Hexblade or Eldritch Knight

[Matt_Aries]

I am diving back into D&D for the first time in about 25 years. The Hexblade and Eldritch Knight as the title suggests are the two choices I am interested in. I am torn, and in so being, I come to you all for pointing out my shortcomings. I love to be in the thick of things combat wise, but I am trying to be a bit more balanced with casting abilities.

With a point buy I come up with the following and that's really all I have currently. It was at this point that I found myself lost. I have read up on both a bit, and see they are rather MAD (I hope I'm using that term correctly) but does this limit it when it comes to melee combat? What are the strengths and weaknesses of both? What spells and cantrips are good? Weapons of choice? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Half- Orc Eldritch Knight:
STR - 14 (+2)
DEX - 13
CON - 15 (+1)
INT - 12
WIS - 10
CHA - 8

Half - Elf Hexblade:
STR - 14 (+1)
DEX - 10
CON - 13 (+1)
INT - 10
WIS - 10
CHA - 15 (+2)

[Fryy]

Hexbladea aren't MAD, they are SAD. They use CHA for +hit and +dmg. The Hexblade doesn't need high +STR and doesnt get heavy armor (only medium). So you could go 8 in STR. Put 14 in DEX to max AC in medium armor.

[Nhorianscum]

The mechanical analysis of the two classes has been done to death and will be again in this thread so I'll focus on the important bit.

Hexblade: Extremely strong, notoriously poor mechanical design.

Eldrich Knight: This is in my opinion one of the best designed and certainly one of the most fun to play single class characters in the game. Also extremely strong.

For mechanics there are guides to both of these floating around.

[Zerubbabel]

Both are great, but Eldritch Knight gets a lot of love for good reason very fun class.
Personally I'd prefer Eldritch Knight as either Fire Genasi or Githyanki ... both flavorsome and well suited to it...

[Witty Username]

Hexblade has better casting than eldritch knight, and is pretty tough in a melee. also getting cha to weapon atk and dmg makes abilities much easier to plan. I would go with that based on your mentioning.
EK has heavy armor, better melee kinda, and action surge which can lead to explosive turns. not bad by any means.

side note: if you do go hexblade I would recommend 14 dex and 10 str because you will probably be wearing medium armor and the +2 to AC will mater and higher strength doesn't matter much for the character since it will not effect your attack and damage and you are not wearing heavy armor. Also I wouldn't recommend 17 cha at level 1 unless you plan on taking a +1 cha feat.
Overall, stat wise for hex blade I would recommend
Str 10
Dex 13 (+1)
Con 13(+1)
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 15(+2)
and take the feat elven accuracy at level 4.
or
Str 12
Dex 13(+1)
Con 13(+1)
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 14(+2)

[Lord Haart]

Well, they aren't much alike.

Hexblade is a competent fighter-caster, which can use both sword and spell offensively and in tandem. However, its passive durability is only slighly higher than a caster's, so it has to use up its spells on active defences, rely on positioning, or accept being fragile.

Eldritch Knight is a fully competent fighter with a tiny smudge of caster. It loses nothing in durability or combat ability compared to a non-magical fighter; it is no less a sword-swinging, mighty warrior clad in full steel than any of its peers. Its magic, however, is laughably weak; it takes until level 9 for it to cast spell that a wizard could at level 3, except it doesn't even have the wizard's breadth of selection. Unless you're playing at high (10+) levels, where they get a bit more synergy, Eldritch Knight frankly sucks as a caster if you expect the caster part to be anything but utility and one or two pop-extra-defence-buttons. It's these buttons — the ability to pop a Shield once or twice against a crucial attack, or Absorb Elements when a dragon's breath hits you to resist that one hit — that are worth entering the class; not dreams of actually slinging fireballs with a sword in hand (which a Bladesinger Wizard can do at level 6, a Hexblade could do at level 5 if it had Fireball on its class list but it has good analogues, and you get to do at, oh, level 15, two levels before wizards get Wish).

