The Undying Warlock 5E Guide | Rules, Tips, Builds, and More

Ready for something a little different in the Warlock class? The Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide holds the current final Patron for a Warlock to pledge themselves to; the Undying. These beings include liches, Wizards who have escaped death, warriors who have eternal life, and gods alike. Any Warlock wishing to invest themselves in eternal life will find a Patron willing to teach them, and through their eternal will, they will become immortal. Join us today, as we investigate what becoming immortal truly requires. Learn more with our Undying Warlock 5E Guide.

Live Life Eternal: The Undying Warlock 5E Guide

It requires you to take the least powerful Patron in the game. Sure, some patrons can be less focused or do their jobs in weird ways… But the Undying just does so little. Its in-game effect is next to nothing. The flavor is pretty neat, and the spell list is actually solid, but otherwise… You’re going to be dead weight…

Or should we say, undead weight.

Expanded Spell List

The spell list is actually one of the more redeemable parts of the Undying. That’s not to say that it’s necessarily good, but you get some decent options for dealing with dangerous creatures.

False Life is kind of overdoing it; take Fiendish Vigor as an invocation instead. Ray of Sickness is good early on, but gets overshadowed by later levels, so replace it when you can.

Blindness/Deafness and Silence counter martials or casters, respectively. Both are actually extremely potent counter-spells. Blindness/Deafness especially scales super well with spell slots, so that’s a definite take! Silence doesn’t technically scale, but you can sometimes negate encounters with it.

Feign Death is as hilariously useless as ever; If you really want to spend your low number of spell slots on falling over really well, then this spell has you covered. Speak with Dead, however, can be used to interrogate units and get information about the dungeon. That’s not bad; a good consideration.

Aura of Life and Death Ward can both be somewhat useful; Aura of Life can stop undead fights from dealing quite so much damage, and Death Ward is a quite potent… Ward against death. You can set up both of these before a fight. If you want one, Death Ward tends to be useful in more situations.

Contagion is a massively versatile spell that makes good use of your 5th level spell slots; take it, it’s super useful. Less useful is Legend Lore… Unless you’re playing a non-combat campaign. It’s essentially asking the GM for what to do next, so… If they’re being coy about it, it might be worthwhile.

Not terrible! Level 2 is god-tier, and you get at least one good spell per level. This is an acceptable spell list!

Among the Dead

And it actually keeps staying pretty alright! At level 1, you get Spare the Dying for free, get advantage on saving throws against disease, and finally;

…undead have difficulty harming you. If an undead targets you directly with an attack or a harmful spell, that creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC (an undead needn’t make the save when it includes you in an area effect, such as the explosion of Fireball). On a failed save, the creature must choose a new target or forfeit targeting someone instead of you, potentially wasting the attack or spell. On a successful save, the creature is immune to this effect for 24 hours. An undead is also immune to this effect for 24 hours if you target it with an attack or a harmful spell.

That’s quite a list!

Spare the Dying isn’t fantastically useful, but a free cantrip’s a free cantrip. And you get a ranged option for stabilizing people in case your Cleric is busy, so that’s nice.

The advantage against disease will either never come up or be a life-saver. You won’t get this applied to you in too many situations. But against rodents in the early game or mummies in the late game, rolling that Constitution save twice will feel super good. Especially since Warlocks don’t get natural proficiency for Constitution.

Finally, you get a permanent Sanctuary effect against Undead… The most prominent enemy type. This is insanely useful, especially if you’re slow to the draw. The fact that it’s attached to a Wisdom save isn’t too bad; most Undead don’t have insane Wisdom scores. Try to fight either one Undead at a time, or only fight the ones that have already saved against your Among the Dead. This’ll cause you to be one of the tankiest members of the party against Liches or Necromancers.

Defy Death

Now, things start going downhill. 

Starting at 6th level, you can give yourself vitality when you cheat death or when you help someone else cheat it. You can regain hit points equal to 1d8 + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 hit point) when you succeed on a death saving throw or when you stabilize a creature with Spare the Dying.

This is only once per long rest.

Now… Okay, this looks worse than it is. Since you can heal yourself when you succeed on a death saving throw, you can easily pick yourself off the ground and get right back into combat. That’s actually really good, and can swing fights back into the favor of your party.

However… If you use it just for the heal, that’s a maximum of 1d8+5. Even at level 6, that’s not exactly awe-inspiring. And it’s highly conditional, requiring you to stabilize a creature with Spare the Dying. Does that make Spare the Dying more efficient? Kind of, sure, but you really want to save this for when you’re unconscious and need a pick-me-up.

Save this for when you’re unconscious. Even if you could have used it and don’t end up falling unconscious, it just isn’t worth using for 1d8 + Constitution.

Undying Nature

Oh no… Now we get to the problems. We get to the part that is really, really not good.

