Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Build Guide

Right from the get-go, the Warlock will be able to choose a suitable Subclass at Level 1. In Early Access, The Fiend differs from The Great Old One in terms of the types of Spells they tend to cast. For instance, they gain access to mostly offensive ones such as Scorching Ray and Fireball, allowing them to deal massive damage from afar like Sorcerers and Wizards. What’s similar between the two, however, is their ability to cast the powerful Cantrip known as Eldritch Blast on top of summoning Familiars due to their patrons.

With Eldritch Blast, the Warlock can send their target flying into the air while inflicting considerable damage. With the creatures they conjure, they’re able to win fights faster. In a similar vein, The Fiend Warlock is only Proficient with Light Armor so they’re not that resilient. As such, they should be positioned far away from the heat of Combat to survive longer.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Character Creation

In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up your Warlock during Character Creation for the best results. You don’t have to follow this to the letter, and this will likely change at the game’s full launch. However, this will hold you in good stead during Early Access.

Background

For Background, choosing one that provides you with Charisma Skills should be enough since this is your primary Ability to hit and damage enemies, alongside Dexterity and Intelligence. Charisma has Deception, Intimidation, Persuasion, and Performance. Some Background examples are Entertainer, Sage, and Soldier.

Race

The first Race that works well for this Build is the Wood Half-Elf. Wood Half-Elves can reach at most 17 Charisma but you’ll only need to get to 16 during Character Creation. This is because you’ll gain another opportunity to allocate 2 Ability points at Level 4 in Early Access. You’ll be aiming to get to 18 Charisma by then to improve the effectiveness of your Cantrips and Spells. This Race also has Darkvision to see and attack better in dark places. And lastly, you become Proficient in Stealth.

Next is the Lightfoot Halfling since they can also reach 16 Charisma, and gain Lucky, allowing them to make another Attack Roll when they roll a natural 1. They receive a +2 Dexterity bonus and are naturally Stealthy. Last but not least is the Drow who not only has Superior Darkvision, allowing them to see twice as far in the dark as the Wood Half-Elf but also Dancing Lights. This Cantrip will serve as a light source to benefit allies who need it.

Class

During Character Creation, you’ll be selecting the Subclass that you’d want to specialize in. For the Warlock, it’ll differ based on their respective Subclass Features as well as some of the Spells available to them. For this Build, you’ll choose The Fiend. As The Fiend, you gain access to Dark One’s Blessing, which gives you temporary HP equal to your Charisma Modifier plus your Level when you kill an enemy. So at Level 5, you can expect this to be +9.

For Cantrips, I recommend taking Blade Ward, and especially Eldritch Blast, which is the bread and butter of the Warlock.

Blade Ward grants Physical Damage Resistance from Weapon attacks, thereby lowering the corresponding damage by half. This is particularly useful for survivability should melee enemies get too close to you.

Eldritch Blast deals 1-10 Force Damage from a distance. And since this is a Cantrip, you can keep casting it every round without worrying about your remaining (and few) Spell Slots.

For Spells, I suggest picking Hex and Arms of Hadar.

Hex imposes a Disadvantage on a Saving Throw of your choice. For instance, if you have another Warlock or Wyll in the party, and you cast Hex, the other Spellcaster’s chances of landing Tasha’s Hideous Laughter will be much higher since the lower roll will be considered when the affected target makes a Saving Throw. You can also use this Spell to inflict additional Necrotic Damage upon hitting them. One example is casting Eldritch Blast right after Hex in the same turn since the latter is a Bonus Action anyway. Furthermore, if that same target dies, you can use this Spell again without consuming a Spell Slot provided that you maintain Concentration by successfully making Constitution Saving Throws when attacked.

Arms of Hadar deals decent Necrotic Damage but be careful of casting this Spell when nearby allies are around because they can be harmed. And should they fail their Strength Saving Throw, they won’t be able to take Reactions.

Skills

For Skills again it’s not super important, but you’ll have high Charisma and Dexterity, so selecting Skills that fall under these Abilities is ideal. Dexterity has Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth, and I’ve already listed what Charisma Skills there are. You can also choose Intelligence Skills like Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, or Religion since you’ll have a decent score for this Ability.

