D&D 5e Warlock Patrons (2014): All Nine Subclasses Ranked

Introduction

The Warlock is the only class that picks its subclass at level 1, and the only full caster that can run out of spell slots before the second fight of the day.

Those two facts decide everything about how to judge a patron. You have between one and four spell slots. They come back on a short rest, which is the class's saving grace, but between rests you are rationing. So the patron features that matter are the ones that work without spending a slot, and the patrons divide cleanly on how much of that they give you.

There is one thing that does not separate them. All nine patrons grant an expanded spell list. That is table stakes, not a differentiator, and it is why a guide that ranks patrons by their spell lists gets the order wrong.

What each patron actually hands you at level 1, for free, all day:

• Hexblade gives a weapon that runs on Charisma, plus a curse.
• Fiend gives temporary hit points every time something dies.
• Undead gives a transformation with temporary hit points and a fear effect.
• Celestial gives a pool of healing dice.
• Fathomless gives a tentacle that attacks on its own.
• Genie gives bonus damage on every hit, and later a portable short rest.
• Great Old One gives telepathy.
• Archfey gives a once-per-rest aura you have to stand in melee to use.
• Undying gives a cantrip and advantage on disease saves.

Read that list again and the ranking mostly writes itself.

The Nine Patrons at a Glance

What Separates Them

Every patron gives an expanded spell list, so judge the level 1 feature instead. The Warlock gets its subclass at level 1, earlier than any other class, and then gets patron features at 6, 10 and 14. That level 1 feature is the one you will use in every fight of the entire campaign, which is why the Hexblade and the Undying sit at opposite ends of this list despite both having perfectly reasonable spell lists.

Your bonus action is contested from level 1. Hex is the Warlock's default bonus action and most patrons hand you something that competes with it directly: Hexblade's Curse, Form of Dread, Tentacle of the Deeps and Healing Light all want the same slot in your turn. Decide which one opens your fights.

Two patrons change the class's fundamental math. Hexblade makes the Warlock single-ability, which is the difference between a melee Warlock working and not working. Genie's Sanctuary Vessel manufactures short rests, and since short rests are where your spell slots come from, that is not a utility feature, it is a resource multiplier.

Hot Take: Count what the patron gives you for free before you read its expanded spell list. A Charisma-based weapon and a curse, or bonus damage and extra short rests, apply on every turn of every fight; the expanded spells are a few picks you may never actually prepare against a list you already like.

The Hexblade

The strongest patron in the class and the foundation of the most powerful multiclass in 5e. Hexblade solves a problem no other patron addresses: the Warlock cannot afford to be a melee character, and this makes it one anyway.

Hexblade Expanded Spells ●

Shield and Wrathful Smite (1st), Blur and Branding Smite (2nd), Blink and Elemental Weapon (3rd), Phantasmal Killer and Staggering Smite (4th), Banishing Smite and Cone of Cold (5th).

Shield is the entry that matters and it may be the best single spell on any patron's list. A reaction for +5 AC, cast from slots that return on a short rest, on a character standing in melee. It converts a large share of hits into misses and you can decide to use it after seeing the attack roll.

The smite spells are a trap worth naming: they use your concentration, and they compete with Hex. They are useful on a burst turn, not as a rotation.

Hex Warrior ●

Level 1. You gain proficiency with medium armor, shields and martial weapons. At the end of a long rest you touch one weapon you are proficient with that lacks the two-handed property, and it uses your Charisma modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity for attack and damage rolls. If you take Pact of the Blade, your pact weapon gets this automatically.

The two-handed restriction is the detail most summaries drop, and it shapes the build: no greatswords, no greataxes. Use a longsword or rapier with a shield, or take Pact of the Blade, which sidesteps the restriction for pact weapons.

What this feature really does is collapse the Warlock's ability score problem. Charisma now drives your attacks, your damage, your spell save DC, your social skills and, through Shield, effectively your AC. Medium armor and a shield puts you at AC 18 with no Dexterity investment at all.

