Hybrid Warlock/Swordmage

[Herschel]

Your best best is probably going Vestige pact of you want to maximize being a Striker and take Eyes of the Vestige as your third at-will to get your curse around more.

Also balance CON/INT as your Swordmage powers are really good too. Dimensional Vortex does great damage when making that Brute's Crit miss your ally and hit his squishy pal. Also, why teleporting via Aegis of Assault you should normally be teleporting in to a flank.

You can twofold pact at Paragon for Infernal if you want it then.

 

[Saagael]

Some thoughts, in no particular order:

Assault Swordmage doesn't really have any synergies with a Con Lock. They use Strength for all their riders. Shielding Swordmage, however, uses Int/Con, which is perfect for an Infernal or Vestige Warlock. You only have to worry about 2 stats, and put your extra points into Charisma.

Dark pact is based around Charisma attacks, which you shouldn't really have to worry about. In fact, its actually a pretty sub-par choice, as going for the Dark Pact at level 1 gives you a practically useless at-will, and no pact boon.

I'd suggest getting your Swordmages Warding feature from Hybrid Talent. Its pretty much a necessity for anyone who's even close to a defender.

If you plan on going Infernal pact, consider combining Hellish Rebuke with your Shielding swordmage Aegis for awesomeness: Attack me, take damage. Attack my allies, deal no damage.

Minor actions for you will be severely limited. You'll be using them on your turn to either curse or mark things. For that reason, I would suggest taking swordmage powers that apply your mark automatically. There are also feats that allow you to place your mark off-turn as well.

My suggestions:

* Get both an 18 Int and 18 Con after racial bonus, with 12 in Dex
* Take Swordmage Warding as your Hybrid Talent for extra defense.
* At level 11, retrain out of your Hellish Rebuke (pick Vestige or Sorcerer King Pact as your main pact), then pick up the feat Twofold Pact. This will give you the at-will and boon of a second pact. Pick Infernal. You now have the Hellish Rebuke and Dark One's Blessing.
* Your Dex will be 13, pick up a multiclass assassin, and then Cursed Shadow.

This assumes you'll make it to level 12 or 14, so you might have to adjust this if you know you aren't. Hybrids are feat intensive and you have to know what you're doing, else they become pretty gimped compared to regular characters.

If you're going for just for the "melee mage with a sword" theme, look into making a pure Hexblade. They pretty much get the whole flavor of what you're going for, and are a bit more mechanically sound. You could even multiclass assassin or rogue for some extra sneakiness.

 

[Ferghis]

If you build on Saagael's template, the Sigil Carver paragon path, Eldritch Strike, and optionally a staggering weapon lets you slide mark-violating enemies with Opportunity Attacks at level 16.

 

[kylowinter]

I've decided to stat with Sorcerer-king Pact. Then my feats at lvl5 will be as follows:
Versatile Expertise (HB, HB)
Hybrid Talent (Swordmage Warding)
White Lotus Riposte
Mindbite Scorn

The next three feats will be:
Killing Curse
Sacrifice to Caiphon
Skill Power: Arcane Mutterings (this one isn't really set in stone)

At Paragon I will pick up Twofold Pact to give me the Infernal Pact.

How does Assault Swordmage not synergize well with Conlock? I get to apply my curse damage twice a round if my mark doesn't target me. With Mindbite Scorn and Killing Curse I punish my with my Aegis for 3d8 damage if I have a longsword.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Some thoughts, in no particular order:

Assault Swordmage doesn't really have any synergies with a Con Lock.

False. Assault Swordmage has a massive synergy with any Warlock. Eldritch Strike is a Melee Basic Attack and can therefore be used to punish mark violation. Eldritch Strike allows the Warlock to do curse damage (1/turn so it can be used with the interrupt) and to slide on the interrupt. Which may mean you don't have great riders on your assault swordmage powers - but you have a mark with a really scary penalty for violating. It also gives you a basic attack to slide and disengage so you can then walk away from the monster and leave it next to someone else. Swordmage kiting ftw.

Far more synergy than the Shielding Swordmage gets. Also the MM3 crippled the Shielding Swordmage to the point where it needs errata beyond heroic tier; monster damage is now based on level rather than half level but the shielding swordmage still prevents damage based on half level.

