Elven Accuracy Hexblade Smitey-McSmite-Face Build

[OctaviOz]

Sup Min-Maxers

Been playing around with a super-crit-fisher build. Unlikely to be as good in raw damage output as an optimised Barb/Fighter/Paladin build but it looks pretty fun.

Would love some input on how to improve. As is, I think the build will work pretty well but it is super Feat Heavy, ASI poor and while not the worst is a bit Squishy.

Core build concept
Half elf
Paladin 6 (Vengance)
Warlock 14 (Hexblade)

Vow of emnity - Gain advantage
Hexblade Curse - Expanded Crit range
Attack/Dam based off CHA (Hex Warriorr)
Elven Accuracy - Super advantage for 27% chance crit per hit
3 attacks per round with super-nova-ability on crits (Smite + Eldritch Smite)
Easy rection attacks and reach with PAM
Aura of Protection

Feats
Polearm Master
War Caster
Elven Accuracy
Great Weapon Master (last feat that may get swapped out if really necessary - nice to keep if possible)

Stats at level 20 (Point buy)
STR 13
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 8
CHA 18

Hit Points - 150

Many cool things that can be done with spells/invocations to boost damage and survivability.
Shield
Hex
Mirror Image
Armour of Agathys
Hold Person/Monster
Shadow of Moil
Armour of Hexes

Key to the build is getting consistent advantage. If Vow of Enmity and Party synergies are not working well enough may need to look at a way to get a familiar. Could get away with a scroll but may need to get magic initiate (find familiar). With a decent party I dont thing this should be a problem however. I'm steering awary from darkness/dark-sight for party-group-play considerations.

Thanks for your help!

[Rolero]

As a concept is quite solid in its final form, but you will be struggling on your early career. Although that would depend on how you what to progress through the levels.

Is this pure theorycraft or are you going to play this char in a game? If so, you should think how would you build it level by level to optimize his grow.

My recomendation would be to focus on paladin first. Grab 1 level of Warlock to get the Hexblade goodies, and then go full Paladin till 6th level. Getting the extra attack and class protections quickly will help you and your party much more than trying to diversify too much early on.

Onto feats, Elven accuracy should be your first. You will get your 18 Cha and will help your crit fishing with paladin smites.

About your point by stats. If you are going to wear Plate armor (which you should) you can drop Dex and pump up your Wis. You don't want an enemy caster or monster paralizing/charming/dominating/frightening/confusing/etc you. Even if you are proficient, each point helps. Having a minus, dont. Sure, later on you will get your Cha as a bonus, but there are toons of powers and spells that can take you out of combat with a failed Wis save.
Also, you will need 15 Str to wear Plate comfortably. Unless you don't want to for roleplaying reasons, drop your Int to take care of that.

Finally, what invocations are you considering? After all, this is a big part of the Warlock class.

[Crucius]

Knocking enemies prone is a solid way to set yourself up for advantage. Thunderous smite could be a good spell to have in the pocket but eats the bonus action and the first attack. You could try shield master, but that keys off of your strength (athletics) which probably isn't going to be high by the looks of it (you could use hex to give disadvantage I guess).

I guess it will most of the time come down to teamwork to generate the advantage for you (distracting strike, wolf totem barbarian, faerie fire).

All in all it looks like it would work wonders against a big single target, I hope you also have fun against multiple smaller ones that don't merit the same investment of features on your end (mostly vow of enmity and hexblade's curse).

Sidenotes: I would drop hex, a bit pricey for a warlock spell slot, and even paladin spell slots are better spent. Furthermore, I see you're going polearm, you might want to keep an eye out for how useful the Shield spell is; it competes for your precious reaction as well as a spell slot (paladin spell slots make it less of a waste thankfully), and since you are outside of most enemies' reach, you can backpedal and avoid being hit at all by staying outside of range (this ofc only works on enemies with 30ft or less movement), making shield less necessary. Just a thought, shield is a good spell ofc, handy in a pinch, but it does clash slightly here.

