Our DM has been called to work so one of our players has offered to DM us a 1shot, now this 1shot is a lvl 20 1shot where we are legendary heroes taking on the swarms of hell (basically doom)
Rules are simple, basically any standard items we want and ANY 3 magic items. limit is 1 artifact item (but most of us aren't using them) but I could literally pick 3 legendary items.
My original idea was to play a lvl 20 vengeance paladin but looking out the rest of the group so for (group of 4) one hasn't uploaded their character yet and the other 2 are melee characters.
We have been warned that once it starts we're not gonna get much more than a short rest and even that is a big maybe, we're also warned that he's going to throw LOTS of crazy stuff at us.
So I need your help I know NOTHING about warlock other than EB EB EB EB EB EB. Give me the BEST warlock build, I mean pick the race, pick the fats feats, pick the spells, pick the multi class, pick the sub class, pick the patron, pick the eldritch invocations help me be the ABSOLUTE best, make it sustainable, make it do big damage but one shot and done is useless
I'm thinking despite being able to pick anything the Illusionary bracers seem like a good choice but not sure
Eldritch Blast, Illusionist's Bracers, Elven Accuracy, Repelling Blast, Sickening Radiance. Slap down radiance, yeet everyone into it with your blasts, and let them die from exhaustion. Add in Hexblades Curse, and a familiar spamming Help action, and you have a very potent build.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
No Short rests is pretty huge. You need to re-evaluate spells and class abilities. Primary spellcasters are going to suffer as well, but Warlocks are designed to do short rests. I could see multi-classing as a good idea.
Basically, besides Warlock Patron and Invocations known, everything you get above 3rd level is one use or one use per rest. Look at your patron abilities and invocations known. Pick them FIRST, and stop raising Warlock level as soon as you get the ones you desire. Look at other classes that grant useful abilities. At the very least, do NOT go above 15th level as you already are high enough to get any invocation, it gets you only 1 extra invocations and no patron features.
Patron wise, unless you are getting Hex or Great Old One, no reason to go go above 10th level. And Great Old One's 14th level ability only works on Humanoids. So I would go with Hex.
Invocation wise, you get one fantastically obvious choice that requires you to go to 15th level: Chains of Carceri - AT WILL HOLD MONSTER ON FIENDS. Although if they make their save, you must finish a long rest to use it on that particular creature again.
The other option is Lifedrinker, a melee focused Pact of the Blade build that lets you add Charisma in Necro damage to all melee damage. Stacks with Hexwarrior, for a double Charisma bonus to damage.
I would start by picking which of these high level abilities you desire. Chains of Carceri is really tempting, but if you are going with Hexblade, then a melee focused character makes a lot of sense.
Basically, the choice is 15 levels of Hex with Pact of Chain and Chains of Carceri, or 14 levels of Hexblade with Pact of Blade and Life Drinker.
That leaves five or six other class levels. I would go with something to aid your Melee - either Rogue or Fighter. Rogue can get you Swashbuckler - more sneak attacks and Charisma Bonus to initiate, while Assassin gives you the great auto crit 1/battle. I tend towards Swashbuckler.
Fighter is a choice between Champion or Echo Knight. Improved Critical vs misdirection and an extra attack.
My personal build is14 levels of Warlock, Hexblade, Pact of the blade, and six levels of Champion.
Race is a choice between Satyr and Yuan-Ti Pureblood. Both give you Magical Resistance - advantage against all magical saves.
I'd do 15 Hexblade with Chains of Carceri. Building a blastlock was the intention, so a familiar to help spam and Hold Monster seems better than a less than optimal melee weapon.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
If going multi with warlock, consider sorcerer or bard for the extra slots. Both can get catnap at 5th level, then it's a choice between whatever you want from bard and getting metamagic to quicken your EB or whatever else you want to do. Getting Draconic bloodline would open up the possible invocation slot for armor of shadows and make up for the HP loss for going sorcerer instead of warlock, but there are plenty of options that could fit. If you're going hexblade, Draconic is less interesting since you could go medium armor and 14 dex to get the same AC that would require 16 or 18 dex (depending on medium armor) with armor of Shadows or the dragon resilience.
