Hexblade support/Tank build

[Tadkins95]

I have a Shadow Sorcerer 1/Hexblade 7 Winter Eladrin that has ended up being a pseudo tank for my party. What are some ways to make my character a better tank?

[darknite]

My tanky Sword Bard / Hexblade has an Amulet of Health. Allows him to get in close and play rough with the big guys.

[Man_Over_Game]

I have a Shadow Sorcerer 1/Hexblade 7 Winter Eladrin that has ended up being a pseudo tank for my party. What are some ways to make my character a better tank?

Pick up Darkness, Devil's Sight, and Tomb of Levistus. Maybe pick up the Tough feat at level 8 Warlock. Try to position yourself near the center of the enemy team, so that your allies can focus on one target at a time (while you blind the rest).

That's about it that I can think of, short of taking a Barbarian level and working around an Armor of Agathys build.

[stoutstien]

I have a Shadow Sorcerer 1/Hexblade 7 Winter Eladrin that has ended up being a pseudo tank for my party. What are some ways to make my character a better tank?

Are you the only melee member or just tend the most fire?

[Corran]

Shadow of moil (or darkness and devil's sight; longer duration, but requires an invocation and can mess more with your teammates; though usually not too much as most first suspect) for disadvantage is crucial I would say. Besides the disadvantage, it allows you some mobility which might be useful in some situations (though I am not sure how much you would want to hit and run or pursue important enemies when you are the main tank; still it may prove useful being able to avoid OA's). Being unseen also makes you untargetable by some spells and abilities that require of the 'caster' to be able to see the target (also you will be able to counterspell better, though relying on short-ish concentration buffs will make it difficult to have slots to spare for anything else, at least until the higher warlock levels; not impossible though, so pick counterspell). Not a tanking ability per se, but if by any chance you started as a sorcerer for con saves, being unseen might save you against several effects that target your wisdom (but not only wisdom) saves which will be really bad. Keeping up shadow of moil/darkness will be crucial for tanking, so boost concentration. Warcaster and BB grants you very good OA's, so pick them up. Alternatively you could pick sentinel, though since I would appreciate the concentration boost from warcaster and since it would be easy to pick BB, I'd probably avoid sentinel in favor of warcaster and BB (too much overlap from having both when the cost is spending feats). A second level in sorcerer will double the slots with which you can use shield (absorb elements is a great pick for your sorcerer spells too; I would pick it up). And a third level will give you quickened which helps with the action economy of setting up a buff (again, not tanking, but eh, if you get two levels in sorc, get a 3rd at some point; though if you want to boost action economy and at the same time you don't want to delay warlock progression too much, maybe it's best sticking with just one level in sorcerer and take 2 levels of fighter -for a fs, second wind and action surge- later on, probably after warlock 13 -forcecage shananigans, eg some combination of forcacage/scatter/sickening radiance for example- or after warlock 17 -true polymorph). Armor of hexes will help a bit with tanking too. It's very similar to a rogue's uncanny dodge (Initially I thought it didn't require a reaction, and I was under the impression that warlocks make awesome tanks against a single cursed target... so disappointed now). That said, it will be great against hard hitters without multiattack.

Edit: (Blade ward and) armor of agathys can help a lot under the right situations.
Edit 2: This is important imo. Grab a shield for you off hand, if you are not already using one.

[Nagog]

Shadow of Moil and Armor of Agathys are a good combo for punishing those who attack you, and only SoM is concentration. Other than that, look into a Reach weapon and Sentinel, allowing you to stop enemies that come into your range before you're in their range, then use a Repelling Blast to rinse/repeat. Beyond that, look into some illusions to take the heat off you, or some Abjuration spells for the obvious reasons. Or another approach would be invest in some area control to limit how many enemies you need to face at a time.