[OctaviOz]

As a concept is quite solid in its final form, but you will be struggling on your early career. Although that would depend on how you what to progress through the levels.

Is this pure theorycraft or are you going to play this char in a game? If so, you should think how would you build it level by level to optimize his grow.

My recomendation would be to focus on paladin first. Grab 1 level of Warlock to get the Hexblade goodies, and then go full Paladin till 6th level. Getting the extra attack and class protections quickly will help you and your party much more than trying to diversify too much early on.

Onto feats, Elven accuracy should be your first. You will get your 18 Cha and will help your crit fishing with paladin smites.

About your point by stats. If you are going to wear Plate armor (which you should) you can drop Dex and pump up your Wis. You don't want an enemy caster or monster paralizing/charming/dominating/frightening/confusing/etc you. Even if you are proficient, each point helps. Having a minus, dont. Sure, later on you will get your Cha as a bonus, but there are toons of powers and spells that can take you out of combat with a failed Wis save.
Also, you will need 15 Str to wear Plate comfortably. Unless you don't want to for roleplaying reasons, drop your Int to take care of that.

Finally, what invocations are you considering? After all, this is a big part of the Warlock class.

Theory craft at this stage. I hope to play it at some stage but busy DMing at the moment.

I would probably take Pally 1, then Warlock 1, then pally to 6 and the rest in Warlock. Would depend slightly on party mix and if there was any obvious gaps but Pally is always super stong at low level.

Agreed on Feats.

Planning on Med armour with +2 dex. Only 1 difference in AC compared to full plate and no disadvantage if I need to sneak.

I'll have a look at the stat splits. Need STR 13 for the multiclass requirements. Like to have decent dex for init so I need to dump either int or wis. Neither will be great.

Invocations is probably where I need some help. I've not played a Warlock previously.

Probably:
Eldrich Smite
Improved Pact Weapon (swap out when not needed)
Agonising Blast - for the occasional time I need to range with Eldrich Blast
Devils Sight - not vital but nice to have
Life Drinker
Relentless Hex
Tricksters Escape

Thanks for the input!

[OctaviOz]

Knocking enemies prone is a solid way to set yourself up for advantage. Thunderous smite could be a good spell to have in the pocket but eats the bonus action and the first attack. You could try shield master, but that keys off of your strength (athletics) which probably isn't going to be high by the looks of it (you could use hex to give disadvantage I guess).

I guess it will most of the time come down to teamwork to generate the advantage for you (distracting strike, wolf totem barbarian, faerie fire).

All in all it looks like it would work wonders against a big single target, I hope you also have fun against multiple smaller ones that don't merit the same investment of features on your end (mostly vow of enmity and hexblade's curse).

Sidenotes: I would drop hex, a bit pricey for a warlock spell slot, and even paladin spell slots are better spent. Furthermore, I see you're going polearm, you might want to keep an eye out for how useful the Shield spell is; it competes for your precious reaction as well as a spell slot (paladin spell slots make it less of a waste thankfully), and since you are outside of most enemies' reach, you can backpedal and avoid being hit at all by staying outside of range (this ofc only works on enemies with 30ft or less movement), making shield less necessary. Just a thought, shield is a good spell ofc, handy in a pinch, but it does clash slightly here.

Going crit fishing here so getting as many attacks as possible with as many dice as possible is the key, hence PAM.

The bonus action spend will always be the biggest decision to make each round, with many options. Vow of Enmity and Hexblade curse are the keys against any larger target. Would use them differently against a bunch of smaller, prob just use the extra attacks from first round. Its good to have a number of choices based on the type of encounter.

Similar decision making with recations. Shield vs AoO will depend on the situation.

