2h greatsword build suggestions

[ybducu]

Hey all,

After a zillion re-rolls I've finally finished poe1 with my 2h barbarian. I've tried loads of classes but for me nothing beats whacking away with a greatsword with blood thirst. I played with a full party of in game companions on veteran upscaled whenever asked, which I intend to do in poe2 as well.

I want to start poe2 somewhat blind but I also want to avoid restarting as often as I did with poe1. Does the same build work in poe2? So a single class greatsword barbarian. If not what would you suggest for a similar themed/feel build?

Thanks for any advice and suggestions.

[Boeroer]

Hello!

Yes, it will work. There are enough unique great swords in the game - so there should be something nice for you.

I personally think the potential synergies of a multiclass are more interesting than a single class Barbarian, but fortunately Barbarians also do very well as single class characters. Check out the late-game versions of the Barbarian's Shouts/Roars which you can only access as single class - those are extremely good.

Heart of Fury still exists but it's not as good as in PoE. Blood Thirst still exists and it's still great. What's also great is Barbaric Retaliation (late game gain, single class only) which allows for an instant Full Attack with 0 recovery against an enemy that landed a crit on you. Combined with Blood Thirst this can turn your Barb into a meat grinder. But watch your health.

There's also several subclasses. The Berserker is the one most players tend to gravitate to because his upsides are obvious, but the self damage (from Frenzy) scales quite steeply so make sure you have some good healer in the party. Also the concealed health and the confusion can mess things up.
My personal favorite subclass is the Furyshaper. Especially the Blood Ward he can summon (only for single classes) is very good since it draws health from really all damage your party does. The Fear Ward is also very good.

[ybducu]

Hey Boeroer we meet again

Thanks for the reply. I think thematically I like a weapon master kind of guy better than shouts. In poe1 the final barbarian shout didn't seem that impactful. I think because it rolls against fortitude. But poe1 isn't 2 and I take your word for it the shouts are great.

Still having looked over it a bit a greatsword  devoted/barbarian seems interesting. Only downside I'm seeing at first glance is Blood Thirst will come very late. So I'm wondering if you can get somewhat decent recovery times with it during the majority of the game? I'm basically trying to recreate the feel of the Blood Thirst poe1 build which may not be the right mindset ofc.

In poe1 I went with 16 int, per, str, rest 10. Will a similar spread be good for a brute in poe2? Would you still recommend the Furyshaper as well for that multiclass?

[Elric Galad]

For Greatsword, the greatest one does self damages (which synergizes well with monks) and big damages spike on crits (which berzekers tend to do better - berzekers synergize greatly with monks). 

I would go monk/berzekers with high perception and lowish might (to mitigate self damages) and a couple of CON points. 

But yeah, bring a healer. 

[ybducu]

That sounds intriguing as well. Does the extra attack from Quick Flurry trigger of Carnage crits?

[Boeroer]

Carnage cannot crit in PoE2 (only miss/graze/hit) and is also doesn't count as weapon attack like it did in PoE1.
Swift Flurry procs do trigger Carnage, but you cannot hit the same enemy with Carnage multiple times during one action.
There's also a nice litttle synergy between Monk and Barbarian: if you use Force of Anguish you will push the target into its own Carnage area - so it will suffer the weapon dmg and th Carnage dmg.

I played several Helwalker/Berserkers. They are great. I would recommend normal MIG and very high CON - then the self damage is manageable (with a healer) and the wound generation is supereasy (Frenzy just generates wounds for you). For a Monk/Berserker with Swift Flurry the best Great Sword is the Sanguine Great Sword. It is a weapon that has an additonal hit roll that can trigger Swift Flurry - greatly increasing the chance for it to proc additional attack cycles. I would say the best weapon for a Monk/Barbarian is the Morning Star though, especialy Saru Sichr. It also has a double hit roll. And a morning star with its modal (Body Blows: -25 fortitude on graze/hit/crit) it synergyses extremely well with Brute Force and stacks with Spirit Frenzy (stagger enemies on hit, -10 fortitude) and Enervating Blows (weaken enemies on crit: -10 fortitude).   

[Elric Galad]

I won't personnaly recommand Helwalker with Zerker on a first run, even for an experience PoE1 Player. 

Edit : Voidwheel is great because its drawback is self damages, which basically allow for infinite uses of Monk wound abilities. And because it is among the very top DPS weapons with some crits. 

But maybe Zerker self damages are enough for fueling monk anyway. 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Elric Galad

[ybducu]

Thanks all for all the tips so far. I know I said in the op I wanted to go in somewhat blind but I can't help starting to overthink things

I'm wondering now, for a fast hitting 2h build, maybe more focused on aoe than single target, what would you make? Doesn't necessarily have to be the highest dps possible, I just disike seeing my guy do nothing while his action bar slowly fills up. Also something that comes online rather early. Not that interested in some theoretical maxed out build that only works with the max level skills.

