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Blades of Cursed Midnight: A Hexblade's Guide (by Lord_Ventor)
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<blockquote data-quote="LightWarden" data-source="post: 6744712" data-attributes="member: 6803540"><p><strong>Originally posted by Lord_Ventnor:</strong></p><p></p><p>Dancing with the Devil (in the Pale Moonlight): The Pacts</p><p>We come now to the most important choice you will make as a Hexblade: what pact you will enter. Your pact determines everything about your character: your secondary ability, your pact weapon, what At-will and encounter powers you get to use, and other things too. There are currently four pacts that Hexblades can enter, although certainly more will appear as time goes on.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>The Infernal Pact</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Introduced in Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, aka Hellblades.</p><p></p><p>When most people think of Warlocks, they think of fell pacts with Devils. This is the pact created by Tieflings in old Bael Turath, although these days this power can also be stolen without the need for a devilish pact granter. Taking that route will make devils awfully angry though.</p><p></p><p>At any rate, Infernal Hexblades tend to be brutes. They wear heavy armor, and depend on that and their temporary hit points to allow them to outlast their enemies.</p><p></p><p><strong>Infernal Pact Features</strong></p><p>[sblock]<u>Infernal Pact Class Features</u></p><p><u></u></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Pact Reward:</strong></span> Having Constitution as a secondary ability is a pretty awesome deal when you're a melee striker. Your extra HP and surges should prove instrumental in keeping you in the fight.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Pact Boon (Soul Feast):</strong></span> Getting temporary HP every time you kill an enemy or an enemy next to you dies is a pretty sweet deal.</p><p></p><p><strong>Pact Weapon:</strong> The Blade of Annihilation is a heavy blade, which is inaccurate but powerful. You certainly can't complain about receiving a superior weapon proficiency for free.</p><p></p><p><strong>Soul Eater:</strong> This power gets a bad rap, but it's not as dire as one would think. Every time you strike a foe, you get a +2 bonus to attack rolls against the guy you hit, which means your next attack against that enemy is just that more likely to hit (striking with Soul Eater before following up with an encounter or daily attack might not be a bad thing). It's only real weakness is that it deals necrotic damage, which tends to be resisted by many foes, most notably undead. This can be worked around though, with any number of items or feats. It certainly isn't a deal breaker.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Blazing Doom of the Void:</strong></span> The Infernal Pact encounter spell. You deal extra [W] damage, and you get a hefty bonus to damage rolls against the enemy you attacked for your next attack, even if you missed. It also deals fire and necrotic damage together, which means its not likely that a foe will resist this.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Reflexive Hellstrike:</strong></span> If an enemy attacks you, you damage them and push them very far away from you. This is especially helpful if you want to get out of melee.</p><p></p><p><strong>Spined Devil Lackey:</strong> The lesser of two devils you can summon. The Lackey's not bad by any means, able to inflict ongoing damage when you ask it to and damaging enemies who end their turns next to you as an opportunity action. Maybe not the best, but not a waste of space either.</p><p></p><p><strong>Pit Fiend Servitor:</strong> You know you're in epic tier when you can boss around a pit fiend. It's standard action attack deals a lot of damage, and it inflicts enemies who end their turns next to you with ongoing damage. It also has a minor action debuff technique too. Overall, not a bad use of a daily.[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>The Fey Pact of the Winter Court </strong></span></p><p></p><p>Introduced in Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, aka Feyblades.</p><p></p><p>The capricious lords of the Feywild grant their magic secrets on a whim, and if you impress them, you too can receive the boon of their magic.</p><p></p><p>Fey Hexblades tend to be skirmishers. The flit about the battlefield, their teleportation and invisibility spells allowing them to attack any enemy they believe is the biggest threat.</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong><strong>Fey Pact Features</strong></p><p>[sblock]<strong><em><u>Fey Pact Class Features</u></em></strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Pact Reward:</strong><span style="color: #33cccc"> </span>Dexterity is one of the best secondary ability scores you could ask for as a striker. The ability to go first is a huge advantage, especially since most of your spells debuff your foes in some way; making a foe start off at a disadvantage is a good thing.