Reliable 2h/bow PVE builds?

Bobby_V_Rockit · March 2018

Not talking about Alcast’s Stam Sorc, seen it, liked it, so forth. Can any of the OTHER classes (namely dragon knights) pull off similar or better results? If so, what skills? I know sets arent so important but am struggling with what skill line up to use.

Cheers in advance!

Asardes · March 2018

DK would be a bad choice because 2H heavy attacks tend to be clunky and you would not be able to reapply your front bar DoTs in time, before the back bar expire. NB could work since you weave fewer heavy attacks but I really see no point in it since you have both a very good spammable and execute as class skills. All other classes rely heavily on heavy attacks as well, and some have stamina morphs of their damage skills that are better than 2H ones - Wrecking Blow is very clunky as well - but Sorcerer doesn't, hence the said build.

Kanar · March 2018

DK is good with 2h. The synergy is there and it's called asylum weapon. Skills are the same as the typical DW setup except you use brawler and reverse slice. At most you do 1 heavy attack per rotation, sometimes I don't even do that.

In execute range, ultimates keep your resources up. Sometimes I'm dropping dawnbreaker while standard of might is still up. DPS in execute range is quite a bit better than DW, and really boss fights don't even get tough until execute. Last night in BRF hm reverse slice was hitting each of the amalgams for 30k crits, that's 90k damage per skill use.

Mister_DMC · March 2018

2h and bow is good on a DK. Going to do very quick writeup. Don't take this into vmol or vhof though, you'll get yelled at. Plays very similar to Alcast's Stamsorc.

Skills - 2h bar. Wrecking blow, reverse slice, brawler or carve, venomous claw, Rally (if not using weapon power pots) or flames of oblivion if using pots, could also slot vigor here. Flawless dawnbreaker for max damage or take flight for Max fun.

Bow, endless hail, rearming trap, poison injection, razor caltrops, molten armaments.
Use the standard of might ultimate or Ballista they are both situational.

Jarryzzt · March 2018

Going at it from a slightly different direction (and I use a modified version of the Alcast 2H Sorc build myself).

So what does the Sorc have in particular in that Alcast build?
- Hurricane AoE and damage resist.
- Bound Armaments +Stamina and +heavy attack damage, plus minor damage resist - but takes up two slots.
- Atro for the anti-single target backbar ultimate.
- Certain passives (e.g. "mini-execute").

If one wanted to do a different class I would take that template (because the bow and 2h skills are going to be common to both) and plug in different class skills and passives.

People have already mentioned how DKs can work. I would put in a vote for a Warden as well, since:

- Hurricane gets replaced with Sub Assault which gives a big AoE burst and breach/fracture debuffs (so you lose damage resist and potentially gain group damage unless in a trial with full debuffs from other sources).
- Bound Armaments gets replaced with a) Bull Netch (stam recovery and major brutality); and b) either Bird of Prey (stam recovery and minor berserk) or Green Lotus (self-heal and major savagery).
- Ballista for backbar ultimate, makes damage "burstier" which can actually outperform Atro in some boss fights.
- Passives are not identical but can be helpful (+damage and healing).

Not sure if total damage output will be identical (at the least you lose the +stamina from Bound Armaments), and the rotation will certainly need to be adjusted to fit in Sub Assault and self-buffs. But it's a start.

Kanar · March 2018

Mister_DMC wrote: »

2h and bow is good on a DK. Going to do very quick writeup. Don't take this into vmol or vhof though, you'll get yelled at. Plays very similar to Alcast's Stamsorc.

Skills - 2h bar. Wrecking blow, reverse slice, brawler or carve, venomous claw, Rally (if not using weapon power pots) or flames of oblivion if using pots, could also slot vigor here. Flawless dawnbreaker for max damage or take flight for Max fun.

Bow, endless hail, rearming trap, poison injection, razor caltrops, molten armaments.
Use the standard of might ultimate or Ballista they are both situational.

