One Weapon! Or Two!!

[Inmate]

Hey guys, so heres the Deal. I wanna know your thoughts on using one weapon or two. Right now I have a barbarian wielding a shocking burst Greataxe of Pure Good. With All the raging, And Power Attack, I can put out some really nice damage. And with all glancing damage, Im killing alot of other monsters, other then my main target. Which is really sweet. After Hacking away at Hobgoblins for a couple of hours, I jump over to my Fighter/Ranger. Duel Wielding an Icy Burst khopesh of enfeebling, and a Paralyzing Bastard Sword, he can quickly take out an enemy. I love the different combinations of elemental effects that I can use, and with the speed from tempest/kensei it doesnt take me long to eliminate a foe. But then sometimes I get the feeling that I could be dealing more dmg. I have given some thought to making a Barbarian with twf, but in the end there were too many drawbacks in the build. Like if I wanted to access frenzy rage, I would Need PA, which isn't really that beneficial when duel wielding. Also, I almost always hate putting points in the Dex column, when I know I will be raging. And with twf being a dex based feat, its impossible not to. Each day its a new battle in my mind of which character I want to log onto. So I want your opinions on this matter. Two weapons or One? When trying to do the most dmg in the shortest period of time, what are the best choices to make, in order to become a Supreme DPS.

[Sogrin]

First, it is best to paragraph your posts, makes it easier for people to read.

when it comes to doing damage as a melee character, both THF and TWF are viable choices for high DPS builds. From your post, you dislike dex based builds with barbs, which i can understand due to the stats change while under rage effects. My suggestion for you, is that if you do want good DPS at high level, and prefer playing a barb, stay with 2H weapons. barbs can get some pretty good damage while under rage.

again, it depends on which character class/es you want as to what you can go with. Barb, being high strength based, are great with 2H, fighters and paladings are also great with 2H. TWF is more suited to rogue/rangers. Fighters can also utilise TWF builds, as they do not have a strength toward TWF or THF

Regarding your note on power attack. PA is good for any melee DPS. A fully feated TWF character will only have a -2 hit difference to someone with one 2H weapon, provided all other stats providing bonuses to hit are the same. PA, giving a +5 for each swing, can bring up to an aditional 15 damage over a 2H character from the aditional attacks from the off hand weapon. This adds up over a long fight.

[Noctus]

/wall of text hits you for 2.456 points of bludgeoning damage.

[Jendrak]

First, it is best to paragraph your posts, makes it easier for people to read.

when it comes to doing damage as a melee character, both THF and TWF are viable choices for high DPS builds. From your post, you dislike dex based builds with barbs, which i can understand due to the stats change while under rage effects. My suggestion for you, is that if you do want good DPS at high level, and prefer playing a barb, stay with 2H weapons. barbs can get some pretty good damage while under rage.

Agreed

again, it depends on which character class/es you want as to what you can go with. Barb, being high strength based, are great with 2H, fighters and paladings are also great with 2H. TWF is more suited to rogue/rangers. Fighters can also utilise TWF builds, as they do not have a strength toward TWF or THF

could argue that fighters have a tendacy toward THF due to ftr str but could really go either way. Fighters are versatile like that.

Regarding your note on power attack. PA is good for any melee DPS. A fully feated TWF character will only have a -2 hit difference to someone with one 2H weapon, provided all other stats providing bonuses to hit are the same. PA, giving a +5 for each swing, can bring up to an aditional 15 damage over a 2H character from the aditional attacks from the off hand weapon. This adds up over a long fight.

forgot some serious things here.
1. THF gets 10 from PA not 5 so the difference (based on THF 4 attacks and TWF 7 attacks, not counting glancing blows) is 10 in favor of THF.
2. glancing blows them selves (this varies from build to build so hard to calc)


Each style has its own way of doing good DPS. It really just comes down to player preferance. My WF THF frenzied zerker has nice DPS (75-80 normal...550 crits) but attacks alot slower than my TWF rogue (20's normal...40 crits, uses kukri so crits alot).

