Thoughts on the new 2025 UA Hexblade? In my opinion, this design is a step backward compared to the previous version, with a bonus on saving throws between attacks, which often results in negligible damage and makes the fight takes longer.
Just read through it—what do you all think?
Here’s my take:
Weaker Spell List – No more Cone of Cold or Animate Objects? What is going on…
Lower Damage Output – Hexblade’s Curse is no longer available at level 1 (or even level 3)? Now we have to wait until level 14?
Weaker Survivability – The healing is worse, and Armor of Hex’s damage mitigation is completely gone. Seriously?
Underwhelming Capstone – Masterful Hex is just a rehash of a 3rd-level feature. Really disappointing.
A Bunch of Saving Throws between attacks, which not only slows down combat but often results in negligible damage. This shift diminishes the subclass's effectiveness and disrupts the flow of gameplay.
And on top of that: no medium armor or shield proficiency anymore?
I hate to say it, but these changes are some of the worst design decisions I’ve seen for such a beloved subclass. What a letdown.
What I was hoping for instead:
Minor tweaks to the spell list—just some refinement.
Hexblade’s Curse integrated into the Hex spell for better synergy.
A thematic and powerful summoned companion when I slay a creature.
A martial identity: wielding weapons and medium armor, with access to Fighting Style feats.
A truly cool milestone feature at level 14 that turns cursed enemies’ lives into nightmares.
A buffed Pact of the Blade for Hexblades, similar to how Baldur’s Gate 3 handled it.
Hexblade Spells: The always prepared part was pretty much an assumption, but is an overall welcome change in 5.24, at least to me. I don't understand what the hell Dispel Magic is doing on that list at all, though I don't really have a problem with Cone of Cold being missing. Honestly, outside of Dispel Magic, I kind of like it, at least if it was still designed as a melee class, which it's not (but that's a separate discussion). (Contrary to your post, Animate Objects remains on the list, though with Concentration being needed for Hex, it's less relevant anyway.)
Hexblade Manifest:
Hexblade's Curse: Honestly, instead of it's own curse with its own rules that needs an extra bonus action on top of Hex, this is a good new ability. That said, it needs to come with a bonus to Concentration saves or Constitution save proficiency, as a subclass based ENTIRELY around a Concentration spell needs to be better than "no proficiency in Constitution saving throws" at maintaining that Concentration - the OPTION of Eldritch Mind invocation or War Caster feat are not enough, subclasses shouldn't force optional choices to work. (My thought - add Charisma bonus to Concentration saves only.)
Hexblade's Maneuvers:
Draining Slash - Interesting tactically, but I don't think it's broken. Even on non-proficient saves, Con is rarely a monster dump stat.
Harrowing Blade - A soft taunt is an absolutely crappy ability on a character that can't wear better than light armor, period
Stymying Mark - Like Draining Slash, very interesting tactically, but I don't think it's broken, even for something so repeatable
Life Stealer:
Hunger Hex - The balance on this gets weird depending on the number of creatures in combat, but overall, considering the d8 light armor user, probably not entirely broken (I don't actually think this counts as weaker healing than the original Hexblade, because Hexblade's Curse couldn't be transferred, Hex can, which means this is repeatable in a way Hexblade's Curse's healing was not)
Inevitable Blade - It's just flavored Graze, I'd rather they just give weapon masteries
Armor of Hexes: It's the monk's Deflect Attack less times per day at a higher level gained; This is a crap 10th level Subclass ability as written
Masterful Hex:
Accursed Critical: This should have been the 10th level ability, at the absolute latest (and really should have been much earlier). An expanded crit range on one target is NOT a subclass capstone, even part of one. The Champion Fighter has been doing it on all weapon attacks since level 3.
Infectious Hex: It's a start of a capstone, but not what it should be; honestly, this should just let Hex affect two targets within 30 feet of each other at casting, with the ability to move either on death separately.
Resilient Hex: Not bad as part of a capstone if it was part of a build up, but if this is the ONLY Concentration check benefit this subclass is getting, it needs to be at level 6 at the latest.
