Seeking Warlock Advice

[ozmiz]

Hello - I'm a total newbie when it comes to Warlock, so I have some questions for a freshly rolled one I'm trying out.

So far my tactics are:
Cast Leaps and Bounds
Activate Concentrate
And Use Disabling Blast & Eldritch Blast.

However I whiff 1/2 of my attacks (misses)
I Lose Concentration on about 1/3 of every attack
Between the 2 above, my DPS is really low.. does great if and when it hits.

I'm really patient with the learning curve and have not minded any of that, but I'm guessing there is a way to make that better.
Such as land hits more often
Get off casts more successfully

What should I be concentrating on in the build's future to get those results.
And are there things I can be doing now to help me survive longer? For example I'm going through an amazing amount of heal kits +1, just to kill a few mobs before I run out and buy more stacks of those.

Any advice from experienced Warlocks would be appreciated. Looking forward to finally learning this class.

[chad878262]

However I whiff 1/2 of my attacks (misses)

This is not uncommon for any low level build with 1 APR and is at least partially due to the (not) random number generator the NWN2 engine uses. It gets better at higher levels since RTA's will in general hit on anything besides a 1, but can be a bit of a struggle early on. Realize that standard melee and range builds are going to have similar issues. Potions of Heroism (~150gp each at Thayan Enclave) can help a bit if you want to improve your chances to hit at low levels.

I Lose Concentration on about 1/3 of every attack

Don't do this at low levels. If an enemy is in melee just switch to a weapon or stick with your blast and accept the attack of opportunity. If you are going to be in melee, potions of mage armor (~50gp) and Barkskin (~150gp) have a pretty long duration and can help keep you upright in PvE at the early levels far longer. At higher levels you can use concentration and generally never fail, I forget what rank in concentration makes it so the mode will never fail and lose the casting, but generally blaster locks just get Improved Combat Expertise and use that mode. Between super AC and full time 50% concealment you'll rarely get hit and when you do, you can have DR either from dark premonition or UMD (and even without either you'll still have a bit of natural DR.

What should I be concentrating on in the build's future to get those results.

In my opinion there are a few invocations that are 'must have' for a standard blaster Warlock.
Least - Eldritch Spear
Lesser - Eldritch Chain, Flee the Scene
Greater - Vitriolic Blast (Noxious Blast is also nearly must have as it is the best disabling essence, but not technically "required")
Dark - Retributive Invisibility, Otherworldly Leap, (personally my 3rd here would be Dark Foresight, but not must have)

During the leveling process there is quite a bit of changing out invocations, for instance until you get retributive invisibility, walk unseen is huge. Also, as you can see until dark invocations there are not a whole lot of great protective options, but to be honest the thing I would say here is simply that there is a very good reason Warlocks get UMD as a class skill. Wands/Scrolls from arcane and divine spellcasting classes are a very key component for warlocks especially early on to get some decent protection (once they have enough UMD for wands...until then potions work just fine). Even at higher levels, the 'optimized' approach is generally going to be not taking invocations that are easily replicated with (usually cheap) scrolls.

And are there things I can be doing now to help me survive longer? For example I'm going through an amazing amount of heal kits +1, just to kill a few mobs before I run out and buy more stacks of those.

I know you may have heard some other opine about my broken recordness, but if you are struggling in an area or just in general, spending ~350 gold on a potion of barkskin (until you can get +3 Natural Armor Amulet), mage armor (until you have +4 armor) and heroism will vastly improve your survivability. If you need a little more oomph for like boss battles a potions of shield (~150 gold) and potions of bless (~30 gold) and aid (~100 gold iirc) are going to give you the short term jump in AC and AB that can boost you when you really need it.

[ozmiz]

During the leveling process there is quite a bit of changing out invocations, for instance until you get retributive invisibility, walk unseen is huge.

Wow.. that was a really great read and makes me look forward to the better invocations and such that you spoke of.
On Changing out invocations, what did you mean by that?

Can you switch out ones you choose during leveling with another one later.

I really appreciate the detailed post. I am actually even more excited now about learning this class.
I had never tried it before because it just looked intimidating to learn.

