Ansalon's Two handed melee weapon Tier List

Overview: This list is based on my personal opinion and I haven't tested them all. Quite possible I haven't taken into account all possible synergies so some might be undervalued. A lot of them will be weaker if they are used with a class that doesn't synergize with their effects. All values are ingame values. The wiki is outdated since the 1.2 nerfs. Weapons are listed randomly within any Tier. Might change that at some point but it will require some work. I am also comparing weapons at max enchants. I haven't taken into account that some weapons will be very useful early on in the game if they start out with high weapon quality, forgoing the need to upgrade them.

Overview

This list is based on my personal opinion and I haven't tested them all. Quite possible I haven't taken into account all possible synergies so some might be undervalued. A lot of them will be weaker if they are used with a class that doesn't synergize with their effects. All values are ingame values. The wiki is outdated since the 1.2 nerfs. Weapons are listed randomly within any Tier. Might change that at some point but it will require some work. I am also comparing weapons at max enchants. I haven't taken into account that some weapons will be very useful early on in the game if they start out with high weapon quality, forgoing the need to upgrade them.

S - Tier. Exceptionally Strong weapons with powerful effects.

• Whispers of the Endless Paths[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Great Sword) Attacks in a cone +1 Pen (can proc Ability Effects in AoE that are normally single target (for instance knockdowns) 15% dmg as crush. Offensive Parry: +4 Deflection against Melee weapons, Counterattack enemy when Missed in Melee (inflicts Dazed). Run Through: Grants Run Through: Impale a target, knock them down, and cause bleeding (1/encounter). Especially strong on a Riposte build like my (Riposte tank) or with classes with single target stuns
  
• Wahai Poraga[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Pollaxe) Standard attack is AoE that hits target +3 additional target friend or foe. -20% Melee Damage Received for 2s on launching attack. 25% damage reflected at attacker for 2 sec after attacking. Very strong AoE damage but needs good positioning to not cleave allies.
  
• Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Quarterstaff) For Melee: 1 All Acid Power Levels, +1 All Electricity Power Levels, +1 Fire Acid Power Levels, +1 Frost Acid Power Levels, Soul Storm Launches Raw Damage area of effect attack after scoring five consecutive hits on target, +5% Action Speed and Damage (scales with Metaphysics 15% at 20 metaphysics). +3% Burn, Corrode, Freeze, and Shock Damage.
  
• The Spine of Thicket Green[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Quarterstaff) +2 All Plant/Restoration/Rejuvination PL's. +10 Defense vs Poison/Disease. 20% dmg +5 acc vs vessels. Strong Stat stick for Priest/Druid
  
• The Twin Eels[pillarsofeternity2.wiki.fextralife.com] (Great Sword) Breath of Life: Restores 0 Health to all nearby allies on kill (scales with religion). 5% hit to crit chance with weapons (scales with religion). Grants Renewal: When knocked unconcious Revive with X Health (Scales with Religion. 10.3 Health at 0 Religion - 216 at 20 Religion). This thread[forums.obsidian.net] discusses the weapons scaling. The Renewal and Breath of Life seems to scale quite nicely with Religion giving you a lot of sustain. If the hit to crit conversion turns out to be absolutely terrible then the weapon might be a lot weaker, but it's abit hard to know without extensive testing. Assuming the hit to crit conversion is around 0.5% per point of religion, it would mean you would get 15% hit to crit at 20 religion and a ton of sustain making it easily S - Tier. Even if the crit scaling is terrible the weapon should atleast be mid A - Tier at the bare minimum.
  
• Oathbreaker's End[pillarsofeternity2.wiki.fextralife.com] (2 Handed Battle Axe) Executioner's Axe: Requires 2 hands to wield, but deals increased damage.Scales of Justice: Scoring a Critical Hit on an enemy causes them to take Raw Damage over time. Whenever that enemy deals damage, the duration increases. Enemies killed under the effects of Scales of Justice deal 0 Raw damage to nearby enemies. Weapon deals equivalent damage to a Great Sword of its weapon quality, and gets the +20% bonus crit dmg battle axes get. This Thread[forums.obsidian.net] discusses the weapons effects. The Raw dot isnt all that strong (ticks for about 5-6 dmg at legendary quality every 2 sec) but killing a target under the effect of Scales of Justice will trigger a weapon attack just like a normal weapon swing in AoE, except it deals raw damage. These attacks can again proc other on hit effects. Very powerful on builds with AoE attacks that proc on hit effects like Barbarians Heart of Fury or Fighters Clear Out. In addition it has the Battle Axes 20% bonus crit dmg making it work nicely with crit builds. It needs more testing but is possibly a S - Tier weapon. A lot weaker on builds that doesn't have access to AoE attacks.

A - Tier. Mostly very good dps stats but not quite as ridicoulous as some S - Tier weps.

• Blade of the Endless Paths[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Estoc) -15% Recovery time, 15% crit dmg, +1 Melee accuracy per 6s (10 stacks) Strong dps stats.
  
• Eager Blade[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Estoc) 10% chance to instantly recover on hit. +2 and acc and 5% action speed on crit (4 stacks). Kaul's Stance: Randomly chosen: +1 AR, +10% melee dmg, +8 deflection. Strong dps stats.
  
• Engoliero do Espirs[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Estoc) 10% dmg as Raw. Cast Ghost Blades on kill. Ravenous Soul Hunger: -3 Mig/Con/Dex -> On kill: +3 Mig/Con/Dex https. Probably the highest potential single target dmg of any 2h but the penalty before a kill is very painful.
  