Beginning at 10th level, you can hold your breath indefinitely, and you don’t require food, water, or sleep, although you still require rest to reduce exhaustion and still benefit from finishing short and long rests.

In addition, you age at a slower rate. For every 10 years that pass, your body ages only 1 year, and you are immune to being magically aged.

That all seems great, right? You get so much survivability.

Okay, so, your GM has to be a really particular kind of person for the food, water, or sleep thing to come to pass. Food only costs copper in town or Nature checks while in forests. Water is assumed to be in your inventory at all times. Not needing sleep is actually a really great ability… But you could just get an Invocation for it. The holding your breath thing only comes up against the Cloud spells, or if you need to swim for a long time. And there are spells that your Wizard or Bard can learn to replicate the effect.

And for aging… Most campaigns take place – in-universe – over the course of a few months to a year. You’ll see the benefit, sure, but… Not to the extent that this ability wants you to. Preventing magical aging can be hilarious – like if your GM has an enemy wizard cast Time Ravage on you – but if that ever comes up in your campaign, there’s probably better ways to stop it.

Overall, this ability does so little to affect the game. The flavor is absolutely incredible… But if you get a class skill that you can replicate with an Ion Stone, then it might be weak.

Indestructible Life

Your level 14 ability, the entire reason you’ve leveled up this class so far. The absolute pinnacle of your spellcaster’s abilities…

When you reach 14th level, you partake of some of the true secrets of the Undying. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d8 + your warlock level. Additionally, if you put a severed body part of yours back in place when you use this feature, the part reattaches.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

As a bonus action… You heal 1d8+20. At level 20. Once per short rest.

That’s your capstone.

Oh no.

Okay, so, bright sides. This is a bonus action, so you’re not spending your whole turn to heal 1d8+20. That’s pretty okay! And hey, if your GM does dismemberment rules (for some reason) you’ve got a really easy way to sew it back on. Recharging on a short rest is an upside, too! This is basically another spells slot; around 2nd level in power, but still!

The downsides might be a little bit obvious. 1d8+20 averages 24 health. For a capstone ability… That’s kind of pathetic. Sure, getting bonus hit points is never not good, and that 24 health can easily keep you in the fight. 

But… Really? If you compare this to the level 14 ability of the Fiend, this heals for half the damage that it deals, takes any kind of action, and does so little to affect the battlefield. You could even argue that a level 1 Healing Word outclasses it, since you can use that to pick people off the ground.

This capstone should not be the reason that you take the Undying.

Pact Boon Synergies

All Warlocks gain access to one out of three pacts. These pacts all have synergies with the subclasses, though two of them are slightly above the third in terms of power.

Pact of the Blade

Pact of the Blade is a pass for me. Even though you’re called a Warlock of the Undying, you’re still a Warlock – The frontlines just don’t really work too well for you. If you do choose to pick up a weapon, consider either heavy feat investment to get armor, using Finesse, or multiclassing. Otherwise, Eldritch Blast just does far better damage at a much better range.

Pact of the Chain

Ever wanted a little friend to help you out as you age super slowly? Well, Pact of the Chain can give you one! Realistically, the Pact of the Chain is quite useful as a scouting tool, and delivering touch spells – like Death Ward – to allies. It also offers an expendable frontliner in the early game, if you’re feeling somewhat cruel. The Imp is perhaps the best familiar of the four offered by the Chain, and actually has a bit of flavor to it; what is more hellish than living forever?

Pact of the Talisman

The Pact of the Talisman doesn’t have the Invocation support that the other Pacts have access to. While we recommend this more than Pact of the Chain, we almost always recommend Pact of the Tome over this. That being said, if you have a character like a Barbarian or Fighter that does a lot of damage but suffers from low saving throws, then this is a reasonable way to support them. In most cases, though, Pact of the Tome is a significant improvement for your immortal self.

Pact of the Tome

It’s hard to go wrong with the Pact of the Tome. The safest pick for most Warlocks, the Book of Shadows gives you some good utility cantrips. Try to choose ones that don’t deal damage; Eldritch Blast can handle the damage front quite easily. However, there’s some anti-synergy; don’t take the Aspect of the Moon invocation, since you already don’t need to sleep. The Book of Ancient Secrets invocation, however, is quite a potent ability.

Best Race for The Undying Warlocks

The Undying Warlocks are a rare breed that want Charisma and Constitution the most; Dexterity is somewhat of an afterthought. Charisma and Constitution is a rare combo, so focus on Charisma and get Constitution either through ability score boosts, or other means.

Aasimar

One race that has both Charisma and Constitution? A Scourge Aasimar. This Volo’s Guide race has some useful Charisma, a boost in Strength, a few damage resistances, the ability to get extra Radiant damage against your opponent… The list just goes on and on. If your GM lets you use them, the Aasimar is a potent race, especially for this subclass.

