D2: barbarian sword vs. axe revisited
Jake Lee
a question...
lvl 28 barbarian, playing in nm mode:
I have been using what I consider (so far) to be a pretty kick-ass axe,
so I have to wonder if switching to a sword would still make sense for
me. I only ask because I have 13 skill points left to distribute.
My current axe (by itself, w/o strength+mastery modifiers) does 50-65
points (just "straight" damage, no fire, poison, etc...). Plus it does
8% lifestealing and adds something like +130 to attack rating. Only
annoying thing is that the speed is "slow", and it's 2-hand only.
I don't even know if this is anything special at all? again, it seems
pretty damn good to me, at least relative to most everything else I've
seen so far.
The thing is that I have found a few axes that are somewhat close to
being as powerful as this, yet I haven't once found a sword that comes
anywhere remotely close. I assume swords this powerful (and likely much
moreso) exist later in nm mode? maybe I've just been unlucky in the
sword finding dept?
I wonder if I should:
a) continue on like I have been, saving skill points until I find a
similarly kick-ass sword
(perhaps I could save/restore/'cheat' with charsi's imbue?)
or
b) just dump a butt-load of points into my axe skill (currently only 5)
and forget about swords (also currently 5).
choice b) is getting more and more tempting as nm mode is so damn tough!
:::sigh::: decisions, decisions,...
What do you think? Falsa?
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Unknown Shadow
>My current axe (by itself, w/o strength+mastery modifiers) does 50-65
>points (just "straight" damage, no fire, poison, etc...). Plus it does
Both of my one-handed axes are better than that so yes you should be able to
find better axes. Mine do around 68-70 max damage each, almost 300 with
modifiers. There are 2 handers that do 250 base damage. Swords are great to
but axes just seem to suit a barbarian so much better. And if you use Double
Swing like me, it doesn't matter about weapon speed. It lets me wipe out a
room full of enemies in seconds. And I'm now playing through Hell mode.
Also, the reach of the weapons is not always an advantage like some people
seem to think. Take WW for example, according to Blizzard your "number of
chances to hit" is divided among the total number of enemies in your reach.
So a shorter weapon would be better. I would rather hit 5 monsters 2 or 3
times each than 10 monsters once each.
So pump either Axe or Sword mastery to level 20 and stick with one weapon
type. If you find a great weapon that you didn't master in, trade it for the
one you did master in. And go with Double Swing, a point or two is enough in
it. Get good body armor to compensate for a shield. People keep saying a
shield is NECESSARY but I am yet to use one half ways through hell mode. The
blocking% is good but not absolutely NEEDED. Besides, you can use Double
Swing when necessary and a shield when necessary anyways. Hope that helps.
Falsadoom
"Jake Lee" <jl...@jel.net> wrote in message news:39943B96...@jel.net...
> I wonder if I should:
>
> a) continue on like I have been, saving skill points until I find a
> similarly kick-ass sword
>
> (perhaps I could save/restore/'cheat' with charsi's imbue?)
>
>
> or
>
> b) just dump a butt-load of points into my axe skill (currently only 5)
> and forget about swords (also currently 5).
>
> choice b) is getting more and more tempting as nm mode is so damn tough!
>
> :::sigh::: decisions, decisions,...
>
> What do you think? Falsa?
Well depends what you want out of the game. Uknown Shadow likes to play
with axes because he thinks they are cool and do enough to get the job done.
I play for pure efficiency and think axes don't do enough damage (and in 8
characters with alot of play time, haven't ever found an axe over 35-40 max
damage one handed). If that is what you want then I would go swords hard for
double attacks. But if you like 2 handed weapons, I think the pike/lance is
the best weapon for Amazons, but not sure about Barbarians as I never use
anything but my 2 swords unless I need the 3 perfect diamond shield for a
boss. You have to weigh the speed and damage carefully. Try a halberd, pike,
2 handed axe, 2 handed sword and see which one seems to deliver enough
crunch fast enough to keep them off you, then look for that type in a rare.
