Baldur’s Gate 3 Warlock and Subclasses (Overview Guide)

Everything You Should Know About the Baldur’s Gate 3 Warlock and its Subclasses

Having forged a pact to gain otherworldly powers in exchange for their eternal loyalty and servitude, the Baldur’s Gate 3 Warlock becomes one of the game’s most interesting spellcasters.

Mechanically, they are a very beginner-friendly class, especially if you’re looking to dabble in a magic-wielder for the first time.

Flavor-wise, they offer a wide range of options since you can mix and match different Pacts, Boons, and Invocations.

In this guide, we will cover the BG3 Warlock’s pros and cons, mechanics, and subclasses.

Find out where the Warlock ranks in our Baldur’s Gate 3 class tier list.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Always cast their highest level spells, and recharge their spell slots on a Short Rest. This makes them extremely useful for short burst fights as they can have a great impact on the field while casting their strongest magic, and only need a short rest in between.
• Warlocks naturally have high Charisma, this makes them a fantastic choice to become the ‘face’ of your party as they will naturally beguile (or intimidate) all they come across.
• Unlike Wizard or Sorcerers, Warlocks gain Proficiency in Light Armor, making them beefier for the frontline and the ability to play them as a melee ‘Spellblade’ rather than a farcaster.

Cons

• The most Spell Slots a Warlock can have is 3. This severely limits the amount of versatility they can have, especially in comparison to the Wizard.
• For a spellcaster, Warlocks are limited in terms of the variety of spells that can be offered compared to other classes like the Wizard or Sorcerer. Many of what Warlock is left with are spells that require Concentration, which further limits the casting capabilities of this class.
• Compared to Sorcerers, Warlocks can lack raw burst damage potential when compared against Metamagic (they do have better consistent damage with Eldritch Blast though)

Warlock Mechanics and Roleplay

Beholden to a Patron to fulfill a bidding of theirs, the Warlock has forged a contract with a divine being and in turn has been blessed with supernatural powers. Warlocks, especially those touched by a Fiend, tend to be outcast for the demonic powers they wield.

While typically seen as outcasts and infernal, Warlocks’ purposes aren’t always nefarious. Many forge pacts out of necessity; selling their soul to gain the powers to protect their homeland and family from an invading army. A Warlock is locked in a perpetual power struggle with their chosen Patron, oftentimes having a different end-goal in mind than what the Patron bargained for.

With sheer mental power, and the forceful personality to be able to forge a pact with their Patron; the Warlock’s Charisma is what spearheads them through encounters.

The Warlock is given the unique opportunity to create a roleplaying environment where they are locked in their own personal struggles while journeying with their parties. The player can decide what unique price the Warlock must pay for the powers they have created.

Maybe a tricky Fey has left the Warlock with no choice but to perform demeaning and outright strange tasks for the Fey’s amusement?

Or perhaps a Great Old One would want their knowledge retained while destroying others – forcing the Warlock to burn every book they encounter on sight?

Whatever the cause, and whatever the effect; the Warlock is a true protagonist in their own stories….who just so happens to be contractually bound to their antagonist.

Pact Boons

At level 3, Warlocks are bestowed a gift by their Patron for their continued service; a Pact Boon. At level 5, the Boon you receive is upgraded.

The Warlock can select the Pact of the Blade, Pact of the Chain, or Pact of the Tome. Each one has its own playstyle:

Level	Feature	Description
Pact of the Blade	You can Summon a pact weapon, or Bind the one you are wielding, making it magical. Pact weapons use the wielder’s Spellcasting Ability Modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity.	You gain an extra attack with your pact weapon.
Pact of the Chain	Gain the service of a familiar, a fey spirit that takes a form you choose. This can be an animal, imp or quasit.	Your familiar can attach twice instead of once.
Pact of the Tome	Your patron grants you a grimoire called ‘The Book of Shadows’, which allows you to cast Guidance, Vicious Mockery, and Thorn Whip.	You may cast Animate Dead, Call Lightning, and Haste once per Long Rest.

Eldritch Invocations

Starting at level 2, In your study of occult lore, you have unearthed Eldritch Invocations; fragments of forbidden knowledge that imbue you with an abiding magical ability.

The Warlock starts with 2 of their choice from the below list, and at levels 5, 7, 9, and 12 they may select another. You cannot change your choice of Invocations later, so please make sure you choose these wisely – otherwise, you may need to respec your entire class!

