The Crawling Terror – 5e Undead Warlock Build

Fear – the bane of melee enemies, a weapon to stop your adversaries in their tracks while you gun them down. To weaponize the sense of dread present in so many monsters, we have the Undead Warlock.

I have mentioned before that this is my favorite subclass, and as such it was just a matter of time until I had to make this build.

Race

We can afford to sacrifice a feat for particularly good racial bonuses, and as such will be going with the excellent Dhampir.

Ability Score Increase – +2 Cha and +1 Con. Raising our most important stats.

Darkvision – useful as always.

Spider Climb – at level 1, this is just a climbing speed. At level 3, this becomes what is effectively flight in dungeons.

Bite – we will be using this to get a bonus to initiative rolls, most commonly. If there’s a check you really want to succeed on out of combat, then this will be gold too.

Deathless Nature – we don’t need to breathe. This opens up some options when underwater, for one thing – not that we should expect that to matter, but it may be useful and we get it for free.

35-foot Speed – improved kiting, here we go. Once you try the high speed races, you may find it hard to go back.

Skill proficiencies – two extra skills, go with whatever you want and flex on half-elves.

Ability Scores(point buy)

Strength – 8. Dump stat.

Dexterity – 14. This is all we’ll need for medium armor.

Constitution – 15(+1). As high as we can get.

Intelligence – 8. As always, the honorary “I would raise this higher if I had the points”.

Wisdom – 10. We don’t want negatives on the most important save in the game.

Charisma – 15(+2). Our main stat, raising is self-explanatory.

Background

If Ravnica backgrounds are allowed, then I suggest Golgari Agent for animate dead. Gruul Anarch is a great meme too. I will, however, be assuming Ravnica is banned.

For skills, we’ll want Stealth and Perception, and I’ll take the Noble background because I love playing characters with high social status. We can choose any skills we want anyway, so it’s purely a narrative matter.

Level 1 Divine Soul Sorcerer(Sorcerer 1)

Starting as Sorcerer gives us proficiency in Con saves, a free 2d4 to one check or save per short rest, and the whole defensive spell package.

Favored by the Gods – between this and the Bite, we can pretty much automatically pass any check we want. We will mostly be using this on saving throws though.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: guidance, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, shield

Guidance – when not concentrating on anything else, keep this up 24/7. It might get added to your initiative, who knows.

Minor Illusion – utility, utility everywhere! This is the ultimate toolbox.

Mold Earth – cover time. Also burying whatever unfortunate souls that made the mistake of choosing to play monk.

Shield – +5 AC for a whole round can absorb incredible amounts of damage.

Absorb Elements – this is how we survive large elemental blasts.

Bless – this is our main source of damage in difficult combats. Raising three people’s DPR by 12.5% of their damage on a hit is very potent.

Strategy

We fire a light crossbow and live in fear, hoping what little defenses we have will be enough. Everyone’s made of paper at level 1, and we are no exception. Cast bless in hard fights.

Level 2 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 1)

We now begin to take levels in our main class.

Form of Dread – this functions both as a self-cleanse to get rid of a fear effect, and a debuff ability to lock enemies in place. It scales with our proficiency bonus, as is the norm for WOTC’s more recent releases.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, magic stone, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, armor of agathys, bless, shield, unseen servant

Eldritch blast – pew pew at 120’ range for all our frightening needs.

Magic stone – we will be using it ourselves for one level, but this is mostly for summons.

Armor of Agathys – some extra temporary hit points, because we have absolutely nothing better to cast right now.

Unseen servant – light the dungeon on fire and spread those ball bearings.

Strategy changes

Throw your stones, when you would use Form of Dread use eldritch blast instead.

Level 3 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 2)

Invocations! This is the part where our build really gets up and starts moving.

Agonizing Blast – we can now add our Charisma to the damage of our main cantrip.

Repelling Blast – pushing enemies back 10 feet on a hit is fantastic battlefield control.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, magic stone, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, armor of agathys, bless, protection from evil and good, shield, unseen servant

Protection from evil and good – shutting down deadly charm effects can mean the difference between life and having your corpse attack the party as a vampire spawn.

Strategy changes

Switch to eldritch blast for your main damage source, and start pushing people back even as you lock them down.

Level 4 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 3)

We get to play around with the swapped familiar trick. We also gain 2nd-level spell slots.

Pact of the Chain – we will be swapping to Tome next level, and are using this now to get a free familiar. Let’s take the Sprite because its Heart Sight is funny.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, magic stone, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, armor of agathys, bless, protection from evil and good, shield

2nd-level: phantasmal force, shatter

Phantasmal force – fantastic shutdown option provided by our subclass.

Shatter – sometimes the best solution is damage, here and now. This is our method of providing just that.

