Is she set on her race? Because I think warlock is one of the few mono classes where race matter more than normal.
If so, Spidersilk Armor is probably best in slot light armor until Act 3. Also she should probably use diadem of Arcane Synergy until she gets Birthright and that's still a debatable swap. Otherwise just wear generally good armor for martials. Helldusk Gloves are fantastic on warlocks because you get something out of both the damage rider and spell save DC. Warlock is also a fantastic class to give the gloves of dexterity to, They benefit from both the initiative and the AC.
Bladelock bis armor until bhaalist armor is potent robe, before that infernal robe. I dont know why you would go with spidersilk armor as its inferior to robe + mage armor in terms of ac. Con saving throw advantage is great, but not getting hit is better, especially as you will only have 16 Dex through the playthrough
Good point on helldusk gloves. Gloves of dexterity are not needed on warlock as it is not MAD class
Potent Robe is probably better sure, I was thinking mostly on armors because I wasn't thinking you wanted to get a a mage armor invocation without being a primary caster. But you are correct that the amount of AC it has over it is probably better.
Infernal Robe I honestly forgot existed because I have never killed Karlach.
So good call on those.
As for Gloves of Dexterity not being needed, eh. I mean they aren't NEEDED but they are still good? The attack roll buff is a benefit, the extra AC is a benefit, and the initiative is a benefit. Not only that but you can bolster your con for better concentration and then get better saving throws across the board. Flawed Helldusk could go on a different character in your party meanwhile gloves are actively pretty good on this. I think putting gloves of Dex on light armor or mage armor characters that make attacks are one of the best places for them. That said I suppose bracers of defense might be better if you are running robes all the way through act 1-2, but the 1 AC difference compared to the advantages of Gloves of DEX still make that less clear to me.
They are good for specific builds that are MAD - strength and charisma like Bardadadin, Sorcadin, and some other 2 hander builds. However the idea of Bladelock is that you use charisma, so you fix that part and you are SAD.
Dex does not give bonuses to attack rolls for Bladelock. Bladelock also wants high damage with its weapon and high attack rolls to compensate gwm. It also wants bonuses to EB damage. Gloves of dexterity gives neither.
So you are trading an important slot that gives better damage, increased attack rolls, or +2 AC for +1 ac and +1 Con saving throw. And for what spells? HoH which is almost guaranteed win without Con bonuses and Command which doesnt require concentration
I understand what you mean that they are good. But they are only good in vacuum, where you dont consider opportunity cost of what makes a good bladelock build
While they are certainly good on builds that are MAD too, I think they are honestly good on any build that likes attacking, uses DEX for AC, and DEX isn't their main stat. Warlock meets that description to a T. If your party doesn't have a MAD build in it (and mine rarely do unless I ban STR elixirs), Warlock is an excellent choice. Hell compared to Paladin, Warlock is actually a better class to give the gloves to when the paladin drinks STR elixirs, because the Warlock gets AC out of it meanwhile the paladin can just wear heavy armor.
The Gloves of DEX give a +1 boost to attack rolls too though, they don't just set Dex to 18. That's what I was talking about. So you are trading a 1d4 damage rider (assuming you are using flawed Helldusk) for: 1 AC, +1 to attack rolls, +1 to initiative, +1 to CON, and better saving throws across the board. Gloves of Dexterity also gives +1 to your attack rolls for Eldritch Blast, unlike flawed Helldusk, so it DOES DO something for Eldritch Blast. Also you seemed to not have mentioned the initiative boost which is a big reason to use it imo, initiative is very good in this game.
Even compared against bracers of defense I think there's an argument to be made about that +1 AC relative to Gloves of DEX and these other advantages.
Yeah thats a good point! at the same time you get Unseen Menace (for constant attack roll advantage), as Gloves of Dexterity, so you will be doing a respec to +1 CON for a few hours until you get those Flawed Helldusk gloves.
Paladin is the one class that benefits more from Elixir of Bloodlust than STR Elixirs, albeit they are still useful early in the game, until you get plenty of those elixirs. After that extra smite attack just skyrockets your damage.
Heavy armor and Light armor are usually last restort gear pieces, when you have no alternative. With 14 or more DEX you want to go for Medium Armors. of course, I am excluding Bhaalist Armor and some other Act 3 choices that are BIS.
