Errata! Can't multi-class into Fighter without a 13 Dex (or Str)! One of two options: swap Dex and Con (ow my hp and Con saves/concentration checks!) or take a feat to pick up Archery fighting style after all. I love glass canons so... you know what I'll be doing ;)
Just in timeColby! Can't wait to see this combo! Seriously though, as someone with harsh relationship with my parents you saying I belong, as small as it seems, actually means a lot. Much love
Ahhh the next Bladesinger build! My brother in Bladesinging, this is truely an end of the year gift. Thanks for your hard work, and I can't wait to see all of your next builds in 2023!
Was thinking exactly that as he mentioned Fighter dip. I really think this might work better with 14 dex 10 con instead of the 10 dex 14 con. Armor class helps a lot in mitigating damage.
Yeah I was going to go back and check what the stats were. 15 int 15 charisma and 14con and 10 dex, meaning wisdom and str are 8. The fighter dip doesn't work here unless you swap the 14 con to 14 Dex and 10 con
i really though that we would have a whip build today :( , 10 ft of spirit shroud, a weapon with the reach property so we wound't have disaventage when using eldritch blast and you only need one hand to attack with it so we wound't lose the bladesong effects (and you need to agree tha a bladesinger with a whip is SO STYLISH)
This is exactly my kind of build. I love flavouring spirit shroud as like a super sayain style evolution. Power starts to radiate from me in waves and i hit like a truck. So i will always vouch for that spell. And something that takes full advantage of this lovely spell is something I'll always get behind. That being said, I'm sure i speak for everyone when I saw we need a bladesinger 3.0 lol
For a oneshot later this week I made a 2 Warlock / 6 Wizard (rolled for stats) character called The Shadesinger. Took everything shadow-related (Shadow Blade, Armor of Shadows, Darkness) and reflavored everything that wasn't (Tasha's Hideous Laughter turning into the shadow of the target holding them to the ground). Sadly no Eldritch Blast shenanigans purely cause I like to build a non-Eldritch Blast Warlock whenever I can. Perfect timing for the video, definitely fun to see a different way of building it!
I really didn't think this was going to work -- but it really did! Thinking of the play style, it makes me think of the Demon Hunter, especially with the intro you gave to the character.
you are by far the EASIEST person to listen to. I am binge watching your videos while doing other things, your voice is oddly relaxing and very zen to listen to.
I love bladesinger levels 2 and 6, 14 kinda too but comes online a bit late for my taste. My next Gish character idea was bladesinger 6 + swords bard 14, I just like the idea of expending almost no resources while comboing features. It would probably be weak, but the synergies make my brain happy. Also, fun fact I realised while reading swords bard: dhampir can use their teeth as a spellcasting focus when they are a swords bard
This is such a cool build! I love the idea of mixing two subclasses that everyone always argues between for "who's the best" in order to say "por que no los dos?" Week 3 of asking for a build that focuses on an uncommon damage type like acid, psychic, etc. (in the same vein as the frost mage or the pyromancer).
A couple of things I didn't understand: The Archery style only works with attacks using ranged weapons, so it can't be used for Eldritch Blast. The Sharpshooter feat specifies ranged weapons, so it can't be used with Eldritch Blast. You grab those and it sounds like you are expecting them to work on Eldritch Blast. On the other hand, Crossbow Expert would allow you to make Eldritch Blast attacks from melee range, since it doesn't specify weapon attacks.
Treantmonk had a great build using the Hex Blade and Blade Singer as well! The Tear and Scare I believe it was called. Very excited to see your take on this multi-class!
I love interesting multiclass builds, but that 18th level Wizard class feature is always tempting, whether I think I'll ever reach it or not. That being said, whenever I think of what to multiclass a Bladesinger with, Warlock is almost always at the top of the list. Ooh, will we be doing the classic Crossbow Expert + Sharpshooter combo? Which with the proper invocations becomes like a miniature Eldritch Blast of its own. 🤔
I called it! Though I didn't realize that you didn't need Improved Pact weapon for a Hand Crossbow! I had to look it up to make sure, but yeah you only need Improved Pact Weapon for Short Bow, Long Bow, Light Crossbow and Heavy Crossbow
I personally like the idea of using Magic Stone and a (preferably Two-Birds) sling instead of the hand crossbow. That way, you'll never run out of ammunition, so long as you bring a little bag full of tiny pebbles with you on your adventures. Once you cast Magic Stone with your bonus action, you've got 3 pebbles to fire off with your sling, each of which does the same damage and has the same range as the hand crossbow! And if your DM is kind enough to let you find a Two-Birds Sling, it can actually turn that single weapon attack with your action into two attacks against a pair of enemies within 10 feet of each other! Sure, the hand crossbow weaponizes the bonus action directly through the Crossbow Expert feat, but unless you find a magic hand crossbow (I wouldn't hold your breath!) you're gonna need to find some way to pierce damage resistance. Magic Stone does that automatically by making the pebbles into magic weapons. Hell, you technically wouldn't even need to be a Hexblade to attack with your charisma bonus, since the pebbles make a spell attack, powered by your spellcasting modifier!
There's a silly idea I've been mulling over for some utility. I think it works with an Eldritch Knight and PotB Warlock. Both options have a feature that allows the user to recall a chosen weapon to hand. That opens up a cute utility option. Build a set of thieves tools into the hilt or haft of your weapon. If you ever find yourself deprived of your gear and locked in a prison cell... recall your weapon to hand, extract the tools, hand them to the party Rogue, and you're 1 skill check away from freedom. I suppose you could also pull a similar trick with a Warforged hidden toolset, Conjuration Wizard, or Artifacer Power Armor integrated tools. I expect your DM will include an anti-magic field in all future dungeon cells after you pull this particular rabbit out of your hat.
Happy Holidays, always happy to see another build in my sub box! By the way, in the first sentence of the description there's a typo in Warlock (Warlcok) Early happy new year, everyone
Okay listen here Colby, this has happened twice now. I have been in the middle of building a new character and right before I am done you make a video on literally the exact build I am going for. I wouldn't be so angy but you keep making them better than me :'). Need to learn to finish them before a Tuesday x)
I actually thought of this exactly same build back them when you released the bladesinger 2.0. You also could go with artificer for intelligence base attacks other than hexblade, but the power spike would be deleayed even more, which is really painful and of course going artificer also means that you woudn't be able to use eldritch blast or need to multiclasse even further.
