so I’m running a pure warlock with pact of the blade and hex warrior and so far I seem quite limited. Now yes I can do a multitude of things but when I’m needing to take out mobs eldritch blast seems like the only spell I should cast. My pact weapon can’t do as much damage as my blast can.
i have spells like witch bolt which can do my most damage but I’m limited on uses for it. Then I have other situational spells like hellish rebuke and hex ect.
But it just seems that I’m most effective spamming eldritch blast. I’ve heard that my pact weapon can outshine my eldritch blast but from what I see that relies on expanding spell slots and I only have 2 of those.
So I’m looking to find more viable ways to play my warlock without having to cast EB so much.
As a Pact of the Blade Hexblade, you can wield any weapon you want as long as it is your pact weapon.. Look at something like a Glaive, which does 1D12 plus your Charisma modifier. You can take a feat like Pole Arm Master or Great Weapon Master to make yourself quite deadly. I'm sure others will suggest weapon and feat combinations for nice damage output.
I took a different route to enhance my combat. I'm multi-classed Swashbuckler Rogue 3 / Hexblade pact of the Blade 4. Swashbucker Rogue almost always gets sneak attack on 1 melee attack a turn, so at level 3 that is another 2D6 of damage. Your are limited to finesse weapons, but 1D8 + 2D6 + your Charisma modifier is pretty good. My character is one of the biggest damage dealers in our party. Right now I'm using the Booming Blade cantrip to up my damage, but will give that up at next level to get the invocation 2 attacks.
I would also say just focus on playing your character the way you want and less on maximizing damage. I've primarily played ranged casters in the past, so on my Hexblade I decided I'd go melee all the way. I don't even have EB as a cantrip. My Rogue Hexblade is tons of fun to play, dancing in and out of combat.
Yeah I’m pure warlock, I didn’t really look into the feats though, that may help me out a bit. But you’re kinda right, I should just play my class and not try to min max everything. I tend to play DnD more like a game than an adventure experience. So I feel like I wasted my turn if I don’t try and do the most damage I can.
As a Pact of the Blade Hexblade, you can wield any weapon you want as long as it is your pact weapon.. Look at something like a Glaive, which does 1D12 plus your Charisma modifier. You can take a feat like Pole Arm Master or Great Weapon Master to make yourself quite deadly. I'm sure others will suggest weapon and feat combinations for nice damage output.
I took a different route to enhance my combat. I'm multi-classed Swashbuckler Rogue 3 / Hexblade pact of the Blade 4. Swashbucker Rogue almost always gets sneak attack on 1 melee attack a turn, so at level 3 that is another 2D6 of damage. Your are limited to finesse weapons, but 1D8 + 2D6 + your Charisma modifier is pretty good. My character is one of the biggest damage dealers in our party. Right now I'm using the Booming Blade cantrip to up my damage, but will give that up at next level to get the invocation 2 attacks.
I would also say just focus on playing your character the way you want and less on maximizing damage. I've primarily played ranged casters in the past, so on my Hexblade I decided I'd go melee all the way. I don't even have EB as a cantrip. My Rogue Hexblade is tons of fun to play, dancing in and out of combat.
Doesn't a glaive only do 1d10 damage? Or am I missing something that has to do with a certain feat or the warlock class?
Think of a Warlock as a character who is primarily an archer with some magical abilities and spells in addition to their archery unless you build one specifically for melee. They use Eldritch Blast instead of a long bow or a short bow, but their primary role in combat is the same as an archer. They do ranged attacks and they're vulnerable in melee. If you play a Hexblade and take Pact of the Bade you'll be a melee fighter, but that's the exception.
Warlocks are a lot of fun and their spell slots recharge after every short rest, so they'll be able to use their 2 spell slots in most combats. But they're not full casters and until you get to higher levels they only have 2 spell slots. When I played a Warlock I saved my spell slots as much as possible and relied on cantrips except when it was urgent. For example, when I accidentally got into melee I used either Misty Step or Thunder Step to get our of melee depending on how close I was to other members of the party.
