I thought I should do a list of my favorite spells for Warlocks, as their requirements are different. It must upcast well and have good 'staying' power.
Cantrips: Eldritch Blast (duh), Mage Hand, Minor Illusion and Prestidigitation. EB I should not have to explain, Mage Hand and Minor Illusion are useful for your entire 20 levels. Prestidigiation is the least of them, but it is great for role playing and for marking locations for up to an hour.
Armor of Agathys, Hex, Charm Person. Armor of Agathys quickly becomes better than Hellish Rebuke, Hex is a key part of a lot of builds, Charm Person is so useful in many 1 off social situations.
Darkness, Shadowblade, and Suggestion. Darkness works great with Devil Sight, Shadowblade works great with Darkness and Devil sight, Suggestion is Charm without the 'WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!" after effects.
Hunger of Hadar, Hypnotic Pattern, Hungar of Hadar is darkness, cold, acid with noise that can be argued negates echolocation. Hypnotic Pattern is great - only one save.
Banishment, Shadow of Moil. Banishment is just fantastic one save plus concentration to negate an enemy, upcasts to 2 at 5th, Shadow of Moil is basically an fireshield for radiant/necro that also hides you.
Far Step and Synaptic Shock. Far step is Misty step for warlocks - one spell that lets you teleport every round. Synaptic Shock is an area attack against Int saves. Druids, Wizards and creatures with Int<2 will ignore it, everyone else has a very bad day.
Arcanum are different. Here you no longer care about the upcasting.
6: Mass Suggestion, Scatter, Soul Cage and Eyebite. Mass Suggestion is Suggestion for a lot of people. Scatter is remarkably useful to disrupt enemy plans - bye bye ambush. Soul Cage is a fantastic general purpose spell useful for healing, information, and advantage. Eyebite turns one 6th level spell into 10 lower level spells.
7: Crown of Stars, Finger of Death, Planeshift. Crown of stars is 7 bonus action 4d12 attacks, Finger of Death gives you an army of zombies, Planeshift is a great escape/travel spell.
8: * All the 8th level spells are great. Practically no need to pick. Some people underestimate Demiplane, but it is an escape (especially if you know Planeshift), a prison, and infinte number of bag of holdings.
Small Nitpick - Shadowblade is a Concentration effect, so you cannot use it in conjunction with Darkness, which is also Concentration.
In my opinion, these are the best of warlock spells-
Cantrips - Eldritch Blast, Minor Illusion, Mage Hand (4th), Prestigitation (10th), Shilleagh (book), Guidance (book), Green Flame Blade / Booming Blade (book)
1st - Hex, Armor of Agathys, Faerie Fire or Command if Fey or Fiend,
2nd - Darkness, some place holder until you can swap out for Dispel Magic next level
3rd - one AoE of choice (fireball, hunger of hadar, hypnotic pattern, other), Counter spell, Dispel Magic, Fly
4th, 5th - We have three choices left. I recommend getting a second AoE/control spell of some kind that targets different saves than last level (Evard's Black Tentacles. Synaptic Static, Banishment are my favorites). Keep an eye out if you're going to upgrade your level 3 AoE. I like the new Summon spells from Tasha's for a second spot. And lastly, Greater Invisibility if you can get it; otherwise, Dimension Door.
// Note that celestial warlocks will need to swap out three spells to include the two restoration spells as well as revivify, if primary healer of the group. Being a healer requires different spell options than usual. It also changes the dynamic a bit, since you're always going to need to hold at least one spell slot in reserve in case you need to revivify a party member. Cure Wounds is good if you can get multiple short rests in a row, and heal up before / after a day of dungeon diving.
6th - Mass Suggestion (one of the best spells in the game, hands down, more than anyone else), Tasha's Otherworldly Guise if you're Blade. Summon Fiend if you really like ranged bombardment options.
7th - Forcecage if you like control options, Crown of Stars if you're in love with blasty options. Even better, neither are Concentration.
8th - Dominate Monster. Honorable mention to Feeblemind if you have enemy spellcaster woes.
9th - Wish if Genie, otherwise True Polymorph (utility, make an army, lots of potential), Foresight (how much do you love eldritch blasts/pact blade?), Psychic Scream (warlock version of Meteor Swarm?)
// Honorable mention to Etherealness and Planeshift, if you have lots of exploration to do, but chances are you won't need to cast these spells yourself if your DM wants you to go exploring.
In terms of cantrips, might I suggest Toll The Dead or Mind Sliver from Tasha's cauldron of everything? Toll the dead scales better, because most of the enemies one would face are likely NOT at maximum hp by the time your turn rolls around. And mind sliver deals a D6 psychic damage, probably the least resisted damage type next to force, it's an intelligence saving throw which at lower levels will be harder to make, and makes the target take a -d4 to saving throws which could be pared well with literally most class features.