Additional thoughts: Where the hell are the armor/weapon proficiencies? Admittedly, Pact of the Blade makes weapon proficiency less relevant, but no reason for it to be removed. They're leaning into the powerful sentient weapon idea while removing the ability to competently use a weapon that they should be leaning into. Hell, give Hex Weapon back. Sure, it overlaps with Pact weapon, but then folks could dual-wield their magically granted weaponry. Overall, it's such a huge thematic departure it shouldn't be called the Hexblade any more (seriously, most current Hexblades literally couldn't function in combat if updating to this - if I had to update to this Hexblade I'd be rolling a new character) and is a gigantic failure in design. If this is even close to what we end up with, I'm praying my DM will let me keep using your Shadowfell Hexblade variant instead.
I am wondering if they just forgot to include the weapon proficiencies, since the removal thereof is not mentioned in the updates sidebar, and most of those have been pretty good about pointing out proficiency changes.
The lack of armor training and weapons proficiency is an unforgiveable oversight or choice.
Weapons proficiency is fairly unnecessary- PotB already gives prof with the pact weapon. Regarding armor, Armor of Shadows is about even in performance- 2 points less static AC than the highest medium armor, but no DEX ceiling so you can gain ground later on. It’s not even much of an Invocation tax at the new progression- at level 5 you have 5 invocations and there’s 3 PotB specific invocations available.
And that assumes they’re actually trying to make this iteration a gish subclass, which I doubt. You can’t really do that coherently for Warlocks since all the core pieces of it are optional core class features.
I like the direction, but there are a couple of big problems to me:
- Basing entire subclass on a concentration spell severely limits other spell options, it should either have a feature around level 6 allowing it to be cast without concentration for 1 or 10 minutes, or make an exception clause to allow 2 concentration spells to be up at once specifically when one of them is Hex.
- lack of any way to boost AC to encourage melee fighting. Without the armor and shield proficiencies, or at least some form of an AC boost there is no reason for Hexblade warlocks to ever actually go into melee range.
- kinda connects to point 2: no Blade in HexBLADE. Every single feature triggers off any attack roll, and that alongside the once per turn limit means there is yet again no reason to use a weapon over just Eldritch Blasting.
- level 14 feature comes in way too late, it's like they overcompensated for how frontloaded 2014 Hexblade was, and completely ignored the fact this issue was already mostly solved by moving subclass to level 3.
Other than that I actually really like the versatility and direction, so if they could address these issues I would be very excited for the update.
Regarding these changes, they make interesting Warlock subclass that looks like is all about debuffing/cursing your enemies. It has a lot of problems especialy overreliance on Hex witch will eat your concentraion (similar problem as Rangers have with Hunters mark). The main problem is in my opinion that this should just be seperate subclass and not Hexblade. Without weapon proficiencies, and especialy no shields or medium armor it would be suicide to try to go into melee (at least without multiclassing for armor/shield prof.) and God forbid trying to use the taunt option on the Hex. The old gish playstyle is basicly not possible with these changes.
What was I hoping they would change/add while keeping the gish identity:
- Weapon masteries - I think at least one weapon mastery would really fit here and its just no-brainer, maybe not being able to chose witch one do you know but just knowing the one of your Hexblade weapon. I would love two masteries known because of my next point:
- Dual wielding - If they kept Hex warrior, it would be possible to have 2 weapons witch both use Charisma for ther attack and dmg rolls (one from subclass and one form Pact weapon). I don't feel like this is overpowered (maybe with exeption of Paladin multiclass) and it would just fill some people's fantasy. This could become overpowered if we somehow kept the expanded crit range from Hexblade's curse.
- Bladesinger style extra attack - I don't really know how I would incomporate this since Warlocks don't get regular Extra attack and one needs to take Thirsting blade, but maybe just adding it as an optional invocation (with prerequisite of Thirsting blade) would be a very nice option, since now even Valor Bards have this. This would also make Grasp of Hadar invocation way more usefull since it could be used to pull enemies closer and then still attack with melee weapon on the same turn.