The barbarian I am building (or was), was focusing on keeping 1 great
sword in the right hand. The reach factor was kind of cool. It's like having
the best of both worlds, a polearm with reach yet the double attack speed,
and power of 2 swords.
Falsa
Jake Lee
Falsadoom wrote:
>
> "Jake Lee" <jl...@jel.net> wrote in message news:39943B96...@jel.net...
>
> > I wonder if I should:
> >
> > a) continue on like I have been, saving skill points until I find a
> > similarly kick-ass sword
> >
> > (perhaps I could save/restore/'cheat' with charsi's imbue?)
> >
> >
> > or
> >
> > b) just dump a butt-load of points into my axe skill (currently only 5)
> > and forget about swords (also currently 5).
> >
> > choice b) is getting more and more tempting as nm mode is so damn tough!
> >
> > :::sigh::: decisions, decisions,...
> >
> > What do you think? Falsa?
>
> Well depends what you want out of the game. Uknown Shadow likes to play
> with axes because he thinks they are cool and do enough to get the job done.
> I play for pure efficiency and think axes don't do enough damage (and in 8
> characters with alot of play time, haven't ever found an axe over 35-40 max
> damage one handed). If that is what you want then I would go swords hard for
> double attacks.
Yeah,...I really dig the whole "image" of a half-naked barbarian
weilding a monsterously over-sized 2-handed battle-axe,...(what would
freud say?,..hmmm)
But, for the purpose of playing a game, I think I have the most fun
while dishing out maximum damage :)
I think that I will probably hold off on the skill spending until I can
find a decent sword and then pump up sword mastery,...perhaps lots of
gambling will make this process go much faster...
It's still seems weird to me that I've only found crap swords so far, oh
well...
But if you like 2 handed weapons, I think the pike/lance is
> the best weapon for Amazons, but not sure about Barbarians as I never use
> anything but my 2 swords unless I need the 3 perfect diamond shield for a
> boss. You have to weigh the speed and damage carefully. Try a halberd, pike,
> 2 handed axe, 2 handed sword and see which one seems to deliver enough
> crunch fast enough to keep them off you, then look for that type in a rare.
>
> The barbarian I am building (or was), was focusing on keeping 1 great
> sword in the right hand. The reach factor was kind of cool. It's like having
> the best of both worlds, a polearm with reach yet the double attack speed,
> and power of 2 swords.
>
> Falsa
As always, thanks much for your input,...of course that goes for you
too, Unknown Shadow and everyone else...
Ykalon Dragon
>
> Yeah,...I really dig the whole "image" of a half-naked barbarian
> weilding a monsterously over-sized 2-handed battle-axe,...(what would
> freud say?,..hmmm)
>
> But, for the purpose of playing a game, I think I have the most fun
> while dishing out maximum damage :)
>
> I think that I will probably hold off on the skill spending until I can
> find a decent sword and then pump up sword mastery,...perhaps lots of
> gambling will make this process go much faster...
>
Don't bother gambling for weapons, you will never get the exceptional
versions of the weapons, i.e no executioner's sword or zweihander. I
only gamble for rings and amulets, so far I haven't been successful in
finding even one godd item through gambling but I'm sure that if I keep
it up I'm bound to get at least one good ring.
Falsadoom
"Ykalon Dragon" <yka...@softhome.net> wrote in message
news:3995FA0C...@softhome.net...
I have heard that you can and will evenetually get the "stone of Jordan"
by gambling. I also hear that there are a few other items that you can get
this way. But you have to know what they look like in order to make the
same, repetative gambling choices in order to make it happen. Armor can get
out of reach with 800k choices. I have gotten alot of "green" items by
gambling but only very few yellow ones.
Falsa
disconnected
> But, for the purpose of playing a game, I think I have the most fun
> while dishing out maximum damage :)
Aren't spears the highest damage 2-handed weapons in the game? I
found a rare 92-278 Lance, with increased attack speed, and I've
never seen an axe or sword that even comes close to that kind of
damage.
.
M. de Mare
"disconnected" <chaosc...@excite.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.14005a8ea...@news.supernews.com...
and I'm in Act 2 Hell now! This isn't fair!