If you are a fiend patron warlock, Burning Hands is so useful. It allows for you to do some nice damage when an adjacent target would cause disadvantage on EB, can hit multiple targets if lined up well, no attack roll needed, and it scales nicely. Similarly, Shatter is a way to do some AoE damage at 3rd level while waiting for Fireball to come online. I've gotten some mileage out of each.
While eldritch blast is pretty much a go to, toll the dead is one that shouldnt be overlooked. It's a wisdom save but d8 or d12 neurotic damage on a fail.
2nd: shadow blade
3rd: hunger of hadar
4th: sickening radiance
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I thought I should do a list of my favorite spells for Warlocks, as their requirements are different. It must upcast well and have good 'staying' power.
Cantrips: Eldritch Blast (duh), Mage Hand, Minor Illusion and Prestidigitation. EB I should not have to explain, Mage Hand and Minor Illusion are useful for your entire 20 levels. Prestidigiation is the least of them, but it is great for role playing and for marking locations for up to an hour.
Arcanum are different. Here you no longer care about the upcasting.
6: Mass Suggestion, Scatter, Soul Cage and Eyebite. Mass Suggestion is Suggestion for a lot of people. Scatter is remarkably useful to disrupt enemy plans - bye bye ambush. Soul Cage is a fantastic general purpose spell useful for healing, information, and advantage. Eyebite turns one 6th level spell into 10 lower level spells.
7: Crown of Stars, Finger of Death, Planeshift. Crown of stars is 7 bonus action 4d12 attacks, Finger of Death gives you an army of zombies, Planeshift is a great escape/travel spell.
8: * All the 8th level spells are great. Practically no need to pick. Some people underestimate Demiplane, but it is an escape (especially if you know Planeshift), a prison, and infinte number of bag of holdings.
9: * Again, these are all great.
Small Nitpick - Shadowblade is a Concentration effect, so you cannot use it in conjunction with Darkness, which is also Concentration.
In my opinion, these are the best of warlock spells-
Cantrips - Eldritch Blast, Minor Illusion, Mage Hand (4th), Prestigitation (10th), Shilleagh (book), Guidance (book), Green Flame Blade / Booming Blade (book)
1st - Hex, Armor of Agathys, Faerie Fire or Command if Fey or Fiend,
2nd - Darkness, some place holder until you can swap out for Dispel Magic next level
3rd - one AoE of choice (fireball, hunger of hadar, hypnotic pattern, other), Counter spell, Dispel Magic, Fly
4th, 5th - We have three choices left. I recommend getting a second AoE/control spell of some kind that targets different saves than last level (Evard's Black Tentacles. Synaptic Static, Banishment are my favorites). Keep an eye out if you're going to upgrade your level 3 AoE. I like the new Summon spells from Tasha's for a second spot. And lastly, Greater Invisibility if you can get it; otherwise, Dimension Door.
// Note that celestial warlocks will need to swap out three spells to include the two restoration spells as well as revivify, if primary healer of the group. Being a healer requires different spell options than usual. It also changes the dynamic a bit, since you're always going to need to hold at least one spell slot in reserve in case you need to revivify a party member. Cure Wounds is good if you can get multiple short rests in a row, and heal up before / after a day of dungeon diving.
6th - Mass Suggestion (one of the best spells in the game, hands down, more than anyone else), Tasha's Otherworldly Guise if you're Blade. Summon Fiend if you really like ranged bombardment options.
7th - Forcecage if you like control options, Crown of Stars if you're in love with blasty options. Even better, neither are Concentration.
8th - Dominate Monster. Honorable mention to Feeblemind if you have enemy spellcaster woes.
9th - Wish if Genie, otherwise True Polymorph (utility, make an army, lots of potential), Foresight (how much do you love eldritch blasts/pact blade?), Psychic Scream (warlock version of Meteor Swarm?)
// Honorable mention to Etherealness and Planeshift, if you have lots of exploration to do, but chances are you won't need to cast these spells yourself if your DM wants you to go exploring.
In terms of cantrips, might I suggest Toll The Dead or Mind Sliver from Tasha's cauldron of everything? Toll the dead scales better, because most of the enemies one would face are likely NOT at maximum hp by the time your turn rolls around. And mind sliver deals a D6 psychic damage, probably the least resisted damage type next to force, it's an intelligence saving throw which at lower levels will be harder to make, and makes the target take a -d4 to saving throws which could be pared well with literally most class features.
If you are a fiend patron warlock, Burning Hands is so useful. It allows for you to do some nice damage when an adjacent target would cause disadvantage on EB, can hit multiple targets if lined up well, no attack roll needed, and it scales nicely. Similarly, Shatter is a way to do some AoE damage at 3rd level while waiting for Fireball to come online. I've gotten some mileage out of each.
While eldritch blast is pretty much a go to, toll the dead is one that shouldnt be overlooked. It's a wisdom save but d8 or d12 neurotic damage on a fail.
2nd: shadow blade
3rd: hunger of hadar
4th: sickening radiance