Hexblade Spellbow Guide D&D 5E
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2024
- Can you make a straight Hexblade and be effective? I say yes.
Here's the 12th level Hexblade build:
ddb.ac/characters/8375391/XyMPz2
Love the new Treantmonk image as much as I do? It's from Dino Kranjcevic who can be followed
on Instagram at / beard.positive
Thanks Dino, it's fantastic!
For my guides and handbooks find me at:
treantmonk.wordpress.com/
Thanks to:
@makemyanthem for the intro music. 
Игры
![Sean Rii, Karyon, Sharzkii - Taungule [My Love] (Official Music Video)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eJoMuypbSzQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Considering that the main part of many campaigns seem to be around the 5 to 12 range, builds like this that are strong in that range are ideal ones to consider. I much prefer seeing discussion of builds like this instead of ones that may only be effective at the end.
I agree fully. Level 20 builds are for the most part theoretical. This is why I do builds level by level rather than just jumping to the end. I'm a big believer that the best builds are effective throughout their career.
SUMMARY
1: Half Elf Drow: DEX CON. PB: 8/13/15/10/10/15. Warlock 1: Hexblade: Deception, Intimidation, Booming Blade, Minor Illusion, Shield, Hex. Urban Bounty Hunter: Persuasion, Stealth, Thieve’s Tools. Light Crossbow, Component Pouch, Leather Armor, Spear, Dungeoneer’s Pack. Buy Sling/Hand Crossbow, Scale Mail/Half Plate, Rapier.
3: Warlock 3: Pact of the Blade, Improved Pact Weapon, buy Heavy Crossbow, Misty Visions, Mirror Image, Misty Step
5: Warlock 5: Elven Accuracy CHA, Thirsting Blade, Buy Longbow, (Misty Visions), Devil’s Sight, Mage Hand, Counterspell, Dispel Magic.
7: Warlock 7: Eldritch Smite, Shadow of Moil, Dimension Door, (Shield), Hallucinatory Terrain.
9: Warlock 9: Sharpshooter, Maddening Hex, Synaptic Static, Dream
10: Warlock 10: Prestidigitation
11: Warlock 11: Mass Suggestion
12: Warlock 12: Lifedrinker, ASI CHA x2
Thank you for this summary
Why ? Eldritch Blast Archery refluffed would be better nas easier
heitor bittencourt netto. Pretty much because you can eldritch smite on a bow hit. On crits this gets doubled.
If oathbow found this build supercharges.
I realize this is old and you may know this already, but I don't think you need to buy the heavy crossbow or the longbow, because Pact of the Blade allows you to conjure a weapon with an action and Improved Pact Weapon lets you change the shape into a bow. Unless I am misunderstanding the rules.
I was literally contemplating this build then an across your video, you caught a lot of things I missed, great video.
After hearing you say that you normally DM, I’d love to see a video series on how you approach DM’ing. It’s certainly a broad topic, but as such there is plenty of information to cover. Not saying I don’t love your build guides, because I do, but I’d love to see what you have to say about DM’ing.
-How do you come up with campaign ideas?
-When planning a campaign do you plan in depth or prefer to build some groundwork and improvise from there?
-You mentioned not using a DM screen, why?(I prefer not having one myself)
-how much do you rely upon the players to drive the story vice having a narrative for players to follow?
Not sure If these are even videos you’d like to make, but I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers!
OMG YES!!!!
Agreed
.
Love Hexblades! And as a matter of fact, I’ve been thinking about exactly this kind of build recently, so that’s fun.
Another great video. Very helpful.
Also, I am happy that the focus is on the most common usage of this particular build. It helps focus my character building (and, hopefully, most beginners as well).
It provides ideas for HOW to build a character. What are possible and effective methods to approach a particular character.
As a beginner, I find Warlocks a particularly difficult class since they have such a wide range of possibilities - they are just too flexible and I find trying to build them very, very hard.
Thank you, again. I really appreciate all your advice.
great build, and very straightforward while maintaining a bunch of versatility
This is a wonderful build. I usually play battlefield control but playing as a 10 foot dark cloud that rains longbow crits sounds hilariously fun.
One thing you might want to consider going past level 12 (or even before) is a multiclass into Fighter. One level gets us +2 to hit with our bow, which helps us take advantage of sharpshooter, and a second level gets us Action Surge, which allows us to nova more effectively.
SmugLookingBarrel I agree. I would start Fighter 1 and pick up Fighter 2 at level 14. Fighter 3 if I want to go all-in on crit-fishing. Then the rest in Whisper Bard for spell slots and additional crit-power.
Personally I would go with arcane Trickster after 12. The DEX is already there, advantage is already taken care of for sneak attack every turn and the sneak attack damage would stack with the Eldrich smite damage for super crazy damage on crits. Also arcane Trickster gets a few spell slots we can use for actual spell casting. At level 3 you can get shield or silvery barbs since this character really doesn't have anything it can do with it's reaction and later you can get misty step.
