I’m curious to see what everyone plays, and hear some of the arguments for either. Building up another Warder and I’m not sure what to go for the pure physical two hand damage.
I experimented with both and even use them both at the same time.
To be honest, Forcewave isn’t that bad. It’s just that its branch requires more skill than Blade Arc.
While it is sometime easier to “aim” Forcewave (since it hits directly in front of where your character is facing); most of the time as melee characters, we are surrounded by enemies. Blade Arc + Laceration (with a devotion proc like Blind Fury) can instantly wipe out those around us.
It is also useful that Blade Arc can both be a spammable attack or a transmuted attack (with heavy damage and knockdown). Forcewave, with a shield anyway, can’t be spammed.
For a 2H warder, Forcewave’s AoE is too small in my view. It’s just not worth the point investment.
There are some benefits going for Forcewave, I like its ability to wreck enemies’ armor; this is useful when going against tough melee opponents (e.g. Tyrant’s Hold Troll).
The stun ability is also useful (if you don’t take the transmuter) at earlier levels.
But overall, FW’s damage drops off significantly in Ultimate. I put points into it in during early levels for my 1H Sword/Shield build just to weaken some tough melee defenses.