Does swords have a place in this game?

[Flying Mage]

What I mean is that axes are covering your slashing AND woodchoping needs. So why would you want a sword?.. The fighting animation and timings are kinda nice, but I still forge them last or skip completely cause they seem very unnecessary. Am I alone here or do you feel the same?

[Zombits]

Originally posted by bacon:

Originally posted by Zombits:

Axes are the worst melee weapons in this game by far, slow and no combo. You cut trees and swing at small mobs while you chop trees, thats it .

EVERY other weapon have a reason to use it in different fights

axe has the same light 1-1-2 combo that most melee weapons have.

They are so slow i never had patience or occasion to notice a 3rd hit combo. But comparing them to swords in combat was insulting ;)

[Seal Darklight]

I'd say axes have more uses than swords. Sure swords have combo potential and having the highest dps potential compared to axes, however most enemies aren't weak to slashing (with the exception of abominations), swords take inventory space, have less utility (being that axes can be both used as melee weapon and wood chopping) and the fact that they cost way too much resources which otherwise would be used somewhere else? Did I mention that there are weapons that outclass swords entirely like bows, giant blunt weapon and OP stunlock polearms to name a few? There generally more important than swords by this point.

I also find that the best axes tend to be stone, bronze and black metal axe as you can cut most trees by the game at this point and crafting other axes seems pointless when the lower level does the same. You mostly need axes to cut trees but they can be used as backup weapons if need be (though clumsy to use). I mostly judge it from the inventory management standards.

[jonnin]

I started out the way you did, thinking axes were both a tool and a weapon, saving space and weight in your inventory. This idea is OK and works, if you want to go that route.

For me, I came to appreciate these three things:
1) you don't need axes to gather wood. You can bust up saplings with anything, so unless you need advanced woods, you can leave it at home. Even then its easier to PO a {troll, lox, soldier bug} and drag it over some trees than to bother with axing them one at a time.

2) the axe has a poor or none or whatever it is secondary attack while the sword one is very strong.
3) 1h axe itemization is poor late game, while the current mistland sword is basically a frostner tier up & morph to sword form.

But axes are good enough. People use most of the available weapons so clearly there is a place for all of them. I use maces mostly, frostner, porcupine, and so on are all excellent for various tasks and I even beat bonemass with just an upgraded club once due to losing all my other stuff and the only way to get it was to finish the fight (and he was far from dead when he got me).

[Zombits]

well even the best axe did poorly in combat, the one from mistland dealing lightning DMG is no exception.
Almost got me killed a few times farming lower biomes spawner in swamp....

that's how slow and bad it is . I wouldn't use it to save inventory slot, unless losing skill pts is a goal, lol

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by Zombits:

Originally posted by bacon:

axe has the same light 1-1-2 combo that most melee weapons have.

They are so slow i never had patience or occasion to notice a 3rd hit combo. But comparing them to swords in combat was insulting ;)

That's because even a staggered opponent recovers and can hit you before you get that 3rd attack in with the axe.

[Faceplant]

Originally posted by Seal Darklight:

I'd say axes have more uses than swords. Sure swords have combo potential and having the highest dps potential compared to axes, however most enemies aren't weak to slashing (with the exception of abominations), swords take inventory space, have less utility (being that axes can be both used as melee weapon and wood chopping) and the fact that they cost way too much resources which otherwise would be used somewhere else? Did I mention that there are weapons that outclass swords entirely like bows, giant blunt weapon and OP stunlock polearms to name a few? There generally more important than swords by this point.

I mostly judge it from the inventory management standards.

Swords don't take up any more inventory space than any other weapon.

I don't use portals, so inventory space is critical for me, and the winner in that regard (and in many other ways), hands down is Skoll and Hati. You don't even need a shield with that weapon. I don't know if I've chopped down any full-sized trees with it, but it will certainly cut through small trees and bushes (and doors) if you need a small amount of wood.