One thought - if you want to try two weapon fighting, I'm pretty sure you can mark one weapon as your Hex Warrior weapon and one as your Pact Weapon. I've never tried it, so I'm not sure how well it would work.
As others have mentioned, you have to not think of the 'lock as a caster. They're not, from a tactical standpoint. They're the odd card in the deck that are more designed for battlefield manipulation than straight up fighting. Your Eldritch blast can add your cha mod, pull people in, shove people away, slow them down, every round. You can levitate at will, see in darkness, disguise self at will, memorize any ritual in the game, from any class, detect magic or read any text at will, etc. Your strength is not in your spells, but in your flexibility. You shouldn't be in melee unless you multi-class (pally is a great choice). Instead you should skirt the edge of the battle and use your abilities to help your friends and hinder your foes. That enemy caster giving you problems? Use eldritch with grasp and yank him into melee range of your tank. Your healer in trouble? Use repelling and lethargy with your blast to knock him back and slow him down.
Warlocks are game changers, but they're not the easiest class to play and can be challenging, but they are so much fun :)
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Ancient GM, started in '76, have played almost everything at some point or another.
I run/play Mercer-style games, heavy on the RP and interaction, light on the combat-monster and rule-lawyering. The goal is to tell an epic story with the players and the players are as involved in the world building as the GM is. I run and play a very Brechtian style, am huge into RP theory and love discussing improv and offers.
Hex Blade with pact of the blade you can be a pretty effective melee fighter. Not sure what level you are but you'll get multi attack and only really need to pump your Cha to boost your physical and magical attacks. Some invocations can help bolster you as well. The Hexblade in one of my groups uses a great sword and he wrecks face most encounters. Primarily uses his spell slots for shield or hellish rebuke. Eldritch blast is your ranged attack and that can put out some nice damage as well.
Hex Blade with pact of the blade you can be a pretty effective melee fighter. Not sure what level you are but you'll get multi attack and only really need to pump your Cha to boost your physical and magical attacks. Some invocations can help bolster you as well. The Hexblade in one of my groups uses a great sword and he wrecks face most encounters. Primarily uses his spell slots for shield or hellish rebuke. Eldritch blast is your ranged attack and that can put out some nice damage as well.
Being able to wield a greatsword with CHA is nice, but warlocks don't really have the spell slots to burn on shield long enough to last a whole combat... and shield doesn't scale with the warlocks pact slot level, making it a bit of a waste. If hitting things with a big sword is the main focus of your warlock build, consider multiclassing for a level or two with with sorcerer to get more slots and sorcery points, purely for the purpose of being able to use shield more freely.
Multi Paladin, or start as paladin to get heavy armor. My fave lock has 2 lvls of Pally to get spells and vengeance then the rest is lock. She's in heavy armor so can stay in the fight a lot longer :)
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Ancient GM, started in '76, have played almost everything at some point or another.
I run/play Mercer-style games, heavy on the RP and interaction, light on the combat-monster and rule-lawyering. The goal is to tell an epic story with the players and the players are as involved in the world building as the GM is. I run and play a very Brechtian style, am huge into RP theory and love discussing improv and offers.
My Hexblade is melee based - she uses Misty Step to get INTO melee range, not as an escape.
Also level 5, pact if the blade is where it gets amazing. Hexblades curse, Thirsting blade for 2 attacks, and if either Crits (19 or 20 on the die) you drop Eldrith Smite invocation to drop an additional 4d8 - which would double on a crit... Plus knock Huge sized enemies down, giving them disadvantage for the rest of the round.
My Pally/Hexblade has relentless hex and sentinel...she is *SUCH* a pain in the behind :)
"Oh, you leaving? Nope, you're standing there. Oh, you got away...nope, here I am, right next to you. Always, right next to you, until one of us dies."
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Ancient GM, started in '76, have played almost everything at some point or another.
