Dungeons & Dragons: Eldritch Invocations, Explained (2024)

In , there are full casters, such as wizards and sorcerers. Then there are half-casters, such as paladins and artificers, who have fewer spell slots and don’t get cantrips, and then there are warlocks. Functionally, warlocks are full spellcasters, given they can use cantrips.

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However, they technically don’t have access to spell slots above fifth level, and they have other class features that allow them to get around this limitation, one of which is Eldritch Invocations. These invocations have a variety of effects, and you know them on top of your spells. However, several require certain prerequisites to use.

How To Use Eldritch Invocations

You gain Eldritch Invocations starting at your second level of the warlock class or by taking the Eldritch Adept feat.

As long as you meet the necessary prerequisites, you can learn any Eldritch Invocation, and each invocation will explain when and how it can be used.

Between the Player’s Handbook, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, there are over 50 Eldritch Invocations. However, some will require a specific Pact Boon, spell, or level before you can take them.

Eldritch Invocations For Pact Of The Chain

Invocations that require the Pact of The Chain feature will all either help your familiar or help your familiar help you.

Voice of the Chain Master

With this, you can telepathically communicate with your familiar, look through their senses, and even speak through your familiar. This is really helpful if your party is ever split up or you need to investigate something far away.

Investment of the Chain Master

This allows you to strengthen your familiar by letting it use your spell save DC if it forces enemies to make a saving throw, allowing its attacks to be magical, and protecting your little guy by using your reaction to grant it resistance to damage.

Eldritch Invocations For Pact of The Blade

Since Pact of the Blade grants you a magic weapon you’re proficient in, most of the invocations for it helps improve damage. However, most official ones have level prerequisites, so you can’t use them immediately.

Improved Pact Weapon

With this invocation, you can use your weapon as a spellcasting focus, preventing you from worrying about keeping more things on your person.

When you use your weapon, you can have a +1 to both your damage rolls and attack rolls, and this increases the types of weapons you can summon as a pact weapon to include ranged options like a shortbow or heavy crossbow.

Thirsting Blade

This invocation requires you to be fifth level or higher, but it allows you to attack twice when you use your pact weapon as an action. It’s a useful way to potentially do more damage to a single target.

Eldritch Invocations For Pact of The Tome

Pact of the Tome gives you a spellbook that allows you to learn three cantrips from any class’s spell list and will provide features that help with spellcasting and preparation.

Aspect of the Moon

This invocation makes it so you no longer need to sleep and can’t be put to sleep. Instead, if you want to get the benefits of a long rest, you can do light activity.

If your party is prone to getting ambushed, this is a good way to always have someone on watch, cast spells with multiple hour casting times, or copy spells into your tome.

Book of Ancient Secrets

Book of Ancient Secrets allows you to cast ritual spells and copy any new ritual spells you find into your tome. You can only cast these spells as rituals, but you can use spells from any class as long as they have the ritual tag.

Eldritch Invocations For Pact of The Talisman

The Pact of the Talisman doesn’t require you personally to have your talisman on you. It’s very useful to give it to another ally to help protect them.

Rebuke of the Talisman

When someone wearing your talisman gets hit with an attack, and you can see them, you can push the attacker away using this invocation and deal a small amount of psychic damage using your reaction.

If you need to protect an important NPC or want to help keep enemies away from your healer, this can help with crowd control.

Protection of The Talisman

When whoever is wearing your talisman fails a saving throw, they can add a d4 to try and improve it. However, you have to be seventh level to take this invocation.

Eldritch Invocations For Eldritch Blast

The signature warlock cantrip, Eldritch Blast, can also be improved with invocations, taking this cantrip and turning it into a reliable attacking option even at higher levels.

Agonizing Blast

This allows you to add your Charisma modifier to the damage from anything you hit with Eldritch Blast, making it better at higher levels.

Lance of Lethargy

If you need a way to do some crowd control or keep your enemies in one place to help your barbarian, for example, you can use Lance of Lethargy to slow down enemies with Eldritch Blast and reduce their movement speed.

Eldritch Invocations That Grant Spells

Various invocations allow you to cast a spell once per long rest, in some cases not even requiring a spell slot. These are good ways to expand your spell list outside the ones you already know.

Eldritch Invocations For Hexes

If you have the spell Hex, are a hexblade warlock, or can cast Bestow Curse thanks to the Signs of Ill Omen invocation, you can use a couple of special invocations on creatures you’ve hexed.

Maddening Hex

You can deal psychic damage to the creature you’ve hexed and creatures immediately surrounding it equal to your charisma modifier.

Relentless Hex

You can teleport to a creature you’ve hexed as long as they’re in range and within sight. This is really helpful if you need to get out of a sticky situation quickly or catch up to a fleeing enemy.

Other Eldritch Invocations

There are yet more Eldritch Invocations that don’t fall into the other categories. These can have a variety of effects for both combat and roleplay.

Beguiling Influence

Beguiling Influence simply gives you proficiency in your deception and persuasion checks.

Although simple, these two checks come up often and will often be the difference between getting something done quickly and having to fight your way through, so it’s always helpful.

Cloak of Flies

This one does exactly what the name says: it surrounds you in a bunch of buzzing flies. Unsurprisingly, this gives you disadvantage on every type of Charisma check except for intimidation.

Enemies that start their turn within your aura will take poison damage, which is mostly useful for combat.

Eldritch Mind

This gives you advantage on concentration checks to maintain spells, something that is always useful for spell casters because you can keep your spells up longer.

Ghostly Gaze

This one is good for exploring dungeons because it allows you to see through solid objects as long as you can keep up concentration.

If you ever need to spy on someone or find hidden treasure, this is a good invocation. However, you can only use it once you’ve at least finished a short rest.

The Eldritch Adept Feat

The Eldritch Adept feat allows non-Warlocks to gain one Eldritch Invocation and choose which stat they’d like to use for spellcasting.

However, you can only use this if the invocation does not have a prerequisite. If it has any prerequisite, you have to be a Warlock, meaning even if you have Eldritch Blast, you can’t take Agonizing Blast unless you talk to your DM about it first.

As such, non-Warlocks should either take one of the invocations that grant a spell or something like Eldritch Mind or Beguiling Influence that doesn't require anything.

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