Sorry to rain on the parade, but you wouldn't have been able to multiclass fighter as you wanted. Fighter requires a 13 strength or dex, but the character only had a dex of 10, and with the int, charisma, and con scores they couldn't have had 13 strength. So either some other sacrifices would have to be made for stats, would actually need to take fighting initiate, or just give up archery fighting style.
Alternative build Idea: Instead of using the hand xbow for attacks use Magic Stone. That frees up not only rhe choice of warlock patron but also 2 feats as you no longer need Xbow Xpert or Sharpshooter. You could also use Haste for concentration instead of Spirit Shroud. I think the extra blasts would net you more damage. Lastly, after 8 levels in Bladesinger & 4 in Warlock, you could go for Sorcerer levels. that would net you metamagic for quicken spell for more & better bursts of damage.
I did something like this once. Came to a lot of the same conclusions, but in my case this was a thought experiment about just maxing out damage in the best case scenario so I kinda forfeited my ability to use bladesong. Apologies in advance for how minimalist these notes are: --------- Eldritch Archer Warlock Hexblade Blade 9 Sorcerer Wild Magic or Divine Soul 2 Wizard Bladesinging 6 Fighter Arcane Archer 3 Half Elf (Custom Lineage) Darkvision +2 CHA Feat STR 8 DEX 14 CON 10 INT 14 *WIS 10 *CHA 17 Proficiencies Investigation Nature Feats x4 Elven Accuracy / +1 CHA Metamagic Adept +2 CHA Sharpshooter Invocations: Agonizing Blast Improved Pact Weapon Eldritch Smite Eldritch Spear Eldritch Mind Metamagic: Quicken Spell Distant Spell Arcane Shots: Seeking Arrow Shadow Arrow At Lv 20 Hexblade specter has ring of spell storing with haste spell First weapon attacks twice and uses Shadow Arrow on the first that hits, to blind the enemy, making all other attacks at advantage 12 EB rays with +5 from agonizing blast 3 attacks (with haste) + 5 + 10 from sharpshooter All 15 attacks benefit from no concentration Lv 5 bestow curse for +1d8 All 15 attacks use hex for +1d6 All 15 attacks use hexblades curse for +6 All attacks have 19-20 crit chance from hexblades curse and 3 rolls for advantage with elven accuracy -> 6/20 chance to crit = 1.3x multiplier average One round damage without hold monster = 488.45 One round damage with hold monster = 648 + 36d6 from purple worm poison on arrows for additional 126 average If a party member concentrates of fire arrows, + 3d6 / 6d6 = 10.5 / 21 If you have oath bow +9d6 / 18d6 = 31.5 / 63 If using 3 arrows of slaying: 30d6 / 60d6 = 105 / 210 + specter attack = 3d6 / 6d6 = 10.5 / 21 + 3 enchantment bonus from = 3 Average of 1232 in a turn given hold monster and all other factors Alternatively can spread 243.45 among up to 15 separate targets, approximately 16.23 damage each Progression Order 4WL 2SC 6BS 3AA 5WL
As to the channel never featuring a ranged Hexblade or ranged Bladesinger before now, I think it probably comes down to this: I don't know that ranged attacks are really the typical Gish fantasy. Regular casters can do ranged attacks fine already, but lack melee attacks and often lack the armor and toughness to exist in melee reach (not necessarily thrive, but exist). A ranged Gish kind of has the same vibe as any other caster--stay away, shoot folks. Maybe they do it better than a straight caster, maybe they do it worse, but it'll be a lot closer to a classic caster in feeling than a swashbuckling Bladesinger or weapon Bard, a PAM-lock with their big weapon, or a full-plate Eldritch Knight (or Paladin if that counts).
For anyone wanting to play a ranged Bladesinger; if your DM allows Blood Hunter, a 3 lvl dip in Profane Soul gives you access to EB that uses INT and just grab the Eldritch Adept feat and choose INT for spellcasting ability (see the errata). Take Archery Fighting Style and use a Hand Crossbow.
Oooh, I really like the feel of this. Might swap out the Fighter levels for Blood Hunter, though. XBow Expert + Sharpshooter + EB + SS + Crimson Rite just sounds delicious. Maybe even sacrifice SS now and then for a Hold Person/Monster to take advantage of the insta-crits at melee range with all those dice adding up. Edit: I’d probably go Profane Soul to make my EB INT based and cut out the Hexblade portion, just to be a little less MAD, plus basing my crossbow off Dex will meant higher base AC as well.
Dex 13, Con 13, Int 14, Chr 15 (or 14, 12, 14, 15 respectively) would be my personal suggestion. AC 11 (Leather)/12 (Studded) /13 (Mage Armor) + 2/3 AC Dex, +2 AC BS (PBTPD), +5 Shield = 15/20 (for a turn) to 18/23 (for a turn). And it only grows higher from there. Boosting Con and/or Dex can be done with Half-Feats. It also opens a lot of racial options. Edit: Removed my stupidity. Realized once I walked away why you need to go Hexblade 😂
The build is really powerful, but the fact that you have to stand within 10 feet of the enemy to use Spirit Shroud is troubling considering how flimsy the character is. Would be epic to see them attacking faster than even a fighter (on non-action surge rounds) while the monk cries in his green tea. XD
Hi Colby! I like your philosopy on balance so as to make characters that are "powerful yet STILL FUN to play" Even with your copious caveats that you are "working in a lab, using the best case scenario", my question/request remains relevant to virtually every D&D campaign in which I've played or DM'd: "but what about flying enemies?" I'd love your thoughts about how some favorite builds can be tweaked to improve effectiveness against enemies with a common evasion or mobility feature such as flying, short-term teleport, or large long-jump. In my experience, once the games hit level 5+ ish, many, even the majority, of enemies one of these abilities, so it's not a niche scenario. I think this remains true even when a DM is thoughtful to create encounters in which melee characters can still be helpful, e.g. not making all enemies have effective long-ranged attacks. I love the "The chesse grater", yet what if they fly? The problem becomes more extreme for other builds, where the DPR decreases to almost zero. I'm guessing many have already asked how your builds deal with ranged opponents. However, I think my question is a separate, even more common, scenario. I'd love to hear your thoughts on adjusting some of your most popular build to deal with flying, etc., even though it comes at the cost of losing total DPR or nova damage when in the far more rare "best case scenario". Thanks for listening, and great work! -Jeff Jacobs
haven't watched it yet, but I have a build that is 2 fighter, one hexblade, and 17 bladesinger to turn into a marilith. lets see what Colby does! it was a bladesinger with a crossblow. didn't see that one coming at all
I love the idea of this character, but it's simply too MAD for point-buy to do it justice unless you're starting at lv15+. At that point you'd be ever-so-close to those sweet lv9 spells as a pure caster. That aside, because I do love multiclassing, I don't see how this character survives early on with the stats you proposed in the video. 10 DEX 14 Con doesn't work for multiclassing purposes into fighter, so you're probably looking at a character that has 10 CON throughout his/her entire career. Playable and massively damage dealing, sure, but as a ranged character that needs to be within 10 feet to do their full damage but has like 70 HP at lv15, I'm kind of doubting its viability (A magical item to raise your con would obviously help massively here, but if you're depending on that you might as well start assuming anything and everything in my mind). If I were ever to play this character (and boy does it sound FUN) i'd wait until I roll some utterly crazy stats, with only strength being a real dump option here in my mind.
