Worst weapon types/specializations?

[Krajzen]

Are there any weapon types being particularly inefficient, or one on of weapon talents (noble, peasant etc) particularly weak? Are weapons specialization talents good at all?

 

Personally I don't trust hunting bows. Sure, they are fast but still, their damage is rather sad... And I never trust stilettos and knives, in any game.

[Idleray]

The short answer is there is none. They're all good, and it's best to have each of your party members have a different one (there are 6 weapon specs, conveniently).

 

There is at least one extremely powerful weapon for every single weapon type to be found somewhere in the game.

 

Weapon specialisation is good. +6 Accuracy is effectively like +20% damage for your average starting level character with 30 Accuracy. 

Accuracy is also a very hard thing to buff. No stats affect it directly, and you only get it from leveling up and a handful of buffs which don't necessarily stack with one another.

 

 

A hunting bow you can find on level 4 from the Endless Paths of Od Nua (Persistence) has extremely good stats for how early you get it.

Put it on a rogue with sneak attacks since Rogues get a damage bonus most of the time with their Sneak Attack and you've got a ranged killing machine.

 

A stiletto that you can get from the weapons merchant in the starting Village (Azurewiths Stiletto) casts Jolting Touch whenever you crit with it, which effectively does about 150-250 damage spread across 3 enemies. Think about that.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Idleray

[Omnicron]

 

 

A stiletto that you can get from the weapons merchant in the starting Village (Azurewiths Stiletto) casts Jolting Touch whenever you crit with it, which effectively does about 150-250 damage spread across 3 enemies. Think about that.

 Is it not 1/encounter in 1.04 and now 2/encounter in 1.05 that jolting touch can proc from a crit?

[Idleray]

1 per encounter. If you proc it on a bunch of debuffed enemies it's gonna crit all of them and insta-gib.

 

Cloudpiercer is also awesome for this reason.

 

bonus: I have heard about, but not tried the bugged way in which this proc apparently interacts with the Barbarian's carnage passive, allowing each of the 3 procs of Jolt to trigger Carnage.

 

P.S. CONFIRMED Azurewith's Stiletto and Carnage probably not interacting as intended. Interacts in the same way that Kakaloth's minor blights and Blast does (i.e. each instance of an aoe attack triggers its own aoe attack)

Edited May 25, 2015 by Idleray

[MadDemiurg]

Jolting touch is fixed now though and does its "normal" 20-35 base damage (which could be a bit higher tbh), so it's not that great in the end.

 

Tbh for base weapons stats

 

Melee

 

Sabres > all, apart form some narrow stat ranges where estocs or +accuracy weapons are better

Reach weapons are still useful for having, well, reach

Hatchets for "I just want to tank" case

In case of wizard Pike > all (spirit lance)

 

Ranged

Warbow > all for steady dps, excluding some narrow stat ranges where harder hitting weapons are better

Arquebus > all for burst with quickswitch

 

Gets more complicated when counting in available unique items though.

 

In practice, the one I use the least is Knight. I've used Ruffian, Soldier, Peasant and Adventurer for most builds.

[Exoduss]

Unique Blunderbusses+Unique Pistols > Arquebusses for quick switching all the way , there is 1 usable unique arquebuss and you want to have that one on a support character like priest to give marking for your ranged dpser anyway . Lead Splitter , Mica's Roar , Dulcanale - arquacrap can dream to be this good .

[Drath]

Just wanted to add that if you don't trust the comments above you can also check with the dps spreadsheet kindly made by

some of the forumers here (Myrten, Baki, Daemonjax, AlphaMagnum, MaximKat, Matt516, et al). Key in your favored stat modifiers/abilities/talents/weapons and you'll have a good idea of where things stand. I'm not saying its 100% accurate but the formulas there are based on a good number of actual tests and are supported by observations from others, so it should be pretty close.

 

The main problem with the Hunting Bow is enemy DR. At DR 0, it's actually one of the best weapons, just pipping War Bow. However there just aren't very many enemies with DR 0. Guls, Wichts and Will O Wisp come to mind, but I think that's about it. Add on even a few points of DR and Warbow does better on the spreadsheet, as stated by MadDemiurg. From in game experience I feel much the same about things. As a good number of enemies tend to have DR around 5-10, Warbow is pretty much a standard choice, all other things being equal (weapon quality, weapon focus, etc). By DR 15, Arquebus is probably one of the better choices and you will reach this point sooner (at lower DR) if you have Gunner as a talent and/or using Chanter's "Sure-Handed Ila Nocked Her Arrows with Speed". 

