Best Warlock Eldritch Invocations in Tales of the Valiant — Ranked Guide

Introduction

The Warlock is the most interesting class in Tales of the Valiant to build. Not because of its spells — you get fewer slots than any full caster, and your spell list, while strong, isn't dramatically wider than what a Sorcerer or Witch gets. The Warlock is interesting because of Eldritch Invocations: the modular, continuously-evolving toolkit that lets you construct an almost completely custom ability profile from 2nd level onward.

At 2nd level you pick two invocations. By 19th level you have ten. Between those two points, you can swap one invocation each time you gain a warlock level — meaning your build is never locked in, and you can adapt as your campaign evolves. This is the Warlock's distinctive mechanical identity: not a fixed progression path but a shopping list you refine over time.

The problem is that most Warlock guides treat invocations as a supplementary feature — a bonus on top of Eldritch Blast and Pact Boons. They're not. Invocations are the class. Your Pact Boon is the frame. Your spells are the backup. Your invocations are the engine. Getting them right is the entire game.

This guide rates Eldritch Invocations from the ToV base Players Guide and Player's Guide 2, organizes them by tier, breaks them down by Pact Boon synergy, and gives you complete sample loadouts at every key level milestone for Blade, Chain, and Tome builds. It also calls out the Labyrinth Worldbook patron context and the Book of Blades support layer where local guides make them relevant. No hedging. No "it depends on your group." Just what's correct and why.

The bottom line: Agonizing Blast is mandatory. Mystic Arcanum stacked four times is the endgame. Everything in between is where you express your build identity — and where most Warlocks waste slots on invocations that sound good but accomplish nothing.

Book of Blades does not change the invocation list in the local material. It changes what you pair with invocations: Battle Tactician (Book of Blades), War Dancer (Book of Blades), and Weapon Option Specialist (Book of Blades) for martial-access Warlocks; Ritualist, Combat Casting, and Mental Fortitude for Magic talent builds; and Privileged (Book of Blades) or Martial Law (Book of Blades) for heritage support.

Labyrinth Worldbook also does not add new Eldritch Invocation entries in the local class-options material reviewed here. It adds Celestial (Labyrinth Worldbook) and Void Saint (Labyrinth Worldbook) patrons, which changes the context around invocations: Celestial cares more about concentration support, party-facing utility, and possibly Chain or Tome; Void Saint cares about save pressure, Patron's Anchor, Eldritch Blast riders, and void-magic control.

Player's Guide 2 does add new invocations: Deep Dweller, Devil's Tongue, Night Vigil, Primal Voice, and Psychic Shroud. None replaces Agonizing Blast or Patron's Anchor, because we are still living in reality. But Devil's Tongue is a serious social pick, Psychic Shroud matters for close-range and intrigue play, and the other three are exactly the kind of campaign tools Warlocks love to pretend are "just flavor" until the session where they save everyone.

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Disclaimer

Ratings use colored dots to indicate how strong an invocation is for the Warlock specifically. These are not universal ratings — context, campaign, and build matter, and where context is critical, it's noted.

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The Invocation Framework

Before diving into individual ratings, understand the invocation economy:

You have 10 invocations by 19th level. Of those, roughly 3–4 should be "locked in" permanent picks (Agonizing Blast, Patron's Anchor, Mystic Arcanum × 2–4 depending on level). The remaining 6–7 are your build identity — the choices that make your specific Warlock feel different from another player's Warlock with the same Pact Boon.

You can swap one per level-up. This means early picks don't have to be forever. Take something useful at 2nd level that you'll outgrow (Misty Visions for the utility, Stolen Knowledge for the skill coverage) and swap it out when you unlock a high-prerequisite pick (Chains of Carceri at 15th, Lifedrinker at 11th). Play your current level, not your theoretical endgame.

Prerequisite invocations scale in value dramatically. Ascendant Step (9th level) is good; it costs a slot you could spend elsewhere but provides consistent levitate. Chains of Carceri (15th level) is exceptional; free greater hold once per long rest is one of the most powerful combat tools available to any class. Pay attention to what opens up at each milestone.

Eldritch Blast is the chassis. Several invocations directly modify Eldritch Blast. Taking every blast rider is wrong - you'd have no room for anything else. But the first two (Agonizing Blast + one modifier like Repelling Blast) form the core of your damage identity and should almost always both be present.

Player's Guide 2 adds breadth, not a new spine. The five PG2 invocations are not mandatory damage math. They are campaign levers: social dominance, mental privacy, wilderness communication, watch duty, and aquatic survival. That is useful, but it does not move Agonizing Blast, Patron's Anchor, Second Boon, Boon Savant, or Mystic Arcanum out of the core.

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Player's Guide 2 Invocation Notes

Player's Guide 2 adds five Warlock invocations. The important thing: they are not all trying to be combat staples.

Devil's Tongue is the standout. Proficiency plus advantage in Deception or Persuasion, plus magical uncertainty around whether you are lying, is enormous in intrigue, court, cult, infernal-contract, or fey-bargain campaigns. If your Warlock is the party face, this is blue-tier material.

Psychic Shroud is the combat-adjacent pick. It protects your thoughts and punishes hostile creatures starting beside you. Blade Warlocks, Fey Noble (Player's Guide 2), Void Saint (Labyrinth Worldbook), and social infiltrators get the cleanest use.

Night Vigil is watch-duty insurance. No sleep, magical sleep immunity, and a 4-hour inactive long rest are all real table utility. The value depends on whether your GM actually pressures rests and watches.

Primal Voice is wilderness and familiar-story tech. It is better for Chain, Elder Wood (The Old Margeve), Fey Noble (Player's Guide 2), and Beast/Animal-heavy campaigns than for stone-corridor dungeon crawls.

Deep Dweller is the aquatic campaign button. In a sea, swamp, river, or drowned-ruin campaign, it is excellent. In a dry campaign, it is what happens when your patron buys you scuba gear for a desert vacation.

Talent note: Valedictorian (Player's Guide 2) can grant one extra qualifying invocation and lets you replace it when you gain a Warlock level. That is a real build resource. Take it after your concentration and pact spine are stable.

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Book of Blades Build Notes

Book of Blades does not add new Warlock invocation entries in the local articles. Treat it as an overlay on pact, talent, heritage, and background choices.

Every Warlock: do not use Book of Blades as an excuse to skip the invocation core. Agonizing Blast, Patron's Anchor, Second Boon, Boon Savant, and Mystic Arcanum still decide whether the build works.

Martial-access Warlocks: Battle Tactician (Book of Blades), War Dancer (Book of Blades), Weapon Option Specialist (Book of Blades), and Tactical Planning (Book of Blades) are the important Book of Blades links. Battle Tactician is the standout because its DC uses CHA. Reaper (The Old Margeve) and Hunter in Darkness (The Old Margeve) are not Book of Blades patrons, but their martial talent access can make these Book of Blades talents relevant.

Tome and Chain Warlocks: Ritualist, Combat Casting, Mental Fortitude, and Spell Duelist are better places to look than Martial talents unless your patron or background explicitly opens them.

Social Warlocks: Privileged (Book of Blades) is the clean social upgrade. Martial Law (Book of Blades) is more tactical and ally-adjacent, which suits Blade or Reaper (The Old Margeve) better than a backline Tome build.

Hot take: if a Book of Blades talent competes directly with Agonizing Blast, Patron's Anchor, Lifedrinker, Boon Savant, or Mystic Arcanum, the invocation usually wins.

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Labyrinth Worldbook Patron Notes

Labyrinth Worldbook adds patrons, not new invocation entries in the local class-options material reviewed here. That means you should not hunt for a "Labyrinth invocation package." Keep the invocation spine, then tune around the patron.

Celestial (Labyrinth Worldbook): Patron's Anchor gets better because Divine-list access and Celestial pact spells give you more buffs, control, and utility worth protecting. Tome is attractive if you want the support-caster version; Chain is attractive if your campaign rewards familiar scouting and aid; Blade is only the priority if your party will exploit Sanctify's melee aura.

Void Saint (Labyrinth Worldbook): Agonizing Blast stays mandatory because Disquieting Strike can ride on Eldritch Blast beams. Patron's Anchor is also excellent because Intrusion of the Endless and the stronger control spells on the pact list want concentration to hold. Mystic Arcanum remains the endgame; void flavor is not a reason to skip high-circle spell access.

