Hello,

I have a warrior that is about to reach specialization. I originally planned to go polearm. However, I'm noticing that polearm fregin' sucks in melee. I can barely hit mobs (they dodge and parry so much) and I can't defend for crap. Is distance going to be enough to change this? I've been fighting with swords/daggers/flails/axes and it seems I can go through 5-6 mobs without needing rest. That's dual wielding, not even using a shield. Where as with a polearm I can barely handle 1, sometimes 2.

I'm human with str bonus. I want to take enigma and maelstrom and dagger later, so my legacies aren't really dependant on spec. Except that I'll have the option of changing weapons while blind.

The character doesn't have any particular enemies and will probably face a variety of them as time goes on. It's not a lot of specifics to base a spec on, I know. Polearm fits the role, in my eyes, but really I suppose any weapon would do. The idea was to have a defensive spec coupled with some bleeding to do my adventuring with.

Side Question: Does polearm warrior get bonuses to the non-spec polearm skills? ie. thrust, charge, slice?

I remember Blitzenturt being an absolute beast with polearm. Look up logs with him. I think I was in Fort or Outlander at the time and it always sucked to fight him. Plus, cutoff was awesome at keeping me in the fight. I think I failed four or five times one battle.

Also, there are some neat edges available to polearm users. Pikeman's valor comes to mind as being fairly awesome.

I think polearm tends to stack up better in terms of hitting/parrying in PK than it does vs. mobs, in part because mobs don't have particular weapon skills, where most PCs either won't have the polearm skill or won't have it very high.

Also, charge set and cutoff are both pretty great PK skills IMHO.

I defended better with two swords than with polearm.

Polearm really was very sucky compared to my memory of what it's been like when I took it with a felar and with an arial.

Distance is size based - bigger is better - so human polearm is a decent route to go.

Downsides to polearm: Not a lot of offense, not a lot of variety in tactics in combat, and not a ton of great polearms that you'll find laying around in comparison to, say, sword.

Upsides to polearm: Good defense, good against melee-only classes (chargeset), good for keeping people in combat who can't leave other than flee.

As for your side question I believe they do get a bonus to thrust, charge, and slice - mainly these skills miss less frequently.

"Good defense"

Mostly what I was worried about since before distance, parrying with a polearm is terrrrible.

Thank you.

Which made slice preferable to chop, for Margg.

Nice skill, slice. I applaud whoever came up with it.

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