For magic items, I'd pick Rod of the Pact Keeper, +3, Illusionist's Bracers, and Robe of the Archmagi. For species, Yuan-ti if you want magic resistance or Half-elf for Elven Accuracy. Leave Cha as an odd number if you go half-elf, so that EA can round it out. Warcaster might be helpful for maintaining concentration on Hex or an aoe like Sickening Radiance.
EDIT: Nevermind, I forgot that Robe of the Archmagi gives magic resistance. I'd definitely go with half-elf then.
Bards or Sorcerers are nice, but again, they get a lot of rest based stuff - spells, bardic inspiration, etc. If your DM lets you take a 10 minute break for a Catnap, that will work OK for Bards, but not sorcerors. Sorcerors get little for a short rest, while Bards can at least get Bardic Inspiration back and use Song of Rest with a short rest.
So I would not consider Sorceror, but Bard does work out.
Remember to use one of your three 5th level Warlock Spellslot to cast it. Is does upcast, so effectively you get short rests for upto 5 people.
For magic items, I'd pick Rod of the Pact Keeper, +3, Illusionist's Bracers, and Robe of the Archmagi. For species, Yuan-ti if you want magic resistance or Half-elf for Elven Accuracy. Leave Cha as an odd number if you go half-elf, so that EA can round it out. Warcaster might be helpful for maintaining concentration on Hex or an aoe like Sickening Radiance.
EDIT: Nevermind, I forgot that Robe of the Archmagi gives magic resistance. I'd definitely go with half-elf then.
Oooohhh...Robe of the Archmagi.... yep. That negates any other options for AC by itself. Do that and forget about anything I said about AC in my previous post!
Bards or Sorcerers are nice, but again, they get a lot of rest based stuff - spells, bardic inspiration, etc. If your DM lets you take a 10 minute break for a Catnap, that will work OK for Bards, but not sorcerors. Sorcerors get little for a short rest, while Bards can at least get Bardic Inspiration back and use Song of Rest with a short rest.
So I would not consider Sorceror, but Bard does work out.
Remember to use one of your three 5th level Warlock Spellslot to cast it. Is does upcast, so effectively you get short rests for upto 5 people.
Yes but you could turn one of your warlock fifths into a 1st and a 2nd slot for additional casts after the initial spell slots run out. Along with other flexible casting and metamagic options plus whatever other subclass options you'd get from sorcerer, that'll be weighed against ritual casting and the short rest refresh items plus whatever other options from bard. The cantrip options favor Sorcerer, EB will probably be fine for most options but if you need other offensive options, Sorcerer has more and a better variety. Of course, that's a moot point if pact of the tome is chosen, but it wasn't suggested earlier. Bard is probably more generally useful overall, but sorcerer might give some specific things that you're looking for. Then again, fighter 6 for a melee backup build would give an extra ASI (or regain one, depending on your outlook), would give the extra attack, action surge, second wind, fighting style, HP buff, and whatever goodies from the martial archetype. Champion might actually be superior from the rest recharge standpoint, but the crit bonus renders part of Hexblade's curse moot, which may or may not matter. If going fighter, the temptation to start fighter might be high due to a little more HP and con saves, but will you actually need the con saves as much for concentration or would the warlocks Wisdom saves be better for the run through hell, dante's inferno, or whatever? Also, getting either fiendlock for Dark One's Blessing, Fiendish Vigor, or enduring that someone has Inspiring Leader might be a good idea, just remember that Inspiring Leader requires a short or a long rest to get more than 1 use out of it.
For magic items, I'd pick Rod of the Pact Keeper, +3, Illusionist's Bracers, and Robe of the Archmagi. For species, Yuan-ti if you want magic resistance or Half-elf for Elven Accuracy. Leave Cha as an odd number if you go half-elf, so that EA can round it out. Warcaster might be helpful for maintaining concentration on Hex or an aoe like Sickening Radiance.
EDIT: Nevermind, I forgot that Robe of the Archmagi gives magic resistance. I'd definitely go with half-elf then.
Oooohhh...Robe of the Archmagi.... yep. That negates any other options for AC by itself. Do that and forget about anything I said about AC in my previous post!
Robe of the Archmagi is really, really, powerful. You get a bonus to hit, great options for AC, and Magic Resistance. It is literally so good that I forgot that it even granted magic resistance, a really good ability. It could be artifact level in power.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
If there's another caster in the party, they may be able to sneak a Catnap in for you at some point to allow you to catch a Short Rest in a shorter window.
