Building a Frontliner Hexblade

[Gizmogidget]

So I joined a group and made a hexblade. Turns out the group does not have the best frontliner capabilities (or healing) and has gotten into trouble many times. I'm not keen on changing my character so I want to know what I can do in the future to fill the role.

The Party (All Characters are 5th level)

Diviner Wizard, Female Human, Focus on Utility Spells, Very Few Damaging Spells, some area of effect spells that don't do damage like fog cloud, and Hold Person
Horizon Walker Ranger, Male Elf, Focus on Ranged Combat
Swashbuckler Rogue, Male Human, Good Initiative (Alert), took Lucky, Melee - (rapier)
Half-dwarf (homebrew, gets some extra skills, but constitution bonus isn't as high, less resistance to poison, etc) Artificer Gunsmith, ranged, not going to wade into melee)


The DM permits any of the officially published material, Unearthed Arcana, and even some homebrew with his discretion.

My Character
Changeling Hexblade (Pact of the Blade)
STR: 7 DEX: 17 CON: 16 INT: 11 WIS: 13 CHA: 17
AC: 17 (w/shield) 15 w/o
Feats: Warcaster
Uses a longsword and shield (the DM has allowed characters with the Warcaster feat to cast spells with material components that don't have a cost, while having weapons or shield in both hands)
Invocations
Repelling Blast
Eldritch Smite
Thirsting Blade
Spells
Hex, Arms of Hadar, Mirror Image, Counterspell, Fly, Hypnotic Pattern

[Speely]

Your Dex is punching up. Grab the Medium Armor Master feat at some point. You need 2 ASIs to get your Cha to 20, though.

Until then, open up strong with EB and make yourself a threat, then Dodge next round? You can still OP attack if needed.

Armor of Agathys is also super good, and once you get Shadows of Moil, you are golden.

[Teaguethebean]

I recommend replacing arms of hadar with something else like hellish rebuke or shatter

[Gizmogidget]

Thank you.

[Keravath]

I'd also suggest dropping eldritch smite ... they are only 3d8 at 5th level and they use up your spell slots of which you only have 2 until 11th level.

You could even swap to the mage armor at will invocation which would boost your AC to 18 with a shield (though half plate would be 19). Improved pact weapon would be another choice if you don't have a +1 weapon or want to use your weapon as a spell focus.

Warcaster is a good feat ... it is better if you have a lot of spells to cast ... you only have two. If your stats could be 16 dex and 17 con ... resilient con would bump it to 18.

Darkness+devil's sight (by level 3) and Shadows of Moil (level 7) can both give you advantage to attack and disadvantage to be hit ... goes a long way to improving your tanking ability but the tactics to use darkness+devils sight with a party can mean quite a bit of running around.

Hypnotic pattern is an absolutely great spell ... but it ideally shouldn't be cast by a character in melee since the odds of it dropping are much higher ... and usually, if you are keeping something locked down then it is best to keep it locked down.

Counterspell is another very good but very situational spell. You only have two spell slots, so it would be better if the wizard was able to take this one given your limited spell choices.

I'm not sure what else to suggest.

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I have a level 5 melee focused hexblade. He is a variant human .. started with polearm master ... great weapon master at level 4 ... devils sight, improved pact weapon (for now) and thirsting blade ... uses darkness+devils sight for advantage benefits. Will take resilient constitution and two charisma increases for the next three feats. Maybe finish off with lucky or something else at 19. However, you can't really go that sort of route without significant backtracking.

[Andvare]

I'd also suggest dropping eldritch smite ... they are only 3d8 at 5th level and they use up your spell slots of which you only have 2 until 11th level.

You could even swap to the mage armor at will invocation which would boost your AC to 18 with a shield (though half plate would be 19). Improved pact weapon would be another choice if you don't have a +1 weapon or want to use your weapon as a spell focus.

Warcaster is a good feat ... it is better if you have a lot of spells to cast ... you only have two. If your stats could be 16 dex and 17 con ... resilient con would bump it to 18.

Darkness+devil's sight (by level 3) and Shadows of Moil (level 7) can both give you advantage to attack and disadvantage to be hit ... goes a long way to improving your tanking ability but the tactics to use darkness+devils sight with a party can mean quite a bit of running around.

Hypnotic pattern is an absolutely great spell ... but it ideally shouldn't be cast by a character in melee since the odds of it dropping are much higher ... and usually, if you are keeping something locked down then it is best to keep it locked down.

Counterspell is another very good but very situational spell. You only have two spell slots, so it would be better if the wizard was able to take this one given your limited spell choices.

I'm not sure what else to suggest.

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I have a level 5 melee focused hexblade. He is a variant human .. started with polearm master ... great weapon master at level 4 ... devils sight, improved pact weapon (for now) and thirsting blade ... uses darkness+devils sight for advantage benefits. Will take resilient constitution and two charisma increases for the next three feats. Maybe finish off with lucky or something else at 19. However, you can't really go that sort of route without significant backtracking.

Eldritch Smite is good, not for the damage, but for the automatic prone. How useful that is, depends a bit on the DM and the encounter of course, but it can be quite useful.

[Andvare]

Quarterstaff + shield + Polearm Master + Sentinel is fun. Stop the enemy from moving past you. Devil Sight + Darkness added means they are also somewhat helpless after they are stopped (depending on the enemy of course).
The quarterstaff might even work as an arcane spell focus, so War Caster might not be needed. A quarterstaff is a staff, but it might not go down well with your GM. Otherwise, Ruby Of The War Mage (Xanathar's Guide To Everything p. 138; Common wondrous magical item.) makes any weapon a spell focus. Does require attunement though.
The average damage difference between a longsword and a quarterstaff is only 1.

Glaive + Polearm Master + War Caster + Sentinel + Repelling Blast can be downright broken. Opportunity attack when they are 10 feet away, cast Repelling Eldritch Blast via War Caster to push the enemy away (as long as you only target the one moving, it's not even against RAW) and stop them for the turn. Fun. Add in Devil Sight and Darkness, and they might not even know what happened. Feat heavy, and only comes fully online at level 8 at the earliest, also no shield, so AC is likely not going much past 17.

Multiclassing to Lore Bard, for cutting words, is actually a good way to become more tanky. Requires at least 3 levels though, but even the lowest level of Cutting Words is equal to +3 AC against most attacks. And with Font of Inspiration (5th level), the B-lock becomes a short rest fueled powerhouse.

[LudicSavant]

You should take the Booming Blade cantrip, particularly since you have Warcaster. It will make your opportunity attacks significantly more punishing (especially since they have to trigger the rider too if they actually want to move away from you).

[Nezgar]

Repelling Blast doesn't seem like it would do you any good, unless you want drop the shield and go Polearm instead. The last thing you want to do as a melee/tank is to push targets further away from you. Depending on your other cantrips, you can go for Agonizing Blast if you want some at-will ranged damage.
You could drop Thirsting Blade for either Improved Pact Weapon or Cloak of Flies. Unless you are fishing for crits to use Eldritch Smite on, the SCAG cantrips will perform just as good and have some utility built into them. At level 11 at the latest, the cantrips will out-damage Thirsting Blade anyway... unless you pick up Lifedrinker at level 12 as well. But that'd be 2 invocations for a very minor damage increase.
Speaking of which: SCAG melee cantrips are pretty much mandatory, especially Booming Blade in combination with Warcaster.

I would probably drop Arms of Hadar and Mirror Image.
Arms of Hadar is almost never worth one of your very limited spell slots. Mirror Image doesn't scale with your spell slots and is not very useful if you expect to get targeted a lot, since it's quite easy to hit the images. If you get targeted a lot, Mirror Image likely won't last longer than a round.
Armor of Agathys is an excellent alternative. At your level, that's 15 temporary hit points as well as guaranteed 15 damage at least once, though at level 5, it's very rare for an enemy to deal 15 damage with a single hit. So in some cases you can trigger the damage 2-3 times during a fight before the temp hit points are used up.