Falsadoom
news:8n6eks$gv9$1...@news.surfnet.nl...
> Arghhhhhhhh! I'm a spearazon, and I've NEVER EVER found even a single
lance,
> and I'm in Act 2 Hell now! This isn't fair!
Many moons ago I had found 1 socketed lance. Have never seen one since.
Falsa
Jake Lee
rings, amulets, and helms (since I don't have an especially good helm
right now)
Now that I've found my kick-ass sword (by my current standards anyway),
I'm pretty much just building a collection of high-resistance
rings/amulets for use in certain difficult situations. Beginning of NM
actII was a big wake-up call for my general lack of resistances, heh
BTW, I did a few rounds of the ol' charsi/imbue/save/restore-"cheat" and
ended up with a nice high-damage scimitar. It's especially awesome
since it's a "very fast attack speed" sword with the "greatly enhanced
attack speed" attribute thrown on top!....it's really insane!
I had *so* much trouble with "The Smith" on NM act I, it's not even
funny. With the new scimitar, he was barely able to get one hit on me :)
I used to be big into super-high-damage slow attack weapons,...now I've
seen the light! Speed,...speed,...speed,..more speed...I wonder if I now
have the fastest attack speed possible?
Ykalon Dragon wrote:
>
> >
> > Yeah,...I really dig the whole "image" of a half-naked barbarian
> > weilding a monsterously over-sized 2-handed battle-axe,...(what would
> > freud say?,..hmmm)
> >
> > But, for the purpose of playing a game, I think I have the most fun
> > while dishing out maximum damage :)
> >
> > I think that I will probably hold off on the skill spending until I can
> > find a decent sword and then pump up sword mastery,...perhaps lots of
> > gambling will make this process go much faster...
> >
>
> Don't bother gambling for weapons, you will never get the exceptional
> versions of the weapons, i.e no executioner's sword or zweihander. I
> only gamble for rings and amulets, so far I haven't been successful in
> finding even one godd item through gambling but I'm sure that if I keep
> it up I'm bound to get at least one good ring.
______________________________________________________________________
J.S.
dropped.
J.S.
"Falsadoom" <fals...@home.com> wrote in message
news:mWEl5.78218$6y5.51...@news2.rdc2.tx.home.com...
Falsadoom
"J.S." <pytho...@NSrocketmail.com> wrote in message
news:oV1m5.96178$V34.9...@news1.sttls1.wa.home.com...
> there is apparently a "bug" (hahaha) in 1.03 that makes it so lances
aren't
> dropped.
>
> J.S.
Figures. When it rains it pours. I reverted to 1.02 and still never see
them. They are pretty rare drops even at 58 on hell mode.
Falsa
Quatoria
"Falsadoom" <fals...@home.com> wrote:
No, it was a bug in 1.02 as well. And possibly 1.01. It just wasn't
FIXED in 1.03.
-Quatoria
--
In this unpredictable, oftentimes contentious world,
sometimes you just have to sit back, take a moment to
reflect, and say "Well, I'll be a greased Jesus!"
M. de Mare
"Quatoria" <quat...@NOSPAMbellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:8eKYORK5y6w3d7pfGc=H2IK...@4ax.com...
> In the swirling mists of history, on Tue, 15 Aug 2000 04:01:39 GMT,
> "Falsadoom" <fals...@home.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >"J.S." <pytho...@NSrocketmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:oV1m5.96178$V34.9...@news1.sttls1.wa.home.com...
> >> there is apparently a "bug" (hahaha) in 1.03 that makes it so lances
> >aren't
> >> dropped.
> >>
> >> J.S.
> >
> >Figures. When it rains it pours. I reverted to 1.02 and still never see
> >them. They are pretty rare drops even at 58 on hell mode.
> >
> >Falsa
> >
>
> No, it was a bug in 1.02 as well. And possibly 1.01. It just wasn't
> FIXED in 1.03.
>
> -Quatoria
> --
And why do I find lots of pikes with +1 and even +2 to barbarian skills, but
never to amazon skills? I've never even seen a barbarian with a pike...
