What is the best weapon proficiencies for a fighter?
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Here is a straw poll that I invite you to vote on https://www.strawpoll.me/18519901 comments are welcome also.
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I would go with something that the rest of the party isn't using already, since there's typically about one "ultimate" weapon per proficiency class. Given the starting proficiencies of the various recruitable companions, flails, halberds, and bastard swords are pretty much always available.
Generally across the whole series axes are awesome (with great picks apart from very early in BG), hammers also awesome (a great early BG weapon and two great BG2/ToB weapons), longswords and daggers are pretty good but lose a bit at the end, flails are solid in BG2 to the end and bastard swords and halberds come into their own late. Solely for offhand weapon purposes, scimitars and short swords are handy. For fighter / thieves and fighter / mages, daggers and staves are nice choices.
Two handed weapon and two weapon are good styles, I would avoid the others unless you have spare points and for some reason no other use for them
Edit - the first point in two handed weapon style is worth much more than the second, likewise the first two points in two weapon style are worth more than the third
Not to be confused with Hal Beard, the Lego character
What about Two-Handed Swords?
And now i started to lay as ure kensai, just for fun. Also evil character and im using bastard swords from the very begining as main weapon. So i started to use Feobane +5. Also nice weapon i must say
The best weapon proficiencies you ask?
Imo it will always be dual wield. No matter what type of weapon in main hand, it can be everything. But bcs offhand and weapon such as Belm it will always be the best choice.
Bastard Sword - Good for fighters, but you don't get any good ones until late in SOA or TOB. Unless you go to Watchers Keep early. I usually go with no bastard swords on my playthroughs. Occasionally, I will give the FoeBane and Purifier to Keldorn (or Isra/Sirene) whcih is pretty good, but the Holy Avenger is too powerful late in the game
Long Sword - Always a good choice. If I play a fighter/thief, I always use LS for backstabbing until I get the Staff of the Ram. Also good for pure thief's for backstabbing
Short Sword - ehhh... mostly never use them for any character although there are some decent ones. Occasionally will buff up Imoen or Nalia and let them use them. If I take Haerdelis, he uses his own and occasionally Kundane.
Axe - One of the best weapons for fighters. Unless you have Minsc or Valygar (or are a ranger yourself), fighters are the only class that can use them. You can get some powerful axes early on, so a good choice.
THS - Mostly save these for paladins or Sarevok. Not a bad choice for a fighter at all, but there are better options
Katana - Great choice for Kensai/Mage or Kensai/Thief, but not so much for base fighters. Usually give the Katanas to a thief for Backstabbing
Schmitar - Not a bad choice at all. But these are better suited for Jaheira, Valygar or thiefs for backstabbing
Dagger - Not for a fighter. To me, fighters should be your biggest damage dealers (save for magic) and wasting pip's on daggers is useless
War Hammer - Good choice, but not the best. Getting Crom Fayer is a huge plus, but if you playing a fighter, having the 25 strength isn't as effective as it is with Anomen or Viconia. CHances are if you have a fighter, you already will have 18/?? strength, plus there are belts that can boost your strength
Club - Again, not bad, but not great. I always play with Weimer's upgrade mod, so the Pitchwife +5 is a dangerous weapon. I usually give that to a thief or Jaheira though
Spear - I think, next to daggers, spears are the most useless weapons. I don't remember a time (other than with Valygar) that I gave anyone pips in spears or used them.
Halbred - For sure one of the best. Although the speed is usually less than desirable, when you hit, it does massive damage. The Dragon's Breath and the Ravager are 2 of the best weapons in the game for almost any enemies save for golems.
Flail - The best in my opinion. FOA is the best weapon in the game. It destroys pesky trolls, golems and interrupts magic. You are immune to haste with it, but there is a work around for that. I always give my PC fighter this weapon with the Defender of Easthaven (or see below) in the off hand. Massive damage and bonuses aplenty!
Mace - Second best. The Mace of Disruption is huge. It destroys Liches in one hit (sometimes) and also hits any enemy in the game as it strikes as a +5. Immune to level drain is also a huge bonus obviously, and you can get it as early as chapter 2. Storm Star and Skullcrushrer are great as well, even more so with Weimer's upgrade mod. FOA in main hand and MoD +2 in the off hand is one the best combos for dual wielding I have found.