Triton

Another Volo’s Guide race, the Triton gets increases to Strength, Charisma, and Constitution; a pretty good spread, especially if you want to try out Blade Pact. Add in some utility spells and some okay resistances, and you’ve got yourself a decent choice if you plan on swinging some swords.

Hollow Ones

If your GM is feeling rather accepting of new ideas, you could try to get this Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount supernatural gift. As a basically-undead, you do waste your age ability with the Ageless bonus. But otherwise, you’d get the ability to force save disadvantage on a target, while being the delicious flavor of an Undying Revenant. This is definitely a “talk-to-your-GM” thing, though, and you’ll still need a baseline class.

Best Feats for Undying Warlock

The Undying Warlock, ironically enough, is a huge fan of resting as often as possible. Your best asset is your spell list, so refreshing those often is nice. Taking feats that inspire your allies to take long rests whenever possible is a very good idea.

Chef

Letting the immortal person cook your food is a surprisingly good idea. They’ve probably had a lot of time to learn new recipes and stuff.

Chef is a fantastic Constitution-rounder for Warlock, granting a +1 to Constitution when you pick it up. As many Warlocks have the feat slots to grab two +1s to Constitution, this feat comes up quite often in builds. That’s largely because of its very strong features.

To start, Chef grants proficiency with Chef’s Utensils. That’s right; you no longer poke your eyes out when you use forks and knives! In all seriousness, a creative player can use these to solve problems, such as getting hired as a cook for poisoning purposes or just making a night around the campfire more fun.

For us, it’s more important to examine the hard mechanics. And there’s two to examine here. The first is the ability to heal an extra d8 whenever a party member spends a hit dice to heal during a short rest. While somewhat restrictive and definitely a bit low, an extra 4.5 health during rests comes in handy more often than you might think. This is basically an 18 HP heal for a standard party of four during a short rest. Not nothing, I suppose.

More important are the treats that you learn to create. You make your proficiency modifier in treats that give temp HP equal to your proficiency bonus. So, this feat gives between 4 and 36 additional temporary health after each rest. That’s actually quite good. You can divide them out however you wish, as they are a bonus action to eat, giving your party a small health shield that they can refresh between each fight. Very nice.

Inspiring Leader

Inspiring Leader doesn’t play too well with Chef, since they both offer temporary HP. Rather than spreading thin between four individual features, though, Inspiring Leader puts everything it has into those hitpoints. And hitpoints it grants! It adds your level plus your Charisma to temporary HP given to party members as a rest ends. This means that, in the endgame, you’re providing a 25 temp HP buffer to each member of your group.

Goodness! Going with the four player party from before, you’re giving 100 bonus health after you rest. As your day goes on and your party takes more and more short rests, that equates to upwards of 300-500 health that you generate with this feat alone. 

Unlike Chef, this is spread out among party members that probably don’t want to get hit. But who cares! They’ll probably get targeted once or twice, and then this health shield might be what they need to not instantly collapse under the Disintegrates that the lategame pounds down a party’s throat. This is an excellent way to survive 5E’s endgame scenarios.

Fey Touched

Fey Touched, and its sister feat Shadow Touched, are two fantastic options to give any caster in 5E. Warlocks don’t benefit the same as other casters when it comes to these feats, but they are still fantastic for the pact-bound class to learn for themselves. This is mainly because, along with a +1 to Charisma which is undoubtedly strong, the Fey Touched feat grants the new user two spells to learn.

The two spells are slightly modular. The one that you get no matter what is Misty Step, a spell that lets you teleport 60 feet. An undeniably strong escape tool, Misty Step allows the Warlock to get far, far away from a dangerous grapple, melee combatant, or even lets you get close enough to catch up to a fleeing enemy.

The other spell that you learn is modular. It’s a 1st-level Divination or Enchantment spell, which gives you a few choices. By selecting Hex, you both permanently learn the spell and also get an additional cast of it. However, you could choose spells that aren’t on your list, such as Command or Silvery Barbs, to add to your build’s action economy. We recommend Silvery Barbs as, even if it is a gigantic use of endgame spell slots for the Warlock, the ability to reroll successful attacks or saving throws is ginormous.

The spells you select have a free spell slot per day for use only with that spell, so make sure it’s something that your Warlock plans on casting often. That won’t be a problem for Misty Step, of course, but your 1st-level option might depend slightly on your party.

Metamagic Adept

Metamagic Adept is a weird feat. It grants 2 Sorcery Points that must be used for metamagic, as well as giving the wielder two options for Metamagic.

For a lot of classes, this usually means one to two instances of a Metamagic effect per day. Much the same with the Warlock class. However, unlike a lot of classes, the Warlock has a very, very strong option for a Cantrip in Eldritch Blast. Rather than adding a Fire Bolt or a Mind Sliver to a Hold Monster, you get to add Eldritch Blast: 4d10+20 damage, at minimum, with the opportunity to crit if you can get close enough.

