As a long-time Baldur‘s Gate fanatic and tabletop gamer, few Early Access experiences have me more intrigued than the Hexblade Warlock in BG3. This eldritch fighter unleashes devastating dark magic upon foes through cursed blades and fell invocations.imated. Let‘s delve deep on optimizing the Hexblade to unleash true power!
Harnessing Otherworldly Might
What makes Hexblades unique compared to other Warlock patrons is their ability to channel magic into martial combat with two-handed weapons or sword/board styles. This hybrid design combines the staying power and melee brutality of a Fighter with the eldritche versatility of the Warlock.
Hex Warriors magically bind a chosen weapon to their very life essence. The player‘s choice of blade, axe, maul or polearm then utilizes Charisma rather than Strength or Dexterity for attack and damage rolls. This allows SAD (single-ability dependent) focusing on Charisma over all else.
Hex Warrior Bonuses
- Use Charisma for attack and damage rolls
- Proficiency with medium armor, shields, simple & martial weapons
- Can create magical pact weapon (any melee weapon)Cha-based combatants can therefore equip heavy armor and wield devastating two-handed smites while blasting foes from afar with Eldritch Blast. Such flexibility offers new build opportunities beyond traditional clerics, fighters and paladins.
Race Options: Half-Orcs, Elves, Humans, and More
Popular YouTuber Spud The King recommends half-orcs in his Hexblade build guide thanks to Relentless Endurance and Savage Attacks. However, other races prove equally viable for the Hexblade role:
Elves gain 34 extra movement speed, advantage on charm saves, and useful weapon training. High elves also learn one wizard cantrip of choice, allowing snagging of potent spells like Booming Blade which synergizes with warlock combat.
Humans provide +1 to all ability scores via Skill Versatility, which helps balance communication skills for a party face role too. Their extra 1st level feat gives early options like Polearm Master to control the battlefield.
Halflings get improved initiative, lucky rolls, and increased Dexterity which boosts ranged attacks and powerful skills like Stealth. Stout halflings have Poison Resistance, an oft-overlooked boon.
Here‘s a comparative table of racial bonuses beneficial for Hexblades:
| Race | Stats | Traits |
|--------|------------|------------------------------------|
| Half-Orc | +2 Str +1 Con | Relentless Endurance, Savage Attacks|
| Elf | +2 Dex | Fleet of Foot, Adv. vs. Charm |
| Human | +1 All | Extra 1st level feat |
| Halfling | +2 Dex | Lucky, Brave, Halfling Nimbleness |Remember Charisma remains king – start with at least 16-18 in Charisma at level 1 before boosting Constitution or Dexterity. Piercing, slashing or bludgeoning damage matters little before magical weapons arrive later, so focus on survivability initially until unlocking more invocations.
Devastation through Dark Invocations
Eldritch Invocations offer extreme combat versatility for the cunning Hexblade…
Sight Beyond Sight with Devil‘s Sight
This invocation grants 120 ft magical darkvision, letting you see normally through supernatural darkness to launch attacks. Darkness spells now buff instead of cripple you!
Devil‘s Sight combines potently with Darkness for constant advantage on attacks, causing enemies to strike you at disadvantage. Keep concentration via Resilient Constitution, War Caster, or Fey Touched.
Devil‘s Sight Benefits:
- See normally in darkness & dim light
- Produce darkness for attack advantage
- Gain stealth, hide checks
- Combos with Shadow of Moil spellCast Darkness upon your helm then wade into the void, striking doubly hard against blinded foes with each chilling blow! Even without friends benefiting, the sight boons outweigh the costs.
Improved Pact Weapon
This handy Invocation lets you use any magic weapon as your bonded Pact Weapon, infusing it with your warlock power. So rather than create a generic weapon, you can gain bonuses from existing arms like flame tongue longswords, vicious greatswords etc.
Pact Weapons also dismissal/resummon at will. So if disarmed or captured unarmed, summon your trusty arm back pronto before enemies even realize what transpired. Such tricks offer tactical advantage along with the mental image of yo-yo weapons Teleporting into your grip!
Thirsting Blade
Two attacks per Attack action rather than one. Few explanations needed! Thirsting Blade at level 5 combined with bonus action attacks from Polearm Master or War Priest (cleric dip) enable three strikes per round. Consider the following combo:
1st atttack: 1d10 glaive
2nd attack: 1d10 glaive
Bonus action: 1d4 spear butt
-all doubled on crits via Savage Attacks- That‘s 3-6 attacks on your turn, 7-12 if Action Surge via fighter multiclass. Adding Hunter‘s Mark, Hex, or Divine Smite damage to each blow stacks up painfully fast against bosses. Talk about thirsty!
Spell Synergies: Hold Person, Hunger of Hadar, Hex
While Hex and Hunter‘s Mark damage bonuses work on any attack, certain spells combo especially well with the Bladelock‘s heavy hits…
Hold Person
This potent Enchantment spell (2nd level) paralyzes humanoid targets, making their attacks automatic failures while any strikes against them gain advantage for autocrits. When surrounded by bandits or human cultists, use Hold Person to disable their pack Tactics or overwhelm their leader brutally.