Quatoria
"M. de Mare" <micje@hot_mail.com> wrote:
>And why do I find lots of pikes with +1 and even +2 to barbarian skills, but
>never to amazon skills? I've never even seen a barbarian with a pike...
No clue. I have never found a + to amazon pike, but I've found plenty
of + barb pikes. Maybe all melee weapons but staffs and wands and
scepters only spawn + barbarian skill versions.
Christoph Nahr
wrote:
>And why do I find lots of pikes with +1 and even +2 to barbarian skills, but
>never to amazon skills? I've never even seen a barbarian with a pike...
For the same reason that my Sorceress keeps finding items with +1/+2
to all skills for Barbarians? Could it be that the random number
generation is broken in favour of Barbarians? I don't recall *ever*
finding a skill booster for Amazons or Paladins. The only ones I
found for the Sorceress were for sale. Don't know about the Necro.
M. de Mare
"Quatoria" <quat...@NOSPAMbellsouth.net> wrote in message
> In the swirling mists of history, on Tue, 15 Aug 2000 16:03:21 +0200,
> "M. de Mare" <micje@hot_mail.com> wrote:
>
> >And why do I find lots of pikes with +1 and even +2 to barbarian skills,
but
> >never to amazon skills? I've never even seen a barbarian with a pike...
>
> of + barb pikes. Maybe all melee weapons but staffs and wands and
> scepters only spawn + barbarian skill versions.
Bows of course have +x to Amazon skills on them, but never pikes, it seems.
Not that it bothers me... If I found a +2 to amazon skills amulet, I
wouldn't use it. I prefer my prismatic amulet, or my Wyrm's when I go out
slinging lightning fury javelins around...
BTW, I really hate that the program doesn't replace your javelins when they
run out, unless you've got some of the exact same type in your inventory
(superior javs != javs), especially since you can't just buy several of the
same type...
Frank vd Eijkhof
>"M. de Mare" <micje@hot_mail.com> wrote:
>>And why do I find lots of pikes with +1 and even +2 to barbarian skills, but
>>never to amazon skills? I've never even seen a barbarian with a pike...
>For the same reason that my Sorceress keeps finding items with +1/+2
>to all skills for Barbarians? Could it be that the random number
>generation is broken in favour of Barbarians? I don't recall *ever*
>finding a skill booster for Amazons or Paladins. The only ones I
>found for the Sorceress were for sale. Don't know about the Necro.
While I, as barbarian, allmost choke in staffs and scepters with nice adds for
paladins and amazons... and just found the _first_ skillbooster for my barb...
So there is a market for those skillboosters? Discovered the trading
yesterday, good for perfect gems, maybe good for skillboosters too?
Frank
Andreas Baus
> BTW, I did a few rounds of the ol' charsi/imbue/save/restore-"cheat" and
> ended up with a nice high-damage scimitar. It's especially awesome
> since it's a "very fast attack speed" sword with the "greatly enhanced
> attack speed" attribute thrown on top!....it's really insane!
I still have a large two-handed axe (don't remember the exact type) which
has the 'greatly increased attack speed'... that one is a real meat-grinder
... even on the sorceress that found it :) can't wait until I can transfer
it to my axe-master barbarian :)
--
----
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[Insert joke here.] ----
--
an...@studcs.uni-sb.de (Andreas Baus)
Quatoria
feij...@cs.uu.nl (Frank vd Eijkhof) wrote:
>While I, as barbarian, allmost choke in staffs and scepters with nice adds for
>paladins and amazons... and just found the _first_ skillbooster for my barb...
>So there is a market for those skillboosters? Discovered the trading
>yesterday, good for perfect gems, maybe good for skillboosters too?
Um, I'm willing to bet you have not found either a staff or a scepter
with a + for amazon. Sorceress, perhaps, but not amazon. Bows and
Crossbows are the only + amazon skill weapons.
