I searched Titles and Threads for Padlock content and was frankly dissatisfied with what I found. I found more questions than answers and even more theories and guesses. I wanted to post a review from experience and state up front that much of what follows is purely my opinion.
Let's go over the progression of it all. Padlocks have a pretty even power curve throughout their build cycle until you get to about level 8. After that they have a decent spike in power. So if you are starting into a pre-made Forgotten Reams Campaign like Rise of Tiamat (Part II of the Tyranny of Dragons story) where you start at level 8, then I would say Padlocks are a spectacular choice. Regardless I am going to break it down from level 1.
BARE Minimum Stats at Lvl 10: STR13::DEX16::CON::14::INT8::WIS8::CHAR::18 (please note that by level 10 you are likely to have equipment bonuses that modify these further)
Lvl 1 Warlock (I recommend starting out with dual scimitars 1d6 for this build if you can.)
Eldritch Blast - Has a strong early game so this is an easy pick. Get proficiency with martial weapons, medium armor, and shields.
Otherworldly Patron- [Hexblade] Get proficiency with martial weapons, medium armor, and shields, and the use of Hexblades Curse
Hex Warrior - The influence of your patron also allows you to mystically channel your will through a particular weapon. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch one weapon that you are proficient with and that lacks the two-handed property. When you attack with that weapon, you can use your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls. This benefit lasts until you finish a long rest. If you later gain the Pact of the Blade feature, this benefit extends to every pact weapon you conjure with that feature, no matter the weapon’s type.
Lvl 2 Warlock
Eldrich Invocations- Agonizing Blast: adds your Charisma mod to damage improving the most powerful cantrip in D&D...Yes please!
Fiendish Vigor: become a tanky martial caster by Lvl 2...Yes sir!
Lvl 1 Paladin
Divine Sense- Good for frustrating your DM in dungeons.
Lay on Hands- Tanky, Martial caster with healing and elimination of negative effects? Woah!
Lvl 2 Paladin
Fighting Style-Defense: Even more tanky for a hybrid.
Spells- both Warlocks and Paladins use Charisma for casting so there is synergy there.
Divine Smite- Yeah that OP thing that paladins use to blow stuff up.
Lvl 3 Warlock
Pact Boon - Pact of the Blade
Eldritch Invocations - Fiendish Vigor > Improved Pact Weapon: This allows you to dual wield 2 pact weapons and use Charisma for Spells AND Melee. That is EFFICIENT!
Lvl 3 Paladin
Oath of Conquest - Why pick anything else. You get utility, HUGE cc, versatility on ranged and melee play with spiritual weapon, but more on that later...
Oath of Conquest Spells
Paladin Level
Spells
3rd
armor of Agathys, command
5th
hold person, spiritual weapon
9th
bestow curse, fear
13th
dominate beast, stoneskin
17th
cloudkill, dominate person
Conquering Presence.You can use your Channel Divinity to exude a terrifying presence. As an action, you force each creature of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature becomes frightened of you for 1 minute. The frightened creature can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Guided Strike. You can use your Channel Divinity to strike with supernatural accuracy. When you make an attack roll, you can use your Channel Divinity to gain a +10 bonus to the roll. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM says whether the attack hits or misses.
Lvl 4 Paladin
Ability Score Improvement- Charisma x2 (Since EVERYTHING you do gets bonuses from Charisma, Feats are a little lack luster at this level)
Lvl 5 Paladin
Extra Attack - Pretty sure you saw this coming. One thing that I have learned while playing ANY class in D&D is that CHANCE TO HIT IS KING! If you are playing in a party of 4-6 and you get a turn once every 15 minutes then you want every turn to have impact in some way. For people who are slightly less experienced, I am going to break down the whole Extra Attack/Attack Action/Bonus Action/Two-Weapon Fighting/Dual Wielder stuff as it pertains to this class and build only. We have a couple more levels to go before it gets a little confusing though so bear with me.
Lvl 4 Warlock
Ability Score Improvement -Feat: Dual Wielder.Now you will want to switch out those Light Finesse Scimitars out for some Martial Long Swords which will give you d8 dmg dice and while still providing you the same bonuses. How you ask? Touch one in the morning to make it your Hex Weapon and Summon the other one in Long Sword form as your pact weapon in your empty hand. Both will have Pact weapon bonuses.
