Hexblade advice since June's UA came out

[Degwerks]

First of all I'm wondering if I missed any other important UA articles I might need for my Hexblade build. I have the original UA for the class and the June one for updated invocations.

I am in an underdark campaign and currently at 3rd level. My character is the only arcane casting class so far.

I plan to use Pact of the Blade, and Devils Sight & Improved Pact Weapon for my build currently. I was wondering if I should bump my 18 charisma at 4th to 20 or take the UA feat called Blade Mastery. I plan on using a shield by the way. Although War Caster might be a good choice as well.

Spell selection so far is Eldritch Blast, Booming Blade, Hex, Hellish Rebuke, Invisibility and Darkness.

Any thoughts on spells, invocations, ASI or feats would be appreciated.

Race is half elf and we have 6 other players.

[Arcangel4774]

I'm currently playing a hexblade level 5, soon to be six. I've planned out a lot of what I want to do, though, so I have some thoughts.

Your really gimping yourself if you don't take agonizing blast, if just for some long range damage for when that enemy comes ups that won't get within melee or is too far away to melee in one turn. Yah its called the invocation tax for the reason lol.

Warcaster is nice, if enemies reliable move away from you in combat, but otherwise it is made redundant by improved pact weapon. That being said, if you get your hand on a magic weapon, you should drop inproved pact weapon like a sack of potatoes

Maddening hex is great for damage when your running hex over darkness. But I'm sure you've already weighed darkness vs hex conc. thoroughly.

[Degwerks]

Yeah I plan on getting Agonizing Blast eventually but it will be after I take Kiss of Mephistopheles, at 5th level. Our party lacks AoE damage spells. I'm really torn on the direction to go first though. Get the 2 attack invocation, or Kiss invocation or Eldritch Smite invocation first?

Warcaster feat was mainly to help with con saves and a little bit for the OA's when I pick up the Cloak of Flies invocation.

Really I'm afraid that I will revert back to being a ranged blastlock like my last character was. Our party has a ranger, monk, barbarian, mystic soul knife, rogue and cleric already. At least 4 of those will be melee.

[Arcangel4774]

Sounds like you have more plans for your character than can fit lol. Without falling on any terms you haven't defined, what do you want him/her to be? What do you want to do?

[Degwerks]

Honestly I don't know what I want to do.
With all the melee we have it might be better to focus on control and ranged attacks first.

Then pick up the good melee attack stuff later. Our ranger will want to go ranged attacks I'm guessing but since it will be a long time before he finds a longbow in the underdark he have to use his hand crossbow. Then spend a feat at 4th to get crossbow master to be able to make use of the 2 attacks at 5th.

The rogue will also need to be melee to get his SA in. So at least 3 people will melee and a sun soul monk switch hitter. Leaves the ranger for ranged and me for maybe switch hitting control and life cleric for heals/buffs.

In your opinion what should I do? I'm cool with either melee or range but I want to be built for 1 or the other.

[Foff]

I'm currently playing a fallen aasimar hexblade at lvl 6 soon to be 7, no magical weapon for me so i went for improv pact weap, also took kiss of mephistofeles at 5, dont' have agonizing blast though.
I'm playing it as a versatile damage dealer both at range and melee though it really shines in melee with 2 attacks and +8 to hit.
What I generally do is pop hex or curse and EB first round (kiss of mephistofeles if there's aoe potential), pop hex or curse (whichever i haven't popped already) and go in melee round 2, pop aasimar aura round 3, melee again round 4 (the damage bonuses are insane at this point)
I dumped STR and i'm playing with a 1h sword pact blade and a shield, took half plate to reach 19CA with 14 dex (ASI +1 dex +1cha at lvl 4)
I plan on getting warcaster and drop improv pact weapon at lvl 8 if a magic weapon comes my way and i'm getting agonising blast at lvl 7
I don't play with darkness around very much since it hinders most of my party

[Arcangel4774]

A good way to determine would be to make a hierarchy of what you want. You can go all in on melee damage, be fairly good at either, or focus on blasting with some control.

For melee the biggest buffs at your level is improved pact weapon. The smite is decent but underwhelming with your two slots. In the future cloak of flies is better for melee, alongside your second attack. I'm a big fan of the level 7 relentless hex myself to be able to pop on top of the enemy.

For range agonizing blast is basically a must, maddening hex is better here. kiss of mephistophles is pretty nice for an added air as well, but it may not be necessary for your large party.

My personally reccomendation is to take a mix, getting agaonizng blast, maddening hex, but all else focused on melee.

[X3r4ph]

What I generally do is pop hex or curse and EB first round (kiss of mephistofeles if there's aoe potential)

You do realize that using EB with KoM costs an Action and a Bonus Action prohibiting Hex right?