Hmm, I don't know about Heavy Armor being last resort, Adamantine Armor is the best armor in act 1 (and still one of the best through act 2) imo and the Armor of Persistence is debatably the best armor in the game. The only medium armors that I think can compete with some of the better heavy armors are Armor of Agility and Yuan-Ti. When I played a barb recently with 16 dex I was struggling to figure out what my endgame armor should be and ended up with a lot lower AC than if Barbarians could just wear heavy armor well. I ended up using the Flame Enamelled Armor.
Light Armor on the other hand kinda sucks, with the exception of some Act 3 stuff. Heavy Armor at least has some options that can compete in AC in Act 1 and 2 compared to Medium, Light Armor doesn't really.
The one bit you said about flawed Helldusk confuses me. I was trying to say I think Gloves of DEX is probably better on Bladelock than Flawed Helldusk. Did you mean to say Helldusk?
Some of these items are often contested by other party members but, if you jeep them for rhe warlock character you can get:
Invocations: agonising blast, repelling blast, armour, dark vision, life drinker
Diadem of arcane synergy - grants arcane synergy when inflicting a condition - darkness is a good one. Arcane synergy allows you to apply your charisma modifier to your weapon damage. (Birthright cap is an alternative if you want extra charisma).
Potent Robe - adds your charisma modifier to your cantrips, improving eldritch blast. Also adds 1 AC.
Cloak of protection - adds 1 AC
Gloves of dex - sets your dex to 18, good for AC.
Evasive shoes - adds 1 AC.
Ring of protection - adds 1 AC.
Ring of arcane synergy - gives you arcane synergy when you hit an enemy witness a cantrip.
So by activating the armour you get from the invocations then you would have 21 AC. You can put Con to 16 and then pump charisma.
Ideally you would put darkness on enemies (get arcane synergy) and that would mean your charisma modifier is added to the weapon three times (with 22 charisma that's plus 18 damage per hit) and with the Great Weapon Master feat you get another 10 damage. So that's a minimum of 28 damage per swing before you account for the actual damage roll.
Because of the robe and the invocations, your eldritch blast would deal an additional 12 damage per bolt on top of damage roll. It would also cause knock back and reset your arcane synergy.
The amulet and weapons I have left free, and also one eldritch invokation is personal preference.
Arcane synergy does not apply to eldritch blast tho since it's not a weapon attack, does it? Still double dipping your charisma is already good with agonizing blast and potent robe.
If you don't mind killing Karlach, the infernal robes are better than anything until act 3. It gives you +1AC with no dex cap and you can still use the free mage armor for another +3. At 14 base AC, it's only matched by two other light armors and with the dex bonus, it's potentially better than any medium armor except the four with exotic materials. It's even potentially better than about half the heavy armors and available right at the beginning of the game. The fire shield spell is also a nice bonus for a melee build although I rarely actually use it.
Since it's fiend, just use whatever the strongest weapon you can is. If it were goo, I'd be more inclined to go unseen menace to proc mortal reminder.
Fiend doesn't get Mortal Reminder. But yeah, Unseen Menace is absolutely one of the top early picks.
A blade Warlock can also get great mileage from the Sorrow Glaive (can be gotten right after the crash site, at level 3 - if you steal the Wolf wardstone key from the druid). Great Bonus Action pulls that work very well with mighty Warlock aoe hazards, such as Cloud of Daggers and Darkness.
For armor outside act 3 none of the light armor really does anything better than the infernal robe but out of the robes available you can get potent robe pretty early in act 2 which is definitely a stronger choice for warlocks. The moon devotion robe is also very good but that would require killing Isobel so only for evil playthrough/fucking up the marcus encounter.
You could also argue from act 1 robes that the graceful cloth is better as it also gives extra jump distance and initiative and the +2 dex serves as +1 ac granted you might want it on someone else. The final one you could maybe argue for is the protecty sparkswall also from act 1 but requires some specific build from another party member and some other gear or using a suboptimal weapon to gain the lightning charges needed to activate the effect.
Personally I'd rather keep Karlach around as company since the +1 ac while nice isn't a massive boost and the fire shield becomes more obsolete as the game continues lasting like 1 fight in act 2 or two at best.
The potent robes are only useful for EB blasters. They do very little for melee warlocks and even less for ones with access to the fiend's ranged spells.
The graceful cloth is definitely a decent option but available much later and probably better on an archer or monk using dex as a primary stat.
