The Hexbow: D&D Build

The best ranged weapon user in 5e is a Warlock!? /flip table
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Intro 0:00
Oki Island 4:56
Level 1 7:18
Level 2-6 11:23
Level 7-9 24:30
Level 10-13 33:06
Level 14-17 37:48
Final thoughts 43:04
Outtakes 44:50
Math/Graph for this episode: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Master Sustained Damage Comparison (6 tabs):
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Thanks to LudicSavant for the amazing DPR calculator! forums.giantitp.com/showthrea...)
Music Credits:
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Angevin 120 loop by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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Artist: incompetech.com/
Celtic Impulse - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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Fiddles McGinty by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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Master of the Feast by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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Artist: incompetech.com

[@DnDDeepDive]

Check out the Secrets of Oki Island here! www.kickstarter.com/projects/obviousmimic/the-secret-of-oki-island-a-5e-solo-adventure?ref=uprxyj ALSO! I'm seeing some comments about this so let's discuss: "You can't have a hand crossbow be a pact weapon, and therefore can't benefit from the invocations that affect your pact weapon." RAW, this is true UNLESS you bond an already magical Hand Crossbow. Improved Pact Weapon lets your pact weapon be every other kind of bow but a hand crossbow. But yes, keep in mind that, while we can't *summon* a Hand Crossbow as a Pact Weapon, we *can* bond an already magical one as a Pact Weapon (in which case there's no prohibition against the weapon being ranged). In my view, bonding a weapon as a Hex Weapon (which we *can* do right from the get go with a Hand Crossbow, since it's not two handed), would meet the qualification of making it magical, as you "mystically channel your will through a particular weapon," but if your DM won't buy that, good news: we're playing D&D and at the vast majority of tables you'll find yourself with an opportunity to get a conventionally magical hand crossbow before too long (or hire a Forge Cleric or an Artificer to make yours magical) so it's not something I'm super worried about ;).

[@eleishar18]

I would probably take 4d8 per short rest as Battle Master, than 12d6 per long rest, but that's just a feeling, didn't make number crunching. And for Your consideration (or rather imagination), how does a big guy blown from the bridge with a tiny crossbow bolt look? 🤣 Maneuvers wouldn't be very effective because of low STR and DEX, but if they land, they will be dramatic ;)

[@SolnerV2]

For sure if a DM denied this I’d totally be down to take some level dips to give a fellow player that magic weapon.

[@liushinoru6716]

Just wanted to mention that at level 6 & 8 you did your Evocations a level early. Love your content btw!

[@OyBoy413]

After making my comment about not being able to play I immediately backed the Kickstarter cause I got some fun guys to run through some piraty shenanigans.

[@Alex413xAlien]

Hi Colby! I'm currently playing a pamlock LV 9 ( 1F and 8W) and my DM gave US an uncommon wonderous item. Idk if I should take a Rod of the pact keeper or a cloack of protection ( I have 19 AC) and 96 lifepoints. Thank you so much!

[@aldoesagood4862]

Bro, Colby in a Bluey shirt just feels right 😊

[@Johnny5isstillalive]

💯 came to comments just for this

[@awilson5684]

For real life!

[@jedfromyourlocallibrary]

Yeah, truly a man who has children 😌

[@richardchisenhall387]

I just read it as "blue" at first glance and I thought 'yeah, it is a great color on him' 😂 Bluey makes it even better!

[@JamesTaylor-oh1sd]

The versatility of warlocks always seems to go beyond belief. They can do literally any type of play in a single class, and even then, if you play hexblade twice, there are so many invocation and spell options. Warlocks are just too cool.

[@saqwana25]

they are like the caster version of fighter they can go so many different ways.

[@Desm0708]

I agree to a degree. Warlock is my favourite class cuz yeah there’s a million different options but I feel like they don’t have enough spells to match the Wizard or Sorcerer’s control capabilities

[@SeanBoyce-gp]

I have always felt like every class ought to have something like Eldritch Invocations. It seems really obvious to me how you'd go about that too, for almost everyone except for Rogues. I mean, like, Monks could all follow the old Four Elements model and just have a big stack of cool monk shit that you could opt into. Fighters could pick up different fighting styles as part of their core class that were actually meaningful choices (or move maneuvers down to the base class, but wotc doesn't wanna for good enough reasons). I don't see why you wouldn't allow clerics to customize their channel divinity choices or throw some stank on Paladins and let them choose their aura buffs. Just seems obvious.

[@pederw4900]

@@SeanBoyce-gp I completely agree, the modularity of feats/features the part of 3.5/PF1e that I miss the most.

[@ericgonzales419]

OneDnD locks are even more versatile

[@relaxedfantasyreview]

I love that Colby is reading Dungeons of Drakkenheim in the Ad, amazing little call-out 😁

[@DnDDeepDive]

Yay! Glad someone noticed ;)

[@relaxedfantasyreview]

@@DnDDeepDive Absolutely! I'm doing a series on my channel right now with the subclasses from their newest book, Sebastian Crowe's Guide to Drakkenheim, you should check it out!

