I'm wanting to play a hexblade soon and Ive looked at everything from Bow hexblade to 3/mc builds that get really min maxed. Ive kind of looked around and decided Im just gonna play a polearm mastery hexblade with fighter 1, then hexblade and once im satisfied with hexblade then maybe pick up action surge and then maybe a subclass. However Ive looked at subclasses and I cant decide which is best if any.
Samurai gives you 3 rounds of advantage. Echo Knight can give you a bunch of mobility and an extra attack. Champion gives you a 19 or 20 crit which is a feature you already have sometimes. Maneuvers with battle master etc.
I first looked at echo knight for the 3 extra attacks per short rest plus mobility but that takes a lot of bonus action from you as cool as it sounds. Samurai sounds great because you could be having 3 rounds of free advantage on your hexblades curse target. A 19 or 20 crit is just good and maneuvers are good. Any opinions on hexblade MC if any?
Edit: While im here any opinions on Polearm Master for hexblade?
I've been looking at similar builds for my next character, and I ultimately decided on hexblade 17 college of sword bard 3. Gives you plenty of spell slots for shield, flourishes for even more AC, a fighting style, Jack of all trades, expertise.
Since you've already gone fighter, maybe you could do 12 hexblade, 3 battlemaster fighter, 5 college of swords bard. You would be pretty sick at melee combat, have plenty of extra spell slots, and your flourishes and maneuvers would recharge on short rests. You would miss out on some mystic arcanum, but I found while leveling hexblade that I really missed having extra spell slots.
If you do decide to go with Fighter, take your first level as Fighter so you get the con save and heavy armour proficiency.
However Paladin also gives you heavy armour proficiency and works in with your Charisma casting build better.
If you take a Descendant of Zariel Tiefling (Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes) they have the bonuses in the right place (+1 S, +2 Cha) and have a couple of Smite spells as racial features.
With Paladin you could go 2 Paladin for divine smite, then devote the rest to your Hexblade, or go 6 Paladin for its aura, but sacrifice some of your Warlock ability.
For a Hexblade Warlock, both the Battlemaster and Eldritch Knight Fighter subclasses would work well. I suspect Echo Knight might also be a good pick, but I don't know the UA well enough to recommend it.
Eldritch Knight's best advantages for a warlock would be (1) the extra spell slots you get, and (2) the ability to summon your weapon with a bonus action. Honestly, I love the Hexblade, but having to spend an entire action to summon your pact weapon pretty much kills any advantage you get from being able to stash it away in a pocket dimension in the first place. Of course, two extra cantrips and the ability to have a spell like Find Familiar are also bonuses. A tip: if you plan to choose this, either don't take the Shield spell as a Warlock, or swap it out for another spell if you already have it. Since you may have a hard time selecting Abjuration and Evocation spells that'll work for you (especially if you don't have a high Intelligence,) choosing Shield as a EK spell instead of a Warlock spell makes more sense.
As a polearm warrior, Battlemaster is also a solid choice; true, the DC on many of your maneuvers might be rather low, but there are still many that don't rely on a DC and that are great for any melee combatant: Feinting, Lunging, Sweeping and Precision Attack; Parry; and Riposte are all excellent picks.
So, I'm curious. Why not include trip attack in your list?
Precision Attack,
"When you make a weapon attack roll against a creature, you can expend one superiority die to add it to the roll. You can use this maneuver before or after making the attack roll, but before any effects of the attack are applied."
Trip Attack,
"When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to knock the target down. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you knock the target prone."
I originally made the question to ask why include precision attack and not Trip Attack, but that was before I realized Precision attack boosts the attack roll, while Trip Attack boosts the damage roll. To me, Trip Attack seems like a better choice, as it not only adds damage, but can also knock them prone, giving your team a sizeable, though temporary, advantage, as they would all have advantage to hit for a round (if they're within 5 feet). However, I can see the benefit of Precision Attack. This can more or less help ensure that your attacks hit, especially against an armored foe, resulting in more consistent damage.
I personally have Riposte as well as Trip attack and Parry on my Warforged Hexblade 4 Battle Master 4 Abberant Soul Sorcerer 1 (I decided to go a little nuts), and out of the three I have found Parry to be the least useful. Sure, it reduces damage, but it has to be a melee attack, and it only reduces it by a max of (if using 1d8) 8+5=13 damage. Not horrible, though it does use up a maneuver. For me, with a dexterity of 14, I will reduce damage on average by (1d8) 5+2=7. Perhaps I just haven't seen the full potential of it yet. 7 damage is a small chunk of my HP, and combined with Blur (Especially if I go another level in Hexblade to get the Eldritch Mind invocation, giving me advantage on checks to maintain concentration), it can seriously reduce damage done to me.
Feinting attack also seems to do something similar, though it uses a bonus action instead of working as part of your attack. The difference between this and precision attack is that you have advantage to hit (significantly increasing your chance of hitting), and if you do hit, you add your superiority dice which you rolled to the damage.
Battle master just opens up so many interesting options for attack.
Anyways, sorry for rambling, just had a few ideas.
