Which Greatsword at L20?

[Ryan220]

I have a Melee Soul that is approaching L20.

He currently uses a Terror for Dps, but also has a Paralyzer and a Met PG as well.

Im wondering what to use at L20 for Dps - do I stick with Terror or move on to something else? Il


I dont run raids at all so raid crafted weapons are a no no.

I know that in an ideal world I would be carrying a multitude of different types, but I'd rather like to keep it to one or two.


Any advice appreciated

[cru121]

What are your cannith crafting skills? Buy an epic (i.e. 2[2d6]) greatsword, perhaps one with a red slot (for 90 impulse or devotion or radiance), and craft holy bleed on it.

Another option is to look at the auction house and look at swords. Again, look at 2W options. Interesting enhancements available at level 21 (or lvl20 race restricted) are e.g. Scintillating or Mauling.

Alternatively, look at http://ddowiki.com/page/Stout_Oak_Walking_Stick

[Habreno]

ESOS. Well, outside that, Terror is okay, but a crafted +5 HB of Blah is probably best.

[Matuse]

Terror is god awful as a DPS weapon. You'd get better damage out of a +5 Holy Greatsword of doesn't-have-a-suffix. A +5 Icy Burst Holy Greatsword of Lacerating or Greater Bloodletting would literally run circles around Terror for kill speed.

Do you do Devil Assault? You can get all the materials to make a Mineral or Lightning weapon without actually running the Shroud, if you can get your way onto a guild airship that has the 3 altars.

[Loromir]

Do you do Devil Assault? You can get all the materials to make a Mineral or Lightning weapon without actually running the Shroud, if you can get your way onto a guild airship that has the 3 altars.

Possible? Yes....but dang that would take forever.


PS...Do shards drop in DA?

[voodoogroves]

Possible? Yes....but dang that would take forever.


PS...Do shards drop in DA?

Yes - though I rarely see Supremes.

[HungarianRhapsody]

I have a Melee Soul that is approaching L20.

He currently uses a Terror for Dps, but also has a Paralyzer and a Met PG as well.

Im wondering what to use at L20 for Dps - do I stick with Terror or move on to something else? Il


I dont run raids at all so raid crafted weapons are a no no.

I know that in an ideal world I would be carrying a multitude of different types, but I'd rather like to keep it to one or two.


Any advice appreciated

Not sure if The Shroud even counts as a raid anymore, but it's much faster to craft a Lit II Greatsword than it is to get your hands on a bunch of other nice weapons. If you TR eventually, it will be nice to have at level 12.

You can also just browse through the AH to see what nice lootgen swords are lying around. Some lootgen weapons are very nice.

[Llewndyn]

Terror is god awful as a DPS weapon. You'd get better damage out of a +5 Holy Greatsword of doesn't-have-a-suffix. A +5 Icy Burst Holy Greatsword of Lacerating or Greater Bloodletting would literally run circles around Terror for kill speed.

Do you do Devil Assault? You can get all the materials to make a Mineral or Lightning weapon without actually running the Shroud, if you can get your way onto a guild airship that has the 3 altars.

I am using a +5 Icy Burst of Lacerating and a Whirlwind interchangeably, and they work pretty well.

What sucks is the Lit II I spent all that time making is really only good from 12-14. It's fun to get it out and swing it around, but when it's time to get down to business it goes back in it's sheath and you got to get the big boys out.

I feel the same way about the Demon Fury GS. Great idea, and if there is an arty in the group I will flick it out, but usually just takes up some pack space.

I like the idea of a +5 HB of bleeding though... cold iron or adamantine for DR purposes would also be nice

[Ryan220]

Thank you for the replies.

I'll keep a look out on the auction house for something better or see if I can get someone to craft me something nice.

Cheers

[WruntJunior]

If you're not stuck with greatswords, Greataxe of the Chained Solider is nice and pretty easy to get.

Otherwise, I'd consider breaking your "don't raid" thing and at least try to get the base SoS, if not the epic version...it's a beast.

There are some rather nice random greatswords, though, in epic levels...but a aml:20 +5 Holy Greatsword of Bleeding will get you pretty far.

You could also try the Cormyrian challenge greatswords - you can potentially get a rather good one from that.

[Llewndyn]

If you're not stuck with greatswords, Greataxe of the Chained Solider is nice and pretty easy to get.

Otherwise, I'd consider breaking your "don't raid" thing and at least try to get the base SoS, if not the epic version...it's a beast.

There are some rather nice random greatswords, though, in epic levels...but a aml:20 +5 Holy Greatsword of Bleeding will get you pretty far.

You could also try the Cormyrian challenge greatswords - you can potentially get a rather good one from that.

Heard about them in the winter of 2009, have seen 2 drop. Ever. Never for me. One the guy had one he had linked and he still looted it (which I would have too, just saying he's luckier than me)

For Favored Souls I thought the feats were such that taking Greataxe proficiency would hamper something else later, I think most people that run the WF FVS (assuming that's what OP is running) try to stick with greatswords as that's cheaper than spending a feat, but I agree those are nice axes...

We need more greatswords that do spiffy stuff! And dangit I want and SOS!!!! :P

[DarkForte]

I have a Melee Soul that is approaching L20.

He currently uses a Terror for Dps, but also has a Paralyzer and a Met PG as well.

Im wondering what to use at L20 for Dps - do I stick with Terror or move on to something else? Il


I dont run raids at all so raid crafted weapons are a no no.

I know that in an ideal world I would be carrying a multitude of different types, but I'd rather like to keep it to one or two.


Any advice appreciated

Are you dead-set on greatswords? If you're a pure, I'd suggest switching out your GS proficiency feat and get an antique greataxe (chained soldier seems very inferior to eaga especially when cleaving).

