What is the best cantrip for Warlock in D&D 2024?

Eldritch Blast is a reliable ranged option that can interact with several Invocations. It is not mandatory for a Pact of the Blade character whose weapon attacks are the better default turn.

How does Pact Magic work in D&D 2024?

Pact Magic uses a small number of same-level slots that return after a Short or Long Rest. Warlocks prepare level 1+ spells, and their table determines both slot level and how many spells they can prepare.

Should every Warlock prepare Hex?

Hex helps a character making repeated hits against one target, but it uses Concentration and bonus actions. A control spell, summon, or short fight can make another Concentration option better.

Which Mystic Arcanum spells are best for Warlock?

Choose an Arcanum for a missing party capability, such as travel, battlefield control, information, or one high-stakes encounter. Its value depends on the campaign and current spell text.

D&D 2024 Warlock Spell List - Best Spells by Level

Introduction

This guide is part of the D&D 2024 Spell Guides hub.

Warlocks prepare a small level 1+ spell list and cast it through Pact Magic. That makes selection a pacing decision: spend a slot on the current fight, preserve it for a later problem, or rely on an Invocation that handles the job without a slot. A useful list reflects the campaign's real rest cadence, not an imagined day with unlimited recovery.

Most Warlocks need a dependable at-will turn, one Concentration plan, and a few spells for movement, control, defense, or campaign utility. Patron spells that are always prepared do not consume the number of spells prepared through Pact Magic.

A warlock studies a spellbook beside a campfire and ruined standing stones

Pact Magic and Prepared Spells

The Warlock Features table sets the number and level of Pact Magic slots. All of those slots are the same level, and every expended Pact Magic slot returns after a Short or Long Rest. At level 5, for example, a Warlock has two level 3 slots, so even a level 1 spell uses and benefits from a level 3 slot.

Warlocks prepare their level 1+ spells. Start with two level 1 Warlock spells, add spells as the Prepared Spells column grows, and choose no spell above the table's current slot level. When the character gains a Warlock level, they may replace one prepared spell with another eligible Warlock spell. Patron spells that are always prepared do not count against this list.

At level 2, Magical Cunning can restore expended Pact Magic slots up to half the character's maximum, rounded up, after a one-minute rite. It returns once per Long Rest. Treat it as recovery between scenes, not an extra combat turn.

Invocations can provide repeatable magical effects, defenses, senses, or utility. Check their current prerequisites and wording before preparing a spell to do the same job. An Invocation that handles the routine case leaves the prepared list free for control or emergencies.

Cantrip Choices

Cantrip	When It Helps	Notes
Eldritch Blast	The character needs a reliable ranged attack and has supporting Invocations.	Its beams and Invocation interactions use the current class text.
Toll the Dead	A Wisdom-save option is more useful than an attack roll.	Compare the target's likely defense before using it as a backup.
Minor Illusion	The group can use a small sound or image to create cover, a distraction, or a signal.	It relies on a plausible plan and the current spell limits.
Prestidigitation	A social, travel, or roleplay scene benefits from a minor magical effect.	Its value is table and campaign dependent.
Mage Hand	The party needs to manipulate an object from a safer position.	It is utility, not a replacement for a combat turn.
Chill Touch	Preventing recovery or using its target profile matters.	It is a specific answer rather than a default damage choice.
True Strike	The character's current build and spell entry make a weapon-focused cantrip worthwhile.	Compare it with the attacks or cantrips the character already has.

Eldritch Blast is a common ranged default for a Warlock, especially when an Invocation adds a push, pull, slow, or damage rider. A Pact of the Blade character may instead use weapon attacks as the normal action and reserve Eldritch Blast for turns when range matters.

Hot Take: Eldritch Blast earns its place when an Invocation creates a positioning result the party can exploit. Pushing an enemy away from an ally or back into a control area can matter more than a small damage increase. Pick the rider for the party's plan, not because every Warlock is expected to stack the same options.

Spells by Level

Level 1

Spell	When to Prepare It	Tradeoff
Hex	The character expects repeated hits against a target and can keep Concentration.	It occupies Concentration and uses bonus actions to start or move.
Armor of Agathys	The Warlock expects to be hit in melee or needs a buffer before danger.	It is less valuable for a character who stays unreachable.
Hellish Rebuke	A reaction-based response to being hit fits the character's defenses.	It competes with any other reaction the character may need.
Charm Person	The campaign has social scenes where a brief magical edge will not create a larger problem.	It is not reliable combat control.
Comprehend Languages	The party repeatedly needs language support and no other character can supply it.	An Invocation, ritual access, or another party member may cover this more efficiently.

Hex is not a permanent combat setting. It fits a fight where the Warlock will land several hits on one target and does not need a different Concentration spell. In a short fight, a crowded battlefield, or a control-heavy party, another use of the slot may matter more.