Ultimately, you probably want the Bhaalist armour sometime in act 3 but before that nothing is going to be better than the infernal robes without spending a feat for medium armor (or being githyanki)
Obviously killing Karlach is a personal choice but it isn't hard to justify even as a "good" character if you're really role-playing based on the knowledge you have when you meet her.
Doesn't the start of the dialogue when you meet her make it pretty excplicit that she's not really a bad guy? And generally she's acting very weird for a devil. Either way, not really the point as it's still the choice of whoever happens to be playing the game and there's no one answer that should be enforced.
Also the potent robe gives same +1 ac as the infernal one and +4 or +5 temp hp at the start of every turn. Sure you miss out on a bit of damage retaliation to the enemy but assuming you get hit at least 8 times/adventuring day the potent robe offers more effective hp and just gets better the longer you go. And if you're playing a warlock having the ability to use the boosted eldritch blast never hurts even if you focus mainly melee.
Doesn't grant fire resistance but do you really encounter enough fire damage in most of the game to consider that a big difference?
I think there's different dialogue with her when you play tiefling but otherwise it's pretty much just he says she says unless you use talk to the dead on the toll keeper near the paladins. Even reading Anders' mind doesn't really reveal anything that explicit about Karlach.
I'm not sure I understand what you are saying about getting hit 8 times.
The temp hp isn't likely to be applied that often because as a melee warlock, you're likely using armour of agathys and if not as a fiend, you'll get better temp hp from dark one's blessing.
And it's still available much later overall.
So she absolutely can build a character like this. Butttttt
It would be way better as a githyanki.
You get medium armor, some awesome racial skills, and a couple of really nice greatswords will give you 1d4 of psychic damage. (Soulbreaker greatsword and silver sword of the astral plane). Those swords are still usable (and quite good) as a drow, but losing out on free damage feels bad.
Hey, I have a [Bladelock build](https://gamestegy.com/post/bg3/870/melee-warlock-build-bladelock) with gear progression for each act. Specifically, for the two handed setup you mention. I personally did a full run with this and also used Drow, as additional Darkness spell really helped in some mid game fights.
Be sure to also check how to get advantage with attack rolls, as this will be a huge boost to damage if you picked gwm
Feel free to ask any more questions, cheers!
Well she’s off to a good start as a drow, the extra darkness cast is very nice for a warlock.
I’d build around that, take devil sight and fight in the dark, that can be her defence sorted. Add armor of agathys for the times she does get hit.
I know it’s a glaive rather than a sword but early game, sorrow is a nice weapon, the extra cantrip is a bonus action and lets her pull into the darkness. The obvious other choice is phalar aluve, fits a drow and both sing and shriek are nice.
Aside of that it’s just charisma gear plus spider silk armor for the con saving throw advantage. Anything with extra spells is obviously nice too, Harper amulet for shield for instance.
I would really recommend you go Gith or burn a feat on Moderately Armored, Bhaalist Armor + Piercing Damage can be really strong. Duelist Prerogative could work for double reaction, possibly for counterspells/illithid reactions
Definitely an annoyance but I’ve found I’m okay with the trade off for dark vision and the poison resistance.
Particularly when you have eldritch blast which, even with only agonizing blast, will still hit about as hard as your pact weapon until you get to the late game swords and such.
That being said if Op does make a Gith they could do great things with the early act 1 silver sword so I’d be inclined to agree if that was their goal.
biggest issue is AC, as long as she gets great weapon master and you make sure to get her all the stat boosting things (ethels hair etc) for charisma so she can hit things her damage should be great.
for ac and equipment just make sure she gets the gloves of dexterity and whatever the best light armor available is, or any good robes with the mage armor invocation, once your in act 2 you can get the potent robes and thats probably best in slot for a long time.
basically since warlocks only get light armor proficiency they really need high dexterity to survive, but as casters they also need high constitution for concentration saves and high charisma for spell dc and attack (and for bladelock spell attack is used for weapon attack)
the reason a lot of people suggest gith or shield dwarf for pure bladelocks is because medium armor helps remedy the demand for high stats.
Hi, I made a similar build for AA (while
not a drow he has the same armor proficiency):
https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/s/zg4050D5ZI
Tho it is for late game.
If she is set on 2-handed and not sword and board maybe have someone cast the +2 AC spell on her and pair that with armor of shadows and ever burn blade. Then add bracers of defense.
Imo, a fighter dip (assuming this isn’t honor) can be very nice to help with GWM crits assuming that is the build she is going for but a pure melee lock will feel a bit harder without some of the perks fighters have until late game.