Abilities

The primary Abilities that are needed for The Fiend Warlock Build are Charisma, Dexterity, and Constitution. Charisma is necessary to land and effectively harm your foes with Spells while Dexterity is important to increase your AC, considering that you can only wear Light Armor, in order to survive longer in encounters. Moreover, Constitution increases HP and helps to maintain Concentration. Lastly, there’s Intelligence, although not useful in combat, encompasses a large number of Skills. And if the Warlock is your player character then it’s wise to have a few points here to help with interactions.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Level 2

Eldritch Invocations

At Level 2, you’ll be able to select 2 Eldritch Invocations that will allow you to further customize your Warlock. Out of the 9 options, I highly recommend taking Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast as they’ll greatly improve the effectiveness of Eldritch Blast. Agonizing Blast adds your Charisma Modifier to the damage of this Cantrip. This will be +3 Damage until Level 4, at which point it’ll become +4 when you increase Charisma to 18.

Meanwhile, Repelling Blast pushes back the target hit by Eldritch Blast 4.5m away, thereby preventing them from reaching you and your allies.

Spell

You also gain 1 Spell Slot. Here, you can choose between Burning Hands or Hellish Rebuke.

Burning Hands is only available to The Fiend Subclass. This lets you deal massive Fire Damage to enemies in front of you. It’s a good Spell to use once they move toward you. Burning Hands’ AoE is narrower compared to Thunderwave so you’re less likely to hit allies who are next to your targets.

Hellish Rebuke is a great choice, especially if you’re constantly being targeted in combat. As a Reaction, meaning you can’t initiate this Spell yourself, you end up dealing 2-20 Fire Damage when you receive damage, potentially killing enemies with low to average HP. However, remember that it can’t be triggered more than once in a single turn and when you run out of Spell Slots. Otherwise, you can choose to continue reaping its benefits.

Replacement Spell

You’ll be able to unlearn and learn old and new Spells, respectively, via the Replacement Spell, similar to the Ranger. Unlearning a Spell lets you select what you wish to remove from your list. As a replacement, you’ll get to pick one Spell when you level up. But if you want to keep your current list, you can simply ignore this feature and continue to learn new Spells. In The Fiend Warlock Build Guide, we won’t be unlearning any Spells since the ones we’ve chosen are essential in combat.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Warlock Level 3

At Level 3, you gain access to Pact of the Chain, which allows you to summon a Familiar to assist you in combat. So make sure you start casting this outside of combat so it can help you defeat enemies when fighting. For the Warlock, the creature I tend to summon often is the Imp because they’re unique to the Find Familiar Spell and they have the ability to cover huge distances thanks to fly. Imps can even sting their prey, possibly poisoning them in the process.

Spells

You can also pick 1 Spell. Here, I recommend taking Scorching Ray, Shatter, or Misty Step.

Scorching Ray, which is only available to The Fiend, deals 2-12 Fire Damage against multiple enemies or 6-36 damage to the same target. Overall, it’s a lot of damage, making this Spell very versatile and a must-have.

Shatter deals huge Thunder Damage against multiple adjacent enemies. Unlike Cloud of Daggers, it doesn’t require Concentration so you can still maintain the benefits of Hex, for example, while casting this Spell.

Misty Step lets you teleport to a location you can see, allowing you to get to High Ground easily to gain the +2 Attack Roll bonus when using Ranged Attacks like Eldritch Blast. Since this is a Bonus Action, you can also perform an Action during the same turn. Alternatively, you can opt to get the Amulet of Misty Step from the Underdark instead to be able to gain Misty Step but you’re going to have to wait a while to do so.

Additionally, if you’ve chosen the Drow Race in Character Creation, you’ll receive Drow Magic: Faerie Fire at this Level. The Spell functions the same way in that you and your allies gain Advantage on Attack Rolls but instead of consuming a Spell Slot, you’ll only use an Action. Just remember that you’ll need to take a Long Rest afterward to recharge it.

Concentration

Concentration is broken if you cast another Cantrip or Spell that also requires Concentration. You can tell which these are because it will say so on the Spell itself. For example, if you cast Hex, but then you cast Faerie Fire, you would stop “Concentrating” on Hex and begin Concentrating on Faerie Fire.

Moreover, if you take damage while Concentrating on a Spell, you must make a Constitution Saving Throw, and if you fail, then the effect of that Spell ends. Should you succeed in your Saving Throw, you maintain your Concentration and the Spell continues. This is why it’s vital for Warlocks to have average to high Constitution because of the Spells that require this Ability and is wasted if it’s constantly broken.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Warlock Level 4

At Level 4, you’ll gain 2 Ability points to place into Charisma, bringing it to 18 and your corresponding Modifier to +4. This will not only increase the likelihood of landing your attacks but also increase Eldritch Blast’s damage by +1.

