You can’t frontline without STR and AC — you’ll get shut down fast.
You keep saying you’ve tested, but your tests don’t cover every scenario. It feels like you just roll dice and ignore complex, dynamic situations, focusing only on straightforward, linear ones.
In a single round, I could easily grapple or knock you prone. You’d lose concentration, and by the second turn, you’d be gone.
Even back in the 2014 version, I would always switch to a shield and play defensively to survive when fighting alongside a front-line Fighter.
the UA hexblade as compared to other subclasses provides.
more ability to frontline (accursed shield + armor of hexes, unyielding will) (only fiend comes close, but by level 10 resistance to one damage type per SR isnt going to be more than -10 damage taken per round, and unyielding will allows you to maintain concentration when unlucky while giving temp Hp.
more damage while frontlining, (unyielding will crits on 19)
better ability to debuff a target:( hindering curse)
damage even while casting with an action (harrowing hex)
excelent ability to stay close, (inescapable hex) that requires no reaction/action or spell cost.
and a bunch of spells that arent normally on the warlock list that work well with this type of play: (every spell except hex, is a new spell to the warlock list)
for a martial leaning charachter, the other subclasses are not ideal.
The big factor is that martial charachters want spells that still allow them to use attack actions, and capitilize off their martial attacks, and damage buffs. so the hexblade spell list, which is almost all non action using casting, other than conjure barrage which is worth giving up attack actions with enough enemies, steel wind strike, which is also worth it with multiple enemies and synergizes with on hit damage buffs, like hex/bestow/shroud. Is kind of a big deal, along with harrowing hex which allows you a no cost BA attack when you cast spells.
unyielding will, which can save concentration, provide temp HP and deals damage to targets in melee range with you with no action cost is also hard to match for a martial build.
As far as multiclassing, you arent better than a pure hexblade because every level is a big deal until like level 14. your pld dip gives you +5% defense (only sometimes) divine favor, 2 masteries, and 2 spell slots. but thats not really objectively better than;
level 11, 3 spells per SR (and 2 spells with magical cunning) level 6 spells,
level 12 ASI invocation
level 13 level 7 spells
level 14, 19 crit, aoe damage and debuff in melee, but most importantly, one hexblades curse per SR
level 15 level 8 spells invocation
level 16, asi
I tested hexblades side by side, two with dips, and 2 without. the dipping classes had nice things, like mastery, free con proficiency, second wind, But the pure hexblade gets a huge boost from spell level. there is a huge difference between 5 level 1 spells, and 5 level 2 spells, and 5 level 3 spells in terms of power. And the other levels have milestones which add a lot, like invocations, ability scores, or feats. They werent objectively weaker than pure warlock, but they werent objectively better either.
perhaps level 2. thats about it.
id also say, for martial leaning charachters, while 15-16 provides big power, it might nit be the type of power you want, but level 17 is huge (foresight and 4 spells per SR)
Accursed shield is a bad fix for AC. +2 is bad enough also a value but you also have two restrictions in top of it being a poor defensive buff: have to be within 10ft of a specific target and only works while not wearing armor which means it forces you to take armor of shadows which is a bad invocation which you don't want anyway. Armor of hexes is also a poor feature especially at level 10: reducing 10 dmg from one attack coming from a specific target as a reaction (meaning only once per turn at a stage of the game where enemies are attacking multiple times) is nothing to write home about.
crit on a 19 comes in way too late, it should be part of the basic hexbaldes curse.
unyielding will is a nice feature but its only one use per long rest which is too few. It should refresh on a short rest.
hindering curse only works for you allies except for in some very niche cases so its dependent on your team and does not grant you any personal benefits.
harrowing hex is not that great on a class that only has 2 spell slot for moat of its career and using those spell slots to sometimes cast bonus action spells such as spirit shroud or animate objects (takes action to casts and bonus action to command) so realistically you aren’t getting much use out of it if any.
inescapable hex is not terrible but it triggers attacks of opportunity so in certain cases it might be unusable or too risky to use with your poor AC which the subclass itself does not fix.
new spells: thats what the expanded spell list exists for. Its not really something out of the ordinary and the spell list itself is good, not fantastic but with that said, the spell list is probably the best and most exciting feature in the entire subclass which is not ideal to say the least.
