I'm seeing lots of comments about how the build wouldn't work because enemies would just run away from you - a valid concern! (That I actually discuss in the final thoughts...) but why not continue the conversation here? The way I figure it: round 1, you cast cloud, maybe you throw up HBC first if it's available, then you run up to 5' away. Their turn, they take damage, move to attack you, assuming you're the closest threat (I don't think many enemies would do something different, unless your DM is just playing a tactics game against you, in which case, you've got bigger problems). Round 2, you attack and push them back in, doing weapon and CoD damage, on their turn, they take damage again. Maybe, if you think they're likely to run away from you instead next time, having learned their lesson, you stay close so you get an opportunity attack as well. At that point, *most* enemies in D&D are dead. Especially if any of your allies have decided to hit them with something. But yeah, it's definitely going to vary from table to table, DM to DM, enemy to enemy. Might work better modified for burst damage (but I kinda already did that with the Catch-22). Might have to resort to some Eldritch blasting sometimes to get them where you want them.
@@DnDDeepDive I get ya. It just feels like a slightly different version of the cheese grater build you made because it focuses so much on Cloud of Daggers for its damage, but I digress. Cloud of Daggers is an underrated spell I think. I used it more in Baldurs Gate than I ever did in D&D.
I agree that it would depend on the enemy. If I was running a goblin, I'd have them run away at once, because that's what goblins do. If it was a hobgoblin, it would play your game. At least the first time, then reposition the second so you have to work for it. A clever specimen might even circle around you and try to push/grab+pull you into your own cloud! >:D
Maybe trying to fit the Sentinel feat into the build would be an option to consider so you can keep the target you're sticking close to near your cloud of daggers so you can lock down targets trying to move away from you.
@@8ak4n Nobody expects the Hexblade! Its chief weapon is being SAD... Being SAD and Hexblades curse... It's two weapons are Being SAD and Hexblades curse... and ruthless efficiency.... Its three weapons are Being SAD and Hexblades curse, and ruthless efficiency... and an almost fanatical devotion to being optimal... Our four... no... Amongst its weapons... Amongst its weaponry... are such elements as Being SAD and Hexblades curse... I'll come in again.
Nice! I've acknowledged the option, but never expected it to be viable since Hexblade is already super Bonus Action hungry. That said, I can't wait till the 2024 PHB let's you dual wield without occupying your Bonus Action!
I was DM'g for a group that had just hit lvl 13 they had stopped outside of town getting ready to teleport cuz the wizard could do that now; and they were set upon by a decent sized band of bandits that had a giant in tow. Despite the numbers it would've been a relatively simple encounter for 4 lvl 13's to handle. The wizard just wasn't having it; started combat with mass suggestion told them to change there ways and go town to town giving away their wealth and offering aid to those who needed it. This had a 10 day duration. It was about 6 or sessions that had passed the equivalent of 20 in game days when one night they see this even larger band of individuals approaching; giant noticeably still in tow. In that moment it clicked; the sweat is just forming along the foreheads of all the players they think this could be the end. They decide just to see what they have to say and the wizard quickly prepares to cast the spell again knowing this time it wouldn't target everyone. The leader of the band of bandits walks right up to the wizard and says "I don't what you did but I want to thank you these past few weeks have been some of the best I can remember who knew helping people could be so great." People would send out for BBB(benevolent band of brigands) whenever they were in need.
@@DnDDeepDive I wanted to do something that wasn't just the standard they find you and try to kill you all. This seemed more interesting and also humorous.
A hex weapon AND a pact weapon, eh? This opens up so many possibilities. Story-wise, this could be fun to take in an Arthurian direction. The Hex weapon was drawn from the stone to draw the attention of the patron, who later gifts the adventurer their own Excalibur by way of the pact weapon.
@@ElliottDentI think my favourite idea for this would definitely be a family sword and one gifted by the patron, and the warlock just looks at both, struggling to decide which to give up and literally just goes "why not both?"
@@texteel To be fair, the last few campaigns I've been in ended with the Warlock's Patron being the final boss after the main villain fell. But that was also a logical conclusion based on what the DMs and players had set up together. Setting up a positive but still demanding warlock/patron relationship is one of those things I think has a ton of potential, I just haven't really gotten around to it.
Hey Colby, your original hexblade video was one of the first dnd videos i ever watched when i was starting out dnd properly. Let me get into dnd quite quickly so thank you lots man! love the videos!
There is one thing you can do with the hexblade specters depending on how you interpret it. Say there's some noble or interrogation target that isn't talking, you need information from them. You as a hexblade at level six slay them, raise them as a specter. Assuming the DM lets them have the same memories, you can force them to write down whatever you ask them, since they can still pick things up. If they can't, they can at least trace on a surface what to write, while someone corporeal follows them. "Hey where's your hideout?" *The specter grabs a quill and draws a map for it* as an example.
I did it! It only took me 5 months! I am now all caught up! This was the last one I needed to watch to get caught up! It has been an amazing journey. It feels like home! Now I just need to watch the new videos as they come out...and rewatch the ones that give me ideas. Thank you, Colby! So awesome!
The synergy is: - Take Crossbow Expert - Take Hexblade - Shoot people with Eldritch Blast and follow it up with a Melee Weapon attack every turn. 5 attacks at level 20.
@@submortimer that build works better on bladesinger/hex. BSinger lets you actually use you attack action and replace one attack with EB, but also procs the BA attack from CE for 6 attacks per round
The problem I have with this build is that even a melee enemy can completely avoid the cloud by just moving around the Hexblade on its turn. If it ends its turn with the Hexblade between itself and the cloud, you would have to move it 15 feet for it to end up in the cloud again, which you can't. So the moment your DM stops playing creatures as brain dead, your damage falls of a cliff.