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Pact Boon (Soul Step):</strong> </span>Much like the traditional Fey Warlock, you can teleport when an enemy dies. This teleportation scales up as you get more powerful, and you can use it to teleport into a flanking position when the enemy you've been attacking goes down, or you could teleport behind a defender if your HP is running low. It's pretty versatile that way.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Pact Weapon:</strong></span> The Blade of Winter's Mourning is the strongest light blade there is at the moment, and no one else but you gets it. Powerful, accurate, and with a whole slew of feats to make it better, this is currently regarded as the best pact weapon.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Icy Skewer:</strong></span> A neat melee basic attack that deals cold damage and boosts your defenses against one enemy's attacks. Not a bad pickup at all.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Piercing Shard:</strong></span> The first thing to note is that this power targets the Will defense, which is usually the weakest defense on a monster. It deals cold and psychic damage, both which are well-supported, and makes you invisible to an enemy you attack with it, whether you hit or not. All-in-all, a solid encounter attack.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Pact Retribution:</strong></span> A foe attacks you, they take damage and you teleport away. Not a bad escape button if you need one.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Wood Woad Guardian:</strong></span> An ally that you can summon with Summon Warlock's Ally, the Wood Woad is a loyal friend to you. His standard action attacks knock enemies prone, and if a foe hits you, he'll teleport by your side and take the attack instead of you (just remember that this takes up both your opportunity action for the turn and your immediate action for the round). Just be sure to give him some candy when the battle's over; guy deserves it!</p><p></p><p><strong>Frostblight Treant Protector:</strong> This large wooden buddy is your epic tier summoned ally. His standard action attacks are a little weaker than your MBA, but he immobilizes foes his hits. He has a minor action slowing technique if foes stay near him, and as an opportunity action, he'll slow (save ends) an enemy who moves near him. Unlike the Wood Woad, he doesn't take attacks for you, which is kind of sad.[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>The Fey Pact of the White Well</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Introduced in Dragon 393, aka Wellblades.</p><p></p><p>Unlike the Fey Pact offered by the Winter Court, the Fey Pact offered by the Lady of the White Well is focused more around radiant moonlight rather than freezing winds. This means you're extra-equipped to handle undead. Unfortunately, in the long run, Winter Court Fey Hexblades will likely be more powerful, but White Well Hexblades can still do their job well.</p><p></p><p><strong>Fey Pact Features</strong></p><p>[sblock]<strong><em><u>Fey Pact Class Features</u></em></strong></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Pact Reward: </strong></span>Like a Fey Hexblade of Winter, you have Dexterity as a secondary ability, which is a very good thing for a striker.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Pact Boon (Soul Step):</strong></span> Also the same boon as the Winter Court Fey Pact. Which again is a very nice thing.</p><p></p><p><strong>Pact Weapon:</strong> This is where the Fey Pact of the White Well differs. White Well Hexblades receive the Sword of the White Well, which is essentially the Infernal Hexblade's Blade of Annihilation by a different name. Which still isn't a bad thing; not every class receives a d12 one-handed weapon for free.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Moonfire Blade:</strong></span> One of the best At-Will attacks there is. It targets reflex, is a Melee Basic Attack, deals radiant damage, and deals extra damage to enemies who don't try to run away from you. You'll be calling on this a lot.</p><p></p><p><strong>Well of Light:</strong> Unfortunately, this power isn't quite as nice. It deals extra [W] damage, and as a result activates a limited aura around your body that gives enemies near you slight radiant vulnerability. While this sounds nice, the vulnerability never scales, and it doesn't interact with enemies already vulnerable to radiant damage. Still, its not horrible, and it is a nice perk if you have a leader who can grant you some extra attacks to take advantage of the aura while you have it.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Moonlit Escape:</strong></span> This retributive power damages a foe that attacks you, makes you insubstantial, and gives you a shift. Certainly not bad at all, although the insubstantiality doesn't last long.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Mourning Handmaiden:</strong></span> Like the Wood Woad, a summon that cares about you. It's standard action attack immobilizes enemies, and as an opportunity action, it teleports to your side when you get attacked, taking half the damage of an enemy's attack. While it doesn't take all the damage, it also doesn't need to eat up an immediate action to take the damage either, so there's that.