Bludgeonners Assemble!

Discussion in 'Skills and Combat' started by Violet Ronso, Feb 18, 2020.

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  1. Violet Ronso

    Violet Ronso Avatar

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    Hello mighty warriors who use axes, maces and hammers! I am trying out these fine weapons, but I lack the knowledge about the weapons and the skills you can use with them! I am wondering if anyone could help me out with which skills to use, maybe which other schools would help out the best, all of that!

    For right now, I picked up the specialization, and have invested in in Ground Pound, Knockback and Break Armor as my 3 main skills, and invested heavily into having a decent defense.

    So, any other suggestions or a better idea?
     
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  2. Anpu

    Anpu Avatar

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    I’m bludgeon spec.

    I’m liking Earth Spec, though it’s not really that great. The stunning stone fist now is interesting though. The strength bonus (with a chest with strength of earth bonus) is nice.

    Get a weapon with bludgeon masterwork. I have this disposable one with +29% Break Armor Damage etc...

    I wear Chainmail chest, the rest high focus cloth (with masterworks).
     
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  3. Lazlo

    Lazlo Avatar

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    My staple deck when using bludgeon was drawn glyphs for crushing blow, knockdown, and offhand attack. Locked ground pound, berserk, berserker stance, engage, str buffs. Vs. normal mobs, you can mitigate so much damage with stuns and knockdowns that you can go all out on damage. I still used mossy handle weapons though because the amount of hp/regen you get is just so much better than the small dmg bonuses you can get with other handles.

    Knockback is the highest and most efficient bludgeon damage glyph at high level with specialization, but it's also pretty annoying to randomly knock mobs out of your melee range and away from other mobs. I used to always use it against dragons and other cc immune bosses, because why not, but most of that stuff isn't cc immune anymore.

    Imo break armor is wildly overrated. It looks like a huge debuff, but against everything that I ever tested it on, it didn't do much. I'm not sure exactly why, but maybe a lot of mobs don't have much resist in the first place, or maybe they have so much that they hit max resist even when debuffed. In any case, it's usually not worth using in PvE other than against some bosses. Same with break weapon. PvP might be another story.

    Ground pound with spec is super good even though it's expensive and a little situational. It really shines in places where there is some crazy spot packed with hard hitting mobs that are hard to get under control before dying. It's also not bad to just keep locked all the time and use whenever there's enough mobs around to be worth it.

    I stopped playing bludgeon about the same time that the 2h masterwork/enc bonus upgrades went in, but I'm pretty sure it's worth it to have a good 2h even if you can't use it all the time. 2h is a bigger damage upgrade for bludgeon than blades or pole because blades and pole have much better 1h weapon options. I would still use dual wield for long/continuous fights, but 2h is significantly faster when you can get away with it.

    I always used death spec with my bludgeon build because I liked the reduced fizzle death shield and lich pet, but death shield was a lot better back then. Earth is okay because it gives you more str and hps, although the avoidance boost on crystal will often be kind of wasted. Tactics is decent also because you should be using berserker stance almost always and the crit boost is nice. That would probably be my choice right now.
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2020
  4. Nexus-6

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    Bludgeon+Earth specialization. 302 Str / +29% crushing blow / Full plate

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    Heavy specialization has to low profit, as for me...
    Dual has more crit chance...
    Axe has slightly low damage
     
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  5. Violet Ronso

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    @Lazlo , thank you for the comprehensive post, covers a lot! I had a few questions for you :

    1. You mention Knockdown + pushing enemies away, are you maybe confused with Knockback? Or does Knockdown ALSO push enemies away? If you were confused, which one did you prefer, Knockdown or Knockback?

    2. For the Break Armor one, did you test it after the resistance change where all mobs got x2 resistance?

    3. Did you change anything in your style vs bosses? Bosses end up being longer fights where you might take a few more hits, did you still use berserkers stance and berserk then?

    Thank you btw!

    @Nexus-6 , have you tried a Strength of Earth Chest piece and dropping Earth spec? The only benefits of Earth spec seem to be more Strength from SoE, and avoidance (that you lose from beserk) with the Crystal shield. Given that I can reach 375 Strength without Earth Spec, I think I can give that one up fairly easily, that is why I am looking into life or heavy. If I start dual wielding, Tactics might be a good idea too.
     
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  6. Magnus Zarwaddim

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    Don't forget those passives in the Bludgeon tree.
     
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  7. Magnus Zarwaddim

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    Which mod is that?
     
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  8. Nexus-6

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    ... and nice +50% encumbrance capacity buf :)

    Any way earth is temporary spec because i thinking about pure tank (bludgeon+shield) or heal tank (bludgeon+death)...

    OCX

    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/ocx-tools.161143/
     
  9. Lazlo

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    1. Yes, I meant knockback. My bad, edited. Knockdown pretty much has no drawback and I used it close to 100% of the time.

    2. I don't think I've tested since that resistance change, so it might be worth checking out. It's a really annoying thing to test though since it could produce different results for every mob that you test against.

    3. I fought a little differently vs. some bosses, but for the most part, I think it's still usually correct to be using offensive stances and gear. The only time I ever switched to defensive stances and gear was vs. swarms of hard hitting mobs, because it wasn't possible to stay alive otherwise.
     
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  10. Lazlo

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    I made quite a few videos when I was playing bludgeon, btw. Most of them are over a year old, but these 3 are a little bit more recent. There's still been a lot of changes since then, but they should still be helpful. It's nothing particularly mind blowing or impressive, but it's a pretty good sample of how I played bludgeon.



     
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  11. Violet Ronso

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    Thank you! I will be sure to watch these to get some ideas !
     
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  12. Arkah EMPstrike

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    @Violet Ronso im not a specialist but Crushing blow and Break Armor are the big damage dealers for me. 2 hits with break armor then obliterate with crushing blow.

    I leave knock down locked so i can charge up them 12 second knockdowns which give everyone with high backstab ability a 20%+ dmg bonus
     
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  13. Violet Ronso

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    When you say you are not a specialist, you mean you don't have the specialization? If so, that could explain you using crushing blow over knockback, but with spec, I can get more damage from Knockback (from the tooltip info), and knockback has a garanteed stun (short, but still 100%). That is why I have been using knockback more!

    Also, charging knockdown increases the knockdown duration? That is great info :O
     
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  14. Arkah EMPstrike

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    It might also be good to note that you can decrease the damage your target deals by 15% or more with break weapon. This includes wolves bears dragons and spiders
     
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