Came here to say this! Yup, it's pretty hard to shove/crush an enemy into a CoD more than once unless you're got some terrain features that seriously limit where the foe can move on its turn (e.g. fighting in a long narrow hallway). Colby has some grapple builds that drag enemies into spell AoEs... has anyone tried one of those builds in-game? My gut says that might work better, but I've never played a grappler!
Thank you so much for this video... I've always loved the dual wielding style... and i used it partially as inspiration for my modded BG3 run.... An fallen Aasimar made by Baal(dark urge), created to mock the other deities, made a pact with a cursed blade, and swore an oath to take vengeance on Baal for making her such an abomination. Later, in search for the power to fulfill his objectives, it started studying the long lost teachings of magic and manipulation of the weave of the elves , later becoming a bladesinger...
Another easy-to-forget feature of the Hexblade is the ability to transform a magic weapon into your Pact Weapon. This means that ANY magic weapon which you find can be transformed into your Light Hammer/Warhammer, since “You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time that you create it.” A picky DM might rule that the 2nd ability (transform magic item) cancels out the 1st (creation of the Pact Weapon). But this wouldn’t be RAW and would spoil one of the neatest features of Pact of the Blade, so I think that most would let it go. Mine does. We’ve done good storytelling off of this feature.
I need to thank you for opening my eyes to how good cloud of daggers is. It's especially fun in BG3 where you can use dissonant whispers to force enemies to just stand in the middle of it turn after turn (aka "the bardic blender")
Just have to say your Maná is so good I forgot you were not Spanish native speaker. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Totally unexpected, but brought me back. I have to ask for “El Muelle de San Blas” and “Clavado en un Bar” now
it so nice to see how much your content has grown in the last 3 years ive been following you. each week waiting patiently to see what he cooked up for us this week
Loved this video, even though Hexblade is my least favorite warlock. Do you have a build idea based around find steed/greater Steed? I would love to see your take on how to build around those spells.
For a campaign with lots of overland and mounted combat, using pact of the blade to summon a lance the round prior to impact would have amazing RP shock value. Only wish it was a bonus action to summon instead of an action so one could make it appear just before the strike in the same turn. Add Booming blade for extra damage in mounted fights where the mount can't immediately stop, like charging or flying.
Conquest Paladin will get you Aid+Armor of Agathys for you and the steed. If you dip into Undead Warlock later, Form of Dread will allow you to trigger fear with attacks against enemies that are in your aura's range (which should extend to more squares/hexes assuming you picked a large steed and mounted it).
I had played in a 1shot as a glamor bard, took FGS as one of the magical secrets, had Armor of Agathis from a feat, freedom of movement, longstrider, and if I had 3 more levels, I'd have taken Tenser's Transformation.
this is great, my friend wants to start a post-apocalyptic campaign soon without long rests (ignoring the exhaustion problem) and I am going for a hexblade, as we already have 2 moon druids and a fighter. And I may use this
I'm making a fun spirit guardians armorer artificer tank build right now taking the Strixhaven background that gives you spirit guardians. I think you just convinced me to take add telekinetic to the list. And then eventually you can use a reaction to pull them into your spirit guardians anyway. Or just lightning lore
@@designatedvillain738 I ended up going 3 Hexblade cause i want pact of the chain and eldritch mind. And 6+ shadow sorcerer cause I want the hound and meta magic with as many sources for sorcery points so I can machine gun eldtrich blast.
One thing I overlooked until not long ago was the prone effect of Eldritch Smite. I didn't realise that the target is knocked prone as long as its huge or smaller with no save, nothing. You hit the target and smite, they go prone. I was blown away when my buddy used Eldritch Smite on a flying enemy and then frantically tried to explain to the DM that they couldn't find a saving throw for it. Having the DM read the wording for the invocation out loud and then have them just sigh as they read the last few words out loud was a great laugh. They then took it in stride and described how my buddy few up next to this creature and it so hard down back to earth it made a crater when it crashed into the floor was an epic moment indeed.
I do really like 3 levels of sorcerer on a hexblade for middle to high levels. You can quick spell your concentration spell to begin combat, and you have 2 level 2 spell slots and 4 level 1 slots to use the shield spell as a front liner.
@DndDeeoDive I met your nephew Kayden tonight, Colby. I was at their open house here in GA and I wore my full D&D party set and it struck up a conversation about you. He asked if I knew a Colby from D&D Deep dive and I told him I've been an ardent fan ever since I found your channel and I watch your content on the regular. He's a great young man and we are so very happy for him and Sarah.
To my understanding, being 5 feet away still puts them in melee range. If they run up to you in melee and you shove them back in with crusher, wouldn't they still be within your range? Why run away?
My only mass suggestion spell use ever was my pure hexblade coming back around to the tavern an old friend ran and hyping up the service a bit to end with casting mass suggestion while saying "such excellent service, everyone should tip generously!" so my homie made bank that day
Love the “Thor” vibes and unexpectedly also kinda loving the idea of bugbear… possibly enough to shape him as such for roleplay. In order to be a -little- different from the comic-Thor story, I’m picturing a bugbear equivalent of a Warcraft Peon finding a stick (club) while foraging, but this club happens to be the -haft- of a Mjolnir-like weapon (Kord-related perhaps?). There’s enough power in the club (which he calls ‘Boomstick’) to function but the weapons personality itself is sorta… not all there either… so the character could have a sorta bizarro-Thor vibe going. Could grow to becoming more heroic or keep with that even with the bizarro angle as the hammer is eventually made whole again. (To be renamed… Boomhammer? Boomer? Bammer!) Love coming up with story stuff for these builds haha. Keep being awesome!
If I had to bet, it'd be a Variant Human/Custom Lineage, or it would take 1 level of Fighter early on for the fighting style. Probably 2 levels for Action Surge. And apparently the Path of the Giants Barbarian gets some good boons for throwing their weapon, even one that doesn't have the Thrown property.
