Eldritch Blast

{{feat


 * name=Eldritch Blast
 * icon=Icon Feat Warlock.png
 * cooldown=
 * prerequisite=Warlock Level 1
 * description=This is a toggle feat. When you toggle it on, your basic attack, regardless of weapons held (except for wands), becomes a ranged magical attack that hits a single enemy. It does not cost spell points or hit points; only time, much like swinging a weapon.

Eldritch Blast deals 1d6 Force damage at level 1, and increases by +1d6 at Warlock level 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20; for a total of 6d6 at level 20.
 * Eldritch Blast damage scales with a percentage of Spell Power.
 * Eldritch Blast criticals are based on magical stats: Critical Spell Chance and Critical Spell Damage.
 * No save.
 * Epic feats Epic Eldritch Blast (max +7d6) and Epic Pact Dice (max +6d4) increase your damage.

Each Warlock must select a Pact at level 1. This is another a toggle feat. Depending on their pact choice, a Warlock's Eldritch Blast deals an additional 1d4 damage for each even Warlock level, for a total of 10d4 at level 20. Each pact deals different damage type and can be mitigated by a saving throw:
 * Fey: Sonic / Reflex half, Evasion negates
 * Fiend: Fire / Fortitude half
 * Great Old One: Acid / Will half
 * Celestial: Electric / Will half (Bug: Patch notes say Will save, In game feat description says it goes off of Reflex Save)
 * Abyss: Negative / Fortitude half
 * Carceri Storm: Cold / Reflex half (Bug: Patch notes say Reflex save, In game goes off of Will Save)

Eldritch Blast is treated as a 9th level spell. The DC (for the pact damage) is the same as a ninth level evocation spell: 19 + charisma modifier + evocation focus effects. It is not affected by metamagic feats. Spell resistance does not stop Eldritch Blast, and neither does Antimagic. You move at full speed while casting Eldritch Blast, unlike most spell casting.

Note that if you equip a wand or scroll, Eldritch Blast of any form other than the auto-pulsing Aura will be disabled and cannot be fired until you unequip the wand/scroll (note that you can hotkey your main hand weapon to do this switch back quickly). The Eldritch Blast will still be active, and can be immediately fired the moment the wand/scroll is unequipped/replaced. The rare exception to this is some non-combat scrolls like a Teleport scroll, you will still be able to fire the blast while holding it.

Additional Damage Enhancements
There are multiple enhancements scattered throughout the three main Warlock enhancement trees, most if not all of which you should be able to attain simultaneously if planned properly to push your Eldritch Blast damage as far as possible, allowing its damage to keep up with well-upgraded weapons of other classes.
 * Within Tainted Scholar enhancements there are:
 * Blood Component (Core progression 30), for 10% faster attack speed
 * Heretical Lore (Core progression 40), for + 1d6 base damage
 * Strong Pact (One each in Tier 1, 2, 3 and 4), for +1d4 Pact damage each (4d4 total)
 * Penetrating Blast (Tier 4), for +1d6 base damage and changes type to Pierce
 * Eldritch Power (Tier 5), for +1d6 base damage
 * Within Enlightened Spirit enhancements there is:
 * Spiritual Retribution (Tier 4), 3 levels each of which add +1d4 Light damage to the blast (+3d4 total)
 * Within Soul Eater enhancements there is:
 * Greater Hunger (Tier 4), adds 2d6 Chaotic damage to the blast on targets affected by your Consume ability.