This feat allows for such insane once per day opportunities that it is worth considering for your Undying Warlock, especially since you don’t get very consistent bonus actions. Even if you don’t like a feat that only casts once per day, you can still get solid opportunities to improve your spells significantly with options like Distant Spell or Extended Spell.

Telekinetic

Telekinetic is perfect for players who don’t find the Fey Touched or Shadow Touched feats very enticing. It comes with a +1 to Charisma, which is basically a free pass for most Warlocks. Starting with 16 Charisma is a good idea, but 17 Charisma lets you take some modular feats. 

And talk about modular! Telekinetic offers two permanent upgrades for the Warlock that are both individually interesting and strong. The first is access to Mage Hand, a strong cantrip by default, but one the Warlock already can grab. What they can’t grab, however, is this version of Mage Hand, which is invisible and requires no somatic or verbal component to cast. It can also be buffed by learning Mage Hand, increasing the range from 30 to 60 feet. Pretty worthwhile, since Mage Hand is such a powerful cantrip.

The other benefit of this feat is a little push or pull within 30 feet of you. This is on a Strength save, which isn’t the most common, but allies and enemies can automatically choose to fail this save. And they really should consider it. With careful placement, Telekinetic becomes a way to grant everyone in your party 5 feet of movement if they need it. You can push allies into range of spellcasters who need space, pull allies out of the way of big bad enemies that want to eat them alive, or try to push enemies into areas of effect like Hypnotic Pattern that can really ruin their day.

Having a consistent bonus action is a really good idea. Telekinetic is not only efficient at this job, but offers such a unique way to influence the battlefield that it is often worth taking over additional spells known. Imagine that!

Best Multiclass Options for Undying Warlock

Like many Warlocks, the standard multiclass paths are classes that really like Charisma. Warlocks are very, very reliant on Charisma – even more so than standard classes – so most of the time you just want to capitalize on that theme.

Bard

The immortal Bard, while being a hilarious idea in concept, actually has a few points of merit. One of the weaknesses of the Undying Warlock is a lack of consistent bonus action outside of a once-per-rest heal. So, Bardic Inspiration and Healing Word are relatively solid ideas to occupy that slot.

Investing more into Bard – say, five levels – isn’t necessarily that bad for you, either. By losing some Mystic Arcanum, you get actual spell slots, a few solid debuff spells from the Bard list, and a Bard College. Something like Eloquence for debuffing enemies, Lore for potentially accessing more spells (with a 6 level dip), or Spirits for fun flavor can help your Warlock out tremendously.

Paladin

The Paladin is a fairly bog-standard buff for a Warlock, but for good reason. Paladins come in with medium armor (or heavy armor, if you start Paladin and swap to Warlock later), shields, and some light healing. They later get Divine Smite, which combines very well with Warlock spell slots to deal massive amounts of damage. 

This also improves your durability significantly, allowing it to be much more reasonable to be on the frontlines. Fitting, since the idea of this Patron is to be a tanky Warlock through healing and resistance to dying. Additional levels in Paladin are usually unnecessary, but Vengeance and Oathbreaker are never terrible options for a melee build.

Sorcerer

The immortal coffeelock, other than sounding like the world’s worst college roommate, can use Sorcery Points in an incredibly efficient and devastating way. Even 2 sorcery points are strong, so getting a higher cap and the ability to refuel them can be a great way to empower Warlock spells. 

The Divine Soul Sorcerer offers the Warlock quite a bit of early game spell access. Aberrant Mind does something similar, though locks you into more specific spell schools.

Best Backgrounds for Undying Warlock

Flavor-wise, the Undying Warlock can theoretically have lived a long time before they started adventuring, leading them to as many different backgrounds as you’d like. However, mechanically, there are a few traditionally strong backgrounds that fit a Warlock’s needs.

Guild Artisan

Guild Artisan is a particularly strong option for Warlocks from the Player’s Handbook. That is mainly because of its impressive skill lineup of Insight and Persuasion. Warlocks have a large hole in their face-based gameplan, with Persuasion being missing from their standard options. This covers that, while also giving them the ability to more easily detect lies.

And the hits keep coming. You get to choose Artisan’s Tools, from leatherworking to alchemy. This gives you a few different options that have a very minor impact on the campaign, but a good DM and a creative player can make many of them work. This flexibility is neutered slightly by your second utility proficiency being a language, but as a Warlock, you want to be okay at talking to as many people as possible. Work with your DM to make the language make sense and be effective in any given campaign.

Your gear is actually surprisingly good. You get the Artisan’s Tools that you are proficient in, get a letter of introduction, and 15 gp. That’s largely to compensate for your feature, which is 5 gp per month to fund. But, that funding gives you luxurious housing and fairly dedicated allies in any city that your guild is empowered in. This is a big roleplay boon, but can offer you some in-game respite worth considering.