Strategy

With level 2 slots recharging on a short rest, we can be a lot more liberal with our AoEs. Throw those shatter casts around when needed, or make single targets think they are trapped in iron maidens with phantasmal force. Have your familiar take the Help action to give you advantage when possible.

Level 5 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 4)

We now fire two beams with our signature cantrip, greatly increasing the likelihood of at least one hitting to trigger the fear effect. We also drop Pact of the Chain as I mentioned above.

Pact of the Tome – we get three extra cantrips. This isn’t a huge thing as we already have the Cantrip Holy Trinity, but it’s a welcome addition. Picking thorn whip is a solid idea for the 10-foot pull that we can use when directly above a foe, spider-climbing on the ceiling. We’ll knock them prone.

Ability Score Increase – Moderately Armored. +1 to Strength is the best we can do here, making it impossible for a Shadow to kill us in two hits. If you would start a campaign at level 5 or higher, consider dropping a point in Dexterity and getting to 14 with this, thus adding +2 Wisdom.

Our AC will now be, assuming half plate and a shield, 19.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, protection from evil and good, shield

2nd-level: invisibility, misty step, phantasmal force, shatter

Mage hand – pull scary-looking levers and test for traps on the fly.

Invisibility – for sneaking around and similar things.

Misty step – a bonus action teleport for when things go really wrong and we need to get out.

Level 6 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 5)

This is our biggest power spike. Delaying it probably didn’t feel too good, but it was well worth the wait. We can now cast rituals and get 3rd-level spells.

Book of Ancient Secrets – we get two rituals. The first should always be find familiar, the second gives us quite a few options. My selection here will be unseen servant for an extra body on the field when exploring.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, protection from evil and good, shield

2nd-level: invisibility, misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: hypnotic pattern, phantom steed

Hypnotic pattern – shutting down massive groups of enemies for the whole fight is insanely good.

Phantom steed – we get this as a subclass spell too. Giving the whole party a speed of 100 feet is entirely within the realm of possibility. If your party is too numerous to make use of it for much time before the spell ends, consider taking counterspell now and this later.

Strategy changes

We have a new big gun on the table, and that’s hypnotic pattern. Cast this when it would solve a battle – it’s the best tool in our current arsenal.

Aim for 100% phantom steed uptime if possible – this spell gives godlike mobility, and though an enemy could certainly shoot it from under you, that’s enemy action economy being blown on your dirt-cheap minions so you still win.

Level 7 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 6)

We get more 3rd-level spells and a very minor boost to our DPR.

Grave Touched – a small buff to our necrotic damage, and we don’t need to eat or drink anymore. This isn’t too important to us, though if you are not playing in a game with vampire/aboleth/etc. antagonists it’s reason enough to take hex instead of protection from evil and good. Several DPR comparisons have been provided below.

Assumptions listed above the table

It goes without saying that hex is not damage worth a spell slot, but it becomes a more worthy consideration when you can just crush a bug and take a short rest, effectively gaining a passive damage buff until you need to cast a concentration spell.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, protection from evil and good, shield

2nd-level: invisibility, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed

Counterspell – stopping enemy spells is absolutely crucial. It can mean the difference between life and death for the whole party.

Fear – even more power to us. We can force enemies into retreat. This complements hypnotic pattern well due to it solving situations where the latter would struggle – most commonly providing a similar effect in weaker parties that lack the hitting power to take down a single hypnotized target per turn.

Level 8 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 7)

We now get to hand out fragments of immortality to everyone. This slightly mitigates the lack of slots for shield and absorb elements, but don’t rely too heavily on it. Also, another invocation.

Grasp of Hadar – we have a few decent picks available and the taxes have all been paid, so pick what’s most useful for the battles you know you’re facing. A 10-foot pull allows for more forced movement options on the battlefield and lets us peel climbing enemies off walls and the like. We also don’t need thorn whip for the proning trick anymore, so that’s a cantrip freed up and increased range.

Other options I would consider at this level include Ghostly Gaze(if the party lacks locate object) and Lance of Lethargy.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, protection from evil and good, shield

2nd-level: phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed

4th-level: death ward, summon greater demon

Death ward – I’ve mentioned that this stacks previously several times, and we will be using it here. Hand this out to all your friends so they have a pile of safety nets.

Summon greater demon – the standard 4th-level Warlock tool, this is a versatile device that lets us cast a good amount of spells. Bear in mind the demon’s chance to succeed on the save, and consider immediately commanding it to tell you its true name – talking is a free action, after all. Sometimes letting it loose is the optimal move, as throwing a big angry brute into the middle of the enemy’s ranks without requiring concentration has strategic value.