One of the good things about this build is that advantage can be gained in a number of ways and gets easier as it progresses.
-Vow of Enmity
-Darkness/Devils sight (depending on party and situation)
-"Help action" from Spectors
-Shadow of Moil
-Hold person/monster etc etc

[Keravath]

I think this is one of those builds that sounds good on paper at level 20 but is hard to make happen as you level up.

Do you take 6 levels of paladin first? Then you don't have charisma to hit. So you have to start at least one level of hexblade. This means until at least level 9 you will have to use a staff or spear if you choose PAM since hexblade can't use hex warrior for two handed weapons unless they are a pact weapon from pact of the blade.

Elven accuracy requires you to have regular advantage before it does anything at all. A familiar would give you advantage on one attack by using the help action. If you take PAM you will likely have three attacks so a familiar isn't very effective.

As a warlock, the options to generate advantage are usually through obscured vision using either darkness+devils sight from level 3 or shadows of moil at level 7. However, if you get your six levels of paladin early then these won't be available until level 9 and level 13 respectively.

Unfortunately, relying on team mates to generate advantage is usually not a good idea unless you know you have party members who are willing to do this for you, perhaps by knocking melee targets prone. In my play experience, having advantage on attacks is very rare unless your character can specifically take actions to enable it.

The warlock only has two spell slots (until level 11 or so - level 17 in your build where they get 3). You can only use warlock slots for eldritch smite. If you are using one to enable advantage via darkness or shadows of moil then this means at most one eldritch smite/short rest .. if you have more than one combat and there are multiple creatures involved that ONE eldritch smite is going to feel very lackluster. You also have a fairly limited collection of smites and spells from the six levels of paladin. Resources will run out quickly.

Finally, you include warcaster in the build which might be needed if you are sword and board and want to cast spells but isn't useful if you go the GWM route since you don't need War Caster if you are wielding a two handed weapon since you will have a hand free whenever you aren't actually attacking.

At the end of the day you have a build that might be able to have one very large nova attack every short rest. You will also have one combat every short rest where you can designate one creature using the vow of enmity to give you advantage. When you roll that 20, in the right fight, against the right opponent and have the resources left it will be impressive. (Keep in mind that both vow of enmity and hexblade's curse are both bonus actions so you won't get the enhanced crit range until later in a fight ... in addition, both these bonus actions will compete for bonus action use against the extra attack from PAM).,

So, and just in my opinion, this is one of those builds that will shine for one moment in an adventuring day and will otherwise be pretty unimpressive ... and it will only shine when all the stars align and it won't really do that even at a basic level until tier 3 more or less (at least level 9).

[Helldin87]

So the basic idea is that you would be fishing for a crit on an 19 or 20 with elven advantage from any number of sources. When you get a crit you activate both smite and eldritch smite for the big slap?

I like this. I like that you mitigate the disadvantage of MCing out of paladin into something that ISN'T a full caster (fewer smite slots) by making each more likely to ride a crit and basically double in power.

I feel like a more detailed analysis of how it would play at each level is 100% worth exploring. Delaying level 2 in warlock for example hurts a little but not as much if you plan to play like a paladin, but level PC level 5 will hurt as you will be the only person without a second attack.

Moar!!!

[Mitsu]

I also play PAM Hexadin now and as a fellow Hexadin (though V-Human) I would definitely grab Elven accuracy first.

HALF-ELF hexadin

So I would go like that with stats:

16, 10, 14, 8, 10, 17.

For weapons: obviously Spear + Shield to use PAM. But we will use Longsword + Shield till level 9
Armor: Heavy, later plate. 16 STR will carry us nicely till we get Hexblade level.
Style: Dueling

Feats:
Level 4: Elven Accuracy. We get 18 CHA, and in 2 levels we will have Aura, so we will already have +4 from Aura. On level 5 we have extra attack so we don't need PAM that much.
Level 5 and 6: Paladin
Level 7: Hexadin 1 level dip. Now we can use our CHA 18 for our attacks, which boosts our dmg and accuracy.
Level 9: PAM. Extra attack with CHA.
Level 13: either War Caster for Booming Blade reaction attacks and advantage on CONC or CHA +2 to have 20 stat in attack stat and +5 from aura.
Level 17: what you missed on level 13.