The name for old editions' Fighter/Mage is "Bladesinger Wizard", not "Eldritch Knight"; with Hexblade and fighty Bard subclasses also being pretty close. But that does not mean EK is not effective; it just has a fully fighterish kind of effectiveness.

[RSP]

In my opinion, knowing how you want to play will go a long way to decide which class is better for you at this point.

EK is better in melee. They’ll get more attacks and Action Surge for when you want to go off on something. They get enough spells to enhance their combat ability, but not enough to feel like casting is a main part of their shtick. Spells like Shield, Misty Step, Absorb Elements, Shadow Blade and/or Haste all can make an EK better at combat, without needing a high Int. If being great in combat is what you want, you want the EK.

Hexblade is good at combat, but runs a bit differently, and all Warlocks need to be built purposely (that is, it takes a good bit of thought and foresight when picking spells and invocations for it to play the way you want it to, more so than any other class). They have enough casting to legitimately be utility, but will need to rely on either Pact of the Blade or Eldritch Blast as their bread and butter in combat. Running Hex all day (particularly level 5+) is a nice way to bump combat effectiveness; and the Darkness/Shadow of Moil option also is popular. I prefer running Hex all day as a little damage boast, and saving my spell slots for non-Concentration AoEs or utility.

Either class will be fairly rinse-and-repeat with how they approach combat the majority of the time, with each capable of a ranged or melee option, and each being better when focusing on one of those choices, though I’d say the Hexblade Pact of the Blade is more versatile in switching between melee and ranged, due to both keying off Cha and having EB. EK will either be Dex-based for primarily ranged combat, or Str-based for primarily melee, though if wanting a ranged EK, you’re probably better off looking at Ranger due to better spell/ranged synergy: I’m not a huge fan of ranged EKs due to their spell list favoring being in the thick of things.

If you know how you foresee playing the character and want to share, that’ll probably help us with making suggestions.

[LentilNinja]

If you really can't decide, why not just play both? As a multiclass, you can make your Pact weapon your Bonded weapon, or have a total of three weapons you can summon (though 2 at a time).

There's little perks to being both: getting Extra Attack from EK means you won't need Thirsting Blade, Action Surge lets you make big boy turns, Second Wind + Armor of Agathys gives tanking abilities, etc

But the main draw (for me, at least) is EK's spell slots. Warlock doesn't get many spell slots but gets some great spells like Hex & AoA. However, if you have slots from another class you can use them for your Warlock spells. This bonus is two-fold: Not only do you get to use Warlock & Wizard spells semi-frequently, but your Warlock spell slots are freed up for Eldritch Smite. You'll probably only have 2, maybe 3 slots at most but because they refresh on a short rest you can utilize them more often.

It's an idea, at least. If you do MC, I'd suggest at most 5 levels in WL and the rest in EK but it's personal preference.

[Expected]

With a point buy I come up with the following and that's really all I have currently. It was at this point that I found myself lost. I have read up on both a bit, and see they are rather MAD (I hope I'm using that term correctly) but does this limit it when it comes to melee combat? What are the strengths and weaknesses of both? What spells and cantrips are good? Weapons of choice? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Half- Orc Eldritch Knight:
STR - 14 (+2)
DEX - 13
CON - 15 (+1)
INT - 12
WIS - 10
CHA - 8

Half - Elf Hexblade:
STR - 14 (+1)
DEX - 10
CON - 13 (+1)
INT - 10
WIS - 10
CHA - 15 (+2)

First, you need to decide what type of combat you want (melee or ranged). I'll go with the assumption of melee for the purpose of this post. Both the Eldritch Knight and Hexblade Warlock are excellent choices for melee combatants. I will break down what I would do (it is just my opinion and there is no wrong way to play DnD).

Eldritch Knight
As an Eldritch Knight, I'd use heavy armor and a glaive/halberd. Str is your primary, Con is your secondary, and Int is your tertiary score (you can dump it unless you are concerned about spell save dc).