Apart from that, Illusionist's Bracers+EB Specialization (Agonizing Blast, Grasp of Hadar/Eldritch Spear/Lance of Lethargy/Repelling Blast/Spell Sniper) will honestly make you one of the better DPR players on your team. Eight 1d10+5 attacks per round from up to 1200 feet away ignoring partial cover and sliding targets around to your advantage, that's going to put the hurt where you need it even before you factor in things like Hex or Hexblade's Curse.
Dual wield a Staff of Power in addition to your Rod of the Pact Keeper, the bonuses of both will stack for a total of +5 to your EB's (and arguably, +2 damage to your EB bolts as well, depending on whether you make those spell attacks "with" the staff as a focus).
If you have room in your invocations, Ascendant Step won't be useful in EVERY encounter, but there will certainly be many that let you safely float above the fray raining death from above while Levitating. Or, be an Aarakocra!
I would recommend using a Staff of the Magi over a Staff of Power. You lose two AC, but you get many more charges and spell absorption. I would go with one of these magic item setups:
Of note, with Pact of the Blade and the Improved Pact Weapon invocation, the Defender arguably adds its +3 to attack and damage rolls "made with" the weapon to Eldritch Blast rolls, if using a Focus means spell attacks are "made with" the Focus, and if you can use a focus for S-component spells that lack an M-component. That would make the Robe-Staff-Defender setup give a total +8 to EB attack rolls, and a +3 to damage rolls. (Yes, this really is my rule question of the day that somehow keeps popping up in every thread I'm following :p )
I still think you need the Illusionist's Bracers though no matter what, it's just too much DPR to pass up four more 1d10+Stuff attacks as a Bonus Action, considering you're going to be spending most rounds casting EB.
I'd do 15 Hexblade with Chains of Carceri. Building a blastlock was the intention, so a familiar to help spam and Hold Monster seems better than a less than optimal melee weapon.
This. Unlimited Hold Monster per day will do more in an all-out assault than any other option. This and Agathys and your allies will adore you. You won’t have the spell slots to make Smites worthwhile and honestly EB damage will be outpaced by other melee characters, so just focus on giving your allies advantage and use EB when you’ve got nothing else.
Edit: throw in Cloak of Flies for constant chip at close range. Fiendish Vigor between battle rounds to help you stay alive. Gift of the Ever Living Ones to ensure you’re healed fully when you need it. Shroud of Shadow to give you and your party additional defenses.
This way you’re not reliant on your spell slots unless absolutely necessary and you can support your team with more than just damage.
Cloak of Flies deals poison, so I think most fiends will flat out ignore that. Gift of the Ever Living Ones I highly recommend, and Tomb of Levistus is a great panic button in case of emergency.
Invocations that say "... once using a Warlock spell slot" can all probably be safely ignored for this build, since you're saying you aren't going to get to rest. Stuff that says "...once without expending a spell slot" are only slightly better, we want stuff that you'll get several uses of throughout the day (which is why I always frown at Tomb of Levistus). Really what you're left with a choice of 8 of are:
EB Specialization stuff: Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast, Grasp of Hadar, Lance of Lethargy, Eldritch Spear. Only Agonizing Blast is necessary, but at least one of Repelling or Grasp is nice to have as well, since you can use it to break Grapples on your teammates or to occasionally exploit terrain.
Roleplaying stuff: Aspect of the Moon, Beast Speech, Beguiling Influence, Mask of Many Faces, Master of Myriad Forms, Misty Visions, Whispers of the Grave. None of this is necessary for a combat-focused dungeon crawl.
Scouting/Utility stuff: Book of Ancient Secrets, Devil's Sight, Eldritch Sight, Eyes of the Rune Keeper, Gaze of Two Minds, Gift of the Depths, One with the Shadows, Otherworldly Leap, Shroud of Shadow, Vision of Distant Realms, Voice of the Chain Master, Witch Sight. Almost all of these are useful, but many of them overlap with something that another party member (usually the Wizard or Rogue) will already be doing, so consider your party composition before taking, but Devil's Sight is almost always worth it, as is One with the Shadows/Shroud of Shadow.