First 5 levels Bard (college of whispers) rest of the levels in Hexblade. Gives you spell slots for utility (can only eldritch smite with warlock slots).
> Build Levels
I think you can safely take builds to 20th level, regardless. I know some people have said they want builds that don't go that high, but you've already made several guides for builds that peak at that low-high-level range that people call the "sweet spot" - builds that really shine at what we used to call "name level" (9th) - 12th level or so. So they really already have been getting what they wanted.
Just because many if not most of us will never take those all the way to 20th level is no reason to not "complete the build" as it were, as you have been doing, by going all the way. Take 'em to 20th level regardless. Probably most builds will be like that - peaking at right where they/we want them (9th - 12th level), but still go ahead and show what you'd do if they went all the way to 20th. Again, like you've previously been doing.
> "Yeah but then the character sheet shows 20th level!"
If they can't reverse-engineer that to 12th level - or really all the way to 1st - what are they doing anyhow? They aren't intended to start at 20th level! So even 12th level character sheets will have to be "reverse-engineered" to 1st (or whatever level they are starting at in a campaign, which will usually be 1st but not always).
A simpler solution for this is making 2 character sheets, one at level 12, one at level 20. Or even multiple of them.
@@Warchoon I actually am pretty happy with how it worked out in this vid.
Pp
Thanks for sharing this build! Just watched the Invocations and had wondered about a bow based Warlock. Awesome stuff!
YESSSSS been thinking about bow-hexblade for awhile
Playing charades with a Spectre does sound like a fun time. Great idea for roleplay.
Your videos are really excellent my friend. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom!
Sailor Mars build. You’re the man Treantmonk!
Thank you for the guide man! Helped me a lot.
For this build, what are your thoughts on having a breastplate as this character's primary armor type instead of half plate, eh? You lose 1 point in AC, but you don't get disadvantage on Stealth. Seems a drow elf archer would be good at Stealth.
I was playing a warlock while trying REALLY hard to fill a tank role (party had only a rogue and a bard) but now a Paladin joined, so I’m taking the opportunity to step back and pick up some range :)
I like the idea of using a ouija board for communications with the spectre. Effective, and flavorful enough that the DM won't think you're trying to get away with something. Auto-detect secret doors at 6, nothing wrong with that! I've even heard of players suiciding to get spectred to get out of a tight spot.
I would love it if you would also make recommendations for AL legal variations of your builds. By AL rules you have to pick between varian half elves and hexblade, and darkness seems to be a crucial part of the build at certain levels.
Good news is this is now AL legal under the Historical Campaign rules
one thing people forget that you can make a hand crossbow as your pact weapon ... well yes you cant conjer it but if you stumble around a magical hand crossbow you can make it your pact weapon.
now this build with a crossbow expert feat is really really good
even if you dont stumble at a magical crossbow because the DM is kinda unhelpful you can still use a heavy crossbow you can conjer via the improved pact weapon it is a 1d10
I'd love to see your take on a non moon druid!
Very informative. Thank you so much!
My fav warlock patron for sure
Any thoughts on multi-classing into gloomstalker or rogue to get advantage more easily?
31:10 the disadvantage from attacking someone in darkness is actually canceled out by the advantage given to unseen attackers, but it can be useful for preventing anyone from being able to get advantage (eg, your barbarian just used reckless attack and is about to be filled with arrows).
Once you get a +1 longbow, you can drop improved pact weapon as you're not getting any benefit from it. You're only restricted to melee weapons for the weapons you make with your pact, not magic weapons that you have bound.
It will also be against a prone target.
@@Teamflavwardog Hex warrior lets you use charisma for both your pact weapon and hex weapon and this applies to any weapon summoned by your pact regardless of its type. Hex warrior is actually restricted to one handed weapons rather than melee weapons, so you could use a hand crossbow or sling with it.
Cant wait for lorebarderino
I like the hand crossbow for the gunslinger vibe.
Nice build. Thanks!
You could theoretically do something similar to this for less resources with a Champion Fighter/Assassin Rogue multiclass, no?
Have to say another great video as always keep it up i love me a ranged build especially one that deals with magic. I'm trying get back into d&d again looking to play as a sniper type build either with bow or a spell sniper that can hit hard as hell and deal ton of damage and shoot far as hell away any ideas for build or video that would fit it
Could make a video on the arcane trickster for 20 lvls
I had a similar idea to this, but I used mage initiate (druid) and divine sorcerer multiclass, fighter dip to get a character who literally could be in the woods naked, summon good berry, short rest, get his archery pact weapon and fight reallyyy well from a distance, then misty step away and keep firing/healing.