 

Its more or less the same case with melee IMHO. At low DR (0-5), fast accurate weapons and stilettos can be strong contenders for dps. As nothing changes base weapon damage and virtually all the other modifiers are added together then multiplied, by virtue of having higher base damage, sabres put out better damage per strike and eventually take over at the range where you find where most enemies DR are. Hence the recommendation for them. It is possible that two handed weapons with damage reduction like Estoc coupled with proper talents would be best at DR 20+, but that's not where the vast majority of enemy DR lies. 

 

As for the different weapon focus types, Adventurer gives Estoc and Warbow, which are great options for damage dealers and Flail is decent as well for dual wielders. Ruffian gives Sabre, Stiletto, Club (all good for dual wielders) and Pistol can be a viable option with the appropriate talents. Soldier gives Pike, Arbalest and Arquebus for a character wanting to hit from a safe distance or do heavy ranged damage per shot. I think you can make a case for each, depending on what weapons are available to you, so I don't think there is a worst weapon/ weapon specialization type overall, just that at different enemy DRs, some weapons tend to do better or worse.

[cctobias]

Jolting touch is fixed now though and does its "normal" 20-35 base damage (which could be a bit higher tbh), so it's not that great in the end.

 

Tbh for base weapons stats

 

Melee

 

Sabres > all, apart form some narrow stat ranges where estocs or +accuracy weapons are better

Reach weapons are still useful for having, well, reach

Hatchets for "I just want to tank" case

In case of wizard Pike > all (spirit lance)

 

Ranged

Warbow > all for steady dps, excluding some narrow stat ranges where harder hitting weapons are better

Arquebus > all for burst with quickswitch

 

Gets more complicated when counting in available unique items though.

 

In practice, the one I use the least is Knight. I've used Ruffian, Soldier, Peasant and Adventurer for most builds.

 

Pretty much,  I find Knight the least likely to take for things that I do.  This can be modified by specific builds due to uniques or already having a party member with a focus of some sort.  One of the problems with Knight is the one-handed weapons are both slash with little return.  The slash/pierce is inferior to crush/(slash or pierce) and the effect on axe is kind of mediocre.  The only two handed weapon is morningstar whose special effect is extremely marginal and specialized.  And there are no fast weapons in it.

 

Its just a really limited focus in comparison.  Of course if you are targetting a specific unique sword or whatever its still fine.

[HoopleDoople]

I think it's clear that Ruffian, Adventurer, and Soldier are great weapon focus types. These weapon types have both great melee and ranged options and plenty of neat uniques. I doubt you'd have any issues having two characters share one of these weapon focuses.

 

I'd like to see more discussion on the Noble, Peasant, and Knight weapon focus types. These seem to have less versatile weapon choices and fewer of the amazing unique weapons associated with them (as far as I can tell, though I'm no expert).

 

Noble - this is the most perplexing weapon focus to me. There is no two-handed option for Noble but they don't get nearly as amazing one-handed weapons as Ruffian. Daggers and Rapiers pretty well overlap in functionality. Maces are a nice weapon type but there doesn't seem to be a good endgame one. It would seem that ranged would have to save Noble, and luckily the Scepter and Rod choices aren't bad at all. If only they weren't competing against ranged weapon types that are at least as good while being paired with better melee options.

 

Peasant - I actually quite like the melee weapons associated with Peasant overall, though Hunting Bows are one of my less preferred ranged options. But whereas there are some rather decent Hunting Bow uniques I don't really care much for the offerings of Hatchet, Spear, and Quarterstaff. I haven't used a Monk yet but I assume they'd at least enjoy Peasant for a fist bonus and use of Hunting Bow.

