Reply To: Your brothers' builds

[Meeky]

Yo meeky what one handed weapons do you prefer?

I recently kinda decided that maces are the best (not the lower tier stuff, but the military grade ones). I would give noble swords to archers vs like vampires and possibly other hard-to-hit stuff…

I used to think that this pick thingie whatever it was called, the one with 200 armor effectiveness was great, but i dont know any more, after having used it extensively i kinda get the feeling it may be just too specialized (sure id like to have a few vs orc warriors?).

Most weapons are pretty specialized, which is why I use Quick Hands + Bags and Belts on everyone. Having potentially 5 weapons on everyone changes the game.

With that said, most characters will have 4 or 5 different weapons on their person. Meatshields will use throwing weapons in one slot, two-handed dudes seem to benefit from carrying crossbows, and Nimble fighters ought to have a kite shield in their inventory (unequipped) and I’ve never liked giving them ranged weapons. So, in general: 4 weapons seems to be how many most characters carry.

Given that, I think it’s fair to figure out what the four best weapons are, not the very best. If I HAD to choose one weapon and one weapon alone with which to beat the game, and it had to be one-handed…?

Hm. I’d probably choose the Fighting Axe. It has high effectiveness vs. armor (125%), decent ability to ignore damage (30%), has a way to deal with shields (gang up and BREAK THEM), high weapon durability (40)… Its damage could be better (35-55), but it’s nevertheless a sort of swiss army knife. It’s not terrible great at any one job, but it’s a solid general weapon. The mace would be its runner up, or very possibly its equal in versatility: it has good damage, good penetration, and good effectiveness vs. armor just like the ace. Stunning Blow’s usefulness is limited, but… still, a very effective weapon. The Noble Sword gets an honorable mention at third place.

However, if I can choose 4 weapons instead of 1, chances are you won’t see the Fighting Axe as often as you’d expect. If all those weapons are one-handed, I’d choose…

A Warhammer (for breaking through armor – 200% damage effectiveness vs. armor ROCKS)
A Scramasax (for just ignoring armor with Puncture – useful when you want to recover a piece of equipment and can reliably surround the target; I.E., useful during the mop-up phase)
A Military Cleaver or Head Chopper (I always prefer to give my Wildmen the orcish versions of weapons; both the Cleaver and Chopper are amazing for dealing with enemies who’ve already lost their armor)
And a Noble Sword, Boar Spear, or Flail (mostly for the +10% / +20% chance to hit and defensive value for the sword / spear, but the flail – although I hate flails – admittedly has the useful ability to hit enemies despite them shielding up)

Notice that the first three weapons (warhammer/scramasax/cleaver) are all very, very specialized weapons. They have very specific purposes when I use them: the hammer to destroy armor, the cleaver to destroy flesh, and the scramasax to cut make sure I get the loot I want so badly. The noble sword, boar spear, and flail all have bonuses to their accuracy, which means they’re very useful when I need to hit something relatively hard but also need to make sure I can actually hit the darned thing. But the sword and spear aren’t situational while the flail is, and I honestly feel like the flail has a useless second ability, so I prefer the sword and spear over the flail.

Now, I still use the Fighting Axe and Mace in my army composition. I have, after all, usually several different guys in my army. I can equip them differently not only for variety but for different sort of situational usefulness. The Fighting Axe has seen use in all my games, as has the Mace, even though they’re not listed as one of my four “best case scenario” weapons. Why? They’re still Swiss army knives. They’re darned useful.

Named weapons also change how I play the game. I’ve got a Honed Oathkeeper (Noble Longsword) which deals 54-60 damage in my present iteration of the Lucky Bastards. I’ve also got a Well Crafted Maul (39-61 damage mace), Orc Warrior’s Ripper (45-78 damage Head Chopper), Deadly Whip (flail with +10% chance to hit head), a Deadly Axe (greataxe with 177% effectiveness vs. armor and only -12 fatigue), a couple more unique maces, a unique kite shield… Etc. What I find and when I find it changes how I play.