What are folks thoughts on a 'Hex Knight', Eldritch Knight 7/Hexblade 13. Less Bonus Action heavy than Hexsinger as well as Action Surge, at the cost of only having one weapon attack. Maybe taking the Gunner feat.
Hey love your videos, watch a lot of them. Really don’t like the direction of this build though, lol. Crossbow Expert Bonus Action competes with a lot of Bonus Actions from both Classes. And Sharpshooter with 1 or 2 attacks per round is a lot less valuable than many other Archer builds. Those 2 Feats could be Half Feats to help with the extreme MADness of the build, or a useful Racial and an ASI.
watching your bladesinging builds has got me thinking, if you took your eldritch sorlock build and took the animated objects spell and whenever you've expended all your sorcery points, use animated objects as your bonus action and command the objects to kill the target, thus letting you use your bonus action for spiritual weapon in subsequent rounds, would this be just as strong or stronger build than the bladesinger and just as sustainable? you'd lose your advantage from ending darkness but it would still deal a ton of damage.
A nice take on the Hexsinger! I think I still prefer my take with Mobile and dodging in and out of melee aesthetically, as it feels very red mage like to me, but I can't deny the effectiveness of your pure ranged variant!
I think it's so cool how you put out so much content for us, not just the builds! You make spreadsheets, tier rankings, cheat sheets, written step by step stuff... You're amazing, and you belong in my list of favorite D&D content creators! ❤️ Also, Blood Hunter and Bladesinger can lead to crazy and synergistic combos, especially with the Mutant subclass and Profane Soul. With Profane Soul and Eldritch Adept, you could make an int/wis based eldritch blast build! That's awesome!
I know you don't make your builds with Magic Items in mind. They aren't something you can guarantee everyone will get. But, just imagine this character with Illusionist Bracers from the GGtR
super rules lawyer-y info coming up: this build doesnt work with many invocations like lifedrinker, improved pact weapon, eldritch smite, and thirsting blade unless you have a magical crossbow, if you do decide to take more warlock levels. This is because a pact weapon and hex warrior weapon are different things. Invocations such as thirsting blade or eldritch smite specify that they only work with your pact weapon, not any weapon or your hex warrior weapon. If we then look at the requirements for your pact weapon under pact of the blade, the first bullet requires a created pact weapon to be a melee weapon, which a hand crossbow is not. The improved pact weapon invocation allows your created pact weapon to additionally be a "shortbow, longbow, light crossbow, or heavy crossbow." Notably, not a hand crossbow. However, our saving grace is the third bullet of the pact of blade feature. "You can transform one magic weapon into your pact weapon by performing a special ritual while you hold the weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest." This point doesn't specify that the magic weapon has to be a melee weapon like the first point does.
Good lord, I love this. (It also occurs to me that with a couple of artificer levels early on, this would make a very, very plausible Jinx build, which I have wanted absolutely forever -- for RP reasons as much as anything else. I've always had a theory that, assuming DM buy-in, the most table-friendly way to play a character *that* erratic is to make them a warlock with a very agenda-driven patron; and even if hexblade weren't as good as it is, *how* do you pass on "insists a dead loved one is talking to her through her weapon, frequently talks back"?)
You always come out with the best builds. Have you ever done one around a magic item? There is this uncommon magic item, the Mizzium Apparatus, that you could probably make an op build with.
Thanks! I tend to shy away from assuming a certain magic item in a build (unless you're an artificer and can make it yourself) because every table is so different on how they handle giving out magic items...
Hey how are you? I have been following your channel for a few months now and I love all of your builds. I have a "sword dancer" character. I took 3 levels in fighter "battlemaster", 3 levels in bard "college of swords" and the rest on wizard "bladesinger". I know it is a bit of stat dependent but I roll dice for stats. I did it on a one shot with my friends and with the rolls where just right for the build
Can you make a illrigger build? Or builds focusing on optimizing the races, so we could discorver what kind of build could be better for each face we have
Maybe start as a Fighter? Far as I remember there are no requirements to start a class. Family is very important, so you take your time off Colby. You are looking a little tired, so time with family should help you relax and recharge your batteries. Hey Colby think about a Blade Singer with a blade using the level 6 ability to make an attack with Shadow Blade and the use Blade Ward as the cantrip.
I mean animating a bunch of alchemist fires really makes that animate objects spell something lovely. Go ahead and break all those alchemist fires that are jumping you. BOOM! Well that must’ve hurts
I feel like crossbow expert handles the loading property but not the ammunition property. Hence making this sustainable every turn would be annoying. Let me grab you the ammunition property. Specifically needing a free hand. Ammunition. You can use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a ranged attack only if you have ammunition to fire from the weapon. Each time you attack with the weapon, you expend one piece of ammunition. Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container is part of the attack (you need a free hand to load a one-handed weapon). At the end of the battle, you can recover half your expended ammunition by taking a minute to search the battlefield. If you use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a melee attack, you treat the weapon as an improvised weapon (see "Improvised Weapons" later in the section). A sling must be loaded to deal any damage when used in this way.
