For years threads about balancing out axes/blunt weapons were created and latest update (#59) gave axe Heroes access to two new 2-handed weapons as well as a 15% mastery increase (75% at lvl 19) to all axes. I am making this thread because I would like to see BW Paladins with similar changes. First of all, the only weapon option they have right now is crushed skull (1h BW). To be able to contest dps-wise with sword Paladins, a 30wa shield is required, along with a 160 wa skull and Speed Infusion buff. The fact that 1h weapon damage multiplier is lower than 2h, with these requirements, they would still lose to ST and claymore users using onyx apple and wearing good weapon attack gear. The moment the staff lowered redner (2h axe) attacking speed by one (normal 6 to fast 5), axe Heroes had in their arsenal the best weapon available which does not require a shield and is not dependent to SI. This is obviously something BW Paladins are lacking. Finally, about the %mastery increase, blunt weapons follow the exact same formula as axes, their swinging/stabbing damage multiplier are the same. I thought the reason why the staff would only increase axe mastery and not BW is because of the way brandish works (one line of damage being a stabbing motion, hence lower damage). Official reason however only states the swing/stab motions and minimum/maximum damage differences between sword and axe users. I believe that explanation fits perfectly well with Paladins. Probably "buffing" blunt weapons was discussed among staff members already. If that is the case, considering what I just wrote, sharing their views on the reason to not go ahead with it would be appreciated! Thank you all for reading.
It is also confirmed that being able to hit past 199k will not be in the works which affects BW more than swords. Attack potions above Heartstoppers and SE will barely affect those in the higher range.
One issue with mastery is, any changes would impact 1h BW as well. And since 1h BW is already pretty much on-par with sword, a buff like that could actually change the best weapon for paladin The speed buff on the 2h BWs would be nice though...sucks that only option for 2h BW with normal speed is a level 80 weapon lol
Not sure sure I understood your comment, but you mean mastery would give damage boost to BW pallies just like Nes said, right? I really think damage cap has to be raised, especially now since all bosses have elemental weaknesses. Yes I agree with you. Feels bad those good-looking 2h BWs cannot be considered due to slow attacking speed as you mentioned because don't get me wrong, crushed skull is a very ugly mace.
Any advantage that bw would have over swords is nullified by the damage cap which tim said they will not touch on. Bw will hit 199k pretty early on heartstoppers without SE, which means swords will dominate even harder since a high minimum range in that situation is more ideal.
Truely the only thing I really want buffed for Paladin is Charged Blows range. The hitbox for it is absolutely terrible and it really holds Paladin back I think. But to the topic, I actually agree that its very weird that Blunt weapon didnt get the same change as axe did. Something like this would help, even if they are hitting max damage, a bit more consistency in their damage would help in other places, not just bosses. Actually as I'm typing this I think a big help overall would be to reduce that delay heavens hammer has, would be a great help durring bosses that summon mobs or have multiple bodies to hit, ie Zakum.
The buff to give all bosses a weakness to an element is a major change. I doubt any balance to change Heaven's Hammer or Charged Blow can be justified unless they remove a lot of the elemental weaknesses added. The elemental weaknesses and weapon crash is here to stay, so the only thing that seems rational to change is 1hand and 2hand bw.
No the point is that while the elemental weaknesses are nice, it would be a lot better if Charged Blow would function better. What i mean is that half the time the attack will straight up whiff and the weapon will phase through a enemy. Even though elemental weaknesses are a thing now for bosses, it doesnt really fix the problem of why bring a paladin if heros or drks can hit multiple targets much better. This is even a problem during grinding mind you. Bottom line is that damage is great but its worthless if the attacks don't connect properly. Still its a step.
It doesn't matter if giving all bosses a weakness doesn't fix the problem. I preferred a change to Charged Blow and Heaven's Hammer in the feedback thread for reasons that would be obvious to anyone who wanted to boss and grind as a Paladin, but giving all the bosses a weakness makes Paladin's really strong. With these changes Paladin's can literally out damage their brothers on the majority of bosses which means the chances of us getting our main skills buffed becomes unlikely. Even though total crash was a heavily detested idea for balancing Paladin's, the skill ended up staying in our arsenal and I feel the same will be for elemental weaknesses. They'll think since we do so much damage against all the bosses that it'll be unfair to buff our other skills.
Probably the best place to do anything is higher mastery (more stable damage but not higher damage), and attack speed. Neither of those interfere with the cap, and given sword has the best alternatives 1h and 2h- I wouldn't mind seeing some love to BW mastery and 2h BW attack speeds like heroes got with axes.
As someone who only plays a Paladin with 2h BWs, I would (very personally, I might add) be sad to see fast 2h BWs. There are not many slow-swinging but hard hitting weapons in the game, and the reason I decided to sacrifice some DPM was so that I could feel like I was swinging big heavy warhammers around. Call me shallow or romantic, but I like when a game takes such factors into account. I realise there's probably no easy way to buff 2h BWs alone, as simply increasing their attack might cause players to hit the damage cap, and buffing BWs overall would benefit the already superior choice of Crushed Skull + Shield. It just doesn't make sense to make 2h BW fast imo. What I would ideally like are more stable hits. At the moment I can hit anywhere from 25k to 70k with a normal Blast (I'm weak, but that's beside the point). Slow, heavy-feeling hammers with more stable damage output would feel like the optimal solution to me. Sadly, I guess it can't be done without simultaneously buffing Crushed Skull. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
They'd just hit the damage cap, mastery is a far better way to increase their overall damage. But well, maybe it fits the style of heavy hitting blunt weapons to hit the highest damage in the game
I feel like we should just do what is necessary, would love to see 2H hammers in action. Skill design is just weird in prebb maple anyways, we have Brandish (swinging a heavy 2H sword) being much faster than Assasinate or B-step (using a slick dagger), recent changes we have Transformation for Buccs (temporal boost in power with drawbacks like cooldown time) being permanent. I'm sure there are many more examples out there but just naming a few!
i mean its not that easy to hit the cap and even if the person do hit it would be slow af, guess it whould make things more even
My paladin's equipments are not decent at all , and I hit the cap yesterday with mw20,echo,SE and apple. =(
