Two hander or weapon and totem?

Is the higher damage of the two handed weapons worth the loss of a second attack aspect and additional gem slot provided by a weapon and totem set up? Just ran across a good totem, and was thinking of changing out weapon set up. Been running two hander to this point.

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1h/totem is superior to 2h if your build can use another aspect multiplier for dmg.

Also you get more cdr and lucky hit and dmg reduction going 1h/totem.

2h is easier to gear / level with.

This depends entirely on what your core damage ability/mechanic is going to be. If you using a pulverize build then you probably want a 2 handed weapon for 200% multiplier on your pulverize aspect as it is goint to be doing the bulk of your damage.

You can easily make up for the lost crit chance/lucky hit with the paragon board, but you can’t make up for the huge amount of damage lost by not taking advantage of the 200% multiplier on 2 handed weapons.

If you haven’t got a proper build yet and you are still just leveling and trying to get to world tier 3, then i reckon going 2 1-handed weapons could be the right choice

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I’m not sure if you realize this but legendary aspect effects are doubled on 2 handed weapons.

Amulet can get 50% bonus if that’s what youre worried about.

But say you want x2 modifier. Ok.

But I can get 1.5 x 1.4 x 1.4 from 1h/oh setup.

Been working for me so far in t4 70 sigils.

Also you get free 22% cdr from offhand. So more tramples, more survivability, more grizz rage.

Really? Doesn’t feel that way. I haven’t seen anything like that with any of the aspects I’ve had on a two hander.

Yes he’s correct, 2handers get a x2 multipler, and amulets get a 1.5 multiplier to certain aspects.

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OK, I see what you’re talking about now.

So I guess the two hander versus weapon and totem comes down to whether you want one big attack aspect or two aspects which aren’t boosted.

Yes. In most cases, its easier to gear around 2hander, but 1h/oh when fully optimized is superior.

Depends on build:

  • Melee in human form = 2H
  • Anything else 1h/1h

1H/1H for my build sucks, poke with a stick, where 2H is hit with a tree trunk. Main skill is stormstrike, so the aoe is also higher on the nearby mobs as well. People often compare attacks per second, while 1H is faster, 2H hits when needed, i mean lets say 10 swings with 2H or 15 hits with 1H while you miss like 8 hits with 1H is way weaker(due to movement). Crits also do way more damage with 2H, while you will pop more crits with 1H, 2H can instantly wipe an enemy with 1 hit/crit, 1H does not do that.

So you rather poke with a stick or hit with a tree trunk?

That made no sense.

Also, the more attack speed you have, the more you can stack grizzly rage crit dmg. So eventually the “stick” does more dmg than your tree trunk.

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So you’re saying; if you go 1H you add attackspeed, but if you use 2H you won’t? I would always add attackspeed no matter what weapon i use :wink:

Nah man, Im saying 2h is always gonna be slower than 1h/oh. Anyways believe what you want, but I’m speaking from t4 nightmare pov, and in 70+ 2h doesn’t oneshot anything except white trash mobs. But have fun with your storm strike build and good luck.

Sure, whatever suits your needs and build.

In many cases you want that 2x multiplier on your weapon for that big damage aspect for that specific cooldown and having multipliers on some other aspects might be nice but not optimal.

But as I said. It depends on what your build needs.

Eh, ok that’s BS. Most of the content creators I have seen are running 2 handed and one-shotting every thing on their screens.

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I said t4 sigil 70+

Most content creators aren’t even there yet.

Seen a few in the low 80s. None of the hardcore ones though. They are either slow playing to be careful, or have died already and are restarting. :smile:

Theres a lot to consider here.

1h/Oh is slightly faster attacks (1.10) but your guaranteed stats are limited to cooldown reduction and either overpower damage or damage to healthy enemies depending on mace vs. axe.

2h axes are slower weapons (.90) and give damage to healthy enemies.
2h maces are slower weapons(.90) and give overpower damage.
2h staves are “normal speed” weapons(1.0) and give damage to crowd control targets.

I don’t see a reason to use 2h axes. They’re the slowest weapon and damage to healthy enemies isn’t the best affix around.

2h maces gives a lot of overpower damage so a case can be made for werebear to use them as one could argue the extra overpower damage is worth losing attacks per second and CDR.

2h staves are generally my favorite weapon however. Damage to crowd control targets is a very good affix for many druid builds. I’ve been playing werewolf where everything is always poisoned so that affix is french kiss. The normalized weapon speed makes me feel better than using a low weapon too. I just wish we had a 1h weapon with damage to CC targets on it by default.

Using a 2h does lose you an affix but essentially gives you 2 of the same affix. (that is what 100% more means). So please keep this in mind when thinking about 1h vs. 2h. Is it better for your build to have 2 of the same legendary affix or 2 different legendary affixes? Is it better for you to have 4 strong stat affixes on a single weapon, or to have 6 weaker stat affixes across 2? And ofcourse MH/OH requires you find TWO good weapons instead of one. You are more likely to use the first 800 itempower 2h you find over the first 800 itempower 1h because of this.

There is so much to consider and the true impact of attacks per second is not widely known with these weapons yet.

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Well, I started this thread because of a drop I got last night: a legendary totem that allowed the earth capstone to be used with storm skills. As a storm druid build, I was if course interested.

But I’ve been using mainly staves up to this point, so was concerned about possible impact from moving from staff to mace/totem. Hence the thread. And appreciate all the responses. Gave me some things to consider going forward.

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Yup. I’m part of the gang that died and restarting lol. I was landslide/trample (lvl87). Died to a DC during their live service maintenance shenanigans. That’ll teach me to log on despite knowing there could be server hiccups!

I’m leveling a sorc now.

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