Runewarden Specialisation

Xanton

How do all these specialisation stack up to each other(without artefacts)? Hunting and PvP. The two that seem the best are Sword and Shield and Two-hander, also have the best flavor in my opinion.

Xaden

From my experience with wee alts - 2h is by far and away the best spec' for hunting without arte's.

Xanton

and how does it stack up against the other specs in PvP?

Exelethril

They're all relatively equal in power.

2H > DWB > DWC > SNB in terms of simplicity

Liyane

I started as sword n' board and was immediately disappointed with its hunting ability. I felt it was slower than the started short sword. After switching to 2h, I was much more pleased with my hunting speed.

I haven't done much PvP so I can't comment on that specifically 

Farrah

SNB hunting is awful.

In terms of pk, it really depends a lot on style and what you're looking for. DWB is simple and probably also the least flexible, but extremely strong against 95% of opponents because you have to do unique things with salve curing to survive (and be tanky).

2h is also simple, but I'd say has a lot more flexibility than DWB. Its main weakness is it's a momentum class and may struggle against extreme defensive play.

DWC and SNB are very similar to each other but with different strengths. DWC preps much faster and thus can potentially kill much faster, but its finishers are easier to avoid. SNB is the slowest at killing, but has lots of options to help make even a very good and defensive opponent die, if you can survive long enough to get them prepped.

For runie, DWC is often also preferred because of double runeblades, allowing mana drain, damage, and freeze strats. It also has lunge, which is great for evaders and group combat.

Ankhareoutef

I wouldn't call 2h easy or simple. To be mediocre is pretty straight forward, but when you start to work in prep with warhammers, things get more complicated (and more reliable). You also have to learn how to stick damage, but runie has that in spades.

I've never tried DWB, but it's probably the most straight forward, to be honest. And you still get double runeblades.

Omor

Can attest that DWB is fun if you're fighting someone with bad prios/low health. Otherwise, it's a game of timing their rebounding and your breaks and running and crying and maybe getting a pulp off if they slip up.
Would highly recommend it all the same, though.

Xanton

For Style, I'm looking for the best overall. The spec that can handle any situation and do the best without artefacts. Simplicity isn't really what i'm looking for, if it gets in the way of picking a specialization that might need a bit more work but has a better turn around then I am all game for it.

SnB looks like a good spec, but people say the prep is slow and the hunting sucks - also looks like the most versatile.

Two-Hander looks like an alright spec, good bashing but looks like it can be completely negated by an affliction based class.

DWC seems a bit linear, and easily avoided kills.

DWB just looks boring.

Aralaya

SNB hunting is bad... Just no

As Farrah said SNB can take on tanker opponents, it takes a long time to prep one limb, heaven forbid prepping two (paladin ftw >.<)

Calira

Xanton said:

For Style, I'm looking for the best overall. The spec that can handle any situation and do the best without artefacts. Simplicity isn't really what i'm looking for, if it gets in the way of picking a specialization that might need a bit more work but has a better turn around then I am all game for it.

SnB looks like a good spec, but people say the prep is slow and the hunting sucks - also looks like the most versatile.

Two-Hander looks like an alright spec, good bashing but looks like it can be completely negated by an affliction based class.

DWC seems a bit linear, and easily avoided kills.

DWB just looks boring.

On the contrary, two-handers can handle most affliction classes with relative ease if they use all of the tools in their kit. The spec is also surprisingly good at handling slow-prep due to the strength of torntendons and engage, and the ability to balancelessly diagnose health and fractures.

DWC is fairly straightforward, but avoiding the kills is far from easy. The class has a number of tools that can make counting torso damage difficult, and the tumble window to escape DSB is ~1 second, assuming that you're even on balance when they go in for the kill.

It's unfortunate that you find DWB boring, since that's the only spec that has a non-strength based kill option. The other specs are all highly reliant on strength for a devastating DSB, and they all also benefit a ludicrous degree from artifact weapons. Given your stated preferences, two-hander is probably your best bet.

Kresslack

I went S&B simply because I already had an SoA. I'm now thinking about switching to 2H and saving SoA for another class. I can't recall, but did they ever make an artifact to allow switching between specialisations without having to multiclass, besides the whetstone they handed out at the beginning? I still have mine, so may end up using it since my focus is purely on hunting currently.

Atalkez

Insignia of mastery 

Mathilda

According to AB WEAPONMASTERY SPECIALISE, the very last line:

Note: you may switch your specialisation, but it shall cost you 100 lessons each time that you do so (outside of your initial selection).

A 100 lesson cost, but you don't have to buy an artifact or multiclass to switch!

Kresslack

Hmm....well if 2H really is the best way to go for bashing, I think instead of dropping for an Insignia of Mastery I'll just trade in my longsword and get a 2H. I have my whetstone still that will let me change specialisation for free.

How well does 2H does with crits?

