Hexblade Invocations?

[mafddawg]

Hi All
We got to 2nd level in our last session and I started looking at invocations for my half elf hexblade and I'm feeling kinda starved for interesting options.
This is the plan I have so far.

2nd False life
2nd Eyes of the Rune Keeper
5th Eldritch Smite
False life -> Thirsting Blade
7th Trickster's Escape
9th Relentless Hex
12th Lifedrinker
15th Witch Sight
18th Sculptor of Flesh

So first of all, I have no idea if the campaign will go all the way to 20 so I may be overthinking my selections.
Second, I feel like Eyes are the only fluff invocation I can afford, the others seem very important for a melee lock.

Does anyone have any tips on invocations to take for 2nd. 7th and 9th level?
Note: I purposely avoided the devils sight combo, the group is no where near that level of optimization, I will use eldritch smite to trigger my elvish accuracy when i need it.

[Galithar]

I find Improved Pact Weapon to be one of my favorites for a Hexblade. The ability to have your pact weapon be ranged is situationally extremely useful, however this might just be because I love the idea of being capable of Eldritch Smiting an Adult Dragon midflight causing them to take fall damage! 😎

[ciarannihill]

Hi All
We got to 2nd level in our last session and I started looking at invocations for my half elf hexblade and I'm feeling kinda starved for interesting options.
This is the plan I have so far.

2nd False life
2nd Eyes of the Rune Keeper
5th Eldritch Smite
False life -> Thirsting Blade
7th Trickster's Escape
9th Relentless Hex
12th Lifedrinker
15th Witch Sight
18th Sculptor of Flesh

So first of all, I have no idea if the campaign will go all the way to 20 so I may be overthinking my selections.
Second, I feel like Eyes are the only fluff invocation I can afford, the others seem very important for a melee lock.

Does anyone have any tips on invocations to take for 2nd. 7th and 9th level?
Note: I purposely avoided the devils sight combo, the group is no where near that level of optimization, I will use eldritch smite to trigger my elvish accuracy when i need it.

Agonizing Blast is still spectacular on a Hexblade. Also Devil's Sight is greatin tandem w/ the spell Darkness.

As @Galithar said, Improved Hex Weapon is solid as well, but to expand it also allows you to use your Pact Weapon as a spellcasting focus, which can be useful if you're gishing and don't want to drop your weapon/shield/what have you to take out your focus to cast spells with material components.

[WeaselGuy]

My Hexblade is planning on grabbing:

Agonizing Blast
Mask of Many Faces
Thirsting Blade
Maddening Hex
Tomb of Levistus
Lifedrinker
Witch Sight
Sculptor of Flesh

Some of these are subject to change, as the campaign progresses, but these are what I have earmarked.
Although, Improved Pact Weapon does look really good... Maybe drop Tomb of Levistus for it?

[Man_Over_Game]

Mask of Many Faces + the Actor feat is enough of an RP build that you really don't need anything else to be interesting out of combat. This effectively makes you a changeling. The +1 to Charisma from Actor is also pretty solid.

[Merudo]

Also Devil's Sight is greatin tandem w/ the spell Darkness.

If you get Devil's Sight, I strongly suggest you take the Drow half-elf variant so you can cast Darkness for free one time a day.

[Legendairy]

My Hexblade is planning on grabbing:

Agonizing Blast
Mask of Many Faces
Thirsting Blade
Maddening Hex
Tomb of Levistus
Lifedrinker
Witch Sight
Sculptor of Flesh

Some of these are subject to change, as the campaign progresses, but these are what I have earmarked.
Although, Improved Pact Weapon does look really good... Maybe drop Tomb of Levistus for it?

I would....Tomb of Levistus just seems....”bad” to me. *shrugs*

[Man_Over_Game]

This is a public service announcement:



note: I purposely avoided the devils sight combo, the group is no where near that level of optimization, i will use eldritch smite to trigger my elvish accuracy when i need it.
Thank you

[Legendairy]

Shhh....I saw it too and figured, meh not wanting to read the whole post weeds people out. Lol

[mafddawg]

Lots of good feedback here everyone, thank you!

I didn't think of the smiting with a ranged weapon, that does seem tempting, but since we're 2 melee and 3 ranged in the group I don't want to step on the other chars thunder. For the same reason I've avoided agonizing blast. Since I plan to 2-hand it I don't see a problem with just having a focus for my M spells.

I decided against mask of many faces since RP wise my char is not very deceptive, and there already is a "face" in the group.

I guess what I'm hesitating about is the 7 and 9 choices, how important is a once per long rest freedom of movement and a once per short rest misty step worth, as opposed to some interesting out of combat abilities like at-will detect magic(although 2 casters in the group already has this spell), at-will silent image or at-will invisibility(in darkness)

I've never played 5th at the levels where freedom of movement is important, but I remember in 3.5 it was a real clutch spell at times.

PS: Thanks man_over_game for keeping the discussion on track ;)

[Keravath]

I'd just add that even if you don't plan on using the darkness/devil's sight combination ... devil's sight itself can be very useful if your DM puts you in dark places

1) You can see any area that is in the dark within 120' so even if you are moving around with a party with light sources you can see perfectly well beyond the light sources out to 120'.
2) In total darkness, it is the same as well lit for you so you never suffer disadvantage on perception checks that apply to characters with only darkvision in total darkness.

There have been several times when my character with devil's sight can spot an ambush in the dark well beyond the distance that everyone else in the party can see.

I'd also second the at will detect magic. This means that you can detect magic at will while most other casters will want to take the 10 minutes to cast it as a ritual to avoid using a spell slot.

