2H Pierce Blademaster

I theorycrafted an 2H Pierce Blademaster. Has someone tried something like this? https://www.grimtools.com/calc/b28WQY3N

I can´t find the sword (sold it 1000 times…), would be fine if someone could test the build :slight_smile:

This concept was one of my first GD beloved builds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz-4Bxv3bys

It was long ago pre AoM and was a Green affix claymore. Should work in AoM too with udates

I don’t know if the equipment you guys will be testing includes it but Zantai did say 2h Pierce could use some options or maybe he said Pierce could use some support.

It was during chat a while back, I can’t remember the exact details but it looked like more Pierce support was on the cards

Zantai did say 2h Pierce could use some options I think he said he might consider a phys/pierce 2h legendary a long while ago but wasn’t convinced

maybe he said Pierce could use some support I find this VERY hard to believe:rolleyes:…unless you are attempting some kind of subliminal way of making him think he said that which i’m pretty sure it won’t work :smiley:

Interesting, thx for the reply!

Yeah I doubt something like that would work on him, I still haven’t gotten my damn Mythical Warhammer of Heavenly Judgement

But seriously during a stream he did say something about “2h” and “pierce” needing more support.

Most discussed item around the forum :smiley:

@ OP: how about this one instead?

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/0V04qKrV

It does have 2-3K less dmg though, but it has more life, more resists, more armor, more DA and just a tad bit less OA.

Unfortunately, i also don’t have the gear to test it :frowning:

Yea, looks good! But the gear… :cry:

True: myself, i have everything except the green gear and the weapon.

That said, dunno if this is even viable as i don’t play 2-handed weapon builds (so far).

Perhaps someone more experienced in 2-handed builds can advise further?

This has a depressingly low pierce damage %, barely 1k. That’s just not acceptable :undecided:

3% more then OP’s version. Sure, it’s not high % pierce but that’s because i had to make changes to make sure i over-capped resistances. Notice that all green items don’t have pierce dmg or % @ all.

By all means: what changes would you suggest?

We can remove the green ring without losing too much: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/b28WpaGN

Not sure what to do about the medal though. There aren’t many medals with really good resists.

I’ve been making 2h builds almost exclusively for awhile now, so I might be able to fill this role. o7

I’ve found that 2h builds need considerably more defensive attributes to survive effectively. My 2h mage hunter barely manages gladiator crucible 150-170 with 10% life steal, 3K effective OA/DA, 4% overmaxed (and overcap) resists, 25% physical resist, 2000 armor, 19/12 maiven’s sphere, 17/12 inq seal, and 14/12 aura of censure.

I found my 2h elemental forcewave tactician had a much easier time by stacking a ton of DA, so that might be worth considering for this build (though it may make itemization very difficult)

Doesn’t conversion to pierce damage occur after %physical damage is applied? If that is the case, then it shouldn’t matter so long as +% physical damage is high.

Armour Piercing occurs after all other forms of conversion but before % bonuses apply so it is still effect by +% Pierce, not +% Physical.

Beyond that, you still need/want a good pool of % Pierce for everything that deals Piercing damage like Blades of Wrath, Living Shadows etc. anyway.


1300% Pierce damage is a bit on the low side but the 500% bonus damage from Cunning is pretty high. I’d argue that the 2 balance each other out.

Good to know, thanks.

I feel like there’s not much good gear support for a 2h pierce blademaster. I’ll poke around a bit though.

only 2h ranged for now

So the build suffers still from low DA?

How about the devotions? If you’ll notice, i’ve changed them a bit, when compared to OP (links below) but, since i’m very inexperienced in this sort of thing, i may have actually messed up in that department.

OP’s version: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/b28WQY3N

My version: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/0V04qKrV

I threw something together which has higher +% pierce damage and 3K OA/DA:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/qNYRMJl2

Yeah, we need 3K at least.

Your devotion changes were good, but I tweaked them a bit. Harp and assassin suck up a lot of points, I don’t know if they’re really worth it in the end. I think grabbing Solemn Watcher is hugely important for 2h melee builds, because it gives such a huge bonus to DA. It makes getting 3K DA (or more) doable.

Thank you very much: good to know i didn’t improve a bit in one end only to screw it up in the other.

I looked at the OP build a bit, and we can actually get 3K effective DA and keep Warborn set + maxed resists if we tweak a few devotions around: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/M2g0JDKV

Wolverine + Solemn Watcher = Huge DA bonuses :slight_smile: