D&D 5E Crit-fishing Paladin build post-Xanathar's

It seems to me like the best crit-fishing Paladin build is Half-Elf Oath of Vengeance Paladin (6+X) | Hexblade (1+Y), with the Elven Accuracy feat, and the option of mixing in 3+ Sorcerer levels for better spell slot progression and Quickened booming blade if desired. Hexblade gives you a lot with just a 1 level dip: it allows you to ignore Str and Dex beyond minimum AC requirements and use Elven Accuracy with Cha, get recharging slots, get Shield, get 19-20 crits against one target per short rest, and get +proficiency to your damage rolls, If not mixing in sorcerer for Quicken, either dual wielding or using Polearm Master (if you take Hexblade to 3) in order to get more attacks off seems like the best deal, but Heavy Weapon master also works if you're willing to bet on getting a crit on your first two attacks to trigger the bonus action attack.

Thoughts or suggestions?

Where are you getting advantage from?

Flanking ideally (our group uses flanking rules), but otherwise Vow of Enmity from the Oath of Vengeance.

You need to be a Pact of the Blade Warlock in order to use the Hex Warrior feature on a two-handed weapon (otherwise the feature specifically excludes them), which requires going up to Warlock 3. Going up to 3 levels also gives you access to the Darkness+Devil's sight combo, which is another easy way to get advantage, as well as the Improved Pact Weapon invocation to make your pact weapon into a +1 magic weapon.

Hmm. This works well for your game with the variant flanking rule, but for general usage I don't see enough ways to get advantage. You self-generate it for one target per short rest.

A traditional STR based paladin with Shield Master could manage it, but idea here s to just go minimum STR for multiclassing/armor. That doesn't work with GWM, and with Polearm master only works with the staff.

Mounted Combat as a feat can work, but you can't have a mount everywhere. Though your Summon Steed will give you an intelligent mount that can go a lot fo places a real animal would balk - but it's very squishy once you start reaching 6th, 7th level.
[MENTION=6941440]Gavin O.[/MENTION] mentioned Darkness+Devil's Sight - it's an oft talked about way to get advantage but I rarely see it pulled off consistently because of the impact on the other PCs depending on the situation.

With your oath, any one of those would get it up to at least 2/3 of opponents over the course of a day.

Another bonus for Warlock 3 is that it upgrades the warlock slots to 2nd level - that's either more spells cast or better Divine Smites.

A big worry I have is that when multiclassing is being slow on getting ASIs. With your first spent to get Elven Accuracy, you could be hitting 8th when others have +5 to their primary ability modifier and this build is still at the starting +3 because it only had a single ASI so far and spent it on a feat. That's a big gap, and every miss will more than offset the bonus damage from a crit.

[MENTION=20564]Blue[/MENTION] Elven accuracy gives +1 Cha so with a starting 17 from half-elf it would get 20 by level 9 as hexblade 1/Paladin 8.

Blue said:

A big worry I have is that when multiclassing is being slow on getting ASIs. With your first spent to get Elven Accuracy, you could be hitting 8th when others have +5 to their primary ability modifier and this build is still at the starting +3 because it only had a single ASI so far and spent it on a feat. That's a big gap, and every miss will more than offset the bonus damage from a crit.

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For that reason, I really don't think this build can afford to spend a feat on getting advantage. You're likely looking at 4 ASI total during your career, and you need two of them to get your 20 Cha. If you start with Elven Accuracy and then take Mounted Combatant or Shield Master, you have to wait until minimum level 13 to hit your 20 Cha. If you also want Great Weapon Master to take advantage of your crits, you can't get that until level 17

Gavin O. said:

For that reason, I really don't think this build can afford to spend a feat on getting advantage. You're likely looking at 4 ASI total during your career, and you need two of them to get your 20 Cha. If you start with Elven Accuracy and then take Mounted Combatant or Shield Master, you have to wait until minimum level 13 to hit your 20 Cha. If you also want Great Weapon Master to take advantage of your crits, you can't get that until level 17

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Your statement is true.

That does not make my statement also true.

In a game that doesn't use the variant that flanking grants advantage, this build doesn't have enough ways to generate Advantage to justify spending your first ASI on an Advantage booster feat.

Blue said:

Your statement is true.

That does not make my statement also true.

In a game that doesn't use the variant that flanking grants advantage, this build doesn't have enough ways to generate Advantage to justify spending your first ASI on an Advantage booster feat.

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I would tend to agree with that. However, if you plan on playing an elf of half-elf anyways, and you have an odd number for your attacking stat to start (and no other odd ability scores you care about), I would say this feat is worth taking even if you don't plan to optimize around it. Especially for Cha builds, the number of good feats that give you +1 Cha is minimal, so if +1 is all you need, I would still take this over, say, Actor.