[@mattdodson1272]

My thought exactly! Was about to come and comment the same thing.

[@KnicKnac]

Don't get contaminated. You don't want those mutations

[@relaxedfantasyreview]

@@KnicKnac I dunno, some of those mutations are pretty rad😎

[@CrazyCaleo]

Colby in a bluey shirt is something I didn't know I needed.

[@_zurr]

Bluey has become a weird Baader-Meinhof situation for me event though I don't watch it. All I know is that apparently the dad in the show is taken advantage of or something lol

[@CrazyCaleo]

@@_zurr In a way lol, it definitely doesn't sound good when you say it like that haha

[@DnDDeepDive]

@@_zurr Bandit is for sure a bit of a pushover with his kids, but generally he's a great role model imo ;)

[@Johnny5isstillalive]

@@_zurrBluey is a 12/10 show for parents. Bandit (the dad) is great, not because he’s perfect - he’s not - but because he’s realistic and he loves his kids.

[@Super_Beast124]

Colby is one of those ppl that takes the anger and frustration right out of you, and leaves in an unexplainable state of calm and optimism.

[@mycenaeangal9312]

you doin okay friend?

[@1AmGroot]

Was literally just thinking about making a Hexbow! My build is as follows (before watching the video, very curious to see what Colby made): Eladrin (or Shadar Kai) for spell-slot-less teleports and Elven Accuracy later (make sure to have a 17 CHA for Elven Accuracy!) 1 - Fighter (Archery) for CON saving throws, a very important fighting style, and heavy armor prof in case it ever comes up 2-6 - Warlock (Hexblade, Pact of the Blade, Improved Pact Weapon, Sharpshooter, Thirsting Blade, Eldritch Smite) 7-9 - Fighter (Arcane Archer, Grasping and Bursting Arrows, Elven Accuracy) 10-12 - Rogue (Assassin for almost-guaranteed advantage on 1st round and sometimes auto-crits) for sneak attack and other subclass goodies Then you can do whatever, maybe get more Warlock levels for higher level smites and Mystic Arcanum, maybe take some more Fighter levels for the Arcane Archer 7th level feature and lots more ASIs (and another level or two in Warlock to change Thirsting Blade for something else), maybe some more Rogue levels for an ASI and uncanny dodge (as you probably won't be making a lot of opportunity attacks as an archer), or maybe all of the above :) If you use Hexblade's Curse and then attack twice with Elven-Accuracy-advantage, you have a 47% chance of critting at least once, if you also Action Surge to attack four times you have a 78% chance of critting at least once (Smite and Arcane Shot and Sneak Attack for double damage on those) Edit: aaaaaaaaaaand looks like Colby is making a sustained damage build, as opposed to my nova damage build. Guess I'll have to watch the entire video :) Edit 2: got a heart from Colby! Yay! 🥳🥳🥳

[@vortexxaegaeon1029]

Im actually playing something similar! Im playing a half-elf, and he started out 1 lvl in rogue. Then 2-6 he takes 5 levels in warlock. My subclass is fathomless almost purely for lore reasons, although having a long bow and attacking again with the tentacle is pretty strong early levels and kept me relevant enough in battle before i finally got thirsting blade and eldritch smite. I did also pick up elven accuracy. For the rest of time im gonna go back to rogue for the rest of my levels probably, eventually picking up sharpshooter. If i needed to play a real subclass i would pick assassin, but im using a sc that i made. But i can nonetheless give myself (double) adv from hiding or darkness devil sight. Im only level 7 rn, so 2 rogue 5 warlock, and im having a lot of fun. I just picked up a magic bow that once per sr i can do a special shot for 2d8. Well I crit against an alpha grick with roughly 75 hp, and after the d8 from bow, d6 from sneak, 4d8 from e smite, 2d8 from that item, and then doubling, i did like 60+ damage. Pretty crazy shit

[@magiofthoth]

I had swords bard and genie warlock (dao) My DM allowed me to blade flourish with ranged weapons 😅 But taking bludgeoner as a feat You can play a "super strong" archer "ranger" Play it however you'd like to go, but I did my invocations as items since it was a more modern setting

[@solarissv777]

@@magiofthoth IMHO, genie is even better for this build then hexblade: put the main stat into dex, on fighter one pick heavy crossbow, then go to genie 6, get aditional d6 to damage, all the invocations from the video (on level 4 swap heavy crossbow for a hand one, with a CEx feat), get to genie 6 (now you can fly in darkness), then go to fighter 3 for Battlemaster, grab Precision Attack, possibly, Commanding Presence and Ambush. With a precision attack, you gonna be even more likely to hit with a sharpshooter. Then there are options: continue in fighter or get back to warlock. With fighter you can go to level 6 and get your dex to 20, with warlock you can get shadow of moil, smite, 18 dex.