Armor of Agathys improves when a melee-oriented Warlock expects enemies to hit them. It is defensive preparation with a retaliatory cost for attackers, not a reason to seek every hit.

Level 2

Spell	When to Prepare It	Tradeoff
Misty Step	A blocked route, grapple, hazard, or vertical obstacle would otherwise cost a turn.	It uses the bonus action.
Hold Person	The campaign has Humanoid enemies and the party can exploit the condition.	It is narrow and depends on a saving throw.
Invisibility	Exploration, infiltration, or a social approach benefits from avoiding notice.	It can end at the wrong time and may be unnecessary in direct combat.
Mirror Image	A character expects attacks and needs defense without Concentration.	It is less useful against threats that do not target with attacks.
Shatter	Enemies or objects are clustered and an immediate area effect is needed.	It spends a scarce Pact Magic slot.

Misty Step protects the Warlock's action economy. Use it when ordinary movement cannot put the character in a useful position before their action matters.

Level 3

Spell	When to Prepare It	Tradeoff
Hunger of Hadar	The party can force enemies to remain in an area or control the exits.	It uses Concentration and can disrupt allies who need clear sight or space.
Counterspell	Enemy spellcasters are a recurring campaign threat.	It uses a slot and reaction, so it needs a meaningful spell to stop.
Hypnotic Pattern	A group of enemies is vulnerable to broad control and allies can avoid breaking it.	It depends on target type, saves, and party coordination.
Fear	Positioning and retreat routes make the Frightened condition valuable.	It is less useful when enemies cannot meaningfully retreat.
Summon Fey	A sustained summoned ally fits the encounter and the Warlock can protect Concentration.	It gives up every other Concentration plan.

Hunger of Hadar works when the party can hold enemies inside it or control the exits. Do not drop it where the group's melee characters need to stand, or where enemies can simply leave without cost. Check the current spell text for its sight, terrain, and damage effects.

Level 4

Spell	When to Prepare It	Tradeoff
Banishment	One priority target is preventing the party from handling the rest of the fight.	It competes with other Concentration spells; check the current entry.
Summon Aberration	A sustained extra combatant is better than an immediate control spell.	It uses Concentration and requires the party to protect the summon plan.
Dimension Door	Two characters need to cross a distance or escape a hazard ordinary movement cannot solve.	It uses a high-level slot for utility rather than a fight.
Blight	A single tough target needs immediate necrotic damage.	It spends a scarce slot and can be poor in a mobile encounter.

Level 5

Spell	When to Prepare It	Tradeoff
Synaptic Static	A group of enemies is close enough for an area spell and an Intelligence save is favorable.	It spends a high-level Pact Magic slot for one immediate effect.
Hold Monster	One creature is the encounter's bottleneck and the party can exploit the condition.	It is a Concentration gamble against a saving throw.
Scrying	Information about a person, place, or object will change the party's plan.	It is campaign utility, not a routine combat spell.
Mislead	A deception or infiltration scene can use its specific tools.	It is narrow if the campaign resolves problems directly.

Synaptic Static offers immediate area pressure without taking Concentration. Hold Monster is priority-target control, and it belongs in an encounter where one target matters more than other uses of Concentration.

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Mystic Arcanum Choices

Mystic Arcanum starts at level 11 with a level 6 Warlock spell. The feature adds level 7, 8, and 9 choices at later levels. Each Arcanum can be cast once without a spell slot and returns after a Long Rest; a Warlock can replace an Arcanum with another spell of the same level when gaining a Warlock level.

Need	Possible Direction	Question to Ask
High-stakes control	A spell such as Flesh to Stone, Scatter, or Forcecage.	Does the party have a way to exploit the controlled space or target?
Travel and access	Plane Shift or another travel spell.	Will the campaign use interplanar travel or extraction?
Social leverage	Glibness or another social option.	Does the table run scenes where the spell's limits matter?
Long encounter support	Foresight or another durable effect.	Is there a predictable major fight worth spending the daily resource on?

Read the current Arcanum feature and spell entry before deciding that a listed spell is available or functions like an older printing. A rare high-level spell should answer a known campaign problem.

Strong Prepared Spells

These are frequent choices, not a universal list:

Eldritch Blast: A reliable ranged action for builds that support it with Invocations.
Hex: A Concentration option for repeated hits against one target.
Armor of Agathys: A buffer for a character who expects melee pressure.
Misty Step: A bonus-action solution to a positioning problem.
Hunger of Hadar: A Concentration control plan for a party that can exploit the area.
Counterspell: A campaign answer for enemy casters and dangerous magical effects.
Synaptic Static: An immediate area spell when keeping Concentration free matters.

Spells That Need a Specific Reason

Confusion: It can control a crowd, but it needs a fight where its uncertainty and Concentration cost are acceptable.

