You’re sitting at the table, level three hits, and suddenly your Warlock has a choice that defines the next two years of your life. It’s a big deal. Most people look at Pact of the Chain 5e and see a glorified scout. They see a little bird or a lizard and think, "Cool, I can see through its eyes."
That’s a mistake. Honestly, it’s a massive undervaluation of what is arguably the most versatile utility feature in Dungeons & Dragons.
While the Pact of the Blade players are busy trying to survive melee and the Pact of the Tome players are collecting cantrips like Pokémon cards, the Chain Warlock is playing a completely different game. You aren't just getting a pet. You’re gaining a second set of actions, a persistent invisible helper, and a delivery system for some of the most annoying spells in the Player’s Handbook. It’s about action economy. In D&D, whoever has the most actions usually wins.
The Stat Blocks That Actually Matter
Let’s be real: the standard Find Familiar spell is fine for Wizards. A hawk is great. An owl is better because of Flyby. But Pact of the Chain 5e upgrades this into something genuinely terrifying for a Dungeon Master to deal with. You get access to special forms: the Imp, the Quasit, the Pseudodragon, and the Sprite.
The Imp is the gold standard. Period. I’ve seen players try to make the Sprite work because of the "Heart Sight" ability, which lets you sense emotional states. It’s flavor-heavy and fun for roleplay, sure. But the Imp? The Imp is a Swiss Army knife made of malice. It has Invisibility at will. It has Devil's Sight, meaning it can see through magical darkness—just like you, if you took the invocation. It has resistance to cold, fire, and lightning, plus immunity to fire and poison.
It’s a tiny, red tank that stays invisible while it takes the Help action on every single turn.
Think about that. You’re casting Eldritch Blast. Your Imp is invisible, hovering next to the Orc Chieftain. It uses the Help action. You now have advantage on your first attack roll. The Imp stays invisible because Help isn't an attack or a spell. It’s a loop that basically guarantees your damage stays consistent without you ever having to worry about your familiar getting swatted out of the sky.
The Attack Action Trap
New players always fall for this. They read the text that says you can forgo one of your own attacks to let your familiar use its reaction to attack. They see the Imp’s sting does 1d4 + 3 piercing plus a potential 3d6 poison damage.
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"Wow," they think. "That's a lot of dice for a level three character."
Don't do it. Just don't.
The DC 11 Constitution save on that poison is pathetic. Most monsters you actually care about hitting will pass that save with their eyes closed. If they pass, the damage is halved. If they’re immune to poison—which, by the way, is the most common immunity in the Monster Manual—you’ve just wasted your action. Your Eldritch Blast scales better. Your spells are more impactful. Your familiar is a utility tool, not a fighter. Using your Imp to attack is like using a Stradivarius violin as a baseball bat. You might get a hit, but you’re ruining the tool.
Investment of the Chain Master Changes Everything
If you’re playing with the rules from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the math changes. Investment of the Chain Master is a mandatory invocation. It’s not optional if you want to be effective. It allows your familiar to attack using a Bonus Action, and more importantly, it uses your Spell Save DC for the familiar’s abilities.
Suddenly, that Imp’s poison sting isn't DC 11. It’s DC 15 or 16. That’s a game-changer.
But even with that buff, the real power of this invocation is the damage resistance. You can use your reaction to give your familiar resistance against the damage it just took. Between that and their natural resistances, these little guys become incredibly hard to kill. I once watched a Warlock’s Sprite soak up a Young Red Dragon’s breath weapon and survive simply because the Warlock had the right build. It’s absurd.
The Invisible Medic Strategy
Here is something most people forget: familiars can use items.
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The Find Familiar spell says the familiar can't attack, but it doesn't say it can't take the Use an Object action. If your party is down, and you’re busy maintaining concentration on a Hypnotic Pattern, your invisible Imp can fly over to the dying Cleric and feed them a Healing Potion.
It happens on the familiar's turn. It doesn't cost you your action. It doesn't even break the Imp's invisibility. You’re effectively a healer while being a full-time controller and damage dealer. This "Invisible Medic" strategy has saved more campaigns from a Total Party Kill (TPK) than almost any other low-level class feature I can think of.
