Hey, good warrior players...

The reasons I see to take pole- Defensive spec is useful. Chargeset for great justice and then cutoff to help seal kills. Entrap/chop/legsweep seem decently "meh".

The only reason I see to take pole, instead of another defensive spec (for giant/str types, sword, for dexy/felar, spear) is to seal kills in single/group battles with Cutoff. Is cutoff going to seal the deal if you're not fighting with tactics/centurions or deathblow?

Am I discounting everything but chargeset too much?

Entrap is the best (to me, many say strip is better) disarm skill in the game. Legsweep is much more reliable than trip for a giant.

Cutoff is awesome if you're taking the blows. Add certain poles out there and it becomes real nasty. Enlarge + a certain edge and distance works. In regards to defense, I'd say that pole-spec ain't much better than swords. (Unless you're enlarged and have a certain edge.)

That's my take, hope that helps.

Polearm != swords
Swords are more defensive and offensive.

As far as polearm goes. Its not my favorite spec. Some bullet points as to why.
-Tanks like a brick

-Has crappy offense unless you are a felar, and crappy offensive skills unless you can take advantage of deathblow.

-Has no way to drop strength or dex

-Is pretty limited in damage types, or in weights if you are worried about that sort of thing.

-Is likely the least common weapon in the game, which can make it hard to get a simple regear polearm worth its weight.

... thats all I've got for now, but I've personally never cared for polearm that much.

I've had multiple sword and polespecs and I am confident when I say that when using enlarge + a certain edge, pole is superior in defense (Ofc not nowhere near sword in offense.)
without it though it ain't much better than sword, but somewhat. Talking only defense here.

Overall in melee, sword is always better, both for mob fights and PK. But pole has other uses.

Slice = nice bleeding
chop = decent damage
entrap = awesome disarm ability
Chargeset = awesome and just awesome!
cutoff = awesome, but not reliable.

Polearm has it's uses. And I think I did fairly well with Arrna, and not to shabby with Batu considering that he was my third hero ever.

Anyways, I love polespec. (And ask Zubei what he used the most.)