[@BLynn]

The Hexbow: D&D Build #166 (Sorry for the late comment, I was in training this week.) Level 01: (see above) [fighter 1, fighting-style, race & feat] Level 02: (see above) [warlock 1 & patron] Level 03: (@15:19) [warlock 2 & eldritch invocations] Level 04: (@15:59) [warlock 3, subclass & swap eldritch invocation] Level 05: (@19:49) [warlock 4 & ASI] Level 06: (@21:19) [warlock 5 & eldritch invocation] Level 07: (see above) [warlock 6] Level 08: (@28:25) [warlock 7 & eldritch invocation] Level 09: (@31:15) [warlock 8 & ASI] Level 10: (see above) [warlock 9 & eldritch invocation] Level 11: (@33:53) [warlock 10] Level 12: (@34:35) [warlock 11] Level 13: (@35:31) [warlock 12, ASI & eldritch invocation] Level 14: (see above) [warlock 13] Level 15: (@38:25) [warlock 14] Level 16: (@39:10) [fighter 2] Level 17: (@40:08) [fighter 3 & subclass] (Colby says "13")

[@stephenburley4581]

Full props for how many additional product placements you snuck into that commercial. The Drakkenheim book, the shirt, the hat... Watching out for all the additional placements was more fun than the commercial itself! Do more like this please!

[@Dawsojtogata]

I know it was only a small thing at the end but I really did appreciate the little bit of encouragement Colby gave at the end. Cheers man, life really is a struggle all the time so hearing that from my favourite fellow DND nerd helps. Keep being a great guy. Take care man

[@Chris_the_Nerd]

RE: Bluey, I can see that. My take was that Bluey, Chili, and Bandit all have arcs in “The Sign” and deciding to stay doesn’t really undermine any of them. Bluey learns to accept the difficulties of big changes, Chili opens up about her feelings about the move, and Bandit has the best arc because there are several episodes throughout the series where Bandit is trying to do "what's best" for his family based on society's expectations and at the end of this episode he learns to focus on what's "right" instead. Choosing happiness over financial gain.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Hm... good take.

[@atingley0913]

The intro made me immediately think of the clickbait article. "Martial bow users hate him, watch this video to see why!" (For clarity, this is a very funny thing to me not a criticism, keep up the great writing!)

[@Codarius]

The Matt Mercer moment you were referencing was probably in Dimension 20's Escape From The Bloodkeep. An actual play mini-series I highly recommend to anyone, it's free on KZbin.

[@TheJpnsf]

I've discovered your channel recently and I've binge watched EVERYONE of your builds during the past 2-3 months and I must say... I'm in love. It's like I've found a kindred spirit, I've always been the one in my group to come up with these crazy builds, mostly trying to recreate a character already existing in fiction and optimizing it, and seeing you do something similar has driven me nuts, I'm always excited to see your new builds and even played with one of them in a one shot. Congrats man, definitely love your channel and it may possibly even inspire me to put my builds out there too. Ps.: loved your sponsor for this vid 😂

[@BinxyBrown]

@DndDeepDive i just heard about Gestalt characters yesterday and i would love to see your stab at a truly ridiculous build. My first thought was a druid monk that grapples his own enemies and drags them through their own thorns or a Blade Singer fighter with triple attack and full spell slots.

[@RikunobodyXIII]

For this build, I'm envisioning a bounty hunter style character like the Mandalorian. Kitted out in Half Plate with the hand crossbow hanging by the character's thigh. Their patron, an entity from the Shadowfell (possibly the Raven Queen herself), task the hunter with tracking down those who owe the patron debts, or hold something the patron covets. Most of the targets are bad people, so the hunter can keep their conciseness clear. But there are those few bounties that eat at the soul. Who knows how many of those the hunter can take before something breaks...

[@kaslam_]

I did not know I needed a Hexbow build until I saw the notification! It reminds me of my Summon Bow build I used to play on Skyrim! ❤

[@nicolasv6031]

My fix for Warlock's lack of spell slots: basically, their spell slot progression matches their proficiency bonus (except 1st level). Aka, 1 slot at 1st level, 2 slots at 2nd level, then 3 slots at 5th level, 4 slots at 9th level, 5 slots at 13th level, and capping at 6 slots at 17th level of Warlock. Hopefully with this, itll be easier for Warlocks to spread out their spell usage, while still feeling unique from other full and half casters!

[@nathanh2664]

I am thinking about using one of the races that has spells that can be used once per long rest

[@bleuoval64]

21:00. This strat will still work in the playtest rules Yes, the verbiage about a bonus action attack is gone. However, with the new weapon masteries, specifically Nick, it's arguably better. If you make an attack using a weapon with the Light property (which the hand crossbow has), then you can make an additional attack with a second Light weapon as part of the same attack action. This doesn't overwrite the Extra Attack feature some classes get AND it frees up your bonus action to do something else.

[@shawntoups2454]

The problem is that it has to be a second light weapon. That stops the strat.

[@bleuoval64]

@shawntoups2454 what other one-handed ranged weapon is used in this strat?