Thank you so much for making this. An idea I've had for a while just got clearer and better 😊 ... BTW what about a slashing feat twin of crusher: +1 to dex instead of con, and move 5 feet closer instead of pushing? 😉
Never did I ever, realize that you can dual wield with hexblade. Thx Colby! Would totally dip into fighter in the beginning for constitution prof. In order to have improved pact weapon, repelling blast, and grasp of Hadar invocations by level 6 to greater ensure that them cloudy daggers be stabbing 😈
I asked my DM about dual wielding like this and the language of the two rules. He said no-go for using CHA for both. I even showed him Crawford saying it was intentionally worded to allow for this. Didn't make a difference. Pretty frustrating. I wish I hadn't asked at all since the community isn't even split on this.
Thanks for the video! Ive been trying to make a similar build work for BG3 but without having Hexblade and pact of the blade you need to rely on a second AS for your offhand until you get Wylss Rapier later.
I think a better way you can do this build is to do round 1 hexblade curse and then cloud of daggers on the target. More than likely they will move out of the daggers and then u can push them back into the daggers with all the pushing u get. This is the best way I see to consistently do this build.
Colby, I have not played a warlock as a main campaign character in all my years of playing. It wasn’t a fit for me. This build makes me want to play one. Thanks! Merry Christmas and happy New Year!
We play a homebrew rule where you don’t need to use a bonus action to attack with your offhand weapon, so this is essentially what I’ve been playing. It’s great!
You are the best! Not only have I found my next build (100%), but now I have two awesome new shirts to wear to the table. What is better than playing a Hexblade while wearing a purple heather Mindflayer shirt?? Not much!
I had fun crafting a Hexblade that used a magical hand crossbow as his pact weapon. I started with 3 levels of Artificer with the Armorer subclass. I used the Repeating Shot infusion on the crossbow at 2nd level. I switched to Hexblade Warlock at 4th level and turned that same Repeating Shot crossbow into his pact weapon. With Elven Accuracy and Crossbow Expert you can easily re-flavor the hand crossbow into a lightsaber and pretend to be Darth Vader. You can deal point blank Sharpshooter attacks and all the dark themed Warlock spells that might resemble force powers. I call him: Lunakin Landstrider.
I've been sleeping on cloud of daggers. It just didn't seem as "cool" as other options. I didn't realize there was no saving throw against it. That is insane.
As someone who has experienced a hexblade up to 14th level, the Eldritch Smite is completely worth it. Getting a crit on a dice roll 19 on the main bad guy of the session turns the tide every time when you add the smite damage. Also, humanoids are pretty common up to 12th level. And that 6th level phantom you get can move through anything. Becoming a utility creature that tests traps, looks in rooms, etc. In combat is helpful too. But the other possibilities make it way more cool than you'd think.
One of my favorite characters was a hexblade assassin fighter that was shooting off 5 attacks per turn. Played in tomb of annihilation in a room by myself where demons spawned round after round. Dm let me get surprise rounds on the demons because they were caught off guard by the previous wave being dead as long as my initiative was higher. Initiative was like a 28. Murdered all 5 waves by myself and the demons were afraid of me for the rest of the campaign.
I don’t know if this has been a video yet, but a armored artificer (9) + abjuration wizard (the rest) would go insane. Guardian armor automatically does goading attack on any hit, you get cure wounds and revivify, and you can learn higher level spells because of your spellbook (that might need some homebrew but I think if you combine 1 infusion into your spellbook and 1 into the armor for a sacrifice idk). And then you have plate armor+infusions+abjurative ward+goading. Also con save proficiency from artificer for concentration checks. Great tank and support. Also could do wood elf magic to get odd without a trace for infiltrator armor to be stealthy. Literally ultimate intelligence character
It can tank, use find familiar or pass without a trace to get intel or sneak, bump allows stats with infusions and spells, also magic multi tool plus armor of tools infusion. True jack of all trades
The question that haunts my mind for years is: When I'll be able to support the Kickstarter for Colby's Guide to Heroes and Villains? I mean, I don't even know for how long now I've been using your cheat sheets as my Monsters Manual. They come with strategies for the combat, they come with 4 versions of each "monster" to use for different levels of play, and I even can use the awesome art from Randall if I want. Just put it all between hard cover and take my money! Thanks once more for the fantastic job! An amazing new year for you and your family
Still a bit confused on spell components, without War Caster you would need to sheathe and unsheathe your off-hand as your object interaction every other round for spells that require somatic but not material components(like Shield and Counterspell), right?
As someone playing a shadowsorcerer currently I can say that darkness is really situational, it's useful to you and useful if you have a party member with devil's sight (I don't in my game) but it can also be a hindrance to the rest of the party. Often with my sorc I will drop darkness on myself as a measure of protection and to give advantage on spells with an attack roll or to snap off a melee combatant or two.
Cool as wielding two pact weapons is, using a quarterstaff with PAM would be a better pick. Yes you wouldn’t start with 18 Charisma by taking the telekinetic feat, but you would be doing a d6 on two of the attacks and get to use your Charisma modifier for all your attacks. You could actually get an actual polearm when you take Pact of the Blade and use your Butt attack to push them into CoD. Not sure if you want to take GWM because you don’t really have a reliable source of advantage. Not to mention you would also get a +1 on all 3 of the attacks not just 2.
3:25 pact boon weapon with a bow/crossbow for eldritch smite at range using charisma for both attack and damage rolls? Also, with the boon weapon as a ranged weapon, it allows you use sharpshooter, elven accuracy, crossbow expert, archery fighting style, sneak attack...
Hey, I’ve used this ruling before. I wanted to maximize the Thrikreen. So duel wielding with a shield and then making it a gish so you have 1 free hand for spell casting. So I made a Hexadin. 6 levels paladin and 3 levels of hexblade makes up the base and from there you can go more paladin to level 11 for improved smite, more hexblade for higher level spells, particularly spirit shroud, or sorcerer for more use of the free hand for spellcasting.