 

Knight - I have the least experience with this weapon Focus and it could be great or awful. There appears to be a lot of Sword and Battle Axe uniques including some decent options. Crossbows look to be pretty underwhelming, however. I'm not sure what to make of the higher interrupt on Morning Stars. Morning Stars would certainly be hard pressed to compete with some of the other great two-handed options.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I've been trying to plan out my party's weapon focuses for my upcoming PoTD run and so far I'm looking at something like:

 

Fighter - Soldier (Great Sword, Warhammer with shield, Arquebus)

Chanter - ??? (one-handed with shield, ranged)

Rogue - Ruffian (dual wield any of Sabres/Stillettos/Clubs, Pistol or Blunderdbuss)

Priest - Soldier (Arquebus, Pike)

Wizard - Adventurer (Estoc, Wand)

Druid - Adventurer (Warbow, Flail and Shield)

 

Assuming that I stick with all my choices so far the only question is the Chanter. He could double up Ruffian because there is so many good one-handers, take Knight for Swords/Axes, or Peasant for extra deflection with the Hatchet.

Edited May 25, 2015 by HoopleDoople

[cctobias]

Peasant is great.  Spears are really good, a number nice uniques.  Accuracy is a great special.  The only unique with choosable qualities etc etc.  Quarterstaves are really good.  It is weak for ranged though.  Dual wield hatchets is a very unique and interesting options, its more deflection than a small shield.

 

They all have their pros and cons.  Noble is weak for two-handers.  Peasant is weak for ranged.

 

But Knight is actually problematic because for every weapon class there is a better option (in a general sense) in another focus.  Knight probably should have had mace and instead of battle axe so they had a crushing options (of course that would screw noble pretty bad).

[MadDemiurg]

Noble - the best weapon in this category is the mace Ravenwing imo, which is a good endgame weapon if enchanted as well. Sword of Daenysys (rapier) would be awesome if the speed mod worked. Implements are meh as ranged weapons in general, but there are some nice unique ones such as Rod of Pale Shades with Disorienting. Overall the second least favorite group for me.

 

Peasant - actually has some very good unique weapons. Lenas Er can give most war bows a run for their money, Cladheliath spear can be great for many uses depending on how you enchant it. Hearth harvest hatchet is decent and hatchets are a good tank option in general.

 

Knight - Unique battle axes are almost strictly worse than unique sabers, and other weapons in the category are kinda meh as well. As I said my least favorite group.

 

As for group advice:

Fighter - Peasant (hatchet to tank and spear to damage, Cladheliath with marking & coordinating works very well on a tank).

Chanter - No focus, use hatchet or some ranged weapon. Chanters don't need weapons.

Rogue - yeah, Ruffian. Alternatives are Soldier (Pike) and Adventurer (War bow, ranged).

Priest - Magran Priest with an arquebus and shield + whatever in second slot is a good option in a party. So Soldier. Some alternatives would include Skaen priest with Ruffian, Wael priest with Peasant and Berath priest with Noble, but these are more exotic.

Wizard - You want Soldier on a wizard for the Spirit lance. You can go Blights with Adventurer, but imo it's weaker (but available earlier). But you can go w/o any focus at all, spirit lance has plenty of accuracy anyway.

Druid - no focus, there are better things to pick

Edited May 25, 2015 by MadDemiurg

[HoopleDoople]

I definitely didn't realize that Cladheliath was a great spear, as the wiki wasn't exactly helpful and I didn't do the proper quests to obtain it on my playthrough. Very good to know, that helps Peasant out a lot.

 

The group advice is stuff I'll keep in mind, particularly about not taking a focus for Druid or Chanter.

 

I do have one more question though. For a front line character what is the optimal focus for use of a two-handed weapon?

[MadDemiurg]

2H for the frontline - estoc by far if considering base stats only. If considering available unique items greatswords are quite good too (Tidefall, Hours of St, Rumbalt).

[Crucis]

Noble - the best weapon in this category is the mace Ravenwing imo, which is a good endgame weapon if enchanted as well. Sword of Daenysys (rapier) would be awesome if the speed mod worked. Implements are meh as ranged weapons in general, but there are some nice unique ones such as Rod of Pale Shades with Disorienting. Overall the second least favorite group for me.

 

Peasant - actually has some very good unique weapons. Lenas Er can give most war bows a run for their money, Cladheliath spear can be great for many uses depending on how you enchant it. Hearth harvest hatchet is decent and hatchets are a good tank option in general.

 

Knight - Unique battle axes are almost strictly worse than unique sabers, and other weapons in the category are kinda meh as well. As I said my least favorite group.

 

As for group advice:

Fighter - Peasant (hatchet to tank and spear to damage, Cladheliath with marking & coordinating works very well on a tank).