Revisiting this video cuz I wanna play a straight Hexblade. I kinda wanna play one as a magical rogue essentially, but not the way Arcane Trickster handles it. I totally wanna use a dagger or shortsword on this character combined with Booming Blade, Hex, Eldritch Smite. It feels so wrong not taking Eldritch Blast or Agonizing Blast! That said I see the merit of not taking them to free up a cantrip and an invocation. It's really tough. After level 12 or so, do you think a Warlock with multiple Eldritch Blast Beams begins to outshine a Warlock with Thirsting Blade and Eldritch Smite?
Would you suggest a level of fighter, or two of ranger to add the archery fighting style? It seems optimal to me considering you're relying on missile attacks, and you're taking the sharpshooter feat (and you admit the build peaks at level 12, so we have some to play with)? An additional idea might be to add some rogue for sneak attack damage.
I'm just spitballing; I love the idea!
I've swapped the Specter with a shadowy version of Spiritual weapon, once per day cast as if using your highest level spell slot, mostly to avoid the effect on others of seeing you command a Specter.
killcat1971 I like that. Much more thematic.
so basically Sylvanas Stormwind... a hexblade elven archer who can summon undead, darkness and teleport arround
Stormwind?
Ranged Paladin build with Warlock:
At least 5 levels in Hexblade, then Fey Touched feat and 1 level dip in bard for healing magic, or just a level 1 dip into sorcerer for set of spells you just need 2 imo.
You need detect good & evil - basically like paladin divine sense, and either cure wounds/healing word.
Note you could do Aasimar and fey touched feat. 1/5 healing of paladin & using the feat to give you detect good & evil.
Woof. Delayed outro music jump scare. 10/10. :)
Any thoughts on taking 8 levels of Shadow Sorcerer after hitting level 12? Just to cast darkness more? Or maybe 8 levels of divine soul sorcerer? :) Or is straight 20 levels best?
Sorcerer and Warlock are very effective as a multiclass. I would think the multiclass will serve better at that mid-high level range, but remember you are sacrificing access to those highest level spells, so it's a double edged sword.
Just found this video because I was looking up Sniper style builds for dnd as I have an idea for a fairy, owlin, or Aarakocra who snipes enemies with a bow, crossbow, or firearm after flying to a safe spot (like a cliff edge over the fight, the top of a nearby tree, or similar so they aren’t flying the entire fight, and can settle down to take cover when attacking). Loosely based on a yugioh card, funny enough, which inspired my first idea for this build, an Aarakocra Artillerist Artificer (since it was an Eberron game. Dm denied yse of Aarakocra sadly).
I love the idea of a low level build that lets for crazy power, even if I won’t use the crit-fishing methods that this build relies on.
Love your vids Treantmonk, would be awesome to see you Dm a game in a vid, hope it’s in the pipeline?
Once you have Pact of the Blade, the weapon can be 2 handed (Per Jeremy Crawford via Sage advice). When it says any weapon it means it :D
This might be interesting to revisit with current options, optimized with some multiclassing this could be like the flip side of the Quiver build
Hi Chris, amazing video, can u make a control mdps tank build? And can u talk a little bit about controlling and ranking in 5e
tl;dr: Conquest Paladin 20. Comes online at 6th level, Improves at 9th level, becomes INSANE at 18th and literally God-tier at 20th level.
I'm not Chris and this is 4 months later, but the best control-dps tank build i can think of is a straight 20 level conquest paladin.
Why Conquest Paladin? You're a paladin so you get the great paladin DPS/novas as well as their armor proficiency. Plate+Shield = AC 20. Conquest because Aura of Conquest, Channel Divinity: Conquering Presence, Scornful Rebuke and Invincible Conqueror and Path spells like Fear, Hold Person, Spiritual Weapon, Bestow Curse, Dominate Person and Cloudkill.
Aura of Conquest causes enemies who are frightened of you to have 0 movement speed. As stated above, you have access to a few different fear options.
- Wrathful Smite: single-target damage-primer/fear. Bonus action to prime your weapon. If you hit a weapon attack in the next minute, they take an extra d6 of psychic damage and more importantly, make a wis save or be frightened while you concentrate (up to 1 minute). After the initial fail, they have to make a Wis CHECK (which frightened condition gives disadvantage to), not save, to break the fear effect. Solid single-target fear effect.
- Channel Divinity: Conquering Presence: Force everything you choose in 30 ft to make a Wis save or be frightened for 1 minute, repeat the save at the end of every turn. It's just straight up decent AoE fear if you decide to not use your Channel Divinity to basically guarantee a hit with Guided Strike.
- Fear: THE go-to fear applicator for a Conquest Paladin after 9th level. It's a 30-ft Cone of terror. Normally, you'd just make them drop whatever they're holding and dash away. But you're a conquest paladin. As long as they're in the Aura of Conquest, they're not running anywhere and they just dropped their items and can't do anything with their action but dash uselessly and they can't repeat their save until you leave line of sight. They literally just have to watch as you or your allies kill them. You've just shut down anything not immune to fear. Nothing will break morale faster.