• Voidwheel[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Great Sword) 10% dmg as Raw, 10% dmg as Raw to self. 25% chance to cast Necrotic Lance on crit, -3 Corrode AR. Lots of dmg but deals dmg to self.
  
• The Willbreaker[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Morning Star) 25% miss to graze, 10% hit to crit. 25% chance Shaken (Rank 2 Resolve Affliction) on target on hit.-3 will on target for 30s on hit (stacks 5 times), 10% action speed). Decent to debuff Will so spells targeting Will has higher chance to hit. Weapon Modal + Barbarians Brute Force + Mig/Con affliction can give Barbarians VERY high crit chance. A-tier for Brute force Barb B - Tier for others.
  
• Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Quarterstaff) As stat stick: 1 All Acid Power Levels, +1 All Electricity Power Levels, +1 Fire Acid Power Levels, +1 Frost Acid Power Levels. Elemental Induction +15% Damage for 10 sec when hit with Acid, Fire, Frost, or Electricity attacks. 1% Damage reduction for 10 sec when Hit (stacks 5 times, scales with Metaphysics) Soul Charge: +5% Staff Damage (Increases with Metaphysics skill 15% at 20 metaphysics), +5% Action Speed
  
• Saru-Sichr[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Morning Star) 3 Corrode dmg åer 12 sec on hit: Dot ticks have 5% chance to instantly kill enemies with <25% Health Both enchants are meh but this synergizes with on kill effects. Weapon Modal + Barbarians Brute Force + Mig/Con affliction can give Barbarians VERY high crit chance. A-tier for Brute force Barb C - Tier for others.

B - Tier. Suboptimal stats but still good.

• Sanguine Great Sword[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Great Sword) Blood Gift: +5 health restored per 3s for 6s on crits. 10% hit to crit. 20% miss to graze.20% of Misses converted to Grazes. Prepare the offering: -15 Deflection vs melee, -2 slash AR for 20s (1/encounter). Decent sustain and dmg buffs
  
• Lord Darryn's Voulge[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Pollaxe) Bolting Strikes: 10% Chance on Hit with weapons to activate Lightning Strikes. Static Thunder: On Hit, applies a stacking effect to an enemy. On Crit, all enemies in an AoE will lose all stacks and take +10 Shock damage for every stack. Minor Spellbind: Ball Lightning: Grants Ball Lightning (Druid spell) (1 per rest). Soulbound only upgrading to Superb holds it back. Can get +3 Storm Power levels making it a very strong stat stick for Fury (Druid).

C - Tier. Weak stats.

• Effort[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Great Sword) Critical Hits can Hobble or Sicken enemies for 10 sec. Immune to Resolve afflictions while under 25% health, cannot be interrupted, Couragous(Rank 3 Resolve Inspiration). Ok debuffs and defense.
  
• Wicked Beast[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Pike) 10% chance to deal pierce dmg to self or ally on attack. Hounding: Chance to inflict hobbled knockdown, raw dmg for 12s, or -25% action speed on target on crit. 5% dmg with melee wep, +4 deflection vs melee weps. Cry Havoc: Foe Aoe 20-30 dmg, 3m push, Frighten for 15s (1/rest). Decent debuffs and dmg, strong 1/rest active. Can instead be upgraded to +2 Beast PLs but that doesn't seem useful.

D - Tier. Terrible stats or too conditional

• Queen's Rule[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Great Sword) Checkmate: Swap position with enemy. Stunned for 8 sec, Full attack (2/rest). Even if Check mate was 2 per encounter it would still be meh.
  
• Street Sweeper[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Quarterstaff) 15% chance to confuse on hit. -10s duration of hostile effects, -5s duration of benefitial effects on hit. Might be better then i give it credit for. Getting rid of debuffs is nice but thats about it.
  
• Distraho[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Great Sword) Chance to Shaken AoE on crit. Red Tear: +35 (1/rest). Weak heal and shaken is one of the weakest afflictions in the game.
  
• Lance of the Midwood Stag[pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com] (Pike) On bloodied Casts: Woodskin (+5 Pierce/Burn/Shock AR for 15s (1.5m AoE) and Lord of the Forest: +2 All PLs. Would be S - Tier stat stick if Lord of the Forest didn't require bloodied.

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[Dam]

Thanks for you various weapons tier lists Ansalon

I do, however, disagree with your rating for Lord Darryn's Voulge.
On a barbarian, the weapon is devastating.
The static charges accumulate on carnage attacks, and very few enemies in the game resist lightning damage.
Additionally the weapon can be acquired as early as after Port Maje, and while it does lose out on scaling at late game, it holds its own very well during early and mid-game :)

[Lidicurous]

@ignasis The Distraho is a fine Greatsword, I think POE2 Mechanics takes a second for people to grasp so they don't realize that Shaken reduces enemy deflection making them easier to hit.

[Ignasis]

lol I actually designed Distraho... kinda sad to see it ranked so poorly, but coming up with the idea vs. actual implementation in the game are two different things.

[ahill_]

Hi. Excuse me, but in this guide version no information about Eager Blade's ability "bounding strikes".
This is very useful ability with great dps potential (especially for cipher).ability:
Bounding Strikes: Scoring a Hit on a Near Death target also damages nearby enemies.