Best BG3 Warlock Build Guide – Great Old One Baldur’s Gate 3

Welcome to the Best BG3 Warlock Build. For this build, we’ll be using the Great Old One subclass of the Warlock, which has an added proficiency for manipulating the minds of enemies, debuffing them in various ways.

Table of Contents for the BG3 Warlock Build:

1. Warlock Build Summary
   1. Warlock Class Overview
   2. Great Old One Subclass Overview
2. Warlock Build Character Creation
   1. Best Race
   2. Best Cantrips
   3. Subclass Selection
   4. Best Spells
   5. Skills & Background
   6. Abilities
3. Warlock Build Levelling Progression
   1. Early-Game Level 2-4
   2. Mid-Game Level 5-8
   3. Late-Game Level 9-12
4. Warlock Equipment
   1. Early-Game Warlock Gear
   2. Best Warlock Gear (Late-Game)
5. Warlock Build Extra Info
   1. How to Play the Warlock Build
   2. Illithid Powers

The Baldur’s Gate 3 Warlock Build was last updated in September 2025. It works for both PC and Console (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S).

Please visit our Best BG3 Builds overview page for more builds. We also have an optimized BG3 Wyll Build if you want to play as him or have him in your group. If you are interested in more Warlock subclass builds, check our BG3 Warlock Builds category page. To get an overview of all classes, please visit the BG3 Classes overview page.

The Warlock class is a Charisma-based Spellcaster with access to a wide range of Spells and Cantrips, and has the unique ability of replenishing some of its spell slots with a Short Rest rather than a Long Rest.

Before we begin, a quick look at the main Strengths and Weaknesses of the Warlock in Baldur’s Gate 3:

BG3 Warlock Build Overview

Bound by a pact to an all-powerful patron, Warlocks trade their loyalty for supernatural abilities and unique magic.

Warlock Class Summary

Here are the most important features of the Warlock Class in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Warlock Spell Slots (Level 1) – These replace the standard Spell Slots used by other classes. Warlock Spell Slots are replenished on both Short and Long Rests, rather than just Long Rests. They automatically upcast your spells to the highest available level, up to Fifth Level. The downside is that you can hold a much smaller amount of Warlock Spell Slots; two for most of the game, then three at max level.
• Eldritch Invocations (Level 1) – Powerful passive effects that can be unlocked by Warlocks as they level up. Helps to customise your build and can synergise with certain playstyles and spells.
• Pact Boon (Level 3) – Choose a unique Pact Boon that will grant you new effects as you level up.
• Mystic Arcanum (Level 11) – Gain one Sixth Level Spell. It does not consume a Spell Slot when cast, but can only be used once per Long Rest. This is the Warlock’s only access to Sixth-Level Magic.

Great Old One Subclass Summary

Similarly, here is a quick overview of the Great Old One subclass:

•  Mortal Reminder (Level 1) – When you land a Critical Hit, the target and nearby enemies must succeed a Wisdom Saving Throw or be Frightened until the end of their next turn.
•  Entropic Ward (Level 6) – Impose Disadvantage on an Attack Roll made against you. If it misses, you gain Advantage on your next Attack Roll against the culprit (within 1 turn). Once per Short Rest.
•  Thought Shield: Psychic Resistance (Level 10) – You are Resistant to Psychic Damage.
•  Thought Shield: Psychic Reflection (Level 10) – When you take Psychic Damage, your attacker takes the same damage.

Warlock Build Character Creation (Level 1) for BG3

In this section, we’ll go over the Character Creation options for this BG3 Warlock Build, namely the Background, Race, Skills, Abilities, Subclass, Spells and Cantrips.

Race

Your race now has no bearing on your Ability scores, which are the most important factor at play. This gives players more freedom to choose any race and class combination that they wish, without having to worry about being pigeon-holed into a “meta” race for their class.

However, there are still some useful passive features sourced from your race and subrace, which may be of advantage when it comes to the Warlock build. Some interesting options are:

• Wood Elf or Wood Half-Elf – Gains very high Movement Speed, great for quickly taking advantageous positions and outrunning enemies.
• High Elf – Gets an extra Cantrip called Fire Bolt.
• Gold Dwarf – Gets +1 bonus HP per Level.
• Drow – Gets access to additional spells as they level up, including Faerie Fire and Darkness.

Don’t worry if you don’t want to go with any of these races. As mentioned above, your chosen race is of fairly low importance in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Cantrips

You need to select two Cantrips for your Warlock Build in BG3. Cantrips are generally weaker than Spells, but they do not consume any Spell Slots when cast, meaning you can cast them an infinite amount of times between rests, and can spam them every turn if you need.