Not to mention spells like Destructive Wave for free AoE knockdowns/damage and Holy Weapon for a guaranteed 2d8 more damage on every hit. Need more defense instead? Shield of faith on yourself instead for an unwavering AC 22 bulwark of terror.
Invincible Conqueror is the capstone and oh boy, is it a doozy. Take an action to become an LIVING GOD of WAR for 1 minute. Gain resistance to all damage. Make a 3 attacks every time you take the attack action. Crit on a 19-20. There's nothing bad here.
This all gets more absurd with magic items, too. As many others can confirm, there's MANY more options out there, but the Conquest Paladin is definitely my favorite. :)
For a low level campaign warlock 7 paladin 2 sorcerer 4 is very strong because as soon as you have warlock 5 paladin 2 you can use both warlock slots on smites(one divine one eldrtich ) when you crit. If the dm allows you to join cult of Zaire’s you also have a once per short rest crit for massive damage
> You would have to be able to keep [The Prisoner(s)] alive in that demiplane
Some of the prisoners can always eat others of the prisoners. I mean if you're doing this and you're a hexblade, you're not worried about scruples.
Still works like a charm
Hey Treantmonk, I think it would be a good idea to upload a short video (like 5 minutes) to do a quick overview of the character concept so viewers could see if they'd be interested in the longer video, almost like a sales pitch. These videos tend to be quite long as you go into a lot of detail and so they may be a bit intimidating for viewers to even start watching before they know if they're going to like the character concept.
Im watching this after fisbins treasury came out and i saw the draconic shard! Im thinking of trying to get the dragon shard as a hexblade paitren! So he needs to protect the sorce of his power ;) he can slot his shard into any weapon designed for it!!! And if i go down the dragonwarden ranger path im flaving that as sommoning his dragon spirit instead of the usual familier!
After you finish your Gish series do a video on your take on the Barbarogue
I did a build like this for a one shot I did one level fighter archery sharpshooter and packed of the blade but I used the archfey patron but mostly for flavor
3 year late comment, but have recently learned of interesting ways Hexblade and Warlock features work in regards to this build. Most importantly that you don't need Improved Pact Weapon to have a Longbow as your pact weapon. You just need a magical longbow. The feature does not specify that the magic weapon you convert must be melee.
If you create a pact weapon from nothing, it's a melee weapon unless you have IPW. But Crawford later confirmed interpretations that the 3rd paragraph of the 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. You can then dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and it appears whenever you create your pact weapon thereafter," *does not specify or require melee in any way.* So if you can get even a +1 longbow you can save an invocation slot by swapping out IPW later on in your build. You won't have your weapon counting as your spell focus, though, so you will have to play around that.
The other interesting thing for this build is that your Pact Weapon automatically benefits from Hex Warrior but *doesn't consume your use of it.* You can still make a one-handed weapon into your Hex Weapon, be it a backup hand crossbow or a longsword. It won't benefit from your Pact Weapon amps but a 2nd weapon using Cha for hit and damage is a huge benefit.
Once you reach that level 12, would it be good to multiclass? In fighter? 3 levels of ranger for gloomstalker?
Big Big fan of your channel btw
You added your proficiency modifier to your level 1 sling damage calculation, unless I'm missing something there's no way to do that.
Excellent build though as usual, love your vids :)
You can do it with Hexblade curse which adds your proficiency bonus to damage
If I understand your point, the first bullet point of hexblade curse adds proficiency to your damage. Other features allow its use with a ranged weapon , that is also a pact weapon.
@@acm4bass Hexblade curse affects all attacks against the targeted creature, regardless of how you are attacking. I think you are mixing up Hexblade Curse and some of the features of Hex Warrior.
@@TreantmonksTemple Oh good point forgot about that feature I always mix it up with hex damage
Love the lock, love the hexblade... But every build I see has the Darkness + Devil's sight cheese. xD I know it's pretty beast, but.. Dang!
EDIT: Haven't finished watching the video by the way. >.> Don't kill me! >.
I’ve played a game where everyone had Devil’s Sight. It got boring real quick. Eventually you either roll through every encounter as a giant black ball, or the DM had only use monsters with tremor sense/blind sight or use tons of dispel. It warped the campaign so much that eventually we all agreed to retcon the characters and take different Invocations.
@@M0ebius oh, dang. That's nuts
I feel like since this build doesn't use its spells a lot you can actually afford to take the utility spells that Warlocks don't often take. Spells like Comprehend Languages / Tongues, Fly / Gaseous Form, Contact Other Plane (if you have a way to boost your INT saves, such as a Paladin in the party or a Headband of Intellect), and Scrying; these are all spells you normally don't want to take as a Warlock since your spell selection is so limited, but seeing as you're going to spend most of your slots on Eldritch Smites you don't need amazing combat spells.
Can vouge from experience, a strong hexblade begins with 1-2 levels of fighter for con save prof, a fighting style, heavy armor for stronger AC, & the low level features are short rest compatible just like warlock.