Hexblade's Curse ●

Level 1. As a bonus action, curse a creature within 30 feet for 1 minute. You add your proficiency bonus to damage rolls against it, you score critical hits against it on a 19 or 20, and when it dies you regain hit points equal to your Warlock level plus your Charisma modifier. Once per short or long rest.

All three riders are good and they compound. Proficiency bonus to damage rolls means every Eldritch Blast beam, not once per turn. The expanded critical range doubles your crit frequency against the target you most want to crit. The healing on kill is a meaningful chunk of hit points at exactly the moment a melee character needs it.

Accursed Specter ●

Level 6. When you slay a humanoid, you can raise its spirit as a specter under your control until the end of your next long rest. Once per long rest.

Conditional on killing a humanoid, which some campaigns supply constantly and others never. The specter's Life Drain is a real attack, so when it fires it is worth having, but you cannot plan around it.

Armor of Hexes ●

Level 10. If the target of your Hexblade's Curse hits you with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to roll a d6. On a 4 or higher, the attack misses instead.

Note that it costs a reaction, which means it competes with Shield. Against the single cursed target it is roughly a 50% miss chance stacked on top of your AC, which makes a boss's attacks against you close to useless, but you can only do it once per round and only against the cursed creature.

Master of Hexes ●

Level 14. When the creature cursed by your Hexblade's Curse dies, you can apply the curse to a different creature you can see within 30 feet.

Note the level: 14th, not 15th. It turns a once-per-short-rest resource into one that chains through an entire encounter as long as things keep dying.

Hexblade in play

Charisma to 20, Constitution 14, and ignore Strength and Dexterity entirely. Medium armor and a shield from level 1. Pact of the Blade at 3 with Thirsting Blade at 5 gives you two attacks.

Half-Elf and Variant Human are the best races. The signature multiclass is Paladin: three Warlock levels for Hex Warrior, the curse and Pact of the Blade, then Paladin for Divine Smite fuelled by short-rest slots and Aura of Protection at Paladin 6.

The Genie

The strongest patron for a caster, because its 10th-level feature manufactures the one resource the class is short of. You pick one of four genie kinds, and that choice sets your spell list, your bonus damage type and your resistance.

Genie Expanded Spells ●

All Genie warlocks get Detect Evil and Good, Phantasmal Force, Create Food and Water, Phantasmal Killer, Creation and Wish. Then your genie kind adds five more:

Efreeti reproduces the Fiend's best spells almost exactly, which is a strong argument for it. Djinni's Greater Invisibility is the single best entry across the four.

Genie's Vessel ●

Level 1. You gain a Tiny vessel, which is your spellcasting focus, with two functions.

Genie's Wrath: once during each of your turns when you hit with an attack roll, you deal extra damage equal to your proficiency bonus, of a type set by your genie kind.

Bottled Respite: as an action you vanish into the vessel, an extradimensional space, for a number of hours equal to twice your proficiency bonus.

The bonus damage is small per hit and constant across the campaign, scaling from +2 to +6 with no resource cost. Bottled Respite is a hiding place, an ambush position and a way to wait out an effect.

Elemental Gift ●

Level 6. You gain resistance to a damage type set by your genie kind. As a bonus action, you can give yourself a flying speed of 30 feet for 10 minutes.

Both repo-era descriptions of this feature were wrong about the flight: it is not a reaction to taking damage, and it is not one turn. A ten-minute flying speed on a bonus action is effectively flight for an entire combat, available repeatedly.

Sanctuary Vessel ●

Level 10. When you enter your vessel, you can bring up to five willing creatures with you, and everyone inside can finish a short rest in 10 minutes.

This is the best patron feature in the class and it is not a combat ability. The Warlock's slots return on a short rest, so a patron that produces safe short rests almost anywhere is directly multiplying your spell slots. It also fixes the class's worst social problem, which is asking the rest of the party to stop for an hour.

Limited Wish ●

Level 14. As an action, request the effect of any spell of 6th level or lower. It recharges after 1d4 long rests.

Note the level: 14th, not 18th. Any 6th-level-or-lower spell in the game, with no components, is an emergency answer to almost any problem: Heal, Globe of Invulnerability, Word of Recall, True Seeing, Heroes' Feast.

