advice needed on warlock multiclassing...

[ned_ellis]

Hi,
Having recently acquired the warlock class I am trying to build a viable multiclass version. I favour casters in general and will be questing with one other warlock (pure es build).
My current build in pole position is 16lock/4bard with spellsinger t4, tainted scholar t5 and the rest TBD. Enchantment primary, necro possibly secondary.
My main questions are :
1) pact-i tend towards goo but maybe fey has more synergy with bard lvls?
2) is the splash worth it?! It's mainly for the heals without suffering in the DC department...
3) can anyone see better classes synergy wise?
Any tips/opinio welcome-thank you and happy questing!

[JOTMON]

I found investing into conjuration is quite effective . black tenticles/web...


I liked the /2 Rogue for trapping and evasion works nicely. Invest into some Int and insightful reflexes.
Have run a Bladeforged 18war/2 pal . tanky type with blast burst.. is a good survivable build.
PDK charisma to hit/damage with swords with a /3 fighter utilizing stance was effective for AC/PRR..
Currently playing some heavier splashes for FVS and Cleric past lives using /7 warlock (DDoor), light power synergy is good..

Never tried the bard variant, could be fun.

[cru121]

I suspect focusing on enchantment will not be necessary because stuff will die fast from two warlocks in the group. Burst & Blast + Eldritch Ball = room clear.

Sustaining Song kinda does sound like a good synergy with the temp HP from your fellow warlock aura. You're gonna lose some DPS but you can probably afford it.

[ned_ellis]

I found investing into conjuration is quite effective . black tenticles/web...


I liked the /2 Rogue for trapping and evasion works nicely. Invest into some Int and insightful reflexes.
Have run a Bladeforged 18war/2 pal . tanky type with blast burst.. is a good survivable build.
PDK charisma to hit/damage with swords with a /3 fighter utilizing stance was effective for AC/PRR..
Currently playing some heavier splashes for FVS and Cleric past lives using /7 warlock (DDoor), light power synergy is good..

Never tried the bard variant, could be fun.

Both sound like good options but not quite my sort of toons; appreciate the input nonetheless! Thx! Will let you know if the bard workks...

[ned_ellis]

I suspect focusing on enchantment will not be necessary because stuff will die fast from two warlocks in the group. Burst & Blast + Eldritch Ball = room clear.

Sustaining Song kinda does sound like a good synergy with the temp HP from your fellow warlock aura. You're gonna lose some DPS but you can probably afford it.

A good point sadly (since I enjoy cc!); necro would seem a better choice then even though there is no necro-dc synergy in spellsinger...
Does my perform skill count to eblast power? I not I could avoid fey...thx for the input!

[JOTMON]

A good point sadly (since I enjoy cc!); necro would seem a better choice then even though there is no necro-dc synergy in spellsinger...
Does my perform skill count to eblast power? I not I could avoid fey...thx for the input!

Perform contributes to sonic damage, so Fey pact would synergize.. but is a weak choice, warlock doesn't get any sonic spell choices, compatible destinies do not favor Sonic damage, so it is limited..
Sonic blast and soundburst from 4 levels of bard wont go very far for usefulness..
Abundant step is nice..

I would use the Blasting chime for the spell power.
http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Blasting_Chime

[ned_ellis]

Perform contributes to sonic damage, so Fey pact would synergize.. but is a weak choice, warlock doesn't get any sonic spell choices, compatible destinies do not favor Sonic damage, so it is limited..
Sonic blast and soundburst from 4 levels of bard wont go very far for usefulness..
Abundant step is nice..

I would use the Blasting chime for the spell power.
http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Blasting_Chime

Since I have empower and maximise I thought the spellsinger sla would be handy for aoe (I'm planning a dc-something caster so my blast would be the neg lvl single target one- you think that would suffice? The bard spells would be useless (sonic an shout), I agree. I do agree I'd rather use goo for the special abilities and spell choice though...but then I'd be inclined to go sorc splash and have the healing problem again.

My lvl23 pure spellsinger has a lvl 7 chime-i can't do the challenges;its a nightmare farm!! But it's the best if igo sonic route, /sigh

[unbongwah]

2) is the splash worth it?! It's mainly for the heals without suffering in the DC department...

You might not lose any DCs, but by dropping from war 20 to war 16, you lose 2d6 EB dmg, 2d4 Pact dmg, two Pact spells, and one lvl 6 spell slot. [EDIT: plus your lvl 18 & 20 enhancements, ofc.] That's a fairly significant sacrifice, IMHO.

Warlocks are a CHA-based caster with UMD as a class skill. You can hit UMD 39 by lvl 14-ish: 17 ranks + 10 Deceive Item + 3 Golden Cartouche + 9 CHA mod (base 18 + 3 lvl-ups + 1 enh + 6 item + 2 tome). If you have +2 CHA shipbuff, +CHA skillsGS item, and/or +3 (or better) CHA tome, you should have it NLT lvl 12. I wouldn't exactly be worried about self-healing.

EDIT: Sustaining Song is a nice perk, but I wouldn't base a build around acquiring it; and I'm not convinced the other bard abilities are worth giving up that many warlock levels.

