I pug dungeons as a tank and have lost taunt a few times lately. Looking closely at some inexperienced (low CP) players in the group, they were using 1H+S. In other words, some players choose this by accident or for role-playing reasons.

1H+S was meta in PvP in the distant past. Ransack / Pierce Armor did regular spammable damage and provided penetration. Bash weaving was a thing, e.g. light attack -> Ransack -> bash, all in one second. Some people bash in their burst combos with any weapon type, but only 1H+S made it economically viable to do so all the time. This made 1H+S a top damage spec for PvP and, I believe, that's why it was eventually nerfed, e.g. Ransack / Pierce Armor and Low Slash became pure utility skills.

A tank can have very low bash cost (around 150) these days, for example by wearing Steadfast's Mettle. This could possibly be adapted for a damage build. Not sure whether that's viable, but constantly bashing could be valuable in some fights where the boss needs to be constantly interrupted, lest it one shots people. Of course there is Crushing Shock (or Venom Arrow). Those skills are possibly the better choice, but come to think of it, they do not typically allow you 100% interrupt uptime as you have to cast other skills in your rotation. Constant bashing, especially AOE bashing with the Deadland's Demolisher set, could be valuable in some cases and naturally falls to 1H+S players. It would typically be the tank role, though.

Power Bash is a separate thing, a skill, not bashing in the above sense.

ghastley wrote: »

A power bash build was viable until quite recently, and some people are likely just waiting for it to come back, rather than rebuild yet again. If the content isn’t too hard, it still does the job - e.g. solo PvE, which these days means with a companion - where a slightly tanky player does well with a DPS companion. In pug dungeons, there’s also the “bring your own tank” philosophy, so fake tank doesn’t mean a wipe.

This makes sense.