Mercenary Weapons

[dakeyras]

Recently started a merc and really enjoying the char but need some advice on weapons.

I am familiar with the zerker method of having slowest, baddest weapon you can find in main hand and fastest in 'off' hand, but as I understand it DW works differently in that both hands have an equal chance of swinging and your DW spec determines how often both swing (over the base 25%)

Is it better to go with 2 fast off-hand weapons i.e. jambiyas or do players prefer at higher level to have a slower, harder hitting weapon in main hand?

 

[**Aligro**]

2 doom swords
2 feather lights granite axes
2 lava forged swords
jambiya and a slower wep.

 

[statix]

Have to watch what i say now after my last fumbled post regarding CE and NP.

But anyway this is just my opinion ( covering myself you see )

Alot of people prefer a slow main hand for the reason that , in most RvR large battles you might only get 1 maybe 2 slaps in so the theory is you want your first to be a hard hitter so you do a lot of damage on the first hit.

now their is loads of theory and crap about slow vs speed , quickness high vs low , slow main + fast 2nd vs fast main + slow 2nd , styled vs unstyled and so on and so forth

I personally prefer 2 fast weapons ie. jambias. Why because I always get more than 1 or 2 hits in , im generally locked on to a CC caster or healer till he falls , so I like to have both my weapons in sync per say. it also helps for getting chain styles off etc as you can tell just as your about to strike. And some say because you are hitting fast you can cut through BT etc basically caster types fall quickly.

Anyway screw all that , thats just my opinion why dont you go out and buy all 4 weapons and try them all out , you willl soon see which style you prefer. If needs be you can borrow some of my swords for a while and check out the differance.

 

[[DK]hakke]

I havn't figured out whats 'best' but im using 2 x 99% crafted War Maces 2.9 (or is it 3.0?)spd and i like it alot

 

[Flimgoblin]

The 'haste' effect only happens when you style with both weapons...

(i.e. when you use a style and both hit)

This is because your attack speed when styling is always your right hand weapon, unless you dual hit, in which case it's the average both.

Unstyled it's the delay of whichever weapon hits (either left or right can hit) or the average if both hit.

e.g. 4.0 speed in right hand 2.0 speed in left

unstyled if you do
right
4s
left
2s
both
3s
right
4s
both
3s
left
2s

styled the right hand _always fires_, there's just a chance if the left one goes off...
so you can get
right
4s
right
4s
both
3s
right
4s

the style damage doesn't change even though you hit faster with a double hit... so you get the 'haste' effect of a zerker
(obviously as the zerker swings both weapons all the time they always get this haste effect)

Essentially it's screwing up your rhythm to gain more style damage, but you also lose out on unstyled damage.

Myself I prefer two fast weapons - easier to get off reactives.

 

[old.LandShark]

Originally posted by **Aligro**
2 doom swords
2 feather lights granite axes
2 lava forged swords
jambiya and a slower wep.

what about frenzy axes? ^^

lava forged/granite axes = too low goddamn effective dps. Not like merc NEEDs the skill bonuses =)
93%qua weapons as a minimum imho

 

[K0nah]

i favour 2 same speed weapons for a couple reasons

1. dmg over time os better
2. consistant double hits
3. timewise - i know when i'm going to swing next, can be importnt vs casters and to get reactionary styles off
4. slow weapons suffer vs bt (slower than 3s)

slow main hand wep has a place in duels or zerg combat where u want the biggest no delay hit u can get then move onto same speed weps.

the equivalent to the slow main/fast off zerk trick for DW is to put slowest u can find in left hand and faster in main, reason being when using styles the delay of main hand is whats counted and the unstyled left hand will hit for same dmg as its delay, only faster.

 

[old.Wildfire]

either 2 crafted jambiyas or...
2 ensorcelled blades of power
dw lightsabres baby yeah!

 

[Flimgoblin]

Originally posted by K0nah

the equivalent to the slow main/fast off zerk trick for DW is to put slowest u can find in left hand and faster in main, reason being when using styles the delay of main hand is whats counted and the unstyled left hand will hit for same dmg as its delay, only faster.

Your style bonus is based off the main hand speed

your swing time is based off either the main hand or the average

so if you have 4s left hand 3s main hand, you're doing 3s worth of style damage every 3.5 seconds (if you dual hit)

not a good thing

 

[Vasconcelos]

Originally posted by **Aligro**
2 doom swords
2 feather lights granite axes
2 lava forged swords
jambiya and a slower wep.