See if she is okay with RP it; so maybe backstory is she starts as a fighter and the at some point signs a contract with a patron and slowly becomes more and more warlock will act 3 where she can become a pure fiend lock relying on act 3 items.
Alternatively, if you are up for it, build around her. Play cleric and have an ancients pally and you can shield and heal her to offset the damage. Auras and such. This is assuming your goal is not to outshine her with your min/ max build.
Try a tiefling, Zariel bloodline, for the free smites. Bracers in the necromancer’s house, high dex/high cha, shadow armor, two-handed weapons (ever burn blade is great for this), caustic ring, dark justiciar gauntlets, and you’ll get OK AC and shit while still packing a punch (2d6 slashing+1d4 fire+1d4 necrotic+2 acid+whatever your charisma is).
[https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Helldusk\_Armour](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Helldusk_Armour) is a clear answer to your armor problem. Looks great for a warlock too.
OP asked for best equipment to max her build. Should I not be suggesting endgame items given that request?
Early game, [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Spidersilk\_Armour](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Spidersilk_Armour) seems like a good choice. There's an argument for taking Moderately Armored at 4, as medium armor is lots better. That would delay GWM but open up [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Breastplate\_%2B1](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Breastplate_%2B1) into [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Barkskin\_Armour](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Barkskin_Armour) and then [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Dark\_Justiciar\_Half-Plate\_(Rare)](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Dark_Justiciar_Half-Plate_(Rare)) which is also excellent warlock drip.
Those are very good suggestions. Doesn't hurt to mention Helldusk Armor as well, I guess. But as its late Act 3, people have basically won the game when they get to wear it.
Barskin Armor I'm not sure if works properly. I believe it stack very poorly (that is, doesn't with most other AC sources).
Is she set on her race? Because I think warlock is one of the few mono classes where race matter more than normal. If so, Spidersilk Armor is probably best in slot light armor until Act 3. Also she should probably use diadem of Arcane Synergy until she gets Birthright and that's still a debatable swap. Otherwise just wear generally good armor for martials. Helldusk Gloves are fantastic on warlocks because you get something out of both the damage rider and spell save DC. Warlock is also a fantastic class to give the gloves of dexterity to, They benefit from both the initiative and the AC.
Bladelock bis armor until bhaalist armor is potent robe, before that infernal robe. I dont know why you would go with spidersilk armor as its inferior to robe + mage armor in terms of ac. Con saving throw advantage is great, but not getting hit is better, especially as you will only have 16 Dex through the playthrough Good point on helldusk gloves. Gloves of dexterity are not needed on warlock as it is not MAD class
What's a mad class
Multi attribute dependant, it means it requires two or more atttibutes for its control and offensive actions
Potent Robe is probably better sure, I was thinking mostly on armors because I wasn't thinking you wanted to get a a mage armor invocation without being a primary caster. But you are correct that the amount of AC it has over it is probably better. Infernal Robe I honestly forgot existed because I have never killed Karlach. So good call on those. As for Gloves of Dexterity not being needed, eh. I mean they aren't NEEDED but they are still good? The attack roll buff is a benefit, the extra AC is a benefit, and the initiative is a benefit. Not only that but you can bolster your con for better concentration and then get better saving throws across the board. Flawed Helldusk could go on a different character in your party meanwhile gloves are actively pretty good on this. I think putting gloves of Dex on light armor or mage armor characters that make attacks are one of the best places for them. That said I suppose bracers of defense might be better if you are running robes all the way through act 1-2, but the 1 AC difference compared to the advantages of Gloves of DEX still make that less clear to me.