Variant Human
Str-Dex-Con-Int-Wis-Cha
16-8-16-12-13-8
Take Polearm Master at lv 1 -> Max Str if you will not have Gauntlets of Ogre's Strength/Belt of Giant Strength -> Sentinel/Great Weapon Master -> Resilient: Wis -> then ASI/feat of your choice

Use your spells to augment your fighting (there's too much opportunity cost to cast Fireball instead of attacking multiple times) through Shield/Absorb Elements and concentration buffs like Fly/Haste. Keep in mind that losing concentration on those spells can be dangerous, especially with Haste.

Hexblade Warlock
As a Hexblade Warlock, I'd have roughly the same array using point buy as the Eldritch Knight and use a polearm and heavy armor.

Half-Elf (Drow for Darkness + Faerie Fire 1x Long Rest)
Str-Dex-Con-Int-Wis-Cha
16-8-15-8-10-17

Take Elven Accuracy at level 4 for 18 Cha and triple advantage when using Darkness and Devil's Sight at level 4+ -> +2 Cha -> PAM -> Resilient: Con/GWM (or start with 16 Con if you want both PAM and GWM). Note: Hexblades use Cha for their attacks because of Hex Warrior, a feature they get at level 1 for one handed weapons and level 3 with Pact of the Blade for two handed weapons. Elven Accuracy will NOT work with Str.

Cast Darkness before combat if possible, otherwise use your first turn to cast it and Hex/Hexblade's Curse. The idea is to attack from 10ft using Darkness for advantage and then back away so it doesn't interfere with advantage for your party members. If the enemy is out of range, use Eldritch Blast (Agonizing Blast) to attack them at range.

Multiclassing in both Hexblade Warlock and Eldritch Fighter is possible, but keep in mind what you'd be sacrificing if the campaign will reach level 20.

[Zerubbabel]

Which of the Tiefling variants from MTOF makes the best Warlock Hexblade and best Warlock (pact of fiend)?

[Expected]

Which of the Tiefling variants from MTOF makes the best Warlock Hexblade and best Warlock (pact of fiend)?

Assuming your DM allows it, the Tiefling subrace that allows flight is most optimal in my opinion.

[LentilNinja]

Which of the Tiefling variants from MTOF makes the best Warlock Hexblade and best Warlock (pact of fiend)?

If flight's not your style (or just not allowed), Zariel's is my favourite for melee as you get two encounter smites. The rest add more versatility if you'd prefer.

[Spiritchaser]

As others have noted, your hexblade doesn’t need strength. You’re likely much better off with 14 DEX, high CHA and everything you can in CON.

I’d also double check: are you thinking of a GWM hexblade?

If so, I’d actually put in a plug for a VHuman hexblade.

Much is made of how effective Elven accuracy is on a half Elven GWM hexblade, and it is... but it takes a lot of time for that build to fully take shape. In my opinion, for levels under 12, you’ll likely find a VHuman works more smoothly (not that half elf is bad).

With VHuman you’ll have all your best toys, early, running devil’s sight, darkness and GWM, while using CHA to attack before your first ASI, and you’ll be a blender by level 5.

Again, there is NOTHING wrong with half elf, its just meaningfully slower to develop

[Expected]

I completely agree with Spiritchaser--Half-Elf and Elven Accuracy takes a long time to come online, but is VERY effective once it does. Variant Human, on the other hand, has everything at level 4 (PAM, GWM, Darkness, Devil's Sight). Devil's Sight makes up for the VHuman's main weakness--no darkvision.

[Keravath]

A couple of comments ..

Eldritch knight can wear heavy armor, a hexblade can not. For this reason you can dump dex on an eldritch knight but ideally need 14 dex on a hexblade.