We recommend choosing the following two Cantrips to start out with:

•  Blade Ward – Grants Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage from weapon attacks for 2 turns. This basically reduces any melee damage from weapon-wielding enemies by 50%, helping you to stay alive in tough situations. We won’t use this Cantrip very often – it is mainly for situations when you cannot deal any good damage on the current turn and want to minimise the damage you may take.
•  Eldritch Blast – This will be our most important ability throughout the game. It deals 1-10 Force Damage at long range. This is very handy because you can keep using it every turn, making for a reliable damage source for the early game (its damage will also scale very well later on, making it viable up until the endgame).

Subclass Selection

For this build we will be using the Great Old One subclass of the Warlock. This needs to be chosen during Character Creation, in the Class menu. The Great Old One starts with the following benefits, with more to come as you level up:

•  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.
•  Dissonant Whispers – Whisper a discordant melody to a creature. It takes Psychic damage and becomes Frightened.
•  Tasha’s Hideous Laughter – Inflict a creature with fits of laughter, leaving it Prone without the ability to get up. At the end of its turn or when it takes damage, the creature can try to shake off the effect.

Note that the above Spells are learned by choosing this subclass, but you’ll still need to prepare them either in Character Creation or when levelling up. They’re not automatically added to your Action Bar.

Spells

Finally, you need to choose 2 Spells to start your adventure with. It’s important to note that the Warlock only starts with one Warlock Spell Slot. This is different to the Spell Slots used by other classes, because it can be replenished by a Short Rest instead of a Long Rest. However, it basically means that it’s only possible to cast one Spell per fight at the beginning of the game, so you may feel a little weak at first.

We recommend choosing the following two Spells for now:

•  Hex – Cause the enemy to receive 1-6 Necrotic Damage whenever you attack it. This is a Concentration Spell, so it can last for up to 10 turns but the effects will be broken if you cast another Concentration Spell or fail a Concentration Check after taking damage. If the enemy dies while under the influence of Hex, you can cast it on a new target without spending another Spell Slot.
  • Use Hex in combination with Eldritch Blast. This is the bread and butter of this build. Later in the game, Eldritch Blast will be able to fire two, then three, projectiles with each cast, and each one will trigger the bonus damage from Hex separately, meaning you can eventually get up to 18 bonus damage from Hex per use of Eldritch Blast.
•  Dissonant Whispers – Frightens the target and can deal up to 18 Psychic Damage to them, a very nice damage potential for an early game spell. If the enemy performs a Saving Throw, they’ll still take half of the spell’s rolled damage.

Background & Skills

This build will be mainly focused on the Charisma and Dexterity stats, so it makes sense to choose Backgrounds that buff Skills associated with those. For example:

• Charlatan – Proficiency in Deception (CHA) and Sleight of Hand (DEX)
• Criminal – Proficiency in Deception (CHA) and Stealth (DEX)
• Urchin – Proficiency in Sleight of Hand and Stealth (DEX)

Some other decent options are Guild Artisan, Noble and Soldier.

We recommend choosing Skills that are either Charisma or Dexterity based and were not covered by whichever Background you chose. For example, we chose the Urchin Background for Sleight of Hand and Stealth, both Dexterity Skills, so here we chose Deception and Intimidation, the two Charisma skills which are also available.

This setup means you’re making the most out of your character’s high Charisma and Dexterity stats.

Abilities

As previously mentioned, Charisma is the most important ability for the Warlock, since it’s used for your Spellcasting and therefore your damage output. Dexterity is also very important, because we’re going to be using Clothing (only 10 base AC) and therefore need high Dexterity to improve our Armour Class.

The third most important Ability is Constitution, used to increase maximum Hitpoints and improve the chance of succeeding at Concentration Checks (allowing you to keep Concentrating on an ongoing spell effect when you take damage).

The remaining few points aren’t especially important and can be distributed evenly between the other Skills.

Your ability distribution should look something like this:

• 10 Strength
• 16 Dexterity
• 14 Constitution
• 8 Intelligence
• 10 Wisdom
• 16 Charisma

BG3 Warlock Build Levelling Progression

This section is a step-by-step guide on how to level up your Warlock Build.

Early-Game Levelling

Here we will look at what you should choose in levels 2-4 for your BG3 Warlock Build.