Genie in play

Pick Efreeti for damage or Djinni for utility. Charisma to 20, Constitution 14, War Caster first.

Plan the party's day around Sanctuary Vessel from level 10. The feature only pays out if your table remembers it exists.

The Fiend

The most complete Player's Handbook patron and the default recommendation if you are limited to core. It solves the Warlock's two structural problems, no area damage and no durability, in one subclass.

Fiend Expanded Spells ●

Burning Hands and Command (1st), Blindness/Deafness and Scorching Ray (2nd), Fireball and Stinking Cloud (3rd), Fire Shield and Wall of Fire (4th), Flame Strike and Hallow (5th).

Fireball is the headline and it genuinely changes how the class plays. The base Warlock list has no efficient area damage at all, and since your slots are always cast at their highest level, your Fireball is never underpowered. Wall of Fire adds the zone control the base list also lacks.

Dark One's Blessing ●

Level 1. When you reduce a hostile creature to 0 hit points, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier plus your Warlock level, minimum 1.

Free durability that scales for the whole campaign with no action, no slot and no limit on uses. At level 10 with Charisma 20 that is 15 temporary hit points per kill, and in a fight against several enemies it refreshes repeatedly. It is the reason a Fiend Warlock is far harder to kill than its d8 hit die suggests.

Dark One's Own Luck ●

Level 6. Add a d10 to one ability check or saving throw, after rolling but before knowing the outcome. Once per short or long rest.

An average of 5.5 on any check or save, on a short-rest recharge, with total flexibility about when to use it. Save it for concentration saves, which is where the Warlock's damage output actually lives.

Fiendish Resilience ●

Level 10. Choose a damage type at the end of a short or long rest. You have resistance to it until you choose another. Damage from magical weapons or silver weapons ignores this resistance.

That carve-out is real and it is the detail most write-ups omit. Against a boss swinging a magic sword, choosing slashing does nothing. Against elemental damage, a breath weapon, or a horde of mundane attackers, it halves a whole category of incoming damage permanently and for free.

Hurl Through Hell ●

Level 14. When you hit a creature with an attack, you can send it through the lower planes. At the end of your next turn it returns, and if it is not a fiend it takes 10d10 psychic damage. Once per long rest.

An average of 55 damage with no saving throw, plus the target losing its turn. The gap is that it does nothing to fiends, which in a campaign built around the Fiend patron may be exactly who you are fighting.

Fiend in play

The most straightforward Warlock to run well. Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast is your default, Fireball is your answer to groups, and Dark One's Blessing rewards you for finishing off wounded enemies rather than spreading damage.

Tiefling is thematic and Half-Elf is the stronger ability score delivery. War Caster first.

The Undead

From Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, and the strongest level 1 feature in the class measured purely on combat. Form of Dread is offense and defense in a single bonus action.

Undead Expanded Spells ●

Bane and False Life (1st), Blindness/Deafness and Phantasmal Force (2nd), Phantom Steed and Speak with Dead (3rd), Death Ward and Greater Invisibility (4th), Antilife Shell and Cloudkill (5th).

Death Ward is the standout: it negates the next effect that would drop you to 0 hit points. Greater Invisibility is one of the best concentration spells available to any caster.

Form of Dread ●

Level 1. As a bonus action you transform for 1 minute, gaining temporary hit points equal to 1d10 plus your Warlock level. While transformed, once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with an attack, you can force a Wisdom save or frighten it until the end of your next turn, and you are immune to the frightened condition. Uses equal your proficiency bonus, all returning on a long rest.

Three things at once: a hit point buffer, a repeatable condition, and immunity to one of the most common debuffs in the game. The comparison with the Fiend is instructive. Dark One's Blessing has no daily cap but requires kills; Form of Dread gives its buffer up front but only two to six times per day, on a long rest recharge that fits the Warlock's short-rest economy poorly.

The frighten rider is opt-in, once per turn, so you choose whether it is worth the save attempt.

