Which subclasses are best and what are they good at?
There are 4 Warlock subclasses in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Each has submitted to a different kind of patron, granting them different powers. But you may be wondering which subclass you should choose?
Fortunately, all the subclass options for the revised warlock are pretty good, but each is suited to different roles.
In this article, I’ve broken down and rated each of the warlock subclasses and also provided advice on which subclasses are best for different roles and character builds.
Archfey patron
What are they?
Archfey warlocks are those that have made a pact with a powerful fey being. Such beings can range from the rulers of the Summer and Gloaming Courts, to grotesque hags and witches.
The fey are known for their magic, mischief and mysticism. As such, you can expect powers that embody these abilities.
Key abilities
These warlocks are all about enhanced and regular uses of misty step. You get free uses of this that are enhanced with additional powers like gaining temporary hit points, taunting an opponent or turning invisible.
Eventually, you can also use your misty step as a reaction to being hit and when you cast enchantment or illusion spells.
What are they good at?
The idea for archfey warlocks is to frustrate your enemies. They work best in melee, hopping in and out of combat to strike, and then use misty step to move out of range. This makes them effective hit and run specialists.
This becomes really interesting when you add various powers into the mix. For instance, if you’re attacking in tandem with another martial, you can misty step beyond them, taunting your enemy so they need to pass beyond the martial (potentially invoking opportunity attacks), attack with disadvantage or perhaps use a weaker ranged option.
Alternatively, keep your hit points topped up with regular temporary hit points or turn invisible for a turn when you really need to get away or grab advantage on your next attack.
How effective are they?
Really effective. Warlocks can make capable melee combatants, but tend to lack the durability of more typical martials. Built in hit and run tactics makes them better at surviving, as does a regular supply of temporary hit points and a few other durability features.
Add into the mix an ability to frustrate enemies with taunt or deal additional damage through their misty step and they can quickly adapt to various combat situations.
Score: 5/5
Celestial patron
What are they?
Warlocks that have made a pact with a celestial entity. They embody the holy nature of their patron, whether they be an empyrean, sphinx, unicorn or some other being, these warlocks harness holy powers of goodness.
Key abilities
Its all about healing and spell damage for celestial warlocks. You get a robust pool of healing powers available to you that’s more powerful than something like healing word and doesn’t require precious spell slots. You can also grant a regular supply of temporary hit points to your allies while radiant and fire damage is enhanced.
What are they good at?
Healing mainly. They’re great if you don’t have a party healer and can fulfill that role pretty well. They also deal a little more damage with fire and radiant spells so lean more into a spellcasting role than a melee one.
How effective are they?
There are better healing classes out there, though they do a solid job of filling the role, but other warlock subclasses do a much better job of dealing damage.
The problem here is that in terms of cantrips, sacred flame (your only cantrip to deal radiant damage) quickly becomes inferior to eldritch blast with the agonising blast eldritch invocation by level 5. This becomes more pronounced as you gain levels. It still gives you a slightly better guiding bolt for instance, but even AoE spells will only deal extra damage to a single target.
So with the bonuses to damage being largely negligible, you’re really here for the healing, which is quite good, but maybe you’d have just been better off playing as a cleric.
If you really want to play a healing warlock, it’s not a bad subclass (especially in that role), but it is probably the worst warlock subclass of the lot.
Score: 3/5
Fiend patron
What are they?
Making deals with a devil (or a demon or some other lower planes being) is a dangerous thing, but the temptation for such a power can be great; and fiend warlocks definitely have a lot going for them. Built to be more durable and to last longer the more they kill, fiend warlocks are a very combat-focused subclass.
Key abilities
Gaining temporary hit points when you or a nearby ally kills. You also get an extra damage resistance and more reliable saving throws and ability checks. The signature ability for a fiend warlock allows them to hurl an enemy through hell and back, receiving considerable damage along the way.
What are they good at?
Surviving longer than most warlocks. Fiend warlocks are built for taking more damage and get better at this the more damage they deal. They work best in tandem with nearby allies, receiving more temporary hit points when nearby allies kill as well. This means you’ll want to focus your turns around attacking rather than buffing or controlling the battlefield for instance.
All of this makes a fiend warlock a strong option for going down the melee route with the durability to last longer in a martial role. Having said that, warlocks can deal plenty of damage at range too.
How effective are they?
Very. Fiend warlocks focus on a warlock’s greatest weakness (their durability) and substantially improves it. They’re less capable of hit and run tactics than the archfey warlock, but have less need to be, but there are also other ways to build this into a warlock anyway. Still, they’ll never be as tough as a full martial and will still need a bit of caution.
They’re best against many weak enemies rather than against a few tough enemies (almost like the opposite of the great old one warlock).
Score: 4/5
Great old one patron
What are they?
These warlocks make a pact with an eldritch entity from the far realm. The likes of Zargon, Hadar or Great Cthulhu might be your patron, or you might be yoked to a number of these beings. Either way, you’re gifted with the secret powers that come from the Far Realm.
Key abilities
Connect your mind with another’s to communicate or to nullify their effectiveness. Avoid damage resistances by changing spell damage types to psychic. Gain an enhanced hex that can make your psychic abilities harder to resist and summon aberrations that are more powerful and don’t require concentration.
What are they good at?
Taking on single, powerful targets and nullifying their effectiveness while causing more damage. They’re best when fighting in melee so they can occupy their target’s attention and keep their capabilities reduced. For this reason, you’ll want to focus on eldritch invocations that enhance your melee combat.
How effective are they?
Quite effective but also quite tricky. There’s a fair bit competing for your action economy. Ideally, you’ll want to be using clairvoyant combatant and hex on the same target, though both require your bonus action. At higher levels, you’ll also want to have a thrall doing your bidding. This can be overcome and does work, but there’s a lot of balancing of actions and bonus actions and the order of applying various effects.
What’s a little strange for a warlock is that you’ll want to keep a single enemy occupied with melee attacks rather than using hit and run tactics, but you also lack the resiliency features of the fiend warlock so you may want to invest in things like the tough origin feat, the lightly armoured feat for shield proficiency and the armor of shadows eldritch invocation for some extra hardiness. You’ll also need to be careful of becoming locked into combat with crowds of enemies.
Score: 4/5
Which warlock subclass is best?
Ultimately, I think the archfey is the best and most effective kind of warlock. Its features serve to keep you safe while frustrating and creating problems for enemies. They also feel like a whole load of fun.
However, all the subclasses are fairly good and the one you choose will depend on the role you want to play and the capabilities you need. I’d look to the following subclasses for the different capabilities you want:
- Archfey warlock – Hit and run specialist with broad capabilities.
- Celestial warlock – Healer
- Fiend warlock – Most durable option that leans heavily towards combat.
- Great old one warlock – Specialist at taking on single, tough opponents with damage enhancements and debuffs.
Which warlock subclass do you think is the best? Let me know why in the comments below.
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