Chanter - No focus, use hatchet or some ranged weapon. Chanters don't need weapons.

Rogue - yeah, Ruffian. Alternatives are Soldier (Pike) and Adventurer (War bow, ranged).

Priest - Magran Priest with an arquebus and shield + whatever in second slot is a good option in a party. So Soldier. Some alternatives would include Skaen priest with Ruffian, Wael priest with Peasant and Berath priest with Noble, but these are more exotic.

Wizard - You want Soldier on a wizard for the Spirit lance. You can go Blights with Adventurer, but imo it's weaker (but available earlier). But you can go w/o any focus at all, spirit lance has plenty of accuracy anyway.

Druid - no focus, there are better things to pick

 

I have different advice for group WF allocation.

 

A defensively oriented, plate-wearing tank, whether Fighter or Paladin:  Knight or Soldier, or both.  I personally think that if the character is defensively oriented and his job is to hold the line and stay on his feet as long as possible, then it's best to use 1H-ed weapons and shields for max deflection.

 

For an offensively oriented fighter, or barbarian:  I'd suggest Ruffian, if you want to dual wield, since dualed sabers are beastly.  (Plus you get the choice of pistol or blunderbuss as a ranged weapon.)  Of course, if the idea of dualed axes floats your boat (not as good as sabers, but not bad, and a nice stereotype to go with), then Knight. 

 

For a character you want wielding two-handed weapons, probably Soldier for Greatsword or Pike.  Or Adventurer, for Estoc or Poleaxe.  Arguably the best 2H-ed weapon in the game is the greatsword, Tidefall.  But the Pike, Tall Grass, is outstanding as well.

 

For a priest of Magran (sch as Durance), IMO, you need no WF.  Just take the Magranic talent that gives a +10 accuracy in Arquebus and Sword, and you're good to go.

 

For other priests, check out their own diety's class weapon talent, since, IIRC, they're all +10 accuracy in two weapons, which is better than taking a WF ... though to be fair, not all of them come with a ranged and melee option, like Magran does.

 

 

For Rogues, IMO, it depends on whether you're looking at a primarily melee rogue or a primarily ranged rogue.  If melee, then yeah, Ruffian would probably be an excellent choice.  OTOH, if it's a ranged rogue, I suggest Adventurer (warbow) or Soldier (Arquebus and Arbalest).  My current party's rogue picked both Adventurer and Soldier because she tends to open battles with a rifle shot for max damage, then switches to her warbow, Cloudpiercer, for the better rate of fire.  (I like being able to have her change targets more quickly than using an arquebus would allow, given that it's the slowest reloading weapon type in the game, IIRC.)

 

 

Cipher:  I like Soldier so that they can use arquebus or arbalest, plus Pikes.  Pikes are great for squishier back-liners to use since they can move up and use pikes from behind their front line buddies and still do good damage.  Probably not a bad choice for wizards as well, though I have to admit that I tend to care more about giving Ciphers good weapons before wizards, because ciphers need to do damage to power up their focus.    That said, you make a good point about how that Wizard spell's spirit lance is a pike.  Honestly though, if I have a cipher and a wizzy in the same party, might not every pick a WF for the wizzy.  And if the wizzy is meant to stay at range, I'd probably choose Marksman over a WF group.  And that way, the wizzy could use any ranged weapon without being tied to any specific WF group.

 

 

Here's on you overlooked.... Monk.  This one's easy.  Peasant, because unarmed combat is part of the Peasant WF group.  And if one wants to role play monks, Qstaffs, spears, and hunting bows seem like they fit the image of a Asian "monk".  I've played my monks using little more than fists and a bow, and done quite well with them.

 

For the other classes I haven't mentioned, I'd probably just make choices that worked around the other more well-defined choices, perhaps making WF choices that used groups that are unused by others in the party, or no WF group at all.

 

[Manty5]

> Sword of Daenysys (rapier) would be awesome if the speed mod worked

 

I've seen a lot of references on this forum on speed mods on weapons not working.  Are they just plain not working in general, haven't they been fixed yet, does anyone plan on fixing them, has it been confirmed with the latest patch?

 

I'd like to know because I'd be annoyed if my quarterstaff wasn't actually performing as advertised.