Cantrips: EB, Booming Blade (once you have War Caster). Spells: Cause Fear, whatever.

So at level 13 we have either: Elven Acccuracy, CHA 18, PAM and Warcaster or CHA 20, Elven Accuracy and PAM.

Of course you may want to grab PAM first, I just think it's not worth delaying Elven Accuracy and chance for fast 18 CHA that much but both variants will work.

VARIANT HUMAN Hexadin

For me I took Variant Human and I am going:

16, 8, 14, 8, 10, 16.
Weapons: Spear + Shield
Style: Dueling
Armor: Heavy, later plate.

Lvl 1: PAM
Lvl 4: +2 CHA
Lvl 7: Hexblade
Lvl 9: War Caster
Lvl 13: +2 CHA

Cantrips: EB, Booming Blade (once you have War Caster). Spells: Cause Fear, whatever.

Summary:

Half-Elf is great for Elven Accuracy cir-fishing and will definitely boost your VoE smitting.

However, you may also consider Variant Human, as you lose some damage but you are fully decked at level 13 with: 20 CHA, War Caster and PAM and out side of VoE you are rocking 20 CHA, +5 saves, War Caster and PAM.

Both are superb races for Hexadin builds. V-uman allows for achieving early full potential but Half-Elf will out scale Vuman on level 17+ where he also gets all stuff. But Vuman will also be able to grab any free feat at level 17 like: Sentinel, Mounted Combatant, Lucky, Great Weapon Mastery (to have option for Glaive rocking), Heavy Armor Master, Inspiring Leader, whatever. Both are awesome races.

Gear and multiclass/tactic:

For both I recommend Spear + Shield (or Q-staffs), plate armor and you want to consider taking second level with Hexblade for Agonizing Blast. Especially on Vuman it's worthy option as then on level 14 you can have 3d10 + 15 range attack with 20 casting stat, also being able to cast that as OA reaction (and you can crit that + VoE! for whooping 6d10 + 15! which is on average 48 dmg). For your reaction opportunity attack with PAM you want Booming Blade + Relentless Avenger to force enemy to move to you (or not, either way you win) or if you took Agonizing Blast - blast him with 3/4d10 +15/20 spell.

But staying with 1 level of hexblade is also great as you get final ASI on 20 level and last 5th level slot for Paladin. I don't recommend going 3 levels or more of hexblade, even for Darkness/Devilsight combo as:

1. You delay too much Paladin progresssion
2. It's easly countered by any mid-level enemy caster
3. it's not worth smitting slots.

level 1, max 2 is all you need.

[Spiritchaser]

I think there are a lot of workable builds within the paladin hexblade family, from 6/14, 8/12, 11/9 or even as mentioned above, 19/1

You can make them all work, and you can make your pick work just for too.

Choices: you’ve made these, they’re not wrong, but in any case

Medium or heavy armor: you’ve picked medium. That’s fine. Better initiative and Dex saves + potentially stealth but slightly lower AC and a somewhat tighter attribute buy. I wouldn’t normally do this myself, but it’s certainly fine.


Race You’ve gone half elf, a great pick. I would probably go V-human because warlock actually gives me the option of going human (I hate not seeing in the dark) and v-human gets strong earlier, when most of your playtime will be, but half elf is strong too , and especially strong later.

Start paladin or hexblade? Even going medium armor I’d start paladin. That first level will be a bit rough using a rapier but it’s not aweful.

Take a level of hexblade early. You’ll lose out on a level of progression but your ranged attacks just got really good and your melee improves lots too with cha based attacks. You’ll get your aura a level late, but of course it’s a better aura since you’re a cha build.

