(edited by killahmayne.9518)
Surprised this build hasn’t been talked about really with the new patch because it has seen some pretty good buffs I believe and some interesting possibilities. I haven’t tested it extensively, just playing around with it mostly.
This one utilizes Strength. A main selling point of using the sword is the ability to pull off deadly combos and the burst potential. I actually did a 14K Final Thrust on somebody by using Earthshaker --> Final Thrust. The damage potential is much higher since in strength we get a 10% damage bonus on top of a 20% damage bonus when a burst skill is used.
Another selling point is the Shield which offers up defensive versatility. The shield traits being consolidated make it a much more lucrative option. Cooldown, reflect and might what is not to love?
Another interesting caveat is Body Blow. This is finally a build that can take full advantage of this trait. 2 stuns, 1 knockback and 1 knockdown has amazing potential for weakness uptime. While being stunned usually means you can’t attack, it can still help versus classes that can still do so via things like symbols, traps, clone shatters, etc. And if they stunbreak and attack you they will do less damage. This isn’t the best trait in the world, but it is still an improvement to the hammer/sword build and offers up a little bit extra defense. The bleed is kinda meh, but hell, I’d still welcome 22 x 2 damage bleeds over 6 seconds, remember this build can also stack a lot of might so it actually might (no pun intended) be OK in the grand scheme of things. Or you could go for the trait that gives you extra vit, it is quite a lot actually at 2500 power.
However it’s weaknesses over greatsword are much the same. It doesn’t have as much offensive versatility, lower mobility therefore more susceptible to kiting, which are actually quite big weaknesses, especially the kiting/mobility.
I’ve also tried out an Arms build and this one is also quite interesting indeed.
The main selling point of going into arms is the increased precision. Using Dolyak and Signet of Rage, you get around 10% extra crit chance. And with the sword trait you are granted an extra 20% extra crit chance, add fury and you have a 90% crit chance with sword!
However the Grandmaster leaves something to be desired. Furious isn’t that bad, but it just doesn’t fit very well with the build. The adrenaline gain is OK I guess, it would be probably be more valuable if you didn’t have Cleansing Ire but it isn’t really needed. The condition damage aspect I feel would be more useful in a hybrid type of build, I dunno, maybe a hybrid Hammer/Sword build could be decent or OK. Theoretically with 15 stacks of might and 25 stacks of the condition buff you could get up to 600 condition damage and your bleeds would inflict 60 a tick which I guess isn’t that bad. But I don’t see a hybrid build working out as well with a hammer/sword build.
Overall despite the lucrative options in Arms, it is overall inferior to strength, because mainly you lose 25% extra damage from the minor and Berserker’s Power. The cooldown on the sword is meh, 1.5 seconds on savage leap and 3 seconds on Final Thrust is far from being a deal breaker. The main reason you would go arms is the crit chance buffs. Maybe if they improved the grandmaster choices somehow it would be a viable option. The minors are really meh for a power build too where as Strength gives you way more bang for your buck despite the lack of choices in the adept line.
(edited by killahmayne.9518)
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