Investigator

The investigator makes a lot of sense for an immortal Warlock. Perhaps you sought immortality to hunt down someone in particular. No matter what, you’ve got yourself Insight and Perception (or you can swap one with Investigation, which we don’t recommend), two very strong skills that come up often in social and day-to-day situations. You also get proficiency in a Disguise Kit – which is fun and situational – and Thieves’ Tools – which are very strong. 

Your gear is mostly just funny trinkets, and your feature is a bit weak. It makes your reputation known as a member of law, and lets you get things faster. This can make people dislike you, so be careful.

Urban Bounty Hunter

The Urban Bounty Hunter is an option for very free-flowing Warlocks who like a lot of options at the cost of early-game money. You start with four different skills, though we recommend the same setup as Guild Artisan: Insight and Persuasion. Stealth can be nice, but covering holes in your conversational gameplan is nicer. You also get a choice in tool proficiency, though we recommend a musical instrument for distraction and money-making as well as Thieves’ Tools… For when people are distracted and so you can make some money. 

Your gear is pretty terrible, amounting to 20 gp and a shirt. This still gives you some power, since 20 gp is actually respectable right off the bat, but having no tool kits or anything like that does mean you’re losing money here. Your feature is good, though, since it gives you contacts in cities that can help you on your quest. Good for roleplay and for your DM to give your party direction.

FAQ for the Undying Warlock

How Good is the Undying Warlock?

The Undying Warlock is, by no slim margin, the worst patron for Warlock. When your entire class has two features that equate to a sub-par level 1 Cure Wounds, you’re in for some trouble. We highly recommend considering the Hexblade for a tanky Warlock option and the Celestial for Warlocks that have some healing and support options.

What’s the Difference between the Undead and Undying Warlock?

The Undying Warlock focuses more on the immortality part of things, with patrons including non-undead who have unlocked the secrets to longevity. While they have multiple abilities concerning themselves with undead, these are ancillary to the goal of living forever. The Undead Warlock is entirely focused with the power that comes from being alive again: necrotic damage, temporary hitpoints, and immunity to most mental effects.

Who are the Patrons of the Undying Warlock?

Patrons for the Undying Warlock are creatures that have unlocked the secrets to eternal life. While this includes many undead, such as powerful liches, they can also include powerful Wizards who unlocked the secrets to immortality or dreads who simply live forever.

Example Undying Warlock Build

As we say for every build, before we even begin we have to establish a handful of limitations that your DM might put on you. For the sake of these builds, we like to have a relatively high-limit DM.

• No multiclassing. We aren’t going to be allowed to multiclass. This is a shame, since the Undying Warlock can benefit quite a bit from a multiclass. A level 1 dip into Paladin or a few levels into Sorcerer can be very handy.
• No lineage rules. We aren’t allowed to use races with Lineage rules. That’s a bit harder. This locks us out of many strong races, like Reborn or Owlkin, and usually makes us use older races. However, thankfully, many lineage races follow a similar build idea to their more limited counterparts.
• Can take races and backgrounds from any book. Our DM is thankfully a bit lenient in letting us choose options from most books. Just has to be official. This gives us a bit more wiggle room, though we’re likely going to stick mostly to the classics.
• Standard Array ability scores. That means we will be inputting set numbers into our ability scores: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. That works fine for us, as Warlocks are only fully reliant on one ability score.
• Standard equipment. This normally drowns out a few options for early game builds, but Warlocks are really good at not really caring all that much about equipment immediately. As long as we get some basic stuff, we’ll survive.
• Our party includes a Barbarian, Druid, and Artificer. We are the single-target warrior. Excellent, though the Undying Warlock isn’t exactly the highest damage patron in the game.

The Scourge Aasimar is going to be our race for this build. The Undying Warlock benefits through its healing and resistances, so the Scourge is at least a way to generate damage while keeping ourselves somewhat safe. We’ll take Guild Artisan to make things simple, but we actually do need someone who is really good at talking to others. So, Insight and Persuasion works well. Our tool will be a Brewer’s Supplies, because we wanna be fun at parties and making good beer can come in handy. Our DM recommends that we learn Dwarvish for our early game adventuring, so we’ll take that.

For our ability scores, we want to rock a 17 in Charisma. It’s a pretty standard direction, since a 17 allows us to take a feat at level 4 that can positively affect our build. That lets us get 14s in both Dexterity and Constitution, our two defensive stats.

Finally, we want to consider equipment. There’s not much to consider. A crossbow gives us very, very minor damage at level 1 and the rest really doesn’t matter. The Scholar’s Pack is quite a lot of gold value, so it’s enticing.