Spirit Shroud only works if you're within 10 feet of your target. While that still works with this build because you can attack in melee range without disadvantage, I think the whole benefit of playing a ranged bladesinger, is that you're, well, at range. I think Slow would be a much better use of our concentration here (and it's an action casting) since it reduces enemy AC by 2 (increasing our damage) and reduces their number of attacks and takes away their reaction allowing us to run away and increase our defenses.
Agree slow is definitely a better debuff for the whole party. But if you're selfish I'd say go Greater Invisibility once that's available, which would improve your own offense and defense more.
I realise that it's not as efficient due to wizards not usually being great in melee, but could you do a melee version of this build by subbing out the hand xbows and taking a martial weap instead? Would it still work relatively the same?
Random question I just had about darkness based on the one d&d playtest. The new attack action lets you draw and stow a weapon before or after each attack. Once you get extra attack, could you cast darkness on the blade of your sword (not sure if the sword being one entire object means this won't work that specifically), then draw your sword before the first attack, use devil sight to get advantage on the first and second attack, and then store the sword after the second attack, thus gaining the advantage on all of your attacks at the cost of putting it away at the end of your turn for your allies' sake?
Hey man, is everything OK? You look like you haven't been sleeping super well. The build is excellent, as per usual, and maybe I'm just being a little bit parent, but I got a little bit of a twitch at the dark circles under your eyes. I'll remove this comment if you'd like me to (and replace, obviously, for the all-mighty algorithm)
I just thought of a neat build challenge: Witch Bolt is often seen as a suboptimal spell to take due to it being so easy to escape the bolt by simply walking out of range. Find a way (through grappling, booming blade, etc.) to make it impossible or very ill advised to leave the area, making Witch Bolt more effective. Could require a lot of quickened spell, or if it's possible to grapple someone as a bonus action, that could work too. I just want to see Witch Bolt become useful.
Witch bolt is bad because it eats your concentration and action every turn for a singular damage die, and if you use your action to do anything else it ends. Its only real use is if you really need to stretch a spell slot, which is rare and normally if you need that level of sustainability you'd just play a martial. If you really wanted to make it better, you'd probably want to twin it and then just stand 35+ feet away from the targets as much as possible.
27:06 this just keeps gettnig better. first a d&D fan, then an optimizer, then a Sanderson fan, AND NOW HAMILTON. thank you for all you do Colby, you have provided me with so much entertainment its crazy. thank you thank you thank you!
this is the show where each season we take a deep dive into one sometimes two specific blade singer builds :) love your work also the not blade and not singer builds :)
![Method Writing: The First Four Concepts - Jack Grapes [FULL INTERVIEW]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ba9jAVzADY0/mqdefault.jpg)
Errata! Can't multi-class into Fighter without a 13 Dex (or Str)! One of two options: swap Dex and Con (ow my hp and Con saves/concentration checks!) or take a feat to pick up Archery fighting style after all. I love glass canons so... you know what I'll be doing ;)
Third option: Roll good! :D
p.s. my name is Cody ! so if anyone calls you that again, they were probably just looking for me
only Cody can catch these during production, you two should talk more
How DARE you make a mistake! And on the last vid of the year!
For lvl 14 you could dip one lvl rogue for sneak atk for 2 extra d6 even at range
Oh no, my character died! I guess I'll just have to make another one at my current level... without all those pesky low-level viability concerns.
Ah, yes. The HexBlade BladeSinger. Also known as the "Hex Singer". Or the Blade Blade", if you will.
The hexbladinger
Without a blade
Singhexer
The Bae Blade
I actually laughed out loud at this
Just in timeColby! Can't wait to see this combo! Seriously though, as someone with harsh relationship with my parents you saying I belong, as small as it seems, actually means a lot. Much love
Colby is very sweet 😌🥺
Colby is the dad we all needed growing up ❤️
Happy New Year!!!
The HexBladeSinger: d4 #123
Level 1:(see above) [warlock 1 & patron]
Level 2:(see above) [wizard 1]
Level 3:(@23:20) [wizard 2 & sub-class]
Level 4:(@25:12) [wizard 3]
Level 5:(@25:56) [wizard 4 & ASI]
Level 6:(@27:18) [wizard 5]
Level 7:(see above) [wizard 6]
Level 8:(@31:52) [warlock 2 & eldritch invocations]
Level 9:(@34:09) [fighter 1 & fighting-style]
Level 10:(see above) [wizard 7]
Level 11:(@38:18) [wizard 8 & ASI]
Level 12:(@39:03) [wizard 9]
Level 13:(@42:47) [wizard 10]
Level 14:(see above) [wizard 11]
Level 15:(@45:25) [wizard 12 & ASI]
Level 16:(@45:48) [wizard 13]
Level 17:(@46:26) [wizard 14]
Ahhh the next Bladesinger build! My brother in Bladesinging, this is truely an end of the year gift. Thanks for your hard work, and I can't wait to see all of your next builds in 2023!
Doesn't that 1 level Fighter dip require a 13 STR or DEX? I love the concept.
Was thinking exactly that as he mentioned Fighter dip. I really think this might work better with 14 dex 10 con instead of the 10 dex 14 con. Armor class helps a lot in mitigating damage.
Tried to do this build online & it wouldn’t let me due to the pre-reqs of DEX/STR :/
Yeah I was going to go back and check what the stats were. 15 int 15 charisma and 14con and 10 dex, meaning wisdom and str are 8. The fighter dip doesn't work here unless you swap the 14 con to 14 Dex and 10 con
@@rupertbutcher612 Yup. I have a rolled DNDBeyond version of this built, and I fluked out and rolled good enough stats to do the fighter dip.
Just pinned an errata comment on this :)
i really though that we would have a whip build today :( , 10 ft of spirit shroud, a weapon with the reach property so we wound't have disaventage when using eldritch blast and you only need one hand to attack with it so we wound't lose the bladesong effects (and you need to agree tha a bladesinger with a whip is SO STYLISH)
I have always like that image and have actually dust started a blade singer with a whip because I love the image of a ribbon dancer dealing damage.