[@CubaLibre200X]

@@shawntoups2454 As far as I can tell it's only a problem because of the interaction with the Ammunition weapon property, which even in the playtest material still says you need a free hand to load any one-handed Ammunition weapon, which precludes dual-wielding hand crossbows (since you now have no free hand to load). But then the playtest crossbow expert feat literally has a feature that in bold is titled DUAL WIELDING and makes direct reference to using the new Light weapon property (and presumably by extension, Nick) with crossbows with Light (of which, in the PHB, the hand crossbow is the only example). Basically this is just a contradiction in the rules that I would certainly resolve (assuming they don't fix it before release) by applying the old specific > general interpretation framework.

[@Umbra_Canine]

@@CubaLibre200Xif that a case ask your Dm if you can play a thri kreen.

[@kaseystreams2468]

One major issue: improved pact weapon let's you use a light or heavy crossbow, but not a hand crossbow. And pact of the blade specifies "melee weapon." So unless you get extra attack from fighter, you're only getting 2 attacks.

[@stevem8611]

slightly incorrect. You can only not summon a hand crossbow as your pact weapon. You can attune a magical hand crossbow as one though (As long as it's not sentient or an artifact weapon).

[@DnDDeepDive]

@@stevem8611 This. As per Hex Warrior: "If you later gain the Pact of the Blade feature, this benefit extends to every pact weapon you conjure with that feature, no matter the weapon’s type."

[@kaseystreams2468]

@@stevem8611 I hadn't realized that! Now if only there were more options for magical crossbows... This also makes me kinda sad, because my love of big numbers conflicts with my preference of the longbow.

[@Chris_the_Nerd]

@@DnDDeepDive You would still need the hand crossbow to start out as magical in order to use it with Pact of the Blade. It’s super unintuitive. If Hex Warrior made the weapon magical it would work. One way to ensure a magical hand crossbow for the build is to start Artificer 2 and grab the repeating weapon infusion.

[@DnDDeepDive]

@@Chris_the_Nerd aye - talked about that a bit in the pinned comment :)

[@jaspermooren5883]

It doesn't matter what the concept is, the answer is spells, always.

[@epicazeroth]

Blade Pact is so satisfying especially in a short rest heavy campaign. I once did a Bladelock archer in a Gritty Realism rest style campaign, and it was popping off.

[@Mishtimaus]

Incredible in it's simplicity and efficiency

[@SemblanceofSanity]

Alternatively, only take one level in hex warlock, 2/3 in fighter, and rest in Devotion paladin. Not only do you get charisma to saves, but also 1/day additional Charisma to attack rolls, basically guaranteeing hits with sharpshooter

[@hughroe8598]

This build is great, perhaps one of the strongest you have made by sure dent of how reliable it is. Its probably only A tier for sustained damage but SS for dependability. The fact it is a ranged build with very few working parts makes it very easy to consistantly execute. Sure there are builds that make use of spells like cloud of daggers to achieve very high dpr but in practise the stars dont always allign and your dpr can drop off a lot accordingly.

[@nathanh2664]

Some of the optimized DPS builds seem to unreliable and limited to me.

[@ChrisMedley]

This is precisely my dual gun build! LOVE IT!

[@joshuaclendenon]

Came for the build, stayed for the Blueycast. I actually agree, I was a bit disappointed with how it ended. Still a great episode overall though. Great build, Colby!

[@Messmer_the_Impaler]

Love your videos Colby legit just sit there listening to your builds as I sketch or practice guitar. Such creative and fun builds. My first ever dnd character like a couple years ago was thanks to one of your videos helped me learn dnd so fast and now I love it so much!! keep it up homelander!!

[@ValuelessPond22]

Wow! I was just theory crafting a character like this two days ago! How fun! Great work as always Colby!

[@NocturnalForge]

One of my favorite Hexbows I’ve done is a Shadar-Kai that, when fully planned out to level 20, was 15 Samurai Fighter/5 Hexblade. Used a longbow, got to keep on hex bc of advantage from fighting spirit, and was durable enough to not have to worry if people ran up on me. Samurai is such a fun subclass to mess with. My next version for an upcoming campaign is “Hexblade with a Gun” using the Gunslinger from Valda’s Spire of Secrets. Build should be stupid good if all goes according to plan

[@lightning2034]

how did you plan your lvl progression?

[@NocturnalForge]

@@lightning2034 I started Fighter, then took Warlock to 3, Fighter to 5, Warlock to 5, then the rest Fighter Probably a more optimal build path, but I really like getting pact of the blade asap, and didn’t need extra attack since my party was dps heavy. Plus EB offset the lack of extra attack early on

[@lightning2034]

@NocturnalForge honestly would have done the same option I really feel that build doesn't truly come online until you get your charisma going or extra attack and since you had dps heavy party you could hang back and let eb do the work.

[@andrewhowlin]

Great build as always! Thanks Colby!

[@GryphonDes]

Thanks for the link ! Picked up all three! And - yup yup - cool and fun build!

[@PRINCEofNONE]

I appreciate that the sponsor is all about playing solo dnd and to showcase it he does a skit with himself… Edit: That patron plug… 😂🔥

[@jacobyspurnger8488]

Hexbow is one of my favorite builds. Smite at range is amazing! If you do go wood elf, you can add in some levels of rogue for sneak attack smites.

