One or two handed weapons?

[Can a house be evil?]

I am a shamam and the game recommends two handed weapons so that is what I have been using. I am finding the game somewhat difficult playing this way. I'd like thoughts on what other players are using or recommend as far as 1 or two handed-or using guns for that matter. I am level 28. Thank you!

[Hextravert]

Rest assured that two-handed weapons aren't more effective just because you're a Shaman.

Some skills; e.g., Primal Strike, Brute Force, etc., simply require a two-handed (melee) weapon.

If you prefer other weapons, then you might like the skills Wendigo Totem or Grasping Vines.

Originally posted by Can a house be evil?:

I am a shamam and the game recommends two handed weapons so that is what I have been using. I am finding the game somewhat difficult playing this way. I'd like thoughts on what other players are using or recommend as far as 1 or two handed-or using guns for that matter. I am level 28. Thank you!

[Jonathan]

At 28, your toon is barelly starting to get some maturity.
On the way from 1 to 100, you will gain and loose momentum here and there.
2h weapons can work.
With proper skills/gear/devotions, it can be very powerfull.
You might be in a.... Huh... Harder time period of your evolution.

Review your build. Identify your weaknsss. Work on those. This will get better.

[frdnwsm]

Shamans per se are pretty much built for using 2 handed weapons. Sword and board is safer, but then you can't use the Mastery specific attack modes such as Savagery and Primal Strike.

Now, at level 28, you have the option of chosing a second Mastery. You might consider Soldier as your other Mastery. Soldier attack modes such as Blade Arc, Force Wave and Cadence work with either 1 or 2 handed weapons. This would give you the option of switching back and forth between two weapon sets. You would then use the Shaman skills such as Swarm and Wendigo Totem to supplement the Soldier attack modes.

Respeccing your skills is easy and pretty cheap; try out different things.

Or you could take something like Demolitionist and pump up ranged attack like Grenado, or Arcanist and use PRM as a ranged attack. You could even take Occultist and specialize in pets. There are a ton of options.

If you are too "squishy" ... and really, at 28 the enemies aren't all that tough ... defensive gear and devotions can help.

[RodHull]

At 28 dont get to focused on it, just use whatever is best damage wise. Long term 2H is fine but you need a crap ton of health and def to not die if your going 2H route.

[Can a house be evil?]

Thank all of you for your kind help!

[DarkFenix]

It very much depends on what kind of shaman you're making. If you're a summoner or caster, weapons are just stat-sticks and you should go 1h + off-hand. If you're getting stuck in, shaman primary is quite two-hander oriented, but doesn't have to be, while shaman secondary can be anything you like.

[powbam]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

Shamans per se are pretty much built for using 2 handed weapons. Sword and board is safer, but then you can't use the Mastery specific attack modes such as Savagery and Primal Strike.

Savagery doesn't require 2-hand. It's first damage modifier in the tree does but that is it. The Brute Force line at the top does, however, require 2-hand weps.

[Can a house be evil?]

Ive become a druid. I may just sty with two hand for a while. The drawback as I see so far is that the character takes tons of damage and of course cant block. It seems like Im still very much at the beggining of the game so I'll see what comes next and adjust on the fly. Thanks fellas!

[frdnwsm]

>>Savagery doesn't require 2-hand. It's first damage modifier in the tree does but that is it.<<

I'm assming that you want the best damage you can get if going down a skill tree, which would mean a 2 hander. Yeah, you could always get a decent 1 handed weapon, stick a component on an epic shield, and use a shield skill like Brutal Shield Slam as a secondary attack mode. Seems a bit complicated to me.

In any event, I have always felt that Savagry was basically an inferior version of Cadence, and that Primal Strike was the way to go for weapon using Shaman builds. As always, YMMV.

[Matthew]

The balance between Cadence and Savagery is that Savagery compounds with weapon procs where as Cadence ignores them in favor of the 3rd hit proc. Whether it equals out or not, I'm not sure (this is an often ongoing discussion between the two).

[Kris]

Originally posted by Matthew:

The balance between Cadence and Savagery is that Savagery compounds with weapon procs where as Cadence ignores them in favor of the 3rd hit proc. Whether it equals out or not, I'm not sure (this is an often ongoing discussion between the two).

and given how few and niche item modifiers there are for savagery, cadence pulls out far ahead nowadays

[jmuniz6937]

If you're taking a lot of damage, have you considered going 2h ranged? I've had a lot of fun with a 2h ranged druid using Savagery as primary attack and Primal Strike or one of the archanist skills as secondary attack.

[KG]

Originally posted by Kris:

Originally posted by Matthew:

The balance between Cadence and Savagery is that Savagery compounds with weapon procs where as Cadence ignores them in favor of the 3rd hit proc. Whether it equals out or not, I'm not sure (this is an often ongoing discussion between the two).

and given how few and niche item modifiers there are for savagery, cadence pulls out far ahead nowadays

Savagery is pretty well-supported with AoM. 2h ranged weapons can also now use Brute Force, Feral Hunger, Upheaval - that's no small improvement. One Trickster set uses Savagery. There is more bleed support. Lots of modifiers and support for Upheaval, including a lightning -> physical 2h set. More elemental support in general. Cadence may be the powergamer's choice for the moment but I wouldn't dismiss Savagery without a glance.

[ha..HA!]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

>>Savagery doesn't require 2-hand. It's first damage modifier in the tree does but that is it.<<

I'm assming that you want the best damage you can get if going down a skill tree, which would mean a 2 hander. Yeah, you could always get a decent 1 handed weapon, stick a component on an epic shield, and use a shield skill like Brutal Shield Slam as a secondary attack mode. Seems a bit complicated to me.

In any event, I have always felt that Savagry was basically an inferior version of Cadence, and that Primal Strike was the way to go for weapon using Shaman builds. As always, YMMV.

Dual wield savagery(which of course means that you wouldn't take the modifier) easily beats 2h primal strike at end game. I'd say even 2h savagery would beat primal strike as you cannot discount that savagrey provides more OA//DA, regen and attackspeed. The additional OA in the savagery line is extremely useful as the shaman mastery lacks OA. Not sure how effective sword and board savagery would be though.

[frdnwsm]

As I said, your milage may vary. I'm pushing 9500 DPS with Primal Strike, which is fair, but more to the point, I like the fact that I can hit 4 targets with it.

I must confess that I have never tried using Savagery with DW weapons. Wouldn't you need something like the Bladedancer relic or have Nightblade as your second Mastery in order to do so?