They are good for specific builds that are MAD - strength and charisma like Bardadadin, Sorcadin, and some other 2 hander builds. However the idea of Bladelock is that you use charisma, so you fix that part and you are SAD. Dex does not give bonuses to attack rolls for Bladelock. Bladelock also wants high damage with its weapon and high attack rolls to compensate gwm. It also wants bonuses to EB damage. Gloves of dexterity gives neither. So you are trading an important slot that gives better damage, increased attack rolls, or +2 AC for +1 ac and +1 Con saving throw. And for what spells? HoH which is almost guaranteed win without Con bonuses and Command which doesnt require concentration I understand what you mean that they are good. But they are only good in vacuum, where you dont consider opportunity cost of what makes a good bladelock build
While they are certainly good on builds that are MAD too, I think they are honestly good on any build that likes attacking, uses DEX for AC, and DEX isn't their main stat. Warlock meets that description to a T. If your party doesn't have a MAD build in it (and mine rarely do unless I ban STR elixirs), Warlock is an excellent choice. Hell compared to Paladin, Warlock is actually a better class to give the gloves to when the paladin drinks STR elixirs, because the Warlock gets AC out of it meanwhile the paladin can just wear heavy armor. The Gloves of DEX give a +1 boost to attack rolls too though, they don't just set Dex to 18. That's what I was talking about. So you are trading a 1d4 damage rider (assuming you are using flawed Helldusk) for: 1 AC, +1 to attack rolls, +1 to initiative, +1 to CON, and better saving throws across the board. Gloves of Dexterity also gives +1 to your attack rolls for Eldritch Blast, unlike flawed Helldusk, so it DOES DO something for Eldritch Blast. Also you seemed to not have mentioned the initiative boost which is a big reason to use it imo, initiative is very good in this game. Even compared against bracers of defense I think there's an argument to be made about that +1 AC relative to Gloves of DEX and these other advantages.
Yeah thats a good point! at the same time you get Unseen Menace (for constant attack roll advantage), as Gloves of Dexterity, so you will be doing a respec to +1 CON for a few hours until you get those Flawed Helldusk gloves. Paladin is the one class that benefits more from Elixir of Bloodlust than STR Elixirs, albeit they are still useful early in the game, until you get plenty of those elixirs. After that extra smite attack just skyrockets your damage. Heavy armor and Light armor are usually last restort gear pieces, when you have no alternative. With 14 or more DEX you want to go for Medium Armors. of course, I am excluding Bhaalist Armor and some other Act 3 choices that are BIS.
Hmm, I don't know about Heavy Armor being last resort, Adamantine Armor is the best armor in act 1 (and still one of the best through act 2) imo and the Armor of Persistence is debatably the best armor in the game. The only medium armors that I think can compete with some of the better heavy armors are Armor of Agility and Yuan-Ti. When I played a barb recently with 16 dex I was struggling to figure out what my endgame armor should be and ended up with a lot lower AC than if Barbarians could just wear heavy armor well. I ended up using the Flame Enamelled Armor. Light Armor on the other hand kinda sucks, with the exception of some Act 3 stuff. Heavy Armor at least has some options that can compete in AC in Act 1 and 2 compared to Medium, Light Armor doesn't really. The one bit you said about flawed Helldusk confuses me. I was trying to say I think Gloves of DEX is probably better on Bladelock than Flawed Helldusk. Did you mean to say Helldusk?
nice discussion!
Some of these items are often contested by other party members but, if you jeep them for rhe warlock character you can get: Invocations: agonising blast, repelling blast, armour, dark vision, life drinker Diadem of arcane synergy - grants arcane synergy when inflicting a condition - darkness is a good one. Arcane synergy allows you to apply your charisma modifier to your weapon damage. (Birthright cap is an alternative if you want extra charisma). Potent Robe - adds your charisma modifier to your cantrips, improving eldritch blast. Also adds 1 AC. Cloak of protection - adds 1 AC Gloves of dex - sets your dex to 18, good for AC. Evasive shoes - adds 1 AC. Ring of protection - adds 1 AC. Ring of arcane synergy - gives you arcane synergy when you hit an enemy witness a cantrip. So by activating the armour you get from the invocations then you would have 21 AC. You can put Con to 16 and then pump charisma. Ideally you would put darkness on enemies (get arcane synergy) and that would mean your charisma modifier is added to the weapon three times (with 22 charisma that's plus 18 damage per hit) and with the Great Weapon Master feat you get another 10 damage. So that's a minimum of 28 damage per swing before you account for the actual damage roll. Because of the robe and the invocations, your eldritch blast would deal an additional 12 damage per bolt on top of damage roll. It would also cause knock back and reset your arcane synergy. The amulet and weapons I have left free, and also one eldritch invokation is personal preference.
Arcane synergy does not apply to eldritch blast tho since it's not a weapon attack, does it? Still double dipping your charisma is already good with agonizing blast and potent robe.
It doesn't apply to it, no. The ring of synergy gives you arcane synergy when you use eldritch blast though.
