Need Warlock build for instant 20 w/both melee and AE's

[KoobTheProud]

I've got a Drow who has been on long path of transformation over the years. She was a Monk with a Paladin splash in 2009. She worked her way into a Paladin with Monk and Rogue splashes in 2012 and then to a Paladin with a Monk splash last year. Now she's decided to become a pure Warlock. I'd like to keep her melee capabilities with a heavy shield included in the build. She'll be a Medium Armor wearer who casts and melees and basically tanks with a DPS minor. Being able to do significant damage at range would be a huge plus. She's had issues soloing Epic Elite instances due to her need to always be in proximity and PRR that didn't quite hold up despite decent AC (120) and Dodge (28%). I'm moving to Warlock because I want her to be able to up her PRR to good levels and maintain good DPS in the process, especially AE's for pack control.

She has +6 tomes across the board and is a first life Drow so 28 points to work with aside from that. I'll probably keep using Celestia as her weapon, albeit without Dex to hit and damage. I don't think Harper Agent is going to fit for Int to hit and damage but it's a possibility. She has Unyielding Sentinel capped and 3 levels in Grandmaster of Flowers and Legendary Dreadnought. I've got 2nd, 1st and soon another 1st twist.

I'll be using a +20 LR heart to make the transition. She's Lawful good so will have to be Fey.

Any build ideas/suggestions would be appreciated. Again, she's going to be a Lawful Good pure 20 Warlock.

[slarden]

With the parameters you've given I would probably max con and int and also go enlightened spirit (core and tier 5) and put the rest in harper tree and maybe 7ap in tainted scholar for utterdark. Tainted scholar and Souleater don't offer enough for a melee. With utterdark you can swap on an upgraded lantern ring @ 26 and you have instant light and alignment damage boosting in one item.

I would encourage you try out pure casting and melee/casting hybrid. Here is my build which is a pure warlock 20 fey drow caster if you decide to try out a full caster:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/460700-Pure-Casting-Warlock-DC-Eld-Blast-Build?p=5619667&viewfull=1#post5619667

Here is a variant for someone wanting to use a shield and with less past lifes. Although I list human as race for the second - drow is fine - again this is only if you want to try out a pure caster:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/460700-Pure-Casting-Warlock-DC-Eld-Blast-Build?p=5712331&viewfull=1#post5712331

[killmasterules]

I gotta ask, Whats the point of taking drow?
I know you start with 10 int and cha, but that 28 point build...rough

[KoobTheProud]

I gotta ask, Whats the point of taking drow?
I know you start with 10 int and cha, but that 28 point build...rough

I took Drow in 2009 because it was one of two viable choices for a 1st life melee hybrid that wanted to solo elites due to the built-in bonuses. I made a warforged also at the same time or shortly thereafter but somehow the docents never seemed to matchup against the robes I could find at the time so I leveled the Drow instead. I'm a fairly casual player who takes long breaks from the game and then comes back and levels hard for a few months and that's why the Drow took so long to get to epic levels. I also never group so everything is solo.

The 28 point build is fine for what I was doing at the time because I used Dex, Cha and Int heavily in the build and so it was a 34 point build equivalent. The Pally splash was originally to get a max impact out of Cha and then I added the rogue splash to get max out of int as well. Went 14/6 Pali/Monk when Holy Sword became too good to say no.

Remember that in 2009 having Dex go to both hit with Weapon Finesse, AC and Reflex saves made it a very attractive option for maximizing contribution from a stat. So she was originally a Dex based Monk relying on the damage dice level ups and a bit of Strength to get by. Now we're in a totally different world with other stats presenting the chance for both hit and damage. For awhile Dex to hit and damage from the Monk splash with Shortswords plus maxed out Earth stance and Holy Sword was enough to keep her competitive. She just didn't transition well to Epic Elites when the PRR/MRR change came in. She's always felt very weak in them solo. She was ok to good soloing normal elites.

[KoobTheProud]

With the parameters you've given I would probably max con and int and also go enlightened spirit (core and tier 5) and put the rest in harper tree and maybe 7ap in tainted scholar for utterdark. Tainted scholar and Souleater don't offer enough for a melee. With utterdark you can swap on an upgraded lantern ring @ 26 and you have instant light and alignment damage boosting in one item.

