Two handed sword build and tips

[Gin Kenshin98]

Hello,

Starting a new run because of the new patch.

Gonna try the build above. Would like some tips on weapons/armor to use, skills to get and prioritize, any enemies to watch out for....etc.

Playing as Arna.

[Leeroy]

I don't know how to link a thread, so you can use search for "Help with melee combat / characters" it's a very recent thread, where another user lays out a 2h sword build description.
If you have specific questions, feel free to ask.

[WarMage]

I believe he may be talking about my post called :

Help with melee combat / characters

You can search for it. The Arna 2H sword build there is pretty good. At least, for as much as I got to test it it's easy enough to start with it.

Let me clarity this for you because the guy is a bit too good so he glossed over it but start with your sword and shield combo for level 1-4/5 until you have enough rep with Osbrook to buy the "Crude LongSword" which is your very first quality weapon that start your build proper.

As for skills for 1-4/5 I'd suggest starting with War Cry and Brace for Impact which doesn't require a 2h to use. With those two alone, you can manage. Might require a net or two or you might want to upgrade your shield maybe for more survivability but it's possible to go all the way with just Arna starting gear.

Lastly, I'd suggest passing over the leather gloves / boots upgrade (unless you can grab at level 1-2 the yellow gloves, they're cheap and good enough) and wait for T2 metal gloves or bracer, boots and helm from the blacksmith. It's pricier to repair but honestly, it'll avoid you a lot of bleed / wound issues. Early on, you simply don't have the dodge to actually somewhat reliably not have to spend a fortune on healing. Or well, if you don't care, you can always walk around with 6 times the 2 uses Bandages in your inventory.

Good luck man.
Hope this build help you figure out how to play melee.

[Leeroy]

Also for the early game, if your build utilises Sieze the Initiative (i couldn't imagine why anyone would skip it for a pure melee build), you can start with this skill, as it doesn't require a specific weapon.

[Gin Kenshin98]

Originally posted by WarMage:

I believe he may be talking about my post called :



Good luck man.
Hope this build help you figure out how to play melee.

Thank you, I checked out your build in the other thread and it's basically a crit/dodge build, which I already kinda did in my first run. Jorgim with dual axes and light armor.

I want this Arna build to be more on the tanky side with heavy armor focus. But I will focus on staggering enemies, so thanks for the tip.

I'm guessing I'll go 30 on VIT and 25 on STR. Still unsure how I'll distribute my points between warfare, athletics, armored combat, and survival tho. There's just a lotta good options.

Also I found the sword you mentioned in a random chest in a campsite, so that's good. T2 weapon from the get go.

[Leeroy]

Originally posted by Gin Kenshin98:

I want this Arna build to be more on the tanky side with heavy armor focus. But I will focus on staggering enemies, so thanks for the tip.

I'm guessing I'll go 30 on VIT and 25 on STR. Still unsure how I'll distribute my points between warfare, athletics, armored combat, and survival tho. There's just a lotta good options.

I've actually played heavy 2h sword build in the previous patch. For stats, I feel like this game makes a good job of making every stat viable. That being said, for me personally, Perception and Agility are the most important for 2h swords. Obviously some Vitality is needed for heavy armor build.

Vitality and energy:
With heavy armor, it is pretty much mandatory to invest in Custom Adjustments from Armored Combat, even before this patch it gave 16 energy in full heavy equipment, now buffed to 24. Self-repair is also advised, for crit avoidance and bleed resistance, augmenting these already strong stats on heavy gear, and saving you a ton of money.
As for getting Custom Adjustments - you can either go directly Brace->Battleforged->CA, or Brace+Hard target -> Unyielding Defense ->CA. The first way is one less skill point, the second is additional protection from archers, and a powerful defensive ability, skipping Battleforged, which is very mid for heavy armor, I feel.
My build rolled 20 VIT, that was enough to keep max energy at a comfortable 100. You will probably be using T5 rings that give energy + bleed resist, and have some energy enchants. With buffed CA, you will most likely need less than 20 VIT. Arna also gets improved Vigor, due to her unique trait, giving some extra energy.
EDIT: double checked it - doesn't work on Vigor, it's a different type of buff. in case anyone reads this in the future.
A surprisingly good stat for energy is Willpower - each point gives 1 additional % point to skills like Opportune Moment (warfare), Revanche (weapon), Push the Falling (athletics), which work very frequently (potentially each turn). Their base value is 4-5%, and by investing just 2 points in WIL, you improve their effect by 40-50%, relative to their baseline.
In total, I'd suggest to get Vitality to a total value of 16 to 18, and additionally invest 2-3 points into Willpower. This build cares not for breakpoint bonuses of either VIT or WIL, so getting even to 20 is not necessary.

