Warlocks may not have a myriad of spells like a Wizard, but their patrons provide powerful invocations.
These invocations can be combined to make a class that’s highly customizable. Because of invocations, Warlocks can be spell slingers, melee combatants, or a support class.
Below is a list of the best Invocations that should be considered in any budding Warlock build.
*Note: I made sure to add Invocations for those Eldritch Blasters and Hex Blades, as well as a few general utility ones. Mixing and matching is what makes Warlocks great. And even without min-maxing, you’ll end up with a decent Warlock regardless of which Invocations you choose.
15. Mask of Many Faces
Mask of Many Faces is immediately available at early levels.
A Warlock who can change their appearance at lower levels is incredibly potent, especially since Warlocks have Charisma as their primary ability score.
Warlocks are looked down upon in normal society(well, in D&D I suppose) as they’re usually associated with evil, mischievous, or just powerful patrons.
Being able to hide this (or at least be discreet about it) will make traveling through villages and cities much easier.
14. Armor of Shadows
Armor of Shadows gives you an armor that’s better than any baseline armor available. And a Warlock can have it on forever.
If a Warlock doesn’t choose to go Hexblade, they would want to get this Invocation, unless there happens to be armor lying around that’s better than 13 + Dexterity modifier.
A Hexblade would need to seriously consider investing an Invocation to get Armor of Shadows, or to invest into ability score improvements to jack up their Dexterity.
A maxed out Dexterity Hexblade would probably get 1AC more than a Hexblade who chooses to invest in Armor of Shadows.
13. Eldritch Spear
When fighting in a wide open space, a Warlock with the Eldritch Spear invocation will be safe from most forms of combat, since this invocation gives Eldritch Blast a range of 300ft.
This invocation can also be useful in enclosed areas if the lights were knocked out and the Warlock happens to have good range with their Darkvision.
Most of the time this is one of the best ways to play sniper with spell slinging.
12. Lance of Lethargy
Lance of Lethargy is one of the best invocations for Eldritch Blast to affect movement.
When a creature is hit with Eldritch Blast (that’s buffed with Lance of Lethargy) its movement is reduced by 10ft.
Whether it’s running from or pursuing a target, Lance of Lethargy is much better than pulling or pushing a target. Which makes this Invocation quite versatile.
11. Master of Myriad Forms
Now this Invocation is the next step above Mask of Many Faces.
Once Master of Myriad Forms is accessible to a Warlock at level 15, it will probably be doing what Mask of Many Faces already does, and more.
Though keep in mind that Mask of Many Faces still has its own advantages. Best to get a sense of your adventure and see what best fits with your character.
10. Voice of the Chain Master
Voice of the Chain Master is one of one of those utility Invocations.
Requiring Pact of the Chain, this invocation is one of the best recon options in Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition.
With Voice of the Chain Master, a Warlock can now communicate telepathically with their familiar and use their senses to their advantage for scouting.
Normally this can only be done within 100 feet. But now the limit is an entire plane of existence.
9. Tomb of Lavistus
Tomb of Lavistus requires a 5th level Warlock to cast it.
As a reaction, a Warlock is entombed in ice, gaining a whopping 200 temporary hit points and absorbing as much of the triggering damage as possible.
After taking damage, the Warlock now has vulnerability to fire damage.
While extremely useful, Tomb of Lavistus backfires when cast early. So it’s best used as a last ditch invocation, but it could easily save a Warlock’s life who has access to it.
Some people say it’s not as good considering it also takes up the next turn, to which I say: players lose a lot more turns when they’re dead.
8. Life Drinker
The Life Drinker invocation requires a Pact of the Blade Warlock.
Most Hex Blades and Pact of the Blade Warlocks get a huge power spike once they get access to this Invocation.
Whenever a Warlock with Life Drinker hits a creature using their pact weapon, they deal extra Necrotic damage equal to their Charisma modifier.
Since typical Pact of the Blades have high Charisma, getting an extra 10 damage per hit is the dream.
7. Gift of the Ever-Living Ones
If a Warlock and Familiar are within a hundred feet of each other, all healing that the Warlock receives is determined as if they rolled the maximum possible value.
If someone casts a higher level Cure Wounds, it normally would heal for 5d8, or about 20 hit points on average.
But with Gift of the Ever-Living Ones, it heals for a straight 40 hit points.
The beauty of this Invocation is that the healing doesn’t have to be through healing magic. Healing features from a Dream Druid or a Celestial Warlock are also maximized.
