Questions about HOs and Dual wielding

[Owa]

<DIV>Hail All, </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My first question is can anyone give a definitive answer as to what is the advantage of using a 2H over DW wield when DW always seem to trump 2H in stats and damage, at least the ones I've seen usuable by level 32. Is it to do with all that riposte stuff that I don't understand?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Secondly, assuming all combat arts are Adept 1, are HOs useful at my level? I found them very necessary pre-30 when soloing, but now compared to the damage of things like Slumbering Dragon and Wintry Talon, the HOs seem a bit underpowered in terms of damage and wasteful in terms of power expended, at least while soloing.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Any advice welcome....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Annaspider xxx</DIV><p>Message Edited by annaspider on <span class=date_text>02-23-2005</span> <span class=time_text>02:09 PM</span>

[MoonglumHMV]

<DIV>I believe the argument between the DW vs 2H comes down to whether there is a delay in striking while your combat arts go off.  I.E.  (numbers made up for ease of example) you are using 2 1.5 delay weapons and use a combat art that has a 3 sec cast time.  While the art is powering up, your auto attack pauses, so in the 3 sec cast time you actually 'miss' one of your attacks with the 1.5 sec weapons.  When the art goes off you normally see 3 numbers pop up, the art, and 2 of the 4 potential auto attacks.  When using a 3.0 delay 2h weapon, and you use the same 3 sec combat art, you will not skip an auto attack.  When the art goes off, you normally would see 2 numbers pop up, the art and the auto attack.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Please note again that I made up the numbers so they were nice and round for the example.  I can't comment on the HO's as I'm still only level 23 and use them regularly while solo.</DIV>

[SomeDudeCRO]

HO's are nicer now that they have made them alot easier to execute. Get all 4 archetypes and a scout who knows how to flip it in your group and you can instantaneously get full hp/power <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Mamasee]

HOs are based on the level of the group, the type or level of attack has no additional effect. The advantage of a two handed weapon is, when you are tanking you will get reposted less, therefor taking less damage.

[Owa]

<DIV>Thanks for the expalnation. It doesn't seem worth giving up all those extra stats for though, does it?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[MoonglumHMV]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Mamaseeta wrote:<BR>HOs are based on the level of the group, the type or level of attack has no additional effect. <BR><BR>The advantage of a two handed weapon is, when you are tanking you will get reposted less, therefor taking less damage.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> Just out of curiosity, what is your experience with DW vs 2H while soloing when you need to tank and be DPS?  Is one better than the other in that case?  Does the extra stat bonuses from the extra weapon make up for the extra reposite?

[Aegi]

I duo with my girlfriend quite a bit. She's a level 30 ranger and HO's for us make the deal in a lot of encounters. There's something to be said about an additional 200-600 damage every 10-20 seconds, plus the benefits from the buffs.

[Mamasee]

<blockquote><hr>annaspider wrote:<DIV>Thanks for the expalnation. It doesn't seem worth giving up all those extra stats for though, does it?</DIV><DIV> </DIV><hr></blockquote>How effective are the stats anyways? You may give up 10 agl, in my case I have two fist wraps that rea 1.4 del 7 agl 3 str 17 health 19 pow, and a flail that is 23 health 21 power. There are better two handed weapon stat wise I have not bothered to look into them much, I give up 14 agl, 6 str 11 health and 17 power. I usually use the fist wraps, however if mobs are being tough I switch to the two handed weapon. While dual wielding I am subjecting myself to about 6 times the amout of reposts. Also when tanking I usually have thundering fists up, I rarely use defensive stances, and the fast weapons means it is procking 6 times more often.Remember however that an overwhelming majority of damage comes from your special attacks and the usage of HOs. Weapons are mostly fluff.

[Mamasee]

<blockquote><hr>MoonglumHMV wrote:<BR><BLOCKQUOTE><HR>Mamaseeta wrote:<BR>HOs are based on the level of the group, the type or level of attack has no additional effect. <BR><BR>The advantage of a two handed weapon is, when you are tanking you will get reposted less, therefor taking less damage.<BR><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Just out of curiosity, what is your experience with DW vs 2H while soloing when you need to tank and be DPS? Is one better than the other in that case? Does the extra stat bonuses from the extra weapon make up for the extra reposite?<hr></blockquote>I usually use DW unless I am trying to raise skill points, or a mob is hitting hard. If you have weapon procs DW is the way to go, my ranger goes to town procking poisons, I usually use the high front end damage poisons, while I rarely see them do it Wizards/ Warlocks have weapon procs. they can be quite effective.

[bonesbro]

<DIV>I am reasonably certain that proc chance is scaled based on weapon speed and 2H vs. DW.  It might be nice to parse through some logs to figure that out exactly.  Too bad Thundering Fists doesn't make any combat spam when it procs; I'll have to duo with someone else who can cast a proc buff.</DIV>

[Mamasee]

<blockquote><hr>bonesbro wrote:<DIV>I am reasonably certain that proc chance is scaled based on weapon speed and 2H vs. DW. It might be nice to parse through some logs to figure that out exactly. Too bad Thundering Fists doesn't make any combat spam when it procs; I'll have to duo with someone else who can cast a proc buff.</DIV><hr></blockquote>I have never tested it, thundering fists says its a 5% chance to stun target on a sucessfull hit, that number does not change when I change weapons.<p>Message Edited by Mamaseeta on <span class=date_text>02-23-2005</span> <span class=time_text>03:22 PM</span>

[Bur]

As stated many times reposite damage is also based on delay. If you have two weapons with 1.5 delay you take the same reposite damage as a 3.0 delay weapon. That's besides the point.I did some parsing around level 30 with Dual wieldable weapons and 2h weapons that were relatively equal. The damage is about the same really. If fights are really short 2h came out on top more often (I go through my list of skills at the beginning of fights so 7 or 8 skills + a 2 handed auto attack after each) longer fights dual wielding was on top. The difference was minimal between them either way. Just find the best weapon/weapons you can and go for it.As far as HOs go it really depends. If you are ending fights with more HP then power I would skip them intirely (unless you like to gamble on the offchance that you get Hero armor or whatever that one is called). If power is higher then HP obviously use HOs.<p>Message Edited by Burem on <span class=date_text>02-23-2005</span> <span class=time_text>05:39 PM</span>