5E Undying Warlock Build

Race: Scourge Aasimar Ability Scores: STR 8, DEX 14, CON 14 (13 + 1), INT 10, WIS 12, CHA 17 (15 + 2) Proficiencies: Deception, Intimidation, Insight, Persuasion, Brewer’s Supplies Starting Equipment: Light Crossbow, 20 Bolts, Component Pouch, Scholar’s Pack, Leather Armor, Three Daggers, Brewer’s Supplies, The Tipsy Goblin Guild Letter, Traveler’s Clothes, 15 gp Languages: Common, Celestial, Dwarvish

Level	Class Benefits	Choices
1	-Pact Magic -Expanded Spell List -Among the Dead	We’ve gotten the foundation for our character build. As we become among the dead, it’s important that our spell list supports our character and our party as much as possible.  Cantrips. Sadly, our cantrips are almost taken for us. Eldritch Blast is an exceptionally high damage option that we just have to have in our pocket. It’ll eventually be a minimum of 4d10+20 damage for us. Even right off the bat, it’s a high range, great damage cantrip. Prestidigitation is a fun cantrip, but offers surprising utility immediately. The exceptional versatility of this tiny cantrip is surprising.  Spells. Our spells are a bit more interesting, but have a few choices that we should have in our toolbelt immediately. Hex is a great choice for Warlocks looking to deal damage early on, and we’ll be flexing it for the entire game. Sleep is effective immediately and becomes weaker over time. Let’s abuse this no-save nap machine while we can.
2	-Eldritch Invocations	Eldritch Invocations are interesting for us, but we are going to be somewhat shuffled into a similar position as many other Warlocks.  Invocations. Our first invocation is Agonizing Blast. This sounds pretty boring, but adding Charisma to each ray of Eldritch Blast is far too effective to ignore. It’s a traditional option, but for a good reason. The other invocation is a little bit more interesting. Armor of Shadows is our choice right now, generating us 13 AC to work with so we’re not as pathetic if someone points a bow our way.  Spells. Another day, another spell. Armor of Agathys is an acceptable way to improve our chances of survival, though we should be considering Sleep as our go-to option still.
3	-Pact Boon -2nd Level Pact Magic	Big level for us. Well, for most classes, but we get some cool stuff.  Pact. We’ll actually go with a fun one: Pact of the Talisman. Our Barbarian and Druid are both relatively easy targets for those who wish to do them harm via saving throws. So, we’ll want to get that invocation lickity split. In addition, combining our Talisman with Guidance from our Artificer or Druid can lead to 2d4 additional dice on ability checks, which is fun.  Spells. We’re going to make a mind read on this campaign and take Hold Person. This is a spell that only really works in very, very specific campaigns, but we have the time to make it work now. Just plan on tagging this out over time. However, we’ll also take the time to tag out Armor of Agathys for Blindness/Deafness. This gives us a wide range of debuffs for our party, and hopefully, we’re not going to be needing Armor of Agathys too often. Hopefully.
4	-Ability Score Improvement	Alright, always a tricky level for a 17 Charisma Warlock. But, we have a few different options here.  Feat. We have a handful of strong +1 Charisma feats here. Let’s weigh our odds and lean towards Telekinetic as our feat. That puts us to 18 Charisma, buffs up Mage Hand, and gives us a bonus action to push around our Barbarian and Artificer.  Cantrip. We’ll grab Mage Hand. We just grabbed Telekinetic, so we can get 60 feet, invisible, unknowable Mage Hand. That’s hilarious.  Spells. Another 2nd level spell, and our Silence option from Undying’s expanded spell list is sounding pretty good. This is a spell that makes spellcasting awkward at best and impossible at worst, so we can put it in a position where our Druid and Paladin can lock down a caster, or Grapple them. We’ll also take the time to learn Invisibility by replacing Sleep. Sleep is starting to underroll and fail to target, so let’s make sure that we aren’t playing a guessing game.
5	-3rd Level Pact Magic	Weird level. Largely because of our choice in Pact.  Invocation. Undying Servitude is not only handy for our build and keeping us safe from melee rushes, but is also very much in flavor. It says undying right in the title, after all.  Spell. Counterspell is an extremely strong spell for us, as our other casters don’t have great access to it. So, we’ll be the first line of defense against high level Hold Persons that can slow our party down significantly.
6	-Defy Death	It’s time to defy death… Once per long rest. And it’s a terrible Cure Wounds. Ugh, don’t rely on this, but it can pick you off the ground naturally.  Spells. Since most of our days are spent using our spell slots to cast Hex, we have the room to improve our ability to handle multiple monsters. Hunger of Hadar lets us cover creatures in inky blackness, slowing rush-down strategies through 4d6 damage per round.
7	-4th Level Pact Magic	Finally, our choice of Talisman is going to be well-rewarded. Took us long enough.  Invocation. Protection of the Talisman allows the target to add a d4 to their saving throw when they fail it, potentially making it a success. Depending on how badly they fail, this can quite literally save lives. As long as you have the Talisman on the right character, of course.  Spell. We’ve reached 4th level, which is a great time for us. Banishment will let us pluck enemies from the fight. It also targets Charisma, a pretty low saving throw across the board for big threats.
