Warlock levels on a melee

[Thrudh]

I'm currently running a 14/6 ranger/warlock at cap.

I'm not sure if warlock levels is worth giving up capstones (or other class splits), but I'm finding the warlock levels very useful. Also, in my case, I'm using the Vistani capstone.

1 level of warlock gets you access to UMD as a class skill and is enough to get Feigned Health (4 AP) which gives good amount of temp hp for the lower levels. This is very helpful when playing reaper at low heroic levels.

2 levels of warlock bumps your UMD skill by 5, and lets you Wand and Scroll Mastery 75%, which again is very useful in reaper to heal yourself. The 75% bonus on your Cure wands negates much of the reaper self-heal penalty.

This is all I used throughout most of heroic levels. For someone like me, with limited reaper APs at this point, the extra survivability using warlock levels was worth it.

4 levels of warlock gets you brilliance (temp hp equal to your CON score every few seconds, or 2x CON score in epic), but that takes 21 AP, and I had too many other things I wanted throughout most of the heroic levels to bother with it until I was almost at epic levels anyway.

I'm finding brilliance is quite good even at cap... I have about a 60 CON, and 120 temp hp every few seconds does indeed help, even in reaper. It's noticeable, if I forget to turn on my aura when logging into the game.

5 levels of warlock gives you the opportunity to take tier 5 warlock abilities, specifically useful would be Shining Through and self-cast Displacement. 20 more heal amp would also be nice. I have yet to play with this at cap... I finding my defense is good enough that I don't want to give up the offensive power of Tier 5 Vistani or Tier 5 ranger for the defense of warlock yet.

Level 6 warlock, I'm finding extraordinarily useful. I went Fey for Dark Delirium. and I love that ability... It's basically a no-save Daze Monster, where the monster just stands there and does nothing for 30+ seconds. It has saved me many times to shut down a tough champ or orange-name while I deal with the rest of the trash.

Anyone else using warlock levels on their melee?

[Phoenicis]

I have a 12/8 monk warlock I do kobold challenge farming with.

went 8 Warlock mainly for dimension door, but then started taking stuff from ES when I realized I could turn on Aura, and all those passives that stack up when the Aura is turned on...

[noobodyfool]

I did 5/3/12 es warlock/pally/ftr bladeforged tank was awesome could self heal in low skulls had 4500 hp with shiny/staunch/lgs

[Qhualor]

So the more levels of warlock you add to your ranger build the more useful, survivable and happier you are with your build.

It's tongue in cheek in case you misread this as snarkiness.

[Renvar]

Warlock ES is a solid choice. So is Artificer or FvS. Each has advantages on a 4-8 level multi-class depending on what you are looking for. Ranger and Fighter, particularly, get most of their DPS in the first 12 levels, so multi-classing with them will generally result in a build with 85-90% of the DPS but with drastically higher survival ability and utility.

[Fivetigers33]

I've been tempted to try to come up with a swashbuckler/ES build, anyone ever done one of those?

[unbongwah]

I've been tempted to try to come up with a swashbuckler/ES build, anyone ever done one of those?
I think there's a bard 12 / war 6 / rog 2 build floating somewhere on the forums.

[SpartanKiller13]

I'm currently running a 15/5 Pally/Warlock. T5 into ES gives me Displacement, Shining Through, and Brilliance while I still get Holy Sword & Zeal from Pally. Also a ton of UMD, spell points, a few utility spells, etc.

Works really well, and I can survive content like Ravenloft to around R4 before I have to be careful about staying alive. Entrance dragons in Invitation to Dinner are the main pain point TBH.

I have 73 Con standing (76 in Reaper, 12 RAP) which gives me ~150 temps on my aura and I can stack up to ~800 temps while running in LD.

Paladin has some nice T5's, but like Sacred Defender's +25 PRR/MRR isn't a whole lot more than the +19 PRR/MRR you can grab from ES and I'd rather a defensive T5 given the state of the game and the content I run vs my PL's etc.