[chad878262]

On Changing out invocations, what did you mean by that?

Each levelup, up to 20 (IIRC) Warlocks can 'forget/remove' one invocation and chose another (of the same invocation level). So you can remove Leaps and Bounds and select Eldritch Spear for example...

[Lockonnow]

well if you really have it easy on the high cl epic you need to focus on hit with and fire or frost dmg

[Steve]

What is your Warlock build exactly? There maybe pure mechanical improvements that would help you out.

[ozmiz]

What is your Warlock build exactly? There maybe pure mechanical improvements that would help you out.

Nothing "unfixable" hopefully yet, seeing as I'm only lvl 6

Stats:
Str 10
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 16
Wil 10
Cha 18

Feats Taken:
Combat Expertise
Dodge
Spell Casting Prodigy
(I don't think I missed any)

Using:
Leaps and Bounds
Eldritch Blast
Eldritch Chain
Draining Blast

Further Questions I've came up with:
Should Warlocks seek to use Shields?
Also, what armor should I be looking to wear?
What type of items should I be on the look out for? (necklace, rings, etc) Obviously the best +cha, but beyond that.

Thanks!!!

[chad878262]

Should Warlocks seek to use Shields?
Also, what armor should I be looking to wear?
What type of items should I be on the look out for? (necklace, rings, etc) Obviously the best +cha, but beyond that.

Shield only if you can get 0 arcane spell failure.

Armor should eventually be mithril chain which on this server would be light armor with 6AC and max dex bonus of 4.

Items, the chainmail from Doron Amar, +4 dodge boots, +4 deflection item, +4 amulet, +saves gear, whatever items you want to increase key stats.

[c2k]

If your going the Blaster/DC oriented Warlock, I do feel like Dark One's Own Luck is vital as a Least invocation because it bolsters your saves.


Also, the Chaimmail from Doron Amar is a bit expensive and you probably won't be able to wear it until late teens/Epic unless you are an elf/half-elf(because you need to have high enough UMD to wear it). You can work with Chain Shirts of varying AC bonus(though obviously going for 4) for the time being.

[Steve]

There are so many builds that are late(ish) bloomers. I’d say Controller/DC Warlocks are one of them.

You’ll suffer a bit in the 1-10 levels unless you can twink your PC with high end Items, or, you can’t find group play.

Controlling and Blasting from a distance while a melee based toon tanks, is a tried and true success.

You will want to get Eldritch Spear and Noxious Blast as soon as your can, in order to disable mobs. Dark Ones Own Luck plus taking the Feat of Steadfast Determination will make your toon nigh invulnerable to Save checks.

A lot of Players multiclass their Warlock because it then will reach even greater power: HiPS Warlock for the most OP feat in the game; Dragonslayer for AB and CL progression for Hideous Blow melee; Hellfire for sick damage; Stormsinger for CL progression and a very nasty Storm of Vengeance use (group disable in combat).

In your particular case, and with a Level 6 Warlock, I’d have taken Flee the Scene—and have taken Dark Transient for double duration—and employ the tactic of Eldritch Spear from distance, run to distance, Eldritch spear, run, repeat.

At Level 11 you can take Baleful Domination in order to get yourself a sacrificial minion to tank for you while you blast from a distance, or, Noxious Blast (+ Eldritch Spear) to stun your opponents for easy blasting.

[ozmiz]

At Level 11 you can take Baleful Domination in order to get yourself a sacrificial minion to tank for you while you blast from a distance, or, Noxious Blast (+ Eldritch Spear) to stun your opponents for easy blasting.

I went with Noxious Blasting; and Wow.. what CC! Especially when chained to multiple mobs.

Flee the Scene seems to be very popular when grouping, and is an awesome mobile utility in general for the Warlock when coupled with Walk Unseen.

I'm at 11, so solo is slow but very steady (little slower than other classes I have tried, but seems really safe).
Grouping has been the most fun, and I fill like I'm contributing with all of the CC, and everyone running to me for another hit of Flee the Scene.

so far I'm "having a blast"