Master of Hexes

[RSP]

Just curious on how the GitP posters feel the Master of Hexes feature is supposed to be used.

I know in its UA incarnation it was essentially an at will use of Hexblade’s Curse, and intended as such as states by JC; however, the official XGtE version has significantly different language that seems to read: “HC is still a 1/SR ability, and still only lasts 1 minute, but if the target dies prior to the 1 min duration, you can apply it to a new target.”

I haven’t seen any RAI tweets stating otherwise, but just curious if this is the take of the boards, as I just noticed the significant difference in the wordings.

Thanks in advance.

[Man_Over_Game]

Just curious on how the GitP posters feel the Master of Hexes feature is supposed to be used.

I know in its UA incarnation it was essentially an at will use of Hexblade’s Curse, and intended as such as states by JC; however, the official XGtE version has significantly different language that seems to read: “HC is still a 1/SR ability, and still only lasts 1 minute, but if the target dies prior to the 1 min duration, you can apply it to a new target.”

I haven’t seen any RAI tweets stating otherwise, but just curious if this is the take of the boards, as I just noticed the significant difference in the wordings.

Thanks in advance.

Literally? Pick a target, hose him down with Eldrtich Blast Spam until he's toast. Do it again until everyone's dead. Except now, instead of hitting the big boss for the day, you use it during the big fight for the day. Similar in use, but now it's not limited to only hexing a single boss.

What it allows you to do, in a way, is make the Warlock less of a combat burster but as a utility specialist. With so much synergy with Eldritch Blast, you don't really need to use your spell slots for any major spells, and so you can instead opt to using them for non-combat spells that you get back every hour out of combat.

A few ideas: Invisibility, Spider Climb, Misty Step, Fly, Gaseous Form, Major Image, or any number of spells that can work while you Eldritch Blast (like Hypnotic Pattern).

[RSP]

Literally?

Apologies, I meant is there anything I’m missing in terms of it having gone from “unlimited use of HC” in the UA, to “can switch targets on target death, within the original 1 min duration.”

It seems like a significant change from the UA (which happens), and I’m just curious if I have the new version correct, as it makes a very big difference in the value of Hexblade 14.

[Man_Over_Game]

Apologies, I meant is there anything I’m missing in terms of it having gone from “unlimited use of HC” in the UA, to “can switch targets on target death, within the original 1 min duration.”

It seems like a significant change from the UA (which happens), and I’m just curious if I have the new version correct, as it makes a very big difference in the value of Hexblade 14.

If I had to wager a guess, it was probably to cut down on the Hexblade's combat effectiveness (and it's pretty effective in combat) as well as making sure that the health regen aspect of the Curse isn't abusable by killing some rats or something. Now doing it requires a Short Rest, and anyone can heal by doing that.

[RSP]

If I had to wager a guess, it was probably to cut down on the Hexblade's combat effectiveness (and it's pretty effective in combat) as well as making sure that the health regen aspect of the Curse isn't abusable by killing some rats or something. Now doing it requires a Short Rest, and anyone can heal by doing that.

Taking the health regen away was needed, sure. But I’m not sure MoH holds up as a worthwhile level 14 ability now (and limits the level 10 Armor of Hexes). At will, meant the Hexblade, at the cost of a BA, could use the level 10 ability and HC, and make regular use out of those abilities (with a reaction for AoH)

Now, are you really going to HC the mobs while the BBEG is in sight? Probably not, as you’ll want the AoH option on the heavy hitter anyway, and would want to focus fire on them (and whether Bladelock or Blastlock, you probably have EB for range and AB racked on because 3 attacks).

So the level 14 ability is essentially, you can mop up after a big battle easier. Not a waste, but not a level 14 ability in terms of usefulness, so far as I can tell.

Now I keep hearing on these boards that combats average 3 rounds. If that’s about true, well then targeting the BBEG with HC prior to level 14, gives you 3 rounds of HC per SR; and targeting any bad after getting MoH, gives you 3 rounds of HC per SR.

Sure, some battles will go an extra round or two (and some less, obviously), but the threat of those battles is usually the BBEG still being up, who you’d still have HC on anyway.

Just seems to have taken any motivation to get Warlock 14 as a Hexblade. Not a huge deal, and certainly not the first instance of a lackluster ability. And, just going over this, was hoping I was missing something on the ability.

[Man_Over_Game]

Taking the health regen away was needed, sure. But I’m not sure MoH holds up as a worthwhile level 14 ability now (and limits the level 10 Armor of Hexes). At will, meant the Hexblade, at the cost of a BA, could use the level 10 ability and HC, and make regular use out of those abilities (with a reaction for AoH)

Now, are you really going to HC the mobs while the BBEG is in sight? Probably not, as you’ll want the AoH option on the heavy hitter anyway, and would want to focus fire on them (and whether Bladelock or Blastlock, you probably have EB for range and AB racked on because 3 attacks).

So the level 14 ability is essentially, you can mop up after a big battle easier. Not a waste, but not a level 14 ability in terms of usefulness, so far as I can tell.

Now I keep hearing on these boards that combats average 3 rounds. If that’s about true, well then targeting the BBEG with HC prior to level 14, gives you 3 rounds of HC per SR; and targeting any bad after getting MoH, gives you 3 rounds of HC per SR.

Sure, some battles will go an extra round or two (and some less, obviously), but the threat of those battles is usually the BBEG still being up, who you’d still have HC on anyway.

