DoS weapon advice

[EssenceofEvil]

Well I am well enjoying my monks second life as a TR.. I had plans of TRing her into a barbarian, but now at lvl 12 I've decided to try a DoS paladin instead. I already have a somewhat idea for a build but I've noticed a lack of good named dwarven axes or bastard swords. Any advice for weapons? I was thinking bastard sword/dwarven axe for the glancing blows. Are those 2 weapons the optimal weapon type for a DoS or should I use my feats for something other than the THF feat line?

[obscure.jester]

i'd dump 2HF line, i never needed that on my DoS. i was using a minII DAxe as main weapon and bonesplitter / epic antique for when i was dropping the shield. DAxe is somehow better than bastard sword especially if you go dwarf (free proficiency and dmg boost enhancements on axes, -2CHA tho). i believe there's a good balance between DAxe + shield and swap to greataxe/greatsword/maul according to the pattern. i was normally 2 handing on trash (still unable to hit my high AC) and S&B on bosses. cant tell of a good named DAxe or Bsword but loot from CITW has some nice options.

[arminius]

i'd dump 2HF line, i never needed that on my DoS. i was using a minII DAxe as main weapon and bonesplitter / epic antique for when i was dropping the shield. DAxe is somehow better than bastard sword especially if you go dwarf (free proficiency and dmg boost enhancements on axes, -2CHA tho). i believe there's a good balance between DAxe + shield and swap to greataxe/greatsword/maul according to the pattern. i was normally 2 handing on trash (still unable to hit my high AC) and S&B on bosses. cant tell of a good named DAxe or Bsword but loot from CITW has some nice options.

Not sure why you'd say to dump the THF line of feats, they are what buff glancing blows and glancing blows are the entire reason a S+B goes bastard sword or dwarven axe. I guess one could make an argument for a different way to go, but then the rest of the post sounds pretty standard.

[obscure.jester]

i remember i went for multiple toughness at that time (last year). my feats were on a human hate gen AC build pally18/monk2: combat expertise, shield mastery, imp shield mastery, exo weapon Daxe, imp crit slash, toughness 4x, stuninng blow.
can use the 3x toughness slots for 2HF if u want the +50% glancing. less hp tho. no clue if is better or not, i dont use a tank since then.

[Kinerd]

Bastard swords are better than dwarves axes for a paladin because of Divine Sacrifice. On normal hits you have...

15 regular hits + 4 critical hits at * 2 damage = 23
17 regular hits + 2 critical hits at * 3 damage = 23
23 = 23

On Sacrifice you have...
15 + 4 * 3 = 27
17 + 2 * 4 = 25
27 > 25

While there is not a large quantity of named bastard swords, there is the Epic Chimera's Fang, which is very large quality.

[boredman]

If you want to be more tankish i suggest going Paladin 18/fighter 2 for extra features and tower shield proficiency. Also, i prefer Human Cause HEAL AMP and the extra feature. For Thf weapon make a Lit 2 falchion or dual lit 2 scimitars if twf (i prefer falchion over greataxe because has better crit chance for divine sacrifice), can make a Min 2 Falchion too for dr breakers, but with cannith crafting weapons is no needed. I personally would not spend a feature on bastard sword or dwarven axe since paladins are feat starved and there are good longswords too at end level (like oathblade or tinah) but the most important reason for that is that you probably will be using your main THf weapon (Lit2 weapon for example) 80% of the time, cause you only will be using a shield when tanking bosses or when partying with no cc squishy groups, but since you have intimidate, that little glacing blow would not help much.
(this also would depend on your play style and also the gear you have, if you get a epic chimeras fang then bastard sword feat would worth more but if you dont have that and can easily get an oathblade or a crafted boss beater longsword/scimitar when tanking, you can get use of that feature on something else)

As for features, PA, toughness, IC, THF or Twf line, empower healing or maximice spell, quicken, and the other features depending on what you want can be cleave, great cleave (for overwhelming critical later if want more dps), stunning blow, Bulwark of defense or if you want more intimidate could also take the dragon marks of sentinel and make a +6 cha skills shroud item, or if want more shield use shield mastery, improved shield bash (but think is bugged) and, the really not worth, improved shield mastery. (thats why paladin tanks are very tight on the features and thats why even some times they drop gthf and ithf to make room for another defensive features).

[me_TOO]

S/B Paladin... gotta go human dragonmarked and Chimera's fang to get the most out of it imo. Sentinal Destiny with Dreadaught goodies twisted in

[MattiG]

OP, what do you want to do with this toon? There's a lot of potentially bad advice here depending on your answer.

I would also note that the nightmare bastard sword from the raid has turned out to get A LOT more equipped time on my pali than I would have imagined. One critical feature (pun intended?) Is the "on crit" level drain. With momentum swing and pali strikes, it's a lot. That said, I stay in THF most if the time.

In my opinion, you either have to commit to be a S/B toon and accept your "good but not satisfyingly great" DPS, or you go for max DPS through fury and LD, with s/b as a fallback when youre getting beat up.

[Inouk]

OP, what do you want to do with this toon? There's a lot of potentially bad advice here depending on your answer.

I would also note that the nightmare bastard sword from the raid has turned out to get A LOT more equipped time on my pali than I would have imagined. One critical feature (pun intended?) Is the "on crit" level drain. With momentum swing and pali strikes, it's a lot. That said, I stay in THF most if the time.

In my opinion, you either have to commit to be a S/B toon and accept your "good but not satisfyingly great" DPS, or you go for max DPS through fury and LD, with s/b as a fallback when youre getting beat up.

This seems to defeat the purpose of taking a S&B PrE. Why go defender if fighting THF all the time? I would think maxing splash (THF line) and double strike (SM line) would best leverage your PrE, otherwise take a different PrE that is more damage oriented. That said I've heard D-axe gets better results with EDs, but I haven't played a DoS so I couldn't say.

[MattiG]

Extra HP, damage, PRR, and Threat... All without ever equipping a shield.

new raid bastard sword is money. if it could break good DR without requiring a steep trade-off, it would be ridiculous. Most builds should be able to slot planar focus as well, and 4 damage/15 prr isn't insignificant.

Anyway, DOS is nice as a "there when you need it" toggle. I'm either going to be in LD with Fury twists and stance active, or in Fury with LD twists and no stance until I'm out of adrenaline (they'll recharge from fury eternal even while in stance). That said, I still wont go into stance unless I need the PRR, HP, and if there's a double boosted human barb in the party wearing claw, to hold agro.