I'd personally advise against Darkness + Devil's Sight. It's great on paper, but usually fairly restrictive when you expect to be the one doing the tanking. You simply won't have the luxury of positioning yourself in a way that doesn't block vision for the rest of the party. You want to be in the middle of the fight. At level 7 you get access to a much better version of Darkness anyway.

I found Hellish Rebuke to be really underwhelming. At your current level, that is an average of 22 damage if your enemy doesn't succeed on its DEX save. Armor of Agathys generally does better both in terms of damage and survivability and it doesn't eat your reaction.
If you want more damage with your spell slot, Eldritch Smite will be much better. It's a guaranteed hit and if you use it on a crit (as you should), that's 8d8 (36 average) damage and you can send the enemy prone, if you feel like it. No spell will give you more single target damage for that spell slot.

If you are concerned with survivability, you can take Blur or Blink. Both will do much better than Mirror Image, for example.

Since you will be mostly limited by only having 2 spell slots, most fights will probably be Armor of Agathys plus either Hex or Eldritch Smite if you want more damage, or a defensive spell.

At level 7 you will get your primary self-buff and tanking spell, Shadow of Moil.

As someone else already suggested, swapping Dex and Con and then getting Resilient:CON at level 8 would be a pretty good idea. Since your AC won't be crazy high, expect to get hit frequently and dropping concentration can be disastrous.

On another note: Unless your DM houserules otherwise, you can only have 2 level 3 spells at the moment (1 from learning a new spell at level 5, and another 1 from changing an existing spell to a higher one).

If multiclassing is an option for you, you could consider starting with 1 level in Fighter for the CON proficiency, +2 Hitpoints, +1 AC and a small short rest self-heal.

[Gizmogidget]

I'd also suggest dropping eldritch smite ... they are only 3d8 at 5th level and they use up your spell slots of which you only have 2 until 11th level.

You could even swap to the mage armor at will invocation which would boost your AC to 18 with a shield (though half plate would be 19). Improved pact weapon would be another choice if you don't have a +1 weapon or want to use your weapon as a spell focus.

Warcaster is a good feat ... it is better if you have a lot of spells to cast ... you only have two. If your stats could be 16 dex and 17 con ... resilient con would bump it to 18.

Darkness+devil's sight (by level 3) and Shadows of Moil (level 7) can both give you advantage to attack and disadvantage to be hit ... goes a long way to improving your tanking ability but the tactics to use darkness+devils sight with a party can mean quite a bit of running around.

Hypnotic pattern is an absolutely great spell ... but it ideally shouldn't be cast by a character in melee since the odds of it dropping are much higher ... and usually, if you are keeping something locked down then it is best to keep it locked down.

Counterspell is another very good but very situational spell. You only have two spell slots, so it would be better if the wizard was able to take this one given your limited spell choices.

I'm not sure what else to suggest.

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I have a level 5 melee focused hexblade. He is a variant human .. started with polearm master ... great weapon master at level 4 ... devils sight, improved pact weapon (for now) and thirsting blade ... uses darkness+devils sight for advantage benefits. Will take resilient constitution and two charisma increases for the next three feats. Maybe finish off with lucky or something else at 19. However, you can't really go that sort of route without significant backtracking.

First off thank you.

I took counterspell because we have encountered a few wizards that were rather nasty, and the wizard has not gotten a chance to get a copy into her spellbook.
In a party full of humans primarily (not sure if the 1/2 dwarf gets darkvision) darkness + devil's sight might not be team friendly.
I took warcaster because the DM has allowed us to use material components with it, so I can keep my shield up and my sword drawn, while casting a spell, even if it has material components. But only if I have that feat. That also reduces the value of Improved Pact Weapon, but a +1 is still nice, however it should be any day now that a magic weapon should come around.