I would encourage you try out pure casting and melee/casting hybrid. Here is my build which is a pure warlock 20 fey drow caster if you decide to try out a full caster:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/460700-Pure-Casting-Warlock-DC-Eld-Blast-Build?p=5619667&viewfull=1#post5619667

Here is a variant for someone wanting to use a shield and with less past lifes. Although I list human as race for the second - drow is fine - again this is only if you want to try out a pure caster:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/460700-Pure-Casting-Warlock-DC-Eld-Blast-Build?p=5712331&viewfull=1#post5712331

Thanks for the reply. Will the aura damage and AE's be totally gimped by low Cha if I max Con?

I was kind of thinking of doing this at the start with all level-ups in Cha after that.

8 Str
10 Dex
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 8
Cha 18

The idea was to not totally gimp my DC's down the road and keep as much damage from the aura and AE's as possible. Fey damage can be resisted for half or no damage, right?

I'm going to check out the links on the pure caster builds you listed but the Drow has always been a mix-em-up brawler. I don't want to totally change her style at this point. I've got a Sun Elf Mechanic who works at range and I want the contrasting styles so I have two different choices on the evening depending on what I want to play. Lately the Mechanic has been so much better in really hard content that I've been skewing to her. Hoping to get back to a 50/50 choice here and Warlock seemed the way to go.

I'm already going from the now-gimped TWF with Shortswords and heavy support on that in the Drow tree with Holy Sword also, to Shortsword and Board with no anticipated support from the tree, no Holy Sword and no +16 from Dex. Something has to make up a big DPS gap to make the move viable.

Not to derail my own thread here, but given the parameters above do you think I have any chance of making a pure Warlock that would match up against just moving her to pure Paladin and either TWF or S&B? I guess I can get the PRR/MRR I need that way also although I think she's going to be too gimped at range to do substantially better in Epic Elites as a 1st lifer.

[slarden]

Thanks for the reply. Will the aura damage and AE's be totally gimped by low Cha if I max Con?

I was kind of thinking of doing this at the start with all level-ups in Cha after that.

8 Str
10 Dex
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 8
Cha 18

The idea was to not totally gimp my DC's down the road and keep as much damage from the aura and AE's as possible. Fey damage can be resisted for half or no damage, right?

I'm going to check out the links on the pure caster builds you listed but the Drow has always been a mix-em-up brawler. I don't want to totally change her style at this point. I've got a Sun Elf Mechanic who works at range and I want the contrasting styles so I have two different choices on the evening depending on what I want to play. Lately the Mechanic has been so much better in really hard content that I've been skewing to her. Hoping to get back to a 50/50 choice here and Warlock seemed the way to go.

I'm already going from the now-gimped TWF with Shortswords and heavy support on that in the Drow tree with Holy Sword also, to Shortsword and Board with no anticipated support from the tree, no Holy Sword and no +16 from Dex. Something has to make up a big DPS gap to make the move viable.

Not to derail my own thread here, but given the parameters above do you think I have any chance of making a pure Warlock that would match up against just moving her to pure Paladin and either TWF or S&B? I guess I can get the PRR/MRR I need that way also although I think she's going to be too gimped at range to do substantially better in Epic Elites as a 1st lifer.

I am playing a str-based twf 15 paladin / 5 ranger with khopeshes and am really happy with it. I take divine might, defensive stance and put 41 points into tempest in the ranger tree for more dps and some defensive benefits. My destiny is divine crusader which gives amazing aura healing with consecration, but Legendary Dreadnought is also a great destiny. This character doesn't have past lifes or great gear to speak of - I am dual-wielding two bleeding edges I got from epic amrath. Here is my gear set on the paladin which isn't terribly difficult to acquire:

Goggles: Deadly 10 resist 10 goggles.
Helm: Mythic Emerald Gaze (epic version is just fine)
Neck: Epic Lion's Mane
Trinket: Epic Eagles Eye
Cloak: 3x blur/displacement greensteel cloak (mysterious cloak is a great substitute for it)
Belt: Epic Belt of Thoughtful Remembrance
Ring 1: Epic Ivy Helix
Gloves Epic Iron Mitts
Boots: Epic Ship Kickers
Ring 2: Epic Laurel Helix
Bracers: Epic Barbette's Bracers
Quiver: Epic Dynamistic Quiver
Weapons: 2x Epic Bleeding Edge.
Armor: Thunderforged armor with shadow guardian

I made this build for U28 with the ranger pass and I am able to solo all the U28 EE quests, but haven't tried much else on it.