Antonius

Kresslack said:

I went S&B simply because I already had an SoA. I'm now thinking about switching to 2H and saving SoA for another class. I can't recall, but did they ever make an artifact to allow switching between specialisations without having to multiclass, besides the whetstone they handed out at the beginning? I still have mine, so may end up using it.

Whetstone isn't a Weaponmastery specialisation switch, it's a free weapon proficiency (the whetstone was given in place of rapier proficiency when it became Bard only). They did, however, make an artefact to allow switching specialisation: the insignia of mastery, which has a 24 hour cooldown and costs 350 credits. There's also a level two version, which has a two hour cooldown and costs 800 credits (the HELP file says 12 hours, but it's wrong).

Sarathai

Kresslack said:

Hmm....well if 2H really is the best way to go for bashing, I think instead of dropping for an Insignia of Mastery I'll just trade in my longsword and get a 2H. I have my whetstone still that will let me change specialisation for free.

How well does 2H does with crits?

It's like a slightly faster, slightly less tanky dragon.

Kresslack

Well dang, guess I'll have to shell out 100 lessons. Thanks for the clarification.

Kenway

SnB is definitely the most flexible

Borran

I just realized the Insignia of Mastery is only worth if you change spec 21 times.

Nazihk

Borran said:

I just realized the Insignia of Mastery is only worth if you change spec 21 times.

No. breaks even at 7 and is profitable at 8.

Insignia of Mastery is 350cr, which means that it has a tradein value of 233cr, which means that you only lose 117cr on the purchase. 117cr is 702 lessons. 

If you bought an insignia of mastery, changed spec 8 times, and then traded it back in you'd get 134 credits worth of spec changes for 117 credits.

Rhyssin

When I first started, almost everyone recommended SnB as the best hunting spec but people above have said it is the worst. Did this change at some point? Am I better off switching to 2H and trading in my SoA?

Mathilda

Can you transfer SoA into an artifact armour paragon? If so, switching to 2H and doing that might be the best. (Actually, even if it's not possible, 2H might be better still for hunting.)

Kyrra

Rhyssin said:

When I first started, almost everyone recommended SnB as the best hunting spec but people above have said it is the worst. Did this change at some point? Am I better off switching to 2H and trading in my SoA?

I'd never suggest trading in your SoA. You can definitely use it for dragon hunting when you reach dragon, and if you ever decide to switch class or pick up other classes that can use it, at least it's there.

Artifact armour and paragons are a whole different story, but I'm still not super clear on all that.

Sarathai

Rhyssin said:

When I first started, almost everyone recommended SnB as the best hunting spec but people above have said it is the worst. Did this change at some point? Am I better off switching to 2H and trading in my SoA?

SnB damage got nerfed into oblivion, so yes, 2h would be better for bashing.

But never trade in SoA.

Aesgar

Aralaya said:

SNB hunting is bad... Just no

As Farrah said SNB can take on tanker opponents, it takes a long time to prep one limb, heaven forbid prepping two (paladin ftw >.<)

This is my issue. I have a level two longsword, which hardly helps with limb prep speed. By the time you add up 26 hits to prep two limbs, when you're working to bypass parry, shield, rebounding, etcetera.. It's just not viable. You're typically long dead against most classes.

Driden

Aesgar said:

Aralaya said:

SNB hunting is bad... Just no

As Farrah said SNB can take on tanker opponents, it takes a long time to prep one limb, heaven forbid prepping two (paladin ftw >.<)

This is my issue. I have a level two longsword, which hardly helps with limb prep speed. By the time you add up 26 hits to prep two limbs, when you're working to bypass parry, shield, rebounding, etcetera.. It's just not viable. You're typically long dead against most classes.

Soft lock for daysssssssssssssss

Farrah

It's viable. It just definitely requires good defense, since pretty much all your opponents are going to be executing full kill attempts multiple times before you get one.

Nazihk

SnB setups are the hardest to avoid, but the price you pay for that is that you have to survive your enemy's setup in order to pull yours off.

Convenience

Farrah said:

SNB hunting is awful.

In terms of pk, it really depends a lot on style and what you're looking for. DWB is simple and probably also the least flexible, but extremely strong against 95% of opponents because you have to do unique things with salve curing to survive (and be tanky).

2h is also simple, but I'd say has a lot more flexibility than DWB. Its main weakness is it's a momentum class and may struggle against extreme defensive play.

DWC and SNB are very similar to each other but with different strengths. DWC preps much faster and thus can potentially kill much faster, but its finishers are easier to avoid. SNB is the slowest at killing, but has lots of options to help make even a very good and defensive opponent die, if you can survive long enough to get them prepped.

For runie, DWC is often also preferred because of double runeblades, allowing mana drain, damage, and freeze strats. It also has lunge, which is great for evaders and group combat.

In my experience with snb hunting, it’s actually not /too/ bad.

Cooper

Your experience is wrong.