Shapes/Stances
The default Eldritch Blast goes in a straight line. It doesn't home in. Enemies that move may avoid it. Eldritch Blast Shapes alter how you attack enemies. Single target attacks are generally going to do higher damage per creature than AoE, for instance. These shape toggles are available in the enhancement trees.
 * Focused (basic attack). This is your best option for heavy single target damage at long range, such as against bosses.
 * Chain (Tainted Scholar enhancements). The lowest damage form but still puts out plenty of damage from a properly built Warlock, and it has several excellent tactical benefits. This lets you apply Eldritch Blast damage to groups at long range, and it has three very key aspects: the chain strike is instant/never misses, ignores invisibility completely and can even be triggered off of destroyed crates/boxes and the like. This can make a Warlock in Chain Strike form who regularly destroys boxes as they go exceptionally difficult to ambush by invisible attackers. This works best against smaller squads of enemies in very wide, open areas; it thus is best deployed in outdoor quests and/or wilderness adventure areas.
 * Cone (Soul Eater enhancements). Easily the highest-damage stance available, as it matches the high Spell Power multiplier of the Single Target shape but does it to every single enemy caught in its area of effect, allowing it to drop large squads of enemies quite quickly. Its range, while shorter than Single or Chain, is still quite respectable (it is recommended when you first get it to do some target practice against destructible crates, so you can learn to gauge when you are in-range); it is also excellent for clearing destructible containers in a mission. This also works quite well against invisible enemies and even if you are Blinded; while your screen will be blacked out you will still see damage numbers appear above the precise position of enemies hit as per usual, so just keep spraying the cone blasts towards them. It is recommended to pair this with a run speed boost like Expeditious Retreat to help get you into range faster and keep you out of range of melee enemies while using it. Note that this shape cannot target breakables like the other shapes. This is an excellent choice for your default stance to be on all the time but it really shines in more enclosed locations such as smaller caves/rooms, tunnels and corridors.
 * Enervating Shadow (Tainted Scholar enhancements). A slightly unusual shape. It is effectively a slightly enhanced version of the Focused single-target form. It has the same 130% scaling to Spell Power, and as per the description it does have some target-seeking ability; it can change trajectory mid-flight to better track enemies moving perpendicular to your original launch direction, and it also has a 10% chance to inflict a Negative level on each hit. However, it still has limits; you still need line-of-sight on your target for it to start tracking something, and very fast enemies like wolves can still outrun it. You CAN manually lock a target (default right-mouse click on an enemy or destructible), but if you move behind cover the Enervating blast will still try to fly in a straight line directly to the target, and will impact on any terrain between you and it. The negative level also does NOT work on bosses making this little better than a slightly more guided Focused shot. It IS slightly better than Focused Shot, but enough so to warrant the AP cost to get it (at least 20 points in Tainted Scholar to just unlock it, plus 2 to select it)...that is debatable.
 * Aura (Enlightened Spirit enhancements). While on, deals heavy damage to all enemies within a small radius of you every few seconds. Like Death Aura, this triggers automatically. Useful for quickly clearing areas nearby you, but bear in mind that the Warlock class is really meant for a back-line caster, so a spell that constantly deals heavy damage to targets close to you, and only targets close to you, is putting you in a lot of danger. If you've built a Warlock tank, this may be exactly what you want; otherwise, you're probably better off sticking with Chain or Cone.

The following stances can also be used in conjunction with the toggles above, although only one can be active at a time.
 * Utterdark Blast (Tainted Scholar enhancements) switches the base damage to Evil instead of Force. This is important to consider alongside multiple Light Spell Power upgrades within Enlightened Spirit enhancements as Light Spell Power also boosts Alignment damage. It will also affect gearing considerations, as you will need Radiance items instead of Impulse ones. (Using this stance is inadvisable while fighting Evil Outsiders, as they are typically immune to Evil damage.)
 * Penetrating Blast (Tainted Scholar enhancements) switches the base damage to Pierce instead of Force and adds +1d6 base damage. As a Physical damage type, Piercing damage is boosted by Impulse items and Force Spell Power upgrades; since these are the same upgrades needed for the base Eldritch Blast, you should be able to keep the same gear equipped if changing between the two. Since the damage is not coming from a physical weapon, you also have no need to worry about Damage Reduction. (This stance is very effective against Golems, as it bypasses their inherent resistance to all magical damage types.)

Spell Power
An overview of Spell Power that increases Warlocks' Eldritch Blast is available here.

Different shapes scale differently with Spell Power:
 * Cone (ranged cone) - 130%
 * Chain (jumps to two enemies after the first) - 95%
 * Aura (automatic, zero range AOE) - 130%
 * Focused (ranged single target) - 130%
 * Enervating Shadow (ranged guided single target) - 130%


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