Level 2 – Warlock Build for Baldur’s Gate 3 – PS5/PC

When you reach Level 2 with your BG3 Warlock Build, you will gain another Warlock Spell Slot, allowing you to cast two Spells between Short Rests.

You’ll also need to choose two Eldritch Invocations. These are special abilities that let you further customise your Warlock build. We recommend choosing the following two options:

•  Agonising Blast – Adds your Charisma Modifier to the damage of your Eldritch Blast, considerably improving its damage.
•  Repelling Blast – Your Eldritch Blast will now push enemies back 4.5 metres, helping to keep enemies at a long distance from your party, and potentially knocking them off ledges or cliffs for fall damage.

These two buffs to Eldritch Blast make it much more powerful, and since it’s a Cantrip, we can keep casting every turn.

Finally, you’ll be able to unlock one more Spell at Level 2. We recommend  Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. This is really useful for stunning a dangerous enemy for a long time; it can last for up to 10 turns if you maintain Concentration. But remember that damaging the affected enemy gives them an extra chance to break free from the effect in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Level 3 – Warlock Build

At Level 3 with your Great Old One Warlock Build, you need to choose a Pact Boon from your Patron. We recommend going for Pact of the Chain, however choosing a different one won’t compromise the build.

Pact of the Chain lets you find animal Familiars, or you can summon an Imp or Quasit. These summons are useful for some extra help in combat, and can be used to distract or debuff enemies or attack them directly. Most summons are a bit squishy though, so you need to be a bit careful if you want to keep them alive. Try to summon them before combat commences if possible – that way, you don’t need to spend an Action in combat to summon them.

The table below shows the available Familiars, their stats and abilities:

Finally, you’ll be able to unlock a Second Level Spell at Level 3. We suggest choosing  Cloud of Daggers, which will create a small AoE that deals damage to anyone who touches it. The AoE will remain in place while you maintain Concentration on the spell.

The best ways to use  Cloud of Daggers are:

1. In a narrow chokepoint that enemies must pass through
2. Drop it on a tightly-packed group of enemies to deal instant AoE damage that will be rolled again for a second hit at the start of their next turn
3. If enemies already got by your Cloud of Daggers, try using your Eldritch Blast to knock them back into it. You can use this trick in combination with other persisting AoEs, too.

Level 4 – BG3 Warlock Build

At Level 4, you’ll need to choose a Feat for your Warlock Build. Feats are strong passive bonuses for your character that can help to define your build or just boost stats.

It’s best to get the Ability Improvement Feat, which gives you an extra 2 Ability Points to assign. Put both of the points into Charisma, which will take you up to 18.

You also get to choose one more Cantrip and one more Spell (First or Second Level).

For the Cantrip, we already chose all of the important ones, so it’s up to you which one you want to get. If you want a pointer, you could go with Mage Hand to move objects from afar.

For the spell, we recommend choosing  Misty Step, which allows you to teleport to a visible location within range. We have to point out that using Misty Step on the Warlock is not very efficient because it has less Spell Slots than most other spellcasters, and teleporting your character is usually a pretty low-impact action. This should only be used as a last resort to get your Warlock out of trouble or to quickly cover ground for another reason. Use it sparingly and only for good reason.

BG3 Warlock Build Mid-Game Levelling

We will now explore the best picks for mid-game, or levels 5-8. Most of this time will probably be spent in Act II.

Level 5 – Warlock Build for BG3 – PS5/PC

At Level 5, your Warlock Build in Baldur’s Gate 3 will unlock several more abilities that make it considerably stronger.

Firstly, you’ll need to choose one more Eldritch Invocation. Get  Devil’s Sight, which not only gives you the ability to see in dark areas but also lets you see through magical darkness. This can be a powerful advantage in some situations.

You can choose another Spell too – this time you’re able to select a Third Level Spell. We’re using  Hunger of Hadar. Any player who tried to storm Moonrise Towers through the front door knows how impactful this spell can be, and the Warlock can use this spell for your party. It creates an AoE that Blinds and slows down all within it, and also deals Cold Damage. Enemies who linger in the AoE until the end of their turn will also take Acid Damage if they fail a Dexterity Save.

In most situations, this spell is a straight upgrade from Cloud of Daggers. It does more damage and disrupts enemies a lot more. You can use all the same tricks, too. Put it in a Chokepoint, drop it on top of a group of enemies to damage them and disrupt their plans, and use your Eldritch Blast to knock them back into the area and inflict even more pain.