Talking damage reliability and the potential swingy nature is something no content creator seems to mention, and to me it was very noticeable point to bring up here in two places, one when talking about about Crown of Stars compared to another BA attack - as 4d12 might average higher and have much higher peaks but actually once you get your modifier applied to the BA attack damage is can easily fall shorter as well, and then and by far more importantly when talking about Cloud of Daggers in general. Those 4d4 are much more reliably hitting near their average than a spell using 2D10 (or D8) - the average is similar, however the D10 ranges from 2-20, the D4 4-16 . And with up casting the effect gets worse as the spread for spells using bigger but fewer die is now really huge, while the minimum you can possible roll on the D4 keeps going up faster. Which is one of the main things that makes Cloud of Daggers so lethal when upcast as no matter how badly a damage roll goes it still hits for solid damage, something the bigger die spells do not. And that is always worth considering in the same way you mention adding your stat to the damage rolls - do you want to play a build that is more reliant on the die roll or less... I accept its practically impossible to quantify and express easily, but its worth mentioning when it comes up so majorly as it does here.
If you had taken Echo Knight you could use it to make your attacks so you don’t have to worry about AoO. You could also position it in such a way to trigger an AoO of your own and use crusher to push the target back into CoD for a total of 3 triggers per round potentially.
Dual wielding light hammers game me a flashback to "Hammer girl" from the subway battle scene in The Raid 2. Stronk Warlock vibes from that one. I really want 1/2 elf on this build for the elven racial feat; triple advantage with a bonus action attack can open up value for the extended crit range
Hi, I made a warrior (battle master) multiclassing with hexblade, and the i love it. It can make so many thinks in combat, and the warlock side allow a real orignial RP. :-). It is one of the better class in DnD (for me).
What I love about this is the ability to take other weird spells or invocations without losing dpr. I can take Dream, or Beast Speech, or Magic Circle for story or character reasons and not sacrifice combat effectiveness.
I'm seeing lots of comments about how the build wouldn't work because enemies would just run away from you - a valid concern! (That I actually discuss in the final thoughts...) but why not continue the conversation here? The way I figure it: round 1, you cast cloud, maybe you throw up HBC first if it's available, then you run up to 5' away. Their turn, they take damage, move to attack you, assuming you're the closest threat (I don't think many enemies would do something different, unless your DM is just playing a tactics game against you, in which case, you've got bigger problems). Round 2, you attack and push them back in, doing weapon and CoD damage, on their turn, they take damage again. Maybe, if you think they're likely to run away from you instead next time, having learned their lesson, you stay close so you get an opportunity attack as well. At that point, *most* enemies in D&D are dead. Especially if any of your allies have decided to hit them with something. But yeah, it's definitely going to vary from table to table, DM to DM, enemy to enemy. Might work better modified for burst damage (but I kinda already did that with the Catch-22). Might have to resort to some Eldritch blasting sometimes to get them where you want them.
If you weren't casting Cloud of Daggers do you think it would still do well damage wise as a two-handed fighting hex blade?
Much less so. It'd still be ok but it's suddenly a *lot* more compelling to go GWM+PAM and use concentration to get advantage@@snazzyfeathers
@@DnDDeepDive I get ya. It just feels like a slightly different version of the cheese grater build you made because it focuses so much on Cloud of Daggers for its damage, but I digress. Cloud of Daggers is an underrated spell I think. I used it more in Baldurs Gate than I ever did in D&D.
I agree that it would depend on the enemy. If I was running a goblin, I'd have them run away at once, because that's what goblins do. If it was a hobgoblin, it would play your game. At least the first time, then reposition the second so you have to work for it. A clever specimen might even circle around you and try to push/grab+pull you into your own cloud! >:D
Maybe trying to fit the Sentinel feat into the build would be an option to consider so you can keep the target you're sticking close to near your cloud of daggers so you can lock down targets trying to move away from you.
Honestly, the last thing I expected was hexblade. It's such a good dip, I forgot its an actual subclass.
No one expects the spani… Hexblade subclass!
@@8ak4n Nobody expects the Hexblade! Its chief weapon is being SAD... Being SAD and Hexblades curse... It's two weapons are Being SAD and Hexblades curse... and ruthless efficiency.... Its three weapons are Being SAD and Hexblades curse, and ruthless efficiency... and an almost fanatical devotion to being optimal... Our four... no... Amongst its weapons... Amongst its weaponry... are such elements as Being SAD and Hexblades curse... I'll come in again.
Turns out hexblade is an excellent dip for warlocks too!
You can play a hexblade as an actual class? @@20storiesunder
HEY THAT'S MEEE 😂
never expected you to get to this build that quickly! I'm glad this worked out so well!
Nice! I've acknowledged the option, but never expected it to be viable since Hexblade is already super Bonus Action hungry.
That said, I can't wait till the 2024 PHB let's you dual wield without occupying your Bonus Action!
I was DM'g for a group that had just hit lvl 13 they had stopped outside of town getting ready to teleport cuz the wizard could do that now; and they were set upon by a decent sized band of bandits that had a giant in tow. Despite the numbers it would've been a relatively simple encounter for 4 lvl 13's to handle. The wizard just wasn't having it; started combat with mass suggestion told them to change there ways and go town to town giving away their wealth and offering aid to those who needed it. This had a 10 day duration. It was about 6 or sessions that had passed the equivalent of 20 in game days when one night they see this even larger band of individuals approaching; giant noticeably still in tow. In that moment it clicked; the sweat is just forming along the foreheads of all the players they think this could be the end. They decide just to see what they have to say and the wizard quickly prepares to cast the spell again knowing this time it wouldn't target everyone. The leader of the band of bandits walks right up to the wizard and says "I don't what you did but I want to thank you these past few weeks have been some of the best I can remember who knew helping people could be so great." People would send out for BBB(benevolent band of brigands) whenever they were in need.