Lvl 5 Warlock
Eldritch Invocations - Eldritch Smite: Now you can Hexblade Curse a target +4dmg(action), and cast Divine Favor Spell [+1d4 all hits] Lvl1 (bonus action) at the beginning of a fight, and on your second turn Attack 2 times per Action 2d8+10, then Eldritch Smite 5th Lvl spell slot, Divine Smite 3rd Lvl spell slot, and summon Spiritual Weapon at 4th Lvl [2d8+4](bonus action).
You also have the versatility to play ranged with several beams of Eldritch Blast with the charisma modifier added to it coupled with Spiritual Weapon. you can easily get up to 18-21 AC with this build and have plenty of defensive spells like Mirror Image. If you don't feel like using spells you can get on the front line and casually attack 3 times with your Pact blades. You can attack 2 times with your Action and 1 time with your Bonus action without using any magic any special actions.
After Lvl 10 I recommend putting the last 10 levels of your journey into one class. You are better off as a 15 Pal, 5 Lock/15 Lock, 5 Pal. Many people argue that going Pure Paladin or Pure Warlock is better than this build. I've personally never seen more CONSISTENTLY productive build. It's versatile and broad without spreading its resources too thin. I prefer 15 Paladin, 5 Warlock for the improved Divine Smite at Lvl 11 and scornful Rebuke at Lvl 15 which synergizes BEAUTIFULLY with Hellish Rebuke so you continue to deal meaningful damage even when its not your turn.
Let me know if you liked this build and if you would like more information. I was trying to write this up quickly between work and studies because I really enjoyed playing this class. I would also welcome any ideas, thoughts, concerns, criticisms, or threats that you may have for me.
This is a pretty cool build. This might even work for me. I overinvested in Warlock, Im level 9 now. But if I go 15/5 I might be able to still get something out of this. Question, do any of you guys think that I could do that with a Fiend/Tome Warlock? How integral are the Hexblade features for the damage? Would I still be viable if I didn't have Hexblade / Pact of the Blade ?
Stats currently are (Fiend Warlock Lvl9): STR: 16, DEX: 14, CON: 14, INT: 10, WIS: 12, CHA: 18
I would imagine maybe Greatsword or Dual Wielding (whichever is better) with Shillelagh (if my DM allows it). Use the low level spell slots for Hex, use the higher level ones either for Warlock Spells (up to Arcanum 8th level, i.e. Forcecage + Sickening Radiance or Dominate Monster, Fireball, etc, etc). So I would have Far Ranged options with Eldrich Blast (double attack!) and could fight close quarters too. Add War Caster to keep up concentration and maybe add Conjure Elemental (Minions of Chaos, Scroll of Planar Binding) on top?
Let me know what you think. The point is Im already commited 9 Levels into Warlock and I want to make something useful out of it. I would have to sacrifice True Polymorph for it (bye, bye turning myself into an Ancient Brass Dragon) but at least the journey to level 20 would be fun.
One thing to mention about this build is the fact that almost all paladin spells are concentration. This will render them less useful, given that you will probably concentrate on Hex all the time. It's a shame because paladins really get very good spells.
I mean its a toolset thing really. Hex is when you need to maximuse that damage. But if you're the guy doing continous damage with lots of side effects that cause status effects or immobilize people concentration spells aren't bad. You only need one good damage spell or two to have good DPS, you need a lot of spells to cover the whole spectrum of AoE/Hold/Disadvantage people based on different saves (WIS/CHA/INT/DEX/CON)
I am working on starting a Padlock soon... just finished playing a Hexblade / Swashbuckler up to level 20, and now I want to have some of the same mechanics, but a different flavor. Last one was a Tiefling, new one will be Protector Aasimar.
For RP/"world" reasons, I'm going with DEX-based fighter, using a shield and a scimitar-like Greek Kopis for the main weapon, and a spear. I'm going to ask if I can sacrifice the Versatile property of the spear, and instead get Finesse. STR is a dump stat, so...
I'm planning to start with 2 levels of Paladin, to get melee weapons, armor + shield. Level 2 gets Dueling fighting style, spells, and a smite. Solid start...
After that, probably 5 levels of Celestial Warlock. I'm planning on this being mostly Warlock, for RP reasons, and I like the general utility of it. This will get me my Blade pact, Eldritch Smite, and a few other invocations, like Thirsting Blade, for extra attack. Probably take ASI at level 4, since it seems that WarCaster isn't TOTALLY necessary (shield usable as M and S components, per a Sage Advice article, and our DM isn't a stickler for components...)
