The New 2024 Eldritch Knight in DnD 5e (Fighter Subclass Deep Dive)
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Combining martial prowess with magical powers, the Eldritch Knight has become a bit of a wild card as a DnD 5e subclass. Not quite as evenly balanced as a multiclassed Fighter-Wizard, the Eldritch Knight was really designed for players who want to take on the role of a warrior with a little bit of extra magical oomph on the battlefield.
Despite being an incredibly popular DnD 5e subclass, however, the Eldritch Knight has remained untouched by any major rules updates for the past decade. That’s about to change, however, as these mystical martials are getting some significant changes in the new 2024 Player’s Handbook. This includes a key enhancement to the way their spellcasting works and a buff to their War Magic feature.
So does the new 2024 Eldritch Knight provide even more might and magic? Below, we hack, slash and cast into all the details.
What’s changed in the new 2024 Eldritch Knight DnD 5e Subclass?
Below are all the changes to the 2024 Eldritch Knight. For ease of reference we’ve included the level and whether the feature has changed from 2014. It’s important to note that both the old and the new version of the subclass still fall under the DnD 5e core rules.
| Eldritch Knight Feature | Level | Changed from 2014? | Changes to the 2024 Eldritch Knight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spellcasting | 3 | Yes | – No longer any school of magic restrictions (in the 2014 rules they could only cast Abjuration and Evocation spells) – Can now use an Arcane Focus for spellcasting |
| Weapon Bond | 3 | No | N/A |
| War Magic | 7 | Yes | No longer a bonus action. Can now replace one attack with a cantrip (freeing up your bonus action). |
| Eldritch Strike | 10 | No | N/A |
| Arcane Charge | 15 | No | N/A |
| Improved War Magic | 18 | Yes | No longer a bonus action. Can now replace up to two attacks to cast a Level 1 or Level 2 spell (freeing up your bonus action). |
What are the Eldritch Knight features for 2024 DnD 5e?
Below are the full list of all the features using the new 2024 core rules. Where applicable we have called out details on the changes that have been made from the 2014 Eldritch Knight.
Level 3: Spellcasting
In the 2014 rules, you were able to cast a variety of Wizards cantrips and spells which, like other casters, increase in number and power as you advanced in level. There were, however, a few important caveats: First, unlike Wizards, you did not need to record these spells in a book, memorizing them instead. Second, the spells could only come from either the Abjuration or Evocation schools (although starting at Level 8, the spells could come from any school of magic).
In the 2024 rules, the biggest change is that you are no longer limited to two schools of magic and can now learn any Wizard spell (provided you have the level required to cast it). In addition you are now able to use an Arcane Focus when casting spells. All other features are exactly the same.
Your spell attacks and saves are based on your Intelligence score as follows:
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier
Below is also the spell table for the 2024 Eldritch Knight (notably, you can replace one of the Wizard spells you know with another whenever you gain a level).
| Eldritch Knight Spellcasting | Spell Slots per Spell Level | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fighter Level | Cantrips Known | Spells Known | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | ||||
| 3rd | 2 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | ||||
| 4th | 2 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | ||||
| 5th | 2 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | ||||
| 6th | 2 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | ||||
| 7th | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | – | – | ||||
| 8th | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | – | – | ||||
| 9th | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | – | – | ||||
| 10th | 3 | 7 | 4 | 3 | – | – | ||||
| 11th | 3 | 8 | 4 | 3 | – | – | ||||
| 12th | 3 | 8 | 4 | 3 | – | – | ||||
| 13th | 3 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | ||||
| 14th | 3 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | ||||
| 15th | 3 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | ||||
| 16th | 3 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | ||||
| 17th | 3 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | ||||
| 18th | 3 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | ||||
| 19th | 3 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| 20th | 3 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | ||||
Level 3: Weapon Bond
This feature is unchanged for the 2024 Eldritch Knight. You learn a ritual that creates a magical bond between yourself and one weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. The weapon must be within your reach throughout the ritual, at the conclusion of which you touch the weapon and forge the bond.
Once you have bonded a weapon to yourself, you can’t be disarmed of that weapon unless you are incapacitated. If it is on the same plane of existence, you can summon that weapon as a bonus action on your turn, causing it to teleport instantly to your hand.
You can have up to two bonded weapons, but can summon only one at a time with your bonus action. If you attempt to bond with a third weapon, you must break the bond with one of the other two.
Level 7: War Magic
In the 2014 rules, when you used your action to cast a cantrip you could make one weapon attack as a bonus action. This has changed in 2024 so that now as an action, you can replace your attack with a cantrip. The idea behinds this change is to allow you to wield more magic in battle and free up your bonus action.
Level 10: Eldritch Strike
This feature has not changed in the 2024 rules and is exactly the same as it was for the 2014 Eldritch Knight. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, that creature has disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes against a spell you cast before the end of your next turn.
Level 15: Arcane Charge
This 2024 Eldritch Knight feature also remains the same as the 2014 version. You gain the ability to teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see when you use your Action Surge. You can teleport before or after the additional action.
Level 18: Improved War Magic
In the 2024 version, when you used your action to cast a spell, you could make one weapon attack as a bonus action. As with the updated Level 7 War Magic feature, this has been changed for 2024 and is no longer a bonus action. Instead you can replace up to two attacks to cast a level 1 or level 2 spell. Again, the goal here is to offer more magical options during combat and to free up your bonus action.
Is the New 2024 Eldritch Knight worth playing?
The changes to the Eldritch Knight reflect a larger shift in DnD 5e towards more powerful classes and subclasses (something that’s definitely apparent with the new 2024 Fighter). At the same time, the changes to the Eldritch Knight also offer more versatility and customization, particularly when it comes to the ability to choose specific spells and burn actions to deliver extra magical attacks. This combination of magic and martial abilities also opens up some new strategic possibilities, especially when combined with the new DnD 5e Weapon Mastery rules. The end result is the perfect option for players who want a little more magic with their Fighter, but don’t want to multiclass with a Wizard.
You can find the complete rules for the new Eldritch Knight in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, which is available for pre-order on D&D Beyond and Amazon.
Below is also a video from the official D&D Beyond YouTube channel, with Wizards of the Coast Jeremy Crawford offering more insight into the changes to subclass.
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Cameron Nichols is a Senior Editor who lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and has been playing D&D since the early 90s, when he was introduced by his older brother and cut his teeth on AD&D 2nd Edition. Since then he’s played virtually every RPG he could get his nerdy little mitts on (including a weird Goth phase in the early 2000s when he rocked Vampire: The Masquerade pretty hard). His favorite D&D campaign setting is the Forgotten Realms and his favorite character to play was a Half-Orc Barbarian named Grug (who was unfortunately devoured by a gelatinous cube).