Grave Touched ●

Level 6. You no longer need to eat, drink or breathe. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature and roll damage, you can replace the damage type with necrotic. While transformed by Form of Dread, you also roll one additional damage die.

The type swap works all the time, even outside the Form, which makes it a free answer to resistance. The extra die only applies while transformed, and on Eldritch Blast that turns one beam from 1d10 into 2d10.

Necrotic Husk ●

Level 10. You gain resistance to necrotic damage, upgrading to immunity while transformed. When you would drop to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to drop to 1 instead, dealing 2d10 plus your Warlock level necrotic damage to creatures of your choice within 30 feet. You then gain a level of exhaustion, and cannot do it again until you finish 1d4 long rests.

The lockout is the point. This is a once-in-a-while survival button with a real cost attached, not a rotation piece.

Spirit Projection ●

Level 14. As an action, project your spirit from your body for up to 1 hour, gaining resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage, a flying speed, movement through objects, and component-free casting of conjuration and necromancy spells. While transformed by Form of Dread, necrotic damage you deal heals you for half. Once per long rest.

Powerful and fiddly. Your physical body is left behind and vulnerable, so it wants a party that will guard it.

Undead in play

Open with Form of Dread, then Eldritch Blast with Grave Touched converting beams to necrotic. Track your uses: at low levels you only get two per day, so do not transform for a fight you will win anyway.

Shadar-kai is the strongest thematic and mechanical race. War Caster protects Hex, which is still your damage multiplier.

The Celestial

The healing patron, and the only one that gives the Warlock a support role. If your party lacks a dedicated healer, this is the answer.

Celestial Expanded Spells ●

Cure Wounds and Guiding Bolt (1st), Flaming Sphere and Lesser Restoration (2nd), Daylight and Revivify (3rd), Guardian of Faith and Wall of Fire (4th), Flame Strike and Greater Restoration (5th).

Revivify and Greater Restoration are effects no other Warlock can produce, and because your slots are always at their maximum level, you get them at full strength. This list alone changes the class's role in a party.

Bonus Cantrips ●

Level 1. You learn Sacred Flame and Light, and they do not count against your cantrips known.

Sacred Flame is a Dexterity save rather than an attack roll, so it ignores cover entirely. That makes it the answer to the enemy standing behind the murder hole that Eldritch Blast cannot touch.

Healing Light ●

Level 1. You have a pool of d6s equal to 1 plus your Warlock level. As a bonus action, heal a creature within 60 feet by spending up to your Charisma modifier of those dice. The pool regains all expended dice on a long rest.

A bonus action heal that costs no spell slot, from level 1, with a pool that grows every level. At level 10 with Charisma 20 that is 11 dice in the pool and up to 5 per use.

The bonus action cost is what makes it work: you can heal an ally and still fire Eldritch Blast in the same turn, which no Cleric can do with Cure Wounds.

Radiant Soul ●

Level 6. You have resistance to radiant damage, and when you cast a spell that deals radiant or fire damage, you add your Charisma modifier to one damage roll of that spell, against one of its targets.

One damage roll, once, per spell. A widely repeated claim that this applies to every beam of Scorching Ray is simply wrong, and it inflates the feature by a factor of three. What it actually is: a reliable +5 on Guiding Bolt, Sacred Flame or Flame Strike, plus resistance to a damage type that becomes common at high tiers.

Celestial Resilience ●

Level 10. When you finish a short or long rest, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Warlock level plus your Charisma modifier. You can also choose up to five creatures, who each gain half your Warlock level plus your Charisma modifier.

Read the two numbers carefully, because they are different. You get the full amount; your allies get half your Warlock level plus your Charisma modifier. At level 10 with Charisma 20 that is 15 for you and 10 each for five allies, refreshed at every rest, for free.

Searing Vengeance ●

Level 14. When you have to make a death saving throw at the start of your turn, you can instead spring to your feet, regain half your hit point maximum, and deal 2d8 plus your Charisma modifier radiant damage to creatures of your choice within 30 feet, blinding them until the end of the current turn. Once per long rest.