Voice of the Chain Master: The Infinite Scout
If you take the Voice of the Chain Master invocation, you can perceive through your familiar's senses as long as you are on the same plane of existence. Standard Find Familiar caps this at 100 feet.
Think about the implications for a heist. Or a dungeon crawl. Your familiar can fly five miles away, sit in the rafters of the villain's secret meeting, and you can hear every word they say in real-time. You can even speak through the familiar using your own voice.
I’ve seen a Warlock use this to haunt a corrupt noble. The noble thought he was going insane because a "ghost" (an invisible Quasit) kept whispering his sins into his ear while he was in his private, "secure" chambers. The Warlock was three taverns over, sipping an ale and laughing.
Why People Think It’s Weak
The criticism usually boils down to HP. An Imp has 13 hit points. In mid-to-high-tier play, a single Fireball or a stray multi-attack wipes it out. Re-summoning it costs 10 gold pieces and an hour of casting time (or 10 minutes if you’re ritual casting).
In a fast-paced dungeon, you don't always have 70 minutes to get your buddy back.
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This is why positioning is everything. If you play Pact of the Chain 5e like a Beast Master Ranger, you’re going to be disappointed. Your familiar should be the coward of the group. It should be hiding behind total cover, popping out to Help or Use an Object, and then retreating. If your DM is targeting your familiar, it means they aren't targeting you or the Wizard. That’s 13 damage that didn't hit a player.
Comparing the Options
| Feature | Imp | Quasit | Pseudodragon | Sprite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Invisibility | At will, remains until attack/re-cast | At will, remains until attack/re-cast | None | At will, remains until attack/re-cast |
| Resistances | Cold, Fire, Lightning, Physical | Cold, Fire, Lightning, Physical | Limited Magic Resistance | None |
| Special | Devil's Sight, Shapechange | Scare (1/day), Shapechange | Limited Telepathy | Heart Sight, Shortbow (Poison) |
Most people go Imp because it's mathematically superior. The Quasit is fine, but the "Scare" ability is a Wisdom save, and many things are immune to being frightened. The Pseudodragon is the "cool" choice, but it lacks at-will invisibility, which makes it a huge target. The Sprite is for the tacticians who want to use Investment of the Chain Master to force long-range unconsciousness saves, but it’s incredibly fragile.
High-Level Shenanigans: Chains of Carceri
Once you hit level 15, you get access to Chains of Carceri. You can cast Hold Monster at will on Celestials, Fiends, or Elementals without consuming a spell slot.
Wait. Read that again. At will. In a high-level campaign involving demons or devils, this is broken. You can walk through the Abyss freezing every major threat in its tracks. You don't even need to spend your precious Pact Slots. While this is niche—it only works on those specific creature types—in the right campaign (like Descent into Avernus), it makes the Warlock the most powerful person in the room.
Actionable Next Steps for Your Warlock
If you're building this right now, stop and look at your invocations. You need a plan.
- Prioritize Invisibility: Keep your familiar invisible at all times. Even when scouting. Especially when scouting.
- Get the Right Items: Buy your familiar a bag of caltrops, some ball bearings, and as many healing potions as you can afford. Their job is to manipulate the battlefield while you blast.
- Use the Help Action: If you aren't using your familiar to give yourself or the Rogue advantage every single round, you are leaving damage on the table.
- Pick Up Investment of the Chain Master: If your DM allows Tasha’s content, this is the single biggest buff to the subclass. It turns your familiar’s sting from a joke into a legitimate threat.
- Roleplay the Bond: A familiar is an NPC controlled by the DM, but they usually follow your lead. Give them a personality. An Imp that is technically bound to serve you but constantly complains about how "un-evil" your chores are makes for a much better game.
The Pact of the Chain 5e isn't about having a pet. It's about being in two places at once. It’s about the information war. When you know what’s behind the door, when you have advantage on your attacks, and when you have an invisible medic hovering over your fallen fighter, the game gets a lot easier to win. Forget the sword and the extra cantrips. Grab the Imp. Just make sure you have the 10 gold ready for when he inevitably blows up.