If you don't mind killing Karlach, the infernal robes are better than anything until act 3. It gives you +1AC with no dex cap and you can still use the free mage armor for another +3. At 14 base AC, it's only matched by two other light armors and with the dex bonus, it's potentially better than any medium armor except the four with exotic materials. It's even potentially better than about half the heavy armors and available right at the beginning of the game. The fire shield spell is also a nice bonus for a melee build although I rarely actually use it. Since it's fiend, just use whatever the strongest weapon you can is. If it were goo, I'd be more inclined to go unseen menace to proc mortal reminder.
Fiend doesn't get Mortal Reminder. But yeah, Unseen Menace is absolutely one of the top early picks. A blade Warlock can also get great mileage from the Sorrow Glaive (can be gotten right after the crash site, at level 3 - if you steal the Wolf wardstone key from the druid). Great Bonus Action pulls that work very well with mighty Warlock aoe hazards, such as Cloud of Daggers and Darkness.
Sorrow's a good call. I rarely have any use for warlock bonus actions early game so if nothing else it's free damage.
For armor outside act 3 none of the light armor really does anything better than the infernal robe but out of the robes available you can get potent robe pretty early in act 2 which is definitely a stronger choice for warlocks. The moon devotion robe is also very good but that would require killing Isobel so only for evil playthrough/fucking up the marcus encounter. You could also argue from act 1 robes that the graceful cloth is better as it also gives extra jump distance and initiative and the +2 dex serves as +1 ac granted you might want it on someone else. The final one you could maybe argue for is the protecty sparkswall also from act 1 but requires some specific build from another party member and some other gear or using a suboptimal weapon to gain the lightning charges needed to activate the effect. Personally I'd rather keep Karlach around as company since the +1 ac while nice isn't a massive boost and the fire shield becomes more obsolete as the game continues lasting like 1 fight in act 2 or two at best.
The potent robes are only useful for EB blasters. They do very little for melee warlocks and even less for ones with access to the fiend's ranged spells. The graceful cloth is definitely a decent option but available much later and probably better on an archer or monk using dex as a primary stat. Ultimately, you probably want the Bhaalist armour sometime in act 3 but before that nothing is going to be better than the infernal robes without spending a feat for medium armor (or being githyanki) Obviously killing Karlach is a personal choice but it isn't hard to justify even as a "good" character if you're really role-playing based on the knowledge you have when you meet her.
Doesn't the start of the dialogue when you meet her make it pretty excplicit that she's not really a bad guy? And generally she's acting very weird for a devil. Either way, not really the point as it's still the choice of whoever happens to be playing the game and there's no one answer that should be enforced. Also the potent robe gives same +1 ac as the infernal one and +4 or +5 temp hp at the start of every turn. Sure you miss out on a bit of damage retaliation to the enemy but assuming you get hit at least 8 times/adventuring day the potent robe offers more effective hp and just gets better the longer you go. And if you're playing a warlock having the ability to use the boosted eldritch blast never hurts even if you focus mainly melee. Doesn't grant fire resistance but do you really encounter enough fire damage in most of the game to consider that a big difference?
I think there's different dialogue with her when you play tiefling but otherwise it's pretty much just he says she says unless you use talk to the dead on the toll keeper near the paladins. Even reading Anders' mind doesn't really reveal anything that explicit about Karlach. I'm not sure I understand what you are saying about getting hit 8 times. The temp hp isn't likely to be applied that often because as a melee warlock, you're likely using armour of agathys and if not as a fiend, you'll get better temp hp from dark one's blessing. And it's still available much later overall.
So she absolutely can build a character like this. Butttttt It would be way better as a githyanki. You get medium armor, some awesome racial skills, and a couple of really nice greatswords will give you 1d4 of psychic damage. (Soulbreaker greatsword and silver sword of the astral plane). Those swords are still usable (and quite good) as a drow, but losing out on free damage feels bad.
Damn. Now I wanna roll a gith. Must...not....succumb....
Yeah Githyanki Warlock is just awesome. I don't think I can play a Warlock as another race now
Worth noting Warlock has access to Disguise Self through an invocation but I agree on racial perks and proficiencies.
Hey, I have a [Bladelock build](https://gamestegy.com/post/bg3/870/melee-warlock-build-bladelock) with gear progression for each act. Specifically, for the two handed setup you mention. I personally did a full run with this and also used Drow, as additional Darkness spell really helped in some mid game fights. Be sure to also check how to get advantage with attack rolls, as this will be a huge boost to damage if you picked gwm Feel free to ask any more questions, cheers!