[Spiritchaser]

Lots of good options based on how you want to play, but I personally feel that Fighter 1, Hexblade bladelock, attacking with strength, using darkness and GWM, is still an outstanding way to go.

I'm DMing one of these now, and he is very strong.

[Fach]

Which is a better use for concentration, hex + maddening hex or Darkness + Devil's Sight?

[rbstr]

Do you have Great Weapon Master? I imagine that's the deciding factor.

[Degwerks]

My strength is 13 and dex and con are 14. I've got a 18 charisma though.

Might at some point down the road take 2 levels of paladin.

[Spiritchaser]

With that, I'd suggest going with a one hander, and attacking with charisma.

You're probably best with hex (though even for a one hander, darkness isn't exactly bad!)

You're going to be vulnerable to shoves and grapples, which is not the end of the world, just be aware of it. If you can find a way to take misty step at some point, then that'll help. Otherwise you could be some grapplebarian's helpless cuddle toy.

There's usually a grapple or a shove at my table about once a play session, and it's probably about 50/50 if it's the players who initiate it. If your table runs into this less often, then it might be less of a consideration

[Foff]

You do realize that using EB with KoM costs an Action and a Bonus Action prohibiting Hex right?

yes of course KoM uses up my whole turn, got my punctuation wrong there

[Foff]

My strength is 13 and dex and con are 14. I've got a 18 charisma though.

Might at some point down the road take 2 levels of paladin.

multiclassing UA classes i generally frowned upon, If you can do it go for it but most DMs won't allow it and I stay away from it for that reason

[RSP]

The rogue will also need to be melee to get his SA in.

Just curious why the rogue can't use ranged weapons for SA. If it's because you're playing OotA and none are available yet, I'd hold off on changing your play style as the rogue will get ranged weapons eventually.

[Degwerks]

I'm away from books but I think rogues need to be within 30ft and have advantage to do ranged SA. We play with a Flanking rule to get advantage if we Flank a target with melee weapons.

Other rogue features also apply too, as well as any other way to get advantage. I was just thinking that the rogue was less likely to get advantage with ranged attacks.

[rbstr]

The Ranged weapon condition is the same as the melee condition: You need advantage or a teammate w/in 5 ft of the enemy (and you can't be disadvantaged).

[Degwerks]

Did not know that, thanks.

[Degwerks]

What is everyone's opinion on taking a level or 3 of rogue for expertise in Athletics and the Shield Master feat? The bonus action shove and booming blade trick might be handy. Plus the bonus I'd get to my dex saves.

[RSP]

What is everyone's opinion on taking a level or 3 of rogue for expertise in Athletics and the Shield Master feat? The bonus action shove and booming blade trick might be handy. Plus the bonus I'd get to my dex saves.

Personally, I'd not want to delay the Hexblade features for Rogue 3. If already using UA, you could always take the Brawny feat for Expertise in Athletics, though keep in mind how often you'd actually get to use your Bonus Action to shove; both Hexblade's Curse and Hex use your BA to initiate or switch targets.

Shield Master can be pretty sweet on a sword and board, and a Warkock doesn't have to use Hex, but it's something to keep in mind if spending a costly ASI to get the feat.

[Malifice]

Im currently playing a Fighter 1/ Hexblade 4.

Fighter at 1st for Con saves, heavy armor, fighting style, second wind and extra survivability.

Feats are HAM and GWM. DM has ruled +CHA to hit and damage applies with 2H weapons.

The day I hit 3rd the new UA came out and I 'lost' Curse bringer the day after I finally got it. Desperate for 5th level so I can pick up Eldritch smite and retrain Mask of many faces for Thirsting blade. Currently Greenflame blade is picking up the slack from lack of Extra attack.

At present Hexblades kind of suck (I've used Hexblades Curse like 3 times, and its done sweet nothing each time. Plus I still cant dump Strength thanks to needing it for heavy armor). When the class gets a make over in XGtE it should be OK (hopefully).

DM keeps offering me the chance to retcon it to a Fiendlock (the Temp HP on a kill would be so much nicer than Hexblades Curse particularly when paired with HAM) but I'm hanging in there.

Still trying to figure out how many Sorcerer (shadow) levels to take with it. The extra slots for Eldritch smite and Shield are looking tasty, as are usual Sorlock shennanigans (converting 'lock slots to SP, and metamagic for extended Armor of Agathys and quickened EB + Action surge).

Fluff-wise he's one of the handful of Netherese (Shadowvar) refugees from Thulanthar (the city of Shade). Aiming for Fighter 2/ Hexblade (X) Shadow Sorcerer (X). Worships (lip service only) Shar.

Still cant decide on the Sorcerer/ Warlock/ Fighter split. At this stage its Fighter 3/ Sorcerer 5/ Warlock 12 (for Life drinker). Stongly leaning towards Fighter 2/ Warlock 5/ Sorcerer 13 as well.