This is exactly my kind of build. I love flavouring spirit shroud as like a super sayain style evolution. Power starts to radiate from me in waves and i hit like a truck. So i will always vouch for that spell.
And something that takes full advantage of this lovely spell is something I'll always get behind.
That being said, I'm sure i speak for everyone when I saw we need a bladesinger 3.0 lol
This may have to be my very first bladesinger build. This is one of those interesting multiclasses that you just can't NOT have fun with. I. AM. HOME.
For a oneshot later this week I made a 2 Warlock / 6 Wizard (rolled for stats) character called The Shadesinger. Took everything shadow-related (Shadow Blade, Armor of Shadows, Darkness) and reflavored everything that wasn't (Tasha's Hideous Laughter turning into the shadow of the target holding them to the ground). Sadly no Eldritch Blast shenanigans purely cause I like to build a non-Eldritch Blast Warlock whenever I can. Perfect timing for the video, definitely fun to see a different way of building it!
My brain went straight to Scott Pilgrim with the shaggy hair comment, and then you pulled the hat lol
I really didn't think this was going to work -- but it really did! Thinking of the play style, it makes me think of the Demon Hunter, especially with the intro you gave to the character.
you are by far the EASIEST person to listen to. I am binge watching your videos while doing other things, your voice is oddly relaxing and very zen to listen to.
I love bladesinger levels 2 and 6, 14 kinda too but comes online a bit late for my taste. My next Gish character idea was bladesinger 6 + swords bard 14, I just like the idea of expending almost no resources while comboing features. It would probably be weak, but the synergies make my brain happy.
Also, fun fact I realised while reading swords bard: dhampir can use their teeth as a spellcasting focus when they are a swords bard
Fantastic Scott Pilgrim reference, Cody!
Crazy fails to adequately summarize this one. Great build, super fun. And your enthusiasm is contagious!
Just got out of a funeral and this was a much needed relaxing distraction thanks for the content
Wouldn't the 1 lvl fighter dip be impossible since you need a 13 dex or strength and you'd have neither?
Just pinned an errata comment on this :)
Amazing. Very cool concept and eloquently read. DSCRYB is absolutely amazing.
I was drawn in by the flex, and stayed for the build.
This is such a cool build! I love the idea of mixing two subclasses that everyone always argues between for "who's the best" in order to say "por que no los dos?"
Week 3 of asking for a build that focuses on an uncommon damage type like acid, psychic, etc. (in the same vein as the frost mage or the pyromancer).
A couple of things I didn't understand:
The Archery style only works with attacks using ranged weapons, so it can't be used for Eldritch Blast.
The Sharpshooter feat specifies ranged weapons, so it can't be used with Eldritch Blast.
You grab those and it sounds like you are expecting them to work on Eldritch Blast.
On the other hand, Crossbow Expert would allow you to make Eldritch Blast attacks from melee range, since it doesn't specify weapon attacks.
Stealing the bones from this for a gun-slinging eldritch blast shooting cowboy build! Thanks Colby!
I'm afraid this build doesn't work. The fighter dip is illegal, since you don't have the ability score minimum.
Just pinned an errata comment on this :)
Got myself a crazy array of 18, 16, 15, 15, 13, 12 for a long-term campaign. I'm *so* using this build, wish me luck!!
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you but that's exactly the reason why I'm only doing point-buy😂
Not going to lie, when I get my anxiety attacks, this dude's videos calm me the fuck down. Thanks for the content!
Treantmonk had a great build using the Hex Blade and Blade Singer as well! The Tear and Scare I believe it was called.
Very excited to see your take on this multi-class!
Was very interested by the sneak peak short yesterday, cool to see how it turned out!
I love interesting multiclass builds, but that 18th level Wizard class feature is always tempting, whether I think I'll ever reach it or not. That being said, whenever I think of what to multiclass a Bladesinger with, Warlock is almost always at the top of the list.
Ooh, will we be doing the classic Crossbow Expert + Sharpshooter combo? Which with the proper invocations becomes like a miniature Eldritch Blast of its own. 🤔
I called it! Though I didn't realize that you didn't need Improved Pact weapon for a Hand Crossbow! I had to look it up to make sure, but yeah you only need Improved Pact Weapon for Short Bow, Long Bow, Light Crossbow and Heavy Crossbow
After watching this, I can't help but wonder what an Eldritch Knight and Hexblade Multiclass from you would look like.
Messy... Also I want to try it.
Also spell progression is greatly reduced.
I personally like the idea of using Magic Stone and a (preferably Two-Birds) sling instead of the hand crossbow. That way, you'll never run out of ammunition, so long as you bring a little bag full of tiny pebbles with you on your adventures. Once you cast Magic Stone with your bonus action, you've got 3 pebbles to fire off with your sling, each of which does the same damage and has the same range as the hand crossbow! And if your DM is kind enough to let you find a Two-Birds Sling, it can actually turn that single weapon attack with your action into two attacks against a pair of enemies within 10 feet of each other! Sure, the hand crossbow weaponizes the bonus action directly through the Crossbow Expert feat, but unless you find a magic hand crossbow (I wouldn't hold your breath!) you're gonna need to find some way to pierce damage resistance. Magic Stone does that automatically by making the pebbles into magic weapons. Hell, you technically wouldn't even need to be a Hexblade to attack with your charisma bonus, since the pebbles make a spell attack, powered by your spellcasting modifier!
I've been looking forward to this build!!
There's a silly idea I've been mulling over for some utility. I think it works with an Eldritch Knight and PotB Warlock. Both options have a feature that allows the user to recall a chosen weapon to hand. That opens up a cute utility option. Build a set of thieves tools into the hilt or haft of your weapon. If you ever find yourself deprived of your gear and locked in a prison cell... recall your weapon to hand, extract the tools, hand them to the party Rogue, and you're 1 skill check away from freedom.
I suppose you could also pull a similar trick with a Warforged hidden toolset, Conjuration Wizard, or Artifacer Power Armor integrated tools.
I expect your DM will include an anti-magic field in all future dungeon cells after you pull this particular rabbit out of your hat.
so witty and charming. hard not to smile watching your vids, colby :)
Happy Holidays, always happy to see another build in my sub box!
