The Hexblade article was the first on the site written by someone other than Tyler. I submitted it a little over 3 years ago, when the only exciting optimization content was SCAG’s cute cantrips and Xanathar’s. It’s remained the most-viewed subclass guide on the website the entire time (something I’m very grateful for), demonstrating the popularity of the subclass in the eyes of the internet.
The article was, however, somewhat… dated. There was a long section on races like the regular handbooks have because the Tasha’s race rules hadn’t come out yet. Our DPR calculator didn’t exist yet, nor did the piece of this article built around it telling you what appropriate damage targets are, so talking about numbers didn’t make sense.
Welcome to late 2023, where the guides are more accurate, more detailed, and where Tasha’s exists. The example build has been rewritten from the ground up to take advantage of all the advantage we can take; it still feels very similar to the original version and makes several of the same choices, but it results in enormously more damage output with very little cost. Even if you’ve read this article before, it’s worth checking again, especially the example build.
Enjoy!