[peddroelm]

> Sword of Daenysys (rapier) would be awesome if the speed mod worked

 

I've seen a lot of references on this forum on speed mods on weapons not working.  Are they just plain not working in general, haven't they been fixed yet, does anyone plan on fixing them, has it been confirmed with the latest patch?

 

I'd like to know because I'd be annoyed if my quarterstaff wasn't actually performing as advertised.

Speed mod on unique weapons - currently dead weight - you cannot even enchant it out .. They are aware of the problem but there is no announced fix .

[Crucis]

 

> Sword of Daenysys (rapier) would be awesome if the speed mod worked

 

I've seen a lot of references on this forum on speed mods on weapons not working.  Are they just plain not working in general, haven't they been fixed yet, does anyone plan on fixing them, has it been confirmed with the latest patch?

 

I'd like to know because I'd be annoyed if my quarterstaff wasn't actually performing as advertised.

Speed mod on unique weapons - currently dead weight - you cannot even enchant it out .. They are aware of the problem but there is no announced fix .

 

 

I was wondering this as well.  I've heard the same thing, and have been assuming that the Speed enchantment wasn't working.  I hope that they fix it soon cuz there are some nice weapons that would actually BE much better if the Speed enchantment actually did what it said it does.

[Manty5]

Speed mod on unique weapons - currently dead weight - you cannot even enchant it out .. They are aware of the problem but there is no announced fix .

 

Dangit.  There goes my whole cipher build, and I'm on level 7 already.  Whole reason I took quarterstaff over pike was the perceived increased DPS, and now I learn my beatstick is enchant-space-consuming trash and it's not like the rest of the uniques of that type have any worthwhile abilities(for god's sake, the superb weapon has frigging GUARDING.  On a REACH WEAPON.)  Well, thanks for letting me know.

 

EDIT:  Drath, I'd go with Soldier for Grieving Mother and give her Jena's lance enchanted to exceptional with an arquebus for the opening shot.  Ciphers get physical damage bonuses, but not physical weapon accuracy bonuses, hence graze to hit is one of the more useful uniques for them.  Tall Grass is nice, but you're not there to stun them you're there to get more focus smacking them as hard as you can.

Edited May 26, 2015 by Manty5

[Drath]

Noble - the best weapon in this category is the mace Ravenwing imo, which is a good endgame weapon if enchanted as well. Sword of Daenysys (rapier) would be awesome if the speed mod worked. Implements are meh as ranged weapons in general, but there are some nice unique ones such as Rod of Pale Shades with Disorienting. Overall the second least favorite group for me.

For me it's not just about how good a weapon is. It's also about where it is placed in the game or when it is generally available and to a lesser extent, how easy/costly it is to get it. In that regard, I also do feel Ravenwing is strong as you can get it by just doing the main quests in Defiance Bay and exploring the relevant areas, without too much trouble. Good enough to take a weapon focus for it is debatable, but it is a good weapon nonetheless, especially for mid level characters.

 

Implements are meh for the rest of the classes, but a pretty reasonable weapon for Wizards with Blast+Penetrating Blast, against massed mobs with DR, tanked/held in place at chokepoints. Tack on Kalakoth's Minor Blights and really go to town with damage. Aloth comes from a Noble background, so it wouldn't be terribly odd to see him take up an associated weapon focus.

 

As for group advice:

Fighter - Peasant (hatchet to tank and spear to damage, Cladheliath with marking & coordinating works very well on a tank).

Rogue - yeah, Ruffian. Alternatives are Soldier (Pike) and Adventurer (War bow, ranged).

 

Agreed on Fighter. Unfortunately, Eder comes with Weapon Focus: Ruffian. Which is a little odd, considering his background is Farmer. Also agreed on Rogue.

 

I'm curious as to what you would give a Cipher. Grieving Mother doesn't come with a Weapon Focus when picked up at L6 and Blunderbuss cheese is gone in 1.05. I only dressed her in robes/clothes for fast casting and so put a Warbow on her to keep her out of harms way. I'm also already having quite a few meleers (Rogue, Eder, Pallegina/Kana, Itumaak) so went ranged to reduce crowding. But at times, I wonder if I would be better off making her melee or pairing her with another weapon with appropriate weapon focus for more dps output.

[MadDemiurg]

Minor blights are a wand, so if you go for implements wizard build you pick adventurer imo.

