9 replies to this topic

[SpelignErrir]

Is this viable in PvE? I do a lot of dungeons and tend to Leeroy Jenkins my way into battle, so I need an effective defensive weapon set. I'd like to know before I spend 4 gold on a mace. Also...is it viable for doing damage at all? Can somebody give me an estimate of how much % of the damage a mace mainhand is capable of doing compared to an axe? Thanks.

[Venereus]

You won't always get targeted, so in my experience it's better to use an offensive main-hand weapon and have the shield handle the defense. However, for dungeons in general I recommend this: http://www.guildwars...-dungeon-build/

[dawdler]

Not sure about the dps, but my mace hits for an average 1.5K (crits most of the time, variation due to might etc) on the first two attacks, then 3K on the third. Its plenty viable in PvE. The biggest difference is short time damage, the axe is faster which means its more effective in tagging mobs for Orr zerg events. Long time its probably irrelevant.

Why you feel the need to spend 4 gold on a mace is beyond me though. Buy one for 20 silver or something and try how it feels :/

[Barden]

I play with axe/shield and then mace or horn for offhand swap depending on content. The axe deals good damage even with nothing dedicated to it and the shield/mace offhand set gives you two stuns as well as 3sec invulnerability and a 4% vulnerability skill (which is of less consequence).

The mace deals fairly poor damage in the mainhand, for a warrior weapon that is=) It does of course offer perma-weakness which can be very handy.

[dawdler]

Out of plain boredom, I did some unscientific timed tests against Orr mobs. Mace/Sheild vs Axe/Sheild (same build). Mace has the health steal sigil while the axe has the 30% lightning sigil, but its also exotic vs rare. So not completely comparable. Also note that the build very defensive - 30 tactics, 30 defense, 10 discipline. Its not a dps build so I never expect "OMG I JUST KILLED THAT GUY IN ONE HIT!" attacks. It does have the mace trait, but I only used auto-attack (except opening with a sheild charge.

Time to take down a Risen Plaguebringer loitering outside Caer Shadowfain was... maybe 8 seconds for the axe, 10 seconds for the mace. I repeated it a couple of times and reach about the same figures. The axe would also be able to shave off a second or two by doing eviscerate. On a Corrupter I could reach as low as 6 seconds on the axe and maybe 8 seconds on the mace, so it seemed pretty consistent with previous times.

So I disagree that the the mace does "fairly poor" damage. Its not as good as the axe (as I said in the post above, especially not for tagging) but its not that far from it either on a defensive build.

I also did the greatsword for the laughs. Time to kill a Plaguebringer when opening with 100b and finishing with auto-attack was about 10 seconds. My build is wierd

At the end of the day, it all depends on what you build for. You can make an offensive axe build better than you can with a mace, so if you want offense the difference will be much wider.

Edited by dawdler, 28 November 2012 - 05:58 AM.

[Barden]

Barden, on 28 November 2012 - 03:29 AM, said:

The mace deals fairly poor damage in the mainhand, for a warrior weapon that is=) It does of course offer perma-weakness which can be very handy.

dawdler, on 28 November 2012 - 05:52 AM, said:

Out of plain boredom, I did some unscientific timed tests against Orr mobs. Mace/Sheild vs Axe/Sheild (same build). Mace has the health steal sigil while the axe has the 30% lightning sigil, but its also exotic vs rare. So not completely comparable. Also note that the build very defensive - 30 tactics, 30 defense, 10 discipline. Its not a dps build so I never expect "OMG I JUST KILLED THAT GUY IN ONE HIT!" attacks. It does have the mace trait, but I only used auto-attack (except opening with a sheild charge.

Time to take down a Risen Plaguebringer loitering outside Caer Shadowfain was... maybe 8 seconds for the axe, 10 seconds for the mace. I repeated it a couple of times and reach about the same figures. The axe would also be able to shave off a second or two by doing eviscerate. On a Corrupter I could reach as low as 6 seconds on the axe and maybe 8 seconds on the mace, so it seemed pretty consistent with previous times.

So I disagree that the the mace does "fairly poor" damage. Its not as good as the axe (as I said in the post above, especially not for tagging) but its not that far from it either on a defensive build.

I also did the greatsword for the laughs. Time to kill a Plaguebringer when opening with 100b and finishing with auto-attack was about 10 seconds. My build is wierd

At the end of the day, it all depends on what you build for. You can make an offensive axe build better than you can with a mace, so if you want offense the difference will be much wider.

The axe killing a mob 20% faster, untraited versus traited and rare vs exotic. I would say that implies the mace does indeed do quite poor damage, for a warrior weapon=) It's still quite usable.

I personally use 10/0/30/30/0 btw.