- Hexblade's curse - I agree that this needed to change in some ways, at minimum making it possible to cast it multiple times before needing to rest. Other possibility is what they tried to do here by modifing Hex spell but main problem would still be concentration. This could be solved by letting us cast it once per short rest without needing concentration, but only lasting 1 minute. The expanded crit range is nice but it would maybe be good to add at 6th level.
I understand that if all of these were added it would probably be very overpowered so maybe just adding two of them would be enough.
My final thoughts: If you want to play Bladelock with the new rules just pick Archfey if you want to be Nightcrawler and teleport all over the place or pick Fiend since he now gets temp. hp if he is close to someone dying not just if he kills them, this makes him good at tanking more and is more efective if you are in melee. If you want to make it stronger just start as Paladin/Fighter for weapon masteries and proficiencies with martial weapons, medium/heavy armor and shields. Both are good and it just depends weather you want some holy magic or just raw martial potential.
Regarding these changes, they make interesting Warlock subclass that looks like is all about debuffing/cursing your enemies. It has a lot of problems especialy overreliance on Hex witch will eat your concentraion (similar problem as Rangers have with Hunters mark). The main problem is in my opinion that this should just be seperate subclass and not Hexblade. Without weapon proficiencies, and especialy no shields or medium armor it would be suicide to try to go into melee (at least without multiclassing for armor/shield prof.) and God forbid trying to use the taunt option on the Hex. The old gish playstyle is basicly not possible with these changes.
What was I hoping they would change/add while keeping the gish identity:
- Weapon masteries - I think at least one weapon mastery would really fit here and its just no-brainer, maybe not being able to chose witch one do you know but just knowing the one of your Hexblade weapon. I would love two masteries known because of my next point:
- Dual wielding - If they kept Hex warrior, it would be possible to have 2 weapons witch both use Charisma for ther attack and dmg rolls (one from subclass and one form Pact weapon). I don't feel like this is overpowered (maybe with exeption of Paladin multiclass) and it would just fill some people's fantasy. This could become overpowered if we somehow kept the expanded crit range from Hexblade's curse.
- Bladesinger style extra attack - I don't really know how I would incomporate this since Warlocks don't get regular Extra attack and one needs to take Thirsting blade, but maybe just adding it as an optional invocation (with prerequisite of Thirsting blade) would be a very nice option, since now even Valor Bards have this. This would also make Grasp of Hadar invocation way more usefull since it could be used to pull enemies closer and then still attack with melee weapon on the same turn.
- Hexblade's curse - I agree that this needed to change in some ways, at minimum making it possible to cast it multiple times before needing to rest. Other possibility is what they tried to do here by modifing Hex spell but main problem would still be concentration. This could be solved by letting us cast it once per short rest without needing concentration, but only lasting 1 minute. The expanded crit range is nice but it would maybe be good to add at 6th level.
I understand that if all of these were added it would probably be very overpowered so maybe just adding two of them would be enough.
My final thoughts: If you want to play Bladelock with the new rules just pick Archfey if you want to be Nightcrawler and teleport all over the place or pick Fiend since he now gets temp. hp if he is close to someone dying not just if he kills them, this makes him good at tanking more and is more efective if you are in melee. If you want to make it stronger just start as Paladin/Fighter for weapon masteries and proficiencies with martial weapons, medium/heavy armor and shields. Both are good and it just depends weather you want some holy magic or just raw martial potential.
As a magic action: Cast a touch spell and have it delivered with a Pact of the Blade pact weapon attack -- Do weapon damage and spell damage with one attack -Maybe a caviot to not be able to R. Smite if using this action.
I also like the changes, given that there is so much flexibility with invocations now and it felt like most of what made hexblade great had already largely been absorbed into the invocations and its own subclass abilities competed with the base class too much. Feels like you can largely get to where you were at with true strike, pact of the blade, eldritch mind etc. Where the ball was mostly dropped was on moderately armored losing shield training since you can get quite a few feat like invocations (ie, eldritch mind instead of warcaster). Really forces a fighter dip for shields and medium armor, but not that big of deal since the changes to fighter are also pretty great.