Defensive Combat stuff: Armor of Shadows, Ascendant Step, Fiendish Vigor, Gift of the Ever-Living Ones. Assuming you take the Robe of the Archmagi or Hexblade you don't need Armor of Shadows, and the other options are mostly forgettable (or disqualified for being once/rest), but I think being able to Levitate yourself at will has both defense, offensive, and utility applications so is worth it.
Offensive non-EB Combat stuff: Chains of Carceri, Cloak of Flies, Eldritch Smite, Improved Pact Weapon,Lifedrinker, Maddening Hex, Relentless Hex, Thirsting Blade. Most of this is melee stuff, which even as a Hexblade you probably don't want to be doing, but Improved Pact Weapon is potentially useful for letting you use a magic weapon as a spell focus if you want to try taking a Defender or something. Chains of Carceri is probably much much better (as is having an invisible Imp as a familiar).
Put it together and what have you got? Regardless of subclass, I recommend a Pact of the Chain warlock with Agonizing Blast, Devil's Sight, Shroud of Shadow, Ascendant Step, and Chains of Carceri. For the other three, some mix of Repelling Blast, Grasp of Hadar, Gift of the Ever Living Ones, Gift of the Depths, or Armor of Shadows would probably be my recommendation.
I would bold Gift of the Ever-Living ones. Maximized healing is very good when spell slots and healing is limited, and I think is probably higher priority than Ascendant Step or Shroud of Shadow. If you are fighting Devils, they are going to have Devil's Sight, so Darkness won't be useful against them, but you will be immune to it if they use it one you.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
Yeah, GotELO probably does deserve to be the sixth must-pick, but I wouldn't drop Ascendant Step or Shroud of Shadow. Invisibility is a powerful offensive, defensive, and exploration spell to have at-will for yourself or any one of your teammates, and being able to Levitate will often trivialize certain encounters or dangers. With room to still take two other fun invocations as a level 20 Warlock, there's no point cutting corners.
Ok DNDbeyond
I need your help and I need it quick!!!!!
Our DM has been called to work so one of our players has offered to DM us a 1shot, now this 1shot is a lvl 20 1shot where we are legendary heroes taking on the swarms of hell (basically doom)
Rules are simple, basically any standard items we want and ANY 3 magic items. limit is 1 artifact item (but most of us aren't using them) but I could literally pick 3 legendary items.
My original idea was to play a lvl 20 vengeance paladin but looking out the rest of the group so for (group of 4) one hasn't uploaded their character yet and the other 2 are melee characters.
We have been warned that once it starts we're not gonna get much more than a short rest and even that is a big maybe, we're also warned that he's going to throw LOTS of crazy stuff at us.
So I need your help I know NOTHING about warlock other than EB EB EB EB EB EB. Give me the BEST warlock build, I mean pick the race, pick the fats feats, pick the spells, pick the multi class, pick the sub class, pick the patron, pick the eldritch invocations help me be the ABSOLUTE best, make it sustainable, make it do big damage but one shot and done is useless
I'm thinking despite being able to pick anything the Illusionary bracers seem like a good choice but not sure
HELP ME!!!!!!!!!
Eldritch Blast, Illusionist's Bracers, Elven Accuracy, Repelling Blast, Sickening Radiance. Slap down radiance, yeet everyone into it with your blasts, and let them die from exhaustion. Add in Hexblades Curse, and a familiar spamming Help action, and you have a very potent build.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
No Short rests is pretty huge. You need to re-evaluate spells and class abilities. Primary spellcasters are going to suffer as well, but Warlocks are designed to do short rests. I could see multi-classing as a good idea.
Basically, besides Warlock Patron and Invocations known, everything you get above 3rd level is one use or one use per rest. Look at your patron abilities and invocations known. Pick them FIRST, and stop raising Warlock level as soon as you get the ones you desire. Look at other classes that grant useful abilities. At the very least, do NOT go above 15th level as you already are high enough to get any invocation, it gets you only 1 extra invocations and no patron features.
Patron wise, unless you are getting Hex or Great Old One, no reason to go go above 10th level. And Great Old One's 14th level ability only works on Humanoids. So I would go with Hex.
Invocation wise, you get one fantastically obvious choice that requires you to go to 15th level: Chains of Carceri - AT WILL HOLD MONSTER ON FIENDS. Although if they make their save, you must finish a long rest to use it on that particular creature again.
The other option is Lifedrinker, a melee focused Pact of the Blade build that lets you add Charisma in Necro damage to all melee damage. Stacks with Hexwarrior, for a double Charisma bonus to damage.