I run/play Mercer-style games, heavy on the RP and interaction, light on the combat-monster and rule-lawyering. The goal is to tell an epic story with the players and the players are as involved in the world building as the GM is. I run and play a very Brechtian style, am huge into RP theory and love discussing improv and offers.
My Hexblade is melee based - she uses Misty Step to get INTO melee range, not as an escape.
Also level 5, pact if the blade is where it gets amazing. Hexblades curse, Thirsting blade for 2 attacks, and if either Crits (19 or 20 on the die) you drop Eldrith Smite invocation to drop an additional 4d8 - which would double on a crit... Plus knock Huge sized enemies down, giving them disadvantage for the rest of the round.
That's a lot, for one spell slot.
Not criticizing, honest question... Why use Misty Step to get into melee range? As a wizard, I always use it to get away to avoid OAs, but unless you know the target has Polearm Mastery or something like that, you wouldn't generate an OA by running into melee range. What advantage are you gaining from teleporting into range that warrants using half your spell slots?
Edit: hm, I hadn't taken into consideration the fact that it's a bonus action... so you can run your full speed, then add 30' for Misty Step, and still attack that round.
Regarding "half your spell slots"... your Eldritch Smite + Crit combo sounds awesome. I'd honestly not considered Eldritch Smite to be very good, since using up basically half my spell slots (at least until lvl 10) for an extra couple of d8s worth of damage didn't sounds very appealing. But I never considered that, since you can decide to use it after hitting, you can save it for crits, doubling the damage! +8d8 at level 5 is huge, better than Fireball, although obviously single-target, and conditional on critting.
Oh yeah, eldritch smite post crit is a huge hit, knocks them on their behind.
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Ancient GM, started in '76, have played almost everything at some point or another.
I run/play Mercer-style games, heavy on the RP and interaction, light on the combat-monster and rule-lawyering. The goal is to tell an epic story with the players and the players are as involved in the world building as the GM is. I run and play a very Brechtian style, am huge into RP theory and love discussing improv and offers.
My Hexblade is melee based - she uses Misty Step to get INTO melee range, not as an escape.
Also level 5, pact if the blade is where it gets amazing. Hexblades curse, Thirsting blade for 2 attacks, and if either Crits (19 or 20 on the die) you drop Eldrith Smite invocation to drop an additional 4d8 - which would double on a crit... Plus knock Huge sized enemies down, giving them disadvantage for the rest of the round.
That's a lot, for one spell slot.
Not criticizing, honest question... Why use Misty Step to get into melee range? As a wizard, I always use it to get away to avoid OAs, but unless you know the target has Polearm Mastery or something like that, you wouldn't generate an OA by running into melee range. What advantage are you gaining from teleporting into range that warrants using half your spell slots?
Edit: hm, I hadn't taken into consideration the fact that it's a bonus action... so you can run your full speed, then add 30' for Misty Step, and still attack that round.
Regarding "half your spell slots"... your Eldritch Smite + Crit combo sounds awesome. I'd honestly not considered Eldritch Smite to be very good, since using up basically half my spell slots (at least until lvl 10) for an extra couple of d8s worth of damage didn't sounds very appealing. But I never considered that, since you can decide to use it after hitting, you can save it for crits, doubling the damage! +8d8 at level 5 is huge, better than Fireball, although obviously single-target, and conditional on critting.
She uses Misty Step to get into melee range because she's reckless AF. Actually, the first time she did it, she avoided a trap by Stepping over it. Considering Thunder Step as a damage dealing upgrade, later on.
Also, my GM gave her a nice little bonus. Whenever she kills something with her Pact sword, she can regain a spell slot (2x/day. So, those spell slots regen after a short rest, AND maybe also if she kills mid-battle. So, throwing spells around got a little bit easier. As long as she doesn't piss off her patron.
My ArchFey BladeLock uses Misty Escape to teleport into combat, even though it triggers when he takes damage. It's like Misty Step on steroids: 60' range, reaction based, and provides invisibility until his turn starts. Then he moves adjacent to as many foes as possible and Thunder Steps to safety, doing 3d10 damage to the lot of them. Hex Blades have better armor, so maybe just wade into the thick of things and go with Thunder Step. Since they have so few spell slots, multi-purpose spells are a Warlock's best friend; area damage and extra movement is a good combination.