Staff - Very solid as well. You can get some really good ones early on and even better ones as the game progresses. I usually save these for my mages and thiefs (for backstabbing), but a very solid option. Especially if you already use THW style and halbreds. Having a staff as well will let you hit some of the enemies immune to piercing damage.
But the most effective way in vanilla is dual weapon, and using axes and flails. Axes because its uses as throwing and melee and every stage in the trilogy has absolut good ones. Flails is obvious
In SoD I'm not as familiar, but you find good examples of short swords, a good flail, some decent longswords, but imho comp bow is still king. Their is a nifty dart kicking around too.
In BG2, bows take a massive nose-dive, and melee is much better. Overall, in SoA the Flail and Katana are great, and the dagger gets 2 very good throwing daggers, and the useful but limited quantity poisoned throwing daggers. Paladin types should use Carsomyr if possible, but they have gobs of proficiencies.
For ToB, imho flails and bastard swords are really great, and katana, which was very strong in SoA with Celestial Fury becomes painfully lackluster. That said, the 'best' of each weapon really is good in ToB, except maybe Longbows, which get iirc an absolute piece of trash. Then again, crossbow starts to look good, and shortbow is viable, as are slings. Darts are depressing in ToB, but you probably should have GMed a melee choice by then anyways.
It was nice to see that Melissan's resistance to hold was unable to protect her from being pinned to the ground by Ixil's Spike.
I have good memories of playing characters specializing in two-handed swords while Minsc wielded Spear of Withering.
I have not given him Impaler for a long time, an item that was once balanced because the opponents magic's resistance protected them against that additional 10 magic damage.
Now magic resistance does not stop it and Beamdog caused that tactics lose most of their sense when too much can be reduced to just meele.
And today I have found that magic resistance in turn began to protect against Maze spell...
Beamdog guys, please... Could you stop dumbing down this game?
Magic resistance SHOULD work against the Maze spell though, according to the PnP AD&D rules. Magic resistance should technically work against ALL magic, although creatures can lower their MR at will to allow beneficial spells through. If anything, Beamdog should be working to close the loophole that allows "helpful" spells to be cast on enemies and automatically bypassing MR, such as casting the 5th level Cleric spell Magic Resistance on enemies to effectively lower their much higher MR to a more reasonable 40% (or lower).
I wanted to participate in the poll but it's not even on the list. I guess there's always that one political party you can't legally vote for
LOL, I actually am a sling fan myself but I left ranged weapons out on purpose because I was talking about what weapons you should give to tanks. xD
Everard is a great weapon for just about anybody. Even your mage can hit something with that bad boy equipped!
fully buffed, DW FoA and runehammer, with her simulacrum DW BBoD (from a scroll in a quick slot) and FoA OH and with a deva and 4 elementals or an elemental prince as helpers Aerie is even more tanky, and she can use the sequencers, trigger and CC to do it in a very short time, at the cost of a single lev 8 spell if she sleep 2 times in a row to load the sequencers
but i agree, everard and the slings in general are super strong in BG2.
an end game anomen can pull more then 200 dmg/round with everard and +4 bullets if buffed and with double apr from IH, as well as a mage can hit ranged with good chance to connect stacking launcher and bullet thac0, as @Balrog99 told.
Katana is amazing because of the Celestial Fury, but one may think it being +3 limits its usefulness. In fact it is able to hit %99 or more of the enemies in the game. Only a few enemies require +4. Oh also, some mantle type spells used by enemy mages may cause problems for low enchantment weapons so there's that, too.
Longsword is good because you will have a good weapon to use in every part of the adventure, guaranteed. Bastard sword loses due to poor itemization and availability.
There are some very good shortswords but they are generally better suited for thieves.
Halberd is the best end-game weapon because of the Ravager +6. It is the deadliest weapon in the game bar none. It is downright scary. The game is very nearly over at that point though, so too little too late. A solid choice for Sarevok, though. No-save vorpal, oooh!
No self respecting fighter should use a hammer regularly, unless a)they face skeletons and have no other bludgeoning weapon or b)it is the only magical weapon to hit a foe or c)they have crom faeyr. The base damage is very low.
Axe is solid for good