I would love to see wrecking blow in a decent 2h parse. That skill just seems like garbage to me for PvE, and people insisting on using it is what makes 2h look bad.

Here's the obvious skill choices:
1. Venom claw, brawler, reverse slice, noxious, FoO, FDB
2. Trap, poison injection, hail, caltrops, igneous weapons (or molten if you don't mind chugging potions), standard of might

Rotation is as you would imagine, just stick to 1 heavy attack. Once they get in execute range, keep up trap, hail and injection (maybe venom claw too and noxious if it's a dummy) but otherwise spam la->reverse slice.

Mister_DMC · March 2018

Kanar wrote: »

Mister_DMC wrote: »

2h and bow is good on a DK. Going to do very quick writeup. Don't take this into vmol or vhof though, you'll get yelled at. Plays very similar to Alcast's Stamsorc.

Skills - 2h bar. Wrecking blow, reverse slice, brawler or carve, venomous claw, Rally (if not using weapon power pots) or flames of oblivion if using pots, could also slot vigor here. Flawless dawnbreaker for max damage or take flight for Max fun.

Bow, endless hail, rearming trap, poison injection, razor caltrops, molten armaments.
Use the standard of might ultimate or Ballista they are both situational.

I would love to see wrecking blow in a decent 2h parse. That skill just seems like garbage to me for PvE, and people insisting on using it is what makes 2h look bad.

Here's the obvious skill choices:
1. Venom claw, brawler, reverse slice, noxious, FoO, FDB
2. Trap, poison injection, hail, caltrops, igneous weapons (or molten if you don't mind chugging potions), standard of might

Rotation is as you would imagine, just stick to 1 heavy attack. Once they get in execute range, keep up trap, hail and injection (maybe venom claw too and noxious if it's a dummy) but otherwise spam la->reverse slice.

Define decent dummy Parse. How high would you like to see? I'm a console player so it'll have to be a skeleton test.

JXNwarrior · March 2018

Here's a video of my Stam DK 2h/Bow build through VMA. Its fun and at that point it was decent in vet trials too.

Here's an updated solo/VMA build

Here's an updated Trial build

I have not tested it in trials since Morrowind but it's still nice in VMA.

Bobby_V_Rockit · March 2018

Cheers, still levelling the DK but I seem to be on the right track then

Kanar · March 2018

Mister_DMC wrote: »

Kanar wrote: »

Mister_DMC wrote: »

2h and bow is good on a DK. Going to do very quick writeup. Don't take this into vmol or vhof though, you'll get yelled at. Plays very similar to Alcast's Stamsorc.

Skills - 2h bar. Wrecking blow, reverse slice, brawler or carve, venomous claw, Rally (if not using weapon power pots) or flames of oblivion if using pots, could also slot vigor here. Flawless dawnbreaker for max damage or take flight for Max fun.

Bow, endless hail, rearming trap, poison injection, razor caltrops, molten armaments.
Use the standard of might ultimate or Ballista they are both situational.

I would love to see wrecking blow in a decent 2h parse. That skill just seems like garbage to me for PvE, and people insisting on using it is what makes 2h look bad.

Here's the obvious skill choices:
1. Venom claw, brawler, reverse slice, noxious, FoO, FDB
2. Trap, poison injection, hail, caltrops, igneous weapons (or molten if you don't mind chugging potions), standard of might

Rotation is as you would imagine, just stick to 1 heavy attack. Once they get in execute range, keep up trap, hail and injection (maybe venom claw too and noxious if it's a dummy) but otherwise spam la->reverse slice.

Define decent dummy Parse. How high would you like to see? I'm a console player so it'll have to be a skeleton test.

30k solo.

BuddyAces · March 2018

Kanar wrote: »

Mister_DMC wrote: »

Kanar wrote: »

Mister_DMC wrote: »

2h and bow is good on a DK. Going to do very quick writeup. Don't take this into vmol or vhof though, you'll get yelled at. Plays very similar to Alcast's Stamsorc.