Crown of Madness: It requires the right Humanoid target, positioning, and follow-up. Prepare it only when those constraints are likely to occur.

Spider Climb: It is useful in a vertical campaign, but check whether an Invocation, a species trait, equipment, or another party member already covers movement.

True Strike: Its current wording and the character's weapon plan decide its value. Compare it with the action the Warlock would otherwise take.

Hideous Laughter: It is low-level control with a fragile condition. It may fit an early campaign without replacing stronger control once the list becomes crowded.

Build-Specific Picks

Ranged Invocation Build

This build wants a dependable ranged turn and a way to exploit forced movement or controlled space.

Eldritch Blast: Pair a damage or movement Invocation with the party's terrain and control plan.
Hex: Use it when one target will take repeated hits and Concentration is free.
Hunger of Hadar: Use it where allies can keep enemies inside or punish exits.
Misty Step: Preserve a turn when the backline is threatened or an angle disappears.
Synaptic Static: Use an immediate area spell when Concentration must remain open.

Pact of the Blade Build

This build needs to survive melee and decide when a spell is better than another weapon attack.

Armor of Agathys: Prepare before an encounter where the Warlock expects to be hit.
Mirror Image: Add defense without using Concentration.
Misty Step: Escape a bad melee position or reach a priority target.
Hold Person or Hold Monster: Choose it when the party can exploit one disabled target.
Banishment: Keep it for an enemy the character should not try to defeat alone in melee.

Patron Control Build

Patron features differ, so build around the current feature list rather than an inherited subclass label.

Hunger of Hadar, Fear, or Hypnotic Pattern: Choose the one whose area, target restriction, and party coordination fit the campaign.
Counterspell: Hold the reaction for spells that would change the fight.
Dimension Door: Create an extraction or infiltration route the party otherwise lacks.
Mystic Arcanum: Add travel, information, or high-level control missing from the group.

Patron and Expansion Spell Access

The 2024 Player's Handbook patrons are Archfey, Celestial, Fiend, and Great Old One. Their always-prepared spells can supply a role before the character spends an ordinary prepared-spell choice. At level 9, Contact Patron also leaves Contact Other Plane always prepared and provides one free, automatically successful casting to contact the patron per Long Rest.

Ravenloft's Undead Patron is an approved expansion option. It provides Bane, Blindness/Deafness, Phantasmal Force, and Ray of Sickness at Warlock level 3; Speak with Dead and Summon Undead at level 5; Greater Invisibility and Phantasmal Killer at level 7; and Antilife Shell and Cloudkill at level 9. Those spells are always prepared when the patron grants them, so they widen the character's options without displacing the prepared Pact Magic list.

Heroes of Faerun adds three Warlock-list spells: Backlash, a level 4 reaction to reduce damage and potentially return force damage; Doomtide, a level 4 Concentration darkness and area-control spell; and Blade of Disaster, a level 9 Concentration Mystic Arcanum candidate that creates and moves a damaging planar rift. Doomtide competes directly with Hunger of Hadar and other Concentration plans. Backlash is most useful when the Warlock expects to be damaged and can afford the reaction.

Arcana Unleashed Spell Access

The supplied Arcana Unleashed spell table gives Warlocks twenty-two verified entries: Battle Familiar, Dueling Ground, and Uncertain Footing (2nd); Inflict Doubt (3rd); Distorted Distance, Festering Blast, and Zone of Amicability (4th); Enervation, Grave Ground, Negative Energy Flood, Spirit Lantern, and Waves of Exhaustion (5th); Aura of Evasion, Fractured Awareness, Power Word Pain, Reweave Fate, and Transfix (7th); Entrancing Mirrors and Iron Body (8th); and Detonate, Vision of Elapsing Eons, and Wail of the Banshee (9th).

Pact Magic makes the opportunity cost sharp. A new entry needs a clear upcast or Mystic Arcanum role before it earns a prepared-spell slot. Verify the sourcebook's current text and the GM's source policy, then use the D&D 2024 Spell Guides hub for cross-class access or the Arcana Unleashed overview for sourcebook scope.

Bottom Line

Warlock spell selection is a pacing problem. Know what the campaign's rest schedule supports, decide which Concentration spell owns the next encounter, use Invocations for repeatable utility where possible, and prepare a spell for the party's recurring gap. That gives Pact Magic room to feel flexible without pretending every spell slot is disposable.

For the full Warlock class breakdown, including ability scores, subclasses, feat choices, and level-by-level features, see the Warlock Class Guide.

Other D&D 2024 Spell Lists

Each 2024 class has its own defined spell list, so comparing lists shows what a multiclass choice adds or replaces: Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer, and Wizard.

Start from the D&D 2024 Spell Guides hub for the class-by-class changes in 2024.