Other stats:
Agility - counter is very important for 2h swords, the skill tree has some good synergy with it. Opportune moment is also triggered by counters. Fumble reduction - normally you need around 20 AGI to get a cap on this value, with heavy gloves and Right on Target, plus the innate bonus of -4% fumble for attack skills. However, if you take passive skills from the left of Survival tree, you can get up to -10% fumble with Vigor buff. In that case, this stat becomes less efficient after you get it to 15.
Perception - main damage stat for 2h sword in my opinion. For accuracy cap you again need around 20 with all other bonuses and negatives from gear/skills. Then it gives armor piercing - the main way of dealing with armored opponents for this weapon type, as it doesn't have a default armor damage bonus. Crit chance is as important as always, additionally 2h swords, maces and axes have a 3-tile cleave on crit, so it's extra good against groups of enemies.
Strength is nice to have, but it's only good for weapon damage and crit efficiency, so if you invest in STR, you skip all the good things from other stats, so I personally don't like it for this weapon, as well as other weapons that don't rely on armor damage.

[Gin Kenshin98]

Originally posted by Leeroy:

Originally posted by Gin Kenshin98:

I want this Arna build to be more on the tanky side with heavy armor focus. But I will focus on staggering enemies, so thanks for the tip.

I'm guessing I'll go 30 on VIT and 25 on STR. Still unsure how I'll distribute my points between warfare, athletics, armored combat, and survival tho. There's just a lotta good options.

I've actually played heavy 2h sword build in the previous patch. For stats, I feel like this game makes a good job of making every stat viable. That being said, for me personally, Perception and Agility are the most important for 2h swords. Obviously some Vitality is needed for heavy armor build.

Vitality and energy:
With heavy armor, it is pretty much mandatory to invest in Custom Adjustments from Armored Combat, even before this patch it gave 16 energy in full heavy equipment, now buffed to 24. Self-repair is also advised, for crit avoidance and bleed resistance, augmenting these already strong stats on heavy gear, and saving you a ton of money.
As for getting Custom Adjustments - you can either go directly Brace->Battleforged->CA, or Brace+Hard target -> Unyielding Defense ->CA. The first way is one less skill point, the second is additional protection from archers, and a powerful defensive ability, skipping Battleforged, which is very mid for heavy armor, I feel.
My build rolled 20 VIT, that was enough to keep max energy at a comfortable 100. You will probably be using T5 rings that give energy + bleed resist, and have some energy enchants. With buffed CA, you will most likely need less than 20 VIT. Arna also gets improved Vigor, due to her unique trait, giving some extra energy.
A surprisingly good stat for energy is Willpower - each point gives 1 additional % point to skills like Opportune Moment (warfare), Revanche (weapon), Push the Falling (athletics), which work very frequently (potentially each turn). Their base value is 4-5%, and by investing just 2 points in WIL, you improve their effect by 40-50%, relative to their baseline.
In total, I'd suggest to get Vitality to a total value of 16 to 18, and additionally invest 2-3 points into Willpower. This build cares not for breakpoint bonuses of either VIT or WIL, so getting even to 20 is not necessary.

Other stats:
Agility - counter is very important for 2h swords, the skill tree has some good synergy with it. Opportune moment is also triggered by counters. Fumble reduction - normally you need around 20 AGI to get a cap on this value, with heavy gloves and Right on Target, plus the innate bonus of -4% fumble for attack skills. However, if you take passive skills from the left of Survival tree, you can get up to -10% fumble with Vigor buff. In that case, this stat becomes less efficient after you get it to 15.
Perception - main damage stat for 2h sword in my opinion. For accuracy cap you again need around 20 with all other bonuses and negatives from gear/skills. Then it gives armor piercing - the main way of dealing with armored opponents for this weapon type, as it doesn't have a default armor damage bonus. Crit chance is as important as always, additionally 2h swords, maces and axes have a 3-tile cleave on crit, so it's extra good against groups of enemies.
Strength is nice to have, but it's only good for weapon damage and crit efficiency, so if you invest in STR, you skip all the good things from other stats, so I personally don't like it for this weapon, as well as other weapons that don't rely on armor damage.

Thank you for the detailed reply.

Currently have 15 in STR since I've been playing for a while. Lvl 5 atm.

Since I have 26 points to spread out, 16 in VIT, 2 in WP, that leave 8 left. (also 1 point from the Stonehenge). How do you recommend I spread these between AGI and PER?

Thank you for the skill recs too. I think I'll go with the first option to better deal with archers, plus battle forged does seem kinda eh for me too.