I picked up a Tremor last ETR, so I'm considering using a +1 LHoW to rebuild it as a PDK so I can grab Silvanus to boot. If I don't, 14/5/1 with Fighter isn't bad - Haste Action Boost vs 10% DS on a 2-hander isn't a huge loss when you cleave a lot.

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I'm planning on making an iconic tank for running guild raids, and it'll have at least 5 levels of Warlock. Guess why.

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Final note to your OP, Warlock 6 also gives access to Stanch, which allows you to sacrifice 3% of your total HP for +50% of your total HP as temps. Only 11 AP, and gives you Feigned Health on the way for a tiny bit more temps.

[noobodyfool]

I'm currently running a 15/5 Pally/Warlock. T5 into ES gives me Displacement, Shining Through, and Brilliance while I still get Holy Sword & Zeal from Pally. Also a ton of UMD, spell points, a few utility spells, etc.

Works really well, and I can survive content like Ravenloft to around R4 before I have to be careful about staying alive. Entrance dragons in Invitation to Dinner are the main pain point TB

Sounds Challenging do you ever fight in door ways?


I'm planning on making an iconic tank for running guild raids, and it'll have at least 5 levels of Warlock. Guess why.

------ Ooo ooo ooo i know i know pick me pick me CHEESE!

[SpartanKiller13]

Sounds Challenging do you ever fight in door ways?

I try not to, you hit less targets if you do (like 3 max vs like 5-6 usually) which is a net loss IMO. It's survivable enough I don't need chokepoints to limit enemy contact lol. I've taken to twisting Unearthly Reactions though, so I can Tumble out of a dogpile if I need to go heal someone or something (like when tanking Baba and a stack of Reds).

It's like my previous run on pure Pally, but much more survivable with nearly as much DPS.


Ooo ooo ooo i know i know pick me pick me CHEESE!

Here's a link, I'd love if you have comments/advice etc lol. (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/496530-First-Life-Iconic-LH-Raid-Tank) I'm stuck between going for Stanch or not, and if I should go Warlock dominant or not (Evard's vs Blade Barrier + Heal+hp).

[noobodyfool]

I try not to, you hit less targets if you do (like 3 max vs like 5-6 usually) which is a net loss IMO. It's survivable enough I don't need chokepoints to limit enemy contact lol. I've taken to twisting Unearthly Reactions though, so I can Tumble out of a dogpile if I need to go heal someone or something (like when tanking Baba and a stack of Reds).

It's like my previous run on pure Pally, but much more survivable with nearly as much DPS.



Here's a link, I'd love if you have comments/advice etc lol. (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/496530-First-Life-Iconic-LH-Raid-Tank) I'm stuck between going for Stanch or not, and if I should go Warlock dominant or not (Evard's vs Blade Barrier + Heal+hp).

I always go survivability but I'm dumb like that and not sure but Evard's might just be the coolest spell in the game looks cool anyway:p

[slarden]

I would think pure 20 ES Vistani int melee / arcane warrior would be viable, but haven't yet tried it.

[SpartanKiller13]

I always go survivability but I'm dumb like that and not sure but Evard's might just be the coolest spell in the game looks cool anyway:p

Evard's is IMO the best spell in DDO. AoE, duration, multiple hits, lockdown, and damage all in one spell. Also still slows even if they make their Str check, and it deals bludgeoning damage which few things take reduced damage from.


I would think pure 20 ES Vistani int melee / arcane warrior would be viable, but haven't yet tried it.

I keep theorycrafting VKF stuff, but I always feel like the d4 is so tiny x.x so I'm afraid to take the leap. I see the modifiers but like it's a lot of multipliers on a tiny base, vs a decent number on a larger base... A Greatsword has 2.8x the base damage of said dagger...

[Cantor]

I keep theorycrafting VKF stuff, but I always feel like the d4 is so tiny x.x so I'm afraid to take the leap. I see the modifiers but like it's a lot of multipliers on a tiny base, vs a decent number on a larger base... A Greatsword has 2.8x the base damage of said dagger...

Base means so little. I can hit with my 2d4 +70 dagger 4 times in the time you hit 1.5 times with your 2(2d6) +80 greatsword.

The real cost is aoe.