I say do both...I do:D

[TheDjinnFor]

PA, giving a +5 for each swing, can bring up to an aditional 15 damage over a 2H character from the aditional attacks from the off hand weapon. This adds up over a long fight.

Run this one by me again. Are you forgetting that 2HF get double the bonus from Power Attack? Or are you assuming that a TWF attacks twice as often as a THF and thus gets 15 more PA damage per attack chain? Or both? Neither?

[Sogrin]

Run this one by me again. Are you forgetting that 2HF get double the bonus from Power Attack? Or are you assuming that a TWF attacks twice as often as a THF and thus gets 15 more PA damage per attack chain? Or both? Neither?

forgot that 2h gets double from PA. (i think this may be one of the DDO things that isnt present in PnP. never played a 2H character in DDO yet)
was basing damage off of an attack chain

so both really.

[Shaftronics]

If you want supreme DPS, then sure, go TWF. But make sure you are also ready to make "supreme" effort in being able to afford the weapons later on. You literally will need double the effort, if not double the luck and gold, just to get weapon sets. Depending on how you plan it, you might be able to have a "utility" of weapons, but if you really want DPS, then having 2 really good weapons will... take awhile to get.

I play both a THF Battle cleric and a TWF Paladin and Tempest fighter. And I'll tell you this; My cleric has more inventory space even with spell components, scrolls and maybe even mnemonic potions.

Other than only needing one weapon (Get a good weapon, be happy, use it, that's that. TWF? Get a good weapon... and get another one.) and saving your wallet though, its really just much easier to build a THF character. You don't need the dex to stretch out your Con and Str as far as it can get. Your to-hit will be higher for awhile. If you like big numbers, that's a bonus as well. Personally, THF also has a longer range, and is much, much easier to fight with. TWF will take awhile to be accustomed to.

[Inmate]

If you want supreme DPS, then sure, go TWF. But make sure you are also ready to make "supreme" effort in being able to afford the weapons later on.

You don't need the dex to stretch out your Con and Str as far as it can get. Your to-hit will be higher for awhile. If you like big numbers, that's a bonus as well. Personally, THF also has a longer range, and is much, much easier to fight with. TWF will take awhile to be accustomed to.

Agreed, since I mainly focus on the Str and Con Stats, I would like to keep Dex out of the picture. Will be hit more, but I will have the hit points to make up for them.

Also, Ive noticed that the attack bonus is split between TWF, and not with one Weapon. So with two sometimes I miss a blow or two. So it seems better to get all the attack bonus into one weapon and not two. Also with PA being double for THF, u can get like plus 18 dmg with the 4 PA enhancements.

Even though I have both these types of DPS now at high levels, I am now leaning toward my THF to pay most attention to. Because it seems outweighted on the attack and dmg side with a single blow. Which is due to PA and Glancing Blows.

[Noctus]

Also, Ive noticed that the attack bonus is split between TWF, and not with one Weapon.

Incorrect.

TWFing has some inherent mali to attacks, which get lessened when you
a) take the 1st TWF feat
b) either have OTWF or wield a light off-hand weapon.

In the best case its -2/-2.



There is no "splitting" of attack boni.

[stormarcher]

I have both a barbarian who is a THF and a barbarian that is TWF. In alll honesty the Twf kills thing way faster then the THF while hasted. Yes the YHF might hit into the 200's and on average hits about 60''s to 80's but..

My Twf hits consistent 40's and can crit for up to 160. So by the time my big THF can swing twice my Twf has already swung about 6-8 times and would have already killed the enemy.

Just my opinion there

[Diarden]

Do us a huge favor, go THF and reduce server lag.

I tank bosses on my Barb because non Intim melee cannot pull agro off of me. THF is the highest sustained dps in the game (sorry Kensai, fights over 5 minutes and you taper out).