Starting at 2nd level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal radiant damage to the target, in addition to the weapon's damage. The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum of 5d8. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an undead or a fiend, to a maximum of 6d8.
Eldritch Smite
Prerequisites: 5th level, Pact of the Blade
Once per turn when you hit a creature with your pact weapon, you can expend a warlock spell slot to deal an extra 1d8 force damage to the target, plus another 1d8 per level of the spell slot, and you can knock the target prone if it is Huge or smaller.
How to calculate Eldritch Smite damage? For 5th level Warlock have 3rd level spell slot only, is the damage is 3d8 force damage OR 1d8 force damage.
Can I use Divine Smite and Eldritch Smite on the same attack that hit?
Also note that the Warlock gets very few spells so smiting is generally not a useful thing to do with your slots.
Assuming you are only smiting on a crit:
You get it at 5th level, so 3rd level spell slot, which can be used to do 3d6 6d6 + 1/2 that healing each round via Vampiric Touch, vs a single set of 4d8 8d8+ prone.
At 7th level you are trading a Sickening Radiance (4d10 8d10 + exhaustion + no invisibility for 10 minutes all in 30 ft radius) vs a mere one shot 5d8 10d8 + prone? Yeah, not worth it except in rare circumstances (You have 1 hp left and expect to die next round then maybe.)
Paladins smite because they have enough spell slots. Warlocks, not so much. Even then, Paladins suffer from NOVA burn out - great against one big bad guy, not so good against a horde.
Also note that the Warlock gets very few spells so smiting is generally not a useful thing to do with your slots. You get it at 5th level, so 3rd level spell slot, which can be used to do 3d6 + 1/2 that healing each round via Vampiric Touch, vs a single set of 4d8 + prone.
At 7th level you are trading a Sickening Radiance (4d10 + exhaustion + no invisibility for 10 minutes all in 30 ft radius) vs a mere one shot 5d8 + prone? Yeah, not worth it except in rare circumstances (You have 1 hp left and expect to die next round then maybe.)
Small nitpick: you've got the damage wrong. That should be 8d8 and 10d8, respectively. Because you only use your Eldritch Smite when you've scored a Critical Hit. :) And yes, since they're dice, they do indeed get multiplied - same as Sneak Attack.
Also note that the Warlock gets very few spells so smiting is generally not a useful thing to do with your slots.
Assuming you are only smiting on a crit:
You get it at 5th level, so 3rd level spell slot, which can be used to do 3d6 6d6 + 1/2 that healing each round via Vampiric Touch, vs a single set of 4d8 8d8+ prone.
At 7th level you are trading a Sickening Radiance (4d10 8d10 + exhaustion + no invisibility for 10 minutes all in 30 ft radius) vs a mere one shot 5d8 10d8 + prone? Yeah, not worth it except in rare circumstances (You have 1 hp left and expect to die next round then maybe.)
Paladins smite because they have enough spell slots. Warlocks, not so much. Even then, Paladins suffer from NOVA burn out - great against one big bad guy, not so good against a horde.
Thanks for telling me that.
Down side of spell is that it can be counterspell / dispel spell and need concentration right?
I'm playing Paladin/Warlock, and most of the time I use Bless.
You get it at 5th level, so 3rd level spell slot, which can be used to do 3d6 6d6 + 1/2 that healing each round via Vampiric Touch, vs a single set of 4d8 8d8+ prone.
This is still wrong.
You cannot guarantee the Vampiric Touch will result in a critical hit. Heck, you can't guarantee it will HIT, at all, with any given attack.
You CAN guarantee you only Smite on a critical hit.
You're also forgetting that when you Smite, you're also doing your normal weapon damage. Assuming, say, a Longsword and fairly decent stats, that should be 1d8+3-ish damage. 2d8+3 when you crit.
So, Vampiric Touch is 3d6 (1-in-20 chance of 6d6), plus half that damage as healing for yourself.
Meanwhile, Eldritch Smite, if used, is a guaranteed 10d8+3, and knock them Prone .... possibly giving you advantage for your Vampiric Touch next round.
...