Speaking of which, Eldritch Blast will now consist of two blasts, both of which are buffed by the Eldritch Invocations we picked at Level 2. You can aim both of the blasts at the same target, or one target each. This means you can potentially knock two enemies back into your Hunger of Hadar at once. You won’t always be able to pull this off, but try practising with your positioning and try to manipulate enemies to end their turns in locations that leave them vulnerable to such tricks. It is a fine art.

Your Warlock Spell Slots are improved, too. You’ll now always be able to cast Warlock Spells at their third level.

Level 6

At Level 6, your Warlock gains improved defensive features. You’ll unlock the following:

•  Entropic Ward – Impose Disadvantage on an Attack Roll against you. If the attack misses, you gain Advantage on your next Attack Roll against the attacker for 1 turn. This can be used again after taking a Rest, either short or long.
• Choose one more spell. If no one else in your party has the ability to fly, then getting the  Fly spell will allow you to do this. Otherwise, go with  Remove Curse, a spell that won’t be used very often, but is useful to have.

Level 7

At Level 7, your Warlock build will unlock:

• Improved Warlock Spell Slots – Most of your Warlock spells have become stronger. You always cast Warlock Spells at Fourth Level.
• Access to a selection of Fourth Level Spells.
• Unlock one more spell. We recommend taking  Blight, which deals 8-64 Necrotic Damage to a single target. Undead and Constructs are immune to the spell. Other targets take half damage on a successful Constitution save.
• Additionally, you get another Eldritch invocation, we recommend Beast Speech, which lets your Warlock cast the  Speak with Animals spell at will. You can choose another option if this doesn’t interest you – we picked up the best invocations so far.

Blight is a great spell to use when you need a fast burst of single-target damage. But it is quite situational – it doesn’t work at all on undead and constructs. The problem here is that Act II, where you probably are right now, has a lot of undead enemies, so you won’t immediately get a lot of use out of this spell. But not all of the enemies are undead, and in Act III, the spell will become much more useful.

Level 8

At level 8, you’ll receive:

• Another Feat choice. Once again, choose Ability Improvement and use it to improve your Charisma to 20.
• One more spell to choose from.  Dimension Door is a great utility spell, allowing you to teleport yourself and one adjacent ally to another location that’s visible to you. You can use this to get out of trouble or get into an advantageous position (i.e. high ground). The save caveat applies as with Misty Step, try not to use it too often or you’ll burn through your Spell Slots too fast!

BG3 Warlock Build Late-Game Levelling Guide

Here are the last four levels and the best options for each. At Level 10, your Warlock gets significantly more powerful, with three projectiles coming from each cast of Eldritch Blast.

Level 9

At Level 9, you gain access to more powerful magic. You unlock:

• Improved Warlock Spell Slots – Most of your Warlock spells have become stronger. You always cast Warlock Spells at Fifth Level.
• Access to a selection of Fifth Level Spells.
• Proficiency Bonus increased to +4
• Choose an additional Edritch Invocation. We recommend going for Minions of Chaos, which lets you summon minions with the  Conjure Elemental spell. Extra summons are always nice to have in BG3, since the AI tends to waste its time attacking your summoned minions rather than your party members.
• Choose one more spell to unlock. We recommend  Telekinesis, a Concentration spell that lets you throw objects or enemies at will, dealing damage on impact. Heavier objects do more damage, and you can use this to throw enemies off ledges or cliffs.

We got quite a lot of extra stuff here. Telekinesis is a really fun spell that lets you come up with creative solutions and deal lots of extra damage while you’re at it.

Level 10

At level 10, you gain some extra defensive buffs, focused on shielding you from Psychic Damage. Here you unlock:

•  Thought Shield: Psychic Resistance – An elder being shields your brain. You gain 50% Resistance to Psychic Damage.
•  Thought Shield: Psychic Reflection – Your patron doesn’t appreciate attempts to attack your mind. When you take Psychic Damage, your attacker takes the same damage.
• Choose one more spell to unlock – Here, you can choose either Hold Monster or  Dominate Person. A matter of preference. The first lets you Paralyse an enemy for the duration (unless they perform a Save) and guarantees melee Crits against them (for your allies too). Dominate Person lets you force a creature to fight for you, but the target must be a humanoid. I prefer Hold Monster, but both are good.
• Scaling Cantrips – Your Cantrips gain an additional damage die. Eldritch Blast instead gets an extra projectile, now giving you three in total.
• You also get to select another Cantrip – we already have the essentials, so pick whatever you like.