Note that the damage hits creatures of your choice, so you will not catch allies, and the blindness lasts only until the end of the current turn rather than into the next round.

Celestial in play

You are a blaster who can also keep people alive. Spend Healing Light freely in the first half of the day and keep enough for one emergency.

Aasimar is the thematic and mechanical fit. War Caster first, as always.

The Great Old One

The utility and intrigue patron. Weaker in a straight fight than the Fiend or Hexblade, and better than any of them in a campaign built on infiltration, negotiation and information.

Great Old One Expanded Spells ●

Dissonant Whispers and Tasha's Hideous Laughter (1st), Detect Thoughts and Phantasmal Force (2nd), Clairvoyance and Sending (3rd), Dominate Beast and Evard's Black Tentacles (4th), Dominate Person and Telekinesis (5th).

A coherent list. Dissonant Whispers is the sleeper: 3d6 psychic and the target must flee using its reaction, which provokes opportunity attacks from your whole party. Evard's Black Tentacles and Dominate Person are both real control options, and since your slots are always maximised, Dominate Person arrives potent.

Awakened Mind ●

Level 1. You can telepathically speak to any creature you can see within 30 feet. You do not need a shared language, but the creature must understand at least one language.

Always on, no action, no limit, no recharge. The important limitation is that it is one-way: you speak, they cannot reply. That still covers silent coordination in combat, passing information during a negotiation, warning an ally without alerting a guard, and unsettling an enemy who cannot work out where the voice is coming from.

Entropic Ward ●

Level 6. When a creature makes an attack roll against you, use your reaction to impose disadvantage. If it misses, your next attack roll against that creature has advantage. Once per short or long rest.

Underrated. Disadvantage turns a likely hit into a coin flip, and the follow-up advantage is a free rider. Use it on the first dangerous attack rather than saving it for a perfect moment.

Thought Shield ●

Level 10. Your thoughts cannot be read unless you allow it, you have resistance to psychic damage, and any creature that deals you psychic damage takes the same amount.

Campaign-dependent. Excellent against mind flayers and aberrations, close to inert elsewhere. The divination protection is valuable against enemies who scry.

Create Thrall ●

Level 14. Touch an incapacitated humanoid. It is charmed by you until a Remove Curse is cast on it, the charmed condition is removed, or you use the feature again. You can communicate telepathically with it on the same plane.

Permanent, and in the right campaign it is the most powerful social tool in the game: a charmed captain, quartermaster or courtier who opens doors and vouches for you. The constraint is the word incapacitated, which means you need a way to set it up.

Great Old One in play

Lean into Awakened Mind. Players who treat it as flavor are throwing away most of what the subclass gives them.

Half-Elf for ability scores, Githzerai for the theme and the save advantages. Pact of the Tome suits the knowledge identity.

The Fathomless

The tentacle patron. A consistent, low-maintenance source of extra damage and defence, with a level 10 feature that is much stronger than its reputation.

Fathomless Expanded Spells ●

Create or Destroy Water and Thunderwave (1st), Gust of Wind and Silence (2nd), Lightning Bolt and Sleet Storm (3rd), Control Water and Summon Elemental (4th), Bigby's Hand and Cone of Cold (5th).

The most environment-dependent list in the class. Lightning Bolt, Silence and Sleet Storm are solid anywhere; Create or Destroy Water and Control Water are dead weight outside the right campaign. Bigby's Hand at 5th is a strong control and damage spell a Warlock has no other route to.

Tentacle of the Deep ●

Level 1. As a bonus action, summon a 10-foot tentacle at a point within 60 feet for 1 minute. When you summon it, and as a bonus action on later turns, you can move it 30 feet and make a melee spell attack against a creature within 10 feet of it for 1d8 cold damage, reducing the target's speed by 10 feet. At 10th level the damage becomes 2d8. Uses equal your proficiency bonus, returning on a long rest.

Both the uses and the upgrade are routinely misreported as a short rest recharge with no scaling. It is proficiency bonus uses per long rest, and it does scale.

The tentacle competes with Hex for your bonus action, and the comparison is close: the tentacle rolls its own attack, which is better against high-AC targets, while Hex rides on your own hits and scales with your number of beams.