And, come to think of it, consider the possibility of doing BOTH at once. Cast Vampiric Touch, and managed to score a critical hit? SMITE, TOO! You just made a Melee attack, after all! Two spell slots, for 6d6+8d8, and healing for half of the total (or at least half of the d6's subtotal) ... with a good roll, that'll wreck even some BBEGs...!
Using Pact slots for Smiting is one of the best use you can make off, since contrary to a Pally, you recharge it on a Short Rest.
And depending on the situation its better.
Sickening Radiance is good, but if there's only One Target/or if your own party members are too close(cause it affects ALL creatures), why bother with an AoE?, if the target doesn't or can't turn invisible why use it?
And if the target is DEAD a level of Exhaustion will not make much off a difference.
SOmetimes a Surgical Strike that deals a massive amount of damage is prefereable to a grenade.
You get it at 5th level, so 3rd level spell slot, which can be used to do 3d6 6d6 + 1/2 that healing each round via Vampiric Touch, vs a single set of 4d8 8d8+ prone.
This is still wrong.
You cannot guarantee the Vampiric Touch will result in a critical hit. Heck, you can't guarantee it will HIT, at all, with any given attack.
You CAN guarantee you only Smite on a critical hit.
You're also forgetting that when you Smite, you're also doing your normal weapon damage. Assuming, say, a Longsword and fairly decent stats, that should be 1d8+3-ish damage. 2d8+3 when you crit.
So, Vampiric Touch is 3d6 (1-in-20 chance of 6d6), plus half that damage as healing for yourself.
Meanwhile, Eldritch Smite, if used, is a guaranteed 10d8+3, and knock them Prone .... possibly giving you advantage for your Vampiric Touch next round.
...
And, come to think of it, consider the possibility of doing BOTH at once. Cast Vampiric Touch, and managed to score a critical hit? SMITE, TOO! You just made a Melee attack, after all! Two spell slots, for 6d6+8d8, and healing for half of the total (or at least half of the d6's subtotal) ... with a good roll, that'll wreck even some BBEGs...!
Smites can be used on melee WEAPON attacks, so i don't think Vampiric touch wich is just a melee spell attack, count.
You still can follow up with it once the target is prone for ADV tho.
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"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Let's not forget that knocking target prone sets it up for world of hurt from your melee teammates. You should never consider tactical options from perspective of your character alone.
Furthermore, Eldrtich Smite states that you can use it on a hit "with your pact weapon". If you take Pact of the Blade, and the Improved Pact Weapon invocation, you can use Ranged weapons as Pact Weapons. This means you can smite on ranged attacks, which is fun. :)
One thing all the above seem to have forgotten is that at level 5 warlock you can actually have both Eldritch Smite and Thirsting blade (extra attack) so you can make 2 pact weapon attacks and then add eldritch smith to both of them if they hit.
Also OP is asking about combining Divine & Eldritch smites so can you imagine adding both to 2 attacks the burst damage becomes ridiculous, but you'll only be doing it once (unless you take some levels in a 3rd caster class).
I can see a Warlock 5/Paladin 2 with the rest in Swords Bard working really well as an ultimate Smiting machine, maybe even taking some feats for Maneuvers
One thing all the above seem to have forgotten is that at level 5 warlock you can actually have both Eldritch Smite and Thirsting blade (extra attack) so you can make 2 pact weapon attacks and then add eldritch smith to both of them if they hit.
False.
Once per turn when you hit a creature with your pact weapon, you can expend a warlock spell slot to deal an extra 1d8 force damage to the target, plus another 1d8 per level of the spell slot, and you can knock the target prone if it is Huge or smaller.
The benefit of multiple attacks on a 1/turn damage ability, like Smite or Sneak Attack, is that you get more chances to make the one damage source hit. As noted earlier in this thread, Eldritch Smite is extra good because you can knock your target prone, so any 5' attacks made after the ES are at advantage - and if you ES on an OA, you've crippled enemy movement during their movement, which is the ideal time to do so.
Also OP is asking about combining Divine & Eldritch smites so can you imagine adding both to 2 attacks the burst damage becomes ridiculous, but you'll only be doing it once (unless you take some levels in a 3rd caster class).