Level 11

At Level 11, you can finally access Sixth Level Spells, the most powerful tier of magic in Baldur’s Gate 3 for your Great Old One Warlock Build. You unlock:

•  Mystic Arcanum – Your patron bestows upon you a magical secret called an arcanum. Choose one 6th Level spell from the Warlock Spell list. You can cast your Arcanum spell once without expending a spell slot. You must finish a long rest before you can do so again.
  •  Eyebite is a good option to choose for your Arcanum Spell. It lets you impose Fearful*, Poisoned or Asleep on targets once per turn, as long as you maintain Concentration. Feared is especially powerful, as it forces the targets to drop their weapon and run away from you.
  • You can also go with  Circle of Death, which deals up to 48 Necrotic Damage in a huge 9 metre radius. However, I find this to be overkill. You rarely need an AoE that large, and the actual damage per target is lacking for a Level 6 spell. Still, feel free to give it a try and respec if you don’t like it.
• You can also learn another spell. We recommend  Banishment, which temporarily banishes your target to another plane of existence for 2 turns, giving you some extra time to fight off the other enemies.

Unfortunately, the Warlock does not get access to any other Sixth Level Spells besides their chosen Arcanum spell.

* Fearful is a different debuff from Frightened:

•  Frightened roots the target in place and gives them Disadvantage on Attack Rolls, but they retain free will and can still fight.
•  Fearful completely terrifies the target and forces them to drop their weapon and run away

Level 12 – Max Level Warlock Build for Baldur’s Gate 3

If you reached this point, then you have finished levelling up your BG3 Warlock Build to max level. Congratulations! For reaching Level 12, you’ll get:

• One more Feat to choose from. Choose Spell Sniper. This will make your spells (the ones that use Attack Rolls) more likely to land Critical Hits. This will apply to your Eldritch Blast, boosting your average damage output.
• Unlock one more spell. Since we’re not able to unlock any more Sixth Level Spells, pick whichever Fifth Level one you didn’t get at Level 10.  Evard’s Black Tentacles is a decent spell that can lock down enemies.
• One more Eldritch Invocation. Get Otherworldly Leap, which allows you to cast  Enhance Leap without spending a Spell Slot. This gives you a lot of extra mobility.

BG3 Warlock Build Equipment

Now, let us take a look at some of the equipment choices you can make for your BG3 Warlock Build. Don’t worry if you miss out on some of the items. Just enjoy your playthrough and try to view this as a wishlist rather than a precise blueprint. The names of the most essential, build-defining items in the tables are written in Bold Italic.

Early Game Equipment

This is the early-game gear setup that you can use for your Warlock. You don’t need to get all the items, but the build will perform better if you find some of them. You can find these items in Act 1 or early Act 2.

Slot	Icon	Item	Effects	Location
Head		Haste Helm	Extra Movement Speed for the first 3 turns of combat	Found inside a Wooden chest, next to a cart, near the Blighted Village Waypoint.
Cloak		Cloak of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Purchased from Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn
Chest		Icebite Robe	Resistance to Cold Damage Cast Armour of Agathys once per Long Rest	In a Sarcophagus close to the Grand Mausoleum waypoint in Act 2
Gloves		Daredevil Gloves	Make spell Attack Rolls as melee Attack Rolls when in melee range of enemies	Sold by Ajaknir Jeera in the Githyanki Creche
Boots		Disintegrating Night Walkers	Cast Misty Step for free every Short Rest Immune to Enweb, Entangle and Ensnare Can’t slip on Grease or Ice	Looted from True Soul Nere in Underdark – Grymforge
Necklace		Any		N/A
Ring 1		Ring of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Steal the Sacred Idol in Druid Grove (quest)
Ring 2		Any		N/A
Main Weapon		Gold Wyrmling Staff	The melee weapon isn’t important because we’re mainly trying to stay at range and deal damage with Cantrips – primarily Eldritch Blast. You can use another weapon you’re Proficient with if you prefer.	Buy from Roah Moonglow in Shattered Sanctum
Second Weapon		Any	You can equip any Ranged Weapon that you have Profiency with We’ll usually use Cantrips, so won’t get much use out of this weapon	N/A

Haste Helm

Here you can use the Haste Helm. This gives you the “Smooth Start”: At the start of combat, the wearer gains Momentum for 3 turns (extra 1.5m movement speed). The item can be found inside a Wooden chest, next to a cart, near the Blighted Village Waypoint.

Icebite Robe

The Icebite Robe can be found inside a Sarcophagus close to the Grand Mausoleum waypoint in Act 2 of Baldur’s Gate. You do get Cold damage Resistance. But more importantly, you get the Armour of Agathys spell that gives you extra health and damage.