Hot take: Labyrinth Worldbook makes the patron choice more interesting, but it does not make the invocation fundamentals optional.

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Tier 1 — Must-Have Invocations

These invocations are correct in virtually every build. If you're not taking them, you need an exceptional justification.

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Agonizing Blast ●

Prerequisite: None

Add your CHA modifier to the damage of each beam dealt by your Eldritch Blast. At CHA 20, that's +5 damage per beam. At 5th level, two beams, that's +10 bonus damage on every Eldritch Blast action. At 14th level, four beams, that's +20 bonus force damage every single time you fire.

This is, without exaggeration, the strongest invocation in the game on a per-slot basis. Eldritch Blast is your primary attack and your primary source of consistent damage — and Agonizing Blast turns it from a respectable cantrip into one of the best sustained damage tools in Tales of the Valiant. No caster cantrip, no martial weapon attack, produces comparable consistent damage at comparable investment.

Take this at 2nd level. Always. If you skipped this invocation you have made a build error.

HOT TAKE: Every Warlock guide says take Agonizing Blast first. Every Warlock guide is right. It's not even a hot take anymore — it's just correct. The guides that try to make Agonizing Blast sound optional because "you might want to use your action for spells sometimes" are giving you a theoretical argument against a practical reality. You will fire Eldritch Blast more rounds than you cast spells. Take Agonizing Blast.

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Mystic Arcanum ●

Prerequisite: 11th Level

Choose one non-ritual spell from the Wyrd spell list. You can cast it once without expending a spell slot; after that, you must finish a long rest before doing so again. The maximum circle spell you can choose scales with your warlock level: 6th at 11th, 7th at 13th, 8th at 15th, 9th at 17th. You can take this invocation multiple times, choosing a different spell each time.

This invocation is the entire reason you play a Warlock past 10th level. The Warlock's fundamental design tension is that Pact Magic provides short-rest regenerating slots but tops out at 5th-circle — you are permanently capped below the ceiling of the game's spell system unless you use Mystic Arcanum. This is how you access 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th circle spells. Eyebite. Power word stun. Power word kill. Wish. These aren't available to you any other way.

Stack four Mystic Arcanum entries for four free high-circle spell casts per long rest. A 17th-level Warlock with four stacked Arcanum slots has: a 6th-circle free cast, a 7th-circle free cast, an 8th-circle free cast, and a 9th-circle free cast. Combined with Pact Magic's regenerating 5th-circle slots, this is extraordinary spell economy.

Recommended Arcanum choices by level:

• 11th level (6th circle): Eyebite — no save on the initial targeting, persistent harassment, excellent against low-WIS enemies
• 13th level (7th circle): Finger of death — 7d8 + 30 necrotic, guaranteed damage regardless of save; or power word pain for concentration-free incapacitation
• 15th level (8th circle): Power word stun — no save if target is below 150 HP; instant, no-counterplay incapacitation
• 17th level (9th circle): Power word kill — automatic death if target below 100 HP; or wish for campaign-altering utility

HOT TAKE: Mystic Arcanum at 11th level is the most efficient slot expenditure in the entire invocation list. Guides that recommend spending that slot on Sculptor of Flesh or Bewitching Whispers instead are actively costing you power. The moment you hit 11th level, Mystic Arcanum goes in. No argument.

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Patron's Anchor ●

Prerequisite: None

When you make a CON save to maintain concentration on a Wyrd spell or a spell cast with an Eldritch Invocation, you can choose to make a CHA save instead. In addition, you have advantage on the first save you make to maintain concentration each round.

Two separate, stacking benefits, and both are excellent. The substitution mechanic transforms your concentration from a CON-based liability into a CHA-based strength — the same stat your spell save DC runs on, the same stat you've maxed. A Warlock with CHA 20 and +6 proficiency bonus has a +11 CHA save modifier. That's an automatic success on most DC 10–15 concentration checks from hits.

The advantage on the first save per round is additional insurance. If something hits you for massive damage (say, 30+ hit points from a boss), you're rolling at advantage with a +11 modifier. Your concentration survives almost everything.

The Warlock has the same spell slot constraint problems as any short-rest caster — you need to make your spells stick. Patron's Anchor is what lets them stick. Without it, a single lucky hit from an enemy ends your slow, your hypnotic pattern, or your greater hold. With it, you're functionally immune to incidental combat damage breaking your concentration.

This invocation is criminally underrated in every Warlock guide. It belongs in the permanent core of every serious Warlock build.

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Second Boon ●

Prerequisite: 5th Level

You gain the benefits of a second Pact Boon. This is one of the strongest invocations in the list because it costs only one slot and delivers the full value of an entire class feature that normally defines a Warlock's identity.

Every Warlock should take Second Boon at 5th level — full stop. The best combination depends on your primary pact, but in every case, the return on investment is staggering:

• Blade primary: Add Chain or Tome. Chain gives your familiar combat capability (an attack familiar that shares initiative and hits melee targets while you focus on EB or spells). Tome gives you three additional cantrips from any list and eventual ritual access — excellent utility expansion.
• Chain primary: Add Blade for a pact weapon option, or Tome for cantrip/ritual breadth. The familiar already gives you excellent non-slot utility; the pact weapon lets you participate in melee if necessary; the Book gives your prepared cantrip suite more coverage.
• Tome primary: Add Chain for a combat-capable familiar that replaces the Help-action economy most casters need to buy through other means. Chain + Tome is the dominant non-Blade combination.

At 5th level you have eight invocation slots left to unlock. Spending one of them on Second Boon is an efficient use that returns class-feature-level power at invocation-slot cost.

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Tier 2 — Strong Picks

These invocations deliver consistent, meaningful value and belong in most serious builds. The difference from Tier 1 is that they're build-dependent rather than universally mandatory.

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Repelling Blast ●

Prerequisite: None

When you successfully hit a creature with one or more Eldritch Blast beams, you can push the creature up to 10 feet per beam away from you in a straight line. If this movement is interrupted by a solid surface, the target also takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for each 10-foot increment it moved.

At 14th level with four beams, a full Eldritch Blast hit can push a single target 40 feet away — or push four different targets 10 feet each. This repositioning control is more powerful than most players realize because it does not use a spell slot or allow a save. It's a free action-economy control effect attached to your primary attack.

The practical applications: knock melee enemies away from your backline, push enemies off ledges for fall damage, knock enemies into walls (1d6 per 10 feet of interrupted movement), reset melee engagement so your frontliner can re-engage on their terms. In campaigns with environmental terrain — elevated platforms, chasms, cliff edges — Repelling Blast is a fight-ending tool multiple sessions per session.

The one limitation is that you can't both push 40 feet and apply the Agonizing Blast bonus to the same enemy with all four beams — Repelling Blast allows up to 10 feet per beam, meaning you can choose to push some beams and not others. A typical play is two beams to push a threat away from the Cleric, two beams to damage the priority target normally.

Take this as your second invocation at 2nd level alongside Agonizing Blast. This is the Agonizing Blast + Repelling Blast baseline that most Warlocks should be running throughout the early game.

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Lifedrinker ●

Prerequisite: 11th Level

When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, the creature takes additional necrotic damage equal to your CHA modifier (minimum of 1).

This is Agonizing Blast's equivalent for the Blade Warlock. If you are in melee with your pact weapon and have CHA 20, every hit deals +5 necrotic damage on top of your weapon's regular damage. Combined with Enhanced Boon (two attacks per Attack action from 6th level onward), that's +10 necrotic damage per Attack action — every single turn, no resource expenditure, no action cost.

Lifedrinker is the reason Blade Warlock is one of the best melee builds in ToV for a charisma-primary caster. The key is passivity: once you have it, every pact-weapon hit improves without spending slots, actions, or bonus actions. A Blade Warlock at 11th level with two attacks, CHA 20, Agonizing Blast, and Lifedrinker is hitting for:

• Attack 1: pact weapon damage + CHA mod (Lifedrinker) + any applicable Eldritch Blast beams
• Attack 2: pact weapon damage + CHA mod (Lifedrinker)

The consistent sustained DPR without resource expenditure is among the highest in the game for a primary caster, and it's the core reason the Blade Warlock invocation loadout looks different from the Chain or Tome loadouts at this level.

Blade Warlocks: Take this at 11th level, the moment it becomes available.