Conjure Barrage is really, really good in this edition and it plays the role of Cone of cold, I'd say, and you get it much earlier. For a character that could be played as a melee caster I honestly like it even better that fireball since iirc it does not have friendly fire. And since you get castings of hexes for free you might get away casting a lot of barrages.
I agree that all the extra saving throws will slow down combat, but in principle I like them and by sixth level you kinda get the Cleave proficiency, which while oh so boring statistically is not bad
Lack of shield proficiency is the bummer, the change to heavy weapon master make it harder to be SAD and while the specter was not good it was really cool.
Without going into a lot of details, since everyone else already has, I have to say, I'm VERY disappointed in this proposed re-work. They've kind of neutered the subclass here. One thing I didn't see mentioned when glancing through the comments, though, is that the target of Hex now has a little sword (or whatever weapon) dancing around their heads? WTF. . .
A quick blend of what they were trying to do and the 2014 version.
LEVEL 3: HEXBLADE SPELLS
The magic of your patron ensures you always have certain spells ready; when you reach a Warlock level specified in the Hexblade Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared.
Your patron grants you the power to summon cursed echoes of its blade to hinder your foes. You gain the following benefits.
Hexblade’s Curse. You can cast Hex without expending a spell slot a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest. When you cast Hex, a spectral weapon resembling your patron orbits the cursed target.
Hexblade’s Maneuvers. Once per turn, when you hit a target cursed by your Hex with an attack roll, you can cause one of these additional effects:
-Draining Slash. The target makes a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the target can’t make Opportunity Attacks and its Speed is halved until the start of your next turn. -Harrowing Blade. The target makes a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the next time the target makes an attack roll against a creature other than you before the start of your next turn, the target takes Necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier. -Stymying Mark. The target has Disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes before the start of your next turn.
Hex Warrior. You gain proficiency with medium armor, shields, and martial weapons. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch one weapon that you are proficient with and create a bond with it. When you attack with that weapon, you can use your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls. When you attack with the weapon if target is cursed(affected by Bestow Curse, Hex, or etc) the weapon will critically hit on a roll of 19 or 20. This benefit lasts until you finish a long rest.
LEVEL 6: Accursed Specter
Whenever the target of your Hex drops to 0hp you may use your reaction to cast Summon Undead without expending a Spell Slot or requiring concentration. The spell lasts for 1 minute and the summoned undead always take the ghostly form when cast this way. The spell ends if you cast it again. You may use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and regain all expended uses when you complete a long rest.
LEVEL 10: ARMOR OF HEXES
When you take damage from the cursed target of your Hex, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage taken by an amount equal to 2d8 plus your Charisma modifier and cause the attacker to take necrotic damage equal to half the damage you reduced rounded down. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.
LEVEL 14: MASTERFUL HEX
Your patron’s accursed might flows even more strongly through you, granting the following benefits.
Hungering Hex. Whenever the target cursed by your Hex drops to 0 Hit Points, you regain Hit Points equal to the target's CR(or level) rounded down plus your Charisma modifier.
Infectious Hex. When you use one of your Hexblade’s Maneuvers, you can target one additional creature within 30 feet of the cursed target. The additional target takes 1d6 Necrotic damage.
Resilient Hex. Taking damage can’t break your Concentration on Hex.
Torturous Hex. The target of your Hex has disadvantage on all ability checks.
So here's my commentary on this. This is a poor man's version of the 3.5 Hexblade class instead of a revised Hexblade Patron. The old Hexblade class did do a fair amount of curses and debuffing as its gameplan. I'd have said this is more of a Hex Warrior, but that implies that this should've been its own class.