Another combo I'm working on is Hold Person plus Eldritch Smite. Attacking a paralyzed target from within 5 feet = automatic critical! But that also burns two spell slots. I'm thinking of waiting until 11th level for that one. At which point it'll do (I think?) an extra 12d8 of damage. Totally worth it.
Level 5 is pretty tasty for the hexblade/pact of the blade warlock. Using a polearm and the polearm master feat, you can get 3 attacks. The one is a d4 from the feat, but the damage die isn't really the important part, its stacking up all the static damage bonuses along with 3d6 ffrom hex. So, at level 5, with 18 CHA, improved pact weapon, and hexblade's curse activated, you're looking at:
Two polearm attacks w/ hex: 2d10 + 2d6 + 16
+ PAM feat bonus attack w/: 1d4 + 1d6 + 8
of potential output. That's 48 average damage per turn with a 10% chance to score a critical hit.
Level 5 is pretty tasty for the hexblade/pact of the blade warlock. Using a polearm and the polearm master feat, you can get 3 attacks. The one is a d4 from the feat, but the damage die isn't really the important part, its stacking up all the static damage bonuses along with 3d6 ffrom hex. So, at level 5, with 18 CHA, improved pact weapon, and hexblade's curse activated, you're looking at:
Two polearm attacks w/ hex: 2d10 + 2d6 + 16
+ PAM feat bonus attack w/: 1d4 + 1d6 + 8
of potential output. That's 48 average damage per turn with a 10% chance to score a critical hit.
Drop an Eldritch Smite on top of a Hexblade's Curse - if on any of those 3 attacks, you get a 19 or 20 for a crit - you can drop an additional 8d8 (doubled 4d8)
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so I’m running a pure warlock with pact of the blade and hex warrior and so far I seem quite limited. Now yes I can do a multitude of things but when I’m needing to take out mobs eldritch blast seems like the only spell I should cast. My pact weapon can’t do as much damage as my blast can.
i have spells like witch bolt which can do my most damage but I’m limited on uses for it. Then I have other situational spells like hellish rebuke and hex ect.
But it just seems that I’m most effective spamming eldritch blast. I’ve heard that my pact weapon can outshine my eldritch blast but from what I see that relies on expanding spell slots and I only have 2 of those.
So I’m looking to find more viable ways to play my warlock without having to cast EB so much.
As a Pact of the Blade Hexblade, you can wield any weapon you want as long as it is your pact weapon.. Look at something like a Glaive, which does 1D12 plus your Charisma modifier. You can take a feat like Pole Arm Master or Great Weapon Master to make yourself quite deadly. I'm sure others will suggest weapon and feat combinations for nice damage output.
I took a different route to enhance my combat. I'm multi-classed Swashbuckler Rogue 3 / Hexblade pact of the Blade 4. Swashbucker Rogue almost always gets sneak attack on 1 melee attack a turn, so at level 3 that is another 2D6 of damage. Your are limited to finesse weapons, but 1D8 + 2D6 + your Charisma modifier is pretty good. My character is one of the biggest damage dealers in our party. Right now I'm using the Booming Blade cantrip to up my damage, but will give that up at next level to get the invocation 2 attacks.
I would also say just focus on playing your character the way you want and less on maximizing damage. I've primarily played ranged casters in the past, so on my Hexblade I decided I'd go melee all the way. I don't even have EB as a cantrip. My Rogue Hexblade is tons of fun to play, dancing in and out of combat.
Yeah I’m pure warlock, I didn’t really look into the feats though, that may help me out a bit. But you’re kinda right, I should just play my class and not try to min max everything. I tend to play DnD more like a game than an adventure experience. So I feel like I wasted my turn if I don’t try and do the most damage I can.
