Dual wield Rapiers vs Spears

[luzarius]

Rapiers have a speed rating of fast, spears have a speed rating of average.  Both weapons are accurate and piercing.

 

Which is ultimately better?

[Gromnir]

Rapiers have a speed rating of fast, spears have a speed rating of average.  Both weapons are accurate and piercing.

 

Which is ultimately better?

blue. no, green.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Luckmann]

Depends on what you want to do.

 

But usually spears.

[Starthief]

If the numbers I've seen are right -- and maybe they're not -- a full attack cycle with dual fast weapons is 44 frames and with average it's 66.

The base damage of spears is 11 to 16, and rapiers is 9 to 13.  

In damage per frame, that means spears are .16 to .24, and rapiers are .2 to .29.

But this is against 0 DR and with no penetration; against DR spears will start looking better, and I'm too lazy to bother with the math to find the breakeven point.

My personal thought is the whole point of dual wielding is to attack as quickly as possible, so might as well go for the fastest available weapons.

[gkathellar]

Honestly, you should decide based less on Rapiers vs. Spears, and more based on what other 1h weapons are grouped with them under Weapon Focus. Noble gets you Rapiers alongside Maces (DR penetration is slick) and Daggers (ehhhh). Peasant gets you Spears and Hatchets (uniquely good for increasing your durability). If you think you'll need DR penetration, go for Noble. If you think you'll need extra defense, go for Hatchets.

 

On the magic item front, spears are better off than rapiers, and maces are better off than hatchets.

 

Personally, I'd go for spears.

[Elerond]

Spears are better against enemies with high DR and rapiers against enemies with no DR or low DR.  Although rapiers become better again against those enemies that have high enough DR to make you only to do minimum damage.

 

Spears are in peasant weapon focus section with quarterstaffs (two handed, 14-20 crush, reach, slow), hatchets (+5 deflection, 9-13 slash, fast) and hunting bow (ranged, 9-14 pierce, fast), unarmed. Rapiers are in noble weapon focus section, where there is also daggers (slash, +5 accuracy, fast, single handed), maces (3 DR bypass, 11-16 crush, single handed, average), scepters (ranged, fast, 11-16 crush/slash)  and rods (11-16 pierce/slash, ranged, fast).  So in most part secondary weapon options are better for rapier than spear.

 

There are pretty good unique rapiers and spears in the game.

 

Sword of Daenysis - 1.2 x speed and rending [5 DR bypass])

Vierina’s Leaves - 1.2 x damage against prone, stunned and flanked enemies has also superb enchantment outright)

 

Cladhalíath - enchantments depend on your choices but some combinations are pretty good.

The Vile Loner’s Lance - Disorienting (-5 to all defenses for 5 seconds on hit)

Danulya - 1.2 x attack speed

 

So I would probably choose double rapier (double mace, dagger+mace or rod/scepter) because its secondary weapon options, but double spear+ quarterstaff combination is also quite good. 

Edited April 17, 2015 by Elerond

[Exoduss]

Atleast while you are leveling , dont take talents that makes you use one or another weapon type , also use the best weapons you can get and by the time you are lvl 12th you will know what you want spear or rapier , because for now you might aswell just end up using A rapier in 1 hand and spear in other 

[KDubya]

If you are a fighter and trying to put out damage then you'll want to make use of the fighter only weapon specialization and mastery abilities for an additional +25% damage to the entire weapon group.

 

With that in mind the peasant focus gets you hunting bows for range, quarterstaffs for two handed with reach, daggers, spears, hatchets and fists. The noble group does get maces which have a DR penetrating ability but are stuck with the terrible scepters and rods for ranged weapons and no two handed option.

[Daemonjax]

Rapiers have a speed rating of fast, spears have a speed rating of average.  Both weapons are accurate and piercing.

 

Which is ultimately better?

 

Depends on weapons with unique enchants you find.

 

If you're asking what weapon focus to get early on, I wouldn't do that... trading flexibility and two talents for just +6 accuracy and + 0.15 damage mod is usually a bad idea.

Edited April 18, 2015 by Daemonjax

[ErlKing]

Dual stilettos - fast, DR bypass, pierce.