I freaking love this so much.
@@DnDDeepDive I wanted to do something that wasn't just the standard they find you and try to kill you all. This seemed more interesting and also humorous.
A new hexblade build is the best Christmas present
_"Charismas"_
A hex weapon AND a pact weapon, eh? This opens up so many possibilities. Story-wise, this could be fun to take in an Arthurian direction. The Hex weapon was drawn from the stone to draw the attention of the patron, who later gifts the adventurer their own Excalibur by way of the pact weapon.
I love the flavour of this. And gives me the image of the character looking at both weapons, shrugging, and going "Why not both?"
@@ElliottDentI think my favourite idea for this would definitely be a family sword and one gifted by the patron, and the warlock just looks at both, struggling to decide which to give up and literally just goes "why not both?"
i dont know what DMs you play under who arent using warlock patrons to screw over their players, but clone them immediately
@@texteel To be fair, the last few campaigns I've been in ended with the Warlock's Patron being the final boss after the main villain fell. But that was also a logical conclusion based on what the DMs and players had set up together. Setting up a positive but still demanding warlock/patron relationship is one of those things I think has a ton of potential, I just haven't really gotten around to it.
Last year i had Randall do a portrait of myself and 4 other friends, he did such an amazing job. Thank you Randall.
Hey Colby, your original hexblade video was one of the first dnd videos i ever watched when i was starting out dnd properly. Let me get into dnd quite quickly so thank you lots man! love the videos!
This build is just if you wanted to play as the guy from Andor who was really into using his hammers to ring the town bell and I am here for it
Elric is dual weilding Stormbringer and Mournblade with an extra wide smile today. Thanks for a great 2023!
Accursed Spectre makes me think of Corum as well.
Wow! It's been over three years? Time flies. Great job Colby!
There is one thing you can do with the hexblade specters depending on how you interpret it. Say there's some noble or interrogation target that isn't talking, you need information from them. You as a hexblade at level six slay them, raise them as a specter. Assuming the DM lets them have the same memories, you can force them to write down whatever you ask them, since they can still pick things up. If they can't, they can at least trace on a surface what to write, while someone corporeal follows them. "Hey where's your hideout?" *The specter grabs a quill and draws a map for it* as an example.
Hexblade 2.0: D&D Build #153
Level 1: (see above) [warlock 1, patron & race]
Level 2: (see above) [warlock 2 & eldritch invocations]
Level 3: (@15:14) [warlock 3, subclass & potentially retrain eldritch invocation]
Level 4: (@18:12) [warlock 4, ASI & potentially retrain eldritch invocation]
Level 5: (@19:39) [warlock 5, eldritch invocation & potentially retrain eldritch invocation]
Level 6: (@21:13) [warlock 6 & potentially retrain eldritch invocation]
Level 7: (see above) [warlock 7, eldritch invocation & potentially retrain eldritch invocation]
Level 8: (@28:59) [warlock 8, ASI & potentially retrain eldritch invocation]
Level 9: (@29:08) [warlock 9, eldritch invocation & potentially retrain eldritch invocation]
Level 10: (see above) [warlock 10 & potentially retrain eldritch invocation]
Level 11: (@31:53) [warlock 11, Mystic Arcanum (6th level) & potentially retrain eldritch invocation]
Level 12: (@33:52) [warlock 12, eldritch invocation, ASI & potentially retrain eldritch invocation]
Level 13: (@35:38) [warlock 13, Mystic Arcanum (7th level) & potentially retrain eldritch invocation]
Level 14: (see above) [warlock 14 & potentially retrain eldritch invocation]
Level 15: (@39:42) [fighter 1 & fighting-style]
Level 16: (@41:22) [fighter 2]
Level 17: (@42:02) [fighter 3 & subclass]
I’ve thought of this build!!! I never crunched the numbers for it, though. Thank you, so much!!
It was fun seeing a dedicated Hexblade! I almost always see it as a dip rather than the focus so thanks!
I did it! It only took me 5 months! I am now all caught up! This was the last one I needed to watch to get caught up! It has been an amazing journey. It feels like home! Now I just need to watch the new videos as they come out...and rewatch the ones that give me ideas. Thank you, Colby! So awesome!
Merry Christmas everyone! Love a good hexblade build
Hey colby , love your builds , could you take a look at the (not so synergy favored ) eldritch knight hexblade?
The synergy is:
- Take Crossbow Expert
- Take Hexblade
- Shoot people with Eldritch Blast and follow it up with a Melee Weapon attack every turn. 5 attacks at level 20.
@@submortimer that build works better on bladesinger/hex.
BSinger lets you actually use you attack action and replace one attack with EB, but also procs the BA attack from CE for 6 attacks per round
This is why I love Colby, he has the best off-meta builds. It feels awesome bringing these builds to the table when everyone else has vanilla setups
The problem I have with this build is that even a melee enemy can completely avoid the cloud by just moving around the Hexblade on its turn. If it ends its turn with the Hexblade between itself and the cloud, you would have to move it 15 feet for it to end up in the cloud again, which you can't. So the moment your DM stops playing creatures as brain dead, your damage falls of a cliff.
Came here to say this! Yup, it's pretty hard to shove/crush an enemy into a CoD more than once unless you're got some terrain features that seriously limit where the foe can move on its turn (e.g. fighting in a long narrow hallway). Colby has some grapple builds that drag enemies into spell AoEs... has anyone tried one of those builds in-game? My gut says that might work better, but I've never played a grappler!
Thank you so much for this video...