By the way, in the first sentence of the description there's a typo in Warlock (Warlcok)
Early happy new year, everyone
Might be on purpose, I do that sometimes
I like that as a name for a Warlock. Im Warlcok the Warlock and dont you mix them up!
I am very prepared for this awesome episode!
Okay listen here Colby, this has happened twice now. I have been in the middle of building a new character and right before I am done you make a video on literally the exact build I am going for. I wouldn't be so angy but you keep making them better than me :'). Need to learn to finish them before a Tuesday x)
"Gaping bandit leader"? Under no circumstances do you want your NPCs or PCs to be described as "Gaping"
For the word Gish, I lovingly refer to them as Martial Master Blaster Casters. It just bounces off the tongue
Hope you have fun in Vegas, local here so I probably won’t be down on the strip.
Love your shirt, I have it on today too!
I actually thought of this exactly same build back them when you released the bladesinger 2.0. You also could go with artificer for intelligence base attacks other than hexblade, but the power spike would be deleayed even more, which is really painful and of course going artificer also means that you woudn't be able to use eldritch blast or need to multiclasse even further.
My name is Cody and I swear I hear Colby/Coby/Corey more often XD
Sorry to rain on the parade, but you wouldn't have been able to multiclass fighter as you wanted. Fighter requires a 13 strength or dex, but the character only had a dex of 10, and with the int, charisma, and con scores they couldn't have had 13 strength. So either some other sacrifices would have to be made for stats, would actually need to take fighting initiate, or just give up archery fighting style.
Just pinned an errata comment on this :)
I played this build when they updated Bladesinger with their special Extra Attack, it is a freaking blast!
Alternative build Idea: Instead of using the hand xbow for attacks use Magic Stone. That frees up not only rhe choice of warlock patron but also 2 feats as you no longer need Xbow Xpert or Sharpshooter. You could also use Haste for concentration instead of Spirit Shroud. I think the extra blasts would net you more damage. Lastly, after 8 levels in Bladesinger & 4 in Warlock, you could go for Sorcerer levels. that would net you metamagic for quicken spell for more & better bursts of damage.
Oh I love this combination. I imagine it much, much differently, but i enjoy your build as well! May I suggest a Sorcerer/Warlock/Paladin combo?
Ah yes the Paladin 7 hexblade warlock 3/sorcerer 10
I did something like this once. Came to a lot of the same conclusions, but in my case this was a thought experiment about just maxing out damage in the best case scenario so I kinda forfeited my ability to use bladesong. Apologies in advance for how minimalist these notes are:
---------
Eldritch Archer
Warlock Hexblade Blade 9
Sorcerer Wild Magic or Divine Soul 2
Wizard Bladesinging 6
Fighter Arcane Archer 3
Half Elf (Custom Lineage)
Darkvision
+2 CHA
Feat
STR 8
DEX 14
CON 10
INT 14
*WIS 10
*CHA 17
Proficiencies
Investigation
Nature
Feats x4
Elven Accuracy / +1 CHA
Metamagic Adept
+2 CHA
Sharpshooter
Invocations:
Agonizing Blast
Improved Pact Weapon
Eldritch Smite
Eldritch Spear
Eldritch Mind
Metamagic:
Quicken Spell
Distant Spell
Arcane Shots:
Seeking Arrow
Shadow Arrow
At Lv 20
Hexblade specter has ring of spell storing with haste spell
First weapon attacks twice and uses Shadow Arrow on the first that hits,
to blind the enemy, making all other attacks at advantage
12 EB rays with +5 from agonizing blast
3 attacks (with haste) + 5 + 10 from sharpshooter
All 15 attacks benefit from no concentration Lv 5 bestow curse for +1d8
All 15 attacks use hex for +1d6
All 15 attacks use hexblades curse for +6
All attacks have 19-20 crit chance from hexblades curse and 3 rolls for advantage with elven accuracy -> 6/20 chance to crit = 1.3x multiplier average
One round damage without hold monster = 488.45
One round damage with hold monster = 648
+ 36d6 from purple worm poison on arrows for additional 126 average
If a party member concentrates of fire arrows, + 3d6 / 6d6 = 10.5 / 21
If you have oath bow
+9d6 / 18d6 = 31.5 / 63
If using 3 arrows of slaying:
30d6 / 60d6 = 105 / 210
+ specter attack = 3d6 / 6d6 = 10.5 / 21
+ 3 enchantment bonus from = 3
Average of 1232 in a turn given hold monster and all other factors
Alternatively can spread 243.45 among up to 15 separate targets, approximately 16.23 damage each
Progression Order
4WL
2SC
6BS
3AA
5WL
As to the channel never featuring a ranged Hexblade or ranged Bladesinger before now, I think it probably comes down to this: I don't know that ranged attacks are really the typical Gish fantasy. Regular casters can do ranged attacks fine already, but lack melee attacks and often lack the armor and toughness to exist in melee reach (not necessarily thrive, but exist). A ranged Gish kind of has the same vibe as any other caster--stay away, shoot folks. Maybe they do it better than a straight caster, maybe they do it worse, but it'll be a lot closer to a classic caster in feeling than a swashbuckling Bladesinger or weapon Bard, a PAM-lock with their big weapon, or a full-plate Eldritch Knight (or Paladin if that counts).
If you can get your hands on a ring of spell sorting, you could even cast spirit shroud on an ally or your familiar allowing you to jump back to range
You know, the first thing I thought of when I saw "HexBladeSinger" was a Hexblade multiclassed with a Bard!
For anyone wanting to play a ranged Bladesinger; if your DM allows Blood Hunter, a 3 lvl dip in Profane Soul gives you access to EB that uses INT and just grab the Eldritch Adept feat and choose INT for spellcasting ability (see the errata). Take Archery Fighting Style and use a Hand Crossbow.
I love your bladesinger builds … would you ever consider doing an echo knight bladesinger? I think that build would have a ton of cool flavour.
Oooh, I really like the feel of this. Might swap out the Fighter levels for Blood Hunter, though. XBow Expert + Sharpshooter + EB + SS + Crimson Rite just sounds delicious.
Maybe even sacrifice SS now and then for a Hold Person/Monster to take advantage of the insta-crits at melee range with all those dice adding up.