I played around a little with melee warlock and quickly gave up on it. The only thing you will get from ES melee Warlock is knockdown immunity and slightly better MRR. I don't think the aura and aoes would make up for the dps you are losing by going all-in for melee dps with a paladin (pure or 15 pal / 5 ranger). Having good saves also gives some protection from knockdown.

Regarding your charisma and how it impacts pact damage. If you were pdk you could probably max charisma and go charisma to hit and damage (with weapon restrictions), but as a drow if you max charisma you are going to weaken your main melee stat (int or str). In difficult content even if you max charisma there are enemies that will always make their pact damage save and will take half damage or no damage (if they have evasion). As a caster I would definitely max charisma - as a melee I would max my weapon damage and live with half pact damage and go with con as a secondary stat since a few heal abilities are based on con in ES (shining through and brilliance).

Of course these are just my thoughts, there might be someone that played warlock melee more and can give you tips on melee.

[KoobTheProud]

I'm stuck on the choices at the moment. That's because this is such a deep and rich game. Good thing.

I'm considering TRing at 26 to an Iconic PDK. I have a +1 heart to iron out the initial fighter level and I think the PDK will be better as a melee Warlock or pure Paladin. I might also try the Warlock 17/Fighter 3 build with the PDK if I do that.

[elvesunited]

I'm stuck on the choices at the moment. That's because this is such a deep and rich game. Good thing.

I'm considering TRing at 26 to an Iconic PDK. I have a +1 heart to iron out the initial fighter level and I think the PDK will be better as a melee Warlock or pure Paladin. I might also try the Warlock 17/Fighter 3 build with the PDK if I do that.

That's pretty much where I am right now with my PDK Warlock tank.

Started with Warlock 19 / Fighter 1 using heavy armor and tower shield.
Inconic Reincarnated to Warlock 19 / Fighter 1 / Barbarian mostly for a movement boost as warlock 19 wasn't really giving much. ( It's the eh level between 18 and 20 )
Now having many benefits wiped out by the balance change Iconic Reincarnated to Pure Warlock using lesser heart +1 to get rid of fighter level.


So here's my current plan.

level 20 Great Old One warlock.

Str:8 Dex:8 Con:18 +(all level increases) Int:12 Wis:8 Chr:18

41 AP Enlightened( +10 melee power, full BAB, hp=(hp+20)*1.2, +50 light power, +22 spell power, +6d6 light damage, ELdritch burst, spirit blast, medium armor casting, and all the temporary hp )
31 AP Soul Eater ( Consume, stricken, +5% spell critical, +6 melee power, +37 spell power, +2 Charisma )
8 AP Tainted ( Utterdark, +2 spellcraft, +1d4 pact, +6 spellpower, +10% crit damage )
0 AP Purple Dragon Knight ( dropping Charisma for damage, to hit in exchange for AP to cap Enlightened )

Shield Proficiency, Improved Shield Bash, Shield Mastery, Improved Shield Mastery, Quicken, Maximize, Empower, Mental Toughness( at level 18), Epic Eldritch Blast ( At level 21 ), Improved mental Toughness ( At level 24 ), Blinding Speed ( at level 27 )

Epic destiny spic eldritch blast, Forced escape.

I'm using skyvault tower shield ( has a lot of augment slots for a lot of flexibility ) with master touch scrolls for proficiency. As the only spell failure free tower shield in the game it is the only option for me.

I'd definitely recommend the Radiant ring. ( It's worth grinding for ) Until you get one Sage's helmet ( guaranteed quest reward ) can handle the radiance lore. Rock Boots handle all my acid damage enhancement needs. ( cannith challenge reward ) and a level 24 thunderforge +150 light damage weapon is fairly easy to get. The guardian's ring ( guaranteed quest reward ) can get you +24 sheltering at level 19. And purple dragon knight guantlets/iron mitts provide the best healing amp in the game and are fairly easy to obtain.

[KoobTheProud]

That's pretty much where I am right now with my PDK Warlock tank.

Started with Warlock 19 / Fighter 1 using heavy armor and tower shield.
Inconic Reincarnated to Warlock 19 / Fighter 1 / Barbarian mostly for a movement boost as warlock 19 wasn't really giving much. ( It's the eh level between 18 and 20 )
Now having many benefits wiped out by the balance change Iconic Reincarnated to Pure Warlock using lesser heart +1 to get rid of fighter level.


So here's my current plan.

level 20 Great Old One warlock.

