Here’s how the DnD 2024 Warlock works

We at Wargamer got a first look at the DnD 2024 Warlock thanks to an early review sample from Wizards of the Coast, though thankfully not at the cost of our souls. Here’s everything that players need to know about the new (and potentially improved) Warlock class.

The Warlock 5e has always been one of the most popular DnD classes, with its easy access to powerful combat spells, and their flavorful pacts with otherworldly entities. Only time will tell whether the changes in Dungeons and Dragons 2024 fundamentally alter this classic class – there’s tons of new material to go over.

Here’s what’s changed with the DnD 2024 Warlock:

DnD 2024 Warlock traits

First, let’s look at how the DnD 2024 Warlock progresses. For the most part, Warlocks still progress much the same as in 5e, but with two significant changes: they now have more Eldritch Invocations at every level, and gain new class features.

Level One

Pact magic

The progression of Warlock spellcasting remains the same, with their known spells, spell slots, and maximum slot level unchanged. However, spells taken from other DnD sourcebooks have expanded the core Warlock spell list. You can also freely swap cantrips when you gain a Warlock level, encouraging dynamic build changes.

Eldritch Invocations

Wizards has overhauled how Eldritch Invocations work. In addition to having more Eldritch Invocations available per level, Pact Boons have become Eldritch Invocations, meaning you can have multiple Pacts active simultaneously. Many invocations now have new features or different-level requirements, while others have disappeared entirely.

Notable Reworks

• Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast, and Eldritch Spear are no longer limited to the Eldritch Blast cantrip.
• Fiendish Vigor always gives maximum healing.
• Gaze of Two Minds is now a bonus action, and you are no longer blinded, deafened, or unable to cast spells while using the feature.
• Lifedrinker can now deal Necrotic, Radiant, or Psychic damage and restore hitpoints.
• Witch Sight now grants True Sight up to 30 feet.
• Pact of the Blade is now a bonus action and no longer counts as a magical weapon. However, it can now deal Necrotic, Psychic or Radiant damage.
• Pact of the Chain no longer requires a ritual, and Find Familiar can be cast for free. New familiars include Skeleton, Slaad Tadpole, Sphinx of Wonder, Sprite, and Venomous Snake.

These reworks should motivate players to pick up some Invocations they ignored previously. With Warlock’s reputation so tied to the classic Agonizing + Repelling Blast combo, more invocations with potent effects could inspire players to try new combos.

Buffing the Blast invocations to work with more cantrips should help diversify the class’s offense. Hopefully, the Warlock is more than just an Eldritch Blast slinger like usual.

New Invocations

• Devouring Blade grants the player a third Extra Attack, provided you have the Thirsting Blade invocation equipped.
• Lessons of the First Ones grants an Origin feat, and players can take the invocation once every level. The player must choose a different Origin Feat whenever they take this invocation.

Lessons of the First Ones has the potential to be quite disgusting if the feats synergize with the invocations. Since you can take the invocation at every level, the invocation gives away free feats, freeing the Warlock to pick Ability Score Improvement for stat bonuses. Particularly bold Warlocks could have 14 feats (and no other stat improvements) at the 20th level. Whether or not that’s a good idea is a tossup.

Missing Invocations

• Beast Speech
• Beguiling Influence
• Bewitching Whispers
• Book of Ancient Secrets
• Chains of Carceri
• Dreadful Word
• Eyes of the Rune Keeper
• Minions of Chaos
• Mire the Mind
• Sculptor of Flesh
• Sing of Ill Omen
• Thief of Five Fates
• Voice of the Chain Master

Wizards has yet to confirm if these missing Eldritch Invocations will return in later DnD books.

Level Two

At level two, players receive Magical Cunning instead of Eldritch Invocations. The feature lets Warlocks perform an esoteric rite for one minute once per Long Rest. Afterward, they regain expended Pact Magic spell slots, up to half their maximum (rounded up).

This newfound way to restore spell slots offsets one of the class’s significant weaknesses, and should limit how much time Warlocks spend nagging the rest of the party for Long Rests.

Level Three, Six, Ten, and Fourteen

Warlocks choose their Otherworldly Patron instead of Pact Boons at level three. There’s a big overhaul to the spells provided by your Patron – rather than simply expanding the Warlock spell list when picking spells to prepare, you always have your Patron’s spells prepared. This will let you lean heavily into the core identity of your subclass without sacrificing powerful spells from the core Warlock list.

In addition to the widespread changes to the class, the following DnD Warlock subclasses have received changes:

Archfey

The 2024 PHB has overhauled the Archfey Warlock patron significantly. The spell list remains the same but with the notable inclusion of Misty Step.

The new class feature, Steps of the Fey, takes full advantage of Misty Step. The feature allows Warlocks to cast the spell a number of times equal to their Charisma modifier without expending a spell slot. Warlocks regain all these uses after a long rest. Whenever an Archfey Warlock casts Misty Step, they can apply one of the following effects.

• Refreshing Step: After teleportation, you or a creature you can see within 10 feet of yourself gains 1d10 Temporary Hit Points.
• Taunting Step: Creatures within five feet of the space you just left must succeed in a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. If they fail, they have a disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you until the start of your next turn.

The sixth-level feature Misty Escape now explicitly casts Misty Step as a reaction. You also gain the following Steps of the Fey options:

• Disappearing Step: You become invisible until your next turn begins or break invisibility by attacking, dealing damage, or casting a spell.
  Dreadful Step: Creatures within five feet of the space you left or the space you appear in (your choice) must succeed in a Wisdom saving throw or take 2d10 Psychic Damage.
• Beguiling Defenses retains immunity against the Charm condition. However, instead of the old counter-charm feature, the feature now grants you a Reaction to reduce the damage taken from a successful attack roll by half.