Armour of Agathys (lv3 spell): Gain 15 temporary hit points and deal 15 Cold damage to any creature that hits you with a melee attack.

This robe is great, especially the extra hit points make a huge difference in tough fights. It also costs nothing since you can just loot it from the Sarcophagus.

Daredevil Gloves

The Daredevil Gloves allow you to make Spell Attack Rolls as melee Attack Rolls when in melee range of an enemy. This effectively lets you cast spells in melee range without suffering a Disadvantage.

They are sold by Ajaknir Jeera in the Githyanki Creche.

Disintegrating Night Walkers

Disintegrating Night Walkers are some of the best boots in BG3 and you can already get them in Act I. They allow you to use Misty Step to teleport once per Short Rest (without spending a Spell Slot), give you immunity to Enweb, Ensnare and Entangle, and stop you from slipping on Ice and Grease surfaces. This will make your Warlock very mobile and difficult for enemies to pin down.

To get the boots, defeat True Soul Nere in the Grymforge section of the Underdark (accessed by taking the boat across the underground lake).

Ring of Protection

The Ring of Protection is a really good ring that you can obtain early in Act 1. The ring gives you a +1 to Armour Class and +1 to Saving Throws. You get the ring by completing the Steal the Sacred Idol quest. To start the quest head into the Tiefling Hideout in the Druids Grove and talk to Mol. She is the gang leader and wants you to steal the Idol of Silvanus. The Idol is used as a ritual in the middle of the Druid, it won’t be easy to steal it.

Gold Wyrmling Staff

Inside the Goblin Camp “Shattered Sanctum” you can find a trader called Roah Moonglow. You can buy the “Gold Wyrmling Staff” from her. It deals good damage and adds a bit of fire damage too. It costs quite a bit though, 806 gold.

Endgame Equipment

The endgame gear for the Warlock can be obtained either in late Act 2 or Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3. If you manage to complete all the items below you will be an unstoppable force of power. The Potent Robe is by far the most important item here.

Slot	Icon	Item	Effects	Location
Head		Mask of Soul Perception	+2 to Attack Rolls, Initiative Rolls and Perception Checks Can cast  Detect Thoughts	Looted from a locked gilded chest in Helsik’s Room
Cloak		Cloak of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Purchased from Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn
Chest		Potent Robe	+1 to Armour Class Adds your Charisma Modifier as extra damage to Cantrips This gives us 5 extra damage per hit of Eldritch Blast	Awarded by Alfira in Last Light Inn for Rescuing the Tieflings. You must ensure that Alfira survives to this point in the game to get the reward.
Gloves		Quickspell Gloves	Cast a Cantrip with a Bonus Action instead of an Action Once per Short Rest	Sold by either Rolan or Lorroakan’s Projection in Sorcerous Sundries.
Boots		Disintegrating Night Walkers	Cast Misty Step for free every Short Rest Immune to Enweb, Entangle and Ensnare Can’t slip on Grease or Ice	Looted from True Soul Nere in Underdark – Grymforge
Necklace		Amulet of Greater Health	Sets your Constitution to 23  Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws	Found on a display in the House of Hope
Ring 1		Ring of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Steal the Sacred Idol in Druid Grove (quest)
Ring 2		Killer’s Sweetheart	When you kill a creature, your next Attack Roll is a guaranteed Critical Hit. Can trigger once per Long Rest.	In the Self-Same Trial in Gauntlet of Shar.
Main Weapon		Markoheshkir	Once per Long Rest, use Arcane Battery to cast a spell for free +1 to Spell Attack Rolls and Spell Save DC Cast  Kereska’s Favour once per Short Rest, for powerful elemental buffs to your Warlock	Inside Sorcerous Sundries – See below for more details
Second Weapon		Darkfire Shortbow	Gives Fire & Cold Resistance Access to the Haste Spell We don’t use this bow for ranged attacks, we have Cantrips for that. We’re only using it for the two bonuses mentioned above.	Buy or steal from Dammon in Last Light Inn.

Now let us look at where you can find the endgame gear for the Warlock Build in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Helldusk Armour (Alternative)

If you’re struggling to survive with the Potent Robe (or you missed the chance to get it), then you can fall back on the legendary Helldusk Armour. Yes, this is a heavy armour item. However, the great thing about Helldusk is that you are proficient with heavy armour while wearing the Helldusk Armour. That means you get the protection of it, but won’t gain any penalties to stealth or other things. When you succeed a Saving Throw, the enemy will be lit on fire and burns for 3 turns. Additionally, you get resistance to fire and cannot burn. And you take 3 less damage from all sources.