Gift of the Sea ●

Level 1. A 40-foot swimming speed and the ability to breathe underwater.

The most campaign-dependent feature in the class. Essential in a nautical game and completely inert in a dungeon.

Oceanic Soul ●

Level 6. Resistance to cold damage, and while fully submerged you can understand and be understood by any other fully submerged creature.

The resistance is fine. The communication clause requires both parties underwater, which is narrower than it first appears.

Guardian Coil ●

Level 6. When a creature within 10 feet of your tentacle takes damage, use your reaction to reduce it by 1d8, rising to 2d8 at 10th level.

Free damage reduction on any ally you can position the tentacle near, every round. Place the tentacle beside the front line rather than in the middle of the enemy and this fires most turns.

Grasping Tentacles ●

Level 10. You learn Evard's Black Tentacles, it does not count against your spells known, and you can cast it once without a spell slot per long rest. When you cast it you gain temporary hit points equal to your Warlock level, and damage cannot break your concentration on it.

The best feature in the subclass. Evard's is a strong area control spell, and the inability to lose concentration to damage removes the reason casters usually cannot hold it in a melee. The temporary hit points are an easy detail to miss.

Fathomless Plunge ●

Level 14. As an action, teleport yourself and up to five willing creatures within 30 feet to a body of water you have seen within 1 mile. Once per short or long rest.

An escape and travel tool, bounded by needing water at the destination.

Fathomless in play

Summon the tentacle in the first round and then keep using your bonus action on it, or on Hex, depending on the enemy's AC. From level 6, hold your reaction for Guardian Coil.

Triton is the thematic pick. Half-Elf is the stronger general one.

The Archfey

Strong flavor, weak level 1 feature. The Archfey has the misfortune of giving you a melee-range aura on a class that does not want to be in melee.

Archfey Expanded Spells ●

Faerie Fire and Sleep (1st), Calm Emotions and Phantasmal Force (2nd), Blink and Plant Growth (3rd), Dominate Beast and Greater Invisibility (4th), Dominate Person and Seeming (5th).

Note the 5th-level entry: Dominate Person, not Dominate Monster. Faerie Fire and Sleep are strong at low levels, Greater Invisibility is excellent throughout, and the middle of the list is thin.

Fey Presence ●

Level 1. As an action, each creature in a 10-foot cube originating from you makes a Wisdom save or is charmed or frightened until the end of your next turn. Once per short or long rest.

It costs your action, not a bonus action, which is the detail that sinks it. You give up a full turn of Eldritch Blast to impose a one-round condition on whatever is standing within 10 feet of a character who should not be within 10 feet of anything.

Charmed and frightened are also the two conditions most likely to be resisted outright by the undead and constructs you meet from Tier 2 onward. This is the weakest level 1 feature of any patron that does something.

Misty Escape ●

Level 6. When you take damage, use your reaction to turn invisible and teleport up to 60 feet. You stay invisible until the start of your next turn or until you attack or cast a spell. Once per short or long rest.

The subclass's best feature, and an excellent panic button. Escape a grapple, leave a melee, exit an area effect, and arrive somewhere the enemy has to find you again.

Beguiling Defenses ●

Level 10. You are immune to being charmed, and when a creature tries to charm you, you can use your reaction to turn the effect back on it.

Solid and thematic. Charm immunity matters more at high tiers than most players expect, since it is a common way for a boss to remove a character from a fight.

Dark Delirium ●

Level 14. As an action, one creature within 60 feet makes a Wisdom save or is charmed or frightened for 1 minute, during which it is incapacitated and its speed is 0. The effect ends early if the creature takes damage. Once per short or long rest.

A single-target incapacitation that ends the moment anyone in your party hits the target, which in practice means it ends immediately. Powerful on paper, fragile at the table, and late.

Archfey in play

Play it for the fey identity, and build the character as a standard Eldritch Blast Warlock who happens to have a good escape button at level 6.

Half-Elf for ability scores, Eladrin for the theme and a second teleport. Fey Touched fits perfectly.