Skills - 2h bar. Wrecking blow, reverse slice, brawler or carve, venomous claw, Rally (if not using weapon power pots) or flames of oblivion if using pots, could also slot vigor here. Flawless dawnbreaker for max damage or take flight for Max fun.

Bow, endless hail, rearming trap, poison injection, razor caltrops, molten armaments.
Use the standard of might ultimate or Ballista they are both situational.

I would love to see wrecking blow in a decent 2h parse. That skill just seems like garbage to me for PvE, and people insisting on using it is what makes 2h look bad.

Here's the obvious skill choices:
1. Venom claw, brawler, reverse slice, noxious, FoO, FDB
2. Trap, poison injection, hail, caltrops, igneous weapons (or molten if you don't mind chugging potions), standard of might

Rotation is as you would imagine, just stick to 1 heavy attack. Once they get in execute range, keep up trap, hail and injection (maybe venom claw too and noxious if it's a dummy) but otherwise spam la->reverse slice.

Define decent dummy Parse. How high would you like to see? I'm a console player so it'll have to be a skeleton test.

30k solo.

I'd be more shocked if most people could not. Wish I was at home. I want to do this now lol

Mister_DMC · March 2018

Kanar wrote: »

Mister_DMC wrote: »

Kanar wrote: »

Mister_DMC wrote: »

2h and bow is good on a DK. Going to do very quick writeup. Don't take this into vmol or vhof though, you'll get yelled at. Plays very similar to Alcast's Stamsorc.

Skills - 2h bar. Wrecking blow, reverse slice, brawler or carve, venomous claw, Rally (if not using weapon power pots) or flames of oblivion if using pots, could also slot vigor here. Flawless dawnbreaker for max damage or take flight for Max fun.

Bow, endless hail, rearming trap, poison injection, razor caltrops, molten armaments.
Use the standard of might ultimate or Ballista they are both situational.

I would love to see wrecking blow in a decent 2h parse. That skill just seems like garbage to me for PvE, and people insisting on using it is what makes 2h look bad.

Here's the obvious skill choices:
1. Venom claw, brawler, reverse slice, noxious, FoO, FDB
2. Trap, poison injection, hail, caltrops, igneous weapons (or molten if you don't mind chugging potions), standard of might

Rotation is as you would imagine, just stick to 1 heavy attack. Once they get in execute range, keep up trap, hail and injection (maybe venom claw too and noxious if it's a dummy) but otherwise spam la->reverse slice.

Define decent dummy Parse. How high would you like to see? I'm a console player so it'll have to be a skeleton test.

30k solo.

Deal, I'll get back to you with a video. Maybe as early as tomorrow.

Kanar · March 2018

BuddyAces wrote: »

Kanar wrote: »

Mister_DMC wrote: »

Kanar wrote: »

Mister_DMC wrote: »

2h and bow is good on a DK. Going to do very quick writeup. Don't take this into vmol or vhof though, you'll get yelled at. Plays very similar to Alcast's Stamsorc.

Skills - 2h bar. Wrecking blow, reverse slice, brawler or carve, venomous claw, Rally (if not using weapon power pots) or flames of oblivion if using pots, could also slot vigor here. Flawless dawnbreaker for max damage or take flight for Max fun.

Bow, endless hail, rearming trap, poison injection, razor caltrops, molten armaments.
Use the standard of might ultimate or Ballista they are both situational.

I would love to see wrecking blow in a decent 2h parse. That skill just seems like garbage to me for PvE, and people insisting on using it is what makes 2h look bad.

Here's the obvious skill choices:
1. Venom claw, brawler, reverse slice, noxious, FoO, FDB
2. Trap, poison injection, hail, caltrops, igneous weapons (or molten if you don't mind chugging potions), standard of might

Rotation is as you would imagine, just stick to 1 heavy attack. Once they get in execute range, keep up trap, hail and injection (maybe venom claw too and noxious if it's a dummy) but otherwise spam la->reverse slice.

Define decent dummy Parse. How high would you like to see? I'm a console player so it'll have to be a skeleton test.