[ned_ellis]

You might not lose any DCs, but by dropping from war 20 to war 16, you lose 2d6 EB dmg, 2d4 Pact dmg, two Pact spells, and one lvl 6 spell slot. [EDIT: plus your lvl 18 & 20 enhancements, ofc.] That's a fairly significant sacrifice, IMHO.

Warlocks are a CHA-based caster with UMD as a class skill. You can hit UMD 39 by lvl 14-ish: 17 ranks + 10 Deceive Item + 3 Golden Cartouche + 9 CHA mod (base 18 + 3 lvl-ups + 1 enh + 6 item + 2 tome). If you have +2 CHA shipbuff, +CHA skillsGS item, and/or +3 (or better) CHA tome, you should have it NLT lvl 12. I wouldn't exactly be worried about self-healing.

EDIT: Sustaining Song is a nice perk, but I wouldn't base a build around acquiring it; and I'm not convinced the other bard abilities are worth giving up that many warlock levels.

true, especially ofr the capstone...I don't have all t loot you cite but you're not alone saying umd should suffice, even though I'm not a fan of healing with scrolls,pots and wands. I think I'll wait for lama and try before choosing. Thx for the input!

[cpw_acc]

A purely 'out-there' comment in response to your "any other synergies" question.

I did create a Barb 12/Warlock 8, partly because I like experimenting and partly because there seemed a sort-of thematic synergy with the Warlock's Enlightened Spirit tree; the idea being that I could whack enemies with a two-handed weapon while ticking over a bit of extra damage with the eldritch aura, with Spirit Blast doing a bit of extra mob damage.

Any purist here will probably say its a silly idea and would never do as much DPS as a pure barb or pure warlock. And I'm sure this is true - especially since I'm a casual-ish player who generally doesn't grind for the best uber-equiment - but, as I said, I like to play around with themes! (It helped being a 3rd-lifer therefore having extra build points to afford reasonable Strength and Con with enough left for workable Cha and Int for skills such as Spellpower).

I spent more than half the action points in Enlightened Spirit to get the full aura boosts, the permanent Shield effect (and even high-level enemies like to use magic missile) and, best of all, Displacement and Shining Through. The rest were spent in the Ravager tree for extra damage and on-damage clickies.

As said, I'm probably nowhere near the top end of DPS, but its a pretty "survivable" character, able to hold my own in high level quests (especially in the right epic destiny). Shining Through gives 500+ temp hit points for a measly 8 spell points and combined with Rejuvination Cocoon twisted in means I don't need to rely on any other healing. Just cast Displacement before charging into melee and I'm sorted!

[TheWalruss]

Witnessed a 15 Barbarian, 4 Warlock, 1 Cleric perform very well in heroic elite.

4 Warlock for pact, confusion and aura, 1 Cleric for Divine Might.
4 Warlock could also get a lot of prr, mrr and conemporary hp that could be fun to try.

Blood Strength, Cleaves, Brutal Fighting.

I would like to see it in EE.

Question is not if it is better than a pure because it isn't. Question is if it can solo anything on EE and whether it's fun.

[FranOhmsford]

Perform contributes to sonic damage, so Fey pact would synergize.. but is a weak choice, warlock doesn't get any sonic spell choices, compatible destinies do not favor Sonic damage, so it is limited..
Sonic blast and soundburst from 4 levels of bard wont go very far for usefulness..
Abundant step is nice..

Fatesinger was better than Draconic {and having almost completed EA I think I prefer Fatesinger over that too} for my Pure Fey ES and would obviously synergise fine with a Bardlock.

Obviously the defensive benefits of US are hard to beat {and yes I'll take US over EA any day of the week} though.

[FranOhmsford]

You might not lose any DCs, but by dropping from war 20 to war 16, you lose 2d6 EB dmg, 2d4 Pact dmg, two Pact spells, and one lvl 6 spell slot. [EDIT: plus your lvl 18 & 20 enhancements, ofc.] That's a fairly significant sacrifice, IMHO.

Also remember you're probably putting points into Spellsinger which have to be taken from somewhere.

My very first character created in DDO now on his 4th Life started out as a Wiz/Rogue and I want to maintain the Rogue Splash through all of his lives so his current life at Lvl 18 is Warlock 14/Rogue 3/Cleric 1 {Morninglord otherwise I'd drop the Cleric level}.

He has a lot less AP in Souleater than my Pure ES and therefore is losing out on at least one and possibly 2x Pact Damage Enhancements.

Of course he can trap which my Pure ES can't though. {Oh and Deathward comes in handy too.}.


P.S. Being an Int rather than Cha Build he also has no DCs whatsoever and is honestly much much weaker than my Pure ES even though he is 4th Life while she is 2nd.
Not sure I can keep up with the trap DCs as a Cha {Or Con} Build so still not sure of the benefits of Multi-Classing a Warlock - You seem to lose too much!

[Whitering]

I know cleaves are kind of like pbaoe, but not in the classic DAOC sense. Are the Warlock tier 5 enhancements like magical PBAOEs in the same way a Wizard in DAOC would wait until me (the pally) grabbed as many mobs as I could find, aggroed them a bit, and then the Wizard would explode everything?

I wouldn't mind giving that a go again, I liked the idea so much that my main character at launch of Diablo 2 was a nova sorc.