More caster classes would have no benefit at all to this, but because (as quoted above) Eldritch Smite only works with Warlock spell slots, if you want to spam it, you need to be a Sorlock (to spam both smites at once, a Sorlockadin), so you have a mechanism for gaining Pact Magic slots.
I can see a Warlock 5/Paladin 2 with the rest in Swords Bard working really well as an ultimate Smiting machine, maybe even taking some feats for Maneuvers
Swords Bards are bad and they should feel bad. If you wanted to do this - and I need to emphasize that it's a bad build - 5 levels (so they come back on a Short Rest) of Whisper Bard would be better. That said, you're broadly speaking correct that all Smite-likes will stack, including Battle Master Maneuver damage, Swords/Whisper Bard Inspiration damage, Sneak Attack damage, etc.
Warlock is not the best way to smite. Five levels for an extra d8 is not worth it, even with prone If you are going all in for smiting, generally 11 levels of Paladin are worth it. If you really want to multi-class, you do Oath of Vengeance (Channel grants Advantage) + Rogue for sneak attacking, 1 levels of Sorceror that grants the 4th level slots early plus a Sorceror origin feature of your choice. That brings you to 13th level. Then you can decided between more paladin abilities (including upto 2 more 4th level slots) and/or or more sneak attack.
A Paladin 16, Sorceror 1, Rogue 3, has 2d6 sneak attack, 6d8 of smite attack, and your choice of 3 different subclass abilities. Net damage on a hit should be 2d6+6d8 + 1d8 rapier, plus any magic weapon effects plus either Dex or Strength, whichever is higher. Thats a fireball's worth of damage to one person every round.
I would hate to use an attack roll spell as a warlock and miss, thus losing a precious spell slot. Eldritch Smite lets me save the slot for when I know I hit the target. Which I find very valuable!
I would hate to use an attack roll spell as a warlock and miss, thus losing a precious spell slot. Eldritch Smite lets me save the slot for when I know I hit the target. Which I find very valuable!
I am not saying that Eldritch Smite is not good for a Warlock. Especially at low levels. There are lots of invocations that are worse at low levels. But at higher levels it begins to suck. If only because of how few spell slots you have.
I am saying that Warlock is not good for Smiting. They do not have enough spells to smite. Paladins make far better smiters than Warlocks.
Compare a 11th level pure Paladin pure Warlock, using all slots to Smite. Warlock gets 3 smites at 5th level slot, doing 6d8 each, knocking prone. Paladin gets 3 smites at 3rd level, doing 5d8, AND 3 smites at 2nd level doing 4d8, AND 4 smites at 1st level doing 3d8. Plus another 1d8 against undead and fiends.
But more importantly, they get attacks per round (more if doing two weapon fighting), so effectively they can hit twice doing 10d8 of smiting the first round if both hit.
Worst of all, the Warlock gets so few spells, that often they will not want to waste a slot to only do another 6d8 and knock prone. Most of the time, I would rather cast Wall of Light, doing a 4d8 area initial area attack (with blindness) AND an extra attack each round for another 6 rounds. Assuming you hit 1/3 of the time, that is 4d8+ 2 x 4d8 = 12d8 total damage.
I would hate to use an attack roll spell as a warlock and miss, thus losing a precious spell slot. Eldritch Smite lets me save the slot for when I know I hit the target. Which I find very valuable!
I am not saying that Eldritch Smite is not good for a Warlock. Especially at low levels. There are lots of invocations that are worse at low levels. But at higher levels it begins to suck. If only because of how few spell slots you have.
I am saying that Warlock is not good for Smiting. They do not have enough spells to smite. Paladins make far better smiters than Warlocks.
Compare a 11th level pure Paladin pure Warlock, using all slots to Smite. Warlock gets 3 smites at 5th level slot, doing 6d8 each, knocking prone. Paladin gets 3 smites at 3rd level, doing 5d8, AND 3 smites at 2nd level doing 4d8, AND 4 smites at 1st level doing 3d8. Plus another 1d8 against undead and fiends.
But more importantly, they get attacks per round (more if doing two weapon fighting), so effectively they can hit twice doing 10d8 of smiting the first round if both hit.