So your character is strong and viable after level 2, but it’ll play differently from levels 2-8 than it will after that.

For these levels you’re a modest Dex, high Cha vengence paladin, with some solid ranged damage.

Elven Accuracy or PAM at level 4/1? Tough call. I’d actually go PAM, and switch to spear since at this point advantage is just once per short rest. Sure it’s probably the most important fight you have that short rest, so EA is hardly bad, but I think PAM is better early with this build.

Things change once you have darkness/devil’s sight. Now you have advantage most of the time. Your level 10 ASI should probably be EA. They get better again with shadow of Moil, but at that point I’d just see how things are going!

[Mitsu]

Things change once you have darkness/devil’s sight. Now you have advantage most of the time. Your level 10 ASI should probably be EA. They get better again with shadow of Moil, but at that point I’d just see how things are going!

The problem is for Darkness/Devil's Sight combo he needs min. 3 levels of Hexblade, which delay heavly his Paladin Progression, which should be as uninterrupted as possible till at least level 11 or 15 for both IDS and Soul of Vengeance. Which will already be level 12 and 16 with 1 level dip only. 3 levels of delay however is a lot.

He also loses 1 ASI and Aura Improvements feature. 30 feet +5 save throws Aura is super good for everyone in your party.

Second problem is: Darkness/Devil's Sight combo takes full action to activate (in which he could already go in and make 3 attacks vs enemies and use smites he gets faster) and can be easily countered in the same turn by ANY enemy caster (Cleric, Druid, Wizard, all of them) with one simple Daylight or Dispel Magic spell. Or with Counterspell. It also doesn't do anything vs AOE spells. Killing caster in first turn however with Misty Step + 2 attacks with Smites does a lot vs AOE spells ;).

It's not bad combo but i don't think it's worth delaying Paladin stuff and loosing Smites lots. Actually a turn in which you would go in, attack 3 times and use that extra Smite slots can easily benefit fight more than losing it on casting Darkness in first turn. And if he has more melee friends and no Cleric - Bless will benefit everyone more and also cost 1 action and Concentration. And in Boss fights Haste > Darkness.

It's just something to think about. I am not saying it's totally not viable combo. But it's very overrated imo. Unless DM is new and don't know how to counter it or player is not much of team-player.

In just my personal opinion- 1 level Hexblade he gets most value out of Both Paladin and Hexblade. 2 Levels Hexblade is great for strong range burst option with Agonizing Blast at the price of final ASI and 5th level slot, but he still get's Improved Aura. But 3 and more levels of Hexblade I think it's not worth a trade.

[Spiritchaser]

The problem is for Darkness/Devil's Sight combo he needs min. 3 levels of Hexblade, which delay heavly his Paladin Progression, which should be as uninterrupted as possible till at least level 11 or 15 for both IDS and Soul of Vengeance. Which will already be level 12 and 16 with 1 level dip only. 3 levels of delay however is a lot.

Second problem is: Darkness/Devil's Sight combo takes full action to activate (in which he could already go in and make 3 attacks vs enemies and use smites he gets faster) and can be easily countered in the same turn by ANY enemy caster (Cleric, Druid, Wizard, all of them) with one simple Daylight or Dispel Magic spell. Or with Counterspell. It also doesn't do anything vs AOE spells. Killing caster in first turn however with Misty Step + 2 attacks with Smites does a lot vs AOE spells ;).

It's not bad combo but i don't think it's worth delaying Paladin stuff and loosing Smites lots. Actually a turn in which you would go in, attack 3 times and use that extra Smite slots can easily benefit fight more than losing it on casting Darkness in first turn. And if he has more melee friends and no Cleric - Bless will benefit everyone more and also cost 1 action and Concentration. And in Boss fights Haste > Darkness.


It's just something to think about. I am not saying it's totally not viable combo. But it's very overrated imo. Unless DM is new and don't know how to counter it or player is not much of team-player.