I could replace hypnotic pattern with Thunder Step. That would give me some extra maneuverability and since I'm usually the only one in melee combat, along with the rogue, who is usually fighting a different monster away from me anyways, means that the friendly fire won't happen as often.

Counterspell to be replaced with Hunger of Hadar maybe.

[MrBig]

In a party full of humans primarily (not sure if the 1/2 dwarf gets darkvision) darkness + devil's sight might not be team friendly.


Darkvision can’t see through magical Darkness. Everyone is blind, except those with Devil’s Sight.

[RSP]

My Character
Changeling Hexblade (Pact of the Blade)
STR: 7 DEX: 17 CON: 16 INT: 11 WIS: 13 CHA: 17
AC: 17 (w/shield) 15 w/o
Feats: Warcaster
Uses a longsword and shield (the DM has allowed characters with the Warcaster feat to cast spells with material components that don't have a cost, while having weapons or shield in both hands)
Invocations
Repelling Blast
Eldritch Smite
Thirsting Blade
Spells
Hex, Arms of Hadar, Mirror Image, Counterspell, Fly, Hypnotic Pattern

Trade out Repelling Blast for Improved Pact Weapon. Trade out AoH for Armor of Agathys. Trade HP for Fear. Fly isn’t really needed (just EB when at distance), and I don’t like using Mirror Image. I’d trade one out for Hellish Rebuke. Trade out Eldritch Smite for Armor of Shadows: ES isn’t bad but a +1 to AC is more helpful to you at this point.

I’m playing a similar character now and I like relying upon Hex (at your level it will last 8 hours, though you need to maintain Conc, which Warcaster will help with, though I would suggest Resilient (Con) in its place for the Prof bonus and using IPW’s similar ability to cast while holding your pact weapon).

If you dedicate your Conc on Hex, you’ll be fine with your damage, though not everyone likes relying on a Conc spell as a front liner. I like this (with Resilient (Con)), as if you maintain it through a Short Rest, you essentially get a free spell slot in addition to continued good damage).

I dislike MI as it takes an action and doesn’t scale, whereas you could have gotten in either 2 eldritch blasts or 2 weapon attacks instead of casting it, then used that slot on a scaling Hellish Rebuke which should take out any mobs you’re fighting at that level, or do a good bit of damage to a “boss”.

Further, I’d suggest AoA is better than MI anyway as it prevents damage while also doing damage to opponents for the same cost, and it scales with spell level (not to mention you can cast it prebattle with its duration).

I prefer Fear to HP as it’s better on a frontliner, doesn’t End with damage, and, my favorite, causes those affected to drop what they’re holding (which turns weapon wielding opponents from doing significant damage to Str+1). Both are good spells, but my preference, particularly as a frontliner where if you lose Conc on HP all those creatures are back up instantly, as opposed to with Fear they’ve run X rounds out of battle (and therefore usually require X rounds to return to combat) and do so without their favorite weapons, shield or casting focus.

I dislike spells that use an action in combat as, in general, your attacks dealing damage is your best way to end combat (particularly as a frontliner), Fear and Shadow of Moil are exceptions due to how good they are, and AoA should be used prior to combat (with its 1 hour duration). This generally frees up your Action for damage dealing. Slots can be used on HEllisg Rebuke as needed.

Just my take on it. Hopefully at least some of these suggestions help.

[Ranikirn.]

Im playing a ranger gloom stalker/warlock hexblade with defense style (+1 AC) from ranger class, a magic armor (half plate) +1 and shield so i have 21 AC. With the spell shield i can have 26 AC, you can use Blur to give disvantage against you. However, u can be a good DPS with lifedrinker, thirsthing blade, hexblade curse and the ranger multi attack.

PS: The first round of a fight the gloom stalker have an extra attack plus1D8 force dmgs if hit, with thirsting blade u have 4 attack.