Offhand Selection

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My berserker has grandmastery in axes, and I'm looking ahead for what my offhand weapon is going to be. I am currently using Belm in the offhand. Am I better off sticking with Belm for the extra attack? About the only weapon of note that I won't be able to select is Crom Faeyr, as someone else will definitely be using that. I guess the question basically boils down to is Axe of the Unyielding combined with Belm better or worse than the Axe of the Unyielding combined with something else, where something else includes everything except Belm, Kundane, and Crom Faeyr.

 

What about Angurvadal?

If I remember correctly it sets your strength to 22 and gives you negative plane protection.

or spectral brand?

 

Hmmm... the negative plane protection might be worth having. My base strength is 19, so even if I don't do anything to enhance my strength, it's OK. I was also thinking of Defender of Easthaven and the Answerer, and Spectral Brand definitely crossed my mind.

 

What about the rune hammer? good for undead if I remember correctly? upgraded that is.

 

My favourite off-hand weapon is no-doubtly the Celestial Fury for the simple reason of it's stun ability. It ain't hitting that much in ToB though, but neither is the Belm so I guess you'll be alright

 

You see, that's what I'm thinking. Belm isn't hitting too much stuff in ToB, and therefore, I question it's usefulness. Yes, I'm getting an extra attack with the AotU, but I'm effectively losing an attack per round by using Belm. If I instead equip something else, I'll maintain the same number of attacks in terms of "attacks that may actually cause damage" and additionally, I'll be able to get some other status effects as well.

Hmmm...Runehammer is appealing as well, once upgraded. The good thing is I really don't have to decide on just one. There really is no point in assigning more than one proficiency point in your offhanded weapon - you are only ever going to get one attack with it per round no matter what you do - so it's entirely reasonable to go on an as-needed basis, selecting my proficiencies based on what I'm most likely to use next. At this point, I only have one point in scimitars for that very reason - I didn't want to be heavily penalized for using Belm, and yet, since I knew I wasn't going to be using it for the long run, I didn't want to sink additional proficiency points into it.

 

I like both Angurvadel or Equalizer as an off-hand weapon, depending on which immunities you need. Both give benefits to the main hand weapon.

 

So even though the animation shows the character always swinging both weapons sequentially, that isnt really happening?

 

I disagree with that because although you only get one attack, the bonus for that second dot is more than you get for the first one. Ignoring possibilities where you just couldn't get the second dot in the first place (non-warriors), so the discussion is moot anyway, the bonus for the first dot is only negating a -2 THAC0 penalty. Meanwhile the bonus for the second dot is +1 to THAC0 and +2 to damage. I'd say that's worth at least as much as what is effectively +2 to THAC0 over the alternative, especially considering higher levels where a warrior is going to hit everything regardless of a couple points here or there. Though perhaps that just points to the first dot being worthless too if you're a warrior...

One exception to that would be the Swashbuckler, who can get the second dot but has a different penalty for non-proficiency, being a rogue rather than a warrior. And when you've got a possible -3 (or -5 for single-class wizards) THAC0 penalty on a class that doesn't have as good THAC0 progression as a warrior, it's more than worth it for that first dot, whereas the second for the Swash might be questionable (affected also by how often they get them).

Nope. In fact, some of those double swings aren't even single swings unless you've got a really high number of attacks. You'll find a lot of what you see in combat doesn't match what's happening behind the scenes.

 

So you should go by what you see in the battle text and not what you see?

Even if you use improved haste, do you only ever do one attack per round with your offhand weapon?

Personally I prefer to maximize the possible benefits with any weapon I use, so I get 3 stars minimum in any weapon I plan to use. Usually I stick to one type of weapon to make things easier.

I was just thinking, what do you guys think is the maximum damage you could ever do in one hit? Was thinking if one were to wield a +5 backstabbable weapon in one hand and the crom feyr in the other, then use an assassin to backstab (I think a commoner will be my victim), you might see damage of more than 100. Pity dragons are immune to backstab. Oh I suppose it might be useful to dual the assassin to a fighter to get grand mastery. Can you backstab with a two handed weapon?

 

Improved haste just increases the tempo, so you'd get two then.

You can backstab only with weapons that are usable by a single-class thief. So you wouldn't be able to backstab with a two-handed sword even as an F/T. This extends to specific weapons as well, so while you can backstab with most staves, even an M/T or F/M/T could not backstab with the Staff of the Magi because it is not usable by single-class thieves. And Carsomyr is right out.

 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind when building my next thief.

I always think its such a pity that thiefs are so terrible at fighting. At least in 3e they were improved a bit, despite backstab being seriously nerfed.

 

My F/M/T back-stabbed a drow in ToB. With Celestial Fury+5 daikatana. He also had critical hit activated. He did something more than 100+ dmg, though I can not remember right now. (possibly it was higher than 150, but I do not want to lie...oh was it 180? ) The drow was at full health, but then he was instantly chunkified, blasted into tiny pieces of meat. (eww) That was just too cool...and evil.

Like I said before, Mislead, Dual-wield, Improved Haste, and backstab with Critical hit HLA:Feel the real terror!

Oh, for the off-hand weapon:Sanchuudoku+4 is a great offhand weapon too, it gives acid immunity, high regeneration, and acidic backslash effect. Celestial Fury+5 is better as a right hand weapon though, it does more damage, can do massive lightning damage, and occasionaly stun people:cool weapon!

 

Celestial Fury +5? Thought it was a +3?

 

I'm surprised the Flail of Ages hasn't been mentioned. Although that might be a better choice for the main hand, switching the Axe of the Unyielding to the off-hand. Not as many vorpal hits, but slow is pretty awesome, especially considering that many enemies in ToB are immune to vorpal hits.

 

@proteus_za

Oops, sorry, you see, my game is heavily modded, and Item Upgrade mod lets you upgrade CF+3 to +5, with a demon heart, a wand of lightning, and a swell cost of 20000gp, at Cromwell's. It is great to have a +5 (dai)katana though. And before you ask, Sanchuudoku+4 (I may be mis-spelling it though) is from Tactic's mod's Kuroisan encounter. (a deadly wu-jen who comes to collect CF from your dead hands)

Flail of the Ages+5 is a fantastic weapon. By far one of the best weapons in the game, the best weapon to kill Improved Yaga Shura too. Definitely use it for your main hand!

 

Ummm doesn't the axe of the unyielding give the same effect as the vorpal sword does? That being a small percentage chance that the victim must save or die? I believe it's 5% yeah?

 

It does have the same effect (I don't think it's a save or die, I think it's a chance that it just kills you, no save allowed), although I thought the % was greater than 5%.

FoA is way too good a weapon to be in the offhand. It's not like I'm not using it. I have Anomen in my party.

 

Oh, maybe it's 10%??? I think it increases to that once it's been upgraded but I don't remember! It IS pretty good though I must admit ... for an axe

 

The Silver Sword has a 25% chance with a save at -2, and the Axe of the Unyielding +5 (the +3 isn't vorpal) has a 10% chance with an undocumented save at -4. Meanwhile, the Ravager +6 has a 10% chance with NO save allowed. (Which, I imagine, is why so many people swear by it for Sarevok.) Any other vorpal weapons I'm forgetting?

The FoA +5 makes a decent off-hand weapon if you only want it for the Free Action, but there are better choices for off-hand and the FoA makes a better main-hand weapon than off-hand.