What are the advantages and disadvantages of the various combat styles while leveling?

[dozensnakes]

I've been trying out a few builds recently and wanted to get a general guide on what combat styles work where, and what's needed for them to function.

This is primarily focused on melee/ranged combat, as I found, for example, single weapon fighting to be less impressive then two handed fighting in heroics.

 

[Almghandi]

do you have gear from past lives?

 

[dozensnakes]

do you have gear from past lives?

Yep, not sure how good it is exactly, but I think I have the essentials.

 

[Almghandi]

Yep, not sure how good it is exactly, but I think I have the essentials.

then it is good enough... if it fits combat styles then think about them

 

[Raedier]

What combat style you use and hoe effectively you do depends on the build entirely.
Generally thf is best for leveling and might fall off in single target dps at lvl cap.
Swf/twf might be a bit harder to build around but probably best at cap and generally speaking worse at levelling.

Swf > go sdk swash with chains, paladin for the cleaves or you can do a funky build and go thf specialty with bastard sword/dwarven war axe as your legendary feat.
Levelling might be painful without any good AOE options from your enhancement tree. You could also level with a 2hander and take swf specialty at cap.

Thf > you can level any class using an sos, epic sos or elemental bloom and 1 rogue level. This kind of setup makes leveling basically any class split in heroic a cakewalk, take 5DL or 5 barb for +2 crit mult and choose any clas you want for a pastlife.
Might be a bit lower on the single target DPS but it can still chunk R10 with insane speeds.
Bear Druid or barb are best for this.

Twf > might be the worst one to level but oh so good at endgame. Razorclaw is insane DPS and monk does a fair deal aswell.
Lots of class splits to work with here. DL, kensei, rogue, paladin, tempest ranger are all great options to consider.

With whirlwind attack u can stomp heroic content and quick cutter kinda does trivialise epics.

Legendary reaper content requires more specialisation. I’d use adrenaline on most melees builds tho.

 

[droid327]

THF: Innate AOE makes it pretty much the best for leveling. Single-target DPS falls off at endgame compared to other styles, making it less advantageous for min-max endgame play. Also gets the biggest multiplier from mainstat, so gains a little more if you have tomes, optimized gear, stat PLs, etc.

TWF: Best single-target damage makes it good for endgame applications like raiding, especially when you can double up on Dino Bone weapons for two LGS effects. Lack of AOE makes it tough for leveling, and its a bit more backloaded to get to 80-100% offhand strike chance. Really needs to be paired with a trance since it only gets 1.0x / 0.5x stat to damage innately, but can leverage imbue and sneak dice much better.

SWF: Nice balance between the two. Better stat-to-dmg than TWF, better attack speed than THF and can still use the offhand slot in various ways. Can use AOE special attacks and feats better than TWF to add some multihit for leveling (TWF only uses mainhand weapon on AOE attacks). More feat-needy, though, since you'll usually need to tack on Offhand Vers and Knights Training or Swords to Plowshares.

--------------------------

Repeaters: High ROF makes them great at early levels, though its slow to move between targets, so you're often overkilling trash mobs and waiting to kill them one at a time. AOE shots in BE help with that a little now, at least. Falls off in late Heroic and early Epic, then catches back up once you get Expanded Clip, then falls away again towards endgame as the -66% Doubleshot penalty really puts a ceiling on your progression. The slow attack cycle, but 4 shots per attack cycle, means you can really get a lot of punch out of non-AOE special attacks like Sniper Shot or Hunts End.

Dual Xbow: Steady leveling through Heroic and Epic. Good balance of ROF and target switching. Great imbue damage. -50% Dshot penalty hurts them in Epic and into endgame, like Repeaters, and they have no corollary to Expanded Clip to make up for it. Also is the worst ranged style to try and use any AOE shots. Needs IPS the most still of any ranged style. Great weapon options for leveling (Ratcatcher -> eStorm).

Bow/Thrower (VKF and Shuriken): Slow leveling, highly single-target, even with the AOE shots (which arent OHKO AOEs past early Heroic, so you're still finishing mobs off one at a time). Gets really good at endgame, as they get multiple channels to boost their DPS (mainstat, doubleshot, RP, attack speed) that arent penalized and can really leverage endgame stat inflation

 

[Kobay]

I've been trying out a few builds recently and wanted to get a general guide on what combat styles work where, and what's needed for them to function.

This is primarily focused on melee/ranged combat, as I found, for example, single weapon fighting to be less impressive then two handed fighting in heroics.

Contrary to a recent thread...

All the combat styles really have their place. Some just excel in areas that others don't do as well in, but none of them are really BAD. Now, specific weapons on the other hand... there are def good weapons and bad weapons.

 

[dozensnakes]

Thank you those are some very helpful breakdowns.

Are there any breakdowns of attacks per minute on each of the fighting styles, or something similar to that?

 

[Kobay]

Thank you those are some very helpful breakdowns.

Are there any breakdowns of attacks per minute on each of the fighting styles, or something similar to that?

That's an EXTREMEMLY loaded question for a game like DDO where there are so many build options.

But generally...

TWF is the highest single target DPS with fast attack animations
Single Weapon fighting seems to be easier to get double strike with and tends to crit higher but less often than twf. plus can have added benefits of shields/orbs/runearm/swashbuckling. and doesn't have a dex requirement that can sometimes be difficult for some newer players to hit.
THF is larger damage numbers in sweeping motions, that move much slower than the other two, but can get a lot of strikthrough to hit multiple enemies in one sweeping attack.