The attacker must then succeed in a Wisdom saving throw or take Psychic damage equal to the damage you just took from them. You can use this Reaction once per long rest or restore it by expending a Pact Magic spell slot.

Finally, Bewitching Magic replaces Dark Delirium as the 14th-level feature. The new feature lets Archfey Warlocks cast Misty Step for free whenever they cast an Enchantment or Illusion spell with an action and a spell slot. These reworks make Misty Step the cornerstone of the Archfey Patron subclass, making them quite the slippery and subversive caster.

Celestial

Celestial Warlocks don’t get quite as many changes as the other subclasses. Their spell list remains mostly the same, but Aid replaces Flaming Sphere, and Summon Celestial replaces Flame Strike. As for class features, Radiant Soul now applies the Charisma modifier to all the spell’s damage against one of its targets.

Celestial Resistance also grants Temporary hit points whenever you use Magical Cunning. Finally, Celestial Warlocks can use Searing Vengeance on allies instead of just themselves. Overall, Celestial Warlocks gained better support features and spells.

Fiend

Fiend Warlocks get a few more tweaks than Celestial Warlock, but still not as many as Archfey. The Fiend spell list drops Blindness/Deafness in favor of Suggestion at level three, and the level nine spell Flame Strike and Hallow are gone in favor of Geas and Insect Plague: much more biblical.

Features-wise, Dark One’s Blessing, in addition to its old features, will trigger when an enemy dies within 10 feet of you, so you no longer need to be the party kill-stealer to get the temporary HP.

You can now use Dark One’s Own Luck a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, but only once per roll. These uses regenerate after a Long Rest. Fiendish Resilience no longer protects against Force damage but is no longer negated by silver and magic weapons.

Finally, Hurl Through Hell now deals 8d10 damage instead of 10d10, does not deal damage against Fiends, and allows a Charisma saving throw to avoid. However, this signature ability now Incapacitates the creature until the end of your next turn. You can also restore the use of Hurl Through Hell by expending a Pact Magic spell slot.

Overall, Fiend sacrifices raw damage potential for versatility and survivability.

Great Old One

The Great Old One Warlock’s rework rivals the Archfey, as far as changes go. Hunger of Hadar, Confusion, Summon Aberration, and Modify Memory replace Sending, Dominate Beast, Evard’s Black Tentacles, and Dominate Person, respectively, in the spell list.

Awakened Mind is now a Bonus Action that allows you to communicate telepathically with any creature within 30 feet that shares a language with you. You must also remain within a certain number of miles equal to your Charisma modifier. The connection lasts a number of minutes equal to your Warlock level.

Psychic Spells is a new feature that allows you to change any damage-dealing Warlock spell’s damage type to Psychic. In addition, Warlock Enchantment or Illusion spells no longer require Verbal and Somatic components.

Clairvoyant Combatant replaces Entropic Ward. The new feature allows you to force a Wisdom saving throw against a creature affected by Awakened Mind. On a failed save, they have Disadvantage on Attack Rolls against you, and you have Advantage on Attack Rolls against them while bonded. You can use the feature once per Long Rest or restore it by expending a Pact Magic spell slot.

Eldritch Hex is a new feature that makes Hex a perpetually prepared spell. Whenever you cast Hex and choose an ability, the target also has disadvantage on saving throws of that same ability until the spell ends.

Finally, Create Thrall changes the Summon Aberration spell so that it no longer requires concentration to sustain. When used this way, the spell’s duration is one minute, and the Aberration gains Temporary Hit Points equal to your Warlock level plus Charisma modifier. If the Aberration hits a creature affected by your Hex, the target takes extra psychic damage equal to Hex’s bonus damage.

These changes make Great Old One a more offense-oriented class suited for single-target destruction.

Level Nine

Contact Patron

Warlocks get Contact Patron, which lets them communicate directly with their Patron through the Contact Other Plane spell. You can cast the spell without expending a slot once per long rest, and the spell automatically succeeds in its saving throw.

Level Eleven, Thirteen, Fifteen and Seventeen

Mystic Arcanum

The iconic Warlock feature Mystic Arcanum mostly remains the same – picking a Warlock spell you can cast once per Long Rest without spending a spell slot – but with a few tweaks. Players can now replace their arcanum spell once per Warlock level. The core Warlock spell list has also been streamlined, slightly cutting down on the spells available to you.

Level Nineteen

Epic Boon

Warlocks get an Epic Boon feat at this level, a feature that used to be exclusive to 20th-level characters and only as a reward from the DM. In DnD 2024, every class is guaranteed an Epic Boon at the 19th level. You can check out our DnD 2024 feats guide to see what Epic Boons there are.

Level Twenty

Eldritch Master

The Eldritch Mastery feature remains functionally the same but with different wording. It now reads, “When you use your Magical Cunning feature, you regain all expended Pact Magic spell slots.”

Overall, the DnD 2024 Warlock class became stronger in a lot of areas but lost a few spells and invocations along the way. While only time will tell how potent these changes are, nothing sticks out as a massive nerf, which should come as a relief for Warlock mains.

The subclasses have noticeably more distinctive identities. The Archfey is evasive and befuddling, the Great Old One is psychic and otherworldly, and the Celestial Warlock is a natural pairing with the heavenly DnD Aasimar, now that it’s one of the core DnD races in the new Player’s Handbook.

But overall, this is an evolution, rather than a transformation – fitting for a character being subtly shaped by the will of an all-powerful patron. Make sure you read our DnD 2024 Player’s Handbook review to learn what our resident expert Mollie Russell makes of the new edition, and our guide to the DnD release schedule to find out when to expect the rest of the core books.

Source: Wargamer