Also, from a storytelling standpoint, it makes sense to not be magical early on, your weapon staying quiet until it can see how talented you really are.
I was kind of thinking about Sorcerer for this build 9 levels into hexblade and 11 levels into sorcerer
Seeing as how favorably you view the Find Familiar spell and your recent number of warlock builds, what are your thoughts on the pact of the chain feature and would you consider doing a pact of the chain build in the future?
It's my favorite pact and yes. Not for a Gish build though.
Im going to try Arcane Trickster/ Hexbow probably only five levels in hexblade, and the rest into rogue for sneak attack dice.
What do you think of 3 levels of Rogue (assassin) before you start the Warlock? Really nova those first attacks (walk around in expert stealth) and get them 2d6 sneak attacks since you are built around constant advantage.
I like the mix, though I would be likely to go Warlock first just to get things up and running beforehand. You lose 1 skill proficiency doing it that way, but I don't consider that a huge loss here.
@@TreantmonksTemple In a similar vain, thoughts on making it; 12 levels hexblade warlock, 3 levels assassin rogue, and 5 levels champion(or battle master) fighter?
It seems to me that misty visions is almost about as good as darkness, since you can create an illusion of a wall (or something) that you can see through and they can't and get the same benefit as darkness+devil's sight gives you. It can't be moved, but it does create a 15'x15' area that you can hide in.
damn
Many DMs would rule that it was clearly an illusion the instant you fired a missile out of it. So you'd get advantage on your first attack, and would have to recast to get defensive benefits.
@@MsNathanv Not if it was fog or darkness rather than a wall...
@@MsNathanvBut the illusion isn't instantly dispelled once it makes physical contact with something, is it? If not, then the wall is still opaque. And if you want to keep the illusion believable, have it be a cloud of fog. Those are permeable, so you essentially get a mini Fog Cloud spell on demand. Especially so if you DM still lets you have it be one way
You spent some time on backgrounds, based on Pg 129 PHB you can RAW have a custom background of any two tools, any two skills and one existing feature. and a reasonable list of equipment or if allowed rolling for gold.
Alexander Maxwell I always use custom backgrounds and roll for gold.
Would love to see a written guide for this lvl 1-20
Wouldn’t going 1 rouge 2 fighter be pretty decent for this build after level 12
One character I built recently was a Valor Bard archer. Valor Bards have the advantage of spell selection. And they have some pretty great options for making your archery stronger including:
- Faerie Fire
- Greater Invisibility
- Foresight
At 3rd level, bardic inspiration you give your allies can give them a bonus to their armor class as well as normal inspiration benefits.
At 14th level, you can cast one of the above and make a ranged attack in the same turn.
Optionally, you don't need to go the full 20 levels of Bard. Giving up Superior Inspiration isn't that big of an issue. After that you start into some more important things. Here are some dip options:
Fighter
Level 1: Archery Fighting Style, Second Wind, CON save proficiency, heavy armor
Level 2: Action Surge ASI
Level 3: Battlemaster (Precision Attack) 9th Level Bardic Secrets
Hexblade
Level 1: Hexblade's Curse, Shield, Focus on CHA and raise spell save DC and # of inspiration
Level 2: 2nd Spell Slot, Invocations ASI
Level 3: Pact of the Blade and swap for Improved Pact Weapon 9th Level Bardic Secrets
My build:
Background: Urchin (Sleight of Hand, Stealth), Thieve's Tools
Race: Half-Elf
CHA 15+2, CON 13+1, DEX 15+1, INT 10, WIS 10, STR 8
Arcana + Investigation
Level 1 Fighter: Archery Fighting Style, Second Wind, CON save proficiency, heavy armor
Athletics + Perception
Level 2: Bard: Acrobatics, Bardic Inspiration
Cantips: Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Minor Illusion
Spells: Dissonant Whispers, Healing Word, Identify, Faerie Fire
Level 3: Bard: Jack of All Trades, Song of Rest
Spells: Cure Wounds
Level 4: Valor Bard: Combat Inspiration
Expertise: Athletics, Perception
Spells: Suggestion
Level 5: Valor Bard: Elven Accuracy (CHA 18)
Cantrips: Light
Spells: Lesser Restoration
Level 6: Valor Bard: Font of Inspiration
Spells: Leomund's Tiny Hut
Level 7: Valor Bard: Extra Attack
Spells: Dispel Magic (boosted by JoAT)
Level 8: Valor Bard: -
Spells: Greater Invisibility
Level 9: Hexblade: Hexblade's Curse, Allows you to focus on CHA and raise spell save DC
Spells: Friends, Prestidigitation
Level 10: Hexblade: Devil's Sight + Beguiling Influence (Deception + Persuasion)
Level 11: Valor Bard: Sharpshooter
Spells: Dimension Door
Level 12: Valor Bard: -
Spells: Raise Dead
Level 13: Valor Bard: Magical Secrets
Expertise: Persuasion, Arcana
Replace Raise Dead with Greater Restoration
Cantrips: Blade Ward
Spells: Counterspell (boosted by JoAT), Revivify
Level 14: Valor Bard: -
Spells: Mass Suggestion
Level 15: Valor Bard: Crossbow Expert
Level 16: Valor Bard: -
Spells: Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion
Levels 17: Valor Bard: Battle Magic
Level 18: Valor Bard: -
Spells: Glibness
Level 19: Valor Bard: CHA 20
Level 20: Valor Bard: -
Spells: Foresight
Valor Bard Archer is an average Archer at best, but jeez you didn't even take Swift Quiver did you? What's the point of Valor Bard Archer without that spell?