 

For cipher I see 3 main options:

 

1. Soldier with quickswitch and pike (quickswitch arquebus for initial alpha and pike for decent dps afterwards without putting yourself in danger). Can go just 4 arquebuses/arbalests for regular encounters that won't last long enough for the pike to matter. This is the best option for initial alpha and reasonably safe.

 

2. Ruffian with Sabres or Stilettos using pistols or blunderbuss for initial alpha (quickswitch or not). Blunderbuss is still good with carow golan or vs low DR enemies, otherwise use pistols, unique pistols are quite competitive as hard hitting dps weapon. This still has the best burst generation with consumables (carow + blunderbus), good initial alpha and best dps when in melee. However melee is not as safe as with pike. Ruffian is still the pick for solo cipher imo.

 

3. Adventurer with warbow - This is the best steady focus generation option without engaging in melee. It will do better than ranged Soldier/Ruffian options in the long run. Melee option here would be estoc, which is decent, but not as good as dual sabres/stilettos overall and not as safe as pike.

 

Lenas Er + Quarterstaff (no good uniques unfortunately) is a decent option too with Peasant.

 

As I mentioned, I would pick Ruffian for solo. In a party that depends on the composition. If you you have space for a melee flanker Ruffian is still very good. If you can hold the frontline well and have some space in the 2nd row I'd use soldier. If you're already packed with melee or just don't want to micro as much I'd go adventurer. 

Edited May 26, 2015 by MadDemiurg

[Crucis]

 

Noble - the best weapon in this category is the mace Ravenwing imo, which is a good endgame weapon if enchanted as well. Sword of Daenysys (rapier) would be awesome if the speed mod worked. Implements are meh as ranged weapons in general, but there are some nice unique ones such as Rod of Pale Shades with Disorienting. Overall the second least favorite group for me.

For me it's not just about how good a weapon is. It's also about where it is placed in the game or when it is generally available and to a lesser extent, how easy/costly it is to get it. In that regard, I also do feel Ravenwing is strong as you can get it by just doing the main quests in Defiance Bay and exploring the relevant areas, without too much trouble. Good enough to take a weapon focus for it is debatable, but it is a good weapon nonetheless, especially for mid level characters.

 

Implements are meh for the rest of the classes, but a pretty reasonable weapon for Wizards with Blast+Penetrating Blast, against massed mobs with DR, tanked/held in place at chokepoints. Tack on Kalakoth's Minor Blights and really go to town with damage. Aloth comes from a Noble background, so it wouldn't be terribly odd to see him take up an associated weapon focus.

 

As for group advice:

Fighter - Peasant (hatchet to tank and spear to damage, Cladheliath with marking & coordinating works very well on a tank).

Rogue - yeah, Ruffian. Alternatives are Soldier (Pike) and Adventurer (War bow, ranged).

 

Agreed on Fighter. Unfortunately, Eder comes with Weapon Focus: Ruffian. Which is a little odd, considering his background is Farmer. Also agreed on Rogue.

 

I'm curious as to what you would give a Cipher. Grieving Mother doesn't come with a Weapon Focus when picked up at L6 and Blunderbuss cheese is gone in 1.05. I only dressed her in robes/clothes for fast casting and so put a Warbow on her to keep her out of harms way. I'm also already having quite a few meleers (Rogue, Eder, Pallegina/Kana, Itumaak) so went ranged to reduce crowding. But at times, I wonder if I would be better off making her melee or pairing her with another weapon with appropriate weapon focus for more dps output.

 

 

Drath, you must not have the latest patch (1.05) installed, because in 1.05, all Companions are set to level one when you meet them, thus allowing you to level them up and pick their abilities and talents (but not their initial build stuff) as you see fit.  This would allow you to pick a WF group other than Ruffian for Eder, if that's what you wanted to do.  I tend to think that Eder's better with either the Soldier or Knight WF groups or both.

 

 

Regarding Aloth, he doesn't really come from a noble background.  His background is listed as "gentry", which means that he comes from the upper class of society, but not quite a noble.  Still, that's probably enough to justify a Noble WF group. 

 

Speaking of Maces, I find it rather frustrating that they're part of the Noble WF group because it makes them far less desirable for a front liner to use.  Maces should be part of the Soldier or Knight group.  Of course, I tend to think that the Adventurer group should be dropped entirely and its weapons dispersed amongst the remaining groups, but that's neither here nor there since it's just my opinion.

