Best Warlock Invocations In DND, Ranked

Summary

• Eldritch invocations define warlocks, granting various benefits and skills not found elsewhere in D&D.
• Pact of the Tome and Blade, along with Fiendish Vigor, are must-have invocations for warlocks aiming for strength.
• The variety of invocations, such as Mask of Many Faces and Gift of the Protectors, offer unique roleplay and combat advantages.

Eldritch invocations are what define the warlock from other caster class options. These magical secrets that your patron bestows upon your mind can grant a slew of different benefits. Some invocations modify your attacks, others grant you access to powerful spells. Others still provide unique skills that you won’t find anywhere else in all of Dungeons & Dragons.

That being said, there are some invocations that are just too good to pass up. If you’re looking to make your warlock as strong as the rules allow, you’ve come to the right place. Here are eldritch invocations you should take into consideration before your next level up.

Updated on March 27, 2025, by Zackary Wiggs: While not a full spellcaster, warlocks have plenty up their sleeve apart from the standard spell slots. Thanks to the ties to the deities and cosmic entities that give them their powers, they are imbued with the warlock invocations they can call upon to assist them. Some of them are best used in combat, while others are great for exploration. No matter what kind of warlock you are creating, it’s best to see which invocations stand out above the rest. Especially with all the new players the 2024 edition of D&D will be bringing into the fold.

Pact Of The Tome

Become A Full Spellcaster

If you are using the 2024 Player’s Handbook, you’ll find that the pact of the tome has been upgraded from its old pact boon version. It still gives the benefits it gave as a boon, namely the three cantrips from any spell list, but it also has the features from the book of ancient secrets invocation: two level one ritual spells from any spell list.

This makes it a very tempting invocation, especially for warlocks that specialize in spellcasting, due to the sheer number of options this opens up. We have the book of ancient secrets still in this list, mostly because it is a more than useful option for players using the 2014 version of the rules.

Pact Of The Blade

Get Up Close And Personal

This revamped version of the old pact boon makes melee warlocks more useful than ever, while still retaining all of its previous functionalities. Not only can you summon a melee weapon of your choice and be proficient with it, but now you also use your Charisma modifier for the attack and damage rolls of the weapon.

In addition, instead of counting as a magical weapon when considering immunities, you can have the weapon deal necrotic, psychic or radiant damage instead of the normal damage. If you already enjoyed the melee playstyle for warlocks, then the 2024 Player’s Handbook holds a highly upgraded version of that very playstyle, with subclasses that take great advantage of the melee range.

Pact Of The Chain

It’s Always Nice To Have Minions

The pact of the chain invocation works basically the same as it did in 2014 as a pact boon, since it still gives you the Find Familiar spell with additional options. What changed, however, are those options, letting you choose from a wider pool of creatures while buffing the ones that were already available.

Classics like the imp and the quasit now have more health, with abilities that have fewer restrictions or improved chances to land. You also get some rather interesting choices, like a supportive sphinx of wonder that can aid you on ability checks, or a skeleton that, while lacking special abilities, is a medium creature that can interact with its environment just like any player.

Witch Sight

True To Form

Damage-dealing invocations are one thing, but they can’t help you if you can’t find the enemy in the room. Witch Sight helps with that, especially if your DM likes to hide enemies in plain sight.

The true form of any shape-changer or anyone using shape-changing magic is revealed to you as long as you can see them, and they are within 30 feet of you. This is a game-changer for any warlock that thinks they may fight a mimic, doppelganger, or even an ancient dragon at some point in their adventure.

Eldritch Sight

No Magical Secrets Can Hide From You

Eldritch Sight allows you to cast Detect Magic without expending a spell slot. Detect Magic is a seemingly unremarkable spell, but one that, when applicable, provides a tremendous amount of help. Not only does it let you know of the presence of magic, it also highlights whatever is putting off this magical essence, allowing your character to know for certain what the magic thing in question is. Best of all, it also identifies the magic’s exact school.

This is invaluable knowledge, as the school of magic reveals what the magic is likely to do when activated. If you aren’t already, we highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the seven schools of magic so that you can put this invocation to its best use.