Str:8 Dex:8 Con:18 +(all level increases) Int:12 Wis:8 Chr:18

41 AP Enlightened( +10 melee power, full BAB, hp=(hp+20)*1.2, +50 light power, +22 spell power, +6d6 light damage, ELdritch burst, spirit blast, medium armor casting, and all the temporary hp )
31 AP Soul Eater ( Consume, stricken, +5% spell critical, +6 melee power, +37 spell power, +2 Charisma )
8 AP Tainted ( Utterdark, +2 spellcraft, +1d4 pact, +6 spellpower, +10% crit damage )
0 AP Purple Dragon Knight ( dropping Charisma for damage, to hit in exchange for AP to cap Enlightened )

Shield Proficiency, Improved Shield Bash, Shield Mastery, Improved Shield Mastery, Quicken, Maximize, Empower, Mental Toughness( at level 18), Epic Eldritch Blast ( At level 21 ), Improved mental Toughness ( At level 24 ), Blinding Speed ( at level 27 )

Epic destiny spic eldritch blast, Forced escape.

I'm using skyvault tower shield ( has a lot of augment slots for a lot of flexibility ) with master touch scrolls for proficiency. As the only spell failure free tower shield in the game it is the only option for me.

I'd definitely recommend the Radiant ring. ( It's worth grinding for ) Until you get one Sage's helmet ( guaranteed quest reward ) can handle the radiance lore. Rock Boots handle all my acid damage enhancement needs. ( cannith challenge reward ) and a level 24 thunderforge +150 light damage weapon is fairly easy to get. The guardian's ring ( guaranteed quest reward ) can get you +24 sheltering at level 19. And purple dragon knight guantlets/iron mitts provide the best healing amp in the game and are fairly easy to obtain.

That's another interesting looking build. I'm working out how best to sequence things as I move forward. Going to get her to 26 first and then work from there. Very close at this point, only an instance or two away.

I like Slarden's pure caster and also the 17/3 splits. I like the build you put up. I'm just not sure if I'm going to +20 LR her as a Lawful Good Drow or TR her to a PDK and use the +1 heart to get rid of the Fighter level (or not if I take the 17/3 split.) If I TR her your build becomes viable because I can change the alignment for GOO.

Right now she sits at 50 PRR in Vigor of Battle/Grandmaster Mountain/Combat Expertise/Sacred Defense with 1075 HP, 122 AC, 28% Dodge and 25% Concealment from the Monk splash. I just want to make sure that her defenses are at least as good after the transition, at which point her ability to do real damage and CC at range when needed should allow for some close range DPS loss and still come out ahead. The saves are a weak point at only +55/+52/+47 but I have just soloable gear at this point and it's not optimized yet. Since those levels are low for EE as it is I think moving to Warlock and lowering them isn't going to be such a big deal. My Mechanic survives by being very hard to spot and hit at range with a fair amount of GXBow CC thrown in. I need to give the melee the ability to fight at range also against things that would otherwise kill her with magic. Right now she survives by prioritizing them and one or two shotting them on the way in before they've fully reacted. That doesn't work for red names and she dies on all the red named caster fights. Reliably.

[KoobTheProud]

I wound up going pure Warlock and took the shield but decided not to melee much. It's working out very well, no surprise to anybody who has played a Warlock I think. :)

I'm about to TR her into a Sun Elf Warlock, gaining the Warlock past life in the process and my first 34 point build. I'm thinking I will go with the pure DC caster this time around. I never got my hands on a Skyvault shield in the last life and so wound up with a named heavy shield with a +15 spell agility slotted. It was a good trade-off but I think I will try not shielding at all this time and just use Displacement, Blur and a breastplate and see if that does the trick. Shouldn't be a problem in heroics is my guess.

I'll really enjoy having the 3 feats I spent on shields for other things this time around. Thinking I'd really like 2 DC feats (either Conjuration or Evocation) and either Augment Summoning to keep my hirelings alive in epic elite or the Extend metamagic to make the Evard's into real killers.

Epic elites were either easy, hard or impossible but that was a big step up from the Palimonk for whom they were occasionally hard but mostly impossible. Traps kept me from reliably completing about half the epic elite quests I tried. That was the main problem, with very confined spaces and tons of mobs being the other tough scenario.

I'm going to look really hard at both pure caster builds above and see if I can find something that works for me.

Thanks for the input, it was really valuable in making the last build.