[Tadkins95]

Shadow of moil (or darkness and devil's sight; longer duration, but requires an invocation and can mess more with your teammates; though usually not too much as most first suspect) for disadvantage is crucial I would say. Besides the disadvantage, it allows you some mobility which might be useful in some situations (though I am not sure how much you would want to hit and run or pursue important enemies when you are the main tank; still it may prove useful being able to avoid OA's). Being unseen also makes you untargetable by some spells and abilities that require of the 'caster' to be able to see the target (also you will be able to counterspell better, though relying on short-ish concentration buffs will make it difficult to have slots to spare for anything else, at least until the higher warlock levels; not impossible though, so pick counterspell). Not a tanking ability per se, but if by any chance you started as a sorcerer for con saves, being unseen might save you against several effects that target your wisdom (but not only wisdom) saves which will be really bad. Keeping up shadow of moil/darkness will be crucial for tanking, so boost concentration. Warcaster and BB grants you very good OA's, so pick them up. Alternatively you could pick sentinel, though since I would appreciate the concentration boost from warcaster and since it would be easy to pick BB, I'd probably avoid sentinel in favor of warcaster and BB (too much overlap from having both when the cost is spending feats). A second level in sorcerer will double the slots with which you can use shield (absorb elements is a great pick for your sorcerer spells too; I would pick it up). And a third level will give you quickened which helps with the action economy of setting up a buff (again, not tanking, but eh, if you get two levels in sorc, get a 3rd at some point; though if you want to boost action economy and at the same time you don't want to delay warlock progression too much, maybe it's best sticking with just one level in sorcerer and take 2 levels of fighter -for a fs, second wind and action surge- later on, probably after warlock 13 -forcecage shananigans, eg some combination of forcacage/scatter/sickening radiance for example- or after warlock 17 -true polymorph). Armor of hexes will help a bit with tanking too. It's very similar to a rogue's uncanny dodge (Initially I thought it didn't require a reaction, and I was under the impression that warlocks make awesome tanks against a single cursed target... so disappointed now). That said, it will be great against hard hitters without multiattack.

Edit: (Blade ward and) armor of agathys can help a lot under the right situations.
Edit 2: This is important imo. Grab a shield for you off hand, if you are not already using one.

I use a shield and I only use my sorcerer spells to caste Shield pretty much. I took the warcaster feat and my AC is 19. I just got shadow of moil, before that I would use one slot for Armor of Agythys and I would save the other for when I Crit. Would it be better to level up Hexblade for Armor of hexes or Shadow sorcerer? I’m trying to limit the number of times I multi class

[Tadkins95]

Are you the only melee member or just tend the most fire?

I tend to take the majority of the fire. There is a fighter and a barbarian but sometimes they don’t show up to the session. It’s not mandatory for my to be a tank really.

[Corran]

I use a shield and I only use my sorcerer spells to caste Shield pretty much. I took the warcaster feat and my AC is 19. I just got shadow of moil, before that I would use one slot for Armor of Agythys and I would save the other for when I Crit. Would it be better to level up Hexblade for Armor of hexes or Shadow sorcerer? I’m trying to limit the number of times I multi class
Hard to say. It's a judgement call that you have to make. Are two castings of shield enough to pull you through the day? If yes, advance in warlock to get access to the higher level staff more quickly. And take the 2nd (and 3rd) sorcerer level when you start thinking that you would really need those extra 1st level slots (and when your dpr will be good enough to profit from being able to quicken a buff spell at your first round of combat respectively).

Personally, I like playing cautiously, so I would want to keep one 1st slot available in case I need absorb elements (if I didn't know through scouting/scrying/whatever what I would most likely face already). So taking a second sorcerer level would be effectively allowing me to cast shield 3 times per day than just once, and that's a big boost for difficult fights (though I guess jumping from 2 to 4 is not a small boost either). So if I already had access to one sorcerer level already, and since I would already have my primary use of concentration (in darkness/ shadow of moil), I would prefer getting the second sorcerer level immediately after (plus, you are playing in a level where absorb elements will start being very useful occasionally). That said, I haven't seen or used armor of hexes in action, though the limitation to one attack does not fill me with enough confidence to justify not delaying it by one more level.

Bottom line, if you are not dropping unconscious often, feel free to delay the second sorc level till you get access to staff like synaptic static, the 3rd pact slot, the 12th lvl ASI and a couple of arcana, or until you start dropping unconscious more often that you can justify.

ps: Go easy on the smites. Generally, I would say that you have far more chances or exploiting AoA better than smites than vice versa. I'd retrain the invocation and I would consider retaking it after I got my 3rd pact slot.

[stoutstien]

I tend to take the majority of the fire. There is a fighter and a barbarian but sometimes they don’t show up to the session. It’s not mandatory for my to be a tank really.

Ah the inconsistent party composition problem. You have solid ac but sometimes falling back and using EB can force your foes to advance into more of your allies