Upcasting to target additional enemies proves useful too, as paralyzed groups grant your entire party crit chains. Maintain concentration and hack away! Works great on assassins and rangers too – see how THEY like being unable to move while executed.
Hunger of Hadar
Hunger conjures a sphere of dark void which blinds those inside and deals Cold damage each turn. Perfect for controlling the area around you in a swirling maelstrom so foes cannot reach your allies. The darkness synergizes again with Devil Sight letting you strike outward unaffected.
Upcast Hunger to increase its radius, then utilize push/pull effects via Grasp of Hadar invocation or Telekinetic feat to keep enemies trapped within the void storm. They‘ll struggle to escape the black hole oozing Eldritch energy as you siphon their life!
Armor of Agathys
While not offensively potent, this Abjuration spell offers excellent early protection. Upon casting, it coats you with icy spectral plate granting 5 temp HP per slot level. When struck in melee, it also retaliates against the enemy with additional cold damage.
Upcast Armor of Agathys to increase both the HP buffer and retaliation Cold damage. This discourages foes from directly engaging you, lest they take hefty punishment in return. The ward protects concentration too, allowing sustained spells like Darkness, Heat Metal etc. Use it pre-combat for an icy shield!
Fighting Styles: Great Weapon Fighting & Defense
While most choose Great Weapon Fighting to reroll 1-2 damage die results (boosting greatsword/maul average rolls), the Defense fighting style works well too. +1 AC applies to your armor or Mage Armor spell AC, providing lasting durability over temporary HP.
As midline combatants, Hexblades suffer more blows than backline sorcerers – so Defense protects concentration vs. Constitution saves. And given enemies will target you first upon entering melee over squishier casters, boosting deflection helps the entire party by increasing your staying power.
Feat Combinations: Savage Attacker, Great Weapon Master
Choosing ASIs or feats depends greatly upon weapon and DPS goals. But two damage-amplifying feats stand above others for the Hexblade…
Savage Attacker allows rerolling any single damage die per attack. Combined with expanded crit range and oversized weapons like greatswords, greataxes, and mauls this causes tremendous damage via doubling outsized dice. It perfectly complements Half-orc brutal strikes.
Example average weapon damages:
Longsword 1d8 (4.5)
Greataxe 1d12 (6.5)
Greatsword 2d6 (7.0)
Maul 2d6 (7.0)Bigger dice mean more potential damage. Turn those d6s and d8s into d10s or d12s! While the math seems small at first, over a long battle or boss fight an extra 1 HP per strike really adds up.
Of course, the classic combo remains Great Weapon Master and Polearm Master, enabling increased crit-fishing and a bonus action attack. The -5 attack/+10 damage tradeoff also means one 20-crit provides enough accuracy boost to maintain hitting. Risk it all to deal incredible spikes!
Ability Score Priority: The Pact & The Tome
Camps appear divided on Constitution (HP and concentration) vs Charisma (hit/damage) for leveling priority. But in Early Access at least Charisma remains king for SAD potency. Without multiattack Extra Attack features gained at mid levels, striking accurately proves more important early.
As the adventure progresses the HP and Constitution saves become vital too – but initially pump Charisma for attacks and key skills like Intimidation/Persuasion. Worry about Constitution secondarly by level 4 onwards when enemies hit harder. Consider 15 minimum pre-racial. Dexterity also useful for boosting AC if avoiding heavy armor.
Here‘s a table showing the Level 1 ability score array I would recommend before racial modifiers:
| Ability | Recommended | With Racial |
|-----------|-------------|-------------|
|Strength | 10 | 12 |
|Dexterity | 12 | 14 |
|Constitution| 15 | 16 |
|Intelligence| 8 | 8 |
|Wisdom | 12 | 12 |
|Charisma | 16 | 18 |While featuring Strength saves and skill checks occasionally, Intelligence proves the clear dump stat for SAD melee warlocks. Either lean fully into cerebral Wizard multiclasses instead or go all out on weapons – no half measures!
Best Pact Boon: Pact of the Blade for Bound Arm
The Pact Boon decision comes at level 3 – while some enjoy Pact of the Chain‘s at-will Familiar these remain extremely fragile in Early Access. The Tome boon offers more skills and cantrips but we need raw combat ability first and foremost.
Thus Pact of the Blade enables both summoning your arcane-infused weapon at will and choosing from any melee weapon type desired. This expands the variety of fighting styles accessible tremendously through bound Greatswords, Battleaxes, Lances and more.
It also lets you dismiss/resummon your Blade anywhere anytime (even into enemy skulls to disrupt spellcasters) and empowers your strikes as a magical +1 weapon ahead of finding loot equivalents much later in most campaigns.
Finally, Thirsting Blade invocation works only for Blade boons – so plan accordingly!
