Spear or Hammer... or Sword?

[tenbsmith]

I've started a new game on hard. Previously I've built Vraes with sword and shield. This time I wanted to try Spear or Hammer. Based upon the first weapons available--Training Spear and Club--I started with spear over hammer for two reasons.
1) The Training Spear does higher average damage (16.5) than the Club (15.0).
2) The damage range for the Training Spear (14-19) is tighter than that of the Club (7-23). The spear should deliver more consistent damage, making it easier to decide when to use the empowered attacks like Crushing Blow to finish off an enemy.

First question: Do the above patterns generally hold for spears versus hammers?

The spear worked well. I invested a point in Polearms.

But now Vraes is using the Infantry Long Sword. This 2-handed sword significantly increases Vraes damage per turn; it only takes 2 AP per strike with average damage of 24.5 and range of 19-30. That's a lot of upside and the only downside is loosing 1 point of Parry with the current shields.

This sword has me rethinking things. Maybe I'm gonna focus on Lore and Natural Mastery so Vraes can equip whichever weapon type is best at the time.

Is there always a better variety of swords? Or, do you run across killer spears and/or hammers throughout the game?

P.S. Kudos to the Trese Bros, the game looks super on my Nexus 5 and all the text remains readable for my aging eyes. Unlike Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, where the text is so small I may have to find another platform to play.

[johndramey]

Hmmm, I'd say that the swords get a little extra focus due to the reward sword you get for finishing off the shaman, but in general your observations regarding spear/hammer/swords hold true. The Spears typically give out the most consistent damage with the best accuracy. The trade off is that you sacrifice the "top end" damage that swords and hammers have.

If you compare the Infantry Long Sword (18-30 damage, 2 Acc, 1 Parry, 2 AP, 2 hand) with the Heavy Spear (21-28 damage, 2 Acc, 1 Parry, 2 AP, 2 hand) you can see that they are basically the same, just the spear has a tighter range. Since both options are early-game weapons, the difference isn't all that large. However, later game weapons have a much bigger difference. I'll look at the cheap options in Riven Field as an example:

Keen Infantry Blade (26-40 dam, 3 acc, 3 parry, 2 ap, 1 hand)
Heavy Mace (25-40 dam, 4 acc, 2 parry, 2 ap, 1 hand)
Light Spear (24-35, 4 acc, 3 parry, 2 ap, 1 hand)

Hmm, actually looking at it that way the spear kind of falls behind a bit, eh? Haha, I typed all this up as a defense of the polearm and realized I might be mistaken.

I will say the Pit Barb, which is the more expensive Riven Field polearm, is actually very good, however it costs more than the Blade or Hammer.

[narana]

In episode 2 spears get the highest combined accuracy+parry and lowest damage, maces get the highest damage and lowest accuracy+parry, and swords in the middle and can dual-wield. If you wanna go 2h weapon+berserk I would recommend maces (you can't get lower then 0 parry), otherwise I would recommend blades (having the option between 1h+shield, 2h, and 2x1h is really fun).

[fallen]

The weapon types are all very competitive imho, each for their own reason (johndramey and narana really hit it!). Swords offer the most flexibility. I can't resist 2H Hammers with most of my Vraes builds.

All 2H weapons eventually graduate to 3+ AP, so the 2 AP options will disappear as you increase in level.

Glad its looking great on the N5! That was one of our target devices for perfection

[En1gma]

I'm going spears on my best buildout yet- going for a super accurate Vraes with a focus on Juggernaut in the endgame- if I'm going to be using that talent, I'm going to make sure I hit my target every time- SP is not to be wasted. I'm going for the highest possible hit ratio by also maxing out Mastery, so the extra accuracy just ends up adding to my massive dice pool. Might not hit quite as hard, but damage will equal out by never missing.

[tenbsmith]

Great feedback.

JohnDramey/others, please post stats for more expensive weapons available in Rivenfield.

If people post stats for weapons from different stores, and the store they came from, I'll organize it into a table.

fallen, good to hear weapons are balanced. Does that extend to special/reward weapons like the sword you get for finishing off the shaman? It would be cool if the player got to select the type of weapon that matched their character for these.