Worst of all, the Warlock gets so few spells, that often they will not want to waste a slot to only do another 6d8 and knock prone. Most of the time, I would rather cast Wall of Light, doing a 4d8 area initial area attack (with blindness) AND an extra attack each round for another 6 rounds. Assuming you hit 1/3 of the time, that is 4d8+ 2 x 4d8 = 12d8 total damage.
I'd just like to second this. Eldritch Smite, in my opinion, is generally not a good use of an invocation until you reach the point where there is nothing better to take and you have enough spell slots to support using it. Often this means level 11+.
With only 2 spell slots before level 11 and the possibility of two encounters between short rests, if your party takes short rests, the warlock can really only count on one spell slot being available for each encounter. I find that using Darkness (+Devils Sight), Shadow of Moil, Spirit Shroud or even Hex can be a better use of a spell slot than using it for one smite. A third level slot does 4d8 damage which averages 18 on one target, once. Darkness or Shadow of Moil will give the warlock advantage on every attack for the entire fight which will likely increase the overall damage by far more than 18 for the fight. Hex does an extra 3.5 average damage on every attack In tier 2, it only takes 3-4 combat rounds typically for hex to outdamage the 18 from a single smite and hex will likely last through several encounters.
As a result, I tend to consider Eldritch Smite a bit of a trap. On the other hand, if a person wants to role play a character that gets one big attack a couple of times each short rest and doesn't make use of their spells otherwise then go for it :)
You’re comparing warlock short rest recovery slots with paladin long recovery slots. That’s fine if it’s a single battle, but with the “balanced” 2 -3 encounters between rests, and 2 short/1 long rest per day, the 11th level warlock gets 9 smites per day, just limited to 3 per rest (similar comparisons to full casters also miss this, find warlocks ate close to wizards in spell slot levels per day if you include mystic Arcanum). Oi it’s really 9 6D8 force damage smites plus no save knockdowns per day vs 10 smites/day for the paladin (3 4D8, 3 3D8, 42D8). In total damage, that’s 54D8 for the warlock vs. 29 for the paladin (39 if they are all against undead or fiends).” Warlock wins.
You can assume the warlock is also a hexblade if using smites, so you can compare one channel divinity (+ chr hit, advantage vs. 1 enemy, etc.) vs hexblade curse (+proficiency damage/hit against 1 enemy until level 14. That has the benefit of using chr as your attack modifier vs. strength (also used for any spell DC or spell attack for both classes). A paladin optimizing strength (for attack) and chr (for spell save DC, spell attacks and most importantly, aura of protection saving throw bonus means low hp (and con/dex saves, but those are more than offset by the aura).
Eldritch Smite isn’t a trap. It’s a sure thing on damage, and with hexblade curse, waiting to use with a crit is 2x better. Can’t say how many times warlock spell use ends up being a waste: cast darkness/shadow of moil/sickening radience, etc. only to have it dispelled, or your concentration broken before it ever has any effect.
They’re all concentration spells, and notorious for getting defeated, either by circumstance, dispelling or losing concentration. They very rarely are “for the entire fight”, unless you use stuff to at least minimize loss of concentration (getting proficiency in con saves plus advantage, there’s a few ways to do each).
Eldritch Smite isn’t a trap. It’s a sure thing on damage, and with hexblade curse, waiting to use with a crit is 2x better. Can’t say how many times warlock spell use ends up being a waste: cast darkness/shadow of moil/sickening radience, etc. only to have it dispelled, or your concentration broken before it ever has any effect.
They’re all concentration spells, and notorious for getting defeated, either by circumstance, dispelling or losing concentration. They very rarely are “for the entire fight”, unless you use stuff to at least minimize loss of concentration (getting proficiency in con saves plus advantage, there’s a few ways to do each).
Yes they are all concentration spells - which is why any melee warlock I have played has prioritized a high con and the resilient con feat taking their con to 16 and giving them a +5 to con saves in tier 1 and a +6 in tier 2. Most concentration checks only drop 15% of the time then (with the +6). If you add in the relatively high AC from medium armor + shield and 14 dex - it starts at 18 and goes higher depending on magic items - multiclass one level of sorcerer for some level 1 slots for the shield spell and AC is decent - on top of that disadvantage to be hit when using darkness+devils sight or shadow of moil - concentration checks are infrequent and usually passed. My level 11 melee warlock has only lost concentration once during all of that time (and that was at level 3 before taking resilient at 4th level).
