Optimal weapon and trait combination for 2H and DW

Asayre

Often I come across the question of what is the best weapon and trait combination for stamina users with respect to 2H and DW. The case for 2H is relatively straightforward and I’ve seen a few answers on the forums with reasonable explanations however the DW case is much more complex as there are 18 possible combinations. Axes are not being considered since the Bleed effect is refreshed quite often and it appears unlikely that it will run its full course. In this post, I’ll give a rough estimate for the optimal weapon and trait combination for 2H and DW for both PvE and PvP. Boss resistance is assumed to be around 18200 as this is the resistance of the Blood Spawn in Spindleclutch. The conclusion for PvE Boss applies even when Major Fracture is applied. In the next post I’ll explain how I reached this conclusion.

2H
PvE
Bosses (Resistance ~18k): Sharpened Maul
Mobs (Resistance ~9k): Sharpened/Precise Greatsword

PvP
Light armour targets (Resistance ~10k): Precise Greatsword
Medium armour targets (Resistance ~13k): Sharpened/Precise Greatsword
Heavy armour targets (Resistance ~20k): Sharpened Maul

DW
PvE
Bosses (Resistance ~18k): Two Sharpened Mace
Mobs (Resistance ~9k): Two Sharpened Swords or Two Precise Daggers (Combination 7, 10, 12, 13, 14 are viable depending on exact Critical Chance and Critical Modifier)

PvP
Light armour targets (Resistance ~10k): Two Precise Sword or Two Precise Dagger
Medium armour targets (Resistance ~13k): Two Sharpened Sword Two Precise Dagger
Heavy armour targets (Resistance ~20k): Two Sharpened Mace

Asayre

To compare all possible combinations of weapons and traits for 2H and DW, it is worthwhile to consider the average damage formula with every bonus conceivable and then setting the relevant parameters and then calculating and determining when a certain weapon and trait combination is optimal. Axes are not being considered since the Bleed effect is refreshed quite often and it appears unlikely that it will run its full course.

The average damage formula is

where

Tooltip is the tooltip value without any Champion Points and scales of Stamina and Weapon Damage. Attacker Bonus typically comes from Champion Point effect such as Mighty. While the effect of Mighty is now calculated in the Tooltip, I have separated in this formula since some Champion Point effects are not shown in the Tooltip (example: Force Pulse and Elemental Expert). Defender Bonus refers to racial and Champion Point bonuses that the Defender gains such as Thick Skinned for a physical DoT or the Nord Rugged Passive. Since k is always positive it can be ignored from now on but was included here for completeness.

The formula for mitigation is

The effect of Major Fracture is to reduce the Resistance by 5280. The Focus value for most Stamina builds is 100 (base Focus value). Placing points in Piercing will alter the Focus Rating as reported by Harven’s Extended Stats but using that Focus value will result in errors with the formula provided above. The tooltip value of Piercing (in decimal form) should be used. For PvE involving a V16 character against any veteran level mob, Level should be 50000. Level should be set to 66000 for PvP involving a V16 attacker and a V16 Defender. I do not know what value of Level should be used in PvP if the Attacker or Defender is not V16.

The increased penetration from using Mace or the Sharpened trait is additive. It is possible to separate the Mitigation equation into two components, a base mitigation component and a penetration mitigation component

Crit is the Weapon Critical Rating as reported in the Character Sheet. Here, it has been separated into a base component that does not take into account the benefit from Precise or Dual-Wielding daggers and a bonus component that includes only Precise and Dual-Wielding daggers. Mod is the Critical modifier and is defined as

For every weapon and trait combination it is sufficient to determine, f,

for most Stamina builds is 100 thus Mit_Base is only a function of Resistance. With this in mind, it can be seen that f depends on Resistance, Crit_Base and Mod.
Thus for selected values of Resistance, it is possible to create graphs showing which weapon and trait combination is optimal as a function of Crit_Base and Mod.

2H
There are 4 possible combinations:
1. Sharpened Greatsword
2. Precise Greatsword
3. Sharpened Maul
4. Precise Maul

The following colours will be used to represent each combination

PvE

PvP


DW
There are 18 possible combinations:
1. Two Sharpened Mace
2. Sharpened Mace + Precise Mace
3. Sharpened Mace + Sharpened Sword
4. Sharpened Mace + Precise Sword
5. Sharpened Mace + Sharpened Dagger
6. Sharpened Mace + Precise Dagger
7. Precise Mace + Precise Sword
8. Precise Mace + Precise Dagger
9. Two Precise Mace
10. Two Sharpened Swords
11. Sharpened Sword + Precise Sword
12. Sharpened Sword + Sharpened Dagger
13. Sharpened Sword + Precise Dagger
14. Precise Sword + Precise Dagger
15. Two Precise Swords
16. Two Sharpened Daggers
17. Sharpened Dagger + Precise Dagger
18. Two Precise Daggers

The following colours will be used to represent each combination

PvE

PvP

Elijah_Crow

Really great work. Thank you!

Reeko

Thanks for this!

willymchilybily

Excellent, This is really nice.

MrTarkanian48

@Asayre

Thank-you, this is a great post. Just had quick question:

I am building a Stamina Sorc for strictly PVP purposes. I plan on running 2H and 1H1S. On my 2H bar I estimate I will have 53% Crit (10% Base, 12% Ritual, 10%Medium Armor, 10% Evil Hunter, 11% Thief (No Divines)) I will be using Crit Surge constantly as my Major Brutality Buff and getting heals for critical hits. I will be using Pierce Armor on 1H1S to debuff armor on most targets.

Given this information, what do you think would be the ideal Maelstrom 2H for this build? Again, I plan on using this for PVP only. Based on your post it would seem that Sharpened/Precise Greatsword may be ideal since most people in PVP run less than 20K armor, especially if debuffed. Does the fact that I have Crit Surge and have additional benefits from crit make a Precise Greatsword or a Precise Maul more beneficial than sharpened since it would push my Crit% to 60%?

Any advice is much appreciated.

Asayre

I would probably suggest going for a Precise Greatsword because it will help with your sustain. If you were to stare at the point Critical Chance ~0.63 and Critical Modifier ~0.6 (I presume you have some points in Precise Strikes) in the two handed PvP gif, you'll see that a Precise Greatsword is optimal till around 12000 resistance.

The physical resistance of a light armour user is roughly 10k and that of a medium armour user is around 13k. If you were to debuff these targets with Major Fracture, a Precise Greatsword will be the clear winner. However, I think most enemies will have a source of Major Resolve thus nulling the benefits of Major Fracture. So a Sharpened Greatsword is also not too bad of a choice but I would stick with a Precise Greatsword for the better sustain via Crit Surge.

Brasseurfb16_ESO

I use a Weighted Greataxe, but that's only because I like to exploit staggered ennemies faster and it makes my vulnerability frame smaller when I try to recover stamina between a Brawler.

PS : Also works in werewolf form, those bleeds on light attacks man!

Bobby_V_Rockit

Would love to see how this holds up in 2017 after 1T update...

ARIES SERPICO

Me too Asayre is the best!! Update will be nice for us console folks.