The Undying

The weakest patron in the class, and the gap is not close. The Undying's features are either narrow, cosmetic, or trigger on events you are actively trying to prevent.

Undying Expanded Spells ●

False Life and Ray of Sickness (1st), Blindness/Deafness and Silence (2nd), Feign Death and Speak with Dead (3rd), Aura of Life and Death Ward (4th), Contagion and Legend Lore (5th).

The list is the best part of the subclass. Death Ward is a strong defensive spell, Silence shuts down enemy casters, and Blindness/Deafness is reliable control. Feign Death, Speak with Dead and Legend Lore are narrative tools.

Among the Dead ●

Level 1. You learn Spare the Dying, and you have advantage on saving throws against disease.

A cantrip anyone can get from a feat, plus advantage on a save most campaigns never call for. This is the weakest level 1 feature of any patron, and compared to Hex Warrior or Form of Dread it is not in the same category of thing.

Defy Death ●

Level 6. You regain 1d8 plus your Constitution modifier hit points when you succeed on a death saving throw, or when you stabilise a creature with Spare the Dying. Once per long rest.

A modest heal attached to an event you are trying to avoid entirely. It is not nothing, since being at 0 hit points and coming back with a handful is better than coming back with one, but a feature that rewards you for nearly dying is a strange thing to receive at level 6 while the Archfey is getting a teleport and the Hexblade is already unkillable against its cursed target.

Undying Nature ●

Level 10. You can hold your breath indefinitely, you no longer need food, water or sleep, and you age at a tenth the normal rate.

No combat application whatsoever. At the same level the Fiend gains adaptable damage resistance, the Genie manufactures short rests, and the Celestial hands the whole party temporary hit points after every rest.

Indestructible Life ●

Level 14. On your turn you can use a bonus action to regain 1d8 plus your Warlock level hit points. Severed body parts reattach. Once per short or long rest.

This is better than it is usually described, and both common descriptions of it are wrong. It is not a trickle of regeneration and it does not require you to be at 0 hit points: it is a bonus action self-heal of roughly 4.5 plus your Warlock level, available again after every short rest. At level 14 that is an average of 18 or 19 hit points per rest cycle, which is a real sustain tool.

It does not rescue the subclass, but it is the one feature here that earns its place.

Undying in play

If the undead-patron concept is what you want, consider playing the Undead from Van Richten's instead and describing it however you like. It delivers the same fantasy with functioning mechanics.

If you play the Undying as written, build the rest of the character hard: Variant Human with War Caster, Agonizing Blast, Devil's Sight with Darkness, and lean on the spell list rather than the features.

Ability Scores

Every patron wants the same thing, which makes the Warlock the simplest full caster to build.

Start Charisma at 16 or 17 and reach 20 by level 8. Strength and Intelligence are dump stats.

The Hexblade is the exception that proves the rule: Hex Warrior makes Charisma drive attacks and damage as well, and medium armor removes the need for Dexterity, so a Hexblade is the most single-minded build in the game. Charisma, then Constitution, then nothing.

Races

Half-Elf ● is the best all-round Warlock race: +2 Charisma, two flexible +1s, two extra skills, and Fey Ancestry for advantage against charm. It fits every patron on this list.

• Variant Human ● buys War Caster at level 1, which protects Hex from the very first fight.
• Tiefling ● is the thematic Fiend pick, with fire resistance and innate spells on top of +2 Charisma.
• Yuan-Ti Pureblood ● brings Magic Resistance, advantage on saves against spells, which is the strongest defensive racial trait available to a d8 caster.
• Shadar-kai ● gives necrotic resistance and a bonus action teleport with damage resistance attached, the best fit for the Undead and a useful patch for the Undying.
• Aasimar ● suits the Celestial, adding Healing Hands and resistance to radiant and necrotic.
• Eladrin ● is the Archfey's flavor pick, with a Fey Step teleport each short rest.

Feats

War Caster ● is the first feat on nearly every Warlock. Advantage on concentration saves protects Hex, which is a large share of your damage, and casting Eldritch Blast as an opportunity attack is a real bonus for a class that otherwise wastes its reaction.