other subclasses might not be ideal, but neither is this, it does not fix the glaring survivability issue since the defensive features are a hindrance to use and even then are poor in what the actually give and if you want to be in melee your still better off multiclassing and at that point any other subclass is better than this.
the dmg on unyielding will is negligible at level 3 and since it does not scale, it becomes useless very fast. And as I already said unyielding will is decent but only 1 use is too few and yeah the spell list is great and fun but not worth taking the subclass for it because the rest of the features are simply bad.
the level 14 feature is also laughable 3D6 dmg once per long rest and two minor features which should be part of the base hexblades curse.
multiclassing is definitely better and again if im multiclassing im dropping hexblade all together since the other subclasses grant better benefits at less of a cost. Im not sure where you are getting the 5 spells from since you only have 2 spell slots, but even so, I would rather push my features a level back bit have armor prof on top of con saves, masteries and fighting styles. With a pure hexblade you still get like a 17 AC but only if you invest in armor of shadows and be within 10 of your curse target. While I can where halfplate and take defense and be at 18 AC all the time not to mention if I get magical armor I can wear it while with the pure hexblade you are stuck without armor or have to give up 50% of your hexbaldes curse benefits.
No matter how you spin it the UA hexblade is poorly designed, there is no feature which feels remotely good to use or powerful enough compared to what you can get from other subclasses. It does not fix any of the issues bladelocks have (it tries to, but it fails to do so because the features are weak), non of the damaging features scale so they start feeling weak almost immediately and the few features you have that are not tied to the curse target are either weak/difficult to use or limited in use (unyielding will). This version is uninspired and unfortunately it shows that it had been designed by people who dont get what the hexblade is supposed to be mechanically. Its trying too hard to not be the PotB subclass while still trying to weave in some features which encourage melee weapon fighting and it juts ends up failing on all fronts.
the hexbalde needs to do 4 things:
- give warlocks good AC and defensive options that can be easily accessed and maintained so it can reliably exist in melee, either through armor and shield profs or some sort of bonus that scales with their CHA ( they gave it to draconic sorcs, genie palys and bladesinger wizards I dont see why they shouldnt give it to the frontline warlock subclass).
- restore hexbaldes curse to be as close to the original as possible meaning improved crit, healing on kill and se sort kf a dmg boost.
- have features which combine sword and sorcery like they gave other gish subclasses and lean more into the melee weapon fighting power fantasy without being afraid it will end up the default PotB pick, it is supposed to be.
- lastly it should not be fully dependent on the hexblades curse. Its ok to have some features which work on the cursed target but it needs to have features which can also stand on their own. Being able to function only against one target is neither fun nor satisfying to play ( something which the original hexblade suffered from but hex warrior and hexblades curse where powerful enough to make this issue be negligible).
You can’t frontline without STR and AC — you’ll get shut down fast.
You keep saying you’ve tested, but your tests don’t cover every scenario. It feels like you just roll dice and ignore complex, dynamic situations, focusing only on straightforward, linear ones.
In a single round, I could easily grapple or knock you prone. You’d lose concentration, and by the second turn, you’d be gone.
Even back in the 2014 version, I would always switch to a shield and play defensively to survive when fighting alongside a front-line Fighter.
Now imagine doing all that without AC…
Agreed. Except you don’t necessarily need STR. With 14 DEX you can wear a half plate which is only 1 AC short of a fullplate.
The reason I keep saying I would prefer a feature which boosts your AC that scales with CHA is because it would allow the warlock to go pure hexblade and not feel bad about its defences. If it was something like add CHA modifier to AC while not wearing armor I would be happy to take armor of shadows, but for a measly +2 im just gonna start fighter and not even bother trying.
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You can’t frontline without STR and AC — you’ll get shut down fast.
You keep saying you’ve tested, but your tests don’t cover every scenario. It feels like you just roll dice and ignore complex, dynamic situations, focusing only on straightforward, linear ones.
In a single round, I could easily grapple or knock you prone. You’d lose concentration, and by the second turn, you’d be gone.
Even back in the 2014 version, I would always switch to a shield and play defensively to survive when fighting alongside a front-line Fighter.