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I'm wanting to play a hexblade soon and Ive looked at everything from Bow hexblade to 3/mc builds that get really min maxed. Ive kind of looked around and decided Im just gonna play a polearm mastery hexblade with fighter 1, then hexblade and once im satisfied with hexblade then maybe pick up action surge and then maybe a subclass. However Ive looked at subclasses and I cant decide which is best if any.
Samurai gives you 3 rounds of advantage. Echo Knight can give you a bunch of mobility and an extra attack. Champion gives you a 19 or 20 crit which is a feature you already have sometimes. Maneuvers with battle master etc.
I first looked at echo knight for the 3 extra attacks per short rest plus mobility but that takes a lot of bonus action from you as cool as it sounds. Samurai sounds great because you could be having 3 rounds of free advantage on your hexblades curse target. A 19 or 20 crit is just good and maneuvers are good. Any opinions on hexblade MC if any?
Edit: While im here any opinions on Polearm Master for hexblade?
If you're going for bow,then go arcane archer.
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I've been looking at similar builds for my next character, and I ultimately decided on hexblade 17 college of sword bard 3. Gives you plenty of spell slots for shield, flourishes for even more AC, a fighting style, Jack of all trades, expertise.
Since you've already gone fighter, maybe you could do 12 hexblade, 3 battlemaster fighter, 5 college of swords bard. You would be pretty sick at melee combat, have plenty of extra spell slots, and your flourishes and maneuvers would recharge on short rests. You would miss out on some mystic arcanum, but I found while leveling hexblade that I really missed having extra spell slots.
If you do decide to go with Fighter, take your first level as Fighter so you get the con save and heavy armour proficiency.
However Paladin also gives you heavy armour proficiency and works in with your Charisma casting build better.
If you take a Descendant of Zariel Tiefling (Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes) they have the bonuses in the right place (+1 S, +2 Cha) and have a couple of Smite spells as racial features.
With Paladin you could go 2 Paladin for divine smite, then devote the rest to your Hexblade, or go 6 Paladin for its aura, but sacrifice some of your Warlock ability.
For a Hexblade Warlock, both the Battlemaster and Eldritch Knight Fighter subclasses would work well. I suspect Echo Knight might also be a good pick, but I don't know the UA well enough to recommend it.
Eldritch Knight's best advantages for a warlock would be (1) the extra spell slots you get, and (2) the ability to summon your weapon with a bonus action. Honestly, I love the Hexblade, but having to spend an entire action to summon your pact weapon pretty much kills any advantage you get from being able to stash it away in a pocket dimension in the first place. Of course, two extra cantrips and the ability to have a spell like Find Familiar are also bonuses. A tip: if you plan to choose this, either don't take the Shield spell as a Warlock, or swap it out for another spell if you already have it. Since you may have a hard time selecting Abjuration and Evocation spells that'll work for you (especially if you don't have a high Intelligence,) choosing Shield as a EK spell instead of a Warlock spell makes more sense.
As a polearm warrior, Battlemaster is also a solid choice; true, the DC on many of your maneuvers might be rather low, but there are still many that don't rely on a DC and that are great for any melee combatant: Feinting, Lunging, Sweeping and Precision Attack; Parry; and Riposte are all excellent picks.
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So, I'm curious. Why not include trip attack in your list?
Precision Attack,
"When you make a weapon attack roll against a creature, you can expend one superiority die to add it to the roll. You can use this maneuver before or after making the attack roll, but before any effects of the attack are applied."
Trip Attack,
"When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to knock the target down. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you knock the target prone."
I originally made the question to ask why include precision attack and not Trip Attack, but that was before I realized Precision attack boosts the attack roll, while Trip Attack boosts the damage roll. To me, Trip Attack seems like a better choice, as it not only adds damage, but can also knock them prone, giving your team a sizeable, though temporary, advantage, as they would all have advantage to hit for a round (if they're within 5 feet). However, I can see the benefit of Precision Attack. This can more or less help ensure that your attacks hit, especially against an armored foe, resulting in more consistent damage.
I personally have Riposte as well as Trip attack and Parry on my Warforged Hexblade 4 Battle Master 4 Abberant Soul Sorcerer 1 (I decided to go a little nuts), and out of the three I have found Parry to be the least useful. Sure, it reduces damage, but it has to be a melee attack, and it only reduces it by a max of (if using 1d8) 8+5=13 damage. Not horrible, though it does use up a maneuver. For me, with a dexterity of 14, I will reduce damage on average by (1d8) 5+2=7. Perhaps I just haven't seen the full potential of it yet. 7 damage is a small chunk of my HP, and combined with Blur (Especially if I go another level in Hexblade to get the Eldritch Mind invocation, giving me advantage on checks to maintain concentration), it can seriously reduce damage done to me.
Feinting attack also seems to do something similar, though it uses a bonus action instead of working as part of your attack. The difference between this and precision attack is that you have advantage to hit (significantly increasing your chance of hitting), and if you do hit, you add your superiority dice which you rolled to the damage.
Battle master just opens up so many interesting options for attack.
Anyways, sorry for rambling, just had a few ideas.