Edit: I’d probably go Profane Soul to make my EB INT based and cut out the Hexblade portion, just to be a little less MAD, plus basing my crossbow off Dex will meant higher base AC as well.
Dex 13, Con 13, Int 14, Chr 15 (or 14, 12, 14, 15 respectively) would be my personal suggestion. AC 11 (Leather)/12 (Studded) /13 (Mage Armor) + 2/3 AC Dex, +2 AC BS (PBTPD), +5 Shield = 15/20 (for a turn) to 18/23 (for a turn). And it only grows higher from there.
Boosting Con and/or Dex can be done with Half-Feats. It also opens a lot of racial options.
Edit: Removed my stupidity. Realized once I walked away why you need to go Hexblade 😂
The build is really powerful, but the fact that you have to stand within 10 feet of the enemy to use Spirit Shroud is troubling considering how flimsy the character is. Would be epic to see them attacking faster than even a fighter (on non-action surge rounds) while the monk cries in his green tea. XD
Hi Colby! I like your philosopy on balance so as to make characters that are "powerful yet STILL FUN to play"
Even with your copious caveats that you are "working in a lab, using the best case scenario", my question/request remains relevant to virtually every D&D campaign in which I've played or DM'd: "but what about flying enemies?"
I'd love your thoughts about how some favorite builds can be tweaked to improve effectiveness against enemies with a common evasion or mobility feature such as flying, short-term teleport, or large long-jump. In my experience, once the games hit level 5+ ish, many, even the majority, of enemies one of these abilities, so it's not a niche scenario. I think this remains true even when a DM is thoughtful to create encounters in which melee characters can still be helpful, e.g. not making all enemies have effective long-ranged attacks.
I love the "The chesse grater", yet what if they fly? The problem becomes more extreme for other builds, where the DPR decreases to almost zero. I'm guessing many have already asked how your builds deal with ranged opponents. However, I think my question is a separate, even more common, scenario.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on adjusting some of your most popular build to deal with flying, etc., even though it comes at the cost of losing total DPR or nova damage when in the far more rare "best case scenario". Thanks for listening, and great work!
-Jeff Jacobs
Colby you just made the Diablo 3 demo hunter, lol i love it.
haven't watched it yet, but I have a build that is 2 fighter, one hexblade, and 17 bladesinger to turn into a marilith. lets see what Colby does! it was a bladesinger with a crossblow. didn't see that one coming at all
Just a note, I know this is super old, but in the original D&D before AD&D all Elves were 'Gishes'.
I listen to you as you are, at normal speed. Your delivery is soothing!
Yes DM, I play a Bladesinger/Hexblade. I call it the BladeBlade.
My weapon? A crossbow!
I'm playing one of these in a campaign now! I'm actually Artificer 1/Hexblade 2/Bladesinger X.
I love the idea of this character, but it's simply too MAD for point-buy to do it justice unless you're starting at lv15+. At that point you'd be ever-so-close to those sweet lv9 spells as a pure caster. That aside, because I do love multiclassing, I don't see how this character survives early on with the stats you proposed in the video. 10 DEX 14 Con doesn't work for multiclassing purposes into fighter, so you're probably looking at a character that has 10 CON throughout his/her entire career. Playable and massively damage dealing, sure, but as a ranged character that needs to be within 10 feet to do their full damage but has like 70 HP at lv15, I'm kind of doubting its viability (A magical item to raise your con would obviously help massively here, but if you're depending on that you might as well start assuming anything and everything in my mind).
If I were ever to play this character (and boy does it sound FUN) i'd wait until I roll some utterly crazy stats, with only strength being a real dump option here in my mind.
What are folks thoughts on a 'Hex Knight', Eldritch Knight 7/Hexblade 13. Less Bonus Action heavy than Hexsinger as well as Action Surge, at the cost of only having one weapon attack.
Maybe taking the Gunner feat.
Hey love your videos, watch a lot of them.
Really don’t like the direction of this build though, lol. Crossbow Expert Bonus Action competes with a lot of Bonus Actions from both Classes.
And Sharpshooter with 1 or 2 attacks per round is a lot less valuable than many other Archer builds.
Those 2 Feats could be Half Feats to help with the extreme MADness of the build, or a useful Racial and an ASI.
Thanks Cody! 😜 Seriously though, another awesome video, as always
Further history about Githyanki, it was originally based on a race in an early George R. R. Martin novel.
watching your bladesinging builds has got me thinking, if you took your eldritch sorlock build and took the animated objects spell and whenever you've expended all your sorcery points, use animated objects as your bonus action and command the objects to kill the target, thus letting you use your bonus action for spiritual weapon in subsequent rounds, would this be just as strong or stronger build than the bladesinger and just as sustainable? you'd lose your advantage from ending darkness but it would still deal a ton of damage.
A nice take on the Hexsinger! I think I still prefer my take with Mobile and dodging in and out of melee aesthetically, as it feels very red mage like to me, but I can't deny the effectiveness of your pure ranged variant!
I'll take a Hexblade Singer, hold the blade.
I think it's so cool how you put out so much content for us, not just the builds! You make spreadsheets, tier rankings, cheat sheets, written step by step stuff... You're amazing, and you belong in my list of favorite D&D content creators! ❤️
Also, Blood Hunter and Bladesinger can lead to crazy and synergistic combos, especially with the Mutant subclass and Profane Soul. With Profane Soul and Eldritch Adept, you could make an int/wis based eldritch blast build! That's awesome!
The irony of being a hexBLADE and BLADEsinger and not using a BLADE is hilarious to me
I know you don't make your builds with Magic Items in mind. They aren't something you can guarantee everyone will get. But, just imagine this character with Illusionist Bracers from the GGtR
super rules lawyer-y info coming up:
this build doesnt work with many invocations like lifedrinker, improved pact weapon, eldritch smite, and thirsting blade unless you have a magical crossbow, if you do decide to take more warlock levels.
This is because a pact weapon and hex warrior weapon are different things. Invocations such as thirsting blade or eldritch smite specify that they only work with your pact weapon, not any weapon or your hex warrior weapon.
