can save you a lot of hassle when you reach the Underdark.

Final Thoughts

Warlocks are usually a heavily story-focused and roleplay-driven class in regular D&D. There’s not been much sign of that in Larian’s iteration of the game, but hopefully come the full release, we’ll be able to customize our relationship with our Patron more. Otherwise, in terms of mechanics, this class remains an all-around good one.

As for the best build? We’d recommend a Half-Elf Fiend Warlock!