Level	Feature	Description
2	Agonizing Blast	When you cast Eldritch Blast, add your Charisma modifier to the damage it deals, unless it is negative.
2	Armour of Shadows	You can cast Mage Armour on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot.
2	Beast Speech	You can cast Speak with Animals at will, without expending a spell slot.
2	Beguiling Influence	You invoke your patron’s bewitching charm. You gain proficiency in the Deception and Persuasion Skills.
2	Devil’s Sight	You can see normally in darkness, both magical and non-magical, to a distance of 24m.
2	Fiendish Vigor	You can cast False Life on yourself at will as a 1st-level Spell, without expending a spell slot.
2	Mask of Many Faces	You can cast Disguise Self at will, without expending a spell slot.
2	One with Shadows	Vanish into the darkness and become Invisible.
2	Repelling Blast	When you hit a creature with Eldritch Blast, you can push the creature up to 4.5 m away from you.
2	Thief of Five Fates	Once per long rest, you can cast Bane using a Warlock spell slot.
5	Mire the Mind	You can cast Slow with a Warlock Spell Slot.
5	Sign of Ill Omen	You can cast Bestow Curse with a Warlock Spell Slot.
7	Dreadful Word	You can cast Confusion with a Warlock Spell Slot.
7	Book of Ancient Secrets	You can inscribe magical rituals in your Book of Shadows. Gain the Ray of Sickness, Chromatic Orb, and Silence spells. You can cast these spells once per Long Rest, and they don’t expend any spell slots when cast.
7	Sculptor of Flesh	You can cast Polymorph with a Warlock Spell Slot
9	Minions of Chaos	You can cast Conjure Elemental with a Warlock Spell Slot.
9	Otherworldly Leap	You can cast the Enhance Leap spell.
9	Whispers of the Grave	You can cast Speak with Dead without expending a Spell Slot.
12	Lifedrinker	Your melee attacks deal additional necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier.

Features

From level 1, Warlocks gain proficiency in Light Armour and Simple Weapons. They also have access to the Warlock Spell list (Pact Magic). In addition, Warlocks gain the additional Features below:

Level	Feature	Description
2	Eldritch Invocations	In your study of occult lore, you have unearthed eldritch invocations, fragments of forbidden knowledge that imbue you with an abiding magical ability. Choose 2 Eldritch Invocations.
3	Pact Boon	Your patron bestows a gift upon you for your loyal service. Choose one Pact Boon of Chain, Blade, or Tome.
5	Deepened Pact	Pleased with your service, your otherworldly patron added new boons to the terms of your pact. (Effects explained in ‘Pact Boons’ section).
5	Eldritch Invocations	Choose 1 additional Eldritch Invocation.
7	Eldritch Invocations	Choose 1 additional Eldritch Invocation.
9	Eldritch Invocations	Choose 1 additional Eldritch Invocation.
11	Mystic Arcanum	Select one of your Level 6 spells. Once per Long Rest you can cast that spell without expanding a spell slot.
12	Eldritch Invocations	Choose 1 additional Eldritch Invocation.

Warlock Subclasses

At level 1 Warlock, you may choose your Subclass. There are three subclasses for Warlock in Baldur’s Gate 3. Each subclass is flavored as the type of Divine Patron that the Warlock chooses to enter their contract with. Trading their loyalty for supernatural abilities, the Warlock can choose to become The Fiend, The Great Old One, or an Archfey.

Warlocks bound to Fiendish beings favor destruction, corruption, and benefiting from the suffering of others. Those who forge a pact with Eldritch beings grow superior in mind as they are blessed with the powers of an Elder Brain. For the Warlocks who enter a contract with the Fey, they gain a mastery of the trickery of their respective domains.

One’s soul is not cheap, and in turn the Warlock gains powerful Eldritch Invocations as well as an additional gift from their patron in the form of Pact Boons. These gifts can range from your own fey spirit acting as your familiar, to a magical weapon of your choice bound only to you. However you decide to play your Warlock, you can be sure that your lifelong sacrifice will be lucratively rewarded.

• Archfey
• The Fiend
• The Great Old One

Archfey

Graced by a lady or lord of the fey, you are imbued with all the sumptuous and scary qualities of your patron’s extraordinary realm.

The Fey have always been known to be tricky, and the powers they grant in exchange for a Warlock’s contract is no different. The Fey grants you the ability to display a magic show so disturbing, you can Charm or Frighten those around you.

So tricky is the Fey, that upon receiving damage you become invisible thanks to their magic, also allowing you to retreat to a safe distance following up with Misty Step. This pairing allows your Warlock to become very slippery, keeping control of enemies’ minds while becoming extremely difficult to lock down as they can immediately escape from a dangerous situation.

Warlocks contracted to a Fey being gain access to spells that can put targets to sleep, or manipulate and trick the minds of beasts and people alike.

This subclass pairs well with the Pact of the Tome, as the spells learned from the tome will further add to your arsenal of trickery and controlling your opponents. The Ability Improvement Feature is very useful to increase your Charisma score to 20, which better helps your overall damage and chance to land attacks and apply the Fey curses.