Then, I think I'll go back to Paladin for 3 levels. Oath of Devotion, Channel Divinity gets +CHA attack mods, but not damage like Hex Warrior granted before. Then ASI / Feat at PAL4, and then I was going to get Extra Attack from PAL5, and 2nd level spells. I'd drop the Thirsting Blade invocation after that, and get something else helpful.
Then I'd have to decide if the Aura of Protection is worth taking a 6th Paladin level, or get back to Warlock. This gets me halfway through a 20-level build, and I don't like going much farther than that.
... just finished playing a Hexblade / Swashbuckler up to level 20
What were your final levels, and in what order, and what feedback do you have? I'm interested in doing this exact build, probably as some flavor of Elf.
Thanks. It's been a really long time since I've played anything past level 12, So I'm thinking Hexblade 5, Swashbuckler 5 (for ASI and Uncanny Dodge), then back to Hexblade.
So a few comments to have on this specific build path. First I would skip on Fiendish Vigor and take something like Lance of Lethargy or Repelling Blast, the 5 temp health isn't that good and Armor of Agathys is actually a good use of a first level spell and competes with it since you can only have a single form of temp health.
Pact of the Blade isn't a bad choice, but you already get extra attack and Eldritch Smite later available doesn't seem as good as being able to get a familiar to used help on your attacks for one swing with advantage, plus all the other utility you get with Tome or Chain. Dual Wielding isn't actually as good as just using a quarter staff one handed with a shield and just using Shillelagh thanks to Tome Pact to get three attacks with a 1d8 weapon scaling off charisma using your main and bonus actions, since you also get the utility of a shield that is a possible holy symbol, or you just take warcaster to cover it later either or. Hexblade is still a great pick archtype wise because of access to Shield (one of the best spells in the game), as well as the Hexblade's Curse actually being pretty great. This being said the Celestial or Fiend patrons can also be good, Celestial for the ability to pick up allies with a bonus action since you lack Healing Word, and the Fiend gives you temp health on kills to reward you for murder which is something you should be doing often.
Personally, and you might have seen this with more digging perhaps, is that only taking 3 Warlock/X Paladin or even going 2 Warlock/X Paladin to forgo the pact. This helps get you the Paladin Progression which tends to be better at least to this point, since levels 6 and 7 give you your basic aura and your oath aura. Hitting Warlock 4/5 isn't that important (well 4 can maybe be nice for the feats, but is something you could maybe bother with after level 10 since the paladin auras are pretty nice) since Paladin already has smites and Warlocks don't have enough slots to make the eldritch smite work that well IMO plus you might decide to not go pact of the blade. You could also maybe just do 2/3 Paladin levels instead and look at it in the opposite direction since this still gives you access to some solid low level defensive spells as well as heavy armor, shields, and Divine Smite. This way you can focus moreso on the Warlock aspects and be more of a caster type.
Conquest also isn't the best Oath mechanically for this build anyway, though what is best depends on whether you are building up to 7th level paladin. Oath of Devotion is better if you are only dipping, since the Channel Divinity bonus to hit basically means you are doubling your Charisma bonus on your attack rolls (amazing). Oath of conquest on the other hand, while not terrible, I wouldn't say is that good Channel Divinity wise, and the spell selection's only real stand out is spiritual weapon, which you only reach after 5 levels of paladin and at that point you should just plan around hitting paladin 7, in which case it's aura is pretty meh. Oath of Heroism is a standout if you think you'll hit 7, with a decent enough Channel Divinity option for crit range, and the ability to hand out temp health to allies or force fear checks semi regularly is awesome. Oath of the Ancients is another more defensive standout, since while the Channel Divinity isn't as good the spell selection has some nice utility in it and resistance to all spell damage is awesome.
I'm also slightly confused by your smite calculations since you say use a 5th level slot, but you only get 3rd with this since spell slot scaling is only 5 levels from both, Warlock scales completely separately from other casters due to the short rest reset on the slots. Paladin also only gets their second level slots at 5th level. This gets covered in the multiclassing section of the PHB
I searched Titles and Threads for Padlock content and was frankly dissatisfied with what I found. I found more questions than answers and even more theories and guesses. I wanted to post a review from experience and state up front that much of what follows is purely my opinion.