Dark pact is based around Charisma attacks, which you shouldn't really have to worry about. In fact, its actually a pretty sub-par choice, as going for the Dark Pact at level 1 gives you a practically useless at-will, and no pact boon.

1/2. Going for a hybrid pact allows you to pick your At Will. So you can be e.g. a Darklock with Hellish Rebuke. But if you're going Swordmage you want Eldritch Strike. Which means that your pact is about feat access and riders - as noted, Mindbite Scorn is probably the best power here.

Minor actions for you will be severely limited. You'll be using them on your turn to either curse or mark things. For that reason, I would suggest taking swordmage powers that apply your mark automatically.

This is good advice.

* Your Dex will be 13, pick up a multiclass assassin, and then Cursed Shadow.

Get the Executioner multiclass. An extra D8 for your interrupt attack never goes amiss. And Cursed Shadow when you bamf like Nightcrawler is nice.

Also as mentioned, you don't have the minor to sustain Charm of hearts. For dailies I'd go Armour of Agathys for temps and to force another lose/lose and the bonus damage equal to your con-mod stance. But Tyrannical Threat is also very useful for free marking when you're short of minor actions.

 

[Saagael]

False. Assault Swordmage has a massive synergy with any Warlock. Eldritch Strike is a Melee Basic Attack and can therefore be used to punish mark violation. Eldritch Strike allows the Warlock to do curse damage (1/turn so it can be used with the interrupt) and to slide on the interrupt. Which may mean you don't have great riders on your assault swordmage powers - but you have a mark with a really scary penalty for violating. It also gives you a basic attack to slide and disengage so you can then walk away from the monster and leave it next to someone else. Swordmage kiting ftw.

Far more synergy than the Shielding Swordmage gets. Also the MM3 crippled the Shielding Swordmage to the point where it needs errata beyond heroic tier; monster damage is now based on level rather than half level but the shielding swordmage still prevents damage based on half level.

You're correct. I was looking at it from purely stats. I have a Shielding Swordmage in my group, and he regularly prevents 27-28 damage twice per round at level 21, and combining that mark with Hellish Rebuke and White Lotus Riposte is pretty nasty. The choice becomes "deal 1/3 your normal damage, or take another 25-35 damage."

I concede that Eldritch Strike + Aegis of Assault is a great way to get your curse damage off-turn, and didn't ponder that. However...

I get to apply my curse damage twice a round if my mark doesn't target me. With Mindbite Scorn and Killing Curse I punish my with my Aegis for 3d8 damage if I have a longsword.

Did the Curse get errata'd to be a once per turn thing? I thought you could still only apply your curse once in a round.

 

[Neonchameleon]

You're correct. I was looking at it from purely stats. I have a Shielding Swordmage in my group, and he regularly prevents 27-28 damage twice per round at level 21, and combining that mark with Hellish Rebuke and White Lotus Riposte is pretty nasty. The choice becomes "deal 1/3 your normal damage, or take another 25-35 damage."

How out of curiosity does he get more than one immediate action? And he has a feat to bump the level of damage he blocks?

Did the Curse get errata'd to be a once per turn thing? I thought you could still only apply your curse once in a round.

It did a few months back when they produced the Heroes of Sword and Spell online thing for the Warlock and revised a few powers (like Dire Radiance now being Cha or Con at long last).

 

[Saagael]

How out of curiosity does he get more than one immediate action? And he has a feat to bump the level of damage he blocks?

Pretty there's an epic feat called Rapid Aegis Reaction that lets you not count your Aegis as your Immediate Interrupt the first time you use it each round. So he gets 2 Aegis' or 1 Aegis and some other interrupt.

He has a feat that bumps the damage blocked by 5, which leaves you with a base damage reduction of 20 at epic tier. Then he's got a really good Con, so he gets to add +7 on top of that. On top of that, he's got a Baldric of Shielding, which is a waist slot item that gives you as many temporary hit points as damage you prevent.

It did a few months back when they produced the Heroes of Sword and Spell online thing for the Warlock and revised a few powers (like Dire Radiance now being Cha or Con at long last).

I didn't realize that was published; last I had heard, that was still a playtest. This will make my warlock player very happy indeed.

 

[kylowinter]

Kylo Winter • Orokos.com

Here is a link to my character at lvl 6. I get to actually play the character this weekend. Any last minute thoughts?

I'm thinking of multiclassing into ranger instead of assassin so that I can get the Deft Blade feat at paragon.