Blade Pact Hexblade Min/Max Utility/Damage

[ajrockstarr]

Starting with a level 3 blade pact hexblade going all the way to at least level 17, I'm trying to have really good damage with some utility in the party. We've got a Cleric, a Paladin, and a Ranger/Fighter. Im looking for outlines and guides for each level beyond 3 for spells to take, invocations, any tricks or consistent ways to abuse the features of the warlock you guys may know.

Current Stats:
Half Elf

8
14 (plan to keep this just for medium armor since i use CHA for damage mod)
16
8
12
17 (EA half feat for +1 CHA at level 4)

I intend to be mostly melee as well, sword and board with possibly shield master to knock people prone for advantage, I'd like to take GWM however I know farther down he line the feat isnt as strong so im a bit torn on it, thinking about PAM and Sentinel as well. Reply with your thoughts and findings guys thanks.

[prototype00]

Query: This is the first I’ve heard that GWM is not strong at any point from lvl 1-20, where would you get that impression?

[ajrockstarr]

flat 10 additional damage ive always been told just isnt all that great the farther along in levels you get, that's what i've been told.

[Cerefel]

There are some characters for whom Great Weapon Master is not especially good, but the feat is increasingly strong the more attacks you can make per round. Since you intend your character to take Polearm Master and presumably Extra Attack via blade pact, I'd highly recommend GWM because +30 damage per round is nothing to sneeze at

[ajrockstarr]

Fair enough, my bad guys.

[ciarannihill]

If you're going PAM, GWM, Elvish Accuracy, Sentinel and +2 Cha for ASIs you might want to consider multiclassing into Fighter or Rogue to get more ASIs over time for things like Resilient [Con], Warcaster or Spell Sniper (Or Medium Armor Master, but if you did this I'd swap your Dex and Con point buy)

If dip into Fighter I personally love Samurai alongside Elvish Accuracy because it lets you activate Fighting Spirit for Super Advantage during Action Surge turns for huge Novas. It also gives you Great Weapon Fighting for a slight damage increase with each attack and also gets you Extra Attack so you don't need to use your invocation slot for Thirsting Blade (and potentially Extra Attack x2 if you go to level 11 with it).

If you dip Rogue, Swashbuckler makes a lot of sense, you get extra Initiative, are able to get into melee to attack, then get distance from the enemy to enable PAM/Sentinel abuse without risking opportunity attacks. The rub is that Sneak Attack won't activate with PAM, so it's worth keeping that in mind, it's a bit of a non-bo in that way.


I personally like Fighter for these types of builds, and I theoretically recommend Fighter first level for the slight HP increase and Constitution saving proficiency, then getting Warlock 3 ASAP, with the goal of Fighter 5/Warlock 3 by level 8, then go Fighter 6 for the extra ASI, then you can invest as much as you want into Warlock from that point on, focusing on the class or going for more Fighter to enhance you melee prowess, since GWM and Hexblade's Curse both scale with number of attacks per turn.

Since you're starting at level 3 I'd personally go Fighter 1, Warlock 2 with Longsword/Shield using Great Weapon Fighting when two handing the Longsword until you get Warlock 3 to get the ability to make Polearms.

At least that's my recommendation.


At level 17, where you say you're ending I'd try to be Fighter 12/Warlock 5 or Fighter 14/Warlock 3 because either way you'll have 5 ASIs under your belt a this point meaning GWM, PAM, Sentinel, Elvish Accuracy and +2 Cha, you'll have 3 normal attacks and the PAM Bonus attack each turn, and an excellent Nova turn with Action Surge and Fighting Spirit.