[@HeathenPlays]

Never been more pleased to watch a video to the end. Wonderful voice my friend keep doing great work.

[@Brandonrod]

I can’t wait to see how your taking this build. I am playing a hexbow in a campaign right now. I did shader kia race, 1-5 hexblade. Took devil sight, thirsting blade, and improved pact weapon ofc. Then I took the sharpshooter feat. I am then going to do the next 5 levels into gloom stalker ranger. The combo comes online at level 8 bc I can then use summon fey and then hide in the fey darkness to get adv on my shots and then also have a summon. I then wanna do levels 4 and 5 in ranger for ASI(Elvin arc) and extra attack. Then when I go back to warlock I could then get rid of thirsting blade and even devil sight if I wanted to. Then I’d go warlock until level 8 to get ASI and 4th level slots for my summon to attack twice. From here I’d prob just take a fighter dip for action surge but idk where I will go yet once this charcter gets to level 13 if we even continue past 13.

[@Brandonrod]

Ok so after watching the vid. If my character goes past 13 I will see whatever level we are ending at and go from there. If we end at 17, then I am going to wish I just went pure hexblade bc then u can get foresight as 9th level spell but I’d just go hexblade for lifedrinker. If not prob take a couple fighter levels for action surge.

[@Typher_]

Seems super solid

[@matancohenuk]

Doesn't the Fey only use melee attacks? Not sure that works well with ranged caster.

[@Brandonrod]

@@matancohenuk yes but if your super far away u can use your bonus action to use magic stones and then give it stones to throw but it has 40 feet of movement and 30 foot teleport so it should be able to attack and also misty step to give u darkness

[@brianl9571]

For anyone wondering which invocation Colby is gushing about at 36 minutes (not you, of course you already knew this without looking it up), it's called Lifedrinker, and it's one of the PHB invocations and has a prerequisite of 12th level.

[@O4OUR]

Came here to type the same thing. So excited he forgot to say the word! lol.

[@Typher_]

I have been brewing a hex bow build for our next campaign so this is awesome!! I’m going to use a “revolver” and plan to just use CBE/SS, and flavor it as a revolver. Crit fisher with Elven accuracy as well. Excited to see what your take on it is

[@mattdahm4289]

Thanks Colby! ❤

[@jamiepandaman]

I'm not sure if anyone else mentioned this, but the thing you mention at 32:00 with Matt Mercer using Relentless Hex to save his character's life is from Dimension 20: Escape from the Bloodkeep, which I highly recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it yet!

[@TitaniumCrane]

Absolutely loved the sponsor bit this week; it was so silly. Great build btw

[@johngillan4475]

Very interesting build. Thank you

[@mitchhaelann9215]

Interesting build, as always, Colby. I've been tweaking a similar build but it's built off of the Grung race to add some poison damage to every attack. But if you're looking at getting an extra feat at first level, there's some little-used backgrounds that offer certain feats. If you need cleric spells early in your build, Astral Traveler gives you a free Magic initiate: Cleric. And Giant Foundling gives you a free Strike of the Giants at first level.

[@beastslayer8729]

I actually created a build very similar to this a couple years back! I wanted a class that could act as a sniper assassin, but nothing really did enough damage to kill enemies in one shot. But then, I stumbled upon the Hexbow combo with a longbow and the sharpshooter feat, and I really felt like it was the closest thing to what I was envisioning. Two arrows + two sharpshooter procs + two eldritch smites = dead target.

[@tones7mca]

Props for the "Bluey" T. I want one!

[@Kusabiii]

I'm proud to have thought up and played this build before watching this video 🤩🤩

[@robertlewicki3758]

Only 5:41 in and loving Obvious Mimic Colby. First time in a long time I haven’t fast forwarded through the ad. Lol more amazing skit Colby PLEASE!

[@matt_hop4531]

Bluey is an incredible show!! Loving this Warlock build too!!

[@nyteraven]

In one of my campaigns I'm currently playing an Armorer Artificer, loosely based on your tank build. I was already thinking about a fighter dip, but this video just gave me the idea of going all the way to 3 and going psi-warrior, since I AM int focused it could actually work really well I'm thinking. Now I just need to decide where in the leveling curve to take the dip, I'm already level 4 and getting to 10 on Artificer is so important.

[@corbanromm5986]

Dude!! I literally tried to make this awhile back Edit: other than crossbow expert, it was pretty much the same build.

[@dwgautier]

I'm excited for you to start making 20 DC characters. The character building is so crunchy it had D4 written all over it. Also the caster/marshal divide is pretty well closed (that being said there is a very limited amount of spells out as of now). Ancestry powers alone will drastically change the feel of class/build. Many people will feel put off by the pathfinder style of multi classing but it is sooo much more balanced and sometime getting just a single class feature is worth more then a feat. Anyway, can't wait for you to sink your teeth into it.

[@Aetolian558]

Here for the Dungeons of Drakkenheim book in the video. Great campaign.