Chain and Tome Warlocks: Skip entirely. You're not hitting things with weapons; this does nothing for your build.

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Boon Savant ●

Prerequisite: 7th Level, Second Boon

Your second Pact Boon becomes more powerful, gaining the Enhanced Boon feature that your primary boon gains at 6th level.

At 6th level, Enhanced Boon upgrades your primary pact:

• Blade gets two attacks per Attack action
• Chain's familiar gets THP + reaction assistance on your attack rolls
• Tome unlocks ritual inscription from the Wyrd ritual list

Boon Savant at 7th level extends those same enhancements to your secondary pact. For Blade + Tome warlocks, this means your Book of Shadows now functions with its full ritual suite. For Chain + Blade, this means your familiar gains the combat utility it needs to actually matter in a melee-adjacent build. For Blade + Chain (the most common pairing at 5th level), Boon Savant at 7th gives your Chain familiar the THP + reaction advantage, making it a meaningful combat ally rather than just a scouting tool.

The prerequisite chain (5th level Second Boon → 7th level Boon Savant) does occupy two invocation slots, but the combined return is the full-powered dual-pact identity most players visualize when they imagine a multi-pact Warlock. If you took Second Boon, take Boon Savant two levels later.

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Sign of Ill Omen ●

Prerequisite: 5th Level

You can cast bestow curse once without expending a spell slot or material components. Recharges on a long rest.

Bestow curse is a concentration spell with multiple debuff options — disadvantage on saves against a chosen ability score (the common pick: disadvantage on WIS saves, then follow with WIS save spells), disadvantage on attack rolls against you, or the GM must choose between two effects each turn. It upcasts to become concentration-free at 5th circle, but at 5th level it's concentration at 3rd circle.

The value of Sign of Ill Omen is that it delivers a 3rd-circle effect (bestow curse) for zero spell slot expenditure. The Warlock's slot economy is always tight; getting a meaningful concentration effect for free before combat (or as your opening action) preserves your limited Wyrd spell slots for higher-impact plays.

The specific build synergy: apply bestow curse to the most dangerous enemy (disadvantage on WIS saves if you have WIS-save spells in your arsenal), maintain it, and spend your Wyrd slots on save-based spells against that target. The WIS save disadvantage compounds with any other debuffs — this is the closest a Warlock gets to the Witch's Hex + Empowered Hexes combo.

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Chains of Carceri ●

Prerequisite: 15th Level

You can cast greater hold once without expending a spell slot or material components. Recharges on a long rest.

Greater hold is the superior version of hold monster — it paralyzes its target on a failed save, which means all attacks against it are made with advantage, and melee attacks that hit automatically crit. Against a boss enemy at 15th level, landing greater hold effectively doubles (or more) your party's damage output for the duration because every melee hit from your frontline allies becomes an automatic critical hit.

The paralyzed condition is the most powerful debilitating condition in Tales of the Valiant. It is stronger than stunned (which still allows saves to end the effect immediately). A paralyzed creature cannot move, cannot take actions or reactions, and gives advantage on all attacks against it with automatic melee crits. Chains of Carceri delivers this for free, once per long rest, at a point in the game (15th level) where that slot is otherwise occupied.

Compare what you'd have to spend to cast greater hold through a spell slot at this level: a Warlock has 5th-circle Wyrd spell slots. Greater hold is (presumably) 5th+ circle, meaning you'd spend one of your regenerating Wyrd slots on it — leaving you with fewer slots for other plays. Chains of Carceri is a free casting that preserves your slot economy.

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Mire the Mind ●

Prerequisite: 5th Level

You can cast the slow spell once without expending a spell slot or material components. Recharges on a long rest.

Slow is one of the strongest area-control spells in the game: CON save (which you're stacking advantage against with Patron's Anchor), halves movement speed, prevents bonus actions and reactions, and reduces Action options. Up to six creatures. If all six fail the save, you've effectively eliminated a wave of enemies from the initiative order — no reactions, no bonus actions, one Action each turn at reduced options.

The value here is identical to Sign of Ill Omen: a slot-free high-impact spell that preserves your Wyrd slot economy. A Warlock at 5th level has four 1st-circle and two 2nd-circle Wyrd slots. They recharge on short rests, but in a dungeon with five encounters and two short rests, you're stretching that economy constantly. Free spells from invocations smooth the variance.

The weakness: long rest recharge means you get this once per day. Use it in the hardest encounter of the day, not the first one you walk into.

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Bewitching Whispers ●

Prerequisite: 7th Level

You can cast compulsion once without expending a spell slot or material components. Recharges on a long rest.

Compulsion is a WIS-save concentration spell that forces affected creatures to move in a direction of your choice on their turn — they don't have to take the movement, but if they do resist, they fail the save to act normally. The key power play: use compulsion on enemy clusters to funnel enemies into a chokepoint, then your AoE damage dealer hits the group. Or: use compulsion on a lone enemy to move them 30 feet away from your vulnerable caster, then continue combat without that threat reaching you.

The WIS save application also combos with Sign of Ill Omen's bestow curse (disadvantage on WIS saves). Apply bestow curse, wait a round for the concentration setup, then cast compulsion next round — the target is now saving at disadvantage. For a Warlock with CHA 20 at 7th level, spell save DC is already 17 or 18; disadvantage on that target's WIS save means near-automatic failure.

This is a strong pick for Warlocks who want control-oriented play rather than pure damage output.

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Dreadful Word ●

Prerequisite: 7th Level

You can cast confusion once without expending a spell slot or material components. Recharges on a long rest.

Confusion is a WIS-save area-of-effect spell: creatures within the sphere roll on a random table each turn, potentially losing their turn entirely, attacking random creatures, or wandering away from the fight. Against a group of enemies in a cluster, confusion is potentially fight-ending — multiple enemies spending turns doing nothing, damaging themselves, or damaging each other.

The free cast is the value here. Like all the "cast X once per long rest" invocations, Dreadful Word's quality is directly proportional to how valuable the spell itself is — and confusion is a high-tier control spell against groups of enemies. In a dungeon with ambush encounters or large-group fights, this shines. In boss fights where you're typically dealing with one high-CR creature, confusion performs less impressively (one creature rolling randomly is less devastating than six doing so).

For Warlocks in campaigns with lots of enemy groups, Dreadful Word is an excellent 7th-level pick. For boss-fight-heavy campaigns, Sculptor of Flesh or Bewitching Whispers competes.

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Sculptor of Flesh ●

Prerequisite: 7th Level

You can cast polymorph once without expending a spell slot or material components. Recharges on a long rest.

Polymorph is a WIS-save spell that transforms the target into a beast with CR up to the target's CR or level. The options: use it offensively (turn the most dangerous enemy into a rabbit), use it defensively/strategically (turn a downed party member into a giant ape to get them back in the fight), or use it for utility (turn yourself or an ally into a creature with specific movement capabilities — giant eagle for flight, fish for underwater traversal).

The offensive application is what Sculptor of Flesh is primarily used for: spend one invocation slot to have polymorph available every long rest as a free cast. In any fight where removing the most dangerous enemy from combat for a full minute (concentration) is a viable strategy, this is a no-slot fight-winner. Polymorph on the boss's lieutenant while your party focuses the boss is a swing play that changes the entire encounter math.

At 7th level, with spell save DC 17–18 and WIS-save disadvantage from Sign of Ill Omen, the rabbit-ification rate on most humanoid enemies is very high.

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Beyond Sight ●

Prerequisite: None

You can see in dim light, darkness, and magical darkness as though it were bright light, to a range of 120 feet.

Darkvision, but dramatically better than standard darkvision: 120 feet of range (double standard darkvision), and it explicitly extends to magical darkness — the most common "darkvision doesn't help here" edge case. You can see through a darkness spell. You can see through devil's sight. You can see through any magical darkness effect.

The combination with a darkness spell is legitimately powerful in the right build: cast darkness (concentrating), stand inside it, and you can see normally while all your enemies are effectively blinded. You attack with advantage; they attack you with disadvantage. In that scenario, Beyond Sight + darkness concentration is a top-tier combat configuration.

Even without the darkness synergy, 120-foot magical-darkness-piercing vision in ToV's dungeon environments is consistently useful. In my experience, many combat encounters trigger in low-light conditions where the 120-foot range and magical darkness coverage provides meaningful advantage that a Perception roll alone doesn't replicate.

