Originally Posted by
Vargouille
This is correct. Some of the wording is very precise and potentially confusing, which is why the diagram also has some colors in it.
Eldritch Essences: Unholy Blast, Faltering Blast, Penetrating Blast: You can turn one on at a time. They change the way other Eldritch Blasts work (including the single target one you get at first Warlock level, or Eldritch Chain, or Eldritch Cone, or Enervating Shadow, as well as the Aura in Enlightened spirit.)
Eldritch Blast Shapes: Basic single-target, Chain, Cone, Enervating Shadow. These are toggles that make your basic attack 'cast' Eldritch Blast. These are affected by things that say, "When you Eldritch Blast", or variations thereof (we probably need to lock down text templates for these but might not be there yet). This includes the Eldritch Essences but also other things that we choose not to make Eldritch Essences (it's not good to have too many since you can only turn on one at a time).
*Aura in Enlightened Spirit: This is similar to Eldritch Blast Shapes but is a bit different. It doesn't replace your auto-attack. There's also a few things that won't work directly with it (such as increased attack speed in Tainted Scholar). However, most of the "on-hit" effects of Eldritch Blast will work with this.
Activated Eldritch Blast: These are activated abilities that are not Shapes. These will usually function like SLAs, and deal damage based on your Eldritch Blast dice (both base and Pact), and trigger "on-hit" effects that care about Eldritch Blast (or spells!). This includes things like Eldritch Ball, Eldritch Burst and Spirit Blast. Whether you are auto-attacking with Eldritch Blast or not doesn't matter for these abilities, similar to how you can just cast spells between doing other things.