Let's go over the progression of it all. Padlocks have a pretty even power curve throughout their build cycle until you get to about level 8. After that they have a decent spike in power. So if you are starting into a pre-made Forgotten Reams Campaign like Rise of Tiamat (Part II of the Tyranny of Dragons story) where you start at level 8, then I would say Padlocks are a spectacular choice. Regardless I am going to break it down from level 1.
...
After Lvl 10 I recommend putting the last 10 levels of your journey into one class. You are better off as a 15 Pal, 5 Lock/15 Lock, 5 Pal. Many people argue that going Pure Paladin or Pure Warlock is better than this build. I've personally never seen more CONSISTENTLY productive build. It's versatile and broad without spreading its resources too thin. I prefer 15 Paladin, 5 Warlock for the improved Divine Smite at Lvl 11 and scornful Rebuke at Lvl 15 which synergizes BEAUTIFULLY with Hellish Rebuke so you continue to deal meaningful damage even when its not your turn.
Let me know if you liked this build and if you would like more information. I was trying to write this up quickly between work and studies because I really enjoyed playing this class. I would also welcome any ideas, thoughts, concerns, criticisms, or threats that you may have for me.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far.
#Paladin, #Warlock, #Build, #Tips
I think this is pretty solid - Hexblade is almost "middle ground" between PotB Warlock and Paladin, with the armor, shields, and weapons proficiencies that are NOT a part of Warlock, and getting Smites that were on the Paladin spell list. So, combo-ing Paladin and Hexblade should give you a lot of great melee damage, with healing and other spell assistance, both in combat and apart from it.
I just got done playing a dark, chaotic Tiefling Hexblade, so I'm going to go for a light, good Aasimar Celestial Padlock now.
So question for anyone here, why dual wield at all with a padlock? You still can't add the modifier on the bonus action attack right? Wouldn't it just make sense to wield a twohanded weapon while using your bonus action for spiritual weapon?
Eldritch Invocations - Eldritch Smite: Now you can Hexblade Curse a target +4dmg(action), and cast Divine Favor Spell [+1d4 all hits] Lvl1 (bonus action) at the beginning of a fight, and on your second turn Attack 2 times per Action 2d8+10, then Eldritch Smite 5th Lvl spell slot, Divine Smite 3rd Lvl spell slot, and summon Spiritual Weapon at 4th Lvl [2d8+4](bonus action).
This doesn't work like that... you are multiclass paladin level 5 and warlock level 5 at this point in your build.
As a level 5 paladin you don't have access to 3rd level spells you have 4 slot of level 1 and 2 slot of level 2 spell.
And as a level 5 warlock you get 2 slots for spell up to level 3.
So your spiritual sword at level 4 isn't possible. (Not yet at least). Since the maximum spell slot you have are level 3 twice....
Same thing for your Eldritch smite with level 5 spell slot.... you don't have access to this level of spell slots only level 3 from your warlock.
You could Eldritch and Divine for a 3rd level spell but then you are out of level 3 spells
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I searched Titles and Threads for Padlock content and was frankly dissatisfied with what I found. I found more questions than answers and even more theories and guesses. I wanted to post a review from experience and state up front that much of what follows is purely my opinion.
Let's go over the progression of it all. Padlocks have a pretty even power curve throughout their build cycle until you get to about level 8. After that they have a decent spike in power. So if you are starting into a pre-made Forgotten Reams Campaign like Rise of Tiamat (Part II of the Tyranny of Dragons story) where you start at level 8, then I would say Padlocks are a spectacular choice. Regardless I am going to break it down from level 1.
BARE Minimum Stats at Lvl 10: STR13::DEX16::CON::14::INT8::WIS8::CHAR::18 (please note that by level 10 you are likely to have equipment bonuses that modify these further)
Lvl 1 Warlock (I recommend starting out with dual scimitars 1d6 for this build if you can.)
Eldritch Blast - Has a strong early game so this is an easy pick. Get proficiency with martial weapons, medium armor, and shields.
Otherworldly Patron - [Hexblade] Get proficiency with martial weapons, medium armor, and shields, and the use of Hexblades Curse
Hex Warrior - The influence of your patron also allows you to mystically channel your will through a particular weapon. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch one weapon that you are proficient with and that lacks the two-handed property. When you attack with that weapon, you can use your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls. This benefit lasts until you finish a long rest. If you later gain the Pact of the Blade feature, this benefit extends to every pact weapon you conjure with that feature, no matter the weapon’s type.