Multiclass Dips: Grave Cleric and Champion Fighter
Short multiclass dips offer cheap access to expanded spell slots, fighting styles, action economy boosts and subclass features. But more than 2-3 levels delays your core profession – so what combinations work best?
Grave Cleric 1 dip proves extremely useful for the Vulnerability debuff, applying it as a bonus action before unleashing your barrage of blows. Additional slots also sustain Shield of Faith or Bless alongside combat spells. Their melee cantrips like Toll the Dead offer ranged backup as well.
Fighter 2 dip brings devastating burst potential via Action Surge‘s extra action for 4-6 attacks in one round. Combine with Hold Person or familiars using the Help action. Their fighting style (Defense/Great Weapon Fighting) work well, and Champion expanded crit range synergizes with Hex vulnerable strikes too.
Both builds allow heavy armor and martials weapons immediately. Other options like Sorcerer work too but avoid over-diversifying – focus on melee strikes and spell slots to empower them further rather than too many ancillary magics. Execution matters more than versatility until higher levels.
Wei-Han‘s build: High Elf Hexblade 5 / Fighter 2
Veteran player Wei-Han shared this particular build which utilizes Fighter 2 effectively as an Action Surge battery while staying mostly Hexblade. By level 7 it unlocks…
- Thirsting Blade‘s extra attack
- 3rd level spell slots
- Lifedrinker invocation (level 6)
- Action Surge and Second Wind bursts
Here‘s the level split order:
Level 1: Fighter (Defense Style, CON saves)
Level 2: Fighter (Action Surge)
Levels 3-5: Hexblade Pact of the Blade (Thirsting Blade)
Level 6: Hexblade (Lifedrinker)
Level 7: Hexblade (4th level spell) Wei-Han focuses on devastating nova rounds by unleashing Action Surge, Arcane Jolt, and Assassinate crits all at once. This build skips Savage Attacker because expanded crits already cause overkill damage. Instead boost accuracy and attack rate!
Lae’zel’s Teachings: Brutalize All Enemies
Current camp warrior Lae’zel approves mightily of vicious two-handed striking power. While an arrogant githyanki, she offers useful pointers for overcoming foes through sheer martial force:
“Apply your strength decisively against the enemy‘s vulnerabilities! Brutalize their front line, isolate their support, and eliminate their damage threats swiftly. Only once leaders perish and their ranks shatter will they learn to fear you!"
So in summary:
- Seek out weak saves and skill checks
- Target isolated or separated forces
- Concentrate attacks on biggest threats
- Remove leaders and healers first
- Scatter formations with AOE spells
- Stop enemy spellcasting with Silence
Adopting these philosophies serves well. Use mobility and reach to isolate dangerous foes while controlling the battlefield. Force concentration checks and shutdown enemy "force multipliers" to demoralize them! Glory comes naturally to victors – so do more than simply survive each fight. Seek total domination!
The Patching Chronicles: Early Access Evolution
Larian Studios continues updating and experimenting in Early Access, making balance difficult to pinpoint currently. However, a few changes influenced Hexblades lately:
Patch 5 greatly expanded environmental interactions and diplomacy options. While hexblades rely less on such skills, this allows new infiltration options to enable devastating first-round ambushes on unaware enemies rather than predictably charging the front gates sword-first each time. Think vertically!
Conversely, the latest patch 6 reduced bonus action economy significantly, limiting spell/item usage combinations each turn without proper abilities like Action Surge. This INDIRECTLY benefits Hexblades actually since bonus action spells weren‘t part of their core kit – now other classes lost versatility comparably while Cursebringers retain their full power. Let others adapt around YOU.
Finally melee enemies seem to hit harder lately, so don‘t neglect Constitution saves and concentration buffs. Prioritize defensive spells equally as damage – a dead warlock deals no damage at all!
Key Patch Changes:
- Expanded environments and exploration
- Harder-hitting enemies in melee
- Reduced bonus action spells on same turnOverall the Hexblade remains nearly unmatched in melee potential among current class options. We‘ll see what new additions and balance changes future updates bring!
Conclusion: Rule the Battlefield with Dark Magic
Cunning hexblade warlocks blend mighty spellcraft with brutal combat capabilities. Through devoted invocations they also enhance weapon criticals and self defense when wading into melee. Guiding your eldritch-forged blade, inspire dread in enemies and anchor your party‘s front line.
Savage Attacker feats and Half-Orc relentlessness complement this iconic playstyle perfectly. Outlast punishing blows on the font lines before laying waste with your extended crit range greatsword soaked in necrotic curses and channeled magic. Then unleash the embodiment of arcane fury against those foolish enough to near!
While still evolving throughout early access along with all Baldur‘s Gate 3 classes, the sheer damage and versatility of Hexblades carved out a vicious niche already. Have you braved the Sword Coast with this warlock/warrior hybrid yet? Share your experiences playing this iconic combination of might and magic!