Maddening Hex

Deal Psychic Damage Alongside Your Curses

This bonus action has a few quirks, but the unique and irresistible area of effect damage is worth the trouble. Your warlock has to be at least fifth level to cast it, plus you have to have an ability that curses, like Sign of Ill Omen or Hex.

When you cast the Hex spell or use a feature that curses, the target suffers psychic damage along with any creatures you choose within five feet. The amount of damage is equal to your Charisma modifier, and you must be within 30 feet of the target to be within range.

Relentless Hex

Don’t Let Them Escape

Hexing your opponents may not be the flashiest part of being a warlock, but it is one of the more useful abilities for you and your team. So, it helps to have some more invocations to boost this ability here and there.

As a reaction, you can teleport within five feet of any creature you are currently hexing, as long as that is within 30 feet of you. This is great for warlocks who prefer melee combat, or even close-quarters spellcasting, as you can harass a single opponent for some time even if they try to slip away from you.

Book Of Ancient Secrets

Rituals For Warlocks

Sure, Clerics and Paladins may be able to cast rituals as part of their class kits. But that shouldn’t stop you from taking the Book of Ancient Secrets. Before you do, however, take note that you’ll need the Pact of the Tome feature when using the 2014 rules.

The Book of Shadows allows you to learn two first level spells from any class’s spell list. You can cast these spells as rituals. You may also cast any warlock spell with the ritual tag as a ritual.

Casting spells as rituals is great because it doesn’t require a spell slot to do so. Instead, you need only take ten minutes longer than the normal casting time. You can also add other ritual spells you find on your adventures to your book.

The book of ancient secrets is part of the Pact of the Tome in the 2024 Player’s Handbook.

Fiendish Vigor

A Better False Life

Fiendish Vigor is essentially the Warlock version of False Life, a spell used by Artificers, Wizards, and Sorcerers. The biggest difference, and what makes it so convenient, is that you don’t even need reagents or materials to cast it.

It’s a handy and simple way for a squishy caster to stay on their feet and does not require concentration nor a spell slot. If you feel you’re in need of some extra toughness, this is a great option.

Gift Of The Depths

A Life Aquatic

Water may not play a huge part in your adventures in D&D, but when it does, it can be a deadly hazard, or just an annoyance.

With Gift of the Depths, water becomes just like any terrain. With it, your character gains a swimming speed equal to whatever their normal movement speed is. In addition, and much more importantly, they can also breathe underwater. This means treasure, secrets, and enemies hidden underwater are no longer out of reach.

Mask Of Many Faces

Be Who You Want To Be

What are infinite uses of Detect Magic compared to infinite uses of Disguise Self? The Mask of Many Faces provides a plethora of opportunities for roleplay. One second, you can be talking to a posted guard about a man that’s just robbed you. Next, you can become said man and have the guard running after you, leaving whatever he was posted to guard open for exploration by the rest of your party.

This is just one example of the mask’s many uses. You could even make it a central theme of your character, always having a mask up over whatever you really look like.

Gift Of The Protectors

One Last Chance

Building off of the Pact of the Tome invocation, Gift of the Protectors allows for you and your party members to avoid death, at least for a little while.

With this invocation, anyone with their name written in your book will go to one HP whenever they are reduced to zero health instead. This means, by writing all of your teams’ names in the book, you can save them from going unconscious, at least for a little while, which can be a huge boon in some of the hairier fights.

Whispers Of The Grave

Dead Do Tell Tales

While Mask of Many Faces is a great tool for roleplaying, Whispers of the Grave is a bit more practically focused. Whispers gives your character the ability to cast Speak with Dead without expending a spell slot, which is pretty powerful considering Speak with Dead is a third-level spell.

Accordingly, it has a prerequisite of your warlock being at least the ninth level. Speak with Dead brings the spirit of a passed humanoid back to its body for a short time, during which you can ask it five questions. While the corpse can answer these questions in whatever manner it desires, even to the extent of lying, there are ways to still get what you want out of the conversation. Lies are exactly what insight checks are for, after all.

Bond Of The Talisman

Keep Your Friends Closer

This is a high level invocation that also requires that you have taken the Pact of the Talisman feature earlier in your Warlock’s career. At 12h level, you unlock access to this invocation, which allows you and another wearer of your talisman to teleport to one another as an action a number of times per day, equal to your proficiency bonus.

This teleportation has no range limit and works as long as you and the wearer of the talisman remain on the same plane of existence. Teleportation magic is very high-level stuff with classes only unlocking it once they gain access to fifth-level spells. Consequently, this invocation is quite handy both inside and outside of combat.

Eyes Of The Rune Keeper

It’s Greek To Me

Exploration is one of the main parts of D&D. Even though combat gets a majority of the focus when character creation comes into play, it doesn’t hurt to consider how your character will explore and investigate the world around them.

Eyes of the Rune Keeper allows the user to read any written language they come across. This makes puzzles, notes, and any sort of warnings scrawled upon walls pieces of cake to understand. This can make you the vital member of any party.

Talk to your DM to see if this also includes Thieves’ Cant, as there is some discussion on whether it does or not.

Chains Of Carceri

Trap Powerful Foes

This is another high-level invocation that’s only available to warlocks who both took the Pact of the Chain feature (or the invocation of the same name in the 2024 rules) and are at least 15th level. However, warlocks who do fulfill these requirements should very much grab Chains of Carceri, as it’s essentially an extra spell slot.

Chains allows you to cast the powerful fifth-level control spell Hold Monster at will once per day as long as you’re targeting a fiend, celestial, or elemental creature. The casting of this spell does not expend one of your spell slots. In case you’re concerned, all of these creature types are incredibly common at high levels of play, so you’ll find no shortage of acceptable targets.

Lifedrinker

Charismatic Damage

Lifedrinker requires the Pact of the Blade class feature (or the invocation of the same name in the 2024 rules), not that you would want this invocation unless you already had it anyway. You also need at least 12 levels of warlock. Lifedrinker makes your weapon deal extra damage on every hit equal to your Charisma modifier.

This damage is added on top of your Dexterity or Strength modifier, which comes to a lot of damage before even rolling any dice. If your Dexterity and Charisma are maxed out, that’s +10 damage before dice hit the table. This is an amount equivalent to the bonus Great Weapon Master provides, which, for perspective, is thought to be one of the most broken bonuses in the game.

Voice Of The Chain Master

Let Your Imp Scout Ahead

Only Warlocks with the Pact of the Chain feature (or the invocation of the same name in the 2024 rules) can use this spell, which is its only real drawback. It’s obvious that it’s safer and smarter to use a familiar to scout dangerous or unknown areas, but that’s not the only thing this spell can do.

Warlocks using this spell can also telepathically communicate with their familiar and even use it to speak in their voice. All of this is contingent on your warlock and their familiar being on the same plane of reality, which might be more than a minor detail depending on the situation.

One With Shadows

A Sneaky Option

Stealth is never a bad thing to employ, and it’s not just for the rogues to do so either. A good, stealthy warlock can cast spells and get the drop on enemies before they even know you’re there.

One with Shadows allows your character to use their action to become invisible whenever they are in dim light or full darkness. This lasts until your character makes an action or a reaction. It’s similar to the Hide feature, but a little more trustworthy since the character is invisible instead of technically just hidden.

Thirsting Blade

Attack Twice Per Turn

Lifedrinker is a great invocation on its own, but coupled with Thirsting Blade, it’s on a whole other level. Thirsting Blade requires the Pact of the Blade feature (or the invocation of the same name in the 2024 rules) as well as five levels of warlock.

Whenever you take the Attack action on your turn, it allows you to attack twice with your pact weapon instead of once. Any aspiring melee warlock would be remiss to not select this invocation, as extra attack is a key feature that all other melee classes receive.

Furthermore, it gives you a second opportunity to proc your Hex spell on the enemy, leading to even more damage. Take into account Lifedrinker at later levels, and you can see why these two invocations are surefire picks for any Pact of the Blade character.