Warlocks are sort of considered full casters and can eventually learn spells up to ninth level as their adventures progress. Because you have your own mechanical system for casting warlock spells, multiclassing allows you to add Pact Magic slots to your standard spell slots. When multiclassing, your warlock level has no effect on the number or level of your normal spell slots.
A character with two levels in warlock and two levels in sorcerer, for example, would have two first-level Pact Magic slots and three first-level spell slots. You can use your Pact Magic slots to cast sorcerer spells and your regular spell slots to cast warlock spells. Sorcerers frequently benefit from taking a warlock class dip because they can convert the Pact Magic slots into Sorcery Points to use on Metamagic.
Table of Contents
Pact Magic
Pact Magic is distinct from standard spell slots in several ways. For one thing, they recharge after a short rest. Warlocks receive far fewer Pact Magic slots than a typical full caster because an adventuring day frequently includes one or more short rests to replenish those slots. Warlocks are also limited to 5th level Pact Magic slots (at level 9). You gain a third Pact Magic slot at level 11, and a fourth at level 17, but your Pact Magic never increases after the fifth level. This is where Mystic Arcanum comes into play.
For more information about warlock spellcasting, check out our other article here.
Mystic Arcanum
Warlocks can learn a single spell of the appropriate level at levels 11, 13, 15, and 17. (6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th, respectively). This spell can only be cast once per day and does not consume a Pact Magic slot. Once you’ve chosen your warlock spells, you can’t change your mind, so choose wisely.
Best Warlock Spells
At level one, warlocks learn two cantrips. At level 4, they gain a third cantrip, and at level 10, they gain a fourth. Cantrips, unlike leveled spells, are not interchangeable. It’s worth noting that Pact of the Tome allows you to take three more cantrips from any class. Talk to your DM about an optional rule that allows a character to swap out a cantrip when they reach a level that grants an Ability Score Improvement (4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th for the warlock).
Booming Blade
Booming Blade prevents foes from moving after you hit them, which is useful when guarding your squishier allies. Except for Hexblades, this is not a good choice from the warlock spells. In most cases, you should avoid engaging in melee combat.
Eldritch Blast
This is the bread and butter of warlock spells. Given the limited number of spells you can cast per day, even if your party takes frequent short rests, most spell-oriented warlocks (not Hexblades) prefer to rely on eldritch blast in combat and save their valuable spells for social or utility spells. Several Eldritch Invocations alter your eldritch blast, and when combined with hex, you can be as powerful as a weapon-user.
Mage Hand
It’s always nice to have a helping hand.
Mind Sliver
The damage isn’t particularly high, but monster Intelligence saving throws are notoriously difficult. The real draw is the secondary effect: deducting 1d4 from the enemy’s next saving throw.
Minor Illusion
This is a fantastic spell for imaginative players. A five-foot cube is quite large, and you could easily use this cantrip to conceal a door, object, or person. In a pinch, you could make it look like a wall and hide in a corner to avoid detection by the hapless guards.
Prestidigitation
Prestidigitation is the embodiment of fun, quirky magic, with a variety of effects that can help you in small but significant ways. You can flavor those revolting trail rations, apply a cold compress to someone, turn your skin purple, or clean up after a long day of resisting monsters.
1st Level Warlock Spells
You gain access to 1st level warlock spells at level 1.
Armor of Agathys
Armor of Agathys is a warlock-only spell that should be considered, particularly if you’re a Hexblade. Anyone who hits you with a melee attack gains temporary hit points and extra damage. Even if your Pact Magic is at 5th level, this is still a useful spell.
Hex
As previously stated, combining hex with Eldritch Blast can result in significant damage, even at higher levels. There is no save, and you can disadvantage your opponent on one ability for checks. If you select Strength as the ability, your tank will be able to easily grapple the enemy. You won’t have to spend one of your Pact Magic slots to activate this spell if you take a feat that grants it.
2nd Level Warlock Spells
You gain access to 2nd level warlock spells at level 3.
Darkness
Other than a Shadow Magic sorcerer, warlocks are the only ones who can see through spell-created darkness. The Devil’s Sight Eldritch Invocation grants you 120 feet of darkvision and the ability to see through magical darkness. Your allies may not like it, but you can cast Darkness while still seeing to attack your enemies. You will benefit from being hidden, while they will suffer from attacks.
Invisibility
Staying invisible for up to an hour is a huge advantage for warlocks who aren’t usually very stealthy. You can also use this to send your rogue or ranger scouting ahead without fear.
3rd Level Warlock Spells
You gain access to 3rd level warlock spells at level 5.
Fly
It’s difficult to overestimate the importance of flying. When you can cast this buff on yourself, you should do so frequently. You can target allies with this spell as you level up and your Pact Magic slots increase in level.
