Claw or Pole

Well I perfer to use claw because you attack really quick with them and gives you the opportunity to kill your enemies faster.. but it mostly depend on your gaming style and build!

I am lv 59 now went with polearm but after you reach transendance as a blade master you maxed pole arm skill is glacial spike is a nice skill but what I dont know is dose it stack up to flash or the other non polearm skills will have to wait and see but you do cap out soon with polearm vrs sword or fist so keep that in mind

Saethos - Raging Tide wrote: »

Use axes until level 90, it's a good route to go. Basic BM skill learned at level 59 is Heavens Flame, it is an AoE that increases the amount of damage a target takes and is VERY useful in squads. The AoE's of axes are awesome too, not to mention a handy stun.

Once you hit 90 you should use fists for APS (Attacks per second) because people are biased, despite axe having more DPS, they'd rather have APS.

Lolwut? Axes have some of the lowest dps in the game, especially when compared with a vit build as some axe-only BMs do. They have good single hit damage but poor damage output overall because of their attack speed.

The reason people have a bias towards aps is it translates directly to an increase in dps (for instance going from 2.0 to 2.22 is an 11% dps gain. When you look at 3.33 triple sparking to 5.0 thats a 50% dps gain.) Aps is popular for a reason. Some people are stupid about it and prefer aps over dps without considering how much dph factors in (dps=aps x dph x crit x atk levels). But still, aps plays a large roll in dps and is one of the easiest ways to increase it, and it grows exponentially as you aproach 5 aps.

Anyways, to the OP. Endgame, pole only is a bad choice. Its one of the weaker skill trees, sword probably being the weakest. Most people primarily focus on axes and fists. You'll need a set of axes for Heaven's Flame to be accepted in a squad (Glacial Spike is a 50% debuff for about a 28% increase in damage but Heaven's Flame is a 100% amp for 100% increase in damage). When you are not HFing one of the best ways to be useful is to have a high damage output and good chi gain. This is why people pick fists.

I'd recomend axes till level 29 because your quest weapons are axes. Until you start adding -int gear (aps gear) all weapons average about the same dps. Once you hit 29 and get your first spark and your self heal (Diamond Sutra) you may find it easier to use fists because you'll constantly have chi to heal yourself and be able to spark more often for quicker kills. And you'll rarely have to use mana, unlike axes and polearms which are more skill focussed and require heavy mana use for their damage.

Saethos & blood9..whatever you prolly don't even play a BM.

Stop it. Do your math instead of talking from your behind. Post clearly and concisely if you're actually trying to help someone. Do either of you even know what DPS, DPH, and APS even means? Or how to calculate it and why? You're just hurting the newbs. Stop it. Make your game better. More players = more people to have fun with = more stuff on the server = cheaper prices.

Lenc, there is about 50 posts that explain multiple viable options. The BM class is a very rewarding, but complicated class - I highly suggest you use the search function. But to your original question: Claw. Pole-only BMs are fail, the two on HT are still the brunt of constant jokes and I still hear tales of them being booted from squads weekly.

Use Fists for single targets.
Use Axe for multiple targets.
Use Pole for debuff and hitting stuff far away to pull it.
Use Sword if you want to be made fun of. (Rare, rare times is myriad applicable)

3 Str/2 Dex every level if you don't want to restat later.

You *can* stay axe till about 80/85. But at the point you can use GVs, fists are truly, truly noticeable in huge efficiency gain in single target. You can pretty much solo AoE plvl yourself from 60-80. If you don't like AoE, switching weapons and gear, and working towards efficiency over repetitiveness, you should make a Sin.

*Sigh* Well, **** simple math to figure DPS, guess I'll go claim my spot in the emo corner. Not like I was soloing FC since 95 with an axe build, switch to an aps build and had to wait til 99 to solo, must just be coincidence...Kind of like how it's a coincidence that when something vibrates, sound is made...To me it was all simple concepts and common knowledge, but what do I know?