HOT TAKE: Beyond Sight is underrated by the Warlock community because it doesn't have a visible damage number attached. The warlocks who run darkness/Beyond Sight in dungeon-heavy campaigns are playing a fundamentally different (and better) combat experience than those who took a third flavor invocation in that slot. Advantage on every attack roll + disadvantage on all attacks against you is worth one invocation slot.

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Eldritch Burst ●

Prerequisite: None

Two benefits: you don't have disadvantage on ranged spell attack rolls against prone targets more than 5 feet away, and you don't have disadvantage on ranged spell attack rolls when a hostile creature is within 5 feet of you.

The second benefit is the relevant one. Without Eldritch Burst, a melee creature getting into your space immediately gives you disadvantage on every Eldritch Blast attack — which, combined with Agonizing Blast, represents a massive DPR swing against you. Every round a melee enemy is adjacent to you and you're firing Eldritch Blast at a different target, you're rolling at disadvantage.

Eldritch Burst removes that. You fire normally at 5 feet, which means melee positioning doesn't punish your primary attack. For Chain and Tome Warlocks who aren't in melee themselves (unlike Blade Warlocks), this is the difference between "I need to Disengage and reposition" and "I can stand next to this goblin and continue doing my job."

HOT TAKE: Eldritch Burst is almost always correct on non-Blade Warlocks. The situation it solves — disadvantage on Eldritch Blast when in melee — comes up literally every session in most dungeon crawls. Guides that skip this to take a flavor invocation are costing you DPR on every encounter where an enemy closes to melee range (which is most encounters).

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Devil's Tongue (Player's Guide 2) ●

Prerequisite: None

Choose Deception or Persuasion. You gain proficiency in that skill and have advantage on checks with it. In addition, creatures cannot determine whether you speak a lie.

This is not combat power, but it is a major campaign lever. If your Warlock is the face, Devil's Tongue is better than another marginal utility invocation in any game with patrons, cults, courts, guilds, spies, fey bargains, infernal contracts, or one suspicious innkeeper with too much narrative importance.

The best part is the lie-detection clause. It does not say you automatically convince everyone. It says they cannot know the lie is a lie just because it is a lie. That keeps social play active while cutting off a common magical or investigative shortcut.

Blade Warlocks: Take it only if you are also the party face.

Chain and Tome Warlocks: Stronger here, because those builds are already utility/social leaning and have fewer mandatory melee-support invocations.

HOT TAKE: Devil's Tongue is social Repelling Blast. It moves problems away from you before initiative, which is better than looking surprised when the problem grows a health bar.

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Tier 3 — Situational Choices

These invocations are good in the right build, campaign, or scenario. They're not wrong picks — they're context-dependent. Know what context they serve before taking them.

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Psychic Shroud (Player's Guide 2) ●

Prerequisite: 5th Level

As a bonus action, create a 5-foot aura for 1 hour, usable PB times per long rest. Creatures cannot read your thoughts while in the aura, and hostile creatures that start their turn in the aura take psychic damage equal to your CHA modifier.

The thought-protection half is the reason to care. If your campaign uses telepathy, interrogation, psychic monsters, or court intrigue, this is a real tool. The damage is small but reliable when enemies stand beside you, which makes it more appealing for Blade Warlocks and Fey Noble (Player's Guide 2) social duelists than for backline blasters.

Best users: Blade, Fey Noble, Void Saint, social infiltrators, and Warlocks who keep ending up within 5 feet of the problem.

Skip it if: Your GM never uses thought-reading and your Warlock has no interest in melee-adjacent positioning.

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Night Vigil (Player's Guide 2) ●

Prerequisite: None

You do not sleep, you are immune to magical sleep, and you can finish a long rest with 4 hours of inactivity while remaining able to see and hear.

This is a campaign-pacing invocation. It is excellent when ambushes, night watches, cursed sleep, or unsafe rests matter. It is mediocre when rests are hand-waved and every inn is safer than the king's vault.

Take it if the party repeatedly pays for bad watches. Skip it if your GM treats long rests like loading screens.

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Primal Voice (Player's Guide 2) ●

Prerequisite: None

You can speak with Beasts and Animal-tag creatures, though communication is limited to literal meaning.

This is better than it looks in wilderness, Fey Noble, Elder Wood, and Chain builds because it turns animals into witnesses, scouts, messengers, and occasional deeply confused consultants. It is worse than it looks in dungeon-only campaigns where the only animal is a rat whose entire testimony is "cheese."

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Deep Dweller (Player's Guide 2) ●

Prerequisite: None

You gain underwater breathing, a swim speed, underwater darkvision to 120 feet, and bonus-action Dash while submerged.

In aquatic campaigns, this is fantastic. In normal land campaigns, it is a very confident answer to a question nobody asked. Ask your GM how wet the campaign is before spending an invocation slot.

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Armor of Shadows ●

Prerequisite: None

While you aren't wearing armor or wielding a shield, your AC becomes 13 + your CHA modifier. At CHA 20, that's AC 18.

On paper, this looks exceptional — AC 18 with no armor, scaling with your primary stat. In practice, the warlock's medium armor proficiency means this competes with actual armor, and the comparison depends entirely on your DEX:

• With DEX 12 and medium armor (scale mail, AC 14 + DEX 2 = AC 16), Armor of Shadows wins by 2.
• With DEX 14 and medium armor (AC 14 + 2 = AC 16), Armor of Shadows still wins.
• With DEX 16 and a shield (AC 16 + 2 = AC 18), you match Armor of Shadows while keeping your hands free.

The real competition is CHA 20 + Armor of Shadows (AC 18) vs. medium armor + shield (AC 18 while freeing you to swap invocations). If you're going to dump DEX as a Warlock — which is completely valid since you want CHA and CON — Armor of Shadows becomes the best AC option available.

The catch: "while you aren't wearing armor or wielding a shield" means you need to plan around this defensively. No shield, no medium armor. You're committing to unarmored play.

Best on: Blade Warlocks with CHA 20 who want to maximize AC without investing in armor proficiency beyond what the class grants. Skip: Warlocks with DEX 14+ who can comfortably hit AC 17–18 through medium armor + shield without spending an invocation slot.

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Visions of Distant Realms ●

Prerequisite: 15th Level

You can cast arcane eye as often as you wish, without expending a spell slot or material components.

Arcane eye is a concentration spell that creates an invisible magical eye you can move up to 30 feet per action, seeing through it. No range limit, passes through gaps, doesn't reveal you to enemies. It's one of the best scouting spells in the game — essentially a permanent scrying sensor you can move through dungeon corridors, check rooms before entering, monitor enemy patrols in real time.

The "as often as you wish" removes any resource concern and makes this a constant active utility tool. Scream at every 15th-level Warlock who doesn't have this: you have a magical camera on a wire that you can thread through any gap. Before your party enters any room, you thread the eye through the keyhole first.

The reason this is Tier 3 rather than Tier 2 is that it's pure utility — it contributes zero damage, zero control, zero tactical combat advantage beyond information. In pure combat optimization, it loses to Chains of Carceri (paralysis, free), which opens at the same level. In exploration-heavy or dungeon-crawl campaigns, Visions of Distant Realms might be the most useful invocation you can take at 15th level. Read your campaign.

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Whispers of the Grave ●

Prerequisite: 9th Level

You can perform the speak with dead ritual as often as you wish, without a ritual book or material components.

Limitless speak with dead. In a campaign with investigation, political intrigue, mysteries, or any kind of plot involving deceased characters, this is an extraordinary information-gathering tool. Dead witnesses, murdered contacts, slain enemies with intelligence you need — the Warlock can extract information from any corpse, any number of times.

The limitation: speak with dead is, mechanically, only useful when there are corpses with relevant knowledge and a GM who's willing to play them. In a pure combat dungeon crawl, you'll use this zero times. In a political murder mystery campaign, you'll use it every session and it becomes one of your most powerful tools.

Take this when: Your campaign heavily features investigation, intrigue, or mystery elements, and your party lacks another class with this capability. Skip when: You're dungeon crawling or your GM doesn't engage with this kind of roleplay utility.

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One with Shadows ●

Prerequisite: 5th Level

When you are in an area of dim light, darkness, or magical darkness, you can use your action to become invisible until you move or take an action or a reaction.