Lvl 2 Warlock
Eldrich Invocations - Agonizing Blast: adds your Charisma mod to damage improving the most powerful cantrip in D&D...Yes please!
Fiendish Vigor: become a tanky martial caster by Lvl 2...Yes sir!
Lvl 1 Paladin
Divine Sense - Good for frustrating your DM in dungeons.
Lay on Hands - Tanky, Martial caster with healing and elimination of negative effects? Woah!
Lvl 2 Paladin
Fighting Style - Defense: Even more tanky for a hybrid.
Spells - both Warlocks and Paladins use Charisma for casting so there is synergy there.
Divine Smite - Yeah that OP thing that paladins use to blow stuff up.
Lvl 3 Warlock
Pact Boon - Pact of the Blade
Eldritch Invocations -
Fiendish Vigor> Improved Pact Weapon: This allows you to dual wield 2 pact weapons and use Charisma for Spells AND Melee. That is EFFICIENT!Lvl 3 Paladin
Oath of Conquest - Why pick anything else. You get utility, HUGE cc, versatility on ranged and melee play with spiritual weapon, but more on that later...
Oath of Conquest Spells
Conquering Presence. You can use your Channel Divinity to exude a terrifying presence. As an action, you force each creature of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature becomes frightened of you for 1 minute. The frightened creature can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Guided Strike. You can use your Channel Divinity to strike with supernatural accuracy. When you make an attack roll, you can use your Channel Divinity to gain a +10 bonus to the roll. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM says whether the attack hits or misses.
Lvl 4 Paladin
Ability Score Improvement - Charisma x2 (Since EVERYTHING you do gets bonuses from Charisma, Feats are a little lack luster at this level)
Lvl 5 Paladin
Extra Attack - Pretty sure you saw this coming. One thing that I have learned while playing ANY class in D&D is that CHANCE TO HIT IS KING! If you are playing in a party of 4-6 and you get a turn once every 15 minutes then you want every turn to have impact in some way. For people who are slightly less experienced, I am going to break down the whole
Extra Attack/Attack Action/Bonus Action/Two-Weapon Fighting/Dual Wielder stuff as it pertains to this class and build only. We have a couple more levels to go before it gets a little confusing though so bear with me.
Lvl 4 Warlock
Ability Score Improvement - Feat: Dual Wielder. Now you will want to switch out those Light Finesse Scimitars out for some Martial Long Swords which will give you d8 dmg dice and while still providing you the same bonuses. How you ask? Touch one in the morning to make it your Hex Weapon and Summon the other one in Long Sword form as your pact weapon in your empty hand. Both will have Pact weapon bonuses.
Lvl 5 Warlock
Eldritch Invocations - Eldritch Smite: Now you can Hexblade Curse a target +4dmg(action), and cast Divine Favor Spell [+1d4 all hits] Lvl1 (bonus action) at the beginning of a fight, and on your second turn Attack 2 times per Action 2d8+10, then Eldritch Smite 5th Lvl spell slot, Divine Smite 3rd Lvl spell slot, and summon Spiritual Weapon at 4th Lvl [2d8+4](bonus action).
You also have the versatility to play ranged with several beams of Eldritch Blast with the charisma modifier added to it coupled with Spiritual Weapon. you can easily get up to 18-21 AC with this build and have plenty of defensive spells like Mirror Image. If you don't feel like using spells you can get on the front line and casually attack 3 times with your Pact blades. You can attack 2 times with your Action and 1 time with your Bonus action without using any magic any special actions.
After Lvl 10 I recommend putting the last 10 levels of your journey into one class. You are better off as a 15 Pal, 5 Lock/15 Lock, 5 Pal. Many people argue that going Pure Paladin or Pure Warlock is better than this build. I've personally never seen more CONSISTENTLY productive build. It's versatile and broad without spreading its resources too thin. I prefer 15 Paladin, 5 Warlock for the improved Divine Smite at Lvl 11 and scornful Rebuke at Lvl 15 which synergizes BEAUTIFULLY with Hellish Rebuke so you continue to deal meaningful damage even when its not your turn.
Let me know if you liked this build and if you would like more information. I was trying to write this up quickly between work and studies because I really enjoyed playing this class. I would also welcome any ideas, thoughts, concerns, criticisms, or threats that you may have for me.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far.