[WruntJunior]

Heard about them in the winter of 2009, have seen 2 drop. Ever. Never for me. One the guy had one he had linked and he still looted it (which I would have too, just saying he's luckier than me)

For Favored Souls I thought the feats were such that taking Greataxe proficiency would hamper something else later, I think most people that run the WF FVS (assuming that's what OP is running) try to stick with greatswords as that's cheaper than spending a feat, but I agree those are nice axes...

We need more greatswords that do spiffy stuff! And dangit I want and SOS!!!! :P

You have to either get really lucky (like myself - I pulled my SoS on my first von6 on what was then a WF FvS...took me another 6 months of eVon6 grinding to make it epic, though), or else patient (grab some friends who'll pass it to you, and run it until you get it - most likely to get it on a multiple of 20, though).

In addition, as to feats...it's generally better to make a melee FvS now with a splash due to the sheer number of feats you want (you at least want the OC line, and GTHF is also rather nice) - if you go with 2 fighter, you get a lot suddenly open to you (including heavy armor if you're a fleshy, for a bit more PRR).

[DethTrip]

If your character is now turning lvl20, "get an esos" is bad advice becuase you will have to find something to use until you grind grind grind and grind some more to make your esos. I, like others, suggest crafting a holy burst of whatever or finding a lootgen on the AH.

[Matuse]

Yes - though I rarely see Supremes.

Wierd, I rarely see mediums, but I swim in supremes from DA.

What sucks is the Lit II I spent all that time making is really only good from 12-14. It's fun to get it out and swing it around, but when it's time to get down to business it goes back in it's sheath and you got to get the big boys out.

Absent fighting flesh golems, where a Lit II is a really bad idea, what "big boys" show up at 14 which could possibly surpass it?

I'm not familiar with anything sub-20 that can even remotely compare to a Lit II except for crafted holy+greater banes.

[voodoogroves]

Wierd, I rarely see mediums, but I swim in supremes from DA.

I'm sure it's random luck. I usually farm it when I'm bored on my wizard largely for tokens. I went to make another GS for him the other day, got on the altar are realized what I had was a page of mostly medium and small shards - one supreme.

I'm not familiar with anything sub-20 that can even remotely compare to a Lit II except for crafted holy+greater banes.

Cloudburst is more fun.

[Llewndyn]

Wierd, I rarely see mediums, but I swim in supremes from DA.



Absent fighting flesh golems, where a Lit II is a really bad idea, what "big boys" show up at 14 which could possibly surpass it?

I'm not familiar with anything sub-20 that can even remotely compare to a Lit II except for crafted holy+greater banes.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong. I don't seem to be hitting the same damage numbers from my Lit II Greatsword that I get from that +5 Icy burst greatsword of lacerating, or from Whirlwind... I swap through them fairly frequently and maybe the line of numbers seems longer or whatever from the lacerating but it just seems like the Lit II doesn't do as well... I will do some testing on regular trash mobs tonight, as I have another hour long Inferno to run through because I don't know it and am too stubborn to ask for help :P

I will still claim premature victory over this discussion though because I typed more words than you did

Oddly enough I made a Min II Quarterstaff as a joke and to free up pack space and THAT seems to do just as well if not slightly better, but I will double check

[WruntJunior]

Maybe I'm doing it wrong. I don't seem to be hitting the same damage numbers from my Lit II Greatsword that I get from that +5 Icy burst greatsword of lacerating, or from Whirlwind... I swap through them fairly frequently and maybe the line of numbers seems longer or whatever from the lacerating but it just seems like the Lit II doesn't do as well... I will do some testing on regular trash mobs tonight, as I have another hour long Inferno to run through because I don't know it and am too stubborn to ask for help :P

I will still claim premature victory over this discussion though because I typed more words than you did

Oddly enough I made a Min II Quarterstaff as a joke and to free up pack space and THAT seems to do just as well if not slightly better, but I will double check

If your +5 icy burst greatsword of lacerating is AML:20, it does about the same damage as a lit2 per-hit (not counting the lightning strike proc) assuming the enemy takes full electric and ice damage - the difference will be lightning blast on the lit 2 vs. .5[w] on the random sword. Lightning strike does an average of an additional ~9.2 damage per hit. If the random greatsword is not AML: 20, it's no contest.

[Matuse]

I don't seem to be hitting the same damage numbers from my Lit II Greatsword that I get from that +5 Icy burst greatsword of lacerating

+5 Icy Burst of Lacerating is:

2d6+5 (weapon) + 1d6 Icy + 1d8 Bleed + 1d4 Slicing + 1d10 Icy Burst on Crits
Assuming Imp Crit, over the course of 20 swings you get 1 miss, 15 hits, 4 crits.
A hit is 12 (Weapon) + 3.5 (Icy) + 4.5 (Bleed) + 2.5 (Slicing) = 22.5
A crit brings the Weapon up to 24, and adds 5.5 of Icy Burst = 40
(15x22.5)+(4x40)= 497.5 points of damage over 20 swings.

LitII is:
1.5[2d6]+5 + 2d6 Holy + 1d6 Shock + 1d10 Shocking Burst On Crit + 1d10 Shocking Blast on Crit + 4d6 Shocking Blast on Vorpal.
Here we get 1 miss, 15 hits, 3 crits, and 1 vorpal.
A hit is 15 (Weapon) + 7 (Holy) + 3.5 (Shock) = 25.5
Crit brings Weapon up to 30 + 5.5 Shocking Burst + 5.5 Shocking Blast = 51.5
Vorpal adds 14 for Shocking Blast = 65.5
(15x25.5)+(3x51.5)+65.5 = 602.5

So, the LitII is doing 20% more damage, without even factoring in the Lightning Strike proc.

[GlorifyQuC]

Lit2 greatsword, I don't even consider shroud a raid anymore.