Them one-handers

[Aeroprism]

Hello beautiful people!  I haven't been here in a while but the old CoH itch started itching again and for the last few days, I find I can't get away from the game, looks like I'm here for another round!

 

Last time I played, I was all about Tankers with a bit of Sentinels, but now I just want to Scrap...per things.  

 

I want my character to wield a weapon. I'm looking at the one handers:

 

• Broadsword
• Battle Axe
• War Mace
• Katana (Ok fine, Katana is a two-hander)

 

I find all four powersets similar but different. I was wondering, in a very few words, how would you describe each?  What makes them stand out?

 

It will be most likely be played with a /Radiation Armor because I just love that powerset so hard. CLICKS CLICKS EVERYWHERE!

 

So yeah. Hi.  I'm home.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

i hear axe is good

[Aeroprism]

I did a really basic, really neophyte comparison.

 

Axe has mostly KD/KU, Mace has disorients and a bit of KB, sword and katana are mostly about lowering target defense.

 

Katana is the fastest set of the 4 and does slightly better with AoEs.

Mace hits HARD and is a bit slow.

Broadsword is essentially Katana but is slower and hits a bit harder.

Axe is a mixed bag, tends to be slower than the other three, a bit more damaging than sword but is the only one with a ranged attack.

[Haijinx]

Katana does better ST and AOE than Broadsword due to animation times

[Haijinx]

War Mace also does more ST and AOE than Broad Sword. 

 

 

Edited April 13 by Haijinx

[Clave Dark 5]

Mace is a lot of fun.  I don;'t usually run standard melee toons, but I've run Mace a few times now, both Live and HC.

[Uun]

For me, a big part of it is the sound. Mace has a really satisfying crunch, as does Broadsword. I just don't find the Katana sfx satisfying. 

[JJDrakken]

23 hours ago, Aeroprism said:

I did a really basic, really neophyte comparison.

 

Axe has mostly KD/KU, Mace has disorients and a bit of KB, sword and katana are mostly about lowering target defense.

 

Katana is the fastest set of the 4 and does slightly better with AoEs.

Mace hits HARD and is a bit slow.

Broadsword is essentially Katana but is slower and hits a bit harder.

Axe is a mixed bag, tends to be slower than the other three, a bit more damaging than sword but is the only one with a ranged attack.

 

-sighs-

 

BS, BA, WM are all practically same

 

Battle Axe got upgrade with Axe Cyclone that sucks people in then does dmg.  They all have "ranged" attack. If you wanna call 7ft a ranged attack.

BA: Pendulum with a 7x7 attack(ranged & radius).

BS: Headsplitter with 10x20(arc).

WM: Shatter, 8x45(arc).

 

All the attacks have 7-10ft reach depending on the attack.  Just those have little overall better distance.  Same goes for Katana. Katana is faster, but less dmg then say Broadsword. But do to speed it will make up in DPS over time. But the last 3 will hit far harder on average and can out do Katana, do to needing less hits.

 

But at end of the day, your still doing TWO MOST RESISTED DAMAGE TYPES in the game. Smashing/Lethal. So always factor that in.

Edited April 14 by JJDrakken

[Aeroprism]

19 hours ago, JJDrakken said:

 

-sighs-

 

BS, BA, WM are all practically same

 

Battle Axe got upgrade with Axe Cyclone that sucks people in then does dmg.  They all have "ranged" attack. If you wanna call 7ft a ranged attack.

BA: Pendulum with a 7x7 attack(ranged & radius).

BS: Headsplitter with 10x20(arc).

WM: Shatter, 8x45(arc).

 

All the attacks have 7-10ft reach depending on the attack.  Just those have little overall better distance.  Same goes for Katana. Katana is faster, but less dmg then say Broadsword. But do to speed it will make up in DPS over time. But the last 3 will hit far harder on average and can out do Katana, do to needing less hits.

 

But at end of the day, your still doing TWO MOST RESISTED DAMAGE TYPES in the game. Smashing/Lethal. So always factor that in.

 

Thank you for your answer.  With your vast experience making builds, you probably know better than me but I repeatedly read here that in the long run, Smash and Lethal were really not as bad as people make them sound.  My "main" character is a Claw melee and she was nothing but extremely satisfying.

 

Then again, I'm really not looking for top-tier performance. God knows this game is already ridiculously trivialized by the epic sets and incarnates, it takes very little effort to make a machine ouf of almost anything.

 

I was mostly going for "what's the feel and the quirks of each of the melee sets".  My first 50 on Live was a Katana scrapper so I won't go that way, and I already have a Mace Scrapper in his mid 30s and to quote @Uun, satisfyingly-crunchy indeed.

So while I was factoring all 4 sets for comparison, I was mostly looking at Axe VS BS.  And I found that most axe options (graphically) are pretty meh, while there are loads of wicked nice swords.  So there's that.

[Yomo Kimyata]

They are all similar, it is true.  I think they overtuned the new Axe set, and out of those four it is far and above the top performer in my experience, but it takes a little getting used to since it's kind of a ranged set now in many ways.  War Mace is extremely satisfying; it's got tremendous AoE and I seem to recall the CRUNCH factor of the sound effects are great (I usually play with sound off).  Broadsword and Katana are basically the same set; some people like the speed of katana better than broadsword since it has slightly better damage per animation/second numbers.  The sword sets have Parry/Divine Avalanche which helps a LOT with your survival.

 

But this:

 

On 4/15/2024 at 8:42 AM, Aeroprism said:

And I found that most axe options (graphically) are pretty meh, while there are loads of wicked nice swords.  So there's that.

 

Pretty much sums things up.  It's nice to enjoy the animations!