#Paladin, #Warlock, #Build, #Tips
I think this post was really helpful, I've been looking for a Padlock build for a while now.
This is a pretty cool build.
This might even work for me. I overinvested in Warlock, Im level 9 now. But if I go 15/5 I might be able to still get something out of this.
Question, do any of you guys think that I could do that with a Fiend/Tome Warlock? How integral are the Hexblade features for the damage? Would I still be viable if I didn't have Hexblade / Pact of the Blade ?
Stats currently are (Fiend Warlock Lvl9): STR: 16, DEX: 14, CON: 14, INT: 10, WIS: 12, CHA: 18
I would imagine maybe Greatsword or Dual Wielding (whichever is better) with Shillelagh (if my DM allows it). Use the low level spell slots for Hex, use the higher level ones either for Warlock Spells (up to Arcanum 8th level, i.e. Forcecage + Sickening Radiance or Dominate Monster, Fireball, etc, etc). So I would have Far Ranged options with Eldrich Blast (double attack!) and could fight close quarters too. Add War Caster to keep up concentration and maybe add Conjure Elemental (Minions of Chaos, Scroll of Planar Binding) on top?
Let me know what you think. The point is Im already commited 9 Levels into Warlock and I want to make something useful out of it. I would have to sacrifice True Polymorph for it (bye, bye turning myself into an Ancient Brass Dragon) but at least the journey to level 20 would be fun.
One thing to mention about this build is the fact that almost all paladin spells are concentration. This will render them less useful, given that you will probably concentrate on Hex all the time. It's a shame because paladins really get very good spells.
I mean its a toolset thing really.
Hex is when you need to maximuse that damage. But if you're the guy doing continous damage with lots of side effects that cause status effects or immobilize people concentration spells aren't bad. You only need one good damage spell or two to have good DPS, you need a lot of spells to cover the whole spectrum of AoE/Hold/Disadvantage people based on different saves (WIS/CHA/INT/DEX/CON)
I am working on starting a Padlock soon... just finished playing a Hexblade / Swashbuckler up to level 20, and now I want to have some of the same mechanics, but a different flavor. Last one was a Tiefling, new one will be Protector Aasimar.
For RP/"world" reasons, I'm going with DEX-based fighter, using a shield and a scimitar-like Greek Kopis for the main weapon, and a spear. I'm going to ask if I can sacrifice the Versatile property of the spear, and instead get Finesse. STR is a dump stat, so...
I'm planning to start with 2 levels of Paladin, to get melee weapons, armor + shield. Level 2 gets Dueling fighting style, spells, and a smite. Solid start...
After that, probably 5 levels of Celestial Warlock. I'm planning on this being mostly Warlock, for RP reasons, and I like the general utility of it. This will get me my Blade pact, Eldritch Smite, and a few other invocations, like Thirsting Blade, for extra attack. Probably take ASI at level 4, since it seems that WarCaster isn't TOTALLY necessary (shield usable as M and S components, per a Sage Advice article, and our DM isn't a stickler for components...)
Then, I think I'll go back to Paladin for 3 levels. Oath of Devotion, Channel Divinity gets +CHA attack mods, but not damage like Hex Warrior granted before. Then ASI / Feat at PAL4, and then I was going to get Extra Attack from PAL5, and 2nd level spells. I'd drop the Thirsting Blade invocation after that, and get something else helpful.
Then I'd have to decide if the Aura of Protection is worth taking a 6th Paladin level, or get back to Warlock. This gets me halfway through a 20-level build, and I don't like going much farther than that.
What were your final levels, and in what order, and what feedback do you have? I'm interested in doing this exact build, probably as some flavor of Elf.
Started with Hexblade 5, getting Thirsting Blade for Extra Attack, and Eldritch Smite.
Then, 3 levels of Rogue for Swashbuckler. Almost went 4, but I wanted my 9th level Arcanum. Then back to Warlock up to 17th.
Did mostly ASI, except for I took the Inspiring Leader feat. Nice temp HP bump for the whole party.
Thanks. It's been a really long time since I've played anything past level 12, So I'm thinking Hexblade 5, Swashbuckler 5 (for ASI and Uncanny Dodge), then back to Hexblade.
So a few comments to have on this specific build path. First I would skip on Fiendish Vigor and take something like Lance of Lethargy or Repelling Blast, the 5 temp health isn't that good and Armor of Agathys is actually a good use of a first level spell and competes with it since you can only have a single form of temp health.
Pact of the Blade isn't a bad choice, but you already get extra attack and Eldritch Smite later available doesn't seem as good as being able to get a familiar to used help on your attacks for one swing with advantage, plus all the other utility you get with Tome or Chain. Dual Wielding isn't actually as good as just using a quarter staff one handed with a shield and just using Shillelagh thanks to Tome Pact to get three attacks with a 1d8 weapon scaling off charisma using your main and bonus actions, since you also get the utility of a shield that is a possible holy symbol, or you just take warcaster to cover it later either or. Hexblade is still a great pick archtype wise because of access to Shield (one of the best spells in the game), as well as the Hexblade's Curse actually being pretty great. This being said the Celestial or Fiend patrons can also be good, Celestial for the ability to pick up allies with a bonus action since you lack Healing Word, and the Fiend gives you temp health on kills to reward you for murder which is something you should be doing often.
Personally, and you might have seen this with more digging perhaps, is that only taking 3 Warlock/X Paladin or even going 2 Warlock/X Paladin to forgo the pact. This helps get you the Paladin Progression which tends to be better at least to this point, since levels 6 and 7 give you your basic aura and your oath aura. Hitting Warlock 4/5 isn't that important (well 4 can maybe be nice for the feats, but is something you could maybe bother with after level 10 since the paladin auras are pretty nice) since Paladin already has smites and Warlocks don't have enough slots to make the eldritch smite work that well IMO plus you might decide to not go pact of the blade. You could also maybe just do 2/3 Paladin levels instead and look at it in the opposite direction since this still gives you access to some solid low level defensive spells as well as heavy armor, shields, and Divine Smite. This way you can focus moreso on the Warlock aspects and be more of a caster type.
Conquest also isn't the best Oath mechanically for this build anyway, though what is best depends on whether you are building up to 7th level paladin. Oath of Devotion is better if you are only dipping, since the Channel Divinity bonus to hit basically means you are doubling your Charisma bonus on your attack rolls (amazing). Oath of conquest on the other hand, while not terrible, I wouldn't say is that good Channel Divinity wise, and the spell selection's only real stand out is spiritual weapon, which you only reach after 5 levels of paladin and at that point you should just plan around hitting paladin 7, in which case it's aura is pretty meh. Oath of Heroism is a standout if you think you'll hit 7, with a decent enough Channel Divinity option for crit range, and the ability to hand out temp health to allies or force fear checks semi regularly is awesome. Oath of the Ancients is another more defensive standout, since while the Channel Divinity isn't as good the spell selection has some nice utility in it and resistance to all spell damage is awesome.
I'm also slightly confused by your smite calculations since you say use a 5th level slot, but you only get 3rd with this since spell slot scaling is only 5 levels from both, Warlock scales completely separately from other casters due to the short rest reset on the slots. Paladin also only gets their second level slots at 5th level. This gets covered in the multiclassing section of the PHB
I think this is pretty solid - Hexblade is almost "middle ground" between PotB Warlock and Paladin, with the armor, shields, and weapons proficiencies that are NOT a part of Warlock, and getting Smites that were on the Paladin spell list. So, combo-ing Paladin and Hexblade should give you a lot of great melee damage, with healing and other spell assistance, both in combat and apart from it.
I just got done playing a dark, chaotic Tiefling Hexblade, so I'm going to go for a light, good Aasimar Celestial Padlock now.
So question for anyone here, why dual wield at all with a padlock? You still can't add the modifier on the bonus action attack right? Wouldn't it just make sense to wield a twohanded weapon while using your bonus action for spiritual weapon?
This doesn't work like that... you are multiclass paladin level 5 and warlock level 5 at this point in your build.
As a level 5 paladin you don't have access to 3rd level spells you have 4 slot of level 1 and 2 slot of level 2 spell.
And as a level 5 warlock you get 2 slots for spell up to level 3.
So your spiritual sword at level 4 isn't possible. (Not yet at least). Since the maximum spell slot you have are level 3 twice....
Same thing for your Eldritch smite with level 5 spell slot.... you don't have access to this level of spell slots only level 3 from your warlock.
You could Eldritch and Divine for a 3rd level spell but then you are out of level 3 spells