2 Granite Axes works really nice: its a weapon which procs a lot, i often proc with both weapons which means around +170 damage.

 

[**Aligro**]

Originally posted by old.LandShark


what about frenzy axes? ^^

lava forged/granite axes = too low goddamn effective dps. Not like merc NEEDs the skill bonuses =)
93%qua weapons as a minimum imho

ah of course. i look good with purple axes. mustav slipped my mind.

 

[K0nah]

Originally posted by Fingoniel


Your style bonus is based off the main hand speed

your swing time is based off either the main hand or the average

so if you have 4s left hand 3s main hand, you're doing 3s worth of style damage every 3.5 seconds (if you dual hit)

not a good thing

no jonny.

go get 50 in dw and rr6 then tell me how my class plays plz.

 

[belth]

Originally posted by K0nah


no jonny.

go get 50 in dw and rr6 then tell me how my class plays plz.

I suggest you test it out. RR doesn't equal knowledge.

 

[Draylor]

Originally posted by old.LandShark
93%qua weapons as a minimum imho

Please tell me thats a typo and you meant 99%

 

[Flimgoblin]

Originally posted by K0nah


no jonny.

go get 50 in dw and rr6 then tell me how my class plays plz.

ahh yes, I forgot you gain the realm ability:

Basic understanding of Maths
and
Dummies guide to Statistics
at RR6

along with
Arrogant Arse 3

Or did you gain all your realm points by testing swings on keep doors?

 

[Vorcyn]

Sigh.

All realm points show is that you've killed more enemies whether it be in a zerg (more likely) or soloed your way up.

If you happen to be rr6, well fucking woopie doo, well done, grats and all that bollocks.

Although rr5 may grant you the ability to use better weapons, inflates your ego etc it does not grant you the ability to know every bit of knowledge about your class.

So before you go insulting people who actually do know what their talking about, why dont you first go research some more and come back with a decent argument rather than "you n00b, your not rr6, you dont know anything, ahahahaha <runs off back to his pram>", it might make you look a bit more respectable, rather than looking like a complete moron.

 

[Cronn]

I should think Konah knows what he's talking about, him being the first level 50 merc on the server an' all.

 

[old.Second]

so basicaly when the new classes comes and i PL it to lvl 50 then i will be one that know that char best?

just because u get PL'ed to lvl 50 dont make u the expert on that class=) someone spending time testing new styles and stuff each lvl got a bigger chance to know how it work then someone that didnt use all styles =)

i dont say konah dont know his styles i'm just saying that he dont know everything just because he was first merc to lvl 50=)

that just like saying someone that is 50 years old is smarter then someone that is 35 just because he became 50 before the other. as far as i know and care can the 50 year old dude be stupid as a pie while the 35 old guy is a member of mensa =)

 

[)nick(]

I agree with second. I'm absolutely terrible and a total noob when it comes to playing my SM

 

[Cronn]

When the servers first came online is not like 2 new classes being introduced into a pre-existing world.

And how can you compare leveling up in a game to growing with age in real life?

But why are you automatically assuming Fingoniel is correct?

 

[belth]

Originally posted by Cronn
But why are you automatically assuming Fingoniel is correct?

Because he is By doing simple testing it can be proven... Wield slow weapon in main, fast in offhand, look at the delay before next swing when you successfully dualwield. Then compare the delays between DWing and the slow weapon alone. If you still can't see the difference, run some more tests. And more and more until you've killed enough mobs/people/doors/etc that you would've gotten RR10L10.

 

[old.Second]

i didnt mention with one single word that he was corect or not=) i said that konah didnt have to be right just because he got to lvl 50 first =)

hey i lvled my theurg from day one so would that make me an expert on theurgs?

And i've got a lvl 41 armsman with lots of styles and stuff but i have no clue how they work since i havent taken any time learning them=)

What i DO know is that fing is reading around all day at work and probably knows lots about mercs. I dont know what Konah is doing all day long so i cant say if he's pharming in zergs or testing styles or reading about them=)

So konah dont use your RR when trying to tell someone your smarter then them=)

and conn: ofcorse i can compare lvling with ageing. because it all comes down to what you do with your life=) someone sitting in his room all day all year wont know as much about the wild life in the forest as someone that is out in the woods studying it

 

[belth]

Point is, don't assume too much. There's logs on VN too.