I would start by picking which of these high level abilities you desire. Chains of Carceri is really tempting, but if you are going with Hexblade, then a melee focused character makes a lot of sense.
Basically, the choice is 15 levels of Hex with Pact of Chain and Chains of Carceri, or 14 levels of Hexblade with Pact of Blade and Life Drinker.
That leaves five or six other class levels. I would go with something to aid your Melee - either Rogue or Fighter. Rogue can get you Swashbuckler - more sneak attacks and Charisma Bonus to initiate, while Assassin gives you the great auto crit 1/battle. I tend towards Swashbuckler.
Fighter is a choice between Champion or Echo Knight. Improved Critical vs misdirection and an extra attack.
My personal build is14 levels of Warlock, Hexblade, Pact of the blade, and six levels of Champion.
Race is a choice between Satyr and Yuan-Ti Pureblood. Both give you Magical Resistance - advantage against all magical saves.
I'd do 15 Hexblade with Chains of Carceri. Building a blastlock was the intention, so a familiar to help spam and Hold Monster seems better than a less than optimal melee weapon.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Also, someone should learn Catnap. You might be able to get in a rest with it.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
If going multi with warlock, consider sorcerer or bard for the extra slots. Both can get catnap at 5th level, then it's a choice between whatever you want from bard and getting metamagic to quicken your EB or whatever else you want to do. Getting Draconic bloodline would open up the possible invocation slot for armor of shadows and make up for the HP loss for going sorcerer instead of warlock, but there are plenty of options that could fit. If you're going hexblade, Draconic is less interesting since you could go medium armor and 14 dex to get the same AC that would require 16 or 18 dex (depending on medium armor) with armor of Shadows or the dragon resilience.
For magic items, I'd pick Rod of the Pact Keeper, +3, Illusionist's Bracers, and Robe of the Archmagi. For species, Yuan-ti if you want magic resistance or Half-elf for Elven Accuracy. Leave Cha as an odd number if you go half-elf, so that EA can round it out. Warcaster might be helpful for maintaining concentration on Hex or an aoe like Sickening Radiance.
EDIT: Nevermind, I forgot that Robe of the Archmagi gives magic resistance. I'd definitely go with half-elf then.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Bards or Sorcerers are nice, but again, they get a lot of rest based stuff - spells, bardic inspiration, etc. If your DM lets you take a 10 minute break for a Catnap, that will work OK for Bards, but not sorcerors. Sorcerors get little for a short rest, while Bards can at least get Bardic Inspiration back and use Song of Rest with a short rest.
So I would not consider Sorceror, but Bard does work out.
Remember to use one of your three 5th level Warlock Spellslot to cast it. Is does upcast, so effectively you get short rests for upto 5 people.
Oooohhh...Robe of the Archmagi.... yep. That negates any other options for AC by itself. Do that and forget about anything I said about AC in my previous post!
Yes but you could turn one of your warlock fifths into a 1st and a 2nd slot for additional casts after the initial spell slots run out. Along with other flexible casting and metamagic options plus whatever other subclass options you'd get from sorcerer, that'll be weighed against ritual casting and the short rest refresh items plus whatever other options from bard. The cantrip options favor Sorcerer, EB will probably be fine for most options but if you need other offensive options, Sorcerer has more and a better variety. Of course, that's a moot point if pact of the tome is chosen, but it wasn't suggested earlier. Bard is probably more generally useful overall, but sorcerer might give some specific things that you're looking for. Then again, fighter 6 for a melee backup build would give an extra ASI (or regain one, depending on your outlook), would give the extra attack, action surge, second wind, fighting style, HP buff, and whatever goodies from the martial archetype. Champion might actually be superior from the rest recharge standpoint, but the crit bonus renders part of Hexblade's curse moot, which may or may not matter. If going fighter, the temptation to start fighter might be high due to a little more HP and con saves, but will you actually need the con saves as much for concentration or would the warlocks Wisdom saves be better for the run through hell, dante's inferno, or whatever? Also, getting either fiendlock for Dark One's Blessing, Fiendish Vigor, or enduring that someone has Inspiring Leader might be a good idea, just remember that Inspiring Leader requires a short or a long rest to get more than 1 use out of it.