Variant Human: Eldritch Knight
16 8 16 12 13 8
Start with PAM, boost strength and take resilient wisdom at some point - other feats to taste (eg Sentinel/GWM etc)

Variant Human: Hexblade
8 14 15 10 10 16
Start with PAM, eventually boost charisma, take resilient con at some point - other feats to taste (eg GWM)

The eldritch knight needs to boost str early. The hexblade can get away with leaving the cha boosts until later because they have reliable ways to generate advantage on attacks using darkness+devils sight starting at 3rd level and Shadow of Moil at 7th. For the hexblade, either take resilient con or GWM at 4 depending on what route you want to take it.

I am currently playing a level 10 character, 9 hexblade/1 shadow sorcerer with PAM/GWM/Resilient con and it works very well as a melee combatant in most circumstances. Against high AC targets, I don't use GWM, the rest of the time the damage is very good. Ranged damage comes from agonizing blast starting around 7th level when you have room for the invocation.

However, the darkness+devils sight or shadow of moil is as much a part of the hexblade's defenses and offense since targets that can't see the hexblade have disadvantage to hit and can not take opportunity attacks when the hexblade moves away.

The eldritch knight gets 2nd level spells at 7th level (not 9th as another poster implied) and third level spells at 13th level. However, the magic spells for the eldritch knight are mostly useful icing on the cake. In particular, they will have the shield spell available which can situationally increase their AC. (A hexblade can also have shield but they only have 2 spell slots and better things to use them on ... in additional, a hexblade can't effectively use a ring of spell storing since a shield spell cast into the ring by a hexblade is cast at the level of the spell slot used, so a 5th level hexblade can only fit one shield spell in the ring because it is cast using a 3rd level spell slot).

They are both fun classes, both can be played in melee, but the detailed play style for each is quite different.

Also, the eldritch knight will get more feats while the hexblade picks up additional spell like abilities via invocations.

P.S. The Elven accuracy builds are cool but take a VERY long time to come together.

Half-elf hexblade - takes elven accuracy at level 4 for 18 charisma.
PAM at level 8.
GWM at level 12.
Charisma at level 16.
Resilient con at level 19. ?? (this is probably being left too late to be useful and resilient con is important much earlier ... however, putting this earlier delays either GWM or max charisma).

On the other hand, variant human.
PAM at level 1.
GWM at level 4. (could also do Cha ASI at this point and slide everything else down by 1 ... still has GWM+PAM at 8 ... this may be worthwhile since I found GWM less useful for levels 4-8 since the lower +to hit made the -5 of using GWM much more noticeable).
Resilient con at level 8
Charisma at level 12
Charisma at level 16
Bonus feat at level 19

.. and the only difference is rolling one extra d20 when you have advantage. It is a cool feature but the build doesn't really start working well until 12th level ... and if there is a reason why you don't have advantage ... then elven advantage doesn't do anything.

[GeistInMachine]

I think people are sleeping a bit on the option of a Dex Based High Elf Elvish Accuracy Shadow Blade Eldritch Knight build

The build uses a Shield, which places you with an extra point of AC over a heavy armor (And being 3% the cost) two handed strength build in plate.

Being Dex based means high initiative and dex saves, which in particular means much better chances versus a lot of common damage effects

Shadow Blade makes for pretty easy advantage in many case; night, caves, ruins. Take control flames to douse torches if you really want to be reliable.

Damage wise you are very competitive. Your high accuracy, Dueling, and large shadow blade damage dice compares favorably to the flat damage bonus but lower accuracy of a GWM build, but another advantage is with point buy you are not delaying your dex progression. Maxed Dex, Elven Accuracy, and Warcaster is an easy combo to pick up my the time Shadow Blade comes online at 8. Being a fairly reliable critfish build is also a plus

You also have more opportunities for power scaling. Both builds get a 3rd attack at 11, but a Shadow Blade build also gets an upcast bump at 13 when you get 3rd level slots.

[Spiritchaser]

If you’re going Dex EK for shadow blade, go EK+DS sorc.