For this play-through, Vraes will focus on Lore and related talents--Stone Skin, Natural Master, Burst of Speed. There will be no Berserk. En1gma, I may copy your approach and build a super accurate spear-wielding Vraes with Juggernaut in mind.

Spears higher parry plus burst-of-speed will make it easier to wield two-handed spears and still tank.

[tenbsmith]

Oskahold Smith Melee weapons

Name: Accuracy, Parry, Damage (average damage), gold, AP if different than standard

1-H Blades
Arming Blade: 2, 2, 15-31 (23), 162
Short Sword: 2, 3, 15-30 (22.5), 213
2-H Blades
Cadet Claymore: 2, 2, 19-34 (26.5), 176, 2 AP
Longsword: 3, 3, 18-29 (23.5), 235, 2 AP

1-H Spear
Bladed Spear: 3, 2, 16-25 (20.5), 164
Cadets Spear: 3, 3, 18-23 (20.5), 215
2-H Spear
Warrior Spear: 3, 2, 26-45 (35.5), 230
Double Spear: 3, 3, 28-45 (36.5), 305

1-H Hammer
Warden Trnchn: 3, 1, 15-31 (23), 168
Cadets Mace: 3, 1, 19-33 (26), 223
2-H Hammer
Infntry Flail: 3, 1, 15-55 (35), 232
Bar Mace: 3, 1, 37-50 (43.5), 310

This is the complete list of strength-based melee weapons from Oskahold's Smith. The 2-handed swords confound things a bit since they only use 2 AP. Later in the game all 2-Handed weapons are 3 AP.

Most swords and hammers have accuracy & parry add to 4. For spears it generally adds to 5.

I may commit to this spear thing all the way, buy that Double Spear, and start putting points in polearms.

[En1gma]

I actually splurged on my latest play through and bought both the best 1h and 2h spears once I got to Riven Field.
With one handed and shield I have 4 accuracy plus 12(+4) spear and 12 strength, and 9 parry (4 weapon and 5 sheild) with 12+(4) spear defense with 25-38 damage from my Pit Barb

2h I have the Runkah, at 41-68 damage and 3 acc and 5 parry, plus the above bonuses. Not as accurate as one handed but with, Sav Sweep he rarely misses. I'm loving this build for Vraes more and more, having the two weapon sets grants great flexibility and I can handle everything so far- looking forward to the assault and to the better weapons in store for me. Spears are my new favorite toys... 

[Cory Trese]

Spears are really awesome, and the narrow damage band makes stuff like Berserk Rage extra fun.

I concur on having multiple builds unless you put points into Phalanx

[riverjack]

can we get an update on this thread? im about to step into CoD for the first time ever and i my vreas has been sitting on 15 unused skill points forever. i can never find a weapon worth using the skills so i have not spent any points in the weapon skills.

currently i am running a tank vreas with stone skin 8 and phalanx shield 10, gear is focused on acc and crit. using savage sweep III and a morning star 3ap mace he hits about 80d with the occasional triple digits crit. actually quite happy with this setup as he takes almost no damage, can tank an entire screen full, and still hits 8 out of 10 times for decent damage.

i have been hoping for a quest reward one hander that would make me choose a weapon skill to stay with to the end but since the Lukias sword from ep1 no such weapon has shown itself. the only side quest i have left is the darkmoss under swamps and then its off to CoD.... help me pick a weapon skill! i really like maces but am worried to invest, if i get a really good one (i havent) i want my kyera to use it.... any known epic ep3 quest reward swords or spears or early CoD drops? (i know drops are random..) i am not even looting anything above the stuff in the stores in chests either..

[fallen]

riverjack - sorry, that's a hard decision. I can't say much about future epic rewards in regards to weapons. Tho, I will say that the most epic on in E4 is setup just like Vincent's epic weapon choice, or similar to that of Lukai's sword. You'll get a choice and we wont' be exclusive.

[Cory Trese]

I am amazed you survive with that many unspent skill points!

[fallen]

Hehehe, that is one crazy case of indecision!

[En1gma]

The best weapon I've seen yet is a 4ap Spear... Thing was insane.

[wascalwywabbit]

You can always invest in making ssk and phalanx last longer...