Instead, I suggest we think of this less as a Hexblade Warlock and more of a Living Curse Warlock. It's clear that they forgot some of their older explanations for how or why a sapient weapon would be a Warlock patron, and their video explaining that the changes to the base Warlock left them confused certainly hammers that home. The features we've seen already feel like the patron is a Living Curse, perhaps something left behind by a long dead witch or a hag coven. Maybe even a collection of malevolent spirits that inhabit a region. The only thing they should probably rework to make this more acceptable as a horror themed subclass is the spell list. We should go all in on a Curse themed Warlock. Bane, Bestow Curse, Contagion, etc. Stuff like Animate Objects still work, as they could be played off as the creepy dolls coming to life or something.
That said, I think I'll have to remember when the survey comes up to just say no to this as the Hexblade. It isn't, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise.
I'm not seeing the medium armor prof, but as I said Armor of Shadows covers a lot of the same field.
That's because Pact of the Blade does not grant any kind of armor training:
As a Bonus Action, you can conjure a pact weapon in your hand—a Simple or Martial Melee weapon of your choice with which you bond—or create a bond with a magic weapon you touch; you can’t bond with a magic weapon if someone else is attuned to it or another Warlock is bonded with it. Until the bond ends, you have proficiency with the weapon, and you can use it as a Spellcasting Focus.
Whenever you attack with the bonded weapon, you can use your Charisma modifier for the attack and damage rolls instead of using Strength or Dexterity; and you can cause the weapon to deal Necrotic, Psychic, or Radiant damage or its normal damage type.
Your bond with the weapon ends if you use this feature’s Bonus Action again, if the weapon is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more, or if you die. A conjured weapon disappears when the bond ends.
And I strongly disagree about Armor of Shadows being just as good. My 2014 Hexblade has a 19 armor class with medium armor and a shield. It's going to be pretty unusual for someone to give their Warlock an 18 or 19 dexterity, when CHA and CON (not to mention INT and WIS) are likely going to serve them better.
So here's my commentary on this. This is a poor man's version of the 3.5 Hexblade class instead of a revised Hexblade Patron. The old Hexblade class did do a fair amount of curses and debuffing as its gameplan. I'd have said this is more of a Hex Warrior, but that implies that this should've been its own class.
Instead, I suggest we think of this less as a Hexblade Warlock and more of a Living Curse Warlock. It's clear that they forgot some of their older explanations for how or why a sapient weapon would be a Warlock patron, and their video explaining that the changes to the base Warlock left them confused certainly hammers that home. The features we've seen already feel like the patron is a Living Curse, perhaps something left behind by a long dead witch or a hag coven. Maybe even a collection of malevolent spirits that inhabit a region. The only thing they should probably rework to make this more acceptable as a horror themed subclass is the spell list. We should go all in on a Curse themed Warlock. Bane, Bestow Curse, Contagion, etc. Stuff like Animate Objects still work, as they could be played off as the creepy dolls coming to life or something.
That said, I think I'll have to remember when the survey comes up to just say no to this as the Hexblade. It isn't, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise.
the issue is much of hexblade is baseline now. IE you can use invocations to make a hexblade(mostly)
So they are making 'hexblade' a subclass focused on improving attack rolls.
point being is no matter what hexblade wasnt going to be the same, it would be somewhat redundant if it was
Really, the biggest thing here is that they're making this subclass more of a glass cannon, or at least encouraged to lean into offense. It encourages the use of Hex for boosted damage and secondary effects, which at 6th level includes a healing effect whenever a Hexed enemy dies. Plus they've got Arcane Vigor for self-healing as a bonus action. Stacking AC boosted beyond the typical caster range would probably give them too much staying power.
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Thoughts on the new 2025 UA Hexblade? In my opinion, this design is a step backward compared to the previous version, with a bonus on saving throws between attacks, which often results in negligible damage and makes the fight takes longer.
Just read through it—what do you all think?
Here’s my take:
Weaker Spell List – No more Cone of Cold or Animate Objects? What is going on…
Lower Damage Output – Hexblade’s Curse is no longer available at level 1 (or even level 3)? Now we have to wait until level 14?
Weaker Survivability – The healing is worse, and Armor of Hex’s damage mitigation is completely gone. Seriously?
Underwhelming Capstone – Masterful Hex is just a rehash of a 3rd-level feature. Really disappointing.
And on top of that: no medium armor or shield proficiency anymore?
I hate to say it, but these changes are some of the worst design decisions I’ve seen for such a beloved subclass. What a letdown.
What I was hoping for instead:
Minor tweaks to the spell list—just some refinement.
Hexblade’s Curse integrated into the Hex spell for better synergy.
A thematic and powerful summoned companion when I slay a creature.
A martial identity: wielding weapons and medium armor, with access to Fighting Style feats.
A truly cool milestone feature at level 14 that turns cursed enemies’ lives into nightmares.
A buffed Pact of the Blade for Hexblades, similar to how Baldur’s Gate 3 handled it.
HEXBLADE feature does not need a BLADE (or weapon)
Draining Slash + E.Blast with Repelling Blast. Half target movement if fail a con save and pushed away.
The lack of armor training and weapons proficiency is an unforgiveable oversight or choice.
Weapons proficiency is fairly unnecessary- PotB already gives prof with the pact weapon. Regarding armor, Armor of Shadows is about even in performance- 2 points less static AC than the highest medium armor, but no DEX ceiling so you can gain ground later on. It’s not even much of an Invocation tax at the new progression- at level 5 you have 5 invocations and there’s 3 PotB specific invocations available.
And that assumes they’re actually trying to make this iteration a gish subclass, which I doubt. You can’t really do that coherently for Warlocks since all the core pieces of it are optional core class features.
My opinion:
I like the direction, but there are a couple of big problems to me:
- Basing entire subclass on a concentration spell severely limits other spell options, it should either have a feature around level 6 allowing it to be cast without concentration for 1 or 10 minutes, or make an exception clause to allow 2 concentration spells to be up at once specifically when one of them is Hex.
- lack of any way to boost AC to encourage melee fighting. Without the armor and shield proficiencies, or at least some form of an AC boost there is no reason for Hexblade warlocks to ever actually go into melee range.
- kinda connects to point 2: no Blade in HexBLADE. Every single feature triggers off any attack roll, and that alongside the once per turn limit means there is yet again no reason to use a weapon over just Eldritch Blasting.
- level 14 feature comes in way too late, it's like they overcompensated for how frontloaded 2014 Hexblade was, and completely ignored the fact this issue was already mostly solved by moving subclass to level 3.
Other than that I actually really like the versatility and direction, so if they could address these issues I would be very excited for the update.
With a few levels in Sorcerer, you can use a meta magic option to make the duration 2 Minutes with Bonus to Concentration saves
There is no BLADE in HexBLADE anymore.
Regarding these changes, they make interesting Warlock subclass that looks like is all about debuffing/cursing your enemies. It has a lot of problems especialy overreliance on Hex witch will eat your concentraion (similar problem as Rangers have with Hunters mark). The main problem is in my opinion that this should just be seperate subclass and not Hexblade. Without weapon proficiencies, and especialy no shields or medium armor it would be suicide to try to go into melee (at least without multiclassing for armor/shield prof.) and God forbid trying to use the taunt option on the Hex. The old gish playstyle is basicly not possible with these changes.
What was I hoping they would change/add while keeping the gish identity:
- Weapon masteries - I think at least one weapon mastery would really fit here and its just no-brainer, maybe not being able to chose witch one do you know but just knowing the one of your Hexblade weapon. I would love two masteries known because of my next point:
- Dual wielding - If they kept Hex warrior, it would be possible to have 2 weapons witch both use Charisma for ther attack and dmg rolls (one from subclass and one form Pact weapon). I don't feel like this is overpowered (maybe with exeption of Paladin multiclass) and it would just fill some people's fantasy. This could become overpowered if we somehow kept the expanded crit range from Hexblade's curse.