Ok, so this not a paladin build but there's one at the bottom. My stance on this is to do more damage per hit even when you don't crit and to be light on resource use. To that end the Shadow Blade spell and Sorceror class provide excellent tools.

These three builds are all 2-class only. I take issue with dipping a few levels into a bunch of classes, and require a solid background story even for 2-class multi's.

Champion + Sorc (any), Half-Elf with Elven Accuracy.
Increased crit threat range + super advantage.
Focus Dex/Cha, so not excessively MAD.
Its very import to maintain concentration. Con save proficiency, check. Warcaster is still helpful.

How you split can vary, but you'll want at least Second Attack from Fighter, and maybe 3rd Attack. The ASI's at 6 (lets you get the lvl 14 Sorc feature) or 8 can also be breakpoints. More Sorc levels = more Sorc points and spells/slots.

Now on to dice....

Use Shadow Blade for 2d8 - 5d8 damage per hit, plus Dex/Dueling. In dim/dark conditions, Shadow Blade attacks have advantage. Its a finesse weapon, and can even be thrown boomerang-like. You can dual wield something else if you want to use your Bonus Action that way, but I think Bonus Action is better reserved for Quickened spells and Slot conversion. I prefer Shadow Blade to Smite to load up damage dice because it lasts 1 minute instead of 1 attack, or unless your concentration is broken.

PHB+1- Can't have the SCAG cantrips and Shadow Blade in AL unless you somehow learn them during play. Hopefully your table ignores PHB+1.

Quickened Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade can function as +1 attack, and they get to add cantrip damage on top of the extra Shadow Blade hit. If doing PHB+1, then Quicken Shocking Grasp instead.

Combos:
If you have two targets next to each other you can Twin Booming Blade and Quicken Green Flame Blade for essentially 3 attacks + some splash damage, which works even before you get Second Attack from Champion so long as there are two targets next to each other.

Quicken Hold Person/Monster then attack the paralyzed target for automatic crits.



Additional advantage sources:

Magic Initiate (Wizard) or Ritual Caster (Wizard) for Find Familiar if you make the stat requirement without too much compromise.

Shield Mastery to knock prone with bonus action.

Quicken Hold Person/Monster bonus action then attack for auto-crits.

Shadow Sorc can cast Darkness with 2 Sorc points and see through it, but this denies the ability to use Shadow Blade bc concentration, so at best Booming & Green Flame Blades with one of them Quickened while using a regular weapon. I look at this as more of a defensive tactic, like when you're out-numbered because all non-AOE attacks against you will have disadvantage unless attackers can also see in magical Darkness.


Issues:
PHB+1
You won't have access to magical weapon + to hit and damage when using a Shadow Blade, ergo its a little less accurate than a magical weapon.


For Shadow Blade-jiving flavor use Drow Half-Elf variant & Shadow Sorceror. Divine Sorc could also be good, but I'd think you'd be blessed by dark gods not your usual light and fluffy ones considering how much you make use of a blade conjured from shadows.



Hexblade or Champion + Blade Bard was the other build I was thinking about, also half-elf and using elven accuracy and shadow blade. It could eventually get Battle Magic, which could trade one of its two attacks for a melee cantrip (or any other Bard spell). Flourishes would be the extra dice source, and are not bad as a resource considering they refresh on short rests, but just one die and aside from adding to damage give either AC bonus or a little AoE damage.



Hexblade considerations: The warlock smites aren't compatible with a Shadow Blade, and their ammo is limited even if it refreshes easily- 2 slots until level 11+. The Charisma to hit/damage is weapon-limited (no 2H) if not also pact of the blade. HexBlade's Curse (proficiency bonus to damage and the all-important increased crit threat range) is good for only one target per short rest. Eventually you can transfer it like a Hex spell, but still just one combat per short rest. An alternative to Shadow Blade, you can Hex + Maddening Hex.


I'm playing a Vengeance Paladin / Fiend Warlock right now, very smitey and tanky. Half-elf + Elven Accuracy and even Hexblade for the CHA to hit/damage and increased crit range curse woulda been nice, but I built him before Xanathar's came out. GWM and Darkness are the obvious tactic. I don't play him that way though.

Paladin + Hexblade is the smiting build. It can PLD smite (Warlock Smite is pact wepon and WLK slot only) and Shadow Blade, but crit threat range, Channel Divinity, smites, and Hexblade's Curse all have some limitations or can consume their resources quickly. You can't have CHA bonus to hit/damage applied to a Shadow Blade.