You get many more high level spell slots
You get to quicken BB for a very nice bonus action attack (assuming you aren’t limited to PHB+1)
You get thaumaturgy. That means you can dim the lights. That makes your shadow blade a lot better

Don’t take too much CHA, you don’t need it.
Take EK to 5 for extra attack then start picking up sorcerer levels. Maybe switch back to EK for that additional attack later, but that’s up to you.

The damage an EK 11 DS sorc 9 can do is excellent, they have Aid to make up for a lower hit die, and they can have a reasonable number of fun buff/utility spells too.

[GeistInMachine]

I would prefer mixing a dex EK with a War Wizard more than a sorc I think. Tactical Wit and Arcane Deflection are both fantastic. Also picks you up ritual casting, and you are much less MAD than a sorc mix.

Indomitable plus Arcane Deflection in particular combo to make you really resilient to any sort of saving throw you need to make, and the Arcane Deflection drawback is minimally impactful on a chassis focusing on the Attack Action

Works well as both a 2 level dip if you want to still be mostly a fighter, or you can go for more levels to dial up the caster abilities.

If you really wanted thaumaturgy, a dex build has the surplus ASIs for MI:Cleric. Can even grab guidance and healing word or Shield of Faith

[Spiritchaser]

I would prefer mixing a dex EK with a War Wizard more than a sorc I think. Tactical Wit and Arcane Deflection are both fantastic. Also picks you up ritual casting, and you are much less MAD than a sorc mix.

Indomitable plus Arcane Deflection in particular combo to make you really resilient to any sort of saving throw you need to make, and the Arcane Deflection drawback is minimally impactful on a chassis focusing on the Attack Action

Works well as both a 2 level dip if you want to still be mostly a fighter, or you can go for more levels to dial up the caster abilities.

If you really wanted thaumaturgy, a dex build has the surplus ASIs for MI:Cleric. Can even grab guidance and healing word or Shield of Faith

There are no int requirements for an EK, so EK-Sorc is no more mad than EK wizard

With a wizard MC, you miss out on bonus action attacks with booming blade.

At high level That’s a big deal. At level 20 you lose 35% of your damage (assuming 5th level slots for shadow blade). Looked at another way, the sorc can do 53% more than the wizard.

At lower levels it is monstrous. As an 11th level character, with 3rd level slots in shadow blade, you take a 42% reduction in damage by going with the wizard and giving up quickened booming blade. Looked at another way, the sorc is doing 74% more than the wizard.

These numbers don’t even assume that the rider on booming blade goes off.

MI cleric gets you thaumaturgy but you lose Aid, which is potentially a pretty big deal.

This build is one of the few that can really use spell slots for sorcery points. Of course you also get meta magic. Is that worth ritual casting?

DS sorc will eventually get holy weapon, which can make you a pretty imposing arcane archer... though this comes exceedingly late.

Arcane deflection is certainly good. No question. Generally WAY better than favoured by the gods unless you really need that reaction.

Tactical wit? It’s fantastic on a wizard, but on an EK with a low or at best middling intelligence? It’s not anything like as big a deal

Don’t get me wrong, most EK wizards end up really cool, but for a melee focus, the raw damage advantage of EK sorc is tough to ignore.

[UnderwaterAir]

Straight EK > straight Hexblade.
*IF* you are concerned about melee performance.

I've been trying for years in 5e to do a mage based gish and it's never worked well.

The best I've ever managed is what is known in the community sometimes as a "bladeslinger." Not blade singer.

You go something along the lines of 10 hexblade/10 sorc. Levels don't need to be exact. Could easily do something like 8 hexblade/12 sorc to keep up with ASIs.

========

hexblade/sorc

The general idea is that you get booming blade and you twin/quick cast them sorc points which you can keep recharged with spell slots.
You then augment your fighting ability with non-concentration spells like mirror image, shield, misty step, etc.

You can mix in some rogue or fighter or even paladin levels. Or even mixing in some bard levels as well if you want to.