Now imagine doing all that without AC…
Accursed shield is a bad fix for AC. +2 is bad enough also a value but you also have two restrictions in top of it being a poor defensive buff: have to be within 10ft of a specific target and only works while not wearing armor which means it forces you to take armor of shadows which is a bad invocation which you don't want anyway. Armor of hexes is also a poor feature especially at level 10: reducing 10 dmg from one attack coming from a specific target as a reaction (meaning only once per turn at a stage of the game where enemies are attacking multiple times) is nothing to write home about.
crit on a 19 comes in way too late, it should be part of the basic hexbaldes curse.
unyielding will is a nice feature but its only one use per long rest which is too few. It should refresh on a short rest.
hindering curse only works for you allies except for in some very niche cases so its dependent on your team and does not grant you any personal benefits.
harrowing hex is not that great on a class that only has 2 spell slot for moat of its career and using those spell slots to sometimes cast bonus action spells such as spirit shroud or animate objects (takes action to casts and bonus action to command) so realistically you aren’t getting much use out of it if any.
inescapable hex is not terrible but it triggers attacks of opportunity so in certain cases it might be unusable or too risky to use with your poor AC which the subclass itself does not fix.
new spells: thats what the expanded spell list exists for. Its not really something out of the ordinary and the spell list itself is good, not fantastic but with that said, the spell list is probably the best and most exciting feature in the entire subclass which is not ideal to say the least.
other subclasses might not be ideal, but neither is this, it does not fix the glaring survivability issue since the defensive features are a hindrance to use and even then are poor in what the actually give and if you want to be in melee your still better off multiclassing and at that point any other subclass is better than this.
the dmg on unyielding will is negligible at level 3 and since it does not scale, it becomes useless very fast. And as I already said unyielding will is decent but only 1 use is too few and yeah the spell list is great and fun but not worth taking the subclass for it because the rest of the features are simply bad.
the level 14 feature is also laughable 3D6 dmg once per long rest and two minor features which should be part of the base hexblades curse.
multiclassing is definitely better and again if im multiclassing im dropping hexblade all together since the other subclasses grant better benefits at less of a cost. Im not sure where you are getting the 5 spells from since you only have 2 spell slots, but even so, I would rather push my features a level back bit have armor prof on top of con saves, masteries and fighting styles. With a pure hexblade you still get like a 17 AC but only if you invest in armor of shadows and be within 10 of your curse target. While I can where halfplate and take defense and be at 18 AC all the time not to mention if I get magical armor I can wear it while with the pure hexblade you are stuck without armor or have to give up 50% of your hexbaldes curse benefits.
No matter how you spin it the UA hexblade is poorly designed, there is no feature which feels remotely good to use or powerful enough compared to what you can get from other subclasses. It does not fix any of the issues bladelocks have (it tries to, but it fails to do so because the features are weak), non of the damaging features scale so they start feeling weak almost immediately and the few features you have that are not tied to the curse target are either weak/difficult to use or limited in use (unyielding will). This version is uninspired and unfortunately it shows that it had been designed by people who dont get what the hexblade is supposed to be mechanically. Its trying too hard to not be the PotB subclass while still trying to weave in some features which encourage melee weapon fighting and it juts ends up failing on all fronts.
the hexbalde needs to do 4 things:
- give warlocks good AC and defensive options that can be easily accessed and maintained so it can reliably exist in melee, either through armor and shield profs or some sort of bonus that scales with their CHA ( they gave it to draconic sorcs, genie palys and bladesinger wizards I dont see why they shouldnt give it to the frontline warlock subclass).
- restore hexbaldes curse to be as close to the original as possible meaning improved crit, healing on kill and se sort kf a dmg boost.
- have features which combine sword and sorcery like they gave other gish subclasses and lean more into the melee weapon fighting power fantasy without being afraid it will end up the default PotB pick, it is supposed to be.
- lastly it should not be fully dependent on the hexblades curse. Its ok to have some features which work on the cursed target but it needs to have features which can also stand on their own. Being able to function only against one target is neither fun nor satisfying to play ( something which the original hexblade suffered from but hex warrior and hexblades curse where powerful enough to make this issue be negligible).
Agreed. Except you don’t necessarily need STR. With 14 DEX you can wear a half plate which is only 1 AC short of a fullplate.
The reason I keep saying I would prefer a feature which boosts your AC that scales with CHA is because it would allow the warlock to go pure hexblade and not feel bad about its defences. If it was something like add CHA modifier to AC while not wearing armor I would be happy to take armor of shadows, but for a measly +2 im just gonna start fighter and not even bother trying.