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Spectral Protector:</strong></span> Who says chivalry is dead? This epic tier summoned ally has a close blast standard action attack that pushes, a minor action attack debuff for enemies that get to close to it, and he'll swap positions with you when you get attacked as an opportunity action, becoming the target of the attack himself. He'll also attack the enemy who hurts him like this, sliding that foe as well. A worthy companion indeed![/sblock]</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>The Star Pact</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Introduced in Dragon 393, aka Starblades.</p><p></p><p>Unlike most pacts, Star Hexblades don't really know who they're bargaining with for their fell powers. Doesn't stop them from doing it all the same, but still one wonders.</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong><strong>Star Pact Features</strong></p><p>[sblock]<strong><em><u>Star Pact Class Features</u></em></strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Pact Reward:</strong> Star Hexblades have Intelligence as their secondary ability. It can give them good AC, but doesn't control initiative like Dexterity or HP and Surges like Constitution. It's not bad, but not the best either.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Pact Boon (Dire Fate):</strong></span> If an enemy dies next to you, you get a +1 untyped bonus to attack rolls. Unfortunately, like a traditional Star Warlock, you don't get a stacking attack bonus since this boon only activates once per round, but it's still not bad.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Pact Weapon:</strong></span> The Starshadow Blade used by Star Hexblades is essentially a Bastard Sword. So you get a Bastard Sword as a free proficiency. Which is awesome.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Resplendent Blade:</strong></span> A pretty good melee basic attack that deals radiant damage and damages an enemy other than the foe you targeted, which makes Star Hexblades the current best pact to handle multiple enemies at once.</p><p></p><p><strong>Wield the Warp:</strong> You hit a foe, and teleport them to some other square adjacent to you. Obviously, this power is kind of situational, but if you have a knight buddy nearby or some hindering terrain you're next to, this power could prove quite useful. Unlike other Hexblade power, it doesn't have an effect if you miss, so tough.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Gaze into Nothing:</strong></span> If an enemy attacks you, you blind them. Unfortunately, the blinding only happens after the enemy's attack is finished, which means this power should only really be used on enemies who can attack multiple times in a round, like elites or solos. This makes it a weak point on the Star Hexblade.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thought Phantom:</strong> An interesting summon. It's invisible automatically, and has combat advantage against foes who can't see invisible things, which is nice. Its standard action attack inflicts ongoing damage, and it can make you invisible if you get hit, which means you likely won't get hit again in that round. Overall, decent.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Way Walker:</strong></span> The Star Hexblade's epic summon. It's standard action attack dazes enemies, which is a very nice condition for you, it can push enemies who end their turn in its aura, and it can make you or your allies phasing, which is excellent in those battles with a lot of hindering terrain. Not bad to summon now and then.[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>The Gloom Pact</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Introduced in Heroes of Shadow, aka Gloomblades.</p><p></p><p>Arcane power can be found in all areas of the planes, even in the Shadowfell. The tainted magic that these Hexblades wield rend both the enemies mind and soul, making it difficult for them to make a counterattack against you.</p><p></p><p>Gloom Pact Hexblades wield arcane powers that are also shadow powers. Of all Hexblades, they most emphasize the controller secondary role that the Hexblade has, their every power (with the exception of Eldritch Bolt) imposing some kind of debuff on an enemy. Because of the nature of their Pact Weapon, Gloom Pact Hexblades should try multiclassing into a Martial Class of some sort; it gets the best Flail support.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gloom Pact Class Features</strong></p><p>[sblock]<em><u><strong>Gloom Pact Class Features</strong></u></em></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Pact Reward:</strong></span> Like both varieties of Fey Pact Warlock, you have Dexterity as your secondary stat, with all of the benefits this entails, including high initiative and AC.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Pact Boon (Convocation of Shadows):</strong></span> Dropping a foe nets you a round of being insubstantial and phasing. This means that attacks against you deal less damaged, and you can walk through walls and foes alike to get to where you need to be. A pretty good boon, all-in-all.