I kind of want to find a way to get around the Darkness spell. We're playing with brand new players next so I want to avoid Darkness if possible. Eladrins kind of just switches that free Darkness I'm wary of for free Misty Step so that's cute, but I'm looking about for alternatives. Also does Shadow of Moil cause darkness that requires Devil's Sight? I'm aware I can have a little bag to cover an object of sorts to cover Darkness, but again, new player friendly.
Shadow of Moil causes "heavy obscurement" that the caster can see through but others cannot see through. Not sure if trueseeing can see through it but devils sight won't.
Great as usual.... Any advice for sorcerers' build?
Yep, next Friday. The shadow cometh...
Yes. I am very interested in shadow sorcerer
The trick I do with casters with recovery is take last watch if traveling this gives you 2 hours so you can cast take your short rest and recover with 7 more hours of uses
Clever
It is an archer that likes to crit fish, so from lv 12 onwards, 3 levels rogue assassin for those nice stealth missions to get 1 or even 2 crits out :)
Or even go faster for this playstyle and after level 5 go for 3 levels in rogue immediately before pushing level 9 warlock.
If your casting hex.... and drow magic darkness or minor illusion... your only getting a single eldritch smite right?
Drow magic does not use pact magic, so darkness doesn't reduce your smites
I was thinking of adding 8 levels of Rogue to this (in a dream scenario), add Sneak Attack damage constantly, and then get real crazy on a crit. While you could wait until you get to 12 before doing that I think you could do it as early as level 8, yes it pushes Lifedrinker further out but I think it could work, thoughts?
Taking the level 5 spell ‘negative energy flood’ at character level 9 would allow you to give your specter 5d12 temp HP.
If you could take a single level dip in something for RP flavour / broadening which would you choose, maybe Sorcerer or Cleric for a domain?
I mean, Forge Cleric get you heavy armour proficiency, ability to get a +1 on a weapon or +1 AC, War or Arcane Cleric also being a possibility
I would probably take Rogue, if I could take it at first level. you get your choice from that expansive skill list, choosing the most skills allowed at first level in the game, expertise, and a d6 of sneak attack.
Taking a Hexblade to 20 is solid but if I were in a 1-20 campaign I wouldn’t take Hexblade past 17 since you won’t get anything out of the last 3 levels of Warlock. I would personally put the last 3 levels into Sorcerer. This gets you Shield and Absorb Elements along with the slots to cast them guaranteed. This second part is DM dependent since it’s definitely cheesy but RAW it’s legal. Starting at 19 the first thing you do is convert all of your Pact magic into Sorcery points ant take a short rest while the other casters are prepping their spells. If your DM lets you do this you can make your casting stretch a lot further since as long as you have a few seconds handy you can convert the points back into Pact Magic spell slots, this essentially gives you a more flexible version of the Warlock capstone a level early at the cost of 1 hour’s time at the beginning of the day. Finally, at level 20 this gets crazy powerful when you combine it with Metamagic. Your best Metamagic is Quicken Spell since it’ll let you attack and cast a 1 action spell in a single round, that being said if you do this a lot you’ll burn through your Sorcery Points at a rapid rate but I’d argue the results are more than worth the cost.
This build was specifically to test the viability of straight Hexblade. I'm not sure it's the most optimal build, but it seems viable at least.
My understanding is that if an allie is in your darkness the enemys doesn't get disadvantage because he's invisible + blinded (Invisible gives attacks disadvantage against him him and blinded gives advatage.
) So it evens out to a normal attack whith the advantage and dissadvantage rule, and this goes for your allie when attacking them too. The unseen to spells that target you is still nice though. You can houserule this to disadvantage as we have done in my game.
With Devil's sight you can see the enemy so they aren't invisible
Iwin 12 This is correct, and the reason why I feel like complaints about Darkness messing up the party is overblown. If your team is primarily ranged characters, it can get annoying. If your team is melee heavy, it makes no difference.