Regarding the GS I as well feel like it's so much worse in practise than in what you feel it would be like when seing the damage from HB. It's just so limiting with that lack of mobility. The GS skills offer some nice mobility but when using them, you lose your dps (since you can't use HB), while the axe or mace often does full damage while kiting.

[dawdler]

Barden, on 28 November 2012 - 09:58 PM, said:

The axe killing a mob 20% faster, untraited versus traited and rare vs exotic. I would say that implies the mace does indeed do quite poor damage, for a warrior weapon=) It's still quite usable.

You trade those 20% for skills that either block, interrupt or stun. The only skill that doesnt do it is the auto-attack, so that's 5 out of 6. Lower damage goes with the job, because at the same time you can chain your attacks to the point that an Orr mob can only hit you a couple of times, which you regen in 0.5 seconds.

Its really all in how you want to feel as a Warrior. Personally I want to feel tanky, because that's how others see me. I like it. I like the heavy armour of the Warrior and taking the role of a walking metal wall. The mace synergize perfectly with a defensive build, since you then can trait for it (ie mace trait and reflective blocking) without spending points in "useless" trees. In your build for example, you are missing the trait lines that really make the axe stand out in effectivness, ie 20 strength/20 discipline.

The OP needed an effective defensive set and yes, the mace/sheild is effective enough.

Learning HOW to use it effectivly is a whole other matter. I wish there was an achieviement for how many times you've managed to burn through a block while the enemy took timely pause in his attack

Edited by dawdler, 29 November 2012 - 05:47 AM.

[Barden]

dawdler, on 29 November 2012 - 05:44 AM, said:

You trade those 20% for skills that either block, interrupt or stun. The only skill that doesnt do it is the auto-attack, so that's 5 out of 6. Lower damage goes with the job, because at the same time you can chain your attacks to the point that an Orr mob can only hit you a couple of times, which you regen in 0.5 seconds. Its really all in how you want to feel as a Warrior. Personally I want to feel tanky, because that's how others see me. I like it. I like the heavy armour of the Warrior and taking the role of a walking metal wall. The mace synergize perfectly with a defensive build, since you then can trait for it (ie mace trait and reflective blocking) without spending points in "useless" trees. In your build for example, you are missing the trait lines that really make the axe stand out in effectivness, ie 20 strength/20 discipline. The OP needed an effective defensive set and yes, the mace/sheild is effective enough. Learning HOW to use it effectivly is a whole other matter. I wish there was an achieviement for how many times you've managed to burn through a block while the enemy took timely pause in his attack

I don't quite see your point of recommending the mace in a defesive build which uses 20 strength and discipline. What kind of a defensive build is that?

Also with axe/shield and mace as second offhand (keeping the one axe in mainhand), you already have invulnerability and one single target stun as well as the aoe stun.

I can easily kill 3-4 mobs in Orr without even needing a second of regeneration between fights. The point is moot.

edit: quoting not working as intended.

Edited by Barden, 29 November 2012 - 01:12 PM.

[dawdler]

Barden, on 29 November 2012 - 01:11 PM, said:

I don't quite see your point of recommending the mace in a defesive build which uses 20 strength and discipline. What kind of a defensive build is that?

To quote myself:  "In your build for example, you are missing the trait lines that really make the axe stand out in effectivness, ie 20 strength/20 discipline"

Emphasis on the axe. I was talking about how the mace works good in your build while the axe doesnt synergize with it at all, because of said missing trait lines (even if it does offer a bit more damage on raw auto-attack). That is, assuming you even trait for the mace - if you dont, you might as well use a greatsword, poking stick, undead limb or whatever weapon you want, axe included.

Edited by dawdler, 29 November 2012 - 04:29 PM.

[Barden]

dawdler, on 29 November 2012 - 04:26 PM, said:

To quote myself:  "In your build for example, you are missing the trait lines that really make the axe stand out in effectivness, ie 20 strength/20 discipline"

Emphasis on the axe. I was talking about how the mace works good in your build while the axe doesnt synergize with it at all, because of said missing trait lines (even if it does offer a bit more damage on raw auto-attack). That is, assuming you even trait for the mace - if you dont, you might as well use a greatsword, poking stick, undead limb or whatever weapon you want, axe included.

Sorry man, my bad. It really is not about a little more damage though. The axe deals so much more damage, even untraited versus traited. I don't trait the mace since there are better traits.

I don't see why I would use for example a great sword, as it would deal less damage than the axe and at the same time give me less survivability with no shield equipped.

I personally don't like traiting weapons (except the shield), when going a defensive build. The hammer might be the exception, but even then you will lose a great defensive trait.

This is all obviously very subjective, except the fact that the axe deals alot more damage than the mace.