30k solo.

I'd be more shocked if most people could not. Wish I was at home. I want to do this now lol

With wrecking blow as a regular part of the rotation. What do you even empower with it? A heavy attack? Venom claw? Ulti when it's up ofc. Also note that build didn't even have major fracture.

Runefang · March 2018

Kanar wrote: »

BuddyAces wrote: »

Kanar wrote: »

Mister_DMC wrote: »

Kanar wrote: »

Mister_DMC wrote: »

2h and bow is good on a DK. Going to do very quick writeup. Don't take this into vmol or vhof though, you'll get yelled at. Plays very similar to Alcast's Stamsorc.

Skills - 2h bar. Wrecking blow, reverse slice, brawler or carve, venomous claw, Rally (if not using weapon power pots) or flames of oblivion if using pots, could also slot vigor here. Flawless dawnbreaker for max damage or take flight for Max fun.

Bow, endless hail, rearming trap, poison injection, razor caltrops, molten armaments.
Use the standard of might ultimate or Ballista they are both situational.

I would love to see wrecking blow in a decent 2h parse. That skill just seems like garbage to me for PvE, and people insisting on using it is what makes 2h look bad.

Here's the obvious skill choices:
1. Venom claw, brawler, reverse slice, noxious, FoO, FDB
2. Trap, poison injection, hail, caltrops, igneous weapons (or molten if you don't mind chugging potions), standard of might

Rotation is as you would imagine, just stick to 1 heavy attack. Once they get in execute range, keep up trap, hail and injection (maybe venom claw too and noxious if it's a dummy) but otherwise spam la->reverse slice.

Define decent dummy Parse. How high would you like to see? I'm a console player so it'll have to be a skeleton test.

30k solo.

I'd be more shocked if most people could not. Wish I was at home. I want to do this now lol

With wrecking blow as a regular part of the rotation. What do you even empower with it? A heavy attack? Venom claw? Ulti when it's up ofc. Also note that build didn't even have major fracture.

On Alcast's Stam Sorc build WB is just used to empower the heavies.

Mister_DMC · March 2018

Kanar wrote: »

BuddyAces wrote: »

Kanar wrote: »

Mister_DMC wrote: »

Kanar wrote: »

Mister_DMC wrote: »

2h and bow is good on a DK. Going to do very quick writeup. Don't take this into vmol or vhof though, you'll get yelled at. Plays very similar to Alcast's Stamsorc.

Skills - 2h bar. Wrecking blow, reverse slice, brawler or carve, venomous claw, Rally (if not using weapon power pots) or flames of oblivion if using pots, could also slot vigor here. Flawless dawnbreaker for max damage or take flight for Max fun.

Bow, endless hail, rearming trap, poison injection, razor caltrops, molten armaments.
Use the standard of might ultimate or Ballista they are both situational.

I would love to see wrecking blow in a decent 2h parse. That skill just seems like garbage to me for PvE, and people insisting on using it is what makes 2h look bad.

Here's the obvious skill choices:
1. Venom claw, brawler, reverse slice, noxious, FoO, FDB
2. Trap, poison injection, hail, caltrops, igneous weapons (or molten if you don't mind chugging potions), standard of might

Rotation is as you would imagine, just stick to 1 heavy attack. Once they get in execute range, keep up trap, hail and injection (maybe venom claw too and noxious if it's a dummy) but otherwise spam la->reverse slice.

Define decent dummy Parse. How high would you like to see? I'm a console player so it'll have to be a skeleton test.

30k solo.

I'd be more shocked if most people could not. Wish I was at home. I want to do this now lol

With wrecking blow as a regular part of the rotation. What do you even empower with it? A heavy attack? Venom claw? Ulti when it's up ofc. Also note that build didn't even have major fracture.

If it's completely Solo then I'll include venomous breath instead of flames of oblivion though I've blown through VMA dozens of times on that build with no major fracture.