I'd debating whether to go for dash or just settle for other charge-like skills. Was thinking of battle ram, but with this new plan I won't be able to reach it.

I'm going for Will To Survive in the survival tree (the entire right side). I already got Warcry, Brace for impact, and Seize the initiative as well.

Also was wondering what equipment and ring stats to go for down the line in endgame, thank you. Energy it is then.

[Kerdur]

My crit two-handed sword build is spreading lol.

Im thinking about heavy armor two-handed sword build and what if vitality is bad for it. Parry + Fight to the Death + Unyielding Defence + base 5% already grants up to 100% block recovery, so you need vitality only for max energy. But what if its better to put 10 points in willpower instead?

Max energy: Arna have 104 base max energy, -74 energy from T5 heavy armor, + 48 from Custom Adjustments and jewelry = 78 max energy.
Skills energy cost: +35% skills energy cost from longsword, -20% from Revanche, -10% from Setup, -15% from Battle-Forged, -15% for stances and maneuvers from Tactical Advantage, -15% for 10 points of Willpower = 60% skills energy cost.
Energy replenishment: Revanche and Opportune moment will replanish 29% max energy for every counterattack (22.6 energy). Flexible Defence replenish 15% max energy for every enemy hit and Arc Cleave replenish 15% max energy for every staggered enemy. (11.7 energy)

Perception still might be the best stat because of parry (block and parry +1% chance per perception) and stagger chance scalings, but im not sure here.
Also because willpower grants 15% magic power you can take jolt and impulse for move resistance debuff and stagger chance xd.

Its either a piece of ♥♥♥♥ or godlike build idk.

[Kamuizin]

Originally posted by Gin Kenshin98:

Thank you, I checked out your build in the other thread and it's basically a crit/dodge build, which I already kinda did in my first run. Jorgim with dual axes and light armor.

I want this Arna build to be more on the tanky side with heavy armor focus. But I will focus on staggering enemies, so thanks for the tip.

I'm guessing I'll go 30 on VIT and 25 on STR. Still unsure how I'll distribute my points between warfare, athletics, armored combat, and survival tho. There's just a lotta good options.

Also I found the sword you mentioned in a random chest in a campsite, so that's good. T2 weapon from the get go.

I don’t think 2h sword demand 30 vit. Yes, it’s good for block power recovery, but for energy this isn’t a mace n shield build that demand that much correction from vit.

With custom adjustments and some energy increase buffs from enchantment, 20 vit is pretty good already for heavy armor 2h sword.

You’re not gonna counter as much as a medium/light armor with this build, so opportune moment from warfare and revanche from 2h sword aren’t going to proc often. Because of that, push the falling may help replenish energy.

[Leeroy]

Originally posted by Gin Kenshin98:

Since I have 26 points to spread out, 16 in VIT, 2 in WP, that leave 8 left. (also 1 point from the Stonehenge). How do you recommend I spread these between AGI and PER?

Thank you for the skill recs too. I think I'll go with the first option to better deal with archers, plus battle forged does seem kinda eh for me too.

I'd debating whether to go for dash or just settle for other charge-like skills. Was thinking of battle ram, but with this new plan I won't be able to reach it.

I'm going for Will To Survive in the survival tree (the entire right side). I already got Warcry, Brace for impact, and Seize the initiative as well.

Also was wondering what equipment and ring stats to go for down the line in endgame, thank you. Energy it is then.

I meant total value of a stat that you should have, so 16 Vitality means that it's a total value after you invest points, not 26.
Basically, I suggest these stats at lvl 25 (with quest):
15 STR
15 AGI
20 PER
16 VIT
12 WIL
The last 5 points could go either to perception, or split between vitality and willpower. I suggest you reach level 25, and then see whether or not energy is doing okay, and distribute the rest accordingly.

For skills - dash is always useful, literally for any build, as it allows you to close distance / get away, without a target. It complements other charge skills perfectly when catching archers. Battering ram with heavy armor has only 2 range, in my opinion completely dead skill, especially since you gonna have a better charge from weapon skills.

[Leeroy]

Originally posted by Kerdur:

Im thinking about heavy armor two-handed sword build and what if vitality is bad for it.
...
Skills energy cost: +35% skills energy cost from longsword, -20% from Revanche, -10% from Setup, -15% from Battle-Forged, -15% for stances and maneuvers from Tactical Advantage, -15% for 10 points of Willpower = 60% skills energy cost.

Fatigue accumulation is calculated by skill cost / max energy, and character is not going to have all those buffs going into every battle, these are only for large fights where you pop all cooldowns, and when all effects are stacked. Like sure, willpower instead of vitality might work, but I think it's just more comfortable to have around 100 energy, at the cost of maybe being slight less efficient.

