EasternCheesE wrote: ↑Tue Jun 29, 2021 9:13 am
Since i was asked to give my opinion, i will give it.
I myself have three warlock PCs: A daggerlock, a CHAlock and a shapeshifter melee warlock.
I will focus on shifter warlock more, because his power is obvious and also because i didn't play my daggerlock and Chalock for quite a while.
1) Daggerlock (Dex warlock with hips). It surely is strong build. I am able to solo Frost king with it even though i never tried to optimize it too much or pich all the correct invocations. Though, against something with acid immunity, daggerlock loses 80% of their power. That's an obvious very specialized class that looks strong from first perspective, but, in fact, it's not.
2) CHAlock: Again, it's a tiefling chalock, so not an optimized from the very first place. Yeah, it wins PvE in many situations, but i don't have 70 AC on him or 30d6 eldritch blast. The problem about chalocks is, on average, by the time their "low dc but hey it's infinite" invocation/blast triggers, enemy or me are either dead or at very low hp when it doesn't matter. Chalocks are essentially useless vs bosses with their high saves and huge HP pool since blaster warlocks can hit almost everything but they rarely go over 100 dmg/round.
3) Shapeshifter melee warlock. Uses cornugon shape heavily. Is built to use it, in fact. 3 monk levels (which is a part of his backstory, this PC was a full monk long ago), warlock, hellfire warlock and dragonslayer. Lvl 23, 54 AC with IMA + shield UMD (+4 gear), 10 DR, 4 regen, Fire immunity, 4 apr and whopping 24 DMG straight from 32 STR and Northlander hewing with ~50 acid/magic dmg from his hideous blow once per round. He totally can deal about 150 dmg per round. Sounds cool, right? And it is. This guy is totally unkillable in early epics, be it trolls, reaching woods, Nashkel mines or Yuan-ti. But he simply can't hit a (#2)! From 4 attacks i have, i barely land 2 at most times while being under effect of greater heroism. And his AC will never improved beyond 56 without elixirs i don't use. This means, he can't solo Frost king&Co. If something has about 40 AB, he will be hit often and painfully without any way to regenerate it back fast.
What are his weak parts? 40 AC fully buffed while not shapeshifted and low HP. Mord = death, getting down to <100 HP as cornugon = death. This build can't heal while shapeshifted, it doesn't benefit from weapons thus can't have vamp regen too. And if i drop shape midfight, he's dead next round. This also renders his Hellfire powers very niche and RP thing since there is no sense to use them in most occasions: He's not blaster and he can't use potions while using WoC.
Again, it's very strong for early and mid epics, but, he'll never reach the level of power which allows for soloing frost giant or Balor. Shapeshifter warlocks die to bosses, because they lack DMG to kill them in under 3 minutes and after 3 minutes, they can't afford to unshape and rebuff.
On the contrary, dragon shaper druid is stronger than shifter warlock. Same goes for CL 30 arcane caster who focuses on transmutation. Arcane and warlock Cornugon shapes are identical.
From my feeling, warlocks are very strong because they get a huge power spike at lvl 21 (eldritch master), they totally own AoE and low-mid epics, but not beyond it. They have 70% of all the good features most classes have and very little drawbacks. Though, without very specific builds, they stay on this 70% forever. The only warlock build i know who can surpass their limitations and be good at high epics is blaster CONlock due to access to dark premonition and retributive invisibility and a big HP pool to kill most mobs in a war of attrition. But, basically, this refers to any high hp class.
Warlock, in general, is a flexible class that allows for many viable multiclassed builds. The totally look overpowered compared their lvl 21 partymembers when they are on their lvl 21 due to said spike i mentioned. But, when other builds have possibility to progress, to get more specialized and good things, the only thing that changes for my warlocks past lvl 21 is their blast dice and AB.
Due to warlock unique mechanics, i simply don't see how we can power it down (or, Conlock specifically) without killing the whole idea of it. To me, it's really, too well balanced class that lacks it's weak spots where many builds have them.
I myself feel that warlocks are easy to play, that's true. That's why i play my wizard/rogue build which has way more weak points and way more tactics and strategies, which makes him funnier.