- Bladesinger style extra attack - I don't really know how I would incomporate this since Warlocks don't get regular Extra attack and one needs to take Thirsting blade, but maybe just adding it as an optional invocation (with prerequisite of Thirsting blade) would be a very nice option, since now even Valor Bards have this. This would also make Grasp of Hadar invocation way more usefull since it could be used to pull enemies closer and then still attack with melee weapon on the same turn.
- Hexblade's curse - I agree that this needed to change in some ways, at minimum making it possible to cast it multiple times before needing to rest. Other possibility is what they tried to do here by modifing Hex spell but main problem would still be concentration. This could be solved by letting us cast it once per short rest without needing concentration, but only lasting 1 minute. The expanded crit range is nice but it would maybe be good to add at 6th level.
I understand that if all of these were added it would probably be very overpowered so maybe just adding two of them would be enough.
My final thoughts: If you want to play Bladelock with the new rules just pick Archfey if you want to be Nightcrawler and teleport all over the place or pick Fiend since he now gets temp. hp if he is close to someone dying not just if he kills them, this makes him good at tanking more and is more efective if you are in melee. If you want to make it stronger just start as Paladin/Fighter for weapon masteries and proficiencies with martial weapons, medium/heavy armor and shields. Both are good and it just depends weather you want some holy magic or just raw martial potential.
As a magic action: Cast a touch spell and have it delivered with a Pact of the Blade pact weapon attack -- Do weapon damage and spell damage with one attack -Maybe a caviot to not be able to R. Smite if using this action.
I also like the changes, given that there is so much flexibility with invocations now and it felt like most of what made hexblade great had already largely been absorbed into the invocations and its own subclass abilities competed with the base class too much. Feels like you can largely get to where you were at with true strike, pact of the blade, eldritch mind etc. Where the ball was mostly dropped was on moderately armored losing shield training since you can get quite a few feat like invocations (ie, eldritch mind instead of warcaster). Really forces a fighter dip for shields and medium armor, but not that big of deal since the changes to fighter are also pretty great.
Conjure Barrage is really, really good in this edition and it plays the role of Cone of cold, I'd say, and you get it much earlier.
For a character that could be played as a melee caster I honestly like it even better that fireball since iirc it does not have friendly fire.
And since you get castings of hexes for free you might get away casting a lot of barrages.
I agree that all the extra saving throws will slow down combat, but in principle I like them and by sixth level you kinda get the Cleave proficiency, which while oh so boring statistically is not bad
Lack of shield proficiency is the bummer, the change to heavy weapon master make it harder to be SAD and while the specter was not good it was really cool.
Without going into a lot of details, since everyone else already has, I have to say, I'm VERY disappointed in this proposed re-work. They've kind of neutered the subclass here. One thing I didn't see mentioned when glancing through the comments, though, is that the target of Hex now has a little sword (or whatever weapon) dancing around their heads? WTF. . .
YES. Hexblade warlock is the only warlock who 'advertise' the target of their hex spell.
The weapon orbiting the target is when the warlock casts Hex. Not use this subclass feature but casts hex.
A quick blend of what they were trying to do and the 2014 version.
LEVEL 3: HEXBLADE SPELLS
The magic of your patron ensures you always have certain spells ready; when you reach a Warlock level specified in the Hexblade Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared.
HEXBLADE SPELLS
3 Arcane Vigor, Hex, Magic Weapon, Shield, Wrathful Smite
5 Conjure Barrage, Summon Undead
7 Freedom of Movement, Staggering Smite
9 Animate Objects, Steel Wind Strike
LEVEL 3: HEXBLADE MANIFEST
Your patron grants you the power to summon cursed echoes of its blade to hinder your foes. You gain the following benefits.
Hexblade’s Curse. You can cast Hex without expending a spell slot a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest. When you cast Hex, a spectral weapon resembling your patron orbits the cursed target.
Hexblade’s Maneuvers. Once per turn, when you hit a target cursed by your Hex with an attack roll, you can cause one of these additional effects:
-Draining Slash. The target makes a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the target can’t make Opportunity Attacks and its Speed is halved until the start of your next turn.