6. Eldritch Smite
Take a Warlock and give it Eldritch Smite and they essentially become a Paladin in a lot of ways.
Eldritch Smite is available to Pact of the Blade Warlocks only, and is identical to a traditional Paladin’s Smite, but better.
Unlike Paladins whose Smite doesn’t make it out of 4th level, Eldritch Smite can be used with a 5th level spell slot dealing a large amount of force damage. And this makes huge (or smaller) creatures prone on a hit.
This invocation really makes the most out of a Hex Blade and is a powerful melee option. With two attacks, the first attack could be used with Eldritch Smite to knock a target prone, then use the second attack at an advantage to get a better chance at rolling a critical hit.
Warlocks regain spell slots only after a short rest, so Eldritch Smite can be used more liberally.
5. Visions of Distant Realms
While Warlocks get this at level 15, it allows them to cast Arcane Eye at will without having to spend a spell slot.
Arcane eye is such a good spell if a party has access to it, as it can destroy surprises in dungeons due to its amazing recon capabilities.
Arcane Eye creates an invisible magical eye within 30ft, and can be moved far away from the caster as long as it’s within the same plane of existence.
The spell’s description doesn’t mention that it blinds the caster when used, so spellcasters can still have their regular vision.
The Arcane Eye can squeeze into places as tiny as an inch. So it could be used to map out an entire dungeon and scout out enemies with relative ease.
4. Eldritch Sight
With this Invocation, a Warlock can use Detect Magic at will without having to use a spell slot.
Detect Magic is incredibly useful in D&D, and being able to use it at will (plus get it at level 2) can make adventuring very convenient.
Sure, a Wizard, Druid, or Cleric has access to Detect Magic as a ritual.
But that’s still going to take 10 minutes to cast, which might be too late when it’s needed on the fly. Warlocks don’t have to worry about that because Eldritch Sight just lets them get to it.
With the limited amount of spell slots that a Warlock has, taking up one of those spell slots just to find out if something is magical is such a waste.
Without a doubt, every Warlock should at least consider having Eldritch Sight.
3. Book of Ancient Secrets
This Invocation is the next step up from Pact of the Tome. Warlocks don’t start off with ritual casting, so having the ability to take every ritual spell and free up spell slots could potentially provide a Warlock with more flexibility than a Wizard.
Book of Ancient Secrets is easily one of the most versatile options to take, and is only available to Pact of the Tome Warlocks.
Any 1st level spell with the ritual tag from any spell list can be written into a Warlock’s Book of Shadows, and doesn’t count towards the amount of spells a Warlock knows.
Warlocks can add additional rituals to their Book of Shadows through adventures by finding and transcribing them.
This essentially gives a Warlock access to every ritual spell in the game. Wizards typically get access to every ritual spell by default, with a few exceptions, but the Book of Ancient Secrets spells lets Warlocks truly have all of them.
Running the gamut of rituals and not needing to expend a spell slot is pretty powerful.
So not only could you have access to Detect Magic at will, but you could also have access to Leomund’s Tiny Hut, or Rory’s Telepathic Bond, or other very powerful ritual spells, all without needing to do anything except transcribe them into the Book of Shadows.
2. Devil’s Sight
Devil’s Sight allows a Warlock to see in both magical and non-magical darkness for up to 120ft.
Darkness alone is an exceptionally powerful tool, and being able to take advantage of blind foes can provide a ton of advantages.
When Warlocks drops the Darkness spell on themselves, not only can it be used defensively by giving incoming attacks disadvantage, but now that the enemies can’t see where the attack is coming from… Warlocks have advantage on attacks.
Darkness increases a Warlock’s survivability significantly. And being able to thrive in it with the Devil’s Sight Invocation is just too good to ignore.
1. Agonizing Blast
The iconic ability of most Warlocks is Eldritch Blast.
And let’s just say it: any Warlock who wants to put everything into making Eldritch Blast powerful should get Agonizing Blast.
Not every Warlock does need (or has to get) Agonizing Blast. Hex Blades will do most of their damage output with their Pact Weapons, but still get access to Eldritch Blast as a Cantrip.
Eldritch Blast at its baseline does d10 damage, but more beams are available to the caster at higher levels.
Agonizing Blast gets that d10 damage and adds the Charisma modifier of the caster.
Over the course of an encounter, the damage will add up quickly. Warlocks in this way can even out-damage martial characters with a few good Eldritch Blast rolls.
