Sword vs. Spear. Which do you prefer?

[Mountler]

Which of these melee weapons do you like more?
I played on normal/classic till Junkyard with a curved steel sword and with the Feat "Flurry". I am very pleased with the weapon and its abilities.
But though, the sword can attack more often than the spear, the spear has (at least what i saw in the shops) a higher damage potential/range, which i would belief would be better against the more hardy enemies.
What are your experiences, preferences or thoughts on the matter?

[newageofpower]

Shock/Energy weapons can deal with Mech resist; it's pretty uncommon to be extremely resistant to Mechanical, Electrical and Energy damage.

If you have super high accuracy and can consistently hit Flurry with Swords, you will vastly outdps the Spear build. Spears have skills that synergize with blocking melee damage as well as a pretty useful Throwing move, but you won't be quite as murderblender as a high accuracy Flurry machine.

However, even with max acc (95%) you will not always hit, and in that case, the Sword build better hope it has enough defense to survive the incoming hurt...

[Serendipitous]

You forgot about Spears having Sweep. Attacking all around you is really nice.

[Argi]

Swords are gambling, nothing more nothing less. Great sustainable damage when you hit but when you miss you basically castrate yourself for the rest of the fight because 5 turn cooldown on your main ability is huge. Bear traps and tasers are your best friends for stripping enemy dodge and when you miss you need a way to reset the fight.

Spears on the other hand are below average melee weapons as far as stats go with very poor customization/crafting options but have amazing abilities, impale is great for melee because of cheap shots and spear throw is extremely powerful for many reasons but it's very high maintenance.
First you need to be leveling both melee and throwing, then you need a lot of mobility to run around throwing and picking up spears and your build is absolutely MAD as hell, you need STR for requirements and damage, you need DEX for throw accuracy and requirements, you need agility for mobility and requirements.
In exchange you get an ability that, with specialization, does up to 480% weapon damage, is a ranged attack that is treated as melee which means it benefits from melee feats, hello Cheap Shots, has 1 turn cooldown and costs 10 AP which is a pittance.
Combo it with temporal cooldown reduction and you can use it twice in a single turn for up to 960% weapon damage for 25 AP, and it can crit.

[Serendipitous]

you need agility for mobility and requirements.

Not really. Most of the mobility will come from tabis and feats like Sprint (maxed on specs it's very powerful and useful to almost any melee)

Dex you need just high enough for feat requirements (meaning 6). You don't need 10 to get a lot of usefulness from Spear Throw. I would guess that most of it's usefulness would come by finishing THAT ONE enemy lurking behind melee (like PSI or crossbow) and continue to fight with another spear.

[newageofpower]

Originally posted by Argi:

First you need to be leveling both melee and throwing, then you need a lot of mobility to run around throwing and picking up spears and your build is absolutely MAD as hell, you need STR for requirements and damage, you need DEX for throw accuracy and requirements, you need agility for mobility and requirements.

Versatility was kinda invented for this purpose...

[happybjorn]

Guns, crossbow, melee. Not throwing.

[Shazbot!]

Originally posted by newageofpower:

Versatility was kinda invented for this purpose...

i wish

[Serendipitous]

Originally posted by happybjorn:

Guns, crossbow, melee. Not throwing.

He meant that you can have a gun in your second hand for that purpose instead of relying on spear throw. Which is not wrong per se. Still i like the versatility of the spear as a weapon. It may not be as good in a single aspect as some other weapon, but it's got plenty of options to build upon.

[Serendipitous]

Also, i don't think that without investing by means of more feats, you can get such damage per AP through versatility. Spear Throw sounds like one hit kill for most enemies if you manage to hit them

[Jean-Luc]

Wish there were more crafting options for spears like a serrated head for bleeding wounds or a javelin variant that's better for throwing but weaker in melee.

[Thrax]

I plan to try a spear and shield build next playthrough. I like the mechanics behind the swords, but I have rolled dice enough to dread that evil 5% chance to miss. Sometimes the odds are on your side but you roll trash. Like missing 3 times in a row with a 70% hit rate. The Swords have been nasty in NPC hands.