Swift flurry monk with barbarian fury/bloodlust? Or maybe fighter mob stance? How important would int and dex be in those builds? Any other class maybe that can sustain action speed buffs? Bonus points also if he can tank a bit of damage. I like my main guy to be the first one to go in.. but main focus is fast hitting 2h build.

Edited February 24, 2023 by ybducu

[Okkes]

3 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

I won't personnaly recommand Helwalker with Zerker on a first run, even for an experience PoE1 Player. 

Voidward is great because its drawback is self damages, which basically allow for infinite uses of Monk wound abilities. And because it is among the very top DPS weapons with some crits. 

But maybe Zerker self damages are enough for fueling monk anyway. 

I might be wrong but i think the ring doesnt work with Voidwheel sadly, but it works with berzerker frenzy self damage.

[Elric Galad]

1 hour ago, Okkes said:

I might be wrong but i think the ring doesnt work with Voidwheel sadly, but it works with berzerker frenzy self damage.

Aouch I meant Voiwheel indeed. 

And you're correct about Voidward

[Bosmer]

3 hours ago, ybducu said:

Thanks all for all the tips so far. I know I said in the op I wanted to go in somewhat blind but I can't help starting to overthink things

I'm wondering now, for a fast hitting 2h build, maybe more focused on aoe than single target, what would you make? Doesn't necessarily have to be the highest dps possible, I just disike seeing my guy do nothing while his action bar slowly fills up. Also something that comes online rather early. Not that interested in some theoretical maxed out build that only works with the max level skills.

Swift flurry monk with barbarian fury/bloodlust? Or maybe fighter mob stance? How important would int and dex be in those builds? Any other class maybe that can sustain action speed buffs? Bonus points also if he can tank a bit of damage. I like my main guy to be the first one to go in.. but main focus is fast hitting 2h build.

In my opinion a fast 2H-Build needs Barbarian and due to Carnage you have build-in AoE Damage. Personally, I find Berserker a bit too difficult for beginners (my main problem is that the Health Pool is hidden - although there are still other health indicators). However, combined with a Fighter (and Constant Recovery) I think it's fairly manageble. Fighter has even more AoE Damage potential due to Mob Stance and Clear Out and provides even more speed bonus that stacks with Barbarian Speed: Mob Stance and Armored Grace! So my personal recommendation would be Furyshaper or Berserker + Devoted.

If you go for Furyshaper + Monk you need some more Crit Potential: One option would be to make sure a party member has Morningstar+Modal running such that enemy Fortitude is lowered to benefit from the Brute Force passive!

Apparently it wasn't mentioned before: You should seriously consider to install the Community Patch (!) and Elric's Balance Polishing Mod even if this is your first run.

EDIT: Oh, I see that you already mentioned Fighter! For Fighter/Barbarian I would try to raise INT(!)/DEX/PER/CON, keep MIG at 10 and lower DEF (maybe not too much otherwise neg. effects run too long).

Edited February 24, 2023 by Bosmer

[Boeroer]

Barbarian/Fighter also profits a lot from a Morning Star, as Barbarian/Monk does. Before getting Brute Force you can use Knock Down/Mule Kick to target fortitude once you lowered that with a hit from the Morning Star (Body Blows modal causes -25 fortitude). 

The combination of Blood Thirst with Cleaving/Mob Stance is pretty fun. 

Also Clear Out (AoE attack) + Carnage has the same mechanic I mentioned above (pushing enemies into their own Carnage,dealing additional damage). 

Clear Out's AoE attack stacks with Weapon AoE (see for example the Great Sword Whispers of the Endless Paths): every hit of the Clear Out AoE triggers an AoE of the sword. This leads to an enormous amount of hits and sends enemies flying in all sorts of directions. 

All this is more late(r) game stuff though. As is Voidwheel by the way...

A Furyshaper/Unbroken can have nasty, nasty Disengagement attacks and summon a Fear Ward that terrifies enemies. Terrified enemies crouch around and can break engagement, giving the Furyshaper/Unbroken several free disengagement attacks. Since those have very high acc and damage they can trigger lots of crits. Those might kill enemies which triggers Blood Thirst and also Mob Stance... Also this is where a weapon like Amra (2-handed Battle Axe) comes into play. Works very well with this setup. You need some engagement slots though (Hold the Line or a cheap Barbaric Shout at the start of the battle). Also works well with Devoted, the Unbroken only adds +10 PEN to disengagement in this case (when not using a shield).

When it's about being fast not much beats a flanked Barbarian/Streetfighter though. Needs lots of CON and an amulet of health in the beginning, but can leave MIG at 10 and pump DEX and PER. Use some sort of emergency button (Escape for example) to prevent knockouts, but as long as he's flanked and rel. safe he will dish out attacks with incredible speed and also damage per hit. I really love this with fast daggers but it's also great with two handers.

Helm of the Falcon is your friend with two handed weapons by the way (if it's speed you seek).

Edited February 26, 2023 by Boeroer

[ybducu]

Thanks all

[ybducu]

Got a few more questsions.