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Pact Weapon:</strong></span> Your Scourge of Exquisite Agony, unlike most other Pact Weapons, is a flail and not a blade. It's got +2 proficiency, and reach along with it. This makes optimizing it much different than any other Hexblade Pact, but it can be well worth it in the end.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Flesh Rend:</strong></span> The Gloom Pact Melee Basic Attack, this power is a pretty sweet catch, allowing you both to slide an opponent and to debuff its attack. Like the Infernal Pact attack, its default Necrotic damage is a bit of a downside, but there are enough ways to circumvent it that this power ends up coming out on top overall.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Spirit Flay:</strong></span> This power has less single-target damage when compared to other Pact Encounter attacks, but makes up for it by targeting two foes and dazing foes it hits, really emphasizing your controller sub-role. Your reach weapon is a real boon with this power, allowing you more space in which to get two foes to hit to make the most of this power. And finally, as an effect, you get partial concealment for a round, which is pretty sweet. An overall good addition to your repertoire.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Shadow Scourge:</strong></span> If an enemy attacks you, you hurt them and force them to give up combat advantage. A nice power that your allies can benefit from.</p><p></p><p><strong>Dark Creeper:</strong> Your initial summon doesn't deal good damage (although its output becomes okay if it gets combat advantage, so you'll likely use it more for its utility. It can flank with you, give you concealment via its aura, and upon dying, it makes all foes around it blind. An interesting companion.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Sorrowsworn:</strong></span> Only the most powerful adventurers could boss around the Raven Queen's top minions, and summoning a Sorrowsworm can be a good idea. Its powers include a (save ends) weaken effect with every standard action attack it makes, an opportunity attack that (save ends) dazes, an aura that gives you partial concealment, and the ability to phase through walls whenever it wants. A good summon when you get it.[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>The Elemental Pact</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Introduced in Heroes of the Elemental Chaos, aka Eleblades.</p><p></p><p>Elemental Hexblades make their pacts with the forces of the elemental choas, beings like primordials, archons, and genies. This makes them extra suspect among the gods, of course.</p><p></p><p>The Elemental Hexblade thrives off of damage type abuse, particularly of hitting vulnerabilities of enemies. They can create these vulnerabilities from level 1, making them about the only class that can make use of feats like Wintertouched during the heroic tier.</p><p></p><p><strong>Elemental Pact Features</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Pact Reward:</strong></span> Constitution serves to make you stronger, and on top of that you gain free proficiency with Scale Armor. It's not dexterity, but it's plenty awesome.</p><p></p><p><strong>Pact Boon (Warding Chaos):</strong> You gain a shift based off of your Constitution modifier along with some temporary resistance against elemental damage types when you drop a foe. The resist doesn't scale, which is dissapointing, and the shift isn't as good as Soul Step's teleport. It's not a bad boon, but it's not really as good as the others are either.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Pact Weapon:</strong></span> The Blade of Chaos is an Eleblade's weapon of choice, and it's pretty good, essentially a one-handed Falchion.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Unraveling Strike:</strong></span> I have one thing to say about this power: Vulnerability on Demand. The vulnerability never scales, but there are enough feats that depend on striking a foe vulnerable to certain damage types that this is a pretty good grab anyway. The power itself doesn't deal any typed damage though, so you'll need something like Arcane Admixture or a Frost Dagger to actually take advantage of the vulnerability with this power.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Elemental Wrath:</strong></span> This encounter power is pretty awesome. You get to choose its damage type, you negate a foe's resistance to said damage type, and you create a temporary aura around yourself that damages enemies around you. This aura's damage type naturally is the same type that you chose when you attacked with the power, making it combo pretty wiell with Unraveling Strike on an Action Point.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Elemental Roar:</strong></span> When an enemy attacks you, you cause them a little bit of damage and you cause the enemy to grant combat advantage. It's essentially the Gloomblade's Shadow Scourge by a different name, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>(Element) Archon Grunt:</strong></span> When you use Summon Warlock's ally, what kind of Archon Grunt you summon (Air, Earth, Fire, or Water) is randomly determined. The archons themselves are fairly solid as far as summons go, but not being able to actually choose what you summon is definitely a pain. After all, you might find yourself in skirmisher-heavy encounter where the Air Archon's immobilizing attack might be helpful, but you end up summoning the fire archon instead.