========

Paladin/Hexblade/Bard

The idea here is you cut in 2 paladin levels for divine smite making you able to nova on melee attacks. You go enough into hexblade to make you more SAD.
An array like 15 str, 15 con, 15 cha is almost required here.
You get heavy armor and a shield if you want. Then you can hexblade in and just max cha.

If you're sure you can land a hit you throw in booming blade. Divine smite add in on hit. If not, just attack normally. Sword of college bard will net you another fighting style (TWF if you went dual wield without a shield or dueling so you can go defensive on paladin and dueling on sword bard). If you don't care about pact of the blade you can 2 paladin, 2 warlock, and still hit level 9 spells on spellcaster levels at level 20 with 16 in bard and +1 from paladin.

You get steel wind strike using CHA for mobs.
You get divine smite + booming blade for single target.
You can then factor in a decent chunk of utility spells from the bard so you can do some crowd controlling or utility things like healing or modenkainen's for the team.

If you opt to take pact of the blade (sometimes you just want to twf) then you won't get level 9 spells from Bard. Admittedly, not a huge loss. Most good DMs if they ever get there will severely limit the player's in terms of what those level 9 spells can do anyway because it's kind of dumb if you take your time and go into the last fight with an army of 200 dragons on your side. >_>

[Witty Username]

I realize I just assumed Matt_Aries was going for Str weapons based on his stat distributions, my advice was with that in mind. It is still relevant for dex builds though.


edit: which 9th level spell is the 200 dragons one, other than maybe, wish. sure you could maybe take out 200 dragons with meteor swarm if they were clustered pretty badly and rolled well.

[Zhorn]

EK if you're new to 5e as the fighter chassis is pretty durable and forgiving

Hexblade if you have a decent idea of what you want to do with spells as you get a good variety without the restrained caster progression of the EK, plus it makes a strong multiclass base for other charisma classes.

Back to EK again if you know exactly what you're doing as an optimised EK can be a beast with just a couple of spells used in the right way and everything else can be funnelled into utility to make a fighter good in both combat AND problem solving with magic (don't waste spells on being a blaster)

[Matt_Aries]

Wow ... I was not expecting such a response. Thank you all. I am at work and will view this in more detail when I get home.
It appears I am leaning towards melee focused EK.

Thank you.

[Keravath]

Straight EK > straight Hexblade.
*IF* you are concerned about melee performance.

I've been trying for years in 5e to do a mage based gish and it's never worked well.

The best I've ever managed is what is known in the community sometimes as a "bladeslinger." Not blade singer.

You go something along the lines of 10 hexblade/10 sorc. Levels don't need to be exact. Could easily do something like 8 hexblade/12 sorc to keep up with ASIs.

========

hexblade/sorc

The general idea is that you get booming blade and you twin/quick cast them sorc points which you can keep recharged with spell slots.
You then augment your fighting ability with non-concentration spells like mirror image, shield, misty step, etc.

You can mix in some rogue or fighter or even paladin levels. Or even mixing in some bard levels as well if you want to.

========

Paladin/Hexblade/Bard

The idea here is you cut in 2 paladin levels for divine smite making you able to nova on melee attacks. You go enough into hexblade to make you more SAD.
An array like 15 str, 15 con, 15 cha is almost required here.
You get heavy armor and a shield if you want. Then you can hexblade in and just max cha.

If you're sure you can land a hit you throw in booming blade. Divine smite add in on hit. If not, just attack normally. Sword of college bard will net you another fighting style (TWF if you went dual wield without a shield or dueling so you can go defensive on paladin and dueling on sword bard). If you don't care about pact of the blade you can 2 paladin, 2 warlock, and still hit level 9 spells on spellcaster levels at level 20 with 16 in bard and +1 from paladin.

You get steel wind strike using CHA for mobs.
You get divine smite + booming blade for single target.
You can then factor in a decent chunk of utility spells from the bard so you can do some crowd controlling or utility things like healing or modenkainen's for the team.

