End game Blunt vs Slash - new ratkiller

[Jhaeran]

With the new Ratkiller, any opinion on going Maul? GS Maul for DR and RatKiller for trash.

Think it may be a bit fun, currently a slasher but was thinking of LRing my 12Fi/6Bar/2ro to 18Fi/2Ro and going blunt.

Currently have a bunch of greatswords and a tier 2 GS falchion and previously was going to respec to falchion once MinII completed (2 devil scales away).

Rage + UMD is frustrating. Rage is awesome, just somewhat annoying if i ever have to heal myself I need to dismiss it. Not sure I want to give up the flexibility of UMD though.

Ratkiller is pretty fun, just can't get over the annoyance of the 20 threat vs my standard 17 or even 20 with SoS (yet to be epic'd..need scroll...then i'll probably go back to GS)

I'd lose 6 raged str/con, but gain a bit of stun DC via kenIII. Any thoughts? Any 2h blunt users out there with opinions?

[Jaid314]

ratkiller is good, but i wouldn't say it's going to replace your slashing weapons as being the best choice. pull out the ratkiller when you need to stun. the rest of the time, just use your best slashing weapon.

[count_spicoli]

ratkiller is good, but i wouldn't say it's going to replace your slashing weapons as being the best choice. pull out the ratkiller when you need to stun. the rest of the time, just use your best slashing weapon.

problem is you will have to take bludgeon line of attack improvements to hit later in game. I dont know if you can take that and slash improvements together to make it worth it. only so many feats to go around. Was thinking of trying the bludgeon weapon focus line on my next character. I know i would be one mad skelly killing machine.

[Jaid314]

problem is you will have to take bludgeon line of attack improvements to hit later in game. I dont know if you can take that and slash improvements together to make it worth it. only so many feats to go around. Was thinking of trying the bludgeon weapon focus line on my next character. I know i would be one mad skelly killing machine.

i'd be surprised if you needed it that bad. you've got those strength enhancements, power surge, good BAB, etc, to allow you to reliably hit.

[Jhaeran]

Tried ratkiller in big top tonight, nice easy environment. hit plenty, proc'd earthgrab a few times and landed 50-75% of stuns while still being slash spec'd and not maxing out DC. Still contemplating LR'ing and going blunt spec with MinII maul (yet to be built...) and ratkiller with maybe a holy/icy burst of something in case.

with titans grip and buffs only hit 60 str (don't have madstone or yugo pots yet)

[protokon]

Tried ratkiller in big top tonight, nice easy environment. hit plenty, proc'd earthgrab a few times and landed 50-75% of stuns while still being slash spec'd and not maxing out DC. Still contemplating LR'ing and going blunt spec with MinII maul (yet to be built...) and ratkiller with maybe a holy/icy burst of something in case.

with titans grip and buffs only hit 60 str (don't have madstone or yugo pots yet)

If you need to be blunt specced with feats/enhancements to hit mobs (which 90% of the time are held anyways) there is either something wrong with your character other than these - or your caster just dc'ed/is piking

I can't see why you would have problems to-hit with a 60 strength - that seems like plenty, even without fighter enhancements. Mauls are fun, nothing wrong with a min II maul as well (considering a handful of things have DR / blunt but very little has DR/slash)

My barb was using a +1 maul of stunning +10 before this. Now I don't have to turn power attack off to reliably land a blow in epics

[Jhaeran]

Nah, I was hitting fine with blunt even while slash spec'd. Just feels like I'd be losing a lot of dps with the 20 crit modifier vs my normal 17-20 (or 15-20 w/SoS). maybe just improved crit blunt and then if i feel like playing around i can re-spec enhancements towards blunt.

[Carpone]

With the new Ratkiller, any opinion on going Maul? GS Maul for DR and RatKiller for trash.

Mauls are not end-game weapons. They're useful tools for the right situation.

With a tier3 Ratkiller, I'd never craft a GS Maul. Slot the Ratkiller with Adamantine and you've got a nice beater for epic Wiz King clay golems.

[Bolo_Grubb]

My barbarian is blunt spec and I love it. I am sure the actual numbers would show it to be inferior to slash but so far I am loving blunt and not missing slash.

Play what you like, like what you play.

[Jhaeran]

Right now my role is DPS and I get the very occasional stun, usually only right after a rage clicks off, drink a pot to lose fatigue, use titan's then re-rage to get back to 60...then stunning blow. Then its a pretty high chance, otherwise it only works with a slasher around 30-40% of the time. With stunner that jumps up a bunch but its a PITA to keep switching weapons.

Thinking about LR'ing into a more stun friendly build in general and also thinking about going blunt at same time. I'm only 2 large shrap away from building my first MinII so that pulls into the equation as well...minII maul or MinII falchion or greataxe.

[DethTrip]

People min max too much. Stunning and earthgrab, which seems to proc a lot on this thing, will help keep mobs under control. This to me is more helpful to a smooth quest run than a little more dps. I see nothing wrong with going maul spec, having a minII maul for bosses and a ratkiller for trash. I also see nothing wrong with staying slash specced and using the ratkiller for trash and a minII greataxe for bosses. Roll what you like. Your dps will still be fine.

[lugoman]

Guess I will be stunned along with the mobs if Turbine added nice weapons in other lines. Would be nice to see different setups in game. I dont think rat killer is enough to make many switch. I've only used it on trash once (inToD) and seeing the single damage number over the mob is depressing (I didnt think slotting it with an extra damage type was worth 30 tokens). Too bad you cant slot it and add cold burtst.

[Jaid314]

People min max too much. Stunning and earthgrab, which seems to proc a lot on this thing, will help keep mobs under control. This to me is more helpful to a smooth quest run than a little more dps. I see nothing wrong with going maul spec, having a minII maul for bosses and a ratkiller for trash. I also see nothing wrong with staying slash specced and using the ratkiller for trash and a minII greataxe for bosses. Roll what you like. Your dps will still be fine.

oh indeed. but if he already has a bunch of slashing weapons and is already slashing spec, there's no desperate rush to switch to blunt spec for one maul.

[Jhaeran]

Agree on the single number..2 when frenzied...3 with good slotted once i get the tokens.

I get the same when I use SoS but at least it crits all the time @x3 so at least they're big single numbers.

I'm not in any huge rush, but will probably get a couple shrap off trade/AH in the next couple days and would be nice to get my first tier 3 GS.