Thing is; he’s going for paladin 6 only, which is totally reasonable, just different. As such he gets darkness at 9.

Is that late? Yes. But he isn’t waiting empty handed until then. With spear and shield, PAM and either hex or hunter’s mark, he’s got solid damage in melee, he’s got solid ranged damage with EB, he’s got solid saves after7, and a decent AC with that shield.

Darkness or shadow of Moil have disadvantages, but they’re generally solid picks for a bladelock, especially one with EA, which comes online at 10.

[Mitsu]

Thing is; he’s going for paladin 6 only, which is totally reasonable, just different. As such he gets darkness at 9.

Is that late? Yes. But he isn’t waiting empty handed until then. With spear and shield, PAM and either hex or hunter’s mark, he’s got solid damage in melee, he’s got solid ranged damage with EB, he’s got solid saves after7, and a decent AC with that shield.

Darkness or shadow of Moil have disadvantages, but they’re generally solid picks for a bladelock, especially one with EA, which comes online at 10.

If he will still prefer to only grab 6 levels of Paladin, then I agree. Though in case of Hexadin (as opposed to Sorcadin) I think it's better to have more levels of Paladin and less levels of Warlock while on something like Sorcadin it's better to have more caster levels than Warlock.

But even with only 6 levels of Paladin there are far better options to use in first turn of combat (which is crucial as most fights don't last longer than 3-4) than wasting it on casting Darkness.

[Ganymede]

Yeah, but what are your tool and language proficiencies?

[Spiritchaser]

If he will still prefer to only grab 6 levels of Paladin, then I agree. Though in case of Hexadin (as opposed to Sorcadin) I think it's better to have more levels of Paladin and less levels of Warlock while on something like Sorcadin it's better to have more caster levels than Warlock.

But even with only 6 levels of Paladin there are far better options to use in first turn of combat (which is crucial as most fights don't last longer than 3-4) than wasting it on casting Darkness.

It’s situation specific but I’d often disagree. Much better effective AC, Much better hit and critical chance, immunity from mechanics that require your opponent to see you (opportunity attack? nah not against me!), the ability to visually subdivide the battlefield and protect team members behind a portable wall of darkness while allowing them to attack the foes you choose to leave exposed... the opportunity to shield a hiding rogue or a spell from counterspell... the ability to conceal a trap, or protect an innocent bystander (albeit in a really creepy way).

Obviously there are fights where it’ll mess up your entire party... so be wise... but...

[Guy Lombard-O]

I'd note two things about level progression and build:

1. Part of the reason for going Hexadin is that you're trying to escape the MADness of the base paladin. So if you delay the first Hexblade level (and thus Hex Warrior) past character level 2 or 3, then you're going to either sorely miss using CHA for your melee attacks because of low-ish STR &/or DEX stats, or you're going to have to pump one of them up for your attack stat at lower levels (which sort of defeats one of the main benefits of the SAD character build). So I'd recommend taking at least 1 Hexblade level very early (probably CL 2).

2. Taking the Hexblade level early on will delay your extra attack by at least 1 level. That hurts, but Eldritch Blast still gives you 2 "attacks"/2 beams at Character Level 5. So for that CL 5, you'll arguably be somewhat more effective at range than up close (although not through smiting, obviously). You can adjust your play for that level, and hang back a bit more than you otherwise would at other character levels. This wrinkle is only amplified if you take 2 Hexblade levels early on, and take Agonizing Blast. You get to be a warlock EB-spammer for 2 levels, while waiting for the paladin extra attack at 7th CL.

[Keravath]

I also play PAM Hexadin now and as a fellow Hexadin (though V-Human) I would definitely grab Elven accuracy first.

HALF-ELF hexadin

So I would go like that with stats:

16, 10, 14, 8, 10, 17.