Just seems to have taken any motivation to get Warlock 14 as a Hexblade. Not a huge deal, and certainly not the first instance of a lackluster ability. And, just going over this, was hoping I was missing something on the ability.

The other guess is that they probably didn't want to lower the value of Short Rests. They are often ignored, and few classes have abilities that are useable at will in the same way. Compare HC to every other Warlock feature, and count the number of proactive abilities that are At-Will. Spare the Dying, or Great Old One's Telepathy? That's most of them that I see. HC, in comparison, is much stronger and usable than any other Warlock level 3 feature, despite being limited to being used once per Short Rest.

[RSP]

The other guess is that they probably didn't want to lower the value of Short Rests. They are often ignored, and few classes have abilities that are useable at will in the same way. Compare HC to every other Warlock feature, and count the number of proactive abilities that are At-Will. Spare the Dying, or Great Old One's Telepathy? That's most of them that I see. HC, in comparison, is much stronger and usable than any other Warlock level 3 feature, despite being limited to being used once per Short Rest.

There’s plenty more at-will Warlock abilities, found in invocations. Others, like Dark One’s Blessing, aren’t at will, but are always on.

Either way, I don’t see why MoH being at-will would reduce the Warlock’s overall dependence on SRs; you’d still want to cast spells and regain lost slots. (Side note: for whatever reason, I thought MoH worked like Hex in that it used a BA to transfer and required the prior target to drop to 0 HP, both which would curtail its use)

HC is tough to compare with other patron’s level 3 abilities. I’d say Celestial’s healing is better, GOO’s telepathy is amazingly useful all the time and probably better. DOB gives the healing as tHPs and is an always on ability.

The difficulty in judging HC against other abilities is that at 10 and 14 it gets additional effects directly tied to it. No other Patron gets that.

Is HC better than DOB? Maybe. But is HC and MoH better than DOB and Hurl Thru Hell? I’d say no.

Now, HC isn’t the extent of what HBs get at three, and certainly the proficiencies and Hexwarrior take HBs over the top in comparisons. This may be a reason to give a very lackluster level 14 ability. However, the result of doing so definitely results in leaving very little reason to continue on in HB Warlock past 12; and only feeds into the notion that Warlocks work best as a dip due to being so front loaded.

[Man_Over_Game]

There’s plenty more at-will Warlock abilities, found in invocations. Others, like Dark One’s Blessing, aren’t at will, but are always on.

Either way, I don’t see why MoH being at-will would reduce the Warlock’s overall dependence on SRs; you’d still want to cast spells and regain lost slots. (Side note: for whatever reason, I thought MoH worked like Hex in that it used a BA to transfer and required the prior target to drop to 0 HP, both which would curtail its use)

HC is tough to compare with other patron’s level 3 abilities. I’d say Celestial’s healing is better, GOO’s telepathy is amazingly useful all the time and probably better. DOB gives the healing as tHPs and is an always on ability.

The difficulty in judging HC against other abilities is that at 10 and 14 it gets additional effects directly tied to it. No other Patron gets that.

Is HC better than DOB? Maybe. But is HC and MoH better than DOB and Hurl Thru Hell? I’d say no.

Now, HC isn’t the extent of what HBs get at three, and certainly the proficiencies and Hexwarrior take HBs over the top in comparisons. This may be a reason to give a very lackluster level 14 ability. However, the result of doing so definitely results in leaving very little reason to continue on in HB Warlock past 12; and only feeds into the notion that Warlocks work best as a dip due to being so front loaded.

One thing that really needs consideration is how exactly synergies work in a game like this.

For example, doubling the damage of an Eldritch Blast might only cause a damage bonus of 1 more Eldritch Blast.

Doubling the fire rate of Eldritch Blast also only causes a damage bonus of 1 more Eldritch Blast.

However, doubling both the fire rate AND the damage of Eldritch Blast gives an increase of 3 Eldritch Blasts.



Changes
Standard damage
x2 Damage


x1 EB per round
x1 value
x2 value


x2 EB per round
x2 value
x4 value



While this is all easy to see with Eldritch Blast, you might not have noticed the same thing with your other Hexblade Curse abilities. Your special Armor ability, your special Specter ability, they are also increased by the number of targets you use Hexblade's Curse on.

Say Master of Hexes can hex either 1 or two additional creatures. To make sure we're not overestimating, we'll say it affects 1 extra creature. Now you've doubled the number of creatures that Hexblade's Curse can be applied to. This also means that you use your Armor against twice as many creatures, or you can make. This is on top of the fact that Hexblade's Curse scales with the number of attacks you're able to make. The only reason Hexblade's Curse isn't absolutely bonkers with Eldritch Blast is because you're limited to hexing one creature per fight. Now that that limitation isn't quite as applicable, the potential of it will get pretty dang crazy. It seems weak because everyone always considers Warlock for Hex, but at that level, you have a lot more important things to do with your slots than Hexing someone.

As for why Warlocks are more than just a dipping choice, do consider the value of a Warlock when given ample amount of Short Rests. If you're able to get the recommended 2 Short Rests in a day, a dipped Warlock build would get six level 1 spells. Which is cool for things like Shield.
However, that is nothing compared to nine level 5 spells.

That's Danse Macabre, Synaptic Static, Infernal Calling, Dimension Door - Once every hour, 1-2 times per fight!