I've always loved the dual wielding style... and i used it partially as inspiration for my modded BG3 run.... An fallen Aasimar made by Baal(dark urge), created to mock the other deities, made a pact with a cursed blade, and swore an oath to take vengeance on Baal for making her such an abomination. Later, in search for the power to fulfill his objectives, it started studying the long lost teachings of magic and manipulation of the weave of the elves , later becoming a bladesinger...
Another easy-to-forget feature of the Hexblade is the ability to transform a magic weapon into your Pact Weapon. This means that ANY magic weapon which you find can be transformed into your Light Hammer/Warhammer, since “You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time that you create it.”
A picky DM might rule that the 2nd ability (transform magic item) cancels out the 1st (creation of the Pact Weapon). But this wouldn’t be RAW and would spoil one of the neatest features of Pact of the Blade, so I think that most would let it go. Mine does. We’ve done good storytelling off of this feature.
Do you keep the benefits of the magic weapon? Like if it's a flame tongue greatsword, is now a light hammer that does 2d6 fire damage?
Very interesting build. Never would have imagined a dual wielder could outpace a polearm hexblade.
Hope you and yours had a great Christmas.
I need to thank you for opening my eyes to how good cloud of daggers is. It's especially fun in BG3 where you can use dissonant whispers to force enemies to just stand in the middle of it turn after turn (aka "the bardic blender")
Ayyyyyy great way to start my morning while going to work after Christmas. I hope yours was amazing. Yes, all of you! Thanks Colby!
Reminds me a little of a build I did in 3.5, dual-wielding light maces, my old Drummer build. Very nice.
Just have to say your Maná is so good I forgot you were not Spanish native speaker. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Totally unexpected, but brought me back.
I have to ask for “El Muelle de San Blas” and “Clavado en un Bar” now
it so nice to see how much your content has grown in the last 3 years ive been following you. each week waiting patiently to see what he cooked up for us this week
Loved this video, even though Hexblade is my least favorite warlock.
Do you have a build idea based around find steed/greater Steed? I would love to see your take on how to build around those spells.
On my to do list :)
For a campaign with lots of overland and mounted combat, using pact of the blade to summon a lance the round prior to impact would have amazing RP shock value. Only wish it was a bonus action to summon instead of an action so one could make it appear just before the strike in the same turn. Add Booming blade for extra damage in mounted fights where the mount can't immediately stop, like charging or flying.
Conquest Paladin will get you Aid+Armor of Agathys for you and the steed. If you dip into Undead Warlock later, Form of Dread will allow you to trigger fear with attacks against enemies that are in your aura's range (which should extend to more squares/hexes assuming you picked a large steed and mounted it).
I had played in a 1shot as a glamor bard, took FGS as one of the magical secrets, had Armor of Agathis from a feat, freedom of movement, longstrider, and if I had 3 more levels, I'd have taken Tenser's Transformation.
I had so much fun, and I'd love to see Colby take it further and find things I missed/couldn't use.
Long time viewer, glad to see you coming full circle! Keep up the good work! ❤
Merry Christmas Colby. Excited for the build!
Ooo I might've been first. That's never happened.
Oh man! All I want for Christmas is that Shirt!
this is great, my friend wants to start a post-apocalyptic campaign soon without long rests (ignoring the exhaustion problem) and I am going for a hexblade, as we already have 2 moon druids and a fighter. And I may use this
I'm making a fun spirit guardians armorer artificer tank build right now taking the Strixhaven background that gives you spirit guardians. I think you just convinced me to take add telekinetic to the list. And then eventually you can use a reaction to pull them into your spirit guardians anyway. Or just lightning lore
Planning a Hexblade Sorlock for my upcoming campaign and I've been super overthinking things so this vid got recommended just at the right time.
About to start as one myself! Start with sorc 1 for proficiency in con saves and go to 5 warlock! Its gomna be fun!
@@designatedvillain738 I ended up going 3 Hexblade cause i want pact of the chain and eldritch mind. And 6+ shadow sorcerer cause I want the hound and meta magic with as many sources for sorcery points so I can machine gun eldtrich blast.
A Hexblade build?! On my birthday ?!! Hell yeah
One thing I overlooked until not long ago was the prone effect of Eldritch Smite. I didn't realise that the target is knocked prone as long as its huge or smaller with no save, nothing. You hit the target and smite, they go prone. I was blown away when my buddy used Eldritch Smite on a flying enemy and then frantically tried to explain to the DM that they couldn't find a saving throw for it. Having the DM read the wording for the invocation out loud and then have them just sigh as they read the last few words out loud was a great laugh. They then took it in stride and described how my buddy few up next to this creature and it so hard down back to earth it made a crater when it crashed into the floor was an epic moment indeed.
Hell yes. A different way to play my favorite.
I do really like 3 levels of sorcerer on a hexblade for middle to high levels. You can quick spell your concentration spell to begin combat, and you have 2 level 2 spell slots and 4 level 1 slots to use the shield spell as a front liner.
@DndDeeoDive I met your nephew Kayden tonight, Colby. I was at their open house here in GA and I wore my full D&D party set and it struck up a conversation about you. He asked if I knew a Colby from D&D Deep dive and I told him I've been an ardent fan ever since I found your channel and I watch your content on the regular. He's a great young man and we are so very happy for him and Sarah.
Ha ha awesome! Such a great kid! And yeah, we’re excited to get to know Sarah better :).
Perfect video for me to do some research on, i want to make a dual dagger wielding hexblade.
I don't know what I expected when I went looking for songs by Mana, but I wasn't ready hahaha an absolute delight!
To my understanding, being 5 feet away still puts them in melee range. If they run up to you in melee and you shove them back in with crusher, wouldn't they still be within your range? Why run away?
A new D4 video! Oh what a lovely christmas gift!
