polearm

[dieo]

just wondering if pole damage was 100% stren no matter what the spec..

or am i just completely wrong about that

wanting to respec my armsman (39 atm) to pole, and alot of ppl say to go thrust, but im a highlander and as they do have low dex..

(please dont spam reroll a palaind :bazbeer:

 

[Danamyr]

From what I recall, all Pole styles are 100% strength based.

 

[Kcinimodus]

Aye it's 100% strength based, no matter if you spec thrust. Maximize your damage by going full pole (50 at lvl 50). To minimize variance on your damage you need at least 50 thrust/slash/crush total including bonus. So at rr5 and if you have +11 thrust on your template, it's enough to spec 35 thrust (35+11+4 = 50). Having above 50 thrust doesn't increase your average damage alot, the tests I've seen say it's about 3% more damage on average with 65 thrust compared to 50 thrust. Decide for yourself if that's worth speccing higher thrust. I'd advice to go hybrid but decide for yourself what you like .

 

[Danamyr]

Just a quick note on that; from what I've read on VN Boards and elsewhere, having 50 Pole and an effective 51 in a weapon damage type (Slash, Thrust or Crush) is fine and will result in minimal variance.

However, you will have lower Weapon Skill then someone with a natural 50 in a weapon damage type, so while you variance will be minimal, the likelihood of you bypassing your opponents natural defences (Evade, Parry & Block) and landing your styles are less.

I don't know how much less, perhaps someone else can expand there.

 

[Kagato]

Just a quick note on that; from what I've read on VN Boards and elsewhere, having 50 Pole and an effective 51 in a weapon damage type (Slash, Thrust or Crush) is fine and will result in minimal variance.

However, you will have lower Weapon Skill then someone with a natural 50 in a weapon damage type, so while you variance will be minimal, the likelihood of you bypassing your opponents natural defences (Evade, Parry & Block) and landing your styles are less.

I don't know how much less, perhaps someone else can expand there.

your base damage type shouldn't effect your polearm WS (derived from pole and str), if im not mistaken your weaponskill with slash thrust or crush will only matter if you switch to 1 hand for some reason. It will matter more to hybrids of cause.

 

[Bracken]

Base damage spec (thrust/slash/crush) determines your minimum damage when 2H/pole is equipped - that's where the belief about variance comes in. For base damage, once its over 50 the effect is much less than under 50. So as long as your thrust/slash/crush = 50 (spec + rr + items) then your minimum damage will not be far off someone with say 65. The overall effect is, as Kc said believed to be about 3% difference in total damage from 50 - 65. I've read that once its over 64 total there is almost no difference at all, but can't confirm that

 

[Jarahl]

If you wanna Hybrid, go 50 in the skill you want primarily (Polearm or Two-Handed), 35 Thrust/Crush/Slash, tho 39 is nice 2, for back slash, and get 42 shield.

Now the tricky part is that landing Slam depends on your Weapon Skill. Shield WS is not calculated from Shield Spec, but from your 1-Hand weap spec, so if you only spec 39 Slash (as I did), you will have around 1900 WS at RR5 and 11 to slash on template. However with Two-Hand equipped (50 2h ofc) your WS will be more than 2k (with 396 str), meaning you are more likely to hit with 2h then your Slam, and Slam is often nessecary for a Hybrid Arms.

Hope this clears up some of your questions, if not ask again