Strategy changes

Summon demons when the situation calls for it. Additionally, never forget about death ward – cast it again and again, don’t let your unused spell slots go to waste. Taking multiple short rests after waking up is a good place to start.

Level 9 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 8)

Our second ASI has come at last. We have 17 Charisma, let’s make that an 18.

Ability Score Increase – Fey-touched. We get misty step back, and can additionally cast gift of alacrity to give everyone +1d8 to initiative.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, gift of alacrity, shield

2nd-level: misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed, summon shadowspawn

4th-level: death ward, dimension door, summon greater demon

Dimension door – the bigger misty step. Notice that I didn’t mention being Small despite Dhampir allowing for that. We’ll be on the ceiling in dungeons most of the time anyway, and we can also make our own Large horses, so being halfling-sized isn’t as critical. Thus, we can be bigger and take Medium people with us here.

Summon shadowspawn – we don’t need protection from evil and good as much now, so let’s take something more commonly useful. This spell throws a body on the battlefield – as all the Tasha summons, it’s fragile like glass sadly.

This spell exists because of its abilities – the 20-foot slow is particularly crippling for enemies, and you can affect targets with the frightened condition from both sides.

Level 10 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 9)

At this level, we get a good single-target damaging option, and a better fireball. Also another invocation.

Gift of the Protectors – write down your friends’ names in your book to give them a free death ward. Only applies to one creature per day.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, gift of alacrity, shield

2nd-level: misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed

4th-level: death ward, dimension door, summon greater demon

5th-level: danse macabre, synaptic static

Danse macabre – this spell gives us pretty good damage with magic stone.

Synaptic static – 8d6 is still a good chunk of enemy HP even at this level, and the debuff is just wonderful.

Strategy changes

For single-target, look no further than danse macabre, and when in need of AoE damage your saviour shall be synaptic static.

Level 11 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 10)

Another buff to Form of Dread, and a good one too. Our cantrips also scale.

Necrotic Husk – resistance to necrotic damage, immunity while transformed, is quite useful. The explosion is less useful, due to 1 level of exhaustion crippling your initiative, but if you can avoid a TPK then it’s worth it. Hopefully someone has greater restoration or a rest is coming soon.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, gift of alacrity, shield

2nd-level: misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed

4th-level: death ward, dimension door, summon greater demon

5th-level: antilife shell, danse macabre, synaptic static

Mind sliver – use this to set up a bigger spell cast by one of your allies.

Antilife shell – immunity to melee if certain conditions are met. A viable way to escape melee foes’ reach when ceilings are not available.

Level 12 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 11)

A third spell slot! Praise our dark masters! And a Mystic Arcanum too.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, gift of alacrity, shield

2nd-level: invisibility, misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed

4th-level: death ward, dimension door, summon greater demon

5th-level: antilife shell, danse macabre, synaptic static

6th-level: mass suggestion

Invisibility – not much to say, it’s back.

Mass suggestion – telling people to go away, change their job, give you money and the like has plenty of uses. It’s non-concentration too.

Level 13 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 12)

Another ASI at last, and it’s time to protect our Wisdom saves.

Ability Score Increase – Resilient(Wisdom). Wisdom saves are devastating, try not to fail them.

Whispers of the Grave – at-will speak with dead. Doesn’t matter who nuked the NPC, we need information and we will have it.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, gift of alacrity, shield

2nd-level: invisibility, misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed, summon shadowspawn

4th-level: death ward, dimension door, summon greater demon

5th-level: antilife shell, danse macabre, synaptic static

6th-level: mass suggestion

Summon shadowspawn – it’s back too because we have too many slots. Naturally, we couldn’t be bothered to consider its damage, this exists solely to be a distraction tactic – 20ft speed debuffs aren’t something most foes want to get.

Level 14 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 13)

It’s time to make some cages.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, gift of alacrity, shield

2nd-level: invisibility, misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed, summon shadowspawn

4th-level: death ward, dimension door, summon greater demon

5th-level: antilife shell, danse macabre, synaptic static

6th-level: mass suggestion

7th-level: forcecage

Forcecage – if you have plenty of expendable humanoids, finger of death competes at high levels. However, there is one king here, and one alone. Removing a creature from the fight with no saving throw is godlike.

Level 15 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 14)

Our subclass’s capstone feature could not be more wonderful.

Spirit Projection – a watered-down simulacrum. We cannot act while it is active, however it does have its own resources, and that’s the primary use of this ability.

Additionally, it gives us a whole host of practical features, including flight. Very appealing.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, gift of alacrity, shield

2nd-level: invisibility, misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed, summon shadowspawn

4th-level: banishment, death ward, dimension door, summon greater demon

5th-level: antilife shell, danse macabre, synaptic static

6th-level: mass suggestion

7th-level: forcecage

Banishment – two targets disappear on a failed save. Fantastic control against elite minions.