My only mass suggestion spell use ever was my pure hexblade coming back around to the tavern an old friend ran and hyping up the service a bit to end with casting mass suggestion while saying "such excellent service, everyone should tip generously!" so my homie made bank that day
I had a hexblade warlock + fighter Catfolk. Using the Mobile feat and Expedious retreat spell made me able to zoom around the battlefield.
Love the “Thor” vibes and unexpectedly also kinda loving the idea of bugbear… possibly enough to shape him as such for roleplay. In order to be a -little- different from the comic-Thor story, I’m picturing a bugbear equivalent of a Warcraft Peon finding a stick (club) while foraging, but this club happens to be the -haft- of a Mjolnir-like weapon (Kord-related perhaps?). There’s enough power in the club (which he calls ‘Boomstick’) to function but the weapons personality itself is sorta… not all there either… so the character could have a sorta bizarro-Thor vibe going. Could grow to becoming more heroic or keep with that even with the bizarro angle as the hammer is eventually made whole again. (To be renamed… Boomhammer? Boomer? Bammer!)
Love coming up with story stuff for these builds haha. Keep being awesome!
Only 20 minutes in, but this feels like the perfect start to a Wayne build from the Wax and Wayne series…
Happy Holidays
Great energy on the video!
Loved to listen this masterpiece of a build
Love to see an axe throwing barbarian utilizing the thrown weapon fighting style
If I had to bet, it'd be a Variant Human/Custom Lineage, or it would take 1 level of Fighter early on for the fighting style. Probably 2 levels for Action Surge. And apparently the Path of the Giants Barbarian gets some good boons for throwing their weapon, even one that doesn't have the Thrown property.
@@WolfHreda what the source material for path of the giant. Like what book is it in so I can take a look at it
Bigby's Glory of Giants@@mohawkgunsmith7569
@@mohawkgunsmith7569 it's a book called "Glory of the Giants".
Keep up the good work Colby!
Thank you so much for making this. An idea I've had for a while just got clearer and better 😊
... BTW what about a slashing feat twin of crusher: +1 to dex instead of con, and move 5 feet closer instead of pushing? 😉
We say Chic-a-way for the same reason. Love the dad energy
Never did I ever, realize that you can dual wield with hexblade. Thx Colby! Would totally dip into fighter in the beginning for constitution prof. In order to have improved pact weapon, repelling blast, and grasp of Hadar invocations by level 6 to greater ensure that them cloudy daggers be stabbing 😈
Same
I asked my DM about dual wielding like this and the language of the two rules. He said no-go for using CHA for both. I even showed him Crawford saying it was intentionally worded to allow for this. Didn't make a difference. Pretty frustrating. I wish I hadn't asked at all since the community isn't even split on this.
😖😖😖
Thanks for the video! Ive been trying to make a similar build work for BG3 but without having Hexblade and pact of the blade you need to rely on a second AS for your offhand until you get Wylss Rapier later.
I love how I was able to predict the rune knight dip
I think a better way you can do this build is to do round 1 hexblade curse and then cloud of daggers on the target. More than likely they will move out of the daggers and then u can push them back into the daggers with all the pushing u get. This is the best way I see to consistently do this build.
I must admit, I never thought about this. But It is a nice surprise.
Colby, I have not played a warlock as a main campaign character in all my years of playing. It wasn’t a fit for me. This build makes me want to play one. Thanks!
Merry Christmas and happy New Year!
We play a homebrew rule where you don’t need to use a bonus action to attack with your offhand weapon, so this is essentially what I’ve been playing. It’s great!
aaah the Hexblade the subclass that keeps on giving.
I have been looking forward to your next video all week :D
Would totally go with two clubs flavoured as a pair of tonfa, Lloyd Bannings style
Marvelous as usual. Thank you for the video.
Big fan for a long time. I should have subscribed sooner.
You are the best! Not only have I found my next build (100%), but now I have two awesome new shirts to wear to the table. What is better than playing a Hexblade while wearing a purple heather Mindflayer shirt?? Not much!
As always this builds friggin’ slaps, but that sponsored “Neverwinter” shirt is soooo clean, I gotta order one
I had fun crafting a Hexblade that used a magical hand crossbow as his pact weapon. I started with 3 levels of Artificer with the Armorer subclass. I used the Repeating Shot infusion on the crossbow at 2nd level. I switched to Hexblade Warlock at 4th level and turned that same Repeating Shot crossbow into his pact weapon. With Elven Accuracy and Crossbow Expert you can easily re-flavor the hand crossbow into a lightsaber and pretend to be Darth Vader. You can deal point blank Sharpshooter attacks and all the dark themed Warlock spells that might resemble force powers. I call him: Lunakin Landstrider.
You missed the perfect opportunity to call this build the hexblades. Love the vids as always
I've been sleeping on cloud of daggers. It just didn't seem as "cool" as other options. I didn't realize there was no saving throw against it. That is insane.
Love it 🤙 dual wielding charisma gish is a very cool concept to play
As someone who has experienced a hexblade up to 14th level, the Eldritch Smite is completely worth it. Getting a crit on a dice roll 19 on the main bad guy of the session turns the tide every time when you add the smite damage.
Also, humanoids are pretty common up to 12th level. And that 6th level phantom you get can move through anything. Becoming a utility creature that tests traps, looks in rooms, etc. In combat is helpful too. But the other possibilities make it way more cool than you'd think.
Totally agree on the Thors!
One curious detail about Hex Warrior is that you could technically apply it to Lances and hand crossbows, as neither have the 2 handed property
Stoked to watch this. (Big time Warlock fan. 🤓)
One of my favorite characters was a hexblade assassin fighter that was shooting off 5 attacks per turn. Played in tomb of annihilation in a room by myself where demons spawned round after round. Dm let me get surprise rounds on the demons because they were caught off guard by the previous wave being dead as long as my initiative was higher. Initiative was like a 28. Murdered all 5 waves by myself and the demons were afraid of me for the rest of the campaign.