Bobby_V_Rockit · March 2018

I ended up going for something similar, using:

2H: Brawler, Venom Claw, Reverse Slice, Rally, FoO, FDB.
Bow: Endless, spray (no caltrops yet), Injection, Noxious, Molten armaments, Standard of Might.

Now to figure out the gear (i.e. is a slayer set better than agility) lol.

Pretty fun so far, but not played any vet content yet hahaha.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO · March 2018

Bobby_V_Rockit wrote: »

I ended up going for something similar, using:

2H: Brawler, Venom Claw, Reverse Slice, Rally, FoO, FDB.
Bow: Endless, spray (no caltrops yet), Injection, Noxious, Molten armaments, Standard of Might.

Now to figure out the gear (i.e. is a slayer set better than agility) lol.

Pretty fun so far, but not played any vet content yet hahaha.

If you are under about 30k dps, you are better off with aglity. Over that you are better off with a minor slayer set.

Try shadow silk instead of arrow spray, cheaper then arrow spray and does simlar damage but has a synergy for range.

Kanar · March 2018

Bobby_V_Rockit wrote: »

I ended up going for something similar, using:

2H: Brawler, Venom Claw, Reverse Slice, Rally, FoO, FDB.
Bow: Endless, spray (no caltrops yet), Injection, Noxious, Molten armaments, Standard of Might.

Now to figure out the gear (i.e. is a slayer set better than agility) lol.

Pretty fun so far, but not played any vet content yet hahaha.

VO + TFS + warrior mundus is a staple stamDK setup. For 2h, no monster pieces assuming you have asylum 2h and maelstrom bow. VO 5pc sustain is great.

I did run with agility for a long time before I had VO. Hundings + agl with lover mundus is an option easy setup.

I'd drop spray and take rearming trap instead.

Bobby_V_Rockit · March 2018

Kanar wrote: »

Bobby_V_Rockit wrote: »

I ended up going for something similar, using:

2H: Brawler, Venom Claw, Reverse Slice, Rally, FoO, FDB.
Bow: Endless, spray (no caltrops yet), Injection, Noxious, Molten armaments, Standard of Might.

Now to figure out the gear (i.e. is a slayer set better than agility) lol.

Pretty fun so far, but not played any vet content yet hahaha.

VO + TFS is a staple stamDK setup. For 2h, no monster pieces assuming you have asylum 2h and maelstrom bow.

I did run with agility for a long time before I had VO.

I'd drop spray and take rearming trap instead.

I run either 5x Mechanical acuity, 3x Agility, 2x Velidreth and Asylum Greatsword and bow. Or 5x mech, 5x VO and asylum gsword and bow (thus acid spray). Been stuck on stage 5 of vMA for a year and a half lol

kylewwefan · March 2018

I’m a big fan of the 2H. I’ve tried to run Maelstrom with it on all my Stam toons. It’s highly possible that I just plain suck with it. So I end up going DW on the 8th round. Just have the worst time taking out the totems.

So anyways, what I find is Brawler makes you incredibly tanky for a short time when there’s tons of ads running in close to you. And having access to an execute is is also quite helpful. Heavy attacks with it are slow af though.

Dungeons absolutely shreds stuff and it feels a lot more bursty and great on ads but a bit slower single target DPS.

Alcast · March 2018

I once tried 2H/Bow on a Warden in maelstrom with heavy armor. Worked really well in there especially because you barely take damage in heavy armor. Base layout of 2H/Bow setup is mostly the same, you just want to swap some unique class ability skills in.
I did a buildvideo on that warden setup to better explain why run certains tuff.

Gear:
5x Seventh Legion
5x Vicious Serpent
1x Asylum 2H

https://youtu.be/0HXNkLGGKIM

Bobby_V_Rockit · March 2018

Alcast wrote: »

I once tried 2H/Bow on a Warden in maelstrom with heavy armor. Worked really well in there especially because you barely take damage in heavy armor. Base layout of 2H/Bow setup is mostly the same, you just want to swap some unique class ability skills in.
I did a buildvideo on that warden setup to better explain why run certains tuff.

