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I've seen a number of sources cite Darkness/Devil's Sight as a combo for Warlocks in which the Warlock's attacks get advantage and attacks on them have disadvantage, due to the heavily obscured effect that generates the Blinded condition for those who can't see through magical darkness. This makes total sense to me for Pact of the Blade warlocks in melee.

What's not clear to me is whether ranged attacks from inside the Darkness -- such as Eldritch Blast -- still have advantage if their target is outside the sphere of effect. My intuition says that on the one hand, the target can't see the spell being cast, but the target could still see the spell coming after it left the bubble. I can't tell from the wording on heavily obscured areas or from blindness how this would work.

To be clear, the question is: assume a warlock with Devil's Sight is in the area of effect of a Darkness spell, and they cast Eldritch Blast at a target outside the Darkness area of effect. Do they have advantage on the attack roll?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This looks like it may be a duplicate of rpg.stackexchange.com/q/71286/52922. \$\endgroup\$
    – Louis Wasserman
    Mar 12, 2019 at 0:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ Not quite a duplicate. That question is about hiding specifically, while this one is about the specific combo of Darkness/Devil's Sight and whether one still gains the benefit if the target is outside the Darkness. They're pretty different :) \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Mar 12, 2019 at 1:03

2 Answers 2

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The warlock has advantage

This is a notorious combo and it works because of the rules for Unseen Attackers and Targets (PHB 194):

Unseen Attackers and Targets

When you attack a target that you can’t see, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. This is true whether you’re guessing the target’s location or you’re targeting a creature you can hear but not see. If the target isn’t in the location you targeted, you automatically miss, but the GM typically just says that the attack missed, not whether you guessed the target’s location correctly.

When a creature can’t see you, you have advantage on attack rolls against it. If you are hidden—both unseen and unheard—when you make an attack, you give away your location when the attack hits or misses.

As the area of Darkness completely obscures the warlock from the other creature but not vice versa, the warlock is attacked with disadvantage but makes its attacks with advantage.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ The wording seems to indicate that you need to be both unseen and unheard to get advantage, though. \$\endgroup\$
    – lisardggY
    Mar 12, 2019 at 7:08
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    \$\begingroup\$ @lisar No, the wording is that if you are hidden, which is described as being unseen and unheard, you give yourself away by attacking and stop being hidden. The first sentence of the second paragraph is not tied to the remaining information. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rykara
    Mar 12, 2019 at 8:07
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They should still get advantage on the attack. DnD 5e rules say that advantage is based on whether the attacker can be seen, not the attack.

This is pointed in the "Unseen Attackers and Targets" section, on page 194 of the PHB:

When a creature can't see you, you have advantage on attack rolls against it.

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