I thought of another variation:
Summon Fey has the ability to summon the trickster, which I couldn't figure out what good 5 for cube of darkness for one round is. But with this build, you could summon the trickster fey on your first turn, and then tell it (since it acts at the end of your turn) to go attack something with its two attacks (or use help action) and then teleport right back beside you and create the darkness around you. Then you aren't party-unfriendly because the darkness is only surrounding you, but you get all of the bonuses in this build as with the darkness spell with two extra attacks from your fey. It ends if the fey gets killed, but it seems like yet another option to get your attacks with advantage with some bonuses (extra attacks and not putting your party in magical darkness)
It's okay in some circumstances, but Tricksy Fey darkness doesn't specify that it can't be seen through with darkvision (and Crawford has suggested that intent was for darkvision to work.) Still good when enemies lack darkvision; good for a gloomstalker, with darkvision invisibility. I believe there are also some summonable greater demons with darkness.
Why pure hexblade is not good? I played PAM+GWM Vuman Hexblade and with 20 CHA I was constantly dishing out a great reliable DPR, while being able when needed to Smite for extra 12d8 or fall back and spam E-Blast so I had both range and melee attacks covered.
What is bad in pure Hexblade?
Nothing, they are awesome. It is just that many people overlook them, because some multiclasses or hexblade dips can be even better
Some spells you took are warlock traps and should be swaped out at higher levels. Shieldis good, but Armor of Agythis isbetter because it grows with level or hellish rebuke. You could get + 5 AC or do 6d10 fire damage due to it going up in level. Same with mistystep and mirror image. Also think you can swap out evocations to get your smite bow online quickerand just take devil sight again at 7th. Great vid Chris keep them coming.
Well, at high levels you are mostly just using your slots for crit smiting, so the full spell list while important is some situations, wasn't the focus of the video.
I used to think this subclass was so cool, but then I realised the other 4 offer far much more , as well as the other 2 pact boons
Hexblades can use any pact boon except astral chain
The other pact boons (especially tome) are better, I agree. But hexblade is easily the strongest warlock subclass
It doesn’t matter much if some allies get caught in darkness because they are both blinded and hidden so it is neutral (only problem if they had advantage) EDIT: can help if allies have devils sight as well
or blind sight
It's a bit circumstantial. A wizard will have a familiar they're probably using for Help-action advantage. A barbarian will want to Reckless Attack. And any melee martials will want to OA. But if, for example, you are fighting something inivisible, you might as well *all* be invisible. And many otherwise frightening bad guys are neutered without vision to anything they want to target (or to any squares to which they want to misty step!)
Darkness disables many spells because a lot spells requires sight.
hi, it took me ages to find how to make the weapon a pact and hex weapon because that step was not in the video. It would be nice in the future when using dndbeyond if you were to display how the user can do this. *Footnote, click on weapon of your choice and a couple of checkboxes turn up in the pop up for you to select which has what on it.
Thanks for sharing this I was just trying to figure out that very thing :)
Can you explain the Darkness thing for me? So I'm an archer. I'm 60ft away from my target and I cast Darkness on my belt buckle. Sure they (opponents attacking me) have a disadvantage in attacking me- but why do I get an advantage attacking them if they are not in any darkness? My Opponent's vision is not hindered at all. If they were blinded by darkness (which I can see through with Devil's Sight) then I get it.
Did I express this question correctly?
Since you are in darkness they can't see you and attacks from an unseen attacker have advantage. It's the same reason you get advantage while hidden, they can see just fine but can't see you.
I was considering a very similar build, but I wanted to go for the assassin type of character so I would take some levels of Arcane trickster rogue. You already have advantage on almost all your attacks wich will grant you sneak attack. Plus the extra spellslots could come in handy, when you want to save your pactslots for smites.
Arcane Trickster is Int based, right? Wouldn’t Battle Smith Artificer be better than Warlock for that?
@@SunLovinSolaire yes arcane trickster is int based, so I wouldn't use those spells for offence, but more for utility. I don't know much about the battlesmith, but the character was basically build around mask of many faces and using eldritch smite
@@lidular fair, can never get enough Utility.
Seems like faerie fire is a better way to get advantage than darkness/devil sight because it doesn't cripple the party. You get that with drow magic you could dip 1 lvl into bard and get even more instances.
darkness doesn't cripple the party, unless you have a barbarian or another class that relies on advantage.
If you are in darkness, and do not have devils sight, the advantage from being an unseen attacker, and the disadvantage from being blinded cancel each other out
Is there any potential for Hexblade 3/Gloomstalker X? I'm really interested in this style of character making use of the Gloomstalker getting advantage for more consistent damage instead of burst damage. It could just be "worse" from a straight damage standpoint, but gets others goodies like dread ambusher, proficiency in wisdom saving throws, and stalker's flurry. Any insight is appreciated.
why do you want hexblade 3?
You already have medium armor, hex (in this case hunters mark), and rangers do not benefit from cha, so you will still attack with dex anyways.
Hexblade dips are awesome, but mostly for the other cha classes (Especially Paladin and Sorcerer).
If you want to make a good gloomstalker, I would take a rogue (assassin) dip instead.