For weapons: obviously Spear + Shield to use PAM. But we will use Longsword + Shield till level 9
Armor: Heavy, later plate. 16 STR will carry us nicely till we get Hexblade level.
Style: Dueling

Feats:
Level 4: Elven Accuracy. We get 18 CHA, and in 2 levels we will have Aura, so we will already have +4 from Aura. On level 5 we have extra attack so we don't need PAM that much.
Level 5 and 6: Paladin
Level 7: Hexadin 1 level dip. Now we can use our CHA 18 for our attacks, which boosts our dmg and accuracy.
Level 9: PAM. Extra attack with CHA.
Level 13: either War Caster for Booming Blade reaction attacks and advantage on CONC or CHA +2 to have 20 stat in attack stat and +5 from aura.
Level 17: what you missed on level 13.

Cantrips: EB, Booming Blade (once you have War Caster). Spells: Cause Fear, whatever.

So at level 13 we have either: Elven Acccuracy, CHA 18, PAM and Warcaster or CHA 20, Elven Accuracy and PAM.

Of course you may want to grab PAM first, I just think it's not worth delaying Elven Accuracy and chance for fast 18 CHA that much but both variants will work.

VARIANT HUMAN Hexadin

For me I took Variant Human and I am going:

16, 8, 14, 8, 10, 16.
Weapons: Spear + Shield
Style: Dueling
Armor: Heavy, later plate.

Lvl 1: PAM
Lvl 4: +2 CHA
Lvl 7: Hexblade
Lvl 9: War Caster
Lvl 13: +2 CHA

Cantrips: EB, Booming Blade (once you have War Caster). Spells: Cause Fear, whatever.

Summary:

Half-Elf is great for Elven Accuracy cir-fishing and will definitely boost your VoE smitting.

However, you may also consider Variant Human, as you lose some damage but you are fully decked at level 13 with: 20 CHA, War Caster and PAM and out side of VoE you are rocking 20 CHA, +5 saves, War Caster and PAM.

Both are superb races for Hexadin builds. V-uman allows for achieving early full potential but Half-Elf will out scale Vuman on level 17+ where he also gets all stuff. But Vuman will also be able to grab any free feat at level 17 like: Sentinel, Mounted Combatant, Lucky, Great Weapon Mastery (to have option for Glaive rocking), Heavy Armor Master, Inspiring Leader, whatever. Both are awesome races.

Gear and multiclass/tactic:

For both I recommend Spear + Shield (or Q-staffs), plate armor and you want to consider taking second level with Hexblade for Agonizing Blast. Especially on Vuman it's worthy option as then on level 14 you can have 3d10 + 15 range attack with 20 casting stat, also being able to cast that as OA reaction (and you can crit that + VoE! for whooping 6d10 + 15! which is on average 48 dmg). For your reaction opportunity attack with PAM you want Booming Blade + Relentless Avenger to force enemy to move to you (or not, either way you win) or if you took Agonizing Blast - blast him with 3/4d10 +15/20 spell.

But staying with 1 level of hexblade is also great as you get final ASI on 20 level and last 5th level slot for Paladin. I don't recommend going 3 levels or more of hexblade, even for Darkness/Devilsight combo as:

1. You delay too much Paladin progresssion
2. It's easly countered by any mid-level enemy caster
3. it's not worth smitting slots.

level 1, max 2 is all you need.

This bolded part is why I tend to prefer this build as a v-Human with the early feat rather than a half-elf. If you don't go to level 3 as a warlock then your only reliable way to generate advantage on this build is VoE which is one creature/short rest. It doesn't go far but it does make you very effective against one more difficult creature. However, the extra d20 from Elven accuracy vs regular advantage only increases your chance to crit by 4% if you need a 20 and by just over 8% if you need a 19 or 20.

All the effort invested into building for Elven accuracy and it only increases the chance of a crit by 4% (when you need to roll a 20). Yes the total chance of critting with a 19-20 is 27.1% with elven accuracy but it is already 19% with regular advantage (for 19-20).