Falsadoom
"Quatoria" <quat...@NOSPAMbellsouth.net> wrote in message
> Um, I'm willing to bet you have not found either a staff or a scepter
> with a + for amazon. Sorceress, perhaps, but not amazon. Bows and
> Crossbows are the only + amazon skill weapons.
>
> -Quatoria
I think this is silly as well. Amazons should get + skills on spears and
such. They will have to revert to prismatic amulets which is one of the big
+ skills slots. Whereas all the other classes have weapons they can use with
+skills. This becomes more unfiar when you consider the 2 handed majority of
Spearazon weapons, which also disallows them to use the 3 perfect diamond
shield.
Falsa
Frank vd Eijkhof
>feij...@cs.uu.nl (Frank vd Eijkhof) wrote:
>>While I, as barbarian, allmost choke in staffs and scepters with nice adds for
>>paladins and amazons... and just found the _first_ skillbooster for my barb...
>>So there is a market for those skillboosters? Discovered the trading
>>yesterday, good for perfect gems, maybe good for skillboosters too?
>Um, I'm willing to bet you have not found either a staff or a scepter
>with a + for amazon. Sorceress, perhaps, but not amazon. Bows and
>Crossbows are the only + amazon skill weapons.
Oh. That is a good point... meant paladin and _sorceress_ indeed.
Frank
Jôhññÿ R¡¢ö
character (c) side by side. then in the inventory window arm the axe
in one hand and put the new sword in the inventory slots. Pick up the
sword with your mouse and switch it with the axe, but do this
repeatedly and fast, while watching the character window. you will see
all your stats changing (strength, attack rating , damage, dex, etc.)
This way you can see which one is more advantageous, and more often
than not its very obvious.
And now... WHERE DID YOU GET THAT AXE??? I have a lvl 20 barbarian
witha 3-11 axe (life+mana stealing, added dex, and 1-3 cold dam - it
wasa socketed that i put together, normal speed.) It is becoming
really inadequate and i strted using a giant sword, which i like a
bit more because if its +76 attack rating. It's amazing what a good
attack rating witll do, especially combined with multipleand fast
attacks. I use it in two hand mode for the extra damage. And now i
found the General (some chinese name)'s Flail which kicked ass for me
when ifirst played he game asa paladin (best character i think in D2).
Unfortunately my game crashed just as i was returning to town, the
saved game file seems to be corrupted and now i can no longer load my
barbarian. this is the second of three charcters that this has
happened to, BTW. Blizzard can kiss my ass, for all th time it has
wasted me. Sorry i had to vent that off.
JR
On Fri, 11 Aug 2000 10:44:54 -0700, Jake Lee <jl...@jel.net> wrote:
>I read a bunch of posts on this topic from a while back but I still have
>a question...
>
>lvl 28 barbarian, playing in nm mode:
>
>I have been using what I consider (so far) to be a pretty kick-ass axe,
>so I have to wonder if switching to a sword would still make sense for
>me. I only ask because I have 13 skill points left to distribute.
>
>My current axe (by itself, w/o strength+mastery modifiers) does 50-65
>points (just "straight" damage, no fire, poison, etc...). Plus it does
>8% lifestealing and adds something like +130 to attack rating. Only
>annoying thing is that the speed is "slow", and it's 2-hand only.
>
>I don't even know if this is anything special at all? again, it seems
>pretty damn good to me, at least relative to most everything else I've
>seen so far.
>
>
>The thing is that I have found a few axes that are somewhat close to
>being as powerful as this, yet I haven't once found a sword that comes
>anywhere remotely close. I assume swords this powerful (and likely much
>moreso) exist later in nm mode? maybe I've just been unlucky in the
>sword finding dept?
>
>I wonder if I should:
>
>a) continue on like I have been, saving skill points until I find a
>similarly kick-ass sword
>
>(perhaps I could save/restore/'cheat' with charsi's imbue?)
>
>
>or
>
>b) just dump a butt-load of points into my axe skill (currently only 5)
>and forget about swords (also currently 5).
>
>choice b) is getting more and more tempting as nm mode is so damn tough!
>
>:::sigh::: decisions, decisions,...
>
>What do you think? Falsa?
>