Is Whirl and/or Rend worth the skill points?

[Eden]

I used a potion of clearing in New game+ and got whirl, I hit the wolf like 1/5000000 swings. Didnt try rend yet i died

[Where's The Lamb Sauce]

Yeah they are good

[Doctor Teo]

I only gave the two a brief go, but I like them.

Rend is great in some cases, and anything you can stun and hop behind can be crit for a ludicrous amount (or just max the talent for +50% crit change), and scales really well with +crit damage as a result. The catch is that many of the big enemies that you really want to Rend are not easy to stun and get a hit off; I usually have to blow a Northern Wind to get a chance to Rend something from the back. If you don't have the opportunity to Rend something from the back, doing it from the front works fine, it's just not really that much more damage than normal strong swings unless it crits. When it does crit though, the thing's a beast and crushes life bars.

Whirl is great too, but like Rend, can be a little situational. In general, it's pretty decent at keeping clusters of opponents at bay (like Nekkers), and makes for easy cleanup. The catch is the Adrenaline cost: I haven't really used Whirl with maxed points which reduces the Stam/Adren costs, but building up the Adrenaline to use the move has been a pain with my setup, which limited its use to post-fight cleanup moreso than initiating.

[Stormsong]

I've never used Rend. Whirl was amazing though. Especially with the runeword (from HoS) that extends blade reach while whirling. You become a ball of steel (or silver) death.

[Zimmermann]

I use both ( Alchemy - Melee hybrid build )
IMHO they are worth it, they can deal crazy -- or should i say, overpowered -- damage with certain potions and runes from HoS

[whoeverxwins]

I don't bother with Rend, but Whirl, definitely. It can be insanely powerful when fighting groups of enemies.

[Plinko]

I had a build that could wipe out anything using whirl. It consisted of massive adrenaline regen via perks(if you can hit your targets) and amazing runes on my gear(Ursine armor turned into light armor, whirl runes on my swords).

[SunDriedSheet]

Whirl is really nice against groups. On my build, I also have "crippling strikes" and "poisoned blade" skills + the sword is upgraded with 3 freezing stones and, in combination with the Blizzard potion. Army of bandits or soldiers will dissapear in a moment

[nicky2tymes]

Originally posted by Xander:

I used a potion of clearing in New game+ and got whirl, I hit the wolf like 1/5000000 swings. Didnt try rend yet i died

Very much worth it.

[nicky2tymes]

Also, don't full charge rend. Hold button long enough to activate only imo. That makes landing it easier, and you still get the +50% crit chance.

[Regi]

If you use whirl by itself it may not appear that great but combined with a glass cannon build that maxes damage , crit chance and adrenaline perks you can kill huge monsters with just 1 use of whirl from the back.