If we then look at the requirements for your pact weapon under pact of the blade, the first bullet requires a created pact weapon to be a melee weapon, which a hand crossbow is not. The improved pact weapon invocation allows your created pact weapon to additionally be a "shortbow, longbow, light crossbow, or heavy crossbow." Notably, not a hand crossbow. However, our saving grace is the third bullet of the pact of blade feature. "You can transform one magic weapon into your pact weapon by performing a special ritual while you hold the weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest." This point doesn't specify that the magic weapon has to be a melee weapon like the first point does.
you had me at hexbladesinger
Good lord, I love this. (It also occurs to me that with a couple of artificer levels early on, this would make a very, very plausible Jinx build, which I have wanted absolutely forever -- for RP reasons as much as anything else. I've always had a theory that, assuming DM buy-in, the most table-friendly way to play a character *that* erratic is to make them a warlock with a very agenda-driven patron; and even if hexblade weren't as good as it is, *how* do you pass on "insists a dead loved one is talking to her through her weapon, frequently talks back"?)
You always come out with the best builds. Have you ever done one around a magic item? There is this uncommon magic item, the Mizzium Apparatus, that you could probably make an op build with.
Thanks! I tend to shy away from assuming a certain magic item in a build (unless you're an artificer and can make it yourself) because every table is so different on how they handle giving out magic items...
Hey how are you? I have been following your channel for a few months now and I love all of your builds.
I have a "sword dancer" character. I took 3 levels in fighter "battlemaster", 3 levels in bard "college of swords" and the rest on wizard "bladesinger".
I know it is a bit of stat dependent but I roll dice for stats. I did it on a one shot with my friends and with the rolls where just right for the build
Love the bloopers clip at the end of each video. They are so great.
Thank you for the video as always.
You have no idea how long I've back and forthed over this in my myriad theory craft sessions. This is awesome.
did you think about warlock lvl 3 inproves pact of the blade it alows crossbows and adds a +1 damage
Can you make a illrigger build? Or builds focusing on optimizing the races, so we could discorver what kind of build could be better for each face we have
Maybe start as a Fighter? Far as I remember there are no requirements to start a class. Family is very important, so you take your time off Colby. You are looking a little tired, so time with family should help you relax and recharge your batteries. Hey Colby think about a Blade Singer with a blade using the level 6 ability to make an attack with Shadow Blade and the use Blade Ward as the cantrip.
It's nice to know you've multiclassed Bladesinger and Hexblade Warlcok
I mean animating a bunch of alchemist fires really makes that animate objects spell something lovely. Go ahead and break all those alchemist fires that are jumping you. BOOM! Well that must’ve hurts
I feel like crossbow expert handles the loading property but not the ammunition property. Hence making this sustainable every turn would be annoying. Let me grab you the ammunition property. Specifically needing a free hand.
Ammunition. You can use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a ranged attack only if you have ammunition to fire from the weapon. Each time you attack with the weapon, you expend one piece of ammunition. Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container is part of the attack (you need a free hand to load a one-handed weapon). At the end of the battle, you can recover half your expended ammunition by taking a minute to search the battlefield.
If you use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a melee attack, you treat the weapon as an improvised weapon (see "Improvised Weapons" later in the section). A sling must be loaded to deal any damage when used in this way.
Spirit Shroud only works if you're within 10 feet of your target. While that still works with this build because you can attack in melee range without disadvantage, I think the whole benefit of playing a ranged bladesinger, is that you're, well, at range. I think Slow would be a much better use of our concentration here (and it's an action casting) since it reduces enemy AC by 2 (increasing our damage) and reduces their number of attacks and takes away their reaction allowing us to run away and increase our defenses.
Agree slow is definitely a better debuff for the whole party. But if you're selfish I'd say go Greater Invisibility once that's available, which would improve your own offense and defense more.
Because of all the listed bows in improved pact weapon, I never realized I could use a hand crossbow with the hexblade
I realise that it's not as efficient due to wizards not usually being great in melee, but could you do a melee version of this build by subbing out the hand xbows and taking a martial weap instead? Would it still work relatively the same?
I think I would try to double up on the 3d8 spirit shroud and quicken eldritch blast to go for another 4 beams.
Would be a good burst damage option, for sure.
Random question I just had about darkness based on the one d&d playtest. The new attack action lets you draw and stow a weapon before or after each attack. Once you get extra attack, could you cast darkness on the blade of your sword (not sure if the sword being one entire object means this won't work that specifically), then draw your sword before the first attack, use devil sight to get advantage on the first and second attack, and then store the sword after the second attack, thus gaining the advantage on all of your attacks at the cost of putting it away at the end of your turn for your allies' sake?
I believe so, though of course you'd give up giving them disadvantage on attack you - still, might be a nice compromise to keep your allies happy :)
Hey man, is everything OK? You look like you haven't been sleeping super well. The build is excellent, as per usual, and maybe I'm just being a little bit parent, but I got a little bit of a twitch at the dark circles under your eyes. I'll remove this comment if you'd like me to (and replace, obviously, for the all-mighty algorithm)
No worries- feeling great! Thanks for the concern :)
I really love this build, saving the best for last. I can see everyone in my group playing this one -- hopefully, just not at the same time!
You should try to make a character that has a subclass from every class or at least as many as possible and see how strong you can make it
I believe, a little more specifically, gish is a shortening of gith-ish.
Regardless it's a cool word from DnD history
I just thought of a neat build challenge: Witch Bolt is often seen as a suboptimal spell to take due to it being so easy to escape the bolt by simply walking out of range. Find a way (through grappling, booming blade, etc.) to make it impossible or very ill advised to leave the area, making Witch Bolt more effective. Could require a lot of quickened spell, or if it's possible to grapple someone as a bonus action, that could work too. I just want to see Witch Bolt become useful.
Witch bolt is bad because it eats your concentration and action every turn for a singular damage die, and if you use your action to do anything else it ends. Its only real use is if you really need to stretch a spell slot, which is rare and normally if you need that level of sustainability you'd just play a martial.
If you really wanted to make it better, you'd probably want to twin it and then just stand 35+ feet away from the targets as much as possible.
27:06 this just keeps gettnig better. first a d&D fan, then an optimizer, then a Sanderson fan, AND NOW HAMILTON. thank you for all you do Colby, you have provided me with so much entertainment its crazy. thank you thank you thank you!
🥰
this is the show where each season we take a deep dive into one sometimes two specific blade singer builds :) love your work also the not blade and not singer builds :)