[JONNIN]

the worst weapon type would be

 

-- fast.  Faster weapons do less total damage because each hit loses a big chunk to DR.    Say a mob has 5 dr and you have a dagger that hits 3 times for 10 damage each...  total damage done is 15, total damage lost to DR is 15.   A 2h axe that hits twice for 15 each does 20 and loses 10.   You see this a lot at the extreme ends of fast vs slow. 

 

-only do one damage type that is not crush damage (crush is not resisted as much, possibly to aid monk class?)  I think pierce is one of the most resisted, possibly to reduce the effectiveness of guns/archers. 

 

-uncommon.  That is, finding a top notch unique version is difficult or impossible.   The opposite of this would be like a greatsword -- every other major fight drops a greatsword.

 

So daggers and rapiers come to mind as "bad" weapons (relatively) while pollaxe comes in as a top weapon.  

 

so the ideal weapon would be slow, do multiple types of damage (best of), and commonly found.  

[MunoValente]

Hunting bows seem like good interrupt weapons, they have fast speed/average interrupt and with a ranger you can also add stunning shots to that as well.

 

With ranged attackers though I'd probably just skip weapon specialization though and take marksman instead.

 

Peasant might be a good tank specialization.  Hatchet for defense, spear for accuracy and for some of the interesting uniques like Cladhaliath or Danulya.  I had Durance take it once so he could his staff better.

Edited May 27, 2015 by MunoValente

[Madhava]

The worst group is noble, I'd say:

 

• No 2H option.
• No bow or firearm ranged-option.
• Redundancy; dagger & rapier are very nearly the same weapon.

 

That said... maces are pretty decent.

 

Also, accurate is very good, as weapon bonuses go.  But I'd definitly prefer a club, over a dagger or rapier.

[Crucis]

The worst group is noble, I'd say:

 

• No 2H option.
• No bow or firearm ranged-option.
• Redundancy; dagger & rapier are very nearly the same weapon.

 

That said... maces are pretty decent.

 

Also, accurate is very good, as weapon bonuses go.  But I'd definitly prefer a club, over a dagger or rapier.

 

I'd probably agree that the noble group is perhaps the worst.  Of course, I personally think that this weapon focus group concept is perhaps the one thing in PoE that I dislike the most.  I find them very constricting if your character doesn't happen to fit an obvious stereotype, such as soldier, knight, ruffian, or peasant.  The WF groups make maces an almost never used weapon, at least for me because it belongs to such a lame group.  (Maces belong in either the knight or soldier group, IMO.)

 

Personally, if WF groups were going to remain, I'd like to see the Noble and Adventurer groups removed and their weapons spread around into the other groups, though this is far from a perfect solution.  Off the top of my head, here's one way that I could see the Noble and Adventurer weapons dispersed.

 

Adventurer

Estoc > Knight

Flail > Knight

Wand > Don't know.

Warbow > Soldier or Peasant

Pollaxe > Soldier

 

Noble

Scepter > Don't know.

Rod > Don't know.

Mace > Knight

Dagger > Ruffian or Peasant

Rapier > Don't know. (Personally doesn't seem to fit at all the game to me, as it's more of a gentleman's dueling weapon than a practical battlefield weapon.)

 

 

Also...

Greatsword > Knight (great swords and estocs are IMO much more knightly weapons than pikes and pollaxes, which seem more soldier type of weapons)

 

 

Accurate is a decent weapon feature, but DR bypass is probably better, since a bypass of 3 DR is a guaranteed 3 more damage that damage the target rather than gets absorbed by its defenses.

 

Also, for what little it's worth, it's not really a surprise that the Noble group doesn't have a bow, xbow, or gun option.  Those weapons weren't for nobles (nose stuck way in the air....).   Another problem with the Noble group from a theoretical PoV is that any nobles who were going to be combatants, would probably be knights in the first place, making a "noble" group sort of superfluous IMO. 

 

As for implements, I don't really know what to do with them.  One idea that's a little outside the box could be to create an "arcane" WF group that consists of somewhat stereotypical magely weapons (though there could be some overlap with other WF groups, which may have some underlying issues that I'm not aware of).  Such a group might be like:  wands, scepters, rods, quarterstaffs, daggers, and possibly rapiers.  Just a thought.

 

Anyways, that's enough off the wall theory-crafting for now.