[@joshuahampton6141]

Pre-Video: IT'S THE HEXBOW I WANTED! Post-Video: Yeah, I hadn't really considered Hexblade's Curse better consistency at Warlock 14. I think that's a table-dependent thing. If you frequently have combats with LOTS of enemies that have the Hit Point totals requiring switching your curse, it's a solid choice. If you have a table with 1-2 big enemies and a bunch of weaker minions, it can be good, but I don't know that it's worth the extra 3 levels over something else. YMMV

[@gusinwv]

I've been waiting for this build!!!!!!! Ty d4!

[@Vandar85]

Not sure if I missed it in video, but for hand crossbow to be your pact weapon you actually need to find magic hand crossbow and perform ritual over it.

[@lightning2034]

with the improved pact weapon and hex warrior wording can summon a hand crossbow. otherwise yes you are correct that he needs to find the weapon to make it a hexbow

[@Vandar85]

​​@@lightning2034improved pact weapon mentions only light and heavy crossbows, shortbows and longbows. They really left hand crossbow out. And I don't recall any errata to fix it

[@lightning2034]

@Vandar85 hex warrior states The influence of your patron also allows you to mystically channel your will through a particular weapon. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch one weapon that you are proficient with and that lacks the two-handed property. meaning hand crossbows are on this list because it fulfills both requirements listed in hex warrior but it will only work for one hand crossbow I apologize I should have mentioned hex warrior at the beginning.

[@Vandar85]

​@@lightning2034 yes, this line is about CHA to attack and damage. But in the next sentence of Hex Warrior there is "If you later gain the Pact of the Blade feature, this benefit extends to every pact weapon you conjure with that feature, no matter the weapon’s type". The key point there is conjure with that feature which refers to pact weapon. You can't conjure hand crossbow with Pact Weapon/Improved Pact Weapon. And to gain benefit of Pact Weapon feature(in our case it's mostly spellcasting focus via Improved Pact Weapon) you need to find magical hand crossbow and only then make it your pact weapon. P.S. Long story short - you can use your CHA for attack and dmg from the start, but to use crossbow as spellcasting focus and other minor goodies from pact weapon - it has to be magical weapon that you find and perform pact weapon ritual over it.

[@solitariuslupus1195]

So I wasn't recommended this video, but I searched for it. Take THAT, algorithm! Great content as always, I missed watching these regularly

[@darcraven01]

i was going to make a hexbow/arcane archer type build where i'd take 5 levels of hexblade (blade pact) to get eldritch smite and improved pact of blade (agonizing blast, devil's sight, or fiendish vigor as the third). i'd take 3 or 4 levels of ranger: swarmkeeper (doesnt matter, you'd either get the feat from lvl 4 ranger or lvl 12 fighter so you dont miss anything) taking the archery fighting style there (not only will this let you get multiple fighting styles as described later, it'll also let you use the swarmkeeper's "gathering swarm" to either add additional damage or move you/target without using up a resourse), and 11-12 of fighter: arcane archer. i'd take the superior technique style to get a battle maneuver. would get a total of 5 feats, which obviously you'd take xbow xpert and sharpshooter, but i'd also take piercer, martial adapt (getting more battle maneuvers/superiority die), and fighting initiate to get a 3rd fighting style and take defense to get extra ac while wearing armor.. also take the rewarded background to get the lucky feat (cuz why not). now heres the key... you play thri'kreen. this will allow you to apply your hexwarrior's "use charisma to attack" to a 1h hand crossbow and have it extend to your pact weapon which is a heavy crossbow. use the heavy crossbow in your primary two hands and have the hand crossbow in one of your secondary hands.. then you get a bunch of things (between the few battle maneuvers, the arcane archer's features, and your warlock spell slots and hexblade's curse) that all return on a short rest.. best build? definitely not... but it seems like a good fix for the arcane archer

[@christopherchurm1407]

Yes! Yes! Yes! Colby I’ve been waiting so long for this. I’ve never been satisfied with the ranger or fighter options for archers. Build well done!

[@Namikaze_VT]

I once had an eldritch knight archer, and I would flavor my spells to take the form of arrows. I had a lot of fun with that build, in spite of being not as effective as other builds

[@BW022]

I've played a number of warlocks, but IMO the big problem with this build is most of its features can't be used due to the limited spell slots. Having two spell slots per short rest means you are so tied to short rests that most of the time you won't be able to get advantage and your sharpshooter is going to suffer. Things like shield, hex, etc. are pretty much hopeless by even 4th level. Personally, I'd consider going something like a war domain cleric to start. Put that 14 dex into wisdom, use heavy armor, and you get cantrips, cleric spells, and spell slots. Yes, you loose con saves and the fighting style, but you get a couple of bonus action attacks, a better AC, more versatility (guidance, up cast healing on short rests, etc.), and most importantly two 1st-level slots to power some hexes or shield spells where you don't have to blow your higher-level warlock slots. Alternately, two levels of ranger also helps if you really want the fighting style, although that really delays multiple attacks.

[@schuepbachr]

Oh fuck, yes, it's happening! I've always wanted to optimize a hexbow! Holy shit!

[@schuepbachr]

Gah! I'm probably gonna take the optimization loss and do longbow.... My immersion! My power fantasy!!

