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Question

I'm playing a level 3 2024 Hexblade Warlock with sword and board. I started with Pact of the Blade, but now that I'm about to hit level 4, I'm thinking about dropping it, especially since I'm going to take the Warcaster feat. I'm not primarily melee; I just don't want to be scared of melee when it does occur, and I don't plan on taking Thirsting Blade for now -- I use Booming Blade instead of two melee attacks.

By my reading of the 2024 Pact of the Blade, you get the following:

• Conjure a weapon as a bonus action OR bond with a magic weapon.
• Proficiency with your chosen weapon.
• Use the weapon as a spellcasting focus.
• Optionally change damage to your choice of Necrotic, Psychic, or Radiant.
• Use Charisma modifier for attack and damage rolls.

And Hex Warrior gives you the following at level 3:

• Proficiency with your chosen weapon （technically all simple and martial weapons）
• Use Charisma modifier for attack and damage rolls

I have a magic weapon, so the 'conjure weapon' ability is very situational -- it only applies when I've lost my primary magical weapon. Assuming I don't care about the changed damage type and spellcasting focus, is there anything preventing me from dropping Pact of the Blade at level 4 in favor of a more productive invocation?

Are there any uses for Pact of the Blade I might have missed?

Answer 1

Yes, you can

Pact of the Blade is an invocation and invocations can be changed when you gain a new warlock level. So you certainly can drop Pact of the Blade. But I guess you're really asking if you should.

The big change in the 2024 rules is that Pact of the Blade lets you use charisma for attack and damage. That was often the main point of going Hexblade with the 2014 rules. You already have this benefit since you've got a Hexblade patron. However, it's not really Hexblade making Pact of the Blade superflous; it's the other way around. Pact of the Blade unlocks a lot of potential for warlocks using weapons. You've listed some of them, but I want to add some more.

• Thirsting Blade/Devouring Blade: You say you're not planning on taking Thirsting Blade now, but at level 12 you can also get Devouring Blade and make three attacks per attack Action. You could of course get both of these when you hit level 12 and leave them for now.
• Eldritch Smite: Overrated in my opinion, but many people love it.
• Lifedrinker: Not as good as in the 2014 rules, but still decent. Especially paired with Devouring Blade.

One special case for Hexblade and Pact of the Blade is that you get shield proficiency as a Hexblade, and Pact of the Blade lets you use your weapon as a spellcasting focus. That means that you can equip a shield and a weapon and still cast most spells as normal - even without warcaster. However, RAW, you can not cast spells with somatic components that do not also have a material component which includes every warlock's favourite Eldritch Blast. I personally think that is a stupid rule and would allow it.

A final note for your case: If you're not primarily melee, it's not worth the investment to get Pact of the Blade and all the associated invocations. The generous weapon stashing/drawing rules in 2024 will let you be ready for melee even if you normally wield a shield and an arcane focus. Just use your object interaction to stash the focus and draw your weapon as part of the attack.

Answer 2

Dual wielding, though not so much with a shield

People tend to assume that their chosen Hexblade weapon is/must be/should be their Pact Weapon. Not so—when you have both, you can choose two different weapons to use with these features—which allows you to dual-wield, which is otherwise hard-to-impossible for those with just one of the two.

But that doesn’t help you much if you’re going to stick with sword and board. Pact of the Blade is the stronger of the two, so personally I’d reconsider Hexblade rather than Pact of the Blade, but regardless, if you’re not going to pick up two weapons, having both Pact and Patron here is probably a bit redundant and it’s worth getting rid of one or the other.

As for the title question of whether or not you’re able to change Pact of the Blade at this point, yes, you can change an invocation each time you gain a warlock level.