Actually did catch this about two months ago. But I've been playing for a long while at this point too. xD
It might say that I watch your vids too much that I looked at Randall’s art and instantly knew the strategy you were going for. 😂
I just started playing this character in my new campaign ^_^ we had session 0 today and I’m going for dual hammer Hexblade, baby!
I don’t know if this has been a video yet, but a armored artificer (9) + abjuration wizard (the rest) would go insane. Guardian armor automatically does goading attack on any hit, you get cure wounds and revivify, and you can learn higher level spells because of your spellbook (that might need some homebrew but I think if you combine 1 infusion into your spellbook and 1 into the armor for a sacrifice idk). And then you have plate armor+infusions+abjurative ward+goading. Also con save proficiency from artificer for concentration checks. Great tank and support. Also could do wood elf magic to get odd without a trace for infiltrator armor to be stealthy. Literally ultimate intelligence character
It can tank, use find familiar or pass without a trace to get intel or sneak, bump allows stats with infusions and spells, also magic multi tool plus armor of tools infusion. True jack of all trades
And don’t forget you can replicate magic items if you don’t need more infusions
Check out my Abjuration Wizard tank build ;)
The question that haunts my mind for years is:
When I'll be able to support the Kickstarter for Colby's Guide to Heroes and Villains?
I mean, I don't even know for how long now I've been using your cheat sheets as my Monsters Manual. They come with strategies for the combat, they come with 4 versions of each "monster" to use for different levels of play, and I even can use the awesome art from Randall if I want.
Just put it all between hard cover and take my money!
Thanks once more for the fantastic job!
An amazing new year for you and your family
That sounds amazing!
Ha ha yeah, I’ve been kicking this idea around for awhile now. Maybe call it “The Book of Bosses” or something… one day, perhaps…
Merry Christmas Colby :)
Still a bit confused on spell components, without War Caster you would need to sheathe and unsheathe your off-hand as your object interaction every other round for spells that require somatic but not material components(like Shield and Counterspell), right?
As someone playing a shadowsorcerer currently I can say that darkness is really situational, it's useful to you and useful if you have a party member with devil's sight (I don't in my game) but it can also be a hindrance to the rest of the party. Often with my sorc I will drop darkness on myself as a measure of protection and to give advantage on spells with an attack roll or to snap off a melee combatant or two.
Great build! Love a good warlock character.
Thanks Colby
Cool as wielding two pact weapons is, using a quarterstaff with PAM would be a better pick. Yes you wouldn’t start with 18 Charisma by taking the telekinetic feat, but you would be doing a d6 on two of the attacks and get to use your Charisma modifier for all your attacks. You could actually get an actual polearm when you take Pact of the Blade and use your Butt attack to push them into CoD. Not sure if you want to take GWM because you don’t really have a reliable source of advantage.
Not to mention you would also get a +1 on all 3 of the attacks not just 2.
3:25 pact boon weapon with a bow/crossbow for eldritch smite at range using charisma for both attack and damage rolls? Also, with the boon weapon as a ranged weapon, it allows you use sharpshooter, elven accuracy, crossbow expert, archery fighting style, sneak attack...
Oh, ps: hi Colby 👋 hope you had an awesome holidays.
I have been wanting a reason to use light hammers for a long time.
You mentioned repelling blast, but have you also considered grasp of hadar to pull them back to your cloud? Sorry if you had mentioned it already.
Cmon, ArTHOR. It was right there. Haha.
Hey, I’ve used this ruling before. I wanted to maximize the Thrikreen. So duel wielding with a shield and then making it a gish so you have 1 free hand for spell casting. So I made a Hexadin. 6 levels paladin and 3 levels of hexblade makes up the base and from there you can go more paladin to level 11 for improved smite, more hexblade for higher level spells, particularly spirit shroud, or sorcerer for more use of the free hand for spellcasting.
Talking damage reliability and the potential swingy nature is something no content creator seems to mention, and to me it was very noticeable point to bring up here in two places, one when talking about about Crown of Stars compared to another BA attack - as 4d12 might average higher and have much higher peaks but actually once you get your modifier applied to the BA attack damage is can easily fall shorter as well, and then and by far more importantly when talking about Cloud of Daggers in general. Those 4d4 are much more reliably hitting near their average than a spell using 2D10 (or D8) - the average is similar, however the D10 ranges from 2-20, the D4 4-16 . And with up casting the effect gets worse as the spread for spells using bigger but fewer die is now really huge, while the minimum you can possible roll on the D4 keeps going up faster.
Which is one of the main things that makes Cloud of Daggers so lethal when upcast as no matter how badly a damage roll goes it still hits for solid damage, something the bigger die spells do not. And that is always worth considering in the same way you mention adding your stat to the damage rolls - do you want to play a build that is more reliant on the die roll or less... I accept its practically impossible to quantify and express easily, but its worth mentioning when it comes up so majorly as it does here.
If you had taken Echo Knight you could use it to make your attacks so you don’t have to worry about AoO. You could also position it in such a way to trigger an AoO of your own and use crusher to push the target back into CoD for a total of 3 triggers per round potentially.
Enjoying as always. makes me want to actually play in a 5e game to try it out
Dual wielding light hammers game me a flashback to "Hammer girl" from the subway battle scene in The Raid 2. Stronk Warlock vibes from that one. I really want 1/2 elf on this build for the elven racial feat; triple advantage with a bonus action attack can open up value for the extended crit range
Hi,
I made a warrior (battle master) multiclassing with hexblade, and the i love it. It can make so many thinks in combat, and the warlock side allow a real orignial RP. :-).
It is one of the better class in DnD (for me).
What I love about this is the ability to take other weird spells or invocations without losing dpr. I can take Dream, or Beast Speech, or Magic Circle for story or character reasons and not sacrifice combat effectiveness.