[@carlospadilla7247]

​@@schuepbachrthat was always allowed

[@MrTaskmaster1]

Not quite the same thing but I found a really good thrown weapon master. 4 levels of rogue soulknife with fighting initiate thrown weapon style and then 5 fighter levels. Take archery and your blades are +2 light, finesse, thrown, returning weapon that will get better no matter what you take after that it just gets better. Add rouge and get more sneak attack. Use steady aim and with your bonus action you get advantage so you can use your sneak attack. If you go fighter levels then you will eventually get to that 3rd extra attack.

[@d-risky4994]

I was doing something this route and BowLock I started custom lineage and piercer for 18 dex and just 14 Cha Went celestial pact to roleplay as a combat medic.. intend to maybe dip 3 levels into scout rogue as that fits the vibe of this character as they work for a grand library to go out with researchers on expeditions .. so the skills and cunning action and steady aim are what I want Then I can smite on a sneak attack if I ever crit 😇

[@tiny0wI]

BIG buff to warlocks in the new rule sets; they have said that EVERY spell will have upcasting options. It's noice.

[@richardchisenhall387]

I had a wild homebrew idea that involves a bit of warlock, it's really mostly just a concept though. Warlock pact of the chain and flavor the imp as an automaton, then the battle Smith artificer to Gain a steel defender and a homunculus, the idea is they can essentially converge like a megazord/voltron style combo Alternatively they can also attach to the PC as a type of armor upgrade giving bonuses like AC points, an extra attack on top of any class related extra attacks, using a portion of the creatures HP as temp HP for your character and they disengage from you when that HP is gone, the homunculus force blast as a bonus action. So you can use the Mecha as companions or as a booster for yourself

[@michaelwasson265]

I played one of these (well, very similar at least), and I had a lot of fun with it. I designed him as a bounty hunter, so I didn't focus solely on damage. I took a few more levels in Fighter to get the Rune Knight subclass and the Fire and Stone runes. And then one more for the ASI/feat at Fighter 4... 😅

[@alexgarrett4673]

One of my favourite 5e characters I've played was a Hexbow. Not fully optimised as I went Mark of Making Human and spent an ASI on Chef for flavour reasons (pardon the pun), but he could still churn out pretty consistent damage throughout his career, with some fun versatility. And Eldritch Smite on a bow attack is a lot of fun, too - there was a running joke that the party kept forgetting I wasn't a paladin because I was the party's moral compass and would smite pretty much every combat.

[@Morganwrath]

On a semi linked subject to the darkness combo, I know that you consider the twilight cleric unsavory, but I would still love to see you explore the interaction between Twilight Sanctuary and the Shadow Monk's Shadow Step ability, less so for the temp hp (though god knows that helps out a monk) but more for the teleportation potential. Though maybe it ends up more a fun gimmick than a viable build, but then that's always the risk with monks.

[@relaxedfantasyreview]

When you said "become a patron" I paused the video and started looking for the link to Patreon! Don't excite me like that 🤣

[@shadycrow9795]

Third time in a row, you sir are lucky. It's been 2 months since my last session with my current group.

[@JustinFike]

I created a homebrew rule for Warlocks years ago that expands their Mystic Arcanum feature to give a first and then second level spell slot earlier in their career (5th and 9th level) before switching to the normal 6th level etc slots. It's amazing for giving my Warlock player just that tiny bit of flex in using a low level spell once per day without ever feeling OP. Just thought I'd drop that here for any other forever DMs :)

[@palatonian9618]

Colby I want a video about your thoughts on multiclassing and the meta under 5e in general before (or whenever) the new rules come out. Possibly featuring mr. Treant Monk?

[@SolnerV2]

I really like this build overall, and the idea of being able to move the darkness over enemies to hit them and then backing back out sounds like a fun way to attack and have some sort of control on melee only enemies. This just makes me wish too that a pistol could also get that bonus action attack from crossbow expert

[@Failypso]

Well that add was exceptionally well done

[@animefan3794]

I just want to add an extra bit of utility to Eldritch Smite’s prone: anti-aircraft effect. You knock a target probe while it’s flying, you get all that sweet sweet fall damage as well. Also, I vaguely remember doing the math a while back and something like less than 10% of all official D&D 5e creatures were larger than Huge, not counting applied templates. Meaning you’re going to have a harder time finding enemies it can’t be used on than ones it can be.

[@lukeremsberg5796]

Only better part of my Tuesdays is actually getting to play DnD later tonight

[@jonathanhaynes9914]

Thanks Colby

[@Leif47]

Love the nod to the Dungeon Dudes with the Dungeons of Drakkenheim book you had in your ad (hey that rhymed!). Also while it wouldn't help with damage, another option for the fighter subclass could be Eldritch Knight for some 1st level spells slots and spells so you can cast shield (and now absorb elements) without using your warlock spell slots and keep them for Eldritch Smites

[@deckerjake438]

Another Bluey t shirt. Someone needs to create a DnD version? They do enough magic in the show.

[@Johnny5isstillalive]

S3 episode Dragon is very D&Dish

[@deckerjake438]

@@Johnny5isstillalive that’s right. The drawing episode is DnD like.