The condition is specific — you must be in dim light or darker — and the limitation is severe: becoming visible the moment you take any action or reaction. This means you can't attack while invisible, you can't cast a spell while invisible, you can't even take an opportunity attack. You're invisible only when doing nothing.

The utility is primarily ambush setup: go invisible, let the party pull aggro, wait for a critical moment, then emerge with a spell or Eldritch Blast (breaking invisibility) at the best possible timing. It's also solid for repositioning in dungeon environments — in dim light, you can move invisibly between positions without being tracked.

The 5th-level prerequisite means you're giving up a slot that could hold Second Boon, Mire the Mind, or Sign of Ill Omen — all of which provide more consistent value. Take One with Shadows in campaigns where stealth and ambush are recurring gameplay elements. Skip in campaigns that are primarily open conflict.

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Otherworldly Leap ●

Prerequisite: 9th Level

You can cast longstrider on yourself as often as you wish, without expending a spell slot or material components.

+10 feet of movement speed, permanent, free. This sounds modest but it compounds meaningfully on a melee Blade Warlock — an extra 10 feet lets you reach targets that would otherwise require Dash, preserving your action for attacking. For Tome and Chain Warlocks in a ranged playstyle, the movement bonus is usually irrelevant (you want to stay away from melee, not close into it).

The "as often as you wish" caveat is nice but mostly flavor — longstrider lasts 1 hour and you'll cast it once per hour in practice.

Best on: Blade Warlocks who don't need the 9th-level slot for something else. If you already have Patron's Anchor, Mystic Arcanum, Lifedrinker, Repelling Blast, and Agonizing Blast, Otherworldly Leap fills a remaining slot adequately. Skip: Tome and Chain Warlocks who have better options at 9th level.

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Gaze of Two Minds ●

Prerequisite: None

As an action, touch a willing humanoid to perceive through its senses until the end of your next turn. On subsequent turns, you can use your action to maintain the connection. While perceiving through the creature, you benefit from its special senses, and you are blinded and deafened to your own surroundings.

The core use: touch an NPC or ally and see/hear through their senses. Mechanically, this enables the Warlock to receive information from a "plant" inside an enemy organization, perceive through a human scout in a dangerous position, or hear a private conversation through a willing NPC who's been invited inside a restricted area.

The sustained action cost is the main limitation — every round you maintain the connection, you're spending your action. In exploration and social scenarios where combat isn't happening, this is fine. In combat, giving up your action (your primary resource) to maintain a scouting effect is too expensive.

This is a strong roleplay and exploration invocation for the right campaign. It's mechanically weak in combat-heavy play.

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Mask of Many Faces ●

Prerequisite: None

You can cast disguise self as often as you wish, without expending a spell slot.

Unlimited disguise self is strong in urban, social, or intrigue campaigns. The Warlock becomes a natural infiltrator — unlimited disguises, no resource cost, applicable multiple times per day. Walk out of the inn as yourself; walk into the castle as a guard; leave the dungeon as the villain.

In pure combat campaigns, this does nothing. In campaigns where disguise and social infiltration are recurring gameplay pillars, this is a consistent quality-of-life upgrade that you'll use every session. The limiting factor is that disguise self doesn't create a convincing disguise on close inspection — you must pass deception or performance checks to sell it, and investigative checks at close range can reveal the illusion.

Rating depends entirely on your campaign. In social-heavy play: strong 4-star pick. In dungeon-crawl-heavy play: a 1-star waste.

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Misty Visions ●

Prerequisite: None

You can cast silent image as often as you wish, without expending a spell slot or material components.

Unlimited silent image is the best no-prerequisites utility invocation for creative players. Silent image creates a silent (no sound) visual illusion of your choice — it can be a wall blocking a corridor, a door where there isn't one, a monster threatening enemies, or purely decorative effects for roleplay.

The limitation is inherent to the spell: no sound, and interaction reveals it (a creature that touches or interacts with it gets to make an Investigation check). This means it doesn't hold up to any physical test. But for visual misdirection, blocking lines of sight, creating cover for the party, or setting up ambushes with illusory terrain, it's consistently useful.

Take this at 2nd level if you're a creative player who will use the utility. Swap it out at 5th level when Second Boon, Mire the Mind, or Sign of Ill Omen opens up — those are stronger at that level. Misty Visions is an excellent early-game utility filler, not a permanent core pick.

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Fiendish Vigor ●

Prerequisite: None

You can cast false life on yourself as often as you wish, without expending a spell slot or material components. You cast it at the highest circle you have a Wyrd spell slot for.

False life gives temporary hit points — 1d4 + 4 at 1st circle, scaling to 1d4 + 4 + 5 per additional circle above 1st. At 9th level with 5th-circle slots, that's potentially 1d4 + 4 + 20 = up to 28 temporary hit points before every fight.

The appeal is obvious: free HP buffer before every encounter. The limitation is that temporary hit points don't stack — you need to recast (free, no slot) to refresh them, but they don't add onto an existing pool. And 20–28 temporary HP at the level where creatures are dealing 40–60 damage per hit is a single-hit buffer at best.

Fiendish Vigor is strong in tier 1 (levels 1–4) and decent in tier 2 (levels 5–10) where the buffer is proportionally larger relative to enemy damage output. In tier 3 (11+), it becomes mostly decorative. Most builds should carry this as a filler at early levels and swap it out by 9th–11th level for higher-impact options.

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Spirit Translator ●

Prerequisite: None

You can cast comprehend languages on yourself as often as you wish, without expending a spell slot or material components.

Unlimited language comprehension — you can read and understand any language, any text, spoken in any language. You cannot speak them, only understand them.

The consistent utility value in a campaign with diverse cultures, ancient texts, foreign NPCs, or undiscovered documents is real and underrated. The Warlock doesn't need to burn a spell slot to read ancient draconic script on a dungeon wall, understand a devil's contract in Infernal, or follow a conversation between foreign merchants.

This is firmly a campaign-reading pick. If you expect diverse linguistic content, take it. If your GM runs a homogeneous setting where everyone speaks Common and the ancient texts have all been conveniently translated, skip it.

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Stolen Knowledge ●

Prerequisite: None

You gain proficiency in any two skills or tools of your choice. You can take this invocation multiple times, choosing different proficiencies each time.

Two skill/tool proficiencies per invocation slot is a purely additive utility gain with no prerequisites. The value depends entirely on what skills your party lacks and what your campaign demands. Taking Perception and Stealth on a Warlock who needs those capabilities fills genuine party gaps.

The honest assessment: spending an invocation slot on skill proficiency is usually a sign that you're a beginning player who wants breadth and flexibility. At higher optimization, you're better served by high-impact invocations than by skill coverage — you can add skills through backgrounds, and the campaign utility of Stolen Knowledge rarely matches the combat utility of Patron's Anchor, Repelling Blast, or Eldritch Burst.

Take this when: You're at 2nd level, need two specific skills badly, and haven't unlocked the strong prerequisite picks yet. Swap it out later. Skip when: You're building for mid-to-high optimization and the two slots can serve any higher-impact purpose.

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Thief of Five Fates ●

Prerequisite: None

You can cast bane as a 1st-circle spell as often as you wish, without expending a spell slot or material components.

Bane is a concentration spell: up to three creatures save WIS or take a -1d4 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws for 1 minute. The penalty applies to all their rolls — attack rolls, saves, skill checks — making it one of the most broadly useful debuffs in the game.

The free unlimited casting is the draw. No-slot bane before every combat means you can drop this debuff consistently across a full adventuring day with zero resource cost. Combined with Patron's Anchor (CHA concentration saves), maintaining bane all combat is very achievable.

The limitation: bane requires concentration, and if you're concentrating on bane, you can't concentrate on a more powerful spell. At early levels this trade-off is clearly in bane's favor — you don't have better concentration options. At 7th+ level with access to slow, polymorph, and greater hold, concentrating on bane instead of one of those is often wrong.

Best at: Levels 2–6 where bane is your best concentration spell and its debuff compounds beautifully with your Eldritch Blast damage. Replace at: 7th+ level when you have access to more powerful concentration options.

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Ascendant Step ●

Prerequisite: 9th Level

You can cast levitate on yourself as often as you wish, without expending a spell slot or material components.

Unlimited levitation. Float 20 feet into the air at will, move vertically, hover out of melee reach. The combat application: melee enemies with no ranged attacks cannot reach you while you're floating 20 feet up, and you can fire Eldritch Blast down at them freely. Creatures that can fly or creatures with ranged attacks negate the advantage entirely.

