Feels like swords are overall the worst weapons

[PenderBloodfart]

My axe and mace characters do way more damage than my two swordsmen.
I have a double handed swordsman and double handed axe girl with similar stat weapons and similar stats in general, feels like my swordsman is doing less than half.
Maybe he's a little more tanky. He doesn't have negative traits about dmg

[Sarcasteik]

Swordmaster talents are pretty damn good if you actually read them.

[Nasarog]

I like the sword experts, especially after level 8.

[Nasarog]

I use the upgraded toughness trait and as a result, my 3 swords are immune to fire, poison and bleeding and also actually get a rage boost when they are attacked by those three.

[Nasarog]

Originally posted by funkmonster7:

Originally posted by Nasarog:

I use the upgraded toughness trait and as a result, my 3 swords are immune to fire, poison and bleeding and also actually get a rage boost when they are attacked by those three.

You can even have Poisoners in your own party and lob those poison bombs your swordie's way. Gives him free +10% damage. If you have 2 Poisoners, that is +20% damage. If you're fighting in Ludern, just let the Swordsman intentionally walk over the poison clouds. Let the swordsman tank the enemy macemen that cause bleeding when damaging armor. So on... Swordsmen are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ powerhouses. Warriors are ♥♥♥♥♥♥ if they don't kill in 1 round.

But Warriors are also really good for Battle Cry and Challenging Shout. Battle Cry AOE is humongous... I have 1 Barbarian and I don't need Spearmen for the Brutality passive buffs anymore.

Yup yup

[funkmonster7]

Honestly? Assassins and Cutthroats are the real damage dealers. But for Cutthroats to go to work, they need a tank partner. This is kind of why I almost always skip Warriors at the start of a playthrough. Warriors make horrible tanks, Sentinel is Sentimeh. Even a Protector is still better because at least the Protection buff protects your medium-armor dudes. A Sentinel needs to act last so all the engaged tanks get Riposte. But you don't usually want to stay engaged for more than 2 turns. So... I'd take a Berserker playing the role of Ranger backstabbing an engaged enemy over a Sentinel.

I tried using a Sentinel over the weekend. Quit the playthrough because it was too hard to make Sentinel work.

[Valekrin]

Another combo you can do with your Swordsman is to give them a torch or Paladin's Roundel (shield) to apply fire on the first attack. If they have the lvl 8 Hardcore Training, that'll give the enemy burning and give you 2 rage stacks. If you have the lvl 5 Duellist's Instinct, that first attack will give you Brutality, allowing you to follow up with your lvl 2 choice (I like Destabilizing Strike to remove guard and a potential big crit if they had no guard.) Then end it with your regular sword attack. If you took Final Blow instead of Destabilizing Strike, you can disengage and your riposte will strike after the enemy hits you.

[funkmonster7]

Oh wait, lol... Laceration can only be used once per round? Ouch that sucks. XD

[Keith 'Blood' Hanson]

1h sword and board fighter is not just a great tank, but also one of my best damage dealers. Getting the ability to riposte and then inspiration, a shield that can bash...I'm not even level 8 yet and they can delete 2-3 enemies by hitting them, disengaging, and then leave the final one primed for a backstab.

Swords out of all three weapon types tend to have the highest damage range for their attacks (The 1h sword that gives damage reduction is 80-100% of your damage, the mace is 60-80%).

Of course I could sacrifice one attack ability for the shield that just gives you riposte, and everytime I engage instead of getting riposte I could get deflection, and fury whenever they disengage, they won't be able to run around without inspiration, but every hit they deal will be at +50%.

...And as I said, I'm not even at level 8 yet, which makes them even MORE powerful. Those annoying dots like fire, poison, bleeding? Not just gone, but gaining a stacking buff from anyone who TRIES to put those on them. Disarm straight out removes an enemies ability to hit you.

My 2h axemen dream of being this useful to be honest. Mace users just kinda...exist... My cutthroat ranger is the only one who can keep up, but that's only after you've primed the battlefield with a bunch of engaged enemies.

Also this strategy has the cost of like...I dunno. One valor point?

[Ninth Hour]

Originally posted by Valekrin:

Another combo you can do with your Swordsman is to give them a torch or Paladin's Roundel (shield) to apply fire on the first attack. If they have the lvl 8 Hardcore Training, that'll give the enemy burning and give you 2 rage stacks.

This combo also synergizes well with the unique sword, Strongblade, which gives you an attack of opportunity on a target with DOT's. You can get Rage from the burning target and the sword will make an extra attack.

[Keith 'Blood' Hanson]

Shame that getting that shield is basically just praying to the RNG gods. Besides the legendary from the arena I've...No, that's the only attack based shield I've gotten. >.>

[Arctuhris]

I agree, swordsmen are outstanding for the above stated reasons, and hardcore training makes them the ultimate rat warren unit for taking out plague clusters since they just ignore the pools of poison.

In defense of Brutes, though, a Destroyer makes exceptionally good use of the Smugglers' Arena shield, since it increases damage off of total buffs and debuffs, and no unit can solo stack as much in one turn as a properly built destroyer. Since they also pick up Inspiration in the process, doubling their move, my destroyer can almost always drop two weak/high dmg units even at great distance and then Taunt a third heavy hitter or archer at a net cost of 1-3 Valor, depending on how many disengage hits I'm willing to suffer in the process. The lucky figurine works well, since it drops opportunity attack damage by 50%.

[Dexter]

I also thought like swords are the worst. Thing is, they are not pure dps class.

Only gripe is how few legendary swords there are and how many hammers and axes.

[Valekrin]

Originally posted by Ninth Hour:

This combo also synergizes well with the unique sword, Strongblade ...

Ahh, good catch! I had forgotten about that beauty, I didn't get the bounty for it on my recent playthrough.

Originally posted by jakl201:

Shame that getting that shield is basically just praying to the RNG gods.

Hah! Speaking of praying, you just need to find some cold Inquisition hands to pry it from. Assassination bounties are wonderful for getting all sorts of legal salvage, including those shields.

[SWISH]

What dexter said, sword as a class is one of the great one (maybe A or B class depend on specialization and talent) but their weapon... oh sweet Mary and Joseph i literally ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ finish 4 area, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 4 MIND YOU and all of them almost 100% (i only don't clear rat infestation) and i never see a single purple sword, this ain't an exaggeration either. No 1 handed, no 2 handed, non nada. While on the other hand i already have 3 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ purple bow, 3 Mace archetype, 3 Axe archetype, even a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ throwing weapon and shield i have them, but sword nooooo the dev really hate sword

[Purodiusa]

Originally posted by SWISH:

What dexter said, sword as a class is one of the great one (maybe A or B class depend on specialization and talent) but their weapon... oh sweet Mary and Joseph i literally ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ finish 4 area, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 4 MIND YOU and all of them almost 100% (i only don't clear rat infestation) and i never see a single purple sword, this ain't an exaggeration either. No 1 handed, no 2 handed, non nada. While on the other hand i already have 3 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ purple bow, 3 Mace archetype, 3 Axe archetype, even a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ throwing weapon and shield i have them, but sword nooooo the dev really hate sword

I have two purple swords, a 1h and a 2h, haven't finished Drombach yet.

The 2h is amazing, 1h is meh.