-Harrowing Blade. The target makes a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the next time the target makes an attack roll against a creature other than you before the start of your next turn, the target takes Necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier.
-Stymying Mark. The target has Disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes before the start of your next turn.
Hex Warrior. You gain proficiency with medium armor, shields, and martial weapons. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch one weapon that you are proficient with and create a bond with it. When you attack with that weapon, you can use your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls. When you attack with the weapon if target is cursed(affected by Bestow Curse, Hex, or etc) the weapon will critically hit on a roll of 19 or 20. This benefit lasts until you finish a long rest.
LEVEL 6: Accursed Specter
Whenever the target of your Hex drops to 0hp you may use your reaction to cast Summon Undead without expending a Spell Slot or requiring concentration. The spell lasts for 1 minute and the summoned undead always take the ghostly form when cast this way. The spell ends if you cast it again. You may use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and regain all expended uses when you complete a long rest.
LEVEL 10: ARMOR OF HEXES
When you take damage from the cursed target of your Hex, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage taken by an amount equal to 2d8 plus your Charisma modifier and cause the attacker to take necrotic damage equal to half the damage you reduced rounded down. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.
LEVEL 14: MASTERFUL HEX
Your patron’s accursed might flows even more strongly through you, granting the following benefits.
Hungering Hex. Whenever the target cursed by your Hex drops to 0 Hit Points, you regain Hit Points equal to the target's CR(or level) rounded down plus your Charisma modifier.
Infectious Hex. When you use one of your Hexblade’s Maneuvers, you can target one additional creature within 30 feet of the cursed target. The additional target takes 1d6 Necrotic damage.
Resilient Hex. Taking damage can’t break your Concentration on Hex.
Torturous Hex. The target of your Hex has disadvantage on all ability checks.
So here's my commentary on this. This is a poor man's version of the 3.5 Hexblade class instead of a revised Hexblade Patron. The old Hexblade class did do a fair amount of curses and debuffing as its gameplan. I'd have said this is more of a Hex Warrior, but that implies that this should've been its own class.
Instead, I suggest we think of this less as a Hexblade Warlock and more of a Living Curse Warlock. It's clear that they forgot some of their older explanations for how or why a sapient weapon would be a Warlock patron, and their video explaining that the changes to the base Warlock left them confused certainly hammers that home. The features we've seen already feel like the patron is a Living Curse, perhaps something left behind by a long dead witch or a hag coven. Maybe even a collection of malevolent spirits that inhabit a region. The only thing they should probably rework to make this more acceptable as a horror themed subclass is the spell list. We should go all in on a Curse themed Warlock. Bane, Bestow Curse, Contagion, etc. Stuff like Animate Objects still work, as they could be played off as the creepy dolls coming to life or something.
That said, I think I'll have to remember when the survey comes up to just say no to this as the Hexblade. It isn't, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise.
In 2024e, ALL blade pact warlocks get medium armor and automatic proficiency in their pact weapon
I'm not seeing the medium armor prof, but as I said Armor of Shadows covers a lot of the same field.
That's because Pact of the Blade does not grant any kind of armor training:
And I strongly disagree about Armor of Shadows being just as good. My 2014 Hexblade has a 19 armor class with medium armor and a shield. It's going to be pretty unusual for someone to give their Warlock an 18 or 19 dexterity, when CHA and CON (not to mention INT and WIS) are likely going to serve them better.
the issue is much of hexblade is baseline now. IE you can use invocations to make a hexblade(mostly)
So they are making 'hexblade' a subclass focused on improving attack rolls.
point being is no matter what hexblade wasnt going to be the same, it would be somewhat redundant if it was
Really, the biggest thing here is that they're making this subclass more of a glass cannon, or at least encouraged to lean into offense. It encourages the use of Hex for boosted damage and secondary effects, which at 6th level includes a healing effect whenever a Hexed enemy dies. Plus they've got Arcane Vigor for self-healing as a bonus action. Stacking AC boosted beyond the typical caster range would probably give them too much staying power.