Doesn't a glaive only do 1d10 damage? Or am I missing something that has to do with a certain feat or the warlock class?
Think of a Warlock as a character who is primarily an archer with some magical abilities and spells in addition to their archery unless you build one specifically for melee. They use Eldritch Blast instead of a long bow or a short bow, but their primary role in combat is the same as an archer. They do ranged attacks and they're vulnerable in melee. If you play a Hexblade and take Pact of the Bade you'll be a melee fighter, but that's the exception.
Warlocks are a lot of fun and their spell slots recharge after every short rest, so they'll be able to use their 2 spell slots in most combats. But they're not full casters and until you get to higher levels they only have 2 spell slots. When I played a Warlock I saved my spell slots as much as possible and relied on cantrips except when it was urgent. For example, when I accidentally got into melee I used either Misty Step or Thunder Step to get our of melee depending on how close I was to other members of the party.
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One thought - if you want to try two weapon fighting, I'm pretty sure you can mark one weapon as your Hex Warrior weapon and one as your Pact Weapon. I've never tried it, so I'm not sure how well it would work.
As others have mentioned, you have to not think of the 'lock as a caster. They're not, from a tactical standpoint. They're the odd card in the deck that are more designed for battlefield manipulation than straight up fighting. Your Eldritch blast can add your cha mod, pull people in, shove people away, slow them down, every round. You can levitate at will, see in darkness, disguise self at will, memorize any ritual in the game, from any class, detect magic or read any text at will, etc. Your strength is not in your spells, but in your flexibility. You shouldn't be in melee unless you multi-class (pally is a great choice). Instead you should skirt the edge of the battle and use your abilities to help your friends and hinder your foes. That enemy caster giving you problems? Use eldritch with grasp and yank him into melee range of your tank. Your healer in trouble? Use repelling and lethargy with your blast to knock him back and slow him down.
Warlocks are game changers, but they're not the easiest class to play and can be challenging, but they are so much fun :)
Ancient GM, started in '76, have played almost everything at some point or another.
I run/play Mercer-style games, heavy on the RP and interaction, light on the combat-monster and rule-lawyering. The goal is to tell an epic story with the players and the players are as involved in the world building as the GM is. I run and play a very Brechtian style, am huge into RP theory and love discussing improv and offers.
Hex Blade with pact of the blade you can be a pretty effective melee fighter. Not sure what level you are but you'll get multi attack and only really need to pump your Cha to boost your physical and magical attacks. Some invocations can help bolster you as well. The Hexblade in one of my groups uses a great sword and he wrecks face most encounters. Primarily uses his spell slots for shield or hellish rebuke. Eldritch blast is your ranged attack and that can put out some nice damage as well.
Being able to wield a greatsword with CHA is nice, but warlocks don't really have the spell slots to burn on shield long enough to last a whole combat... and shield doesn't scale with the warlocks pact slot level, making it a bit of a waste. If hitting things with a big sword is the main focus of your warlock build, consider multiclassing for a level or two with with sorcerer to get more slots and sorcery points, purely for the purpose of being able to use shield more freely.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Multi Paladin, or start as paladin to get heavy armor. My fave lock has 2 lvls of Pally to get spells and vengeance then the rest is lock. She's in heavy armor so can stay in the fight a lot longer :)
Ancient GM, started in '76, have played almost everything at some point or another.
I run/play Mercer-style games, heavy on the RP and interaction, light on the combat-monster and rule-lawyering. The goal is to tell an epic story with the players and the players are as involved in the world building as the GM is. I run and play a very Brechtian style, am huge into RP theory and love discussing improv and offers.
My Hexblade is melee based - she uses Misty Step to get INTO melee range, not as an escape.
Also level 5, pact if the blade is where it gets amazing. Hexblades curse, Thirsting blade for 2 attacks, and if either Crits (19 or 20 on the die) you drop Eldrith Smite invocation to drop an additional 4d8 - which would double on a crit... Plus knock Huge sized enemies down, giving them disadvantage for the rest of the round.
