Hi guys, for Troll Skald what would be the best spec to go on Uth 2? I'm thinking 46 BS, 44 Hammer, 17 Parry. The other spec I am considering is 50 BS, 39 Hammer, 18 Parry. Is there any reason to choose one of these specs over the other? Will 44 weapon vs 39 weapon make any difference? Is the 44 style follow up to conqueror worth using? Thanks for any help!

smallgreenguy wrote:Hi guys, for Troll Skald what would be the best spec to go on Uth 2? I'm thinking 46 BS, 44 Hammer, 17 Parry. The other spec I am considering is 50 BS, 39 Hammer, 18 Parry. Is there any reason to choose one of these specs over the other? Will 44 weapon vs 39 weapon make any difference? Is the 44 style follow up to conqueror worth using? Thanks for any help!

Either spec will work. I am choosing 50BS 39 Hammer 18 Parry. My reasoning is this: #1: 39 Weapon is enough for easy 51 composite at like RR3. # 2: You will use the 50 shoult EVERY fight and it will be resisted a lot less. You will only occasionally land that 2nd rear style. It does nice damage sure(highest growth-rate in the hammer line), but does it make up for the lost damage from not having the 50 shout? Doubtful.

As a pure soloer you might choose 46BS, 39H, 26 Parry. This would net you about 4.5% more chance to parry. Does this make up for the loss of damage from the shout? It might, but i'd rather have that extra shout damage and less resistance in EVERY fight.

There isn't really a wrong choice here however. There have been successful Skalds with all of the mentioned builds.

Those are great points merc, thanks! That's swayed me towards 50/39. I would prefer the shout every battle as opposed to the follow up style I won't always use

i agree both spec are fine.
i will go with the 46/44 one myself. Let me be the devil advocate
Last shout is nice damage wise but 44 in weapons means also higher weaponskill which was not insignificant while i tested on beta.
It is true that you will not use Sledgehammer every fight but when running being a cloth/leather who try to flee it is sooooooooo good
don't forget about PvE as well where you will most likely use it.

also forget to mention :
it is not about using something everyfight , it is about using something when it matters

ps : sorry just wanted to make undecided ...

Zebul1n wrote:also forget to mention :
it is not about using something everyfight , it is about using something when it matters

ps : sorry just wanted to make undecided ...

Always like to hear counter points. Especially when we have nothing to do during the queue. Weapons Skill will definitely matter until you get to the end game and templated and RR2. At that point a 39 Weapons Spec would have 39+11(from items)+1(RR2)=51. Anything above a 51 composite weapon spec won't make you hit harder.

Your point about having that huge 2nd hit in the chain is completely valid. Feels good to smash an elf in the back of the head for huge damage!

Since I haven't played Skald in such a long time I can't really remember how much damage that 44 style does. Is it a significant damage boost on top of the 29 style, or is it just a slight damage increase? Anyone who remembers this would help a lot for deciding vs the 50 shout I think .... (how does it compare to just using ruiner and crumble instead for example)

Another thing is, one of the shout lines max spell is 43. The line with the 50 shout, the second highest is 44. Would the 44 really get resisted a lot? Isn't your 44 gold spell going to be resisted less than even your 43 red spell?

ruiner/crumble combo is crap imo
on average Provoke will have almost the same growth rate but Ruiner has a low hit bonus and also Provoke is VERY low end cost.
(at least for PVP, for PvE you should not get agro and use positional styles)
as for Sledgehammer as stated above it's the highest growth rate for Hammer and got a High hit bonus.

Zeb nailed it.

Sorry for the newbie question, but is "growth rate" here basically coterminous with "dps added per hit"? Or is it more complicated than thay, e.g. avg damage increase as a ratio of end spent or something?

Its not a noobie question. Growth rates aren't something every daoc player knows intimately. I'm too lazy to pull the actual math that goes into it, so basically growth rate is how much more style damage you get over the preceding chain style.

I actually love being specced 44 hammer on my skald, as I have more weaponskill for defense penetration, and Sledgehammer often hits for 300-350, whereas conquer hits for around 200-250.

It works great as a finishing style. If I back-style a caster, and he is low hp (around 20%), I will attempt a follow up sledge, as it has a higher chance to cap off the target. Why would I just conquer again and risk doing 100-150 less damage when I can kill the target.

That's my logic anyways. You can spec your Skald however you like. Since I 8v8, Small Man, and Solo, I went 46 BS, 44 Hammer, and 17 parry.

I like having the last Damage add chant, you get 7.5 rather than 5, good DDs, and great weapon damage.

eckso wrote:Its not a noobie question. Growth rates aren't something every daoc player knows intimately. I'm too lazy to pull the actual math that goes into it, so basically growth rate is how much more style damage you get over the preceding chain style.

I actually love being specced 44 hammer on my skald, as I have more weaponskill for defense penetration, and Sledgehammer often hits for 300-350, whereas conquer hits for around 200-250.

It works great as a finishing style. If I back-style a caster, and he is low hp (around 20%), I will attempt a follow up sledge, as it has a higher chance to cap off the target. Why would I just conquer again and risk doing 100-150 less damage when I can kill the target.

That's my logic anyways. You can spec your Skald however you like. Since I 8v8, Small Man, and Solo, I went 46 BS, 44 Hammer, and 17 parry.

I like having the last Damage add chant, you get 7.5 rather than 5, good DDs, and great weapon damage.

Solid reasoning, good spec.
10/10!

I'm running the 50BS/39hammer spec myself as mostly my part is interrupting and peeling.
50BS for the sligthy higher chance to hit with the last DD.
I have yet to feel weapons damage lacking but I'm troll on the other hand getting a few more points str to help out in that department.
The 44 style is indeed good but as it breaks the previous snare I'm not sure I would use it very often.

Sooner or later I will most likely re-spec to get the 44 style. But for now, at low RR lvl, I'm happy with what i got.

There is no wrong spec, just optimizing where we can. Now that I'm RR5, my BS is 46+4, and I dont notice my shouts getting resisted much.

Doesn't matter to me if they did, even if they get resisted, they still interrupt casters.

50 BS is solid, just more of a solo spec. If I was 8 man only, I would go 50 hammer, 43 song for last speed for instance.

So, for a skald that has been created specifically to go solo, what do you suggest?
I'm torn between 46 BS, 37 Hammer, 29 Parry and 50 BS, 37 Hammer , 21 Parry. The weapon spec is thought to be good till RR4, at RR5 it would drop down by one and so on.

I must understand if the last DD shout is worth those 8 points on parry!

If you are going to be solo mainly, I recommend 50 chants. It's not only the last DD you get, but the last health regeneration as well.

37 hammer and 21 parry is decent weapon, and plenty of parry, especially if you template +11 in the skill.

Good luck out there!! Solo is hard on Zerg-hard ^_^