I love Jotun Bane, and I've cleared an entire Mistlands mine with Demolisher, but they have serious weaknesses as your primary/only weapon in my experience. The spin/pound-to-win attack can leave you vulnerable to ranged and/or quick (wolves) attacks and stamina lock if you have to maintain it for too long.

[blackphoenixx]

Originally posted by Seal Darklight:

I'd say axes have more uses than swords. Sure swords have combo potential and having the highest dps potential compared to axes, however most enemies aren't weak to slashing (with the exception of abominations), swords take inventory space, have less utility (being that axes can be both used as melee weapon and wood chopping) and the fact that they cost way too much resources which otherwise would be used somewhere else? Did I mention that there are weapons that outclass swords entirely like bows, giant blunt weapon and OP stunlock polearms to name a few? There generally more important than swords by this point.

Don't underestimate swords secondary attack. The parry-stab oneshots quite a few enemies with a decent blade.

Bronze sword is the best weapon to use against draugr when fresh from the black forest imo (and also really good for slaughtering hordes of greydwarfes). The attack speed really helps not getting caught unable to block or dodge.

As for the iron sword it's not bad, it just isn't worth the mats because 99% of everything you meet in the swamp is weak to the mace and you get the silver sword in the mountains. No point crafting it just for abominations when the bronze sword will do the job just fine.

The silver sword on the other hand seriously outclasses the other weapons of its tier even against enemies that are immune to spirit damage or not weak to it (and it absolutely slaughters Yagluth). First weapon i craft when i get to the silver tier.
Fully upgraded it can easily let you skip the blackmetal sword and carry you all the way into the Mistlands. It's a beastly weapon and well worth the resources used to craft it.

The same applies to Mistwalker since it does a ton of frost damage on top of slashing. It's basically Frostner only not painfully slow and with decent base damage and works quite well against seekers and seeker soldiers.

As for other more important weapons none of the ones you named work with a shield. Personally i don't even carry any 2-handed weapons aside from a bow and magic staves (not because they're bad, i just prefer the S&B playstyle).
And if you're going for that swords are one of the better options for your main hand at every tier except iron.

[Faceplant]

Originally posted by blackphoenixx:

Don't underestimate swords secondary attack. The parry-stab oneshots quite a few enemies with a decent blade.

Bronze sword is the best weapon to use against draugr when fresh from the black forest imo (and also really good for slaughtering hordes of greydwarfes). The attack speed really helps not getting caught unable to block or dodge.

As for the iron sword it's not bad, it just isn't worth the mats because 99% of everything you meet in the swamp is weak to the mace and you get the silver sword in the mountains. No point crafting it just for abominations when the bronze sword will do the job just fine.

The silver sword on the other hand seriously outclasses the other weapons of its tier even against enemies that are immune to spirit damage or not weak to it (and it absolutely slaughters Yagluth). First weapon i craft when i get to the silver tier.
Fully upgraded it can easily let you skip the blackmetal sword and carry you all the way into the Mistlands. It's a beastly weapon and well worth the resources used to craft it.

The same applies to Mistwalker since it does a ton of frost damage on top of slashing. It's basically Frostner only not painfully slow and with decent base damage and works quite well against seekers and seeker soldiers.

As for other more important weapons none of the ones you named work with a shield. Personally i don't even carry any 2-handed weapons aside from a bow and magic staves (not because they're bad, i just prefer the S&B playstyle).
And if you're going for that swords are one of the better options for your main hand at every tier except iron.

Well put, but I wonder why use the mace for in swamps that you couldn't kill with a bronze sword? Bonemass is the one exception, but, as someone else said, you can kill Bonemass with a club. I actually go almost straight to mountain (using stagbreaker to find silver) and kill bonemass with either a silver sword or silver knife. Silver arrows can be useful as well.

[blprice61]

Even if you main the sword, you probably have Stagbreaker and finebow by Bonemass; stand on top of skull and let him eat frost arrows - use Stagbreaker to clear close-in adds as well as do not-insignificant damage to Bonemass if he's close enough.