[McSkrag]

Currently playing a 9 Paladin / 1 Hexblade.

One of the main tactical issues I have is bonus action competition.

In my experience most combats only go 3-6 rounds. With Hexblade Curse, casting Hex, moving the Hex, and smite spell bonus actions the combat is often over before I have an unused bonus action.

Just something to think about if you are going to add to that bonus action list with PAM, GWM, or Shield Master.

[Mitsu]

Currently playing a 9 Paladin / 1 Hexblade.

One of the main tactical issues I have is bonus action competition.

In my experience most combats only go 3-6 rounds. With Hexblade Curse, casting Hex, moving the Hex, and smite spell bonus actions the combat is often over before I have an unused bonus action.

Just something to think about if you are going to add to that bonus action list with PAM, GWM, or Shield Master.

That is why you don't want to Cast Hex when you are PAM. When you are PAM build, Hex is much less damage and DPR than PAM extra attack. Not to mention extra Smite.

If you are PAM you either go:

1. vs one enemy: VoE + Haste first turn and then you just go and attack and attack and smite and smite boss till it's dead.
2. vs one enemy if you can use Curse before fight (for example during dialogue, or just before combat start): you cast VoE and Haste and go all out
3. vs a lot of smaller enemies you either go on low levels: Shield of Faith or Divine Favour and go in or Bless if you have more melee friends and no priest and go in too. With 3 level Hexblade you can also go for Darkness.


Generally you don't want to waste you bonus actions or anything else past first turn. Even VoE + Curse in 2 turns is imo not worth that bonus attack you would got as usually if you go full ham you kill boss in 3 turns.

Hex or Hunter's Mark is only good as substitute vs one strong enemy if somehow you wasted VoE earlier. Moving Hex or Hunter's Mark to next target is not worth extra PAM attack with possible smite or crit. In short: Hex and HM lose most of it's value on PAM build. But PAM is just stronger.

That is why I always say that Divine Favour is better than Hex or HM. 1k4 for 1 min without having to waste bonus action vs 1k6 where you have to waste bonus action each time to mark new enemy. You on average gain 1.5 more dmg per attack but waste whole PAM bonus attack. Not worth. Later you can use Elemental Weapon if it's not a time for a Haste (which should be used mostly only on boss battles or very hard encounters).

Personally I don't have problems so far with bonus action. It's either buff or VoE in first turn and then just go ham. After that I just use it on PAM attack.

Also don't use VoE and then next turn something like Shield of Faith etc. because after VoE it's better to go all out.

Damage Now > Damage Later in most cases.

[Mitsu]

This bolded part is why I tend to prefer this build as a v-Human with the early feat rather than a half-elf. If you don't go to level 3 as a warlock then your only reliable way to generate advantage on this build is VoE which is one creature/short rest. It doesn't go far but it does make you very effective against one more difficult creature. However, the extra d20 from Elven accuracy vs regular advantage only increases your chance to crit by 4% if you need a 20 and by just over 8% if you need a 19 or 20.

All the effort invested into building for Elven accuracy and it only increases the chance of a crit by 4% (when you need to roll a 20). Yes the total chance of critting with a 19-20 is 27.1% with elven accuracy but it is already 19% with regular advantage (for 19-20).

I mostly agree. I am just more of team-player and I don't like to sacrefice 30 feet Aura for my whole party for the one more advantage generation for me. Also since I have barbarian friend with me who will be melee fighting along my side- his Reckless attacks advantage will be eliminated inside Darkness. Darkness is very very selfish spell.

Also that one more 5k8 smite slot can turn battle fast if you crit, extra 10k8.

However there are gains in both cases. I don't think either 19/1, 18/2 or 17/3 is bad choice, you will be super duper strong anyway. I just tend to prefer 30 feet Aura because it helps so much everyone in your party while Darkness.... well... yeah.