So clearly our experiences with this type of character are very different - if someone is playing a melee warlock with 12 con without resilient, then I would agree with you that concentration spells aren't a good choice - even on a ranged warlock, resilient con or maybe warcaster is a good idea. If someone is playing an such a warlock then I'd agree that they might as well use the slots for smites since their concentration spells may be unreliable - but for a melee warlock with resilient con and a decent con score, the slots have much better uses than a bit of unpredictable extra damage (even though it might feel cool to roll all those dice).
Anyway, I stand by my opinion that eldritch smite isn't a good choice of invocation or a good use of a spell slot unless the melee warlock lacks resilient con and/or warcaster and a decent constitution.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Owh now i see, thanks bro for to clarification.
Also note that the Warlock gets very few spells so smiting is generally not a useful thing to do with your slots.
Assuming you are only smiting on a crit:
You get it at 5th level, so 3rd level spell slot, which can be used to do
3d66d6 + 1/2 that healing each round via Vampiric Touch, vs a single set of4d88d8+ prone.At 7th level you are trading a Sickening Radiance (
4d108d10 + exhaustion + no invisibility for 10 minutes all in 30 ft radius) vs a mere one shot5d810d8 + prone? Yeah, not worth it except in rare circumstances (You have 1 hp left and expect to die next round then maybe.)Paladins smite because they have enough spell slots. Warlocks, not so much. Even then, Paladins suffer from NOVA burn out - great against one big bad guy, not so good against a horde.
Small nitpick: you've got the damage wrong. That should be 8d8 and 10d8, respectively. Because you only use your Eldritch Smite when you've scored a Critical Hit. :) And yes, since they're dice, they do indeed get multiplied - same as Sneak Attack.
Correction accepted.
Thanks for telling me that.
Down side of spell is that it can be counterspell / dispel spell and need concentration right?
I'm playing Paladin/Warlock, and most of the time I use Bless.
This is still wrong.
You cannot guarantee the Vampiric Touch will result in a critical hit. Heck, you can't guarantee it will HIT, at all, with any given attack.
You CAN guarantee you only Smite on a critical hit.
You're also forgetting that when you Smite, you're also doing your normal weapon damage. Assuming, say, a Longsword and fairly decent stats, that should be 1d8+3-ish damage. 2d8+3 when you crit.
So, Vampiric Touch is 3d6 (1-in-20 chance of 6d6), plus half that damage as healing for yourself.
Meanwhile, Eldritch Smite, if used, is a guaranteed 10d8+3, and knock them Prone .... possibly giving you advantage for your Vampiric Touch next round.
...
And, come to think of it, consider the possibility of doing BOTH at once. Cast Vampiric Touch, and managed to score a critical hit? SMITE, TOO! You just made a Melee attack, after all! Two spell slots, for 6d6+8d8, and healing for half of the total (or at least half of the d6's subtotal) ... with a good roll, that'll wreck even some BBEGs...!
Using Pact slots for Smiting is one of the best use you can make off, since contrary to a Pally, you recharge it on a Short Rest.
And depending on the situation its better.
Sickening Radiance is good, but if there's only One Target/or if your own party members are too close(cause it affects ALL creatures), why bother with an AoE?, if the target doesn't or can't turn invisible why use it?
And if the target is DEAD a level of Exhaustion will not make much off a difference.
SOmetimes a Surgical Strike that deals a massive amount of damage is prefereable to a grenade.
Smites can be used on melee WEAPON attacks, so i don't think Vampiric touch wich is just a melee spell attack, count.
You still can follow up with it once the target is prone for ADV tho.
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)
Let's not forget that knocking target prone sets it up for world of hurt from your melee teammates. You should never consider tactical options from perspective of your character alone.
Furthermore, Eldrtich Smite states that you can use it on a hit "with your pact weapon". If you take Pact of the Blade, and the Improved Pact Weapon invocation, you can use Ranged weapons as Pact Weapons. This means you can smite on ranged attacks, which is fun. :)
One thing all the above seem to have forgotten is that at level 5 warlock you can actually have both Eldritch Smite and Thirsting blade (extra attack) so you can make 2 pact weapon attacks and then add eldritch smith to both of them if they hit.
Also OP is asking about combining Divine & Eldritch smites so can you imagine adding both to 2 attacks the burst damage becomes ridiculous, but you'll only be doing it once (unless you take some levels in a 3rd caster class).
I can see a Warlock 5/Paladin 2 with the rest in Swords Bard working really well as an ultimate Smiting machine, maybe even taking some feats for Maneuvers
False.
Once per turn when you hit a creature with your pact weapon, you can expend a warlock spell slot to deal an extra 1d8 force damage to the target, plus another 1d8 per level of the spell slot, and you can knock the target prone if it is Huge or smaller.
The benefit of multiple attacks on a 1/turn damage ability, like Smite or Sneak Attack, is that you get more chances to make the one damage source hit. As noted earlier in this thread, Eldritch Smite is extra good because you can knock your target prone, so any 5' attacks made after the ES are at advantage - and if you ES on an OA, you've crippled enemy movement during their movement, which is the ideal time to do so.
More caster classes would have no benefit at all to this, but because (as quoted above) Eldritch Smite only works with Warlock spell slots, if you want to spam it, you need to be a Sorlock (to spam both smites at once, a Sorlockadin), so you have a mechanism for gaining Pact Magic slots.
Swords Bards are bad and they should feel bad. If you wanted to do this - and I need to emphasize that it's a bad build - 5 levels (so they come back on a Short Rest) of Whisper Bard would be better. That said, you're broadly speaking correct that all Smite-likes will stack, including Battle Master Maneuver damage, Swords/Whisper Bard Inspiration damage, Sneak Attack damage, etc.
Warlock is not the best way to smite. Five levels for an extra d8 is not worth it, even with prone If you are going all in for smiting, generally 11 levels of Paladin are worth it. If you really want to multi-class, you do Oath of Vengeance (Channel grants Advantage) + Rogue for sneak attacking, 1 levels of Sorceror that grants the 4th level slots early plus a Sorceror origin feature of your choice. That brings you to 13th level. Then you can decided between more paladin abilities (including upto 2 more 4th level slots) and/or or more sneak attack.
A Paladin 16, Sorceror 1, Rogue 3, has 2d6 sneak attack, 6d8 of smite attack, and your choice of 3 different subclass abilities. Net damage on a hit should be 2d6+6d8 + 1d8 rapier, plus any magic weapon effects plus either Dex or Strength, whichever is higher. Thats a fireball's worth of damage to one person every round.
I would hate to use an attack roll spell as a warlock and miss, thus losing a precious spell slot. Eldritch Smite lets me save the slot for when I know I hit the target. Which I find very valuable!
I am not saying that Eldritch Smite is not good for a Warlock. Especially at low levels. There are lots of invocations that are worse at low levels. But at higher levels it begins to suck. If only because of how few spell slots you have.
I am saying that Warlock is not good for Smiting. They do not have enough spells to smite. Paladins make far better smiters than Warlocks.
Compare a 11th level pure Paladin pure Warlock, using all slots to Smite. Warlock gets 3 smites at 5th level slot, doing 6d8 each, knocking prone. Paladin gets 3 smites at 3rd level, doing 5d8, AND 3 smites at 2nd level doing 4d8, AND 4 smites at 1st level doing 3d8. Plus another 1d8 against undead and fiends.
But more importantly, they get attacks per round (more if doing two weapon fighting), so effectively they can hit twice doing 10d8 of smiting the first round if both hit.
Worst of all, the Warlock gets so few spells, that often they will not want to waste a slot to only do another 6d8 and knock prone. Most of the time, I would rather cast Wall of Light, doing a 4d8 area initial area attack (with blindness) AND an extra attack each round for another 6 rounds. Assuming you hit 1/3 of the time, that is 4d8+ 2 x 4d8 = 12d8 total damage.