 

[Flimgoblin]

Originally posted by belth


Because he is By doing simple testing it can be proven... Wield slow weapon in main, fast in offhand, look at the delay before next swing when you successfully dualwield. Then compare the delays between DWing and the slow weapon alone. If you still can't see the difference, run some more tests. And more and more until you've killed enough mobs/people/doors/etc that you would've gotten RR10L10.

and you can double check that your styled damage on the main
hand doesn't decrease when you doubleswing...

so, you swing faster on a doubleswing with the same styled damage - ergo the "haste effect" of a zerker.

WARNING: lots of maths ahead - skip to the end for a sumary.

For the sake of argument, we have a 4.0 speed weapon and a 2.0 speed offhand.

Lets say your style has a dps of 10, your weapons both have a dps of 5. (easy numbers because fractions are a pain)

your right hand hits for 20 (5dps at speed 4)
your left hand hits for 10 (5dps at speed 2)
your style hits for 40 (10dps at speed 4 - speed of main hand)

If you double swing you're doing 70 damage over 3 seconds - that's 23.3 dps

again for ease of calculation we'll say you have a 50% chance to dual swing (I'd do 60 as thats a more commonly accepted statistic for 50 DW but it's more of a pain to play with)

if you single swing (50% chance) you'll hit for 60 damage over 4 seconds - so 15dps

so on average your damage with this type will be:

7.5dps+11.65dps = 19.1 dps on average (it goes up the higher your dual swing chance)

With equal speed weapons (two 3 speed weapons)
you'd have right hitting for 15 (5 at 3 speed)
left hitting for 15 (5 at 3 speed)
style hitting for 30. (10 at 3 speed - same as main)
60 damage every double swing over 3 seconds - 20 dps.

single swing will be 45 damage over 3 seconds - again 15 dps.

on average
10dps+7.5dps = 17.5 dps

So whilst styled, you get a bonus damage on double hits - this bonus gets better the higher your dual wield chance (best being at 100% dual swing)

Now if we take the styled version for slow offhand, fast mainhand:

your right hand hits for 10 (5 at 2 speed)
your left hand hits for 20 (5 at 4 speed)
your style hits for 20 (10 at 2 speed - mainhand)

If you double swing you're doing 50 damage over 3 seconds - that's 16.3 dps

if you single swing (50% chance) you'll hit for 30 damage over 2 seconds - so 15dps

so on average your damage with this type will be:

0.5*16.3dps+0.5*15dps = 8.15+7.5=15.6 dps on average

In summary:

Slow mainhand, fast offhand: 19.1 dps
same speed: 17.5 dps
fast mainhand, slow offhand: 15.6 dps

 

[Flimgoblin]

since I mentioned unstyled:

Different weapons you hit for
20 every 4 seconds
10 every 2 seconds
or 30 every 3 seconds

again we go for 50% dual wield chance for simplicity

50% chance of dual hit
25% chance of right hit
25% chance of left hit

0.5*30+0.25*20+0.25*10=22.5 damage
over a time of
0.5*3+0.25*4+0.25*2=3s

which is 7.5 dps

same weapons
15 every 3 seconds
15 every 3 seconds
or 30 every 3 seconds

0.5*30+0.25*15+0.25*15=22.5 damage
0.5*3+0.25*3+0.25*3=3s

again 7.5dps

so unstyled is actually identical at 7.5dps no matter what speed your weapons are.

 

[old.Second]

you lost me at hello=)

conn: see he reads and test everything=) Konah got a real life outside DaOC and dont bother to read hehe.=)

 

[Flimgoblin]

I just got nowt better to do at work than read the VN boards/a bzillion other boards

Konah is probably playing the game instead, running around chopping up enemies and having fun

 

[Jiggs]

well it raises an important point that just cos some of us have real life stuff and dont have the phsyical time to get to 50 and RR5 in double quick time it really doesnt mean that we don't know jack

quite often you will find there is a difference between your perception of what is going on and what is really going on 'behind the scenes' in the mechanics of this game.

in the end who knows best??

imo its the dude soloing deep away in some dungeon pushing his/her char to the limit.