Best Feats for Fiend Warlock 5e
by Prince Phantom
This subclass is such an enigma to me. All of its features are good, great even, and it’s easily the best patron in the PHB. However, it’s pretty clear to see that this is a subclass that was made at the beginning of 5e when you compare it to ones introduced later, especially the Undead and Genie.
We get great features, but they don’t really build off of one another. That makes finding a central theme to build off of difficult, and we probably just end up feeling like a supped up version of a base Warlock. Again, there’s nothing wrong with any of this, and I think this patron is the ideal pick for someone who just wants to run a pretty vanilla Warlock. It does mean though that we will mostly be taking feats that we would probably already be taking as a Warlock, with very few exceptions.
Best Feats for Fiend Warlock 5e
Moderately Armored (ASAP): Every Warlock subclass not named Hexblade should be taking this feat (assuming you aren’t multiclassing with a class that already grants these proficiencies). The increase in potential AC from 14 to 19 is staggering, and we have no problem holding a shield. Take this as early as you can, preferably at level 1. It makes surviving those deadly early levels much easier.
War Caster (Lv 4): Because the Fiend can be built as more of a blaster thanks to its access to Fireball, you may find that you aren’t concentrating on spells as much as other Warlocks. I still feel like taking advantage of a big concentration spell and also peppering in some Fireballs is the most optimal method of play, but decide whether this feat is right for you based on your playstyle. I’d also be more inclined to skip this if I knew the campaign wouldn’t be going past level 10, where the blast spells we have access to start to lose their effectiveness.
Telekinetic (Lv 4): This is another feat that becomes better the more you rely on concentration spells that have areas of effect. We will eventually get access to Wall of Fire at 7th level, and this feat combos wonderfully with that spell if you just want pure damage. The other common uses of Telekinetic like moving allies out of danger and throwing goblins off of cliffs also obviously apply, and this fits easily into our strategy since we don’t have a consistent use for our bonus action.
Resilient (Lv 8): Even if you aren’t relying on a ton of concentration spells, taking this for Constitution is still worth it. Even if we are just going for maximum damage, we are probably casting Wall of Fire at least sometimes, and we don’t want to drop that. Constitution saves are also the most common for a PC to run into, so this just increases our durability in general.
Gift of the Chromatic Dragon (Lv 12): I don’t normally recommend this feat, but if you want to stack a bunch of damage resistances on yourself, we’ve already got one floating resistance so why not add another? This isn’t quite as good as our 10th level feature, but it will help in times where we couldn’t predict what type of damage we will face in the day. As for enchanting a weapon with a d4 extra damage, I’m sure our Fighter will appreciate that as they make their 7 attacks this turn.
Lucky (Lv 12): Our subclass gives us a decent amount of ways to make ourselves more durable, so some insurance against crits and help on saves goes a long way for us. Lucky plus Dark One’s Own Luck should bolster our saving throws enough to make us reliable at the most important ones even at higher levels.
Honorable Mentions:
Infernal Constitution: If you really want to stack up resistances, taking this means you will have resistance to fire, cold and poison damage plus one floating resistance. That’s three of the most common damage types and you can use that floating one for slashing damage, which is the most common physical damage type. How good all of this actually is might be questionable, but it is kinda cool.
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