[cyberfunkr]

Level 2: Agonizing Blast & Fiendish Vigor
Level 3: Drop Vigor and get Improved Pact Weapon.
Level 5: Thirsting Blade for the extra attacks.
Level 7: Eldritch Smite because damage is good. Just save it for important battles as you only have 2 spell slots at this point.
Level 9: Relentless Hex to track your prey.
Level 12: Lifedrinker because more damage is good.
Level 15: Shroud of Shadow brings it all together; Turn invisible, Hexblade curse a target, Relentless Hex to get up close without them knowing, stabby stabby with advantage and Eldritch Smite.

May at some point drop Agonizing Blast for Maddening Hex.

Eldritch Sight is a trap for Hexblade. How often do you really need to known what's magical that can't wait 11 minutes? You're here to bring pain, not rummage through junk.

[Legendairy]

Lots of good feedback here everyone, thank you!

I didn't think of the smiting with a ranged weapon, that does seem tempting, but since we're 2 melee and 3 ranged in the group I don't want to step on the other chars thunder. For the same reason I've avoided agonizing blast. Since I plan to 2-hand it I don't see a problem with just having a focus for my M spells.

I decided against mask of many faces since RP wise my char is not very deceptive, and there already is a "face" in the group.

I guess what I'm hesitating about is the 7 and 9 choices, how important is a once per long rest freedom of movement and a once per short rest misty step worth, as opposed to some interesting out of combat abilities like at-will detect magic(although 2 casters in the group already has this spell), at-will silent image or at-will invisibility(in darkness)

I've never played 5th at the levels where freedom of movement is important, but I remember in 3.5 it was a real clutch spell at times.

PS: Thanks man_over_game for keeping the discussion on track ;)


It wouldn’t necessarily be stepping on their toes, you don’t have to use ranged smites all the time, but, when you need ranged you are still very competent that route. Nothing sucks worse than being completely one dimensional in fight space just to have encounters where you really can’t do much if anything.

Would be like them not having any melee options cause they want you to shine, it’s a limiting outlook.

[mafddawg]

Nothing sucks worse than being completely one dimensional in fight space just to have encounters where you really can’t do much if anything.

Would be like them not having any melee options cause they want you to shine, it’s a limiting outlook.

I feel you my dude.
But, I want them to have the options while I don't.

[Legendairy]

Guess that works then.....still, tomb of levistus is odd to me....what about cloak of flies? Short rest on/off no duration charisma to all enemies ina 5ft area around you. No save, can have it always kicking in bad places and advantage on intimidation.

Ahhh got confused you weren’t the one with tomb lol. But still you can have a look at it, more damage is more damage.

[mafddawg]

Tomb seems like a deece inocation, but compared to a freedom of movement, I'm not sure
//Edit also concering cloak of flies, it doesn't seem like a good enough to weigh up... say, at will silent image

[Mjolnirbear]

Tomb temporarily doubles the damage you can take in one round. Sudden Assassination? Iceblock. Mob of veliciraptors? Ice it up. Baylor with a flaming sword? Well ok not unless you like your humans extra crispy.

I found tanking somewhat difficult. Having a panic button that refreshes on short rests and that can work against giant boulders or bee swarms equally is a bonus.

And most time you take damage, it's on someone else's turn. The fact that you're incapacitated until your next turn is barely an issue since you can't move anyways.

[Mjolnirbear]

I both love and hate Cloak of flies, both because it's super creepy. But not that useful. Maddening Hex would be a better choice you could do at range, better damage type, you don't need to stand next to the bad guys and no friendly fire. The cost? Cloak only uses one bonus action.

[MThurston]

Improved Pact Weapon is a must. Otherwise you can not cast spells as a sword and board. You will need a focus and the only way to get it is through IPW.

To be honest, invocations are player preference. Sone are better than others but if you have a flavor you want, then go for it.

I will say that the 120 feet of dark vision is strong and at 5th level you could have Dark Vision, IPW and TB which is strong. But again, build over power gaming.

[Galithar]

You can also cast sword and board if you take War Caster, which a Hex blade is going to want, pulls from a separate limited resources pool (Feats over Invocations) and has far more benefits then IPW (Casting booming blade for AoO, S&B somatics, and most importantly advantage on Concentration checks to keep your concentration spell going. Which given your lack of spell slots, losing one hurts)

IPW's power for a Hexblade is from the ranged Smiting options in my opinion, unless you are in a campaign where magic items are so rare it's worth using an Invocation to get a +1 weapon. Of course that's not to say you can't use it as a stop gap until you can take War Caster at a higher level ASI, but I would almost always take War Caster as an early ASI (1 v.human or 4) for HexBlade if I planned on ever using concentration spells.

[Arceus]

Actually, for casting with Sword and Board you may want both War Caster and Improved Pact Weapon, as Warcaster doesn't help with Material components, and Improved Pact Weapon doesn't help with spells that have a Somatic component unless it also has a Material component.

[ad_hoc]

Tomb temporarily doubles the damage you can take in one round. Sudden Assassination? Iceblock. Mob of veliciraptors? Ice it up. Baylor with a flaming sword? Well ok not unless you like your humans extra crispy.

I found tanking somewhat difficult. Having a panic button that refreshes on short rests and that can work against giant boulders or bee swarms equally is a bonus.

And most time you take damage, it's on someone else's turn. The fact that you're incapacitated until your next turn is barely an issue since you can't move anyways.

It works against fire damage just fine too. Vulnerability only occurs after the damage.

I agree that it is underrated. It is basically an action to prevent a ton of damage. Once per short rest is great too. It is a great tool for preventing death spirals. One downside is that the Warlock loses Concentration, though with the damage they're taking they were probably going to lose it anyway.

[MThurston]

War Caster is an absolute must. And as I said earlier and it was repeated, IPW is a must for sword and board.

If you want to use two handed weapons then you just need IPW.

Focus = IPW
S = War Caster but not needed when using a two handed weapon.