You can also pick another Cantrip like Chill Touch or Poison Spray to deal Necrotic or Poison Damage, respectively, together with any of the Level 2 Spells you didn’t select previously.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Warlock Level 5

At Level 5, you get to choose 1 more Eldritch Invocation, and here I recommend taking One with Shadows. One with Shadows makes you temporarily Invisible so you gain an Advantage on your Attack Rolls. Once you perform an attack, cast a Spell, or even walk toward your enemies, you’ll be revealed. So it’s best to use this right before initiating combat.

Additionally, you can select 1 Level 3 Spell. The good ones to consider are Counterspell, Fear, or Fireball. Counterspell is a Reaction that can significantly throw a wretch in your enemy’s plans as long as they’re located within 18m of you. Doing so will let you stop the corresponding Spell’s effects. But remember that since it consumes The Fiend’s Spell Slots, you can only use this at most 2 times before taking a Long Rest.

Second is Fear, which would allow you to scare your enemies. In doing so, they drop their Weapons, regardless of whether or not they’re metal, and they end up running for their lives to stay away from you, making it a win-win condition. And third is the classic Fireball Spell, which encompasses a huge area and deals a whopping 8-48 Fire Damage against multiple targets even against your allies so you’ll need to carefully cast it.

Again, if you’ve selected the Drow, you gain the Darkness Spell. What this does is encase affected targets in the dark to blind them. Just remember that you can’t use your Ranged Attack Spells against those who are trapped in Darkness’ AoE.

Equipment

The Fiend Warlock will have the same Equipment as The Great Old One. This means that Weapons aren’t going to be a priority since you’ll be casting Spells most of the time. But remember to prepare for melee encounters by wielding The Watcher’s Guide or dual Daggers. With dual Daggers, you get to inflict Main Hand Attack and Off-hand Attack (Melee) in the same turn.

Additionally, any Ranged Weapon like a Shortbow or Light Crossbow would be sufficient. Shortbow has Hamstring Shot, which can potentially reduce the target’s Movement Speed whereas Light Crossbow has Piercing Shot to inflict Gaping Wounds for extra damage. Either Weapon lets you shoot enemies from a distance as an alternative to your Ranged Spells and Cantrips.

In terms of Armor, you should wear the Spidersilk Armour, which you get after defeating Minthara in the Shattered Sanctum. This, together with your +3 Dexterity Modifier, should give you a total of 15 AC.

For Accessories, you can equip the Helmet of Grit from the Shattered Sanctum and Tarnished Charm from Auntie Ethel. Helmet of Grit is another Light Armor where you receive an extra Bonus Action if your HP dips to 50% or less. On the other hand, Tarnished Charm is useful if you find yourself rolling Death Saving Throws frequently. With its Fey Life Feature, your chances of successfully making this type of roll are going to be higher.

Final Tips

The Fiend Warlock makes use of Hex, Eldritch Blast, and mostly offensive Spells to decimate enemies compared to The Great Old One who can incapacitate targets. To improve the overall damage you deal at earlier levels, remember to cast Hex on the target first before attacking them. Moreover, be sure to position yourself on Higher Ground when casting Ranged Attack Cantrips or Spells, with respect to your targets to raise the chances of hitting them. Doing so with Misty Step or Jump will make life easier. Additionally, you can keep using Hex without spending a Spell Slot provided that you maintain your Concentration.

Unlike other Spellcasters, Warlocks are at a disadvantage in terms of the total number of Spell Slots they have before taking a rest. However, they’re able to replenish these by simply taking a Short Rest without having to go to Camp. Although taking a Long Rest in Early Access is easy to do given the abundant amount of Camp Supplies, I’m guessing this mechanic will be restricted when the game fully launches.

If you don’t gain Misty Step and you’re having trouble with optimal positioning, then you may want to pick the Fly Spell but note that this requires Concentration. Alternatively, another Spellcaster can use this on you. Afterward, you’ll be able to traverse longer distances using your Movement Speed. For instance, you can approach Fearful targets more easily in order to damage them with your Cantrips or Spells.

Lastly, given that the Warlock is one of the Classes that have high Charisma, it’s a great idea to have them initiate dialogues to convince NPCs the way you want without having to use any of your inspiration points or waste other items.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day!