Resilient (Constitution) ● is the alternative, giving proficiency rather than advantage. Take one of the two.

Spell Sniper ● doubles Eldritch Blast's range to 240 feet and ignores half and three-quarters cover, which suits a blaster who wants to fight from outside everything's reach.

Polearm Master ● and Sentinel ● are the Hexblade melee package, turning you into a lockdown character with a 10-foot threat range.

Lucky ● is broadly strong on a class whose features often hinge on an enemy failing one saving throw.

Fey Touched ● adds Misty Step and a 1st-level spell on a Charisma bump, which suits the Archfey both thematically and mechanically.

Telekinetic ● is the other Charisma half-feat. It raises Charisma by 1 and adds a bonus-action shove that moves one creature within 30 feet 5 feet toward or away from you, on a Strength save against 8 plus your proficiency bonus plus your Charisma modifier, so the same score you were already maximising sets the DC. It also grants Mage Hand with no verbal or somatic components and the option to make the hand invisible. The honest caveat is the action cost: it is strongest on the Genie and the Great Old One, whose bonus actions are usually free, and weakest on the Fathomless, which spends its bonus action on the tentacle, and the Hexblade, which spends its own on Hexblade's Curse.

Multiclassing

The requirement is Charisma 13, and the Warlock is the best dip in the game because two or three levels give you a complete package: Eldritch Blast, Agonizing Blast, short-rest slots and a patron feature.

Paladin, into Hexblade ● - The Padlock, and the most discussed multiclass in 5e. Hexblade 3 supplies Hex Warrior, the curse and Pact of the Blade, so Charisma runs your weapon. Paladin supplies Divine Smite, fuelled by Warlock slots that come back on a short rest, and Aura of Protection at Paladin 6.

Sorcerer, with Warlock 2 to 3 ● - Short-rest Warlock slots convert into sorcery points through Font of Magic, which effectively grafts a short-rest engine onto a long-rest caster. You also pick up Eldritch Blast, which fills the Sorcerer's weakest slot.

Bard, with Warlock 1 to 3 ● - Pact of the Tome plus Book of Ancient Secrets gives a Lore Bard extensive ritual casting, and Eldritch Blast covers the Bard's mediocre cantrip damage.

Fighter, 1 to 2 levels ● - For a Hexblade, one level adds a Fighting Style and Second Wind, and two adds Action Surge for a double-attack burst round.

Wizard or Cleric ● - Intelligence and Wisdom are both dump stats, and the spell slot progressions do not combine usefully with Pact Magic.

Choosing by Campaign

• You want the strongest character: Hexblade. Hex Warrior makes Charisma do everything and Shield keeps you alive.
• You want the strongest caster: Genie. Sanctuary Vessel turns short rests into a resource you control, and Limited Wish answers almost any problem at 14.
• Player's Handbook only: Fiend. Fireball fixes your area damage and Dark One's Blessing fixes your durability.
• Your party has no healer: Celestial. Healing Light is a bonus action heal from level 1 that costs no slots.
• Combat-heavy campaign, and you have Van Richten's: Undead. Form of Dread is the best pure combat feature at level 1.
• Intrigue, infiltration or investigation: Great Old One. Awakened Mind is permanent free telepathy and Create Thrall is the best social feature in the class.
• A nautical campaign: Fathomless, whose otherwise dead features become central, and whose Grasping Tentacles is excellent anywhere.
• You want the fey aesthetic: Archfey, accepting that the level 1 feature is poor and the payoff is Misty Escape at 6.
• You want an undead-flavored character: take the Undead and reskin it. The Undying delivers the same concept with markedly weaker mechanics.

Related Guides

• D&D 5e Warlock Guide - the full class guide, including Pact Boons, Invocations, Mystic Arcanum and the short-rest slot economy.
• Best Warlock Spells - spell selection by level for a class that knows very few of them.
• Best Feats for Warlock - a deeper level-banded look at the feats summarized above.
• D&D 5e Class Guides - every class in the 2014 rules, compared.

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