I'd just like to second this. Eldritch Smite, in my opinion, is generally not a good use of an invocation until you reach the point where there is nothing better to take and you have enough spell slots to support using it. Often this means level 11+.
With only 2 spell slots before level 11 and the possibility of two encounters between short rests, if your party takes short rests, the warlock can really only count on one spell slot being available for each encounter. I find that using Darkness (+Devils Sight), Shadow of Moil, Spirit Shroud or even Hex can be a better use of a spell slot than using it for one smite. A third level slot does 4d8 damage which averages 18 on one target, once. Darkness or Shadow of Moil will give the warlock advantage on every attack for the entire fight which will likely increase the overall damage by far more than 18 for the fight. Hex does an extra 3.5 average damage on every attack In tier 2, it only takes 3-4 combat rounds typically for hex to outdamage the 18 from a single smite and hex will likely last through several encounters.
As a result, I tend to consider Eldritch Smite a bit of a trap. On the other hand, if a person wants to role play a character that gets one big attack a couple of times each short rest and doesn't make use of their spells otherwise then go for it :)
You’re comparing warlock short rest recovery slots with paladin long recovery slots. That’s fine if it’s a single battle, but with the “balanced” 2 -3 encounters between rests, and 2 short/1 long rest per day, the 11th level warlock gets 9 smites per day, just limited to 3 per rest (similar comparisons to full casters also miss this, find warlocks ate close to wizards in spell slot levels per day if you include mystic Arcanum). Oi it’s really 9 6D8 force damage smites plus no save knockdowns per day vs 10 smites/day for the paladin (3 4D8, 3 3D8, 42D8). In total damage, that’s 54D8 for the warlock vs. 29 for the paladin (39 if they are all against undead or fiends).” Warlock wins.
You can assume the warlock is also a hexblade if using smites, so you can compare one channel divinity (+ chr hit, advantage vs. 1 enemy, etc.) vs hexblade curse (+proficiency damage/hit against 1 enemy until level 14. That has the benefit of using chr as your attack modifier vs. strength (also used for any spell DC or spell attack for both classes). A paladin optimizing strength (for attack) and chr (for spell save DC, spell attacks and most importantly, aura of protection saving throw bonus means low hp (and con/dex saves, but those are more than offset by the aura).
Eldritch Smite isn’t a trap. It’s a sure thing on damage, and with hexblade curse, waiting to use with a crit is 2x better. Can’t say how many times warlock spell use ends up being a waste: cast darkness/shadow of moil/sickening radience, etc. only to have it dispelled, or your concentration broken before it ever has any effect.
They’re all concentration spells, and notorious for getting defeated, either by circumstance, dispelling or losing concentration. They very rarely are “for the entire fight”, unless you use stuff to at least minimize loss of concentration (getting proficiency in con saves plus advantage, there’s a few ways to do each).
Yes they are all concentration spells - which is why any melee warlock I have played has prioritized a high con and the resilient con feat taking their con to 16 and giving them a +5 to con saves in tier 1 and a +6 in tier 2. Most concentration checks only drop 15% of the time then (with the +6). If you add in the relatively high AC from medium armor + shield and 14 dex - it starts at 18 and goes higher depending on magic items - multiclass one level of sorcerer for some level 1 slots for the shield spell and AC is decent - on top of that disadvantage to be hit when using darkness+devils sight or shadow of moil - concentration checks are infrequent and usually passed. My level 11 melee warlock has only lost concentration once during all of that time (and that was at level 3 before taking resilient at 4th level).
So clearly our experiences with this type of character are very different - if someone is playing a melee warlock with 12 con without resilient, then I would agree with you that concentration spells aren't a good choice - even on a ranged warlock, resilient con or maybe warcaster is a good idea. If someone is playing an such a warlock then I'd agree that they might as well use the slots for smites since their concentration spells may be unreliable - but for a melee warlock with resilient con and a decent con score, the slots have much better uses than a bit of unpredictable extra damage (even though it might feel cool to roll all those dice).
Anyway, I stand by my opinion that eldritch smite isn't a good choice of invocation or a good use of a spell slot unless the melee warlock lacks resilient con and/or warcaster and a decent constitution.