[@adamienw]

You're right Colby. Mercer did that in Dimension 20: Escape the Bloodkeep.

[@KarlMarkyMarxx]

I made a lazy variant of this using a heavy crossbow Battlesmith Artificer with Crossbow Expert and Fey Touched for Hex.

[@GameMastersAcademy.]

Fun build also nice to see minimal multiclassing

[@Gafizal1]

I think i’d go eldritch knight… absorb elements, feather fall, magic missil with hexblade’s curse… really nice at the end to have a couple lvl 1 slots and a few more spells known

[@jackmcgeehan328]

Relentless hex would be the one that I would pick. I'm imagining this character like Ezreal from league of legends, teleporting and popping off skill shots while dealing bonus damage to the one with his W on them (Hexblades curse/hex). Imagine him with blink and mirror image on him too with armor of hexes phew

[@zardok11]

I've actually been figuring out a version of this that takes 7 levels of Eldritch Knight Fighter for the One DnD version of War Magic to combine crossbow attacks with eldritch blast attacks.. I was going to flavor it as though it was all energy being shot through the crossbow.

[@ivbenjaminart1030]

What a coinki-dink. I've been working on a Ranged Paladin/Warlock for my OC and I ended up with a 14 Warlock/3 Fighter/3 Paladin (story Purposes) and used Celestial Warlock instead with Pact Weapon cuz I wanted him to be team battle medic/sniper/strategist. It may not be the most optimal but has a lot of flavour~

[@ReeseAlmighty]

I love the videos. If you want a fun game when watching, see how fast Colby goes through his video cards 😂

[@haileopennington]

Let me start off by saying I love your builds Colby and look forward to every Tuesday. For this build I would love to play it in game but I seem to be missing something. Can you, or anyone else reading this fill me in? For the eldritch Invocation Improved Pact Weapon, it reads: You can use any weapon you summon with your Pact of the Blade feature as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells. In addition, the weapon gains a +1 bonus to its attack and damage rolls, unless it is a magic weapon that already has a bonus to those rolls. Finally, the weapon you conjure can be a shortbow, longbow, light crossbow, or heavy crossbow. How is this character using a hand crossbow? It's not one of these 4 options right? Please enlighten me because I really wanna convert a warlock I'm playing to this type of character.

[@DnDDeepDive]

See the pinned comment 😉

[@KevinVideo]

Not surprised that it's a spellcaster. Depending on who you ask, people are likely going to say that a bladesinger with Crossbow Expert and a hand crossbow is the best ranged weapon user in the game. I've never heard of Relentless Hex saving someone from falling off a cliff, but that sounds amazing, and I totally want to have that in my back pocket. Was actually surprised that this ended up being a psi warrior fighter 3/hexblade warlock 14. Thought for sure that with all the spell slots that could be used for benefit, especially for smites, that it would have been a divine soul sorcerer/hexblade.

[@nathanh2664]

In terms of combat power the Oath of Vengeance Paladin can tank DPS heal and support. It is only martial class I consider as powerful as a full caste.

[@jonathanwynes2542]

A big issue for Darkness is your allies can’t target you with friendly spells either like healing or bless. I recommend working out your first turn tactics with your party, then on your turn Ready action your darkness spell and wait until any buffs for you are in place then casting it.

[@arcanerecovery2567]

I have a request if I may be so bold? Please consider making an optimized archer that can hit the most targets and place damage secondary. PS: When ONE D&D drops in a few month go ham wild with the optimizations. I know you're like me in that regard and can't wait.

[@nuadai]

To be fair, I so much liked that Moonbow Invocation for the Archfey Warlock when it was playtested. I understand it was scrapped for streamlining purposes, but the innate smite of the Moonbow was pretty cool, and the idea of multicasting it into Arcane Archer is the reason I started liking Arcane Archer at all

[@kasbeeltherapriest3443]

i kinda builded this on paper, but throw in a bit of echo knight and assasin rocgue (if you want the guearanteed crit), and with the right order of actions you can snipe a baddie from a roof inside or something his lair and then *poof* vanish and appear 3k feet away. And you are still a dope sustained damage dealer in the meantime

[@connor3158]

After having accidentally stumbling into playing one I think the best is the Profane Soul Bloodhunter crossbow expert. I was playing an aasimar one of these in a CoS game and I was genuinely OP by fourth level.

[@theangry_wookie_man1830]

I was literally just trying to do this build yesterday

[@dallinlowe2627]

Love the shirt, Colby. Great show

[@amazingmenace6168]

I love the bandit tshirt. 👌🏾

[@enricopietraroia5621]

i was expecting you'd go for the route of Fighter 3 Champion + elven accuracy for this build since you're almost permanently in advantage for those tasty Crit fishing

[@Notsogoodguitarguy]

Colby, you're pretty generous with your calculations xD When I did the math for the Shadow of Moil, I calculated 2 smites per encounter, and the DPR was only at about 83.4 instead of the 98 dpr. I think your smites inflate the math quite substantially xD