Level	Feature	Description
1	Spellcasting	Charm or Frighten nearby foes with the feywild’s beguiling, disturbing magics.
6	Weapon Bond	Upon taking damage, become invisible. On your next turn, you can cast Misty Step, though this will break your invisibility.
10	War Magic	You have built stoic barriers in your heart and mind, and cannot be charmed.

The Fiend

Warlocks in service to fiends work towards corrupting, destructive ends – intentionally or otherwise – and receive hellish blessings in turn.  From the beginning, the Dark One’s Blessing will provide the Fiend Warlock temporary succor in the form off hit points as they fell their opponents. The Fiend grants the Warlock the ability to change their own fate, potentially turning a failed Ability Check to a succeeded one.

So great was the sacrifice made to the Fiend, the Warlock can always be prepared for any encounter by hardening their bodies to become resistant to any damage type of their choosing. This, coupled with the powerful magic they wield makes them a veritable threat on the battlefield.

The Fiend grants the Warlock destructive powers, giving access to much more damage potential than either the Archfey or the Great Old One. The Warlock will gain access to fiery spells and clouds of smog to oppressively push enemies back.

This subclass pairs well with the Pact of the Chain or Pact of the Blade, as a Fiend-guided Warlock has their main concern of outputting the most amount of damage they can. Depending on your playstyle, either can prove to be extremely beneficial.

The Pact of the Chain provides the Warlock with a familiar, which acts as another source of damage to the already very oppressive Fiend. The Pact of the Blade offers an additional attack, allowing for more blood to be spilled to absorb more temporary hit points, ultimately allowing you to stay in fights longer, while dishing out maximum damage.

Level	Feature	Description
1	Dark One’s Blessing	Whenever you reduce a hostile creature to 0 Hit Points, this gift from your patron grants you Charisma Modifier + Warlock Level temporary hit points.
6	Dark One’s Own Luck	Call on your patron to change your fate and add a 1d10 to an Ability Check.
10	Fiendish Resilience	Choose a damage type and become resistant to it. You can pick a new damage type each Short Rest and can only have 1 type of Resistance at a time.

The Great Old One

Warlocks bound to Eldritch beings in the Far Realms work towards inscrutable goals, gaining strange powers over entropy and the mind.

Having pacted with a being long lost, the equally lost powers of those Eldritch beings become yours. These powers are so strong that the mere force of your Critical Strikes can strike fear into the hearts of all nearby opponents.

This effect becomes even stronger should your Eldritch Blast critically strike, as paired with the other effects of Eldritch Blast, it now adds a ranged attack that Frightens to your arsenal.

The Warlock choosing to follow the Great Old Ones become some of the most defensive Warlocks due to their mind being strengthened to not only grant resistance to psychic damage, but also repel that damage back at any who dare oppose your mind. The Entropic Ward feature also allows you to remain on the frontline just a little bit longer.

Warlocks contracted to a Great Old One gain access to an array of spells focused on applying hexes, curses, and enforcing a great deal of crowd control – or simply dominate and control another humanoid’s mind altogether.

This subclass pairs well with the Pact of the Blade, which allows you two chances to hit a Critical Strike to take advantage of the Mortal Reminder feature. Another feature that works well with this subclass is Spell Sniper, which gives your Spells and Cantrips the ability to critically hit on 19, making your Mortal Reminder even more scary

Level	Feature	Description
1	Mortal Reminder	When you land a Critical Hit against a creature, that creature and any nearby enemies are Frightened until the end of their next turn.
6	Entropic Ward	As a reaction, you can impose Disadvantage on an Attack Roll against you. If the attack misses, you gain Advantage on your next attack roll against your attacker for 1 turn.
10	Thought Shield: Psychic Resistance	An elder brain shields your brain. You gain Resistance to Psychic damage.
10	Thought Shield: Psychic Resistance	Your patron doesn’t appreciate attempts to attack your mind. When you take Psychic damage, your attacker takes the same damage.

So which Baldur’s Gate 3 Warlock subclass should you play?

Those pacted with an Archfey have the ability to be a playful wisp, blinking and dashing out of an enemy’s sight and reach. This is paired with the ability to bestow mind and mood altering spells on enemies, effectively locking down groups of opponents for your party to cut down.

Heavy hitting with powerful spells, while sustaining themselves in battle off of the life force of felled opponents; those who follow the Fiend are rewarded in battle with the capability to endure and come out on top every time.

Followers of a Great Old God have the ability to Dominate their foes, warping their minds to their wills. If you want to lord your command over another, while being feared by the rest upon every repeated critical blow. – Pick the Great Old God.

Thank you so much for reading my guide! As always, please remember that you can easily respec your character any time for just 100g at Withers, so feel free to try out every Warlock patron type and see which works best for you and your party!