And even better, the Helldusk Armour also gives you the Fly spell. This allows you to position yourself to your advantage against enemies. You sort of can play cat and mouse with enemies now because you can use Fly and Misty Step.

The only downside to the armour is that it is a tough cookie to get it. You will have to defeat the devil himself, Raphael. The location is called the House of Hope and you reach it through a portal to hell inside the Devil’s Fee house. You have to speak to Helsik to get instructions on how to open the portal to hell. Once you are inside the House of Hope explore everything. Once you are trying to return to the real world Raphael will confront you, this is a tough fight so come prepared.

You can also read our in-depth guide on How to get the Helldusk Armour in BG3.

Quickspell Gloves

The Quickspell Gloves allow you to cast a Cantrip for a Bonus Action instead of an Action, once per Short Rest. This lets you do big damage bursts with Eldritch Blast.

These gloves are sold by either Rolan or Lorroakan’s Projection in Sorcerous Sundries.

Amulet of Greater Health

The Amulet of Greater Health is a very rare item that will boost your Consitution score up to 23. The amulet gives you a huge bump to your health points. The Amulet of Greater Health can also be picked up on a display in the House of Hope like the Helldusk Armour.

If you want something more interesting you could also get the Corvids Token Amulet that allows you to transform into a Dire Raven for movement. Or simply use the Amulet of Misty Step.

Killer’s Sweetheart

The Killer’s Sweetheart is a very rare ring. It allows you to get a guaranteed critical hit after you have defeated an enemy once per long rest. The Killer’s Sweetheart can be found in Act 2 inside the Gauntlet of Shar. It drops inside the Self-Same Trial.

Markoheshkir Staff

The Markoheshkir Quarterstaff is the most powerful staff you will find in Baldur’s Gate 3. You can cast Arcane Battery to make a spell free to cast, and you also get to use the unique Kereska’s Favour spell once per Short Rest. This allows you to infuse elemental effects into your magic, also getting access to extra spells and an elemental Resistance while the effect is active. Experiment with the different options and see which ones you find the most fun and useful.

The Markoheshkir Quarterstaff can be found in the lower city in Act 3 inside Sorcerous Sundries. Once you are inside, make your way up to the Ramazith’s Tower through the blue portal. Once you are upstairs in the tower avoid conversation with Lorroakan. Now jump on the floating furniture and get to the middle floor. Now use a potion that allows you to see hidden objects (See Invisibility Potion), find the button that says “Below”, click on it and now you are next to the powerful Markoheshkir Quarterstaff.

Now you can click on the lever and you need to pass a DC 20 Arcana skill check. After that the staff is yours!

Darkfire Shortbow

Inside the Last Lights Inn you will find a blacksmith called “Dammon”.  You can purchase the good shortbow called “Darkfire Shortbow“ from him. The Darkfire shortbow provides the “Haste” spell, which makes you (or an ally) faster and harder to hit and gives you an extra action. Other than that we don’t actively use the bow. We only keep it because it gives us the Haste spell.

Warlock Build Extra Info

Here is some extra information that will help you to get the most out of this Great Old One Warlock Build in Baldur’s Gate 3.

How to Play this Warlock Build

Basics of the Warlock Build

Warlock spellcasting works differently from other classes in BG3. Normal Spell Slots are replaced by Warlock Spell Slots. These Spell Slots do not have a level, but automatically upcast the spell to the highest available level based on your Warlock Level:

• Warlock Levels 1-2 = First Level Spell
• Warlock Levels 3-4 = Upcast to Second Level
• Warlock Levels 5-6 = Upcast to Third Level
• Warlock Levels 7-8 = Upcast to Fourth Level
• Warlock Levels 9+ = Upcast to Fifth Level

When they reach Level 11, Warlocks unlock one Sixth Level Spell Slot with the Mystic Arcanum feature. This does not consume a Spell Slot, but can only be used once per Long Rest.

Warlocks have a much lower capacity for Spell Slots than other classes, but their slots are replenished on Short Rests as well as the usual Long Rest replenishment.

This means that you will need to manage your Spell Slots more carefully than with other Classes, but the strength of your spells tends to increase faster than any other class, thanks to the automatic upcasting. Your spells do taper off a little bit during the endgame, since you have no Sixth Level Spell Slot capability, but this is only a minor drawback.