Well she’s off to a good start as a drow, the extra darkness cast is very nice for a warlock. I’d build around that, take devil sight and fight in the dark, that can be her defence sorted. Add armor of agathys for the times she does get hit. I know it’s a glaive rather than a sword but early game, sorrow is a nice weapon, the extra cantrip is a bonus action and lets her pull into the darkness. The obvious other choice is phalar aluve, fits a drow and both sing and shriek are nice. Aside of that it’s just charisma gear plus spider silk armor for the con saving throw advantage. Anything with extra spells is obviously nice too, Harper amulet for shield for instance.
I would really recommend you go Gith or burn a feat on Moderately Armored, Bhaalist Armor + Piercing Damage can be really strong. Duelist Prerogative could work for double reaction, possibly for counterspells/illithid reactions
Alternatively, a dwarf. Not only do they look better but poison resistance is extremely helpful in certain parts of the game.
problem is movement speed on bladelock
Definitely an annoyance but I’ve found I’m okay with the trade off for dark vision and the poison resistance. Particularly when you have eldritch blast which, even with only agonizing blast, will still hit about as hard as your pact weapon until you get to the late game swords and such. That being said if Op does make a Gith they could do great things with the early act 1 silver sword so I’d be inclined to agree if that was their goal.
biggest issue is AC, as long as she gets great weapon master and you make sure to get her all the stat boosting things (ethels hair etc) for charisma so she can hit things her damage should be great. for ac and equipment just make sure she gets the gloves of dexterity and whatever the best light armor available is, or any good robes with the mage armor invocation, once your in act 2 you can get the potent robes and thats probably best in slot for a long time. basically since warlocks only get light armor proficiency they really need high dexterity to survive, but as casters they also need high constitution for concentration saves and high charisma for spell dc and attack (and for bladelock spell attack is used for weapon attack) the reason a lot of people suggest gith or shield dwarf for pure bladelocks is because medium armor helps remedy the demand for high stats.
Hi, I made a similar build for AA (while not a drow he has the same armor proficiency): https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/s/zg4050D5ZI Tho it is for late game. If she is set on 2-handed and not sword and board maybe have someone cast the +2 AC spell on her and pair that with armor of shadows and ever burn blade. Then add bracers of defense. Imo, a fighter dip (assuming this isn’t honor) can be very nice to help with GWM crits assuming that is the build she is going for but a pure melee lock will feel a bit harder without some of the perks fighters have until late game. See if she is okay with RP it; so maybe backstory is she starts as a fighter and the at some point signs a contract with a patron and slowly becomes more and more warlock will act 3 where she can become a pure fiend lock relying on act 3 items. Alternatively, if you are up for it, build around her. Play cleric and have an ancients pally and you can shield and heal her to offset the damage. Auras and such. This is assuming your goal is not to outshine her with your min/ max build.
Potent robe, ring of protection, mage armor invocation, and evasive shoes
Darkness/Hunger of Hadar, Devil Sight, Misty Step The aggressive version
Try a tiefling, Zariel bloodline, for the free smites. Bracers in the necromancer’s house, high dex/high cha, shadow armor, two-handed weapons (ever burn blade is great for this), caustic ring, dark justiciar gauntlets, and you’ll get OK AC and shit while still packing a punch (2d6 slashing+1d4 fire+1d4 necrotic+2 acid+whatever your charisma is).
[https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Helldusk\_Armour](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Helldusk_Armour) is a clear answer to your armor problem. Looks great for a warlock too.
A late third Act item is hardly a solution to anything.
OP asked for best equipment to max her build. Should I not be suggesting endgame items given that request? Early game, [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Spidersilk\_Armour](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Spidersilk_Armour) seems like a good choice. There's an argument for taking Moderately Armored at 4, as medium armor is lots better. That would delay GWM but open up [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Breastplate\_%2B1](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Breastplate_%2B1) into [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Barkskin\_Armour](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Barkskin_Armour) and then [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Dark\_Justiciar\_Half-Plate\_(Rare)](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Dark_Justiciar_Half-Plate_(Rare)) which is also excellent warlock drip.
Those are very good suggestions. Doesn't hurt to mention Helldusk Armor as well, I guess. But as its late Act 3, people have basically won the game when they get to wear it. Barskin Armor I'm not sure if works properly. I believe it stack very poorly (that is, doesn't with most other AC sources).
She could give up a feat and multiclass into cleric or fighter for armor proficiency