Does Cleaving Stance do an aoe, hitting all enemies in melee range, or just one extra attack on one nearby enemy? Also is it a full weapon attack that triggers on weapon effects or just raw damage like carnage?

If the Cleaving Stance aoe is a weapon attack, will it trigger swift flurry/heartbeat drumming on all crits? If so it should be very easy to get infinite chains in an aoe with a weapon that hits twice.

Do the aoe hits of Whispers of the Endless Paths each apply carnage hits? so if you're hitting 3 mobs close together they'll all get 1 main hit and 2 carnage hits?

 

Edited March 3, 2023 by ybducu

[Bosmer]

26 minutes ago, ybducu said:

Does Cleaving Stance do an aoe, hitting all enemies in melee range, or just one extra attack on one nearby enemy? Also is it a full weapon attack that triggers on weapon effects or just raw damage like carnage?

If the Cleaving Stance aoe is a weapon attack, will it trigger swift flurry/heartbeat drumming on all crits? If so it should be very easy to get infinite chains in an aoe with a weapon that hits twice.

Do the aoe hits of Whispers of the Endless Paths each apply carnage hits? so if you're hitting 3 mobs close together they'll all get 1 main hit and 2 carnage hits?

1) no it's a full-attack (with weapon effects) on one (random?) close-by target.

2) I'm pretty sure it triggers SW/HD (didn't play too much fighter/monk). I'm not sure if I would say that it's easy to get "infinite chains". For me, personally, SW/HD don't proc as often as I'd imagine and like them to proc, even if I build for it (with huge accuracy values, deflection debuff etc..). Albeit some unique weapons help with that - however, none of them is a Great Sword.

3) Only guessing: It should work like that. However: Base damage of WotEP is significantly lower, such that the carnage hits will be weaker as well ..

[ybducu]

Thanks, that's a shame about cleaving stance. I do assume it can trigger another cleaving stance attack if it kills the second target? And also that it will apply carnage?

One more question, does the berserker hit to crit stack with the barbaric blow hit to crit? I assume not. Does it stack with the rogue's passives hit to crit? I assume yes. How about the intuitive inspiration (fighter disciplined strikes).

Edited March 3, 2023 by ybducu

[Bosmer]

1 hour ago, ybducu said:

Thanks, that's a shame about cleaving stance. I do assume it can trigger another cleaving stance attack if it kills the second target? And also that it will apply carnage?

One more question, does the berserker hit to crit stack with the barbaric blow hit to crit? I assume not. Does it stack with the rogue's passives hit to crit? I assume yes. How about the intuitive inspiration (fighter disciplined strikes).

1) yes it applies carnage, and in my opinion it's a powerful enough ability. It used to be a AoE-Attack on all surrounding enemies until it got nerfed. And it will apply carnage so fighter and berserker work nice together. However, I'm not 100% sure if a carnage kill triggers Cleaving Stance.. Soul Annihilation for example does not!

2) berserker hit to crit stacks with barbaric blow hit to crit, since berserker's hit to crit is passive! It also stacks with rogue's passive hit to crit -> However: stacking hit-to-crit chances has decreasing returns (they don't stack additively) and hence the rogue's 10% should definitely be of second order here -> I.e. increasing Accuracy by 5 points would lead to a stronger increase in crit-rate (and overall DPS of course.). Intuitive inspiration will stack with all passives, but I'm not 100% sure how it stacks with the hit-to-crit of an active ability... in my opinion it should, such as bonus accuracy or bonus penetration of an ability (e.g. accurate wounding shot) stacks with active (and passive ofc) accuracy or penetration buffs, but I didn't test it yet.

[ybducu]

Awesome thanks again.

[Bosmer]

56 minutes ago, ybducu said:

Awesome thanks again.

Oh I just saw that berserker’s hit to crit is only provided while frenzy (Active!) .. hence I’m not so sure anymore if it stacks with intuitive hit-to-crit. Would be a bummer if not, but maybe @Boeroercould chime in here?

[Boeroer]

Yes, they do stack. I don't remember any conversions that suppress each other. However, conversions don't stack additively (like "25% and 30% make 55%). Instead they get tried one after the other until either one converts or none of them does. Because of that you must calculate the overall conversion chance multiplicatively. Easiest way (imo): multiply all chances not to convert. Like 0.75 * 0.7 = 0.525 chance NOT to convert. 1-0.525 = 0.475 chance to convert (or 47.5%). 

Cleaves do trigger Swift Flurry etc.

A kill by Cleaving does trigger another Cleave. So in theory you can cleave all enemies around you to death with one initial killing blow to one of them - if they all have low enough health to get one-shotted by your Cleaves. That's why a Berserker/Fighter with Amra (Riven Gore) can cause absolute mayhem if there lots of low health characters around him. 

Beware: confused Fighters (see Berserker or Tactician or just got hit by a confusion spell) will Cleave into party members and allies!

An enemy cannot get damaged by Carnage multiple times from the same attack. You will see messages like "was already affected by a similar effect" if Carnage hits an enemy multiple times. So the effect of AoE weapons with Carnage is limited.

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Boeroer
typos