If you opt to take pact of the blade (sometimes you just want to twf) then you won't get level 9 spells from Bard. Admittedly, not a huge loss. Most good DMs if they ever get there will severely limit the player's in terms of what those level 9 spells can do anyway because it's kind of dumb if you take your time and go into the last fight with an army of 200 dragons on your side. >_>

Hi!

I've found that variant human hexblade 12/sorc X/bard X with PAM/GWM/res con/CHA/CHA works pretty well as a melee fighter/magic user.

With Thirsting Blade/Lifedrinker from level 12 the character has 3 attacks/rd with a polearm. In tier 3 and above GWM becomes very viable for most attacks especially if you can get a magical polearm like a glaive. The damage is then
2x (d10+20) + (d4+20) using quickened shadow of moil on the first round of combat to set up advantage on all the attacks against creatures without blindsight. This averages 73.5 every round which is decent compared to most. Magical weapon adds a bit extra. If you really wanted you could add eldritch smite but I usually find it to be a bit of a trap.

The build could also use booming blade + quickened booming blade.

At hexblade 12/sorc X (tier 3) this could be (2d6+20) + (2d6+20) + 4d8 = 72 average damage (with GWM and a greatsword - just less than PAM) but uses 2 sorcery points every combat round which makes PAM the more cost effective option (it also assumes the target isn't moving to eat the extra d8 in damage - booming blade doesn't stack so they will only take one extra d8 anyway) in terms of resources though booming blade will edge it out at level 17+. A magic weapon tends to tip this back towards the PAM build. If you don't have GWM then the damage from 2 x booming blade just doesn't keep up.

A level 11 hexblade/9 sorcerer using 2 x booming blade maxes out at 2*(2d6 +5) + 6d8 at level 17+ or 51 average damage while eldritch blast is 4(d10+5) = 42. The booming blade costs 2 Sorcery points/combat round so the sorcerer will be burning spell slots for sorcery points to keep it going.

----

I was thinking of 12 hexblade/3 sorcerer/5 whispers bard. The sorcerer dip lets the hexblade quicken Shadow of Moil on the first round of every combat while the bard has the Psychic blades which adds 3d6 damage to an attack using bardic inspiration which at level 5 refreshes on a short rest. (I am playing this character now level 10 - 9 hexblade/1 shadow sorcerer and so far they have been a lot of fun to play).

[Spiritchaser]

Wow ... I was not expecting such a response. Thank you all. I am at work and will view this in more detail when I get home.
It appears I am leaning towards melee focused EK.

Thank you.

For melee up close and casting for range, a fairly standard VHuman hexblade is pretty good

Go 10,14,14,10,10,16 or 8,14,16,8,10,16
Take GWM to start
Take devil’s sight and agonizing blast.
I’d go at least as far as shadow of Moil and see how you feel.
I wouldn’t take PAM unless you know you’re going to stick with warlock, since some of what that gives you won’t play well with a sorcerer MC, should you choose to go that route.

[SLOTHRPG95]

Jumping in a little late, but here's my 2 cp: if you want to primarily bash in melee, and rely on spells for ranged/AoE, I'd go EK at first, and then at some point after 5th pick up 2/6/9/10/13+ levels in Wizard. Basically, just two if you're primarily just picking up low-hanging goodies, six or nine if you want to still primarily be a warrior-type and still get a third attack but still want to get better slot progression, interesting 6th level Wizard abilities, and/or 5th level spells. Going 10 I wouldn't necessarily recommend, but a straight EK 10/War Wizard 10 gives you up to 7th level slots, and lets you have all of the latter's defensive goodies AND the ability to give "free" disadvantage on saves vs. your spells when you hit people. If you end up liking the spell-slinging side more, then go 13+ Wizard, or see if you can rebuild as a Bladesinger. You'd still have Extra Attack, but you're primarily a caster at that point.