Hunger of Hadar
This spell does not scale with level, so you may not want to keep it forever. Having said that, the damage is substantial, causing a combination of difficult terrain and blinding your enemies. Even if you’re fighting another warlock, Devil’s Sight prevents you from seeing through the darkness. It’s an excellent way to keep your enemies in one place if someone else casts sickening radiance or fireball.
4th Level Warlock Spells
You gain access to 4th level warlock spells at level 7.
Shadow of Moil
The level of darkness caused by this spell is dependent on your current environment. It reduces the available light by one tier, converting bright light to dim light or dim light to darkness. However, the light dimming effect does not count as magical darkness, so anyone with darkvision can see. Regardless, the spell mentions that you’re heavily obscured from enemies.
Heavily obscured works in the same way that darkness does, in that you have an advantage on attack rolls and your enemies have an advantage on attacks against you.
Sickening Radiance
The damage from this spell may appear underwhelming at first glance, but that is not the main point. If you can keep your enemies in the area, each round they spend in your spell area adds to their exhaustion. These levels accumulate and make leaving the room or attacking you more difficult. Combine it with forcecage r wall of stone oand watch your enemies perish.
5th Level Warlock Spells
You gain access to 5th level warlock spells at level 9.
Scrying
While scrying is technically a situational spell, you’ll probably find that the scenarios that require it are far more common than you’d think. Scrying can be used to spy on known adversaries, beloved NPCs, political rivals, or someone you intend to assassinate.
Because the spell does not consume the material component, you only need to be concerned with the initial cost. If you can obtain something that belongs to the target, your spell will be much more powerful. Creatures with the ability to see invisible things will be aware that you are spying on them, but this is unusual.
Synaptic Static
This is similar to fireball in terms of damage, but it necessitates an Intelligence saving throw, which most foes are notoriously bad at. In addition, if they fail, they must deduct 1d6 from all attack rolls and ability checks for one minute (ten rounds of combat).
6th Level Warlock Spells
You gain access to a single 6th level spell at level 11 via Mystic Arcanum. You can choose from a list of warlock spells.
Eyebite
This is a great way to spend a high-level spell slot because you can keep using the spell to affect multiple creatures as long as you keep Concentration up. Although you have a choice of effects, sleep is unquestionably the best. If one creature saves against your spell, switch to a different foe until you have neutralized some opponents and made the fight easier.
Mental Prison
This is also a single-target spell, but it is fantastic for immobilizing someone. Monsters’ intelligence saving throws are frequently poor, and the target cannot see or hear anything outside. They are at disadvantage for future saving throws, attack rolls, and ability checks, while you have the upper hand when attacking them.
7th Level Warlock Spells
You gain access to a single 7th level spell at level 13 via Mystic Arcanum. You can choose from a list of warlock spells.
Forcecage
There is no saving throw for this spell. You read that correctly: you can simply cast this and watch the chaos unfold. You encircle one or more creatures, preventing them from leaving unless they magically teleport. Even then, a successful Charisma saving throw is required. It’s also not a Concentration spell, so you can pair it with something lethal like delayed blast fireball or sickening radiance.
Plane Shift
While traveling between planes is always exciting, you can also use this spell to eliminate an enemy. Just make sure they can’t plane shift back to you. Plane shift could be used instead of teleport if you’re inclined to have a layover somewhere, but that’s probably not a good option unless you have a safe place to hide.
8th Level Warlock Spells
You gain access to a single 8th level spell at level 15 via Mystic Arcanum. You can choose from a list of warlock spells.
Glibness
Glibness, like enhance ability, affects all of your Charisma checks, including ability checks with dispel magic and counterspell. This spell, unlike enhance ability, does not rely on rolls. Anyone could roll poorly twice in a row, but with this spell, you can take a flat number and never fail.
Maddening Darkness
If you like hunger of Hadar, you’ll love this spell. You create a large area of magical darkness (that you can see through) with the added benefit of preventing light from spells like dawn from illuminating the area. Anyone who begins their turn in the dark must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or suffer significant psychic damage.
9th Level Warlock Spells
You gain access to a single 9th level spell at level 17 via Mystic Arcanum. You can choose from a list of warlock spells.
Foresight
Every encounter and obstacle is turned into a joke by this spell. You or an ally can see into the future for eight hours. They have advantage on all rolls and disadvantage when attacking other creatures. However, it takes a minute to cast, so you can’t use it in the middle of a fight.
Wish
This is a difficult spell for both DMs and players to learn, but it is the most powerful spell in the game. Genie warlocks are the only ones who can use it. It can already be used to duplicate another spell from any spell list (and it will be cast at 9th level), which is fantastic. If you’re willing to take a chance, you can use this spell to do one of the suggested things or make your own wish. However, anything that isn’t a spell replica has two potential drawbacks.
You have a 33% chance of losing your wish casting ability. You must roll, which is a random chance. Furthermore, depending on your wishes, your DM will most likely twist your statement to have negative implications that you did not consider. Consider it a last resort and be careful what you wish for.
1 thought on “The Best Warlock Spells in D&D 5e”
Comments are closed.