Strategy changes

It’s better to use Spirit Projection early on so that your Mystic Arcana get duplicated. We can cast two forcecages, that is just fantastic.

Level 16 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 15)

Our penultimate invocation and Arcanum have arrived.

Eldritch Mind – sometimes simple is best, and advantage on the most common save we can expect is amazing.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, gift of alacrity, shield

2nd-level: invisibility, misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed, summon shadowspawn

4th-level: banishment, death ward, dimension door, summon greater demon

5th-level: antilife shell, danse macabre, synaptic static

6th-level: mass suggestion

7th-level: forcecage

8th-level: demiplane

Demiplane – a nice pocket dimension to store corpses. Or loot. Actually, why not both?

Level 17 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 16)

Another ASI, and our cantrips scaled once more.

Ability Score Increase – I’ll satisfy the primal aspect of my brain that goes “Ooh! Aah!” when it sees a 20 in its main stat, so +2 Charisma it is. With the number of attacks we’re making – 4 with our action and 5 with danse macabre – this is actually a really solid investment, adding around 20% to our DPR.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, gift of alacrity, shield

2nd-level: invisibility, misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed, summon shadowspawn

4th-level: banishment, death ward, dimension door, summon greater demon

5th-level: antilife shell, danse macabre, synaptic static

6th-level: mass suggestion

7th-level: forcecage

8th-level: demiplane

Level 18 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 17)

Godhood has been reached. I repeat, godhood has been reached!

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, gift of alacrity, shield

2nd-level: misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed, summon shadowspawn

4th-level: banishment, death ward, dimension door, summon greater demon

5th-level: antilife shell, danse macabre, planar binding, synaptic static

6th-level: mass suggestion

7th-level: forcecage

8th-level: demiplane

9th-level: true polymorph

Planar binding – ensure that your true polymorphed minions stay obedient after 1 hour has passed. Leave the magic circle to someone else if needed, hopefully a prepared caster has it.

True polymorph – you can turn a rock into any creature of up to CR 9. That alone is incredibly powerful. To highlight what else you can do with this spell:

• Turn obedient creatures into objects, then into higher-CR creatures
• Summon anything up to CR 9 with a 1-hour duration
• Transform defeated BBEGs into diamonds, kill a commoner and have your friend cast revivify.
• Sell exotic pets.
• Get a pet Hollyphant for its aura
• Get a Battleforce Angel for free pseudo-bless.
• Turn things into commoners, then turn commoners into more expensive things.
• Just become a dragon for an hour.

Your wealth is now yes. You have conquered both the regular economy and the action economy.

Level 19 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 18)

We finally reach the last invocation.

Lance of Lethargy – never say no to speed debuffs.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, gift of alacrity, shield

2nd-level: misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed, summon shadowspawn

4th-level: banishment, death ward, dimension door, summon greater demon

5th-level: antilife shell, danse macabre, planar binding, synaptic static

6th-level: mass suggestion

7th-level: forcecage

8th-level: demiplane

9th-level: true polymorph

Level 20 Undead Warlock(Sorcerer 1/Warlock 19)

One last feat to top it all off…

Ability Score Increase – Lucky. Additional saving throw protection is a good move, and it also helps with initiative.

Spells Known:

Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, mold earth, prestidigitation

1st-level: absorb elements, bless, gift of alacrity, shield

2nd-level: misty step, phantasmal force

3rd-level: counterspell, fear, hypnotic pattern, phantom steed, summon shadowspawn

4th-level: banishment, death ward, dimension door, summon greater demon

5th-level: antilife shell, danse macabre, planar binding, synaptic static

6th-level: mass suggestion

7th-level: forcecage

8th-level: demiplane

9th-level: true polymorph

Concluding thoughts

And there we have it! My favorite build thus far. Ever since the UA dropped, I’ve been a huge fan of the Undead, and I can say the same about Dhampir although it took a week or so to grow on me when I first read it.

I am currently playing this build(more or less) and it’s a blast. I would absolutely recommend it. Unfortunately, I have not used the trick with swapping out the Pact Boon to get a free familiar as I only came up with it after hitting level 3.

At the end of this article, I would like to thank my friends at Tabletop Builds for giving me yet another reason to love the Undead. It is thanks to them that I know of death ward stacking, the Death Warden build did it first. Link to the build is here, check it out: https://tabletopbuilds.com/death-warden-undead-warlock-build/

Did I pick something dumb or forget something? If so, please let me know in the comments!

This concludes all I had to say on how I would build an Undead Warlock. I hope you found this guide useful. Thanks for reading, and until next time!