That's a lot, for one spell slot.
My Pally/Hexblade has relentless hex and sentinel...she is *SUCH* a pain in the behind :)
"Oh, you leaving? Nope, you're standing there. Oh, you got away...nope, here I am, right next to you. Always, right next to you, until one of us dies."
Ancient GM, started in '76, have played almost everything at some point or another.
I run/play Mercer-style games, heavy on the RP and interaction, light on the combat-monster and rule-lawyering. The goal is to tell an epic story with the players and the players are as involved in the world building as the GM is. I run and play a very Brechtian style, am huge into RP theory and love discussing improv and offers.
Not criticizing, honest question... Why use Misty Step to get into melee range? As a wizard, I always use it to get away to avoid OAs, but unless you know the target has Polearm Mastery or something like that, you wouldn't generate an OA by running into melee range. What advantage are you gaining from teleporting into range that warrants using half your spell slots?
Edit: hm, I hadn't taken into consideration the fact that it's a bonus action... so you can run your full speed, then add 30' for Misty Step, and still attack that round.
Regarding "half your spell slots"... your Eldritch Smite + Crit combo sounds awesome. I'd honestly not considered Eldritch Smite to be very good, since using up basically half my spell slots (at least until lvl 10) for an extra couple of d8s worth of damage didn't sounds very appealing. But I never considered that, since you can decide to use it after hitting, you can save it for crits, doubling the damage! +8d8 at level 5 is huge, better than Fireball, although obviously single-target, and conditional on critting.
Oh yeah, eldritch smite post crit is a huge hit, knocks them on their behind.
Ancient GM, started in '76, have played almost everything at some point or another.
I run/play Mercer-style games, heavy on the RP and interaction, light on the combat-monster and rule-lawyering. The goal is to tell an epic story with the players and the players are as involved in the world building as the GM is. I run and play a very Brechtian style, am huge into RP theory and love discussing improv and offers.
Nevermind
She uses Misty Step to get into melee range because she's reckless AF. Actually, the first time she did it, she avoided a trap by Stepping over it. Considering Thunder Step as a damage dealing upgrade, later on.
Also, my GM gave her a nice little bonus. Whenever she kills something with her Pact sword, she can regain a spell slot (2x/day. So, those spell slots regen after a short rest, AND maybe also if she kills mid-battle. So, throwing spells around got a little bit easier. As long as she doesn't piss off her patron.
That is nice, sweet!
My ArchFey BladeLock uses Misty Escape to teleport into combat, even though it triggers when he takes damage. It's like Misty Step on steroids: 60' range, reaction based, and provides invisibility until his turn starts. Then he moves adjacent to as many foes as possible and Thunder Steps to safety, doing 3d10 damage to the lot of them. Hex Blades have better armor, so maybe just wade into the thick of things and go with Thunder Step. Since they have so few spell slots, multi-purpose spells are a Warlock's best friend; area damage and extra movement is a good combination.
Another combo I'm working on is Hold Person plus Eldritch Smite. Attacking a paralyzed target from within 5 feet = automatic critical! But that also burns two spell slots. I'm thinking of waiting until 11th level for that one. At which point it'll do (I think?) an extra 12d8 of damage. Totally worth it.
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Level 5 is pretty tasty for the hexblade/pact of the blade warlock. Using a polearm and the polearm master feat, you can get 3 attacks. The one is a d4 from the feat, but the damage die isn't really the important part, its stacking up all the static damage bonuses along with 3d6 ffrom hex. So, at level 5, with 18 CHA, improved pact weapon, and hexblade's curse activated, you're looking at:
Two polearm attacks w/ hex: 2d10 + 2d6 + 16
+ PAM feat bonus attack w/: 1d4 + 1d6 + 8
of potential output. That's 48 average damage per turn with a 10% chance to score a critical hit.
Drop an Eldritch Smite on top of a Hexblade's Curse - if on any of those 3 attacks, you get a 19 or 20 for a crit - you can drop an additional 8d8 (doubled 4d8)