Gear:
5x Seventh Legion
5x Vicious Serpent
1x Asylum 2H

https://youtu.be/0HXNkLGGKIM

Cool, I’ll check it out on my SDK

Daimmyo · March 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZOA0lJ8o0E

I am still trying to solo world bosses - but I don't have the gear and I'm lacking DPS/sustain - grinding in that direction.

This is probably the best setup so far in terms of survivability.

Bobby_V_Rockit · March 2018

Indeed

Bobby_V_Rockit wrote: »

Alcast wrote: »

I once tried 2H/Bow on a Warden in maelstrom with heavy armor. Worked really well in there especially because you barely take damage in heavy armor. Base layout of 2H/Bow setup is mostly the same, you just want to swap some unique class ability skills in.
I did a buildvideo on that warden setup to better explain why run certains tuff.

Gear:
5x Seventh Legion
5x Vicious Serpent
1x Asylum 2H

https://youtu.be/0HXNkLGGKIM

Cool, I’ll check it out on my SDK

So far so good, but the video suggests 2x Stormfist + 3x VO + 5x Seventh Legion, but your comment suggests 5x VO, 5x SL and no monster set, whats difference? Also, would just about any heavy armour set do the same? Ie, 5x heavy mechincal acuity + 5x VO and an asylum g’sword?

Koensol · March 2018

I'm not playing a DK, but I am using 2h/bow on my stamblade pve build. Since I cannot get a 2 piece monster on this setup, I decided to go drop the 1 piece monster entirely and go for what makes 2h what it is: massive AoE. I sacrifice maybe a couple k's of dps this way, but it is so much more fun.

In my setup I use 5 VO (might switch later to war machine) + 5 Briarheart + vMA bow and last but not least: Master 2h. Single target on a 6m dummy I usually do about 30-33k dps, which is good enough for vet trials as well, because it ends up being over 40k dps in a raid group. In AoE though this build performs like a beast. When you spam la/ha + brawler over your other AoE dots on a big pack of mobs or multiple stacked bosses, you are both almost immortal from the brawler shield, while dealing insane amounts of AoE from the titanic cleave set bonus (master 2h), finishing it off with la + reverse slice spam. It really is a lot of fun to play. This setup even gives you a flex spot in which you can slot something like vigor or rally.

Alcast · March 2018

Bobby_V_Rockit wrote: »

Indeed

Bobby_V_Rockit wrote: »

Alcast wrote: »

I once tried 2H/Bow on a Warden in maelstrom with heavy armor. Worked really well in there especially because you barely take damage in heavy armor. Base layout of 2H/Bow setup is mostly the same, you just want to swap some unique class ability skills in.
I did a buildvideo on that warden setup to better explain why run certains tuff.

Gear:
5x Seventh Legion
5x Vicious Serpent
1x Asylum 2H

https://youtu.be/0HXNkLGGKIM

Cool, I’ll check it out on my SDK

So far so good, but the video suggests 2x Stormfist + 3x VO + 5x Seventh Legion, but your comment suggests 5x VO, 5x SL and no monster set, whats difference? Also, would just about any heavy armour set do the same? Ie, 5x heavy mechincal acuity + 5x VO and an asylum g’sword?

ah, I think I played around with those two combos because I was looking at how sustain would be. Sustain with 5x Vicious is better, but Stormfist sustain also decent + a bit more damage.

goldenarcher1 · March 2018

Brawler is one of my favourites,need to get one of these.

Kanar · March 2018

Koensol wrote: »

I'm not playing a DK, but I am using 2h/bow on my stamblade pve build. Since I cannot get a 2 piece monster on this setup, I decided to go drop the 1 piece monster entirely and go for what makes 2h what it is: massive AoE. I sacrifice maybe a couple k's of dps this way, but it is so much more fun.