8	-Ability Score Improvement	As we reach a midpoint in our Warlock’s build, it’s time to take a quick look at our spell list and plan from there.  Cantrips. Eldritch Blast, Light, Prestidigitation, Mage Hand Spells. Hex, Blindness/Deafness, Invisibility, Hold Person, Silence, Counterspell, Hunger of Hadar, Banishment  These are pretty good. We have spells that we can cast in multiple different situations. Hold Person is the most suspect spell, especially as we reach high level, but we’re still finding situations where we can cast Hold Person to target two or three priority targets. Let’s keep things around this for right now.  Feat. +2 Charisma. It’s not flashy, it’s not interesting, but it gives us our 20 Charisma. At level 8, we’re right on track to keep our high spell save DCs and accurate attack rolls.  Spells. We’re likely walking into more and more situations where we need Misty Step, a bonus action that gets us out of danger. We’ll also take a deep breath and axe Invisibility for Death Ward. Our Artificer has the ability to cast Invisibility consistently at this level. Our ability to cast Death Ward twice, take a short rest, and then begin our day should help our party survive a lot of bad situations.  Invocation. We’re going to say, for the sake of a realistic build path, that we no longer need Armor of Shadows. We likely have +1 Studded Leather armor by now. So, let’s trade that out for Eldritch Mind to help us keep our high-impact concentration spells.
9	-5th Level Pact Magic	Welcome to fifth level spells! We’re at the apex of the Warlock’s spellcasting and also where we start to stall out a bit when it comes to learning new spells. Let’s really be ready to pull the trigger on spell swapping when spells we have don’t have situational relevance.  Invocation. We’re a bit late on this, since we wanted to make our Talisman powerful, but Sculptor of Flesh remains a decent option for Warlock even now. The ability to cast Polymorph is great, even if it is once per long rest.  Spell. Synaptic Static is an actually quite potent area of effect spell, dealing a Fireball of damage while also debuffing targets if they survive. Great non-concentration method of dealing with groups. We’ll take the time to tag out Hold Person for Hold Monster, since that guarantees we can find targets in combat.
10	-Undying Nature	Level 10 for Warlock isn’t too busy. Undying Nature is a lot of fun flavor and some actually strong utility. You don’t gotta breathe anymore! Take a swim!  Cantrip. Our final cantrip will be a defensive option in Blade Ward. Keeping ourselves alive is sometimes our only option, if we’re out of spells. So, this’ll help.  Spells. We’re not quite done with our spell slots yet. Hunger of Hadar has likely started to underperform, since it doesn’t scale or anything. Hopefully, our allies have enough area denial to help us out as we trade it for Remove Curse. Our traditional healing options from our Druid actually don’t cover removing curses. We kind of need to be ready for the worst possible scenario, so let’s take this and be ready for the worst.
11	-Mystic Arcanum (6th Level)	Mystic Arcanum are devastating options for combat, but must be utilized at least once per day. You really want these spells to be impactful and commonplace.  Mystic Arcanum. Our first option will be Eyebite, a concentration spell that allows us to potentially put enemies to bed every single turn. Telling your DM to not just make one Wisdom save but a Wisdom save every turn to not put enemies into mortal peril is quite strong. We love the Scatter spell to let your team reposition before a hard fight, but our party is quite mobile, so it’s not as necessary.  Spells. As our campaign gets higher level, it’ll likely get quite more worldly. So, it’s critical we start dealing with allies across the language barrier. Tongues goes past all language barriers and lets us really handle situations through using our conversant’s native language.
12	-Ability Score Improvement	Level 12 is, once again, a pretty fun level for us. Invocation levels just bring all of the fun stuff!  Feat. Our feat will be Inspiring Leader. Giving even 17 temporary HP to our party every short rest is going to be so damn helpful. And we can even buff our Artificer’s cannon, making it harder to kill while further improving our health pool.  Invocation. Bond of the Talisman is a particularly interesting spell. Our Druid or Artificer can use it to sneak into a town and then let us teleport to them. Or, we can use it to teleport to our Barbarian and potentially get far away from harm’s reach as a last-ditch effort. It’s not perfect, by any means, but it’s a relatively high-yield teleportation spell that’s well-worth considering.
