Best non-Hexblade Blade Warlocks?

[Rfkannen]

I feel like every time I see Pact of the blade it is in the same sentence as Hexblade, but even if hexblade does pact of the blade the best, it doesn't mean they are the only people who can do it!

So what other builds make fun pact of the blades? How would you do a non hexblade pact of the blade?

[sithlordnergal]

Honestly, Fiend is probably the second best Warlock for Pact of the Blade thanks the temp HP it gains when it reduces a hostile creature to 0 Hit Points. Other then that, they're pretty much equal. None of them gain anything that helps them in melee combat, which is what Pact of the Blade does.

[Spectrulus]

With access to Unearthed Arcana, Eldritch Armor allows heavy armor, provided either the strength to back it up or play a Dwarf.

Without that you've just got light armor.

Bugbear with pole arms let's you pretend to be ranged with a 15ft strike zone.

For a weapon, the double scimitar is promising, 2d4 + 2d4 +1d4 as a bonus action attack

[Segev]

Where is the double scimitar printed?


The more I examine it, the more I realize that Pact of the Blade does almost nothing on its own. The inability to be denied your weapon is overshadowed by the ability to cast cantrips, which also can’t be taken away. The proficiency is nice for getting a martial weapon, but essentially the fighter’s proficiency suite is not worth a Pact Boon, and doesn’t aid the warlock much. It being a magic weapon is helpful, but getting a magic weapon as loot overshadows it.

There is little that depends on your patron in pact boons.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

I feel like every time I see Pact of the blade it is in the same sentence as Hexblade, but even if hexblade does pact of the blade the best, it doesn't mean they are the only people who can do it!

So what other builds make fun pact of the blades? How would you do a non hexblade pact of the blade?

Mountain Dwarf Fiend-Lock Pact of the Blade Hammer

I like to think that the dwarf was lonely as a child and accidentally summoned a fiend and the pact was "I want you to be my friend" and now the fiend is besties with the dwarf. They're going to just skulls together in the after life, which really isn't all that different than Valhalla...

[RSP]

Taking your first level in Fighter (Fighter 1/Warlock X) is probably the answer (or Dwarf for med armor).

[Corran]

Honestly, Fiend is probably the second best Warlock for Pact of the Blade thanks the temp HP it gains when it reduces a hostile creature to 0 Hit Points. Other then that, they're pretty much equal. None of them gain anything that helps them in melee combat, which is what Pact of the Blade does.
I'll just add that their level 10 ability could be slightly more useful to a melee build than to a ranged one, and they can also get the fire shield spell which once again plays better with a melee approach. You almost definitely need a (couple) levels in either fighter or barbarian to make it work. As an aside, the fiendlock (and especially a melee fiendlock) has several good ways to use their lots with non-concentration spells (eg command, armor of agathys, fire shield, counterspell, maybe smites, and whatever else I forgot), so you are probably using hex for concentration if anything at all.

[da newt]

For Segev

Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron is the source for the double bladed scimitar and it's Feat. I really like the idea, but it's no better than PAM shield and spear because it doesn't include the extra Op attack and you can't stack Dueling FS with it, but with the feat it gets finesse, +1 AC, and the BA attack goes to 2d4 - it is superior to dual weapon in just about every way.

[stoutstien]

A celestial bladelock is pretty solid. I doubt it will win any DPR/DPS race but it's a tough alternative with some utility mixed in.

Could focus on GFB instead of extra attack or take both.

[Keravath]

The method used before hexblade was to usually go with one level of fighter for the armor and weapon proficiencies that make for a decent melee chassis and then you can pick whichever type of warlock has the best flavor for the character you are playing. Fey, GOO, celestial and fiend all have decent ribbon abilities. The unfortunate part is that you need the level of fighter (or maybe a couple of levels in paladin) to get the essential martial elements in place.

[AttilatheYeon]

I'm rather fond of Goobladlock myself. It's def a glass canon, but Dissonant Whisper with Booming Blade and Warcaster are a really nice combo. If Vhuman you could do it at first level.

[Segev]

The method used before hexblade was to usually go with one level of fighter for the armor and weapon proficiencies that make for a decent melee chassis and then you can pick whichever type of warlock has the best flavor for the character you are playing. Fey, GOO, celestial and fiend all have decent ribbon abilities. The unfortunate part is that you need the level of fighter (or maybe a couple of levels in paladin) to get the essential martial elements in place.

I wonder if a Mountain Dwarf makes a good Bladelock.

[AttilatheYeon]

I wonder if a Mountain Dwarf makes a good Bladelock.

They do. I went Fiend with 16, 12, 16, 8, 10, 14. Pre Xanathars. It held up. I had to really lean on greatweapon master tho. When i got him dialed in and the group started letting me get the last hit in, i could stay in the fight just as long as our barb.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

I wonder if a Mountain Dwarf makes a good Bladelock.

Absolutely terrible bladelock, however an axelock or hammerlock? Now that Mt. Dwarf does mighty fine with those.

[CTurbo]

Before Hexblade existed, I made a Vhuman Fiend/Tome that started with the Moderately Armored feat. This was never going to be a melee focused build, but more of a build that just wasn't terrified of melee. It worked out pretty well.

[Petrocorus]

Without Hexblade, the issue with the meleelock is mostly the AC.

With only light armor, you need to invest a lot into Dex, or take the Moderately Armored feat and keep 14 dex to raise your AC.
With point-buy, or with average luck on rolled stats, this means you cannot go for heavy weapons.
And without heavy weapons, your melee damages will never be very good.

If you go for a finesse weapon, you need to invest your ASI in Dex and not in Cha sacrificing your casting for using a D8 weapons, and without the Fighter features allowing for more damages (maneuvers, third attack, surge, etc). You'll need to use a lot of your spell known and spell slots on improving your melee capabilities. And you can only concentrate on one spell at a time.

So, pre-Xanathar, the best way was to start Fighter 1 for heavy proficiencies, Con save, and Defence FS. And go to town with GWM/PAM.

The other solution was to take 2 feats for heavy armor proficiency, or a race with racial medium armor proficiency and 1 feat.

If you want to go for a single-handed weapon meleelock, without Hexblade, you'd probably better off with Tomelock + Shillelagh + GFB.

[Desamir]

With access to Unearthed Arcana, Eldritch Armor allows heavy armor, provided either the strength to back it up or play a Dwarf.

Medium armor works fine with this, too. No strength required!