Saethos - Raging Tide wrote: »

*Sigh* Well, **** simple math to figure DPS, guess I'll go claim my spot in the emo corner. Not like I was soloing FC since 95 with an axe build, switch to an aps build and had to wait til 99 to solo, must just be coincidence...Kind of like how it's a coincidence that when something vibrates, sound is made...To me it was all simple concepts and common knowledge, but what do I know?

My friend and I wanted to do a level 59-69 only FCC. Never had the energy to try it or levels alts to that point just to play in FCC or prove the point of how easy it is. Our point was that its an easy instance. Any level 95 bm should be able to solo it, just not always on paint alone or at a reasonable speed. They'll need to use pots or a charm, and its not time efficient for BMs to do without a squad before level 100.

Thinking of how long it would take you to axe bosses to death is painful. Fist would have been much quicker and you would not have eaten as much food or charm. As people have said, axes are useful for support, zhenning, and pk. Not so useful for damage output on single targets.

lenc wrote: »

@Maelael: alright thanks for the explaination of the use of each weapon! b:pleased

And many poeple say that i should build my character as a axe/fist user... but axe need alot of strength and little of dex while fist need alot of dex and little of strength. In the end, its obvious that i will by weaker than other BM since i wont be able the equip high lvl weapon. At lvl 100, i will maybe be able to equip lvl 80 weapon. But any way, to many poeple go with the fist so time to prove the strength of the pole!

Thank every buddy for helping me out! b:pleased

Many people try to "prove the strength of pole" as their main weapon.

It's really not there. I've even tried. Don't annoy yourself or others making this mistake.

Don't have a main weapon. Utilize the correct one for the right situations. Thats the strength of this class.

Really, if you're just trying to be unique, or different from others: Learn to play your class really, really well before you hit 80/90/100.

lenc wrote: »

...axe need alot of strength and little of dex while fist need alot of dex and little of strength. In the end, its obvious that i will by weaker than other BM since i wont be able the equip high lvl weapon. At lvl 100, i will maybe be able to equip lvl 80 weapon.

3 str, 2 dex per level. You will optimize your damage output with fists by having alot of strength and you will have a high crit rate for spike damage for your axe aoes.

At level 100 you will have plenty of stat points to use all weapons. I'm aiming for 400 strength and 200 dex even though our highest axes only need 305 strength and G15 claws need 193 dex. My barb is also able to utilize axes and claws and has about 50 points in vit, which is something you can do on a bm if you chose. You can manage to have upwards of 80 vit points base and still use both paths if you chose. Most of us prefer to restat to a "pure" build endgame and get rid of all our vit since its pretty useless anyways.

Saethos - Raging Tide wrote: »

The quoted ones are true, regardless of sarcasm, that I will admit to <_<

But wait...100 in 3 months the hard way is way slow, right?

Like putting on shoes before you put your pants on. Doable, but why would you?

Saethos - Raging Tide wrote: »

Like setting a new goal and seeing how much you can accomplish when faced with challenges, as is the nature of most games and/or hobbies. I don't try learning hard new songs on my guitar and say, "This is taking forever, even though I'll learn and expand my limits, **** this." I guess I'm too oldschool and like to have challenges...

Nope you're just weird.

It would be like spending thousands of dollars or tons of time to improve your crappy Yamaha acoustic guitar so it sounds exactly like an electric when you play some metal song. And still look like the douchey acoustic guitar guy.

As the rest of us crack out our BC Rich (or whatever is popular now, Im a bass player so what do I know), power through some Slayer songs, or whoever finally beat out Slayer in terms of speed and quality nowadays. And we still don't look cool either, but that's outside the point.

A challenge would be taking the best you can obtain at your level, and doing something that should be difficult, or impossible. Dan soloing harpy wraith, for instance. Or someone with average refines soloing Nirvana. Etc. Utilizing the wrong or obsolete tools when you can easily get the right tools is just silly, or weird.

Because I like analogies today: Crossing the finish line obeying the speed limit in your 1976 Ford Pinto after the rest of us finished the race in our souped up racecars that we built and drove to the limit hours ago will not get you laid. Mom will be proud, but the chicks/bois probably won't.

But....

If it was fun for you, thats kewl and I hope you have/had as much fun as I do/did. Still gonna think you're weird, man.