Armsman Spec Question

[-Wedge-]

I'm gonna hit my half-ding at 41 tonigh, whoohoo...

And so far, I don't think I've specced incorrectly, yet... But what I was wondering, does the 1H thrust spec points increase the damage you do with a Thrust Polearm?

I've currently got something like 36 in Thrust, 41 in Polearms, 10 in Parry and the rest in shield... So I'm not doing that bad

But is it worth spending more points in Thrust, and most of the higher level polearm skills are crap too, does increasing this skill above 44 lvl's or so really make much difference?

I've looked around a bit, but I can't seem to find damage / slvl ratio... I did notice a huge damage increase from switching from a Dead Warriors Pike (or smmt) to my epic Polearm...

Btw, my end template is (currently) looking like 48 in Polearm, 42 in Shield, 40 in Thrust, 10 in Parry and 7 in XBow... But I might be respecing to Crush (hey, I only heard that Thrust was Dex/Str based at level 25 or so and I'm a Highlander, so I have way too much Str) and might also drop shield completely...

Give me some hints, tips, say I'm gimped for the rest of my life till 1.5

 

[Flimgoblin]

All polearms n two handeds are Strength only... dex only applies to normal thrust weapons (according to the herald).

Your minimum damage is based on the weapon type (thrust) whereas your max damage is based on the polearm skill.

If you improve polearm more than thrust you'll get higher max damage but it'll vary more... hitting for 20 one moment 60 the next.

Not sure which gives a better effect if you have to choose between, say, 44 polearm 40 thrust or 44 thrust 40 polearm...

I think just go for the styles or what you think looks cooler (I recently swapped my dropped orange knifeman's daggers for some self-crafted hand axes coz they looked cooler... currently doing less damage than before but I'm happy anyway course they might be ok when I enchant em )

 

[Khalen]

Well if yah use a polearm you should have had parry high
I'm an armsman myself and currently lvl 47. I decided to stop speccing polearm beyond 40 (no use to have skills which are hard to perform anyway and the damage isn't that high increasing.) Same for the type of weapon (slash). Stopped at 37 I believe. Had parry already on 36 so pretty high as well. The only thing I gonna put points in now is Shield. Because most of the time when I solo or no polearm armsman is in team I use my 1H weapon (quicker hitting, for getting aggro quicker off someone) so my shield and parry are handy then (and I wanna have Slam too )

Now referring to your question about is it wise to specc the type skill.. Well basically yes. Type skill determines the minimum damage. So if yah increase it it will improve your minimum damage. The polearm/2H skill is for the maximum damage. So my opinion would be to raise parry some more (for polearm attacks, and soloing). But you are free to choose..

 

[Flimgoblin]

Shields are in high demand on the boards for one ability - stun... lvl 42 stun is apparently quite nice...

that said - should a big polearm wielding armsman be practicin with a shield? I'd say get it to 7 for engage... any higher it's upto you

Parry will be more useful if you're toting that big spike more than the sword and board.

 

[-Wedge-]

Basicly I want Stun too (Even though at 1.5 we get Long duration stun with our polearm too), I've just had it too many times that I'm finally within hitting range of a Hunter/Ranger/Caster, I hit him once, he starts running and I have no chance of getting close them (definitly not if they use that flee thing that they got).... And they turn on stealth...

So I'd be running with my Sword + Shield in RvR, then hit stun, switch to my Polearm, do a cripple, then a mangle and basicly kill most non-tank classes... I'm just guessing this will definitly increase my chance for a kill...

It'll mean my Parry wont be that high, but are you able to parry a special move? (Isn't this an issue currently in the US too?)

 

[old.Ayane]

last i heard is that you can't parry a special move yet.
but they are working on it no idea when we get it do.

 

[belth]

You can parry styles, but the biggest problem is that most styles have +to-hit...

Go for atleast 44 in Polearms, you'll get the follow up style for Defender's Rage, which is changed to use after someone does a style on you in 1.50. Can't argue with low endurance cost, very high bonus damage and long duration stun