13	-Mystic Arcanum (7th Level)	Mystic Arcanum. Level 7 is a weird spell level for Warlock, but we have a few choices here that help us out. As our party’s single-target spellcaster, Crown of Stars is a great way to spam attack rolls and proc Hex again, up to seven times per spellcasting. We’re basically guaranteed to set this up, it doesn’t use concentration, and it hits like a truck; 26 average damage is nothing to sneeze at. We’re losing access to exceptional crowd control options like Plane Shift or Forcecage, but that’s more for our Druid to handle anyways. Set this up, set up Hex, and watch as you’ll end up dealing 4d10+4d12+20+5d6 damage per turn in the lategame, no magic items required. Spells. Teleportation Circle offers us the ability to cross the continent quickly and effectively. Considering many endgame campaigns deal with cross-country scenarios, learning this permanently can save us a ton of money. However, that’s just because our DM told us we can use teleportation circles. Otherwise, go ahead and grab something like Major Image or Hypnotic Pattern.
14	-Indestructible Life	Indestructible Life should be used often, since you can’t use it while unconscious. It’s basically the Fighter’s Second Wind, so just keeping yourself above half health can be nice in the short term. We actually have no choices to make this level; those are loaded onto next level. So, relax and take your hit dice without any qualms. I like our spell list quite a bit, so we don’t need to do any trading here.
15	-Mystic Arcanum (8th Level)	Alright, time to panic.  Mystic Arcanum. Level 8 offers a few mind-blowing options for the Warlock, and I’ve always been a huge fan of Power Word Stun, as it locks down a low-health enemy. However, what we’ll recommend for this build is Glibness. Glibness turns our Counterspells into guaranteed negates for any spell in the game, no matter the level. It also has social elements, doesn’t take concentration, and lasts for a full hour.  Invocation. Level 15 Invocations are generally pretty okay for the Warlock, though few are truly must-haves. We’ll grab Shroud of Shadow, to make up for the Invisibility we lost a long time ago.  Spells. As we approach the endgame, information has become more and more important. So, lets help our party out a bit. Scrying lets us target allies or enemies and find information about them. Our Druid may have been enough to do the job before, but if we want information, why not help them out?
16	-Ability Score Improvement	Our goal right now is going to be to use these feats to get to 16 Constitution, a decent number for a healthy Warlock. To start, we’ll go with Chef. This feat further improves our ability to take short rests as more than just bonus spells. We want our allies to really want Short Rests, and getting upwards of 136 HP every time they do so is going to be very important.
17	-Mystic Arcanum (9th Level)	Mystic Arcanum. We have a few reasonable options for Warlock’s only level 9 spell here. For our sake, True Polymorph is an acceptable and flexible option. It’s a save-or-suck spell that can also buff allies or make permanent friends. This can be a great spell in combat, out of combat, or something else. That Barbarian probably wants to be a Dragon, anyways.  Spells. Our second to last spell known, how fun. Sickening Radiance can be a reasonable concentration spell during stuffy combats where getting two or even three levels of exhaustion can be possible.
18		This level is just for invocations, which are all reasonable at this point. We’re probably going to circle back and take a weird option: Rebuke of the Talisman. This lets us select an ally, usually our Druid or Barbarian, and bounce enemies back with guaranteed reflexive damage. 6 is reasonable, if not completely overwhelming, and knocking them back by 10 feet can occasionally muck up enemy plans. Especially if the Barbarian has some tricks up their sleeve to lock enemies out of melee.
19	-Ability Score Improvement	Alright, very last pair of choices that we need to make. The home stretch!  Feat. Our last +1 Constitution feat will be Resilient (Constitution). Constitution saving throws are very effective, so resisting them naturally is a good idea. However, our concentration saving throws will thank us quite dearly.  Spells. Our last spell. We’ll take Shadow of Moil as a defensive option that also lets us roll advantage with our Eldritch Blasts. We’ll lose damage compared to Hex spam, but when someone’s battering down our door, it’s probably a good idea to hide from those people.
20	-Eldritch Master	And that’s that! Let’s take one final look at our spell list. Cantrips. Eldritch Blast, Light, Prestidigitation, Mage Hand Spells. Hex, Blindness/Deafness, Misty Step, Silence, Counterspell, Tongues, Banishment, Death Ward, Shadow of Moil, Sickening Radiance, Hold Monster, Scrying, Synaptic Static, Teleportation Circle Mystic Arcanum. Eyebite, Crown of Stars, Glibness, True Polymorph  What great spells! We have area-of-effect crowd control, out-of-combat magic, and a handful of options for dangerous situations. Warlocks aren’t often blessed with a wide variety of choices, and we aren’t really super powerful all things considered. But, if we lean on our party, we’ll be in a great spot.

Conclusion – Our Take on the Undying Warlock 5E

This is the worst Patron. By far. There’s so many abilities that just barely do anything, even in the perfect situations for them. If you really, really want the flavor of searching for immortality, than more power to you. Consider multiclassing; the first level ability actually isn’t all that bad. If you’re looking for a way to heal yourself and party members, and get bonuses for doing so, consider the Celestial Patron. For more information on the class in general, see our Warlock 5E Guide.