While the low Spell Slot capacity seems limiting at first, the Warlock’s unique Invocations make this class uniquely placed to gain exceptionally high value from Cantrips, especially Eldritch Blast. That’s why we opted to build the Warlock around this Cantrip, for very high, very easy and very reliable damage output.

Maximising Eldritch Blast Damage

Our Great Old One Warlock Build for BG3 is mainly centred around the Eldritch Blast Cantrip. We are aiming to buff this Cantrip as much as possible, since it can be used every turn and can deal up to 78 points of non-crit damage with perfect damage rolls, assuming you’ve Hexed the target, your character is Level 10+ and you managed to obtain all items recommended in the guide. The damage range would be 36-78 if all three blasts hit the target, or 12-26 on each individual blast:

• 3d10 base Force Damage (level 10+)
• 15 bonus damage from your Charisma Modifier thanks to Agonising Blast
  • Another 15 from Potent Robe, which repeats the same effect
• 1d6 extra Necrotic Damage from each beam, thanks to Hex

This amount of damage from only a Cantrip, in combination with a level 1 debuff spell, makes this Warlock build a late-game powerhouse. We don’t get access to many powerful late-game spells, but we don’t need them.

Best Approach to Combat

The bread and butter of the Warlock in the vast majority of encounters is to Concentrate on the Hex spell (choose the Hex that fits best with your party, based on which type of Saving Throw your most important spells and actions impose on foes) and use Eldritch Blast on the Hexed target every turn. When the hexed target dies, you can use Reapply Hex to select a new target without expending a Spell Slot.

Try to utilise distance, positioning and line of sight to take as few attacks as possible, as this will minimise the chance of your Concentration being broken.

In some situations, you may want to Concentrate on other spells. My favourite combination is Hunger of Hadar, a very nasty AoE spell that damages, slows and blinds enemies within. You can drop this on a group of enemies, then use your Eldritch Blast to knock enemies back into the AoE. A cheaper version of this is to knock enemies off ledges to deal extra fall damage. You can knock enemies into a chasm to instakill them, but you will lose the opportunity to loot them, so don’t use this tactic against bosses and other important characters.

Warlock Build Illithid Powers (optional)

Illithid Powers are unlocked later in BG3 when you learn more about Mind Flayers and Tadpoles. By eating Jars of Mind Flayer Parasites you gain one point. This is another optional skill tree that you can get access to if you want. Here are some of the best Illithid Powers for the BG3 Warlock Build with the Great Old One subclass:

•  Concentrated Blast: Allows you to deal extra damage to a target when you are Concentrating on a spell, potentially also healing if the target is Concentrating too. Ideally you will spend a lot of time Concentrating on either Hex or an AoE like Hunger of Hadar, so you should be able to get good use from this.
•  Cull the Weak: When you reduce a creature’s hit points below a certain threshold, this power instantly kills it and deals 1-4 Psychic Damage to nearby enemies. This is particularly effective when engaging groups of weaker foes, enabling you to thin their numbers rapidly.
•  Fly: This can be used to reach hard to get to places or change positions in combat. Use this to keep your Warlock safe from enemy attacks, so your Concentration won’t get disrupted as easily.
•  Black Hole: This power creates an area-based effect that pulls in and slows targets. It’s particularly useful for crowd control, allowing you to cluster enemies together for area-of-effect attacks or to isolate them from vulnerable allies. Try getting the Haste buff from a Potion of Speed or the Haste spell (lets you perform 2 Actions on one turn), then casting Black Hole and then Hunger of Hadar to cause a world of pain for a group of enemies.
•  Psionic Backlash: This is a top-tier reaction from the Illithid Powers skill tree in BG3. This allows you to deal psychic damage when a nearby enemy casts a spell. This is especially useful if the target is casting a Concentration Spell. The damage from Psionic Backlash can immediately break their Concentration, ending the spell’s effects.

Other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds

• Druid Build – Circle of the Moon
• Bard Build – College of Lore
• Ranger Build – Hunter
• Monk Build – Way of Shadow
• Monk Build – Way of the Four Elements
• Monk Build – Way of the Open Hand
• Necromancer Build – Necromancy
• Fighter Build – Battle Master
• Barbarian Build – Berserker
• Cleric Build – Light Domain
• Rogue Build – Thief
• Sorcerer Build – Wild Magic
• Wizard Build – Evocation School
• Paladin – Oath of Ancients
• More Baldur’s Gate Guides & Builds