Best Feats for Genie Warlock 5e
by Prince Phantom
In my opinion, the Genie is the strongest subclass for a straight, level 20 Warlock. The Warlock has a few subclasses that might be better for specific multiclasses, but Genie is also good at multiclassing and has features that make you want to play it to high levels. It’s also sort of 4 subclasses in 1, as you get to pick which type of genie you derive your power from.
Of these, I’d say Dao reigns supreme thanks to the best damage resistance and the best additional spells. Efreeti is probably second best, then Djinni and Marid are pretty even. None of them are bad, but as we’ll soon see, some are better than others thanks to a few synergies. Feat selection for us will look similar to most Eldritch Blast Warlocks with a few very key exceptions.
Best Feats for Genie Warlock 5e
Moderately Armored (ASAP): This is a massive increase to our armor class as we have no problem holding a shield. A small optimization you can make as a Genie Warlock is to have your vessel be a ring, allowing you to use it as a spellcasting focus while still being able to perform somatic components with the same hand. This means we don’t run into the issues that other spellcasters have when holding a shield. The actual AC increase will probably be going from around 14 all the way up to 19 with half plate, 18 if we want breastplate to not have disadvantage on stealth checks.
War Caster (Lv 4): As Warlocks, we do not have the spare slots to fail our concentration checks. An easy and optimal play pattern for us is to cast a big control spell and then blast away. Assuming enough short rest, Warlocks are actually one of the best control casters, as they can cast high level control spells even late into the day. The other bullet points of the feat are nice, but we really want the help with concentration.
Fey Touched (Lv 4): Misty Step is a spell that you really love to have when you need it, but it hurts to use a Warlock slot on it. We also don’t have access to Silvery Barbs, so we’ll pick that up too. Shadow Touched isn’t so much worse than this that you shouldn’t take it if it fits your build and playstyle better.
Crusher (Dao only, Lv 4): Here’s another reason Dao is superior to the other genie types. Genie’s Wrath lets us deal our proficiency bonus in bludgeoning damage once per turn on an attack roll. We’ll also pick up Repelling Blast, allowing us to push a creature 15 total feat with no save. Now, let’s get into the details. When 2 effects happen to a creature at the same time, the person who caused those effects chooses what order they happen. We will pick for the Crusher push to happen first. Since Crusher doesn’t specify that we have to push the creature horizontally, we’ll push them straight up into the air. Next, Repelling Blast triggers, pushing them 10ft away from us. Now that we are below our target, away also means up. No matter how you choose to calculate how high up the creature ends, it’s more than 10ft, so they will now fall and take d6 damage and fall prone. This accomplishes a few things. Our target now has half their speed on their turn, meaning they hopefully can’t reach us. All our melee allies have advantage on their attacks. Granted, we now have disadvantage on our attacks, but we can just switch targets or save this for our last attack on our turn.
Spell Sniper (Lv 8): Hey look, we can fly now. We also happen to rely on a spell that makes us use attack rolls. Huh, we might just be the one subclass in all of 5e that can actually use this feat effectively. 120ft range on Eldritch Blast is a lot, but if we can fly, we can easily get farther than that from our enemies. Staying this far away has some advantages. Mostly, this keeps us out of range of our enemy’s ranged attacks. Ignoring cover also isn’t nothing, and the further away from our enemy we are, the more likely is is that cover will be a factor. If you want to go really crazy, you can also grab Eldritch Spear, giving you an insane 600ft range on your Eldritch Blast. I really think that’s overkill, but if your campaign happens to take place in a desert world (fitting for a Genie) or maybe a you’re in a seafaring adventure, it could actually prove useful. If your campaign has a bunch of dungeons and confined places, don’t even think about taking this.
Telekinetic (Lv 8): Keep enemies in bad places and keep allies out of bad places. Our bonus action is pretty free, so finding a way to weaponize it is a very good step towards making ourselves more powerful. Always remember that you can use this to yank your friends out of grapples. You will be very popular when you pull the Fighter out of the jaws of that T-Rex the turn before it swallows him.
Resilient (Lv 8): Concentration checks are going to get harder as we continue into higher levels, so we will take this for Constitution saves. Protecting our concentration is such an important aspect of optimization that I am very much willing to invest 2 whole feats to ensure we are good at it.
Lucky (Lv 12): I would probably take most of the feats that I’ve already listed before I’d take Lucky. There is a surprisingly high number of feats that actually synergize and fill holes in our build that we should take before we take one that’s just generically good like Lucky or Tough. Whenever you feel like you’re at that point, go for Lucky and enjoy the protection from crits and help with saving throws.
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