Robe of the Archmagi is really, really, powerful. You get a bonus to hit, great options for AC, and Magic Resistance. It is literally so good that I forgot that it even granted magic resistance, a really good ability. It could be artifact level in power.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
If there's another caster in the party, they may be able to sneak a Catnap in for you at some point to allow you to catch a Short Rest in a shorter window.
Apart from that, Illusionist's Bracers+EB Specialization (Agonizing Blast, Grasp of Hadar/Eldritch Spear/Lance of Lethargy/Repelling Blast/Spell Sniper) will honestly make you one of the better DPR players on your team. Eight 1d10+5 attacks per round from up to 1200 feet away ignoring partial cover and sliding targets around to your advantage, that's going to put the hurt where you need it even before you factor in things like Hex or Hexblade's Curse.
Throw on a Ring of Spell Storing for one more spell slot.
Dual wield a Staff of Power in addition to your Rod of the Pact Keeper, the bonuses of both will stack for a total of +5 to your EB's (and arguably, +2 damage to your EB bolts as well, depending on whether you make those spell attacks "with" the staff as a focus).
If you have room in your invocations, Ascendant Step won't be useful in EVERY encounter, but there will certainly be many that let you safely float above the fray raining death from above while Levitating. Or, be an Aarakocra!
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I would recommend using a Staff of the Magi over a Staff of Power. You lose two AC, but you get many more charges and spell absorption. I would go with one of these magic item setups:
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Of note, with Pact of the Blade and the Improved Pact Weapon invocation, the Defender arguably adds its +3 to attack and damage rolls "made with" the weapon to Eldritch Blast rolls, if using a Focus means spell attacks are "made with" the Focus, and if you can use a focus for S-component spells that lack an M-component. That would make the Robe-Staff-Defender setup give a total +8 to EB attack rolls, and a +3 to damage rolls. (Yes, this really is my rule question of the day that somehow keeps popping up in every thread I'm following :p )
I still think you need the Illusionist's Bracers though no matter what, it's just too much DPR to pass up four more 1d10+Stuff attacks as a Bonus Action, considering you're going to be spending most rounds casting EB.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
That is brilliant.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
This. Unlimited Hold Monster per day will do more in an all-out assault than any other option. This and Agathys and your allies will adore you. You won’t have the spell slots to make Smites worthwhile and honestly EB damage will be outpaced by other melee characters, so just focus on giving your allies advantage and use EB when you’ve got nothing else.
Edit: throw in Cloak of Flies for constant chip at close range. Fiendish Vigor between battle rounds to help you stay alive. Gift of the Ever Living Ones to ensure you’re healed fully when you need it. Shroud of Shadow to give you and your party additional defenses.
This way you’re not reliant on your spell slots unless absolutely necessary and you can support your team with more than just damage.
Cloak of Flies deals poison, so I think most fiends will flat out ignore that. Gift of the Ever Living Ones I highly recommend, and Tomb of Levistus is a great panic button in case of emergency.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Invocations that say "... once using a Warlock spell slot" can all probably be safely ignored for this build, since you're saying you aren't going to get to rest. Stuff that says "...once without expending a spell slot" are only slightly better, we want stuff that you'll get several uses of throughout the day (which is why I always frown at Tomb of Levistus). Really what you're left with a choice of 8 of are:
Put it together and what have you got? Regardless of subclass, I recommend a Pact of the Chain warlock with Agonizing Blast, Devil's Sight, Shroud of Shadow, Ascendant Step, and Chains of Carceri. For the other three, some mix of Repelling Blast, Grasp of Hadar, Gift of the Ever Living Ones, Gift of the Depths, or Armor of Shadows would probably be my recommendation.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I would bold Gift of the Ever-Living ones. Maximized healing is very good when spell slots and healing is limited, and I think is probably higher priority than Ascendant Step or Shroud of Shadow. If you are fighting Devils, they are going to have Devil's Sight, so Darkness won't be useful against them, but you will be immune to it if they use it one you.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Yeah, GotELO probably does deserve to be the sixth must-pick, but I wouldn't drop Ascendant Step or Shroud of Shadow. Invisibility is a powerful offensive, defensive, and exploration spell to have at-will for yourself or any one of your teammates, and being able to Levitate will often trivialize certain encounters or dangers. With room to still take two other fun invocations as a level 20 Warlock, there's no point cutting corners.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.