In encounters with purely melee ground creatures, Ascendant Step is a "remove yourself from combat threat" button. In encounters with fliers, archers, or spellcasters, it's irrelevant at best and a liability at worst (you're now isolated from your party).

The 9th-level prerequisite is the main issue — you're spending a slot available to Chains of Carceri (15th, not yet unlocked), Mystic Arcanum (11th, now unlocked), or Whispers of the Grave (9th) on a movement option that's excellent against some enemy types and useless against others.

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Eldritch Sight ●

Prerequisite: None

You can cast detect magic as often as you wish, without expending a spell slot.

Unlimited, free detect magic — one of the most useful exploration spells in the game. Before entering any room, you can detect magical auras in 30 feet around you; you can identify the schools of magic on active effects; you can sense magical traps, items, and creatures.

In exploration-heavy campaigns, unlimited detect magic is strong. In combat-heavy or narrative campaigns where magical detection rarely matters, it's wasted. The no-prerequisites nature means you can take it at 2nd level if your campaign is dungeon-crawl-heavy, or swap it in and out based on campaign phase.

Overlaps with Eldritch Sight (detect magic) + Spirit Translator (comprehend languages) for a "dungeon exploration specialist" Warlock configuration that's thematically coherent if mechanically modest.

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Tier 4 — Avoid

These invocations are either redundant, too narrow, or outcompeted by better options in the same prerequisite bracket. Most builds should never take these.

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Eldritch Spear ●

Prerequisite: None

When you use your Eldritch Blast feature, you can target creatures within 300 feet of you.

The base range of Eldritch Blast is 120 feet. Standard combat encounters in ToV take place at 30–90 feet. Even large-scale outdoor battles rarely engage at 300 feet unless the GM is specifically designing encounters around siege range. Eldritch Spear extends your range from "always sufficient" to "never meaningfully better except in exactly the scenario your GM specifically set up."

Spending an invocation slot on this invocation means not taking Repelling Blast, Eldritch Burst, or Agonizing Blast — all of which provide consistent, every-encounter improvement to your primary action. Eldritch Spear improves a scenario you'll encounter once per campaign, maybe. Skip it.

HOT TAKE: Eldritch Spear is the most overrated invocation in Tales of the Valiant. New players take it because 300 feet sounds impressive. The players who've run 20 sessions of ToV dungeons have used it exactly once, and Repelling Blast would have been better in all those other sessions.

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Witch Sight ●

Prerequisite: 15th Level

You can see the true form of any creature with the Shapechanger tag or any creature concealed by illusion or transmutation magic within 30 feet while within line of sight.

True sight on shapechangers and illusion/transmutation concealment, out to 30 feet. This is narrower than actual truesight — it only reveals the specific categories listed, not all invisible creatures, not magical darkness, not magical disguises outside illusion/transmutation. The 30-foot range is also limiting in larger encounters.

The 15th-level prerequisite bracket already contains Chains of Carceri (free greater hold, exceptional) and Visions of Distant Realms (unlimited arcane eye, excellent exploration). Witch Sight solves a narrow problem (shapechanger infiltration, targeted illusion detection) that arises infrequently compared to the consistent value of those alternatives.

In campaigns built around shapechangers and illusion-heavy enemies as recurring threats, consider it. In general play, skip it.

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Mystic Arcanum (Trap Application Only) ●

Note: Mystic Arcanum itself is Tier 1 (five stars). The trap is taking it wrong.

The trap application: using your Mystic Arcanum slot on a spell you could easily cast with a Wyrd slot (fireball, hypnotic pattern, or another lower-circle workhorse). These are not the high-circle effects Mystic Arcanum is for. Your Wyrd slots regenerate on short rests. Spending a once-per-long-rest 6th-circle Arcanum on a lower-circle effect is a massive waste.

Mystic Arcanum should only target spells of the maximum available circle for that invocation. At 11th level, take a 6th-circle spell. At 13th, take a 7th-circle spell. Taking a 3rd-circle spell through Mystic Arcanum is the same as taking a 6th-circle invocation slot and filling it with something you could have done normally — you've wasted the primary purpose of the feature.

The second trap: taking a 6th-circle spell that has a shorter, better-value version available at lower circles. Greater invisibility is excellent at 4th circle through a Wyrd slot. A 6th-circle Mystic Arcanum is better spent on eyebite, soul cage, or mass suggestion.

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Invocations by Pact Boon

Not every invocation is equally good for every pact. Here's how the invocation list maps to Pact Boon identity:

Pact of the Blade — Best Invocations

The Blade Warlock is a melee DPR machine running off CHA. Your invocation priorities are physical damage amplification, survival, and attack consistency.

Core picks:

Avoid for Blade: Eldritch Spear (you're in melee), Gaze of Two Minds (action cost), One with Shadows (you want to attack, not disappear).

Book of Blades overlay: Warlocks with Martial talent access should check Battle Tactician (Book of Blades), War Dancer (Book of Blades), and Weapon Option Specialist (Book of Blades). Reaper (The Old Margeve) and Hunter in Darkness (The Old Margeve) are not Book of Blades patrons, but if those builds open Martial talents, these Book of Blades options can make the Blade plan more complete once the invocation core is locked.

Player's Guide 2 overlay: Psychic Shroud is the best PG2 Blade add if you fight close or expect mental intrusion. Devil's Tongue is excellent only if your Blade Warlock is also the party face. Deep Dweller becomes strong in aquatic campaigns; otherwise, do not spend melee build space on decorative gills.

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Pact of the Chain — Best Invocations

The Chain Warlock runs the familiar as a primary combat asset — scouting, flanking, and eventually delivering spells through its presence. Your invocations support control and familiar synergy.

Core picks:

Avoid for Chain: Lifedrinker (weapon attacks only, not your identity), Eldritch Spear (range overkill), Armor of Shadows (usually have DEX investment anyway).

Book of Blades overlay: Chain usually wants Magic talent support more than Martial talent support. Combat Casting, Mental Fortitude, and Ritualist are the practical picks. Privileged (Book of Blades) also fits the familiar-spy, social-manipulator version of Chain Warlock.

Player's Guide 2 overlay: Devil's Tongue is strong on face/scout Chain builds, Primal Voice gives the familiar-heavy wilderness Warlock more information channels, and Night Vigil makes you the party's least sleepy security system.

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Pact of the Tome — Best Invocations

The Tome Warlock is a utility maximizer — ritual access, cantrip breadth, and spell slot conservation through invocation-granted free casts. Your invocation priorities are control spells, information, and sustain.

Core picks:

Avoid for Tome: Lifedrinker (weapon attacks, not your identity), Ascendant Step (melee positioning isn't your problem), One with Shadows (your action is more valuable than invisibility while idle).

Book of Blades overlay: Tome likes Ritualist only if you are expanding beyond the rituals your Tome plan already covers. Combat Casting and Mental Fortitude are broader defensive upgrades, while Tactical Planning (Book of Blades) is a real option only for History-proficient, prep-heavy Tome builds.

Player's Guide 2 overlay: Devil's Tongue is the best fit because Tome already leans utility and social coverage. Night Vigil and Primal Voice are useful campaign tools, and Valedictorian (Player's Guide 2) is excellent if you want one of those tools without giving up a core invocation slot.

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Build Your Invocation Loadout

Sample complete loadouts for Blade, Chain, and Tome builds at key levels. These represent what a serious optimization player would select — not the only correct answer, but the best answer for the described build identity.

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Blade Warlock Sample Loadout

Build concept: Melee CHA fighter who serves as a frontliner, with Eldritch Blast threat presence at range and Lifedrinker-amplified weapon damage up close. Fiend patron for THP sustain.

2nd Level (2 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Repelling Blast

Reasoning: Two invocations, both are mandatory. Agonizing Blast powers EB as a ranged threat; Repelling Blast controls enemy positioning when you want to push threats away from allies or use EB instead of closing to melee. Take Second Boon next.

5th Level (3 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Repelling Blast
• Second Boon (add Pact of the Chain)

Reasoning: Second Boon at 5th level — the moment it's available. Adding Chain gives you a combat familiar (blink dog or imp is the typical pick at this level) that assists your attacks. Your familiar can react to give you advantage on weapon attacks against adjacent targets, and it serves as a scouting forward element. You now have: melee weapon attacks (main damage), EB at range (ranged threat), familiar (advantage engine).

