Warlock: Fiend pact vs XGTE Hexblade - for an EB blaster?

[MrBig]

Which do you think is a better choice for a blaster Warlock?
Fiend Pact (for temp HP), or the new Hexblade (for shield)?

I know, hexblade is usually for gishes, and melee flavor.
But, one of the big things it gives is shield proficiency, which can be a huge defensive buff.

My warlock is currently a Sorc 1 / Warlock 2.
Planning to go : Sorc 1 / Warlock X, Fiend/Chain.
Invocations: Agonizing Blast, Devil's sight

Focus is on ranged, with the usual EB+Hex or telepathically-controlled flying darkness drone for tactical battlefield control.
The one-level Sorc dip was to get AC 13+Dex, and CON save proficiency.

DEX: 15, CHA 17, STR 8

So, I've got an AC of 15 (13+2), which isn't terrible, but it still leaves me fairly squishy.
My Sorcerer dip lets me get the Shield spell, and two 1st level slots to burn on it without touching my two pact slots.

But, once XTGE comes out, the hexblade opens up the chance to carry a shield, which would be a full-time +2 AC.
(We may get a one-time respec option when it arrives).

Of course, the temp hit points from the Fiend patron are pretty nice, but it if I'm getting hit less, I would need less temp hit points...

The moderately armored feat would also give me shields, but I'd rather put it towards ASIs (+1 Dex/ +1 CHA, then +2 CHA).

Our campaign isn't likely to go above level 10, so I'm not looking for high-level optimization - it needs to help now.

I think it comes down to:

Fiend:
- Temp hit points
- fireball option at 5th

vs
Hexblade
- +2 AC
- curse 1/short rest which is a good offensive buff and small heal

What do you think? Is shield+curse better than temp hit points + fireball?

Party is : Paladin, Cleric, Rogue, Archery Fighter. The Paladin and Cleric have decent ACs, but are not very sticky (no Sentinel feat, etc.)

[Kane0]

I'd take +2 AC over Temp HPs, but I'd also take Fireball over Curse...
Seems pretty even, though if you were to dip a level in fighter you also get the Shield AC from that (and a fighting style for another potential +1 AC).

Edit: Given that you have no bard/sorc/wiz then access to Fireball may be a top priority for your party.

[DracoKnight]

To get Shield Proficiency as a Fiendlock, be a Variant Human with the Moderately Armored feat. Your party will probably appreciate the fireball support.

[Foff]

with the Kiss of Mephistofeles invocation you can get Fireball as a bonus action centered on one of your eldridch blast hits, so going hexblade doesn't really mean no fireball.
Generally speaking, Hexblade gives you access to shield as well, although I'd never use a precious warlock spellslot on shield or darkness for that matter, you're probably better off going shadow sorc 2 to cast darkness with your metamagic and freeing up an invocation slot ( you don't need devil's sight that much being a shadow sorc and you don't need natural AC by being a Hexblade because half plate is better anyway).
Hexblade makes the whole build revolve around CHA gives you great AC without needing more than 14 Dex (10-14 Dex is fine too)
If you plan on being a gish, Hexblade into chain or blade pact is probably your ONLY viable option, using 2 sorc levels to make up for the warlock shortcomings.
If you want to be a long range magical sniper, I feel Hexblade is still the best choice for all purposes other than flavor and RP reasons

yep, Hexblade is pretty busted...

[MrBig]

@Foff - hmm. Kiss of M. opens up fireball options - that's interesting.
Do you know if the XGTGE version drops the "fiend patron" requirement?

[Millstone85]

@Foff - hmm. Kiss of M. opens up fireball options - that's interesting.
Do you know if the XGTGE version drops the "fiend patron" requirement?They have dropped all the patron requirements.

[Daphne]

Do you know if the XGTGE version drops the "fiend patron" requirement?

Kiss of Mephistofelis ins't on XGE.

[MrBig]

Kiss of Mephistofelis ins't on XGE.

Dang. Hmm.
So, if I did go hexblade, that means my AC could be : breastplate (14) + dex (2) + shield (2) = 18.

I wouldnt want to go half-plate for the 15 base AC because of the disadvantage to stealth. Darkness/Devil’s Sight shenanigans work better when you’re stealthy.

Or, fighter dip for the same but +1 AC for defensive style.

So...
Hexblade : 15 -> 18 AC
Fighter dip : 15 -> 19 AC
Fiend : 15 AC + fireball

[Spiritchaser]

In the context of your party I’d take fiend for fireball someone needs AoE

[Ovarwa]

In the context of your party, I'd play a wizard.

[Mikal]

I'd go Hexblade. Better armor and shield, plus a charisma based melee attack in case you get caught there, whereas with Fiend you'd need to rely on that temp HP and a crappy attack.

Your hexblade curse lets you add damage against a single target to burn it down faster, and you get an ally with spectre, as well as decent spells.

Fiend is better for AoE mooks, Hexblade is better for your single target burns. I prefer leaving AoE to wizards and sorcerers as a Warlock due to the small number of spell slots you get.

However, with your party composition, I wouldn't go past 2 levels of Warlock anyway, so Fiend doesn't matter for fireball.

After the 2 levels you already have, I'd then go Sorc.
You can quicken your EBs for even more single target burndown, AND you can get the sorcerer AoE goodness.

[Foff]

yup, no more kiss of meph, which is a bummer, but you still have AOE options for hexblade, maybe not as powerful but certainly viable

Hunger of Hadar works, and does damage, sure it requires teamwork to keep shoving people inside the aoe but it's a powerful spell

Maddening Hex is also a viable choice, the aoe isn't much but if you manage to clamp enemies up together that DOT is gonna stack

not exactly aoe but "summon lesser demons" can be a nice spell to throw inside an enemy group and proceed blasting from afar while they're engaging the demons