PS: still, not a bad idea to just bypass Bonemass till after Yag - not because of Bonemass but because of the Howling. At that point silver sword makes extremely short work of him.

[jonnin]

Well put, but I wonder why use the mace for in swamps that you couldn't kill with a bronze sword? Bonemass is the one exception, but, as someone else said, you can kill Bonemass with a club. I actually go almost straight to mountain (using stagbreaker to find silver) and kill bonemass with either a silver sword or silver knife. Silver arrows can be useful as well.

skeletons and blobs, and maybe others, are vulnerable to blunt.
when I did BM with a club, I at least had a high skill in it. You can't whack with the sword from meadows to swamp then grab a club and expect stellar results at rank 1.

Swords don't take up any more inventory space than any other weapon.

yes, but they take up more space than carrying ONLY an axe instead of an axe WITH a sword. His point is getting 2 for one on the axe, as both a tool and a weapon.

[Faceplant]

Originally posted by jonnin:

skeletons and blobs, and maybe others, are vulnerable to blunt.
when I did BM with a club, I at least had a high skill in it. You can't whack with the sword from meadows to swamp then grab a club and expect stellar results at rank 1.

You can easily kill skeletons and blobs with pretty much anything, certainly with a bronze axe.

I'll grant you that bonemass is faster with a mace and higher club skill, but that's just one (relatively easy) boss. If you're going to continue on with blunt, that's not an issue, but I think one would be better off building up their sword skill in swamp if that's what they plan to use later and save the resources on the mace.

Swords don't take up any more inventory space than any other weapon.

yes, but they take up more space than carrying ONLY an axe instead of an axe WITH a sword. His point is getting 2 for one on the axe, as both a tool and a weapon. [/quote]

Valid point if he was just talking using an axe as his primary/only weapon. Given that he's comparing it to other weapons and talking about damage types leads me to believe that is not the case.

[smokauweeds]

While I do use both. I keep the axe for cutting trees mostly. not to say something doesnt get hit with it.

I keep whatever is the current best weapon. slash, mash, chop, doesnt really matter. it all goes into the meat grinder with what ever the current level "best weapon" is.

sure take a mace into the swamp, they are weak to it. but really after that, weapon type seems inconsequential.

[Zombits]

There will never be a use for an axe as primary weapon on current version, unless to kill low tier mobs while cutting trees. Sword is on par with clubs as usefulness . Easier to finish combos will less knockback

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by blprice61:

Even if you main the sword, you probably have Stagbreaker and finebow by Bonemass; stand on top of skull and let him eat frost arrows - use Stagbreaker to clear close-in adds as well as do not-insignificant damage to Bonemass if he's close enough.

PS: still, not a bad idea to just bypass Bonemass till after Yag - not because of Bonemass but because of the Howling. At that point silver sword makes extremely short work of him.

Its hard to get frost arrows BEFORE you kill Bonemass.

[blprice61]

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

Originally posted by blprice61:

Even if you main the sword, you probably have Stagbreaker and finebow by Bonemass; stand on top of skull and let him eat frost arrows - use Stagbreaker to clear close-in adds as well as do not-insignificant damage to Bonemass if he's close enough.

PS: still, not a bad idea to just bypass Bonemass till after Yag - not because of Bonemass but because of the Howling. At that point silver sword makes extremely short work of him.

Its hard to get frost arrows BEFORE you kill Bonemass.

No, actually it is pretty easy. You can make frost mead while still in black forest assuming you hit the swamp borders and kill a few leeches. Drakes are easy to kill with fire arrows and you don't have to go too far up into Mountains to get their attention. Wolves can be a problem, but stick to daylight and keep your eyes peeled and a quick exit planned.

The only other thing you need from swamp is enough iron for an iron pickaxe so you can get onyx. That's a bit trickier than getting the freeze glands.