Why use a 2-hander?

[qweezy]

After 24 levels of being a Warrior, I still don't see the light. My 1h axe and 2h great axe are skill capped, and the difference in damage between the two are almost negligable as far as I can tell. I have a Neckchopper and a Battleaxe, both level 20 weapons, they do almost the same damage over time but the price difference is huge ... 50k vs. 8k. Why are players paying top dollars for something that deosn't perform better then it's 1h counterpart(I did just to give the 2h another shot)? Am I missing something here?

p.s. Soloing = lots of gils

[Twinsen]

From what I can tell, the Greatswords start off pretty much even with their 1H Sword counterparts. Only, for one thing, the Critical hit point damage is double over the 1H, since it already does twice the 1H Sword's damage, but makes up for it with faster hits of course. But another thing I have taken notice, is that the 2H Greatsword have a nice + Attack add. My current Greatsword is DMG 33 +7 Attack. Mercenary Greatsword. My next sword will be the Barbarian Great Sword. I think it's DMG 36 + 15 Attack but lole -5 Accuracy. Hopefully it'll be worth it. If not, oh well, I start using Scythe after 4 levels anyway...after I become a DRK!

[Oddin]

Thats the point of the weapons. Keep as close as possible. Why make a weapon thats more powerful than all the others? Then youd have ppl walking around with the same weapon. The thing they want to do is make it your decision of what you want to use. Me, i like the Great swords, swords and scythes. So they keep the weapons damage and speed proportionalized so that you see a variety of weapons. It gets kinda dull if everyone carries a sword around.

[qweezy]

That is true, but considering that 2-handers are so much more expensive and you're giving up your shield for it, don't you think they should at least give some benefit over a 1 hander?

[SAVAGE]

YOur 2H was expensive cause its a rare drop by a NM monster, no other reason, go look at Moth Axe or Cent Axe, they are alot cheaper. Plus factor in shield cost.

[Oddin]

Twinsen already said the benefits of 2 handed weapons. The critical hits are the benefit. Beings you give up a bit of defense you can possibly deal more damage than single handed weapons. I would agree also with Twinsen on the + attack thing but not all 2 handed weapons get those stats.

[GraveCross]

2Hs also have two downsides.

A, you can't use a shield, meaning you lose a bit of defense.

B, each miss in a 2h means a lot more then a miss in a 1h.

If you miss once with a 2h weapon, you are missing a lot of damage. If you miss once with a 1h weapon, you miss much less damage then the 2h. Meaning that a person using a 1h can afford to miss more because they can get more hits in and do some damage.

Personally, I'd go a 1h. The damage is going to be similar (cept for crits, which aren't common really unless your using the 2 hour) and you get more defense in your shield, plus you can afford to be less accurate.

[Gustavi]

as a WAR , can use many weapon which is an advantage that you can let your party do the best skill chain.

For me , lv 70 WAR , my 1h axe / 2h axe / 2h spear are capped (244/251/223) and 1h sword have 214 , 2h sword have 204 skill level. Training that many weapons becoz each weapon have its weapon skill to make different skill chain ..
for example:
1h sword's red lotus with punch's combo is useful when party with MNK .
2h sword's Power Slash or 2h spear's Double Thrust can help making skill chain with SAM's Enpi in early stage , or THF's short sword ws after lv 33, which is very useful.
2h axe's Raging Rush skill chain with RNG's Sidewinder or DRK's Guillotine after lv 60 is very powerful.
1h axe's Rampage 2h spear's Penta Thrust are also very great weapon skills~

also 2h axe is very important after lv 60 in party, as Shield Break / Armour Break become very effective.

so , imo , WAR should enjoy the advantage of using many weapons and not just decide to fix using one or two weapons

[Oddin]

True Gravecross, You do have to watch the misses cuz you cant miss too many times soloing. In parties its a bit better because you have others who can help also but soloing youll have to choose your battles wisely. The shield thing doesnt really matter early on. The shields early on have very low Def. that you really wouldnt see much of a difference. But i have noticed you do parry more with 2 handed weapons than with 1 handed. Im guessing that this is done to make up for the loss of the shield.

[Kagi]

My parry skill went up about 4-5 in a very short time when I switched to 2h sword because I kept doing it, compared to when I did 1h, so I'm inclined to think Oddin's right.

The other non-statistical reason for using 2hs -- they look more badass ><;; Nothing beats swinging around something really big and hearing it go clang into some wretched gob.

[Wanderer]

One slight one.

Yep! Weapons are balanced based on speed and damage. I use polearms. I think the real difference I see between myself and other warriors I party with is that they use shields and I don't
So yea, they probably have more defense points than I do. But I tell ya, when I critical hit.... Everyone loves me.

Everyone here is great. I like the fact that everyone here has equal understanding of the differences. I thought I'd see a 1h vs 2h debate. Rock On!

-Wanderer-

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[nervosa]

I say use what you like, but you ask why use a 2H well maybe for a skill chain that a 1H couldnt do with ppl in your pty.

But being that your a WAR you should keep your 1H Axe skill up, being that your AF is a 1H Axe and you might want to use it.

[ZenXIII]

As far as the big difference being with the criticals:
Is this really true?
Does weapon class have to do with critical frequency?
If not, then (if crits are around 2x damage, which is what i've noticed) i think even the criticals balance out.
Afterall, i'll swing 2x as much with a 1 handed sword, therefore, I'll get 2x as many criticals.
True, one won't totally decimate an opponent ... but i'm statistically just as likely to get off 2 crits in a battle than someone using a 2h axe will get off one.
I'm not sure if this is 100% true ... but it seems right.
Swinging more often also seems to really help when soloing...a great axe wielder that knocks an enemy down to 4 HP in 2 hits is at the same place as a one hand sword wielder after 4 swings in equal time ... but the axe user still has a long time and possibly 2 or 3 enemy attacks (4, 5 or 6 if you happen to miss your next attack) to wait before they can finish off the mob, while the sword user can get it done pretty quickly, by extension, rest less, and then xp more.
Just my 2 cents.
And, of course, ymmv, as always.
BTW, i use a great axe!

[Xeross]

you also need to take in an enemies defence. Now I'm not entirly sure if this is in the game, but if enemies have DR(damage reduction) then if a 2h wep has double what a 1h wep has. lets say 20 vs 10. And the armour takes off 1hp per swing... Thats 19 damage vs 18 damage from a full round of 2h vs 1h.

now this is just speculation... but it could be another bonus for 2h if it is true.

[Garrick]

I agree that none of the weapons for the War class are better than the other. However my personal experience has pushed back to the 1H sword for play. Like mentioned before when soloing using a 2h weapon can be hazardous if you aren't careful of your opponent. I know because I found myself killed by a monster than checked as Decent Challenge simply because I missed 4 straight times with my Scyth (which was capped for my level) and as a result I was killed. After than I went back to 1H Swords.

As for 1h swords, I do notice that in cases with monster who have skills the buff their def, they are almost useless unless you skill chain. I've felt pretty useless in PT when I attack and see my 1H sword doing 0-5 dmg, while another war with either a Great Axe, or a Great Sword pummel it for 22-25dmg per hit effeciently (not many misses). Like said before, all of em are balanced to the users choice in the end.