Help with a polearm build

[asheme]

So I retired for the first time. Was an 18/21 2Her and I had fun, but I wanted to try polearms out. I enjoyed having decent mobility, and wanted more ath/agility (I'm also flirting with the idea of being ridiculous and going with an extreme agility build).

After poking around a bit (and running around at lower levels with only 40 or so wpf) it seems like polearm speed isn't as dependent on wpf as 2H. Am I just imagining that? Operating under that assumption, here's the build I was thinking about:

    Strength: 18
    Agility: 24
    Hit points: 53

    Skills to attributes: 14

    Ironflesh: 0
    Power Strike: 6
    Shield: 0
    Athletics: 8
    Riding: 0
    Horse Archery: 0
    Power Draw: 0
    Power Throw: 0
    Weapon Master: 3

    One Handed: 1
    Two Handed: 1
    Polearm: 132
    Archery: 1
    Crossbow: 1
    Throwing: 1

The idea would be to pike it up a bit, while trying out various other polearms. I'll be running with light armor, staying under 7 total weight. I have no idea what I'll like so I want to keep my options open.

Thoughts?

[rustyspoon]

If you're talking about swing speed, WPF doesn't make a HUGE difference. You can check out Walt's post for more info: http://forum.c-rpg.net/index.php/topic,2531.0.html

Generally, the speed rating of the weapon is much more important. One other thing, WPF benefits slower weapons more than faster weapons, but in the end it's still only a difference in tenths of a second.

Due to animations, 2h generally have more range than poles. Another point to keep in mind.

You will be really fast with that since you're wearing barely any armor, but I would be able to 1 hit you with my axe. The more armor you add, the less athletics seems to help.

[Siiem]

Your build depends on what polearm you're using, elaborate.

[Armpit_Sweat]

There are many threads regarding different polearm builds, and some good posts about pikes. You might want to browse the forum a bit, to get more information. Anyways, here is my input:

I have used polearms for about 2 months now, a +2 Poleaxe and a pike. 24/15 Str/Agi. Have around 145 WPP in Polearms.
If you want to use a pikes as your primary, i would definitely go after more Power Strike / Strength. As a dedicated pikemen I would go 27/15 with light armor...

If you mange to find a thread dedicated to pikes, you will see, that many players are suggesting high agility/athletics... Well, i can only use my personal experience, and i do not see any use for high athletics.
In "theory", you need athletics to run away from your enemies, in order to keep them on a comfortable distance. In my personal experience - if you are in a situation where you have to duel, you will need to drop the pike, and use your backup weapon. A peasant will not try to "hunt you down" anyways, and a good player will block your every strike.
If you are in a situation where the pike is most useful: supporting attack/defence while being covered by friendly troops, you will not need athletics at all. As an example - just yesterday, I had 15-20 kills on EU Siege for few hours in a row, using a pike, a voulge, and a set of peasant cloth armor  It might not always go so smooth, but never due to a lack of speed. Not for me at least

With 8 PS, i only need to poke 1-3 times before enemy drops dead. Archers die instantly. Horses colapse. Shields crumble.

I would still invest 130+ WPPs in polearms, as you have to use a backup weapon, something fast, like Bec or Hafted Blade. If you only have a pike, many will try to deliberately hunt you, after you kill them few times

Just up your STR/AGI to 15/15, and see if you really need this extra athletics, or you want to get more damage. That will be the easy way to test it for yourself.

Good luck!

[Elerion]

WPF makes a very small difference on attack speed. With your average polearm, you need around 125 WPF to get an attack speed increase of a tenth of a second.

Also, stacking agility just for the sake of more athletics isn't worth it. If you drop your agility to 21, athletics to 7, and put 6 points in Iron Flesh, you get 22.6% more HP at the cost of only ~3% lower run speed.

[asheme]

If you're talking about swing speed, WPF doesn't make a HUGE difference. You can check out Walt's post for more info: http://forum.c-rpg.net/index.php/topic,2531.0.html
[snip]

Ah, thanks. I was looking for a thread like that, don't know how I missed it. Very helpful.

Your build depends on what polearm you're using, elaborate.

I'd like to know that, too. This is my first retirement, and I only have experience with 2h, so I have no idea. I'm leaning toward a pike, though. I'm also intrigued by the iron staff and the english bill.

There are many threads regarding different polearm builds, and some good posts about pikes. You might want to browse the forum a bit, to get more information. Anyways, here is my input:
[snip]

Thank you. That was very informative. I did poke around for quite a while (did about 10 searches with various terms) but I couldn't find an answer to how much wpf really mattered. Also, most of the pike builds were mentioning high athletics (as you said), which seemed odd. I'm vaguely aware that there was a recent patch that made agility builds less successful (maybe? I just gathered as much from reading old threads), so maybe those strategies were outdated.

I think I'll try the 15/15 thing and see how it works out.

[Dezilagel]

I think the prime reason ppl are recomending high agi for pike is that ppl don't want to face lots of str pikemen 

(Holy **** are they annoying!)