Justifying 2 handed weapons.

[Chaosolous]

How do I justify the loss of AC for what is usually ~1-5 more damage?

Fighter in particular but on any melee build really.

It just seems like the +2 or +3 to AC a shield provides is wayyy more useful then a smidgen more damage.

Am I missing something?

[Chroniver]

Two handed weapons are the best in the game later on with the great weapon master feat. That's because you can take an extra full attack with your bonus action when you crit.

Plus you get guaranteed extra damage from the feat at the cost of attack roll. But attack roll can be compensated for.

You lose ac but you can still get 20+ with most builds.

Getting rid of enemies with more damage is just better than stopping more attacks.

[TheClosetSkeleton]

Considering using a shield will impact your damage as well, you are easily losing over 10-20 damage even in act too, so unless you are a spellcaster, the ac isn't worth it.

As pointed out, a dead enemy is less dangerous than one you can tank, so building for damage is the most optimal way to go about it.

there's a couple of exceptions, like with mace paladin that can deal a lot of damage while using a shield, but aside from this case, you are better of with a two-hand weapon/dual-wielding.

[Draknalor]

Great weapon master is doing 30-40 dmg per hit at level 12.

Why would you ever use a shield?

Nothing in the game will ever hit you for enough to justify a shield.

Just kill stuffin 1 turn

[Chaosolous]

Maybe I don't understand the Great Weapon Master feat. I have it, I always take it for my melee characters because the bonus attack on crit/kill.

I have never once used the passive. Why would I want -5 to my attack? That's like 25% hit chance, isn't it?

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Chaosolous:

Justifying 2 handed weapons.
How do I justify the loss of AC for what is usually ~1-5 more damage?

Fighter in particular but on any melee build really.

It just seems like the +2 or +3 to AC a shield provides is wayyy more useful then a smidgen more damage.

Am I missing something?

a) weapon effects

b) feat / skill can make it worthwhile

But mainly it is for the weapon effects you want. With the correct build the loss of AC can be negated quite well while you enjoy the effects.

[Scheneighnay]

Originally posted by Chaosolous:

Maybe I don't understand the Great Weapon Master feat. I have it, I always take it for my melee characters because the bonus attack on crit/kill.

I have never once used the passive. Why would I want -5 to my attack? That's like 25% hit chance, isn't it?

That's what I always thought too.

Why destroy your hit chance just for slightly higher damage.
You'll do more damage by hitting consistently.

[TheMasterBlaster]

Originally posted by Chaosolous:

Maybe I don't understand the Great Weapon Master feat. I have it, I always take it for my melee characters because the bonus attack on crit/kill.

I have never once used the passive. Why would I want -5 to my attack? That's like 25% hit chance, isn't it?

there are so many efficient and easy ways to mitigate most or all of the -5 to the attack roll.

[BloodReaper]

Originally posted by TheMasterBlaster:

Originally posted by Chaosolous:

Maybe I don't understand the Great Weapon Master feat. I have it, I always take it for my melee characters because the bonus attack on crit/kill.

I have never once used the passive. Why would I want -5 to my attack? That's like 25% hit chance, isn't it?

there are so many efficient and easy ways to mitigate most or all of the -5 to the attack roll.

That's not how maths works, if you get to the point where you can hit 95% and can still get plus to attack, your pretty much going to be stuck at 95% not including advantage which is rather easy to get in most turns. Every +1 will mitigate every -1 and there are many more +1s over -whatever. Plus higher level increase proficiency alone which makes half of that -5 mute.

[dulany67]

If you prefer the shield, take the Savage Attacker feat to maximize damage.

[harken23]

Min/max-ing is certainly a consideration, but don't make that the only criteria for how you set up your party. Trust me, I over think every time I pick up new gear and agonize over who to give it to, or if it's marginally better than what they have (which is part of the fun), but in the end it doesn't make a ton of difference.

[Draknalor]

Originally posted by Scheneighnay:

Originally posted by Chaosolous:

Maybe I don't understand the Great Weapon Master feat. I have it, I always take it for my melee characters because the bonus attack on crit/kill.

I have never once used the passive. Why would I want -5 to my attack? That's like 25% hit chance, isn't it?

That's what I always thought too.

Why destroy your hit chance just for slightly higher damage.
You'll do more damage by hitting consistently.

Here’s a video of me having a Sharpshooter bard and a paladin Two-Handed weapon master Vs Tactician Raphael if you want to see the dmg numbers.

https://youtu.be/t3fnHBVhRHY?si=WIea78fIIiz6mo5l

[KRON]

Originally posted by dulany67:

If you prefer the shield, take the Savage Attacker feat to maximize damage.

You should take savage attacker for every melee fighting class, tbh. Especially paladin, because savage attacker affects the extra damage from the spells(like radiant damage from divine smite) and the spells make the damage variance quite high(like 25-50)

[Axetwin]

You're not justifying the AC lose for 1-5 more damage. You're justifying the AC loss for 11-15 more damage and an extra bonus attack per round if you crit or kill with the weapon.

[mike_hanna211]

I had a sword and board fighter/paladin and Lae'zel using a 2-handed Gith sword. Lae'zel was a literal beast with that sword. Easily getting well over 100 damage per round using Action Surge. If she was hasted (as she should be), OMG.... watch out.

My sword and board fighter/paladin would never come close to doing that amount of damage. OK, I would get close with a critical hit and Divine Smite.

Even Karlach was a beast with her halberd or great axe I gave her. Easily out-damaging any character.

[The Yeen Queen]

Originally posted by Chaosolous:

How do I justify the loss of AC for what is usually ~1-5 more damage?

Fighter in particular but on any melee build really.

It just seems like the +2 or +3 to AC a shield provides is wayyy more useful then a smidgen more damage.

Am I missing something?

Because you're just looking at the numbers on the weapon's base stats and not other modifiers like Great Weapon Master? I'm more curious how the loss of the extra damage can be justified for a couple more points of AC.