10th Level (5 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Repelling Blast
• Second Boon (Chain)
• Boon Savant (Enhanced Chain familiar — THP + reaction advantage)
• Patron's Anchor

Reasoning: Boon Savant at 7th to enhance the Chain familiar — it now gets THP + reaction advantage on your attacks, upgrading from "scouting tool" to "combat assistant." Patron's Anchor at any level up through 10th — your concentration spells (sign of ill omen, bane, slow at 5th level) need to stick. At CHA 20, your CHA save modifier for concentration is excellent. Five slots used, five solid invocations, all consistent value.

15th Level (8 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Repelling Blast
• Second Boon (Chain)
• Boon Savant
• Patron's Anchor
• Lifedrinker (11th level unlock)
• Mystic Arcanum: Eyebite (6th circle, 11th level)
• Sign of Ill Omen (5th level, swapped in at 11th)

Reasoning: Lifedrinker at 11th is the signature unlock — CHA mod to every weapon hit. Combined with two attacks (Enhanced Boon) and CHA 20, you're adding +10 necrotic per Attack action, every turn, no resources. Mystic Arcanum at 11th takes Eyebite (6th circle, no save on initial targeting, persistent harassment). Sign of Ill Omen fills the 8th slot — free bestow curse lets you open fights with a WIS-save debuff that compounds your spell casting.

20th Level (10 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Repelling Blast
• Second Boon (Chain)
• Boon Savant
• Patron's Anchor
• Lifedrinker
• Mystic Arcanum: Eyebite (6th)
• Mystic Arcanum: Power Word Stun (8th, 15th level unlock)
• Chains of Carceri (15th level)
• Mystic Arcanum: Power Word Kill (9th, 17th level unlock)

Reasoning: By 20th level, the loadout crystallizes around the power picks. Three Arcanum stacks (Eyebite, Power Word Stun, Power Word Kill) give you three free high-circle spell casts per long rest. Chains of Carceri provides free greater hold once per long rest — in a melee Blade build, landing paralysis on a boss target while you and your party unload into it is the highest-value play available. Combined with Pact Magic's regenerating 5th-circle slots, this Warlock has extraordinary daily spell resources.

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Chain Warlock Sample Loadout

Build concept: Control caster who uses the familiar as a combat asset, maintains concentration spells through the action cycle, and uses free-cast invocations to preserve Pact Magic for high-impact plays. Reaper (The Old Margeve) patron for melee hybrid capability. Build concept: Control caster who uses the familiar as a combat asset, maintains concentration spells through the action cycle, and uses free-cast invocations to preserve Pact Magic for high-impact plays. Reaper (The Old Margeve) patron for melee hybrid capability.

2nd Level (2 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Eldritch Burst

Reasoning: Your familiar (imp or pseudodragon at Chain level) will often be adjacent to enemies, which means enemies will be adjacent to you in engagements where the familiar engages. Eldritch Burst prevents melee adjacency from imposing disadvantage on your Eldritch Blast — this is your second invocation, not a situational pick.

5th Level (3 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Eldritch Burst
• Second Boon (add Pact of the Tome)

Reasoning: Tome adds three cantrips from any list — this broadens your cantrip suite significantly, adding utility options that the Wyrd list doesn't cover. With Tome + Chain, you now have a combat familiar (primary Chain benefit) AND expanded cantrip versatility (primary Tome benefit). Your Book of Shadows also enables ritual casting from the Wyrd ritual list — information and utility spells with no slot cost.

10th Level (5 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Eldritch Burst
• Second Boon (Tome)
• Patron's Anchor
• Sign of Ill Omen

Reasoning: Patron's Anchor protects concentration on the control spells you've now unlocked (bane, thief of five fates, mire the mind). Sign of Ill Omen adds free bestow curse — WIS-save disadvantage on a priority target that compounds with your familiar's positioning and your save-based spells. At 7th level, Boon Savant upgrades your Tome boon to Enhanced Boon — you now have the ritual list open, and the familiar's THP at each rest. Slot count: sign of ill omen taken at 7th, Patron's Anchor at 9th or 10th.

15th Level (8 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Eldritch Burst
• Second Boon (Tome)
• Patron's Anchor
• Sign of Ill Omen
• Boon Savant (7th level)
• Mire the Mind (5th level, swapped in at 7th)
• Mystic Arcanum: Eyebite (6th, 11th)

Reasoning: Mire the Mind (free slow) is the Chain Warlock's area-control opener for group encounters. Eyebite as Arcanum gives you a free 6th-circle control spell per long rest. At 15th level, consider whether Chains of Carceri (free greater hold) replaces Eldritch Burst — if enemies rarely reach you by this point due to your familiar-and-control positioning, Eldritch Burst's adjacency protection is less critical.

20th Level (10 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Eldritch Burst
• Second Boon (Tome)
• Patron's Anchor
• Sign of Ill Omen
• Boon Savant
• Mire the Mind
• Mystic Arcanum: Eyebite (6th)
• Mystic Arcanum: Power Word Stun (8th)
• Chains of Carceri (15th)

Reasoning: Dreadful Word or Sculptor of Flesh might replace Eldritch Burst if the campaign's encounter design has evolved beyond melee adjacency being a frequent threat. But the 20th-level core is locked in: Arcanum stack (Eyebite + Power Word Stun), free greater hold (Chains of Carceri), CHA concentration saves (Patron's Anchor), and sign of ill omen for recurring WIS-save debuff application. This is a control Warlock at full power.

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Tome Warlock Sample Loadout

Build concept: Utility and control maximizer — the broadest spell access in the Warlock class, with ritual casting, cantrip versatility, and free high-circle spell casts stacked through Mystic Arcanum. Fiend patron for long-rest THP sustain.

2nd Level (2 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Misty Visions (placeholder until 5th level unlocks)

Reasoning: Agonizing Blast first. Misty Visions is the best available no-prerequisite utility invocation — unlimited silent image for creative players. It's a filler, not a permanent pick. Swap it at 5th level for Second Boon.

5th Level (3 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Second Boon (add Pact of the Chain) (replaces Misty Visions)
• Eldritch Burst

Reasoning: Second Boon takes the Misty Visions slot at 5th level. Add Chain — you now have a combat familiar serving as your Help action economy. Eldritch Burst comes in because your familiar's engagement positioning will periodically place enemies in your 5-foot space. Three solid picks, all consistent value.

10th Level (5 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Second Boon (Chain)
• Eldritch Burst
• Patron's Anchor (9th or earlier)
• Mire the Mind (5th level unlock)

Reasoning: Mire the Mind at 5th level — free slow preserves your Wyrd slots for offensive plays. Patron's Anchor at any point through 10th — concentration saves at CHA bonus, advantage on first save per round. By 10th level you have five solid invocations, all earning their slot every session. At 7th, Boon Savant upgraded your Chain familiar — that slot was used there, so the 10th-level list reflects post-7th development.

15th Level (8 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Second Boon (Chain)
• Eldritch Burst
• Patron's Anchor
• Mire the Mind
• Boon Savant (7th)
• Bewitching Whispers (7th, added alongside Boon Savant)
• Mystic Arcanum: Eyebite (6th, 11th)

Reasoning: Bewitching Whispers adds free compulsion at 7th level — WIS-save movement control that combos with Mire the Mind (slow, CON save) and Agonizing Blast to give you different response tools for different enemy types. Eight invocations, all contributing consistent value, all in service of the control + cantrip-breadth + familiar engine that defines Tome build identity.

20th Level (10 invocations):

• Agonizing Blast
• Second Boon (Chain)
• Eldritch Burst
• Patron's Anchor
• Mire the Mind
• Boon Savant
• Bewitching Whispers
• Mystic Arcanum: Eyebite (6th)
• Mystic Arcanum: Power Word Stun (8th)
• Chains of Carceri (15th)

Reasoning: The final two slots (15th and 17th level unlocks) go to Chains of Carceri (free greater hold, the most powerful boss-control tool available) and the second Arcanum stack. If a 9th-circle Arcanum is available at 17th level, consider Power Word Kill or Wish as the 10th invocation. The 20th-level Tome Warlock has: unlimited cantrips from three lists, ritual casting from Wyrd rituals, combat familiar, free slow, free compulsion, free eyebite, free power word stun, free greater hold. This is one of the broadest capability profiles in the game.