[Leeroy]

Originally posted by Kerdur:

Also because willpower grants 15% magic power you can take jolt and impulse for move resistance debuff and stagger chance xd.

I'm currently doing a "meme" build (witcher cosplay). It has, among other things, Impulse, and has 15 Willpower. I'm really surprised that it performs almost as well as a pure physical melee build with the same weapon, so you might be on to something :)

[Kerdur]

Originally posted by Leeroy:

Originally posted by Kerdur:

Im thinking about heavy armor two-handed sword build and what if vitality is bad for it.
...
Skills energy cost: +35% skills energy cost from longsword, -20% from Revanche, -10% from Setup, -15% from Battle-Forged, -15% for stances and maneuvers from Tactical Advantage, -15% for 10 points of Willpower = 60% skills energy cost.

Fatigue accumulation is calculated by skill cost / max energy, and character is not going to have all those buffs going into every battle, these are only for large fights where you pop all cooldowns, and when all effects are stacked. Like sure, willpower instead of vitality might work, but I think it's just more comfortable to have around 100 energy, at the cost of maybe being slight less efficient.

Revanche fullstacks after two counter attacks, Setup after 2 stances or maneuvers, battle-forged after staying on the same tile 5 turns so it will work in every fight, i dont think you can kill enemies faster than in two-three turns.
"Fatigue accumulation is calculated by skill cost / max energy" never knew how it works, if my calculations right you will get ~20% more fatigue with 20 willpower compared to 20 vitality. Yea fatigue will be a problem with this build, so you probably will have to rest after clearing first lvl of dungeon. I usually park caravan right next to dungeon so it manageble problem.
I made another calculation and i think the best way here is 15 VIT and 15 WIL, or some another distribution of points in both (Almost the same energy restoration per parry and ~1x fatigue modifier). I dont want to go full math and calculate the best possible combination, but your commentary helped to move my thoughts in right direction :)

Originally posted by Leeroy:

Originally posted by Kerdur:

Also because willpower grants 15% magic power you can take jolt and impulse for move resistance debuff and stagger chance xd.

I'm currently doing a "meme" build (witcher cosplay). It has, among other things, Impulse, and has 15 Willpower. I'm really surprised that it performs almost as well as a pure physical melee build with the same weapon, so you might be on to something :)

Witcher build sound cool

[Leeroy]

Originally posted by Kerdur:

"Fatigue accumulation is calculated by skill cost / max energy" never knew how it works, if my calculations right you will get ~20% more fatigue with 20 willpower compared to 20 vitality. Yea fatigue will be a problem with this build, so you probably will have to rest after clearing first lvl of dungeon. I usually park caravan right next to dungeon so it manageble problem.
I made another calculation and i think the best way here is 15 VIT and 15 WIL, or some another distribution of points in both (Almost the same energy restoration per parry and ~1x fatigue modifier).

Well, at least everyone says that's how fatigue works, so I'm just repeating the "common knowledge", maybe it's not even true. But yeah, I suspect that optimal value should be somewhere in between, since both components (% regen from WIL and base from VIT) multiply for the end result.

BTW thinking about it, in my message about stat distribution for the OP's question, it would probably be better to go 15/13 WIL/VIT or the other way around, at level 25.

Originally posted by Kerdur:

Witcher build sound cool

I've even made a thread about it, but nobody replied Sadge. Gonna write there later about how the build's going, currently level 17, so it almost got all the necessary stuff.

[Gin Kenshin98]

Hello, I reached T5 for equipment and now have to choose what to get, been running T3 for the longest time so finally wanna upgrade.

For this build, what armor, rings, amulet and belt do you go for? Which stat do you prioritize?

[Leeroy]

For amulets - either bleed resist one for more energy, or fire resist for +2% crit.

Rings - Silver sapphire for energy (generally good), Silver ruby if you somehow don't have accuracy cap (you should take into account +4 innate bonus to attack skills and 1 stack of Stance, and Right on target if learned), Silver emerald if no fumble cap (again, with all bonuses above + bonuses from Survival, if learned).

Armor:
Any helmet is good, depends on how much energy your build is comfortable with. I used the -16 enegry ones, and -20 for some encounters.
Chestpiece - Noble armor is probably the best, but it also costs the most.
For gloves there's no choice, boots - Noble sabatons.
Also note that it's not a good idea to leave the head with the least armor, so either use T4 boots with 22 armor helmet, or T5 boots with 25 or more armor helmet.

Belts - knight belt, purely for phys resistance, which stacks with heavy armor. Captain belt is good as well, maybe even better for added crit efficiency, as your defense should be already sufficient, but crit eff. is hard to come by on this build.