Warlock's spell-slots

[NecroDancer]

Hello forum members!

I am currently playing through CoS as a fiend-pact tome warlock, the rest of my party is a dwarf paladin of devotion, Drow cleric of light, halfling arcane trickster, and human open-fist monk. At the moment we are level four and I have ran into a major problem, what do I do about my lack of spell-slots?

Throughout the entire campaign I will be limited to two spell-slots, do I spend them right out of the gate casting "fly" and "hex", or should I save them for damage dealing spells like "fireball"?

Any advice will be appreciated, thank you!

[Crgaston]

My warlock has had best results with Hunger of Hadar plus Repelling Blast to shove the baddies back inside it. And fireball and counter spell. You're not quite there yet, though. First and second level spells she's hung onto are Command and Misty Step. Agonizing+Repelling blasts are her bread and butter. Damage like an archer plus battlefield control.

Hex makes for great dpr numbers, but in actual play using half your slots for +1d6 isn't as cool as a well thrown fireball. Or counter spell.

[Tanarii]

At the moment we are level four and I have ran into a major problem, what do I do about my lack of spell-slots?
You get 6 spell slots per day, which is only one less than the other full casters in your party. And yours are all level 2. What do they do about their lack of spell slots?

Edit: I've generally found it helpful, with any spell caster, to think about my spell slot resources in terms of slots available per encounter. For a warlock it works out to approximate one per encounter before level 10. For a long rest full caster it works out to about 1-2.5, with one at the highest 2-3 levels I can cast then going down from there. Against easier encounter you can save some, against a harder one drop more.

(Note: not all play styles let you get away with thinking about your resources like this.)

[Sir cryosin]

First of all get the invocation that adds your char mod to damage with eb. Eb is your attack spell you should be doing most of your if not all with eb. Next your spell slots refresh on a short rest. So get your party to take more of them.

[NecroDancer]

My invocations are

Mask of Many Faces-because impersonating people is useful and funny

Agonizing blast-basic optimization

[NecroDancer]

I plan to pick up Book of Ancient secrets at level 5.

[Regulas]

For Hex, it only comes into effect at higher levels when you get longer duration's, but you can concentrate through short rests so as long as you don't otherwise loose it you can technically keep 1 Hex going for the whole day (albeit this isn't always viable). It can also combo with certain abilities well, like if the paladin uses ensnaring strike you can hex str so that it has disadvantage on it's subsequent efforts to break out.


Generally with slots it works out best to focus on longer duration effects since as noted you basically have an average of 1 spell per encounter Darkness type effects, buff effects like agathys, other concentration spells etc. etc.. So blast spells are usually a sub-par choice unless you are really lacking aoe dmg as a group.

[JakOfAllTirades]

When I played a Warlock, I split my spell list into two smaller lists: one had all my concentration spells, and the other had my spells that didn't require concentration. I'd generally use one of each in an encounter/combat, then make sure I got a Short Rest soon afterwards.

If you can find them, a Rod of the Pact Keeper or a Ring of Spell Storing can get you an extra spell during the day.

[MrStabby]

OP: You are kind of half right about the spell slots.

In some campaigns warlocks do well for spell slots, in others they suffer. Even on two short rests per day you are practically behind as you cannot carry spell slots over between rests (with the exception of casting long duration spells). In a tough fight, a full caster can unload everything they have to swing the battle but a warlock (till level 11) is limited to casting two non cantrip spells at most. That's part of being a warlock but is compensated for by being able to do martial character amounts of at will damage.

[Dalebert]

do I spend them right out of the gate casting "fly" and "hex"

Well definitely not that particular combo. Those are both concentration spells so your fly would immediately end when you cast Hex.

[Theodoxus]

If there's any chance you can use spell points, I highly recommend it. Being able to cast more, lower level spells instead of always having max spell levels boosts your utility.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Most important Warlock question here: are you getting your short rests in?

[NecroDancer]

I'm mainly worried about a prolonged fight or a boss fight, I don't want to be stuck doing nothing but Eldritch blast the entire time

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'm mainly worried about a prolonged fight or a boss fight, I don't want to be stuck doing nothing but Eldritch blast the entire time
Yeah, that is an unfortunate tenancy. On the plus side, that's still more variety than your mundane allies get! Especially if you pick up Repelling Blast as well, which adds a 4e-esque tactical repositioning to your bag of tricks-- that should mitigate the pain somewhat.

[Waffle_Iron]

Yeah, that is an unfortunate tenancy. On the plus side, that's still more variety than your mundane allies get! Especially if you pick up Repelling Blast as well, which adds a 4e-esque tactical repositioning to your bag of tricks-- that should mitigate the pain somewhat.

A hundred times, this. I've found repelling blast to be far more USEFUL than agonizing blast, even if the DPR isn't there.

[Dalebert]

Just tonight we had two warlocks in the group. One had cast Hunger of Hadar and the other was using Repelling Blast to keep knocking things back into it. Brutal. I think this is a combo that was fully intended. It had to be. It's too obviously tactical. Of course you only need one warlock to do this.

[Socratov]

Just tonight we had two warlocks in the group. One had cast Hunger of Hadar and the other was using Repelling Blast to keep knocking things back into it. Brutal. I think this is a combo that was fully intended. It had to be. It's too obviously tactical. Of course you only need one warlock to do this.

well, there is a trick with druid whre you just cast path of thorns (or whatever the spell is called), raise yoru speed and drag enemies grappeled along the edges for heaps of d4 damage per round. The same goes for Moonbeam, sunbeam, etc.

[Joe the Rat]

Just tonight we had two warlocks in the group. One had cast Hunger of Hadar and the other was using Repelling Blast to keep knocking things back into it. Brutal. I think this is a combo that was fully intended. It had to be. It's too obviously tactical. Of course you only need one warlock to do this.
This is my party's warlocks' MO. Well, that or climb a tree first. She does her best work when nobody can get to her.

Best to think of a tomelock as a magical archer, who can also cast spells.