In my setup I use 5 VO (might switch later to war machine) + 5 Briarheart + vMA bow and last but not least: Master 2h. Single target on a 6m dummy I usually do about 30-33k dps, which is good enough for vet trials as well, because it ends up being over 40k dps in a raid group. In AoE though this build performs like a beast. When you spam la/ha + brawler over your other AoE dots on a big pack of mobs or multiple stacked bosses, you are both almost immortal from the brawler shield, while dealing insane amounts of AoE from the titanic cleave set bonus (master 2h), finishing it off with la + reverse slice spam. It really is a lot of fun to play. This setup even gives you a flex spot in which you can slot something like vigor or rally.

I prefer asylum 2h myself, but yeah brawler is awesome even without using master's (which I have, but am addicted to the ulti generation of asylum). I actually put some points in bastion star for increased Shields. It buffed my brawler shield by about 500, so even hitting one target that's +1k.

With proactive use of brawler, I don't think bladecloak is any better. 25% of 20k (upper limit of dps hp in trial) is 5k; a single swipe of brawler, hitting 1 target, gives 5-6k shield I think. It's just a matter of knowing when to use it, ie "git gud" and bladecloak is not needed in most cases (there are still some trials bosses where it is very useful I admit).

Bobby_V_Rockit · April 2018

Alrighty, well, assuming that 2x Velidreth, 3x agility/VO jewelery and asylum 2h are fixed, I’m left with the 5 body piece to tinker with.

My available options are:
- Mechanical Acuity
- Sunderflame
- TFS

What would you choose?

Runefang · April 2018

Kanar wrote: »

Koensol wrote: »

I'm not playing a DK, but I am using 2h/bow on my stamblade pve build. Since I cannot get a 2 piece monster on this setup, I decided to go drop the 1 piece monster entirely and go for what makes 2h what it is: massive AoE. I sacrifice maybe a couple k's of dps this way, but it is so much more fun.

In my setup I use 5 VO (might switch later to war machine) + 5 Briarheart + vMA bow and last but not least: Master 2h. Single target on a 6m dummy I usually do about 30-33k dps, which is good enough for vet trials as well, because it ends up being over 40k dps in a raid group. In AoE though this build performs like a beast. When you spam la/ha + brawler over your other AoE dots on a big pack of mobs or multiple stacked bosses, you are both almost immortal from the brawler shield, while dealing insane amounts of AoE from the titanic cleave set bonus (master 2h), finishing it off with la + reverse slice spam. It really is a lot of fun to play. This setup even gives you a flex spot in which you can slot something like vigor or rally.

I prefer asylum 2h myself, but yeah brawler is awesome even without using master's (which I have, but am addicted to the ulti generation of asylum). I actually put some points in bastion star for increased Shields. It buffed my brawler shield by about 500, so even hitting one target that's +1k.

With proactive use of brawler, I don't think bladecloak is any better. 25% of 20k (upper limit of dps hp in trial) is 5k; a single swipe of brawler, hitting 1 target, gives 5-6k shield I think. It's just a matter of knowing when to use it, ie "git gud" and bladecloak is not needed in most cases (there are still some trials bosses where it is very useful I admit).

That's assuming the main use is to avoid what would otherwise be a one-shot.

The thing is there is lots of sustained AoE damage that bladecloak mitigates without needing to be refreshed outside of the normal rotation. On the other hand you need to keep going back to brawler to use it again whenever your shield is down and the sustained damage is still going.

Kanar · April 2018

Bobby_V_Rockit wrote: »

Alrighty, well, assuming that 2x Velidreth, 3x agility/VO jewelery and asylum 2h are fixed, I’m left with the 5 body piece to tinker with.

My available options are:
- Mechanical Acuity
- Sunderflame
- TFS

What would you choose?

TFS for everything except organized vet trials. Sunderflame is not a good match for 2h because the heavy attacks take so long (best to avoid them as much as possible). Mechanical acuity also is not a good match, because you won't have it on any weapons; that set is only good if you can control when it triggers (ie on a weapon so it activates when you bar swap).

If TFS is not an option then I would go with hundings. If pen is needed you could use lover mundus, for vet trials use warrior.