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Complete Comparison Table

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Hot Takes

Here are the invocation opinions that most guides won't say out loud. These are based on actual play patterns, not theoretical optimization.

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Patron's Anchor is the most underrated invocation in the entire list.

Every guide puts Agonizing Blast first, Repelling Blast second, and then hedges about the rest. The guides that correctly identify Patron's Anchor as a mandatory pick are the ones written by people who've actually lost concentration on a slow or greater hold spell because the Fighter missed their save and the boss hit them for 20 damage in round 2. CHA concentration saves are the best concentration saves in the game for the Warlock because CHA is maxed. Take Patron's Anchor by 5th level or you are playing on hard mode.

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Eldritch Spear should be removed from every Warlock guide's recommended section.

It extends range from 120 to 300 feet. Standard combat range: 30 to 90 feet, maybe 120 in a large outdoor encounter. The number of times you have fired Eldritch Blast at a target beyond 120 feet in your last ten sessions is the number. That number is the value of Eldritch Spear. For most players it's zero. The invocation is a trap for new players who see the big number and assume it's powerful.

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The Blade Warlock with Agonizing Blast is not "wasting" an invocation on a cantrip.

This criticism comes from players who think the Blade Warlock should spend all invocation slots on melee enhancement. Wrong. Agonizing Blast gives you ranged threat when enemies disengage, when you can't close to melee, when the frontline is occupied and you need to deal damage from a distance. A Blade Warlock without Agonizing Blast is helpless in the 40% of combat rounds where melee isn't optimal. The invocation costs one slot and covers a blind spot. Take it.

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Fiendish Vigor is a fine early-game pick and a bad late-game pick.

Guides that rate Fiendish Vigor as universally poor are ignoring the 1st–6th level window where 20+ temporary HP before each fight represents meaningful defensive buffer. Guides that rate it as strong throughout the game are ignoring that at 13th level, your THP buffer is a rounding error on any serious enemy's attack. Take it at 2nd or 3rd level as filler, use it, and swap it at 9th or 11th level when the prerequisite invocations open up.

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Mystic Arcanum is worth planning around, and most players don't plan around it.

The common mistake: reach 11th level, pick Mystic Arcanum, choose mass suggestion or eyebite, and treat it as "a free 6th-circle cast once a day." The uncommon insight: plan ahead four levels. Know at 11th that you're taking Eyebite → Power Word Pain → Power Word Stun → Power Word Kill. That's a progression from persistent control (11th) to action-cost-free incapacitation (13th) to no-save stun (15th) to instant death (17th). Each Arcanum slot should function as the next step in a deliberate power escalation, not a random selection from the 6th-circle Wyrd spell list.

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Boon Savant is mandatory if you took Second Boon, and most guides treat it as optional.

If you spent a slot on Second Boon, you believe your second pact contributes meaningful value. Boon Savant at 7th level upgrades that second pact's Enhanced Boon. For two invocation slots total, you have a fully upgraded dual-pact Warlock. For one invocation slot (skipping Boon Savant), you have an enhanced primary pact and an unenhanced secondary pact that's performing below its potential. The math is simple. Take Boon Savant.

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The best control Warlock build in Tales of the Valiant isn't Fiend — it's Reaper (The Old Margeve) with Beyond Sight and a Darkness spell.

Reaper (The Old Margeve)'s Mantle is a close-range melee feature, and at first glance the Reaper looks like a melee subclass. But Eldritch Warrior at 7th lets you combine Eldritch Blast with a melee attack in the same action — and with Beyond Sight, you can cast darkness (concentration), stand in it, and fire Eldritch Blast at full vision while your enemies are effectively blinded. Every attack against you has disadvantage. Every EB you fire goes to its target at normal accuracy. And Eldritch Warrior lets you make a melee attack against anything that closes with you inside the darkness. It's a completely self-contained combat environment and it runs off two invocation slots.

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Labyrinth Worldbook is a patron update, not an invocation update.

Celestial (Labyrinth Worldbook) and Void Saint (Labyrinth Worldbook) change what your invocation choices are supporting, but they do not add a new invocation package. The trap is treating a new patron like permission to skip the spine. Agonizing Blast, Patron's Anchor, Second Boon, Boon Savant, and Mystic Arcanum still carry the class.

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Void Saint (Labyrinth Worldbook) makes Patron's Anchor even harder to skip.

Intrusion of the Endless asks you to concentrate, and the Void Saint pact list gives you control spells that are painful to lose after one hit. A void-themed Warlock without concentration protection is building around the right fantasy and the wrong math.

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Book of Blades does not move Agonizing Blast, Patron's Anchor, or Mystic Arcanum down the list.

The new temptation is to look at Book of Blades talents and start replacing core Warlock scaffolding with shiny combat toys. Don't. Battle Tactician (Book of Blades) is excellent on the right Warlock because it uses CHA, but it is still not Agonizing Blast. War Dancer (Book of Blades) helps Blade Warlocks survive, but it does not replace Lifedrinker. Book of Blades improves the second layer of the build, not the first.

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Player's Guide 2 is useful because it adds campaign tools, not because it changes the mandatory spine.

Deep Dweller, Night Vigil, and Primal Voice are exactly the kind of invocations that look mediocre in a vacuum and excellent in the right campaign. Devil's Tongue is the general winner because social scenes happen everywhere. Psychic Shroud is for the Warlock who expects court intrigue, psychic intrusion, or knives at conversational distance.

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Valedictorian is the quiet PG2 optimization prize.

Valedictorian (Player's Guide 2) giving Warlocks another qualifying invocation is boring in the way a locked treasure chest full of money is boring. If you want Devil's Tongue or Night Vigil without pushing out a core pick, this is how you cheat the opportunity cost politely.

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The best Book of Blades overlay goes on a Warlock that can actually use Martial talents.

Normal Warlocks mostly access Magic talents, where Book of Blades has less direct impact. Old Margeve patrons such as Reaper (The Old Margeve) or Hunter in Darkness (The Old Margeve) can reach Martial talents, which is where the Book of Blades overlay gets exciting: Battle Tactician for CHA tactics, War Dancer for movement defense, Weapon Option Specialist for pact-weapon tables, and Tactical Planning for the Warlock who actually scouts before kicking in doors.

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Final Notes

The Warlock's invocation system is one of the best per-level customization features in Tales of the Valiant because you're building it actively with every level-up decision rather than selecting from a fixed menu at fixed intervals.

The players who get the most out of the Warlock are the ones who think of invocations as a system, not a list. Every invocation slot is a resource. Every pick is an investment in a specific capability — consistent damage (Agonizing Blast), control (Patron's Anchor, Mire the Mind), survivability (Armor of Shadows, Fiendish Vigor in early levels), or high-circle spell access (Mystic Arcanum). The Warlock who thinks "what does my build need?" with each level-up consistently outperforms the Warlock who picks from the list by gut feel.

Book of Blades adds meaningful support, but it belongs beside the invocation system rather than inside it. Use Book of Blades talents, heritages, and backgrounds to sharpen your pact plan after the invocation spine is settled. If the table asks whether a Book of Blades talent or a core invocation matters more, the invocation usually wins.

Labyrinth Worldbook works the same way from the invocation side: Celestial and Void Saint give you new patron plans, but they do not change the list of mandatory invocations. Celestial wants support and concentration protection. Void Saint wants Eldritch Blast riders, save pressure, and concentration protection. Both still want the same mechanical backbone.

Player's Guide 2 finally adds new invocations, but the correct reading is still disciplined. Devil's Tongue is the best general addition, Psychic Shroud is a real niche tool, and Deep Dweller, Night Vigil, and Primal Voice depend on the campaign pitch. The PG2 talent Valedictorian is the clean way to fit one extra utility pick after the core is stable.

The meta summary: Agonizing Blast and Patron's Anchor are your permanent core. Second Boon at 5th and Boon Savant at 7th lock in your pact identity. Mystic Arcanum from 11th onward stacked repeatedly is the endgame. Everything else is your expression — use the remaining slots to answer the question "what does this specific campaign need from this specific character?"

Get those four right, and the rest almost writes itself.

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Tales of the Valiant is published by Kobold Press. This guide is fan-made and not affiliated with or endorsed by Kobold Press.