If you want to optimize fully, go assassin 3/4 gloomstalker 3/4 battlemaster x
Builds with gloomstalkers and hexblades you might like (I can give you more details, if your are interested)
vengeance paladin 6/ hexblade 14
oathbreaker/ conquest paladin 8/ hexblade 12
(warlocks get animate dead with TCoE, and oathbreaker warlocks make for great melee necromancers)
hexblade 5/ whisper bard 15
hexblade 5/ swashbuckler bard 15
swashbuckler 5/ swords bard 13/ hexblade 2
assassin 15/ gloomstalker 5
assassin 5/ whisper bard 15
these are some combinations of the classes you mentioned, that imo work particularily well
There are great tricks from hexblade/gloomstalker. Would your warlock like Rope Trick? Yes sir, that would be pleasing. Aid on a SR slot? Pass without trace on a SR slot? Takes a while to come online though, and of course requires MC stats.
more than a hexblade this makes me want to make a celestial bladelock so as to create a "bow paladin"
@@theonlymatthew.l yeah, I think they probably didn't to avoid paladin/bard magical secret: swift quiver combo or some other shennanigans.
honestly I wouldn't mind if they let smite work on ranged weapons if they gave the ranger heavy armour prof
3 levels into Fighter - Arcane Archer means you can add arcane shot damage dice on crits and you get the +2 archery fighting style and action surge. Huuuuge crit boons.
That sounds pretty interesting; I might look into that in the morning. I know I’m this video he intentionally went single-class, but that might be a pretty nice option if you wanted to multiclass. I might look at the Eldritch Knight instead though; a couple of low-level slots for Shield/Absorb Elements, along with a Familiar and some extra cantrips are pretty juicy on a Warlock...
Alright so before watching any mechanical picks I'm guessin a half elf with elven accuracy for 'crit fishing.' Probably eldritch smite and improved pact weapon, skipping out on EB stuff altogether.
You guessed right
@29:00 - How exactly are you keeping the hex up all day? Don't you need an enemy around to hex? "Let me just follow you around until I take a short rest and get some spells back..."
You can cast Hex with a 5th level slot for a 24hr duration. You can cast it in your first combat of the day on a target within range. It is a bonus action to switch it from the last target that dropped to 0hp to a new target on a later turn.
Is this still worth playing if your DM bans Elven Accuracy?
I think I figured out that the source for the character generator that you are using is dndbeyond.com if I'm right I have the following question: What addons do I have to buy to be able to generate a drow halfelf?
I think it's Sword Coast Adventurer's guide - but I believe (if you don't want to buy the whole book) you can just buy the option you want - just pick it and it should have a price there.
@@TreantmonksTemple Thanks, at first I couldn't figure out where you got the subrace from, I'm new to dndbeyond.com.
You know, if you made a linkable char sheet for your characters and added a link I bet they'd be well received, you could possibly even get sponsorship out of it who knows.
There are clickable links to the builds in the video description below the video for all my build guides.
What about hunger of Hadar?
It's a better darkness spell, turning the area into difficult terrain, having a larger radius, and it deals 4d6 damage each turn. (2d6 cold at start of each creatures turns, 2d6 acid at the end)
It's also creepy as hell
It's a great spell, and people always seem to forget that this spell exists.
Doesn't work with Devil's Sight, unfortunately.
You did not talk about serious Action Economy problems with a Hexblade. A Hexblade need multiple turns to get fully operational, as moving Hex is a Bonus Action, and Hexblade's Curse is also a Bonus Action. And early on, Misty Step also conflicts as yet another Bonus Action. Further, until you reach 10th level. Blink is incredibly powerful as a damage mitigation device. Shadow of Moil is usually a no-brainer, so Hex I find loses its utility because of the Conc conflict.
23:50 Is there a reason why you dicided to not swich out improved pack weapons? is this eldrich Invocation still useful if you aquire a +1 long bow?
“Finally, the weapon you conjure can be a shortbow, longbow, light crossbow, or heavy crossbow.”
Can’t give that invocation up ever.
EDIT: Yes you can.
@@mikeclementecard "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. You can then dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and it appears whenever you create your pact weapon thereafter."
It doesn't seem very useful as soon as you receive a magical longbow considering you can just turn that magical longbow into your pact weapon
@@zhangbill1194 apparently you are correct. That is very interesting. I thought it was still subject to the "melee" clause in the previous paragraph, but I guess not.
Have you ever thought of doing a commentor build review series like you review a build someone puts in the comments DrowBard did one once a while thought it would be interesting
Why component point instead of arcane focus?
I don’t understand why should change to longbow at lvl 5 , can someone explain it ? Why not follow with crossbow that do more damage ?
Sharpshooter, Eldritch Smite, and the longbow as an improved pact weapon can one shot a dragon. Or anything that flies without a hover speed.
1d6+3+2+5+60d6 at max range
With best of (3d20) +1+3+5 to hit against 23ish ac. Add thirsting blade and you get 2 attacks.