Guild Wars 2

Was wondering how people felt about a mace on mainhand in PvE and WvW.

I’ve always shunned the idea of MH mace, but i’ve tried it out, and found it rather interesting. Disadvantage is the lesser damage you do with it. About 30% less compared to the axe, but the 2 blocks and 3 stuns is what makes me interested when mace is combined with shield.

I know hammer is also amazing when it comes to control, but has no blocks really. With mace/shield, i could keep myself alive inside a zerg.

Mace seems a bit useless on bosses, but overall in dungeons i can see the benefits. There’s always an axe when mace doesn’t work.

I wouldn’t use main-hand mace as a primary weapon, but it makes a good back-up in some builds for the reasons you stated. Basically swap to it, pop the cooldowns as needed, and swap back to your primary weapon.

in dungeons it’s great, saved my life many times and the lives of my team mates with proper defiance management. also it can perma weakness through defiance.

in WvW not so much. the first two attacks in the chain can hit pretty well, but the last one takes way to long to channel. with no gap closers usually what you find yourself doing is blowing your cooldowns and being left with a useless weapon that they have no trouble kiting.

the only issue that the mace really suffers from is a really slow auto attack, but that’s about the same as the only issue your car having is that the battery won’t charge. not to say that some people can’t get it going, but that most people don’t think its worth it to have to struggle with their weapon all the time.

No gap closer, no cripple. I like it but staying in top of someone is difficult.

I liked it (for WvW) with pre-nerf Frenzy but as per above it’s too slow and lacking in utility for PvP otherwise.

I’m one of those guys that sticks to a particular combo of weapons because it’s what I like to play with, and I stuck with mace MH/shield OH from launch until last week. Honestly, the stuns and interrupts are not quite worth the slot if you have a hammer (which I usually do), the damage is not as high if you never complete the last swing, and, well, I like the parry ability.

It’s just too slow for anything but PvE, and honestly, if you don’t mind using a hammer, there’s no reason to use a mace.

Mace main hand is a great weapon. It does not have the mobility of other weapons, nor the damage, but it doesn’t have to.

Mace MH is a defensive type weapon. It’s meant for you to sit back and wait for the enemy to come to you. Then when they try to attack you, you react to them with blocks, dazes, stuns etc.

And as such, to effectively use the mace mh, you need defensive type gear. Soldier’s would be a prime example. With such gear you can stay alive for a VERY long time as the enemy can only hit you so much before they are interrupted with blocks, dazes and the like.

Do not expect to 1 v 1 anyone with this weapon however. It is too slow and too immobile for such things. Even the toughest doors will break if beat on for long enough. BUT….in a coordinated group, you can really use it very effectively by spreading weakness around and baiting the enemy to attack you while you block all their dmg with an offhand shield or something.

In pve its great as well. You can keep any and every mob perma weakened. Defiance or not. 50% less dmg is a lot and its nice.

In my opinion tho mace mainhand is effective..but boring. I don’t think anyone wants to just stand there and be beat on all day. And also because of how immobile it is…it doesn’t give you that rush from chasing or escaping.

So in conclusion…MH mace is very effective and has its own unique niche, albeit a bit lackluster on the fun factor.

IMO its terrible weapon, slow, weak damage, can’t cc a boss, 1 block or adrenaline not needed, bad traits…this is just my opinion though. Mace offhand is much better but not really useful in a lot of fights. Cof is only thing I use mace for.

A/M-M/A actually makes a fantastic PvE combo if your into dungeon running and hate the greatsword.

Stack vuln and DPS with A/M then switch to M/A (with fast hands) to get a quick block off with 2, then build your addren back up in a hurry with axe 5. Switch back and repeat.

Mace is great in PVE if you’re soaking up hits for the team.

3 traits in defense affect Mace directly: Cull the Weak, Sundering Mace and Missile Deflection.

Missile Deflection allows Counter Blow to block/reflect multiple shots while untraited it will only block one. In these situations it’s a secondary Shield Stance, allowing 6 seconds of blocking while damaging opponents.

This in mind, I typically run Missile Deflection and Mace Mainhand in Arah, against most Risen pulls (reflecting the bouncing hunters axes is a ridiculous amount of damage) and some Arah Bosses (Berzerk Abom for example). In Grawl Fractal, if the team has the hits to pop Legendary Imbued Shamans shield it’s a great way to help deal with all the lava eles. In unassigned fractal 10+, it allows easier approach on the Harpies, once you get in melee range you can effectively neutralize one for the team.