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>(Element) Titan Warrior:</strong></span> At epic tier, you make titans (of the Earth, Fire, Frost, or Storm variety) fight for you. Like the Archons, you don't actually choose the kind of Titan you're getting. Naturally, they all have better attacks and such than the Archons, but it still sucks that they're randomly determined for you.[/sblock]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="LightWarden, post: 6744712, member: 6803540"] [b]Originally posted by Lord_Ventnor:[/b] Dancing with the Devil (in the Pale Moonlight): The Pacts We come now to the most important choice you will make as a Hexblade: what pact you will enter. Your pact determines everything about your character: your secondary ability, your pact weapon, what At-will and encounter powers you get to use, and other things too. There are currently four pacts that Hexblades can enter, although certainly more will appear as time goes on. [Size=4][b]The Infernal Pact[/b][/size] Introduced in Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, aka Hellblades. When most people think of Warlocks, they think of fell pacts with Devils. This is the pact created by Tieflings in old Bael Turath, although these days this power can also be stolen without the need for a devilish pact granter. Taking that route will make devils awfully angry though. At any rate, Infernal Hexblades tend to be brutes. They wear heavy armor, and depend on that and their temporary hit points to allow them to outlast their enemies. [b]Infernal Pact Features[/b] [sblock][u]Infernal Pact Class Features [/u] [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Pact Reward:[/b][/COLOR][b][/b] Having Constitution as a secondary ability is a pretty awesome deal when you're a melee striker. Your extra HP and surges should prove instrumental in keeping you in the fight. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Pact Boon (Soul Feast):[/b][/COLOR] Getting temporary HP every time you kill an enemy or an enemy next to you dies is a pretty sweet deal. [b]Pact Weapon:[/b] The Blade of Annihilation is a heavy blade, which is inaccurate but powerful. You certainly can't complain about receiving a superior weapon proficiency for free. [b]Soul Eater:[/b] This power gets a bad rap, but it's not as dire as one would think. Every time you strike a foe, you get a +2 bonus to attack rolls against the guy you hit, which means your next attack against that enemy is just that more likely to hit (striking with Soul Eater before following up with an encounter or daily attack might not be a bad thing). It's only real weakness is that it deals necrotic damage, which tends to be resisted by many foes, most notably undead. This can be worked around though, with any number of items or feats. It certainly isn't a deal breaker. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Blazing Doom of the Void:[/b][/COLOR] The Infernal Pact encounter spell. You deal extra [W] damage, and you get a hefty bonus to damage rolls against the enemy you attacked for your next attack, even if you missed. It also deals fire and necrotic damage together, which means its not likely that a foe will resist this. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Reflexive Hellstrike:[/b][/COLOR] If an enemy attacks you, you damage them and push them very far away from you. This is especially helpful if you want to get out of melee. [b]Spined Devil Lackey:[/b] The lesser of two devils you can summon. The Lackey's not bad by any means, able to inflict ongoing damage when you ask it to and damaging enemies who end their turns next to you as an opportunity action. Maybe not the best, but not a waste of space either. [b]Pit Fiend Servitor:[/b] You know you're in epic tier when you can boss around a pit fiend. It's standard action attack deals a lot of damage, and it inflicts enemies who end their turns next to you with ongoing damage. It also has a minor action debuff technique too. Overall, not a bad use of a daily.[/sblock] [Size=4][b]The Fey Pact of the Winter Court [/b][/size] Introduced in Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, aka Feyblades. The capricious lords of the Feywild grant their magic secrets on a whim, and if you impress them, you too can receive the boon of their magic. Fey Hexblades tend to be skirmishers. The flit about the battlefield, their teleportation and invisibility spells allowing them to attack any enemy they believe is the biggest threat. [b] [/b][b]Fey Pact Features[/b] [sblock][b][i][u]Fey Pact Class Features[/u][/i][/b] [b]Pact Reward:[/b][COLOR=#33cccc] [/COLOR]Dexterity is one of the best secondary ability scores you could ask for as a striker. The ability to go first is a huge advantage, especially since most of your spells debuff your foes in some way; making a foe start off at a disadvantage is a good thing. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Pact Boon (Soul Step):[/b] [/COLOR]Much like the traditional Fey Warlock, you can teleport when an enemy dies. This teleportation scales up as you get more powerful, and you can use it to teleport into a flanking position when the enemy you've been attacking goes down, or you could teleport behind a defender if your HP is running low. It's pretty versatile that way. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Pact Weapon:[/b][/COLOR] The Blade of Winter's Mourning is the strongest light blade there is at the moment, and no one else but you gets it. Powerful, accurate, and with a whole slew of feats to make it better, this is currently regarded as the best pact weapon. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Icy Skewer:[/b][/COLOR] A neat melee basic attack that deals cold damage and boosts your defenses against one enemy's attacks. Not a bad pickup at all. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Piercing Shard:[/b][/COLOR] The first thing to note is that this power targets the Will defense, which is usually the weakest defense on a monster. It deals cold and psychic damage, both which are well-supported, and makes you invisible to an enemy you attack with it, whether you hit or not. All-in-all, a solid encounter attack. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Pact Retribution:[/b][/COLOR] A foe attacks you, they take damage and you teleport away. Not a bad escape button if you need one. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Wood Woad Guardian:[/b][/COLOR] An ally that you can summon with Summon Warlock's Ally, the Wood Woad is a loyal friend to you. His standard action attacks knock enemies prone, and if a foe hits you, he'll teleport by your side and take the attack instead of you (just remember that this takes up both your opportunity action for the turn and your immediate action for the round). Just be sure to give him some candy when the battle's over; guy deserves it! [b]Frostblight Treant Protector:[/b] This large wooden buddy is your epic tier summoned ally. His standard action attacks are a little weaker than your MBA, but he immobilizes foes his hits. He has a minor action slowing technique if foes stay near him, and as an opportunity action, he'll slow (save ends) an enemy who moves near him. Unlike the Wood Woad, he doesn't take attacks for you, which is kind of sad.[/sblock] [Size=4][b]The Fey Pact of the White Well[/b][/size] Introduced in Dragon 393, aka Wellblades. Unlike the Fey Pact offered by the Winter Court, the Fey Pact offered by the Lady of the White Well is focused more around radiant moonlight rather than freezing winds. This means you're extra-equipped to handle undead. Unfortunately, in the long run, Winter Court Fey Hexblades will likely be more powerful, but White Well Hexblades can still do their job well. [b]Fey Pact Features[/b] [sblock][b][i][u]Fey Pact Class Features[/u][/i][/b] [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Pact Reward: [/b][/COLOR]Like a Fey Hexblade of Winter, you have Dexterity as a secondary ability, which is a very good thing for a striker. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Pact Boon (Soul Step):[/b][/COLOR] Also the same boon as the Winter Court Fey Pact. Which again is a very nice thing. [b]Pact Weapon:[/b] This is where the Fey Pact of the White Well differs. White Well Hexblades receive the Sword of the White Well, which is essentially the Infernal Hexblade's Blade of Annihilation by a different name. Which still isn't a bad thing; not every class receives a d12 one-handed weapon for free. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Moonfire Blade:[/b][/COLOR] One of the best At-Will attacks there is. It targets reflex, is a Melee Basic Attack, deals radiant damage, and deals extra damage to enemies who don't try to run away from you. You'll be calling on this a lot. [b]Well of Light:[/b] Unfortunately, this power isn't quite as nice. It deals extra [W] damage, and as a result activates a limited aura around your body that gives enemies near you slight radiant vulnerability. While this sounds nice, the vulnerability never scales, and it doesn't interact with enemies already vulnerable to radiant damage. Still, its not horrible, and it is a nice perk if you have a leader who can grant you some extra attacks to take advantage of the aura while you have it. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Moonlit Escape:[/b][/COLOR] This retributive power damages a foe that attacks you, makes you insubstantial, and gives you a shift. Certainly not bad at all, although the insubstantiality doesn't last long. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Mourning Handmaiden:[/b][/COLOR] Like the Wood Woad, a summon that cares about you. It's standard action attack immobilizes enemies, and as an opportunity action, it teleports to your side when you get attacked, taking half the damage of an enemy's attack. While it doesn't take all the damage, it also doesn't need to eat up an immediate action to take the damage either, so there's that. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Spectral Protector:[/b][/COLOR] Who says chivalry is dead? This epic tier summoned ally has a close blast standard action attack that pushes, a minor action attack debuff for enemies that get to close to it, and he'll swap positions with you when you get attacked as an opportunity action, becoming the target of the attack himself. He'll also attack the enemy who hurts him like this, sliding that foe as well. A worthy companion indeed![/sblock] [Size=4][b]The Star Pact[/b][/size] Introduced in Dragon 393, aka Starblades. Unlike most pacts, Star Hexblades don't really know who they're bargaining with for their fell powers. Doesn't stop them from doing it all the same, but still one wonders. [b] [/b][b]Star Pact Features[/b] [sblock][b][i][u]Star Pact Class Features[/u][/i][/b] [b]Pact Reward:[/b] Star Hexblades have Intelligence as their secondary ability. It can give them good AC, but doesn't control initiative like Dexterity or HP and Surges like Constitution. It's not bad, but not the best either. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Pact Boon (Dire Fate):[/b][/COLOR] If an enemy dies next to you, you get a +1 untyped bonus to attack rolls. Unfortunately, like a traditional Star Warlock, you don't get a stacking attack bonus since this boon only activates once per round, but it's still not bad. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Pact Weapon:[/b][/COLOR] The Starshadow Blade used by Star Hexblades is essentially a Bastard Sword. So you get a Bastard Sword as a free proficiency. Which is awesome. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Resplendent Blade:[/b][/COLOR] A pretty good melee basic attack that deals radiant damage and damages an enemy other than the foe you targeted, which makes Star Hexblades the current best pact to handle multiple enemies at once. [b]Wield the Warp:[/b] You hit a foe, and teleport them to some other square adjacent to you. Obviously, this power is kind of situational, but if you have a knight buddy nearby or some hindering terrain you're next to, this power could prove quite useful. Unlike other Hexblade power, it doesn't have an effect if you miss, so tough. [COLOR=#800080][b]Gaze into Nothing:[/b][/COLOR] If an enemy attacks you, you blind them. Unfortunately, the blinding only happens after the enemy's attack is finished, which means this power should only really be used on enemies who can attack multiple times in a round, like elites or solos. This makes it a weak point on the Star Hexblade. [b]Thought Phantom:[/b] An interesting summon. It's invisible automatically, and has combat advantage against foes who can't see invisible things, which is nice. Its standard action attack inflicts ongoing damage, and it can make you invisible if you get hit, which means you likely won't get hit again in that round. Overall, decent. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Way Walker:[/b][/COLOR] The Star Hexblade's epic summon. It's standard action attack dazes enemies, which is a very nice condition for you, it can push enemies who end their turn in its aura, and it can make you or your allies phasing, which is excellent in those battles with a lot of hindering terrain. Not bad to summon now and then.[/sblock] [Size=4][b]The Gloom Pact[/b][/size] Introduced in Heroes of Shadow, aka Gloomblades. Arcane power can be found in all areas of the planes, even in the Shadowfell. The tainted magic that these Hexblades wield rend both the enemies mind and soul, making it difficult for them to make a counterattack against you. Gloom Pact Hexblades wield arcane powers that are also shadow powers. Of all Hexblades, they most emphasize the controller secondary role that the Hexblade has, their every power (with the exception of Eldritch Bolt) imposing some kind of debuff on an enemy. Because of the nature of their Pact Weapon, Gloom Pact Hexblades should try multiclassing into a Martial Class of some sort; it gets the best Flail support. [b]Gloom Pact Class Features[/b] [sblock][i][u][b]Gloom Pact Class Features[/b][/u][/i] [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Pact Reward:[/b][/COLOR] Like both varieties of Fey Pact Warlock, you have Dexterity as your secondary stat, with all of the benefits this entails, including high initiative and AC. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Pact Boon (Convocation of Shadows):[/b][/COLOR] Dropping a foe nets you a round of being insubstantial and phasing. This means that attacks against you deal less damaged, and you can walk through walls and foes alike to get to where you need to be. A pretty good boon, all-in-all. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Pact Weapon:[/b][/COLOR] Your Scourge of Exquisite Agony, unlike most other Pact Weapons, is a flail and not a blade. It's got +2 proficiency, and reach along with it. This makes optimizing it much different than any other Hexblade Pact, but it can be well worth it in the end. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Flesh Rend:[/b][/COLOR] The Gloom Pact Melee Basic Attack, this power is a pretty sweet catch, allowing you both to slide an opponent and to debuff its attack. Like the Infernal Pact attack, its default Necrotic damage is a bit of a downside, but there are enough ways to circumvent it that this power ends up coming out on top overall. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Spirit Flay:[/b][/COLOR] This power has less single-target damage when compared to other Pact Encounter attacks, but makes up for it by targeting two foes and dazing foes it hits, really emphasizing your controller sub-role. Your reach weapon is a real boon with this power, allowing you more space in which to get two foes to hit to make the most of this power. And finally, as an effect, you get partial concealment for a round, which is pretty sweet. An overall good addition to your repertoire. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Shadow Scourge:[/b][/COLOR] If an enemy attacks you, you hurt them and force them to give up combat advantage. A nice power that your allies can benefit from. [b]Dark Creeper:[/b] Your initial summon doesn't deal good damage (although its output becomes okay if it gets combat advantage, so you'll likely use it more for its utility. It can flank with you, give you concealment via its aura, and upon dying, it makes all foes around it blind. An interesting companion. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Sorrowsworn:[/b][/COLOR] Only the most powerful adventurers could boss around the Raven Queen's top minions, and summoning a Sorrowsworm can be a good idea. Its powers include a (save ends) weaken effect with every standard action attack it makes, an opportunity attack that (save ends) dazes, an aura that gives you partial concealment, and the ability to phase through walls whenever it wants. A good summon when you get it.[/sblock] [Size=4][b]The Elemental Pact[/b][/size] Introduced in Heroes of the Elemental Chaos, aka Eleblades. Elemental Hexblades make their pacts with the forces of the elemental choas, beings like primordials, archons, and genies. This makes them extra suspect among the gods, of course. The Elemental Hexblade thrives off of damage type abuse, particularly of hitting vulnerabilities of enemies. They can create these vulnerabilities from level 1, making them about the only class that can make use of feats like Wintertouched during the heroic tier. [b]Elemental Pact Features[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#00ccff][b]Pact Reward:[/b][/COLOR] Constitution serves to make you stronger, and on top of that you gain free proficiency with Scale Armor. It's not dexterity, but it's plenty awesome. [b]Pact Boon (Warding Chaos):[/b] You gain a shift based off of your Constitution modifier along with some temporary resistance against elemental damage types when you drop a foe. The resist doesn't scale, which is dissapointing, and the shift isn't as good as Soul Step's teleport. It's not a bad boon, but it's not really as good as the others are either. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Pact Weapon:[/b][/COLOR] The Blade of Chaos is an Eleblade's weapon of choice, and it's pretty good, essentially a one-handed Falchion. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Unraveling Strike:[/b][/COLOR] I have one thing to say about this power: Vulnerability on Demand. The vulnerability never scales, but there are enough feats that depend on striking a foe vulnerable to certain damage types that this is a pretty good grab anyway. The power itself doesn't deal any typed damage though, so you'll need something like Arcane Admixture or a Frost Dagger to actually take advantage of the vulnerability with this power. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Elemental Wrath:[/b][/COLOR] This encounter power is pretty awesome. You get to choose its damage type, you negate a foe's resistance to said damage type, and you create a temporary aura around yourself that damages enemies around you. This aura's damage type naturally is the same type that you chose when you attacked with the power, making it combo pretty wiell with Unraveling Strike on an Action Point. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Elemental Roar:[/b][/COLOR] When an enemy attacks you, you cause them a little bit of damage and you cause the enemy to grant combat advantage. It's essentially the Gloomblade's Shadow Scourge by a different name, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. [COLOR=#800080][b](Element) Archon Grunt:[/b][/COLOR] When you use Summon Warlock's ally, what kind of Archon Grunt you summon (Air, Earth, Fire, or Water) is randomly determined. The archons themselves are fairly solid as far as summons go, but not being able to actually choose what you summon is definitely a pain. After all, you might find yourself in skirmisher-heavy encounter where the Air Archon's immobilizing attack might be helpful, but you end up summoning the fire archon instead. [COLOR=#800080][b](Element) Titan Warrior:[/b][/COLOR] At epic tier, you make titans (of the Earth, Fire, Frost, or Storm variety) fight for you. Like the Archons, you don't actually choose the kind of Titan you're getting. Naturally, they all have better attacks and such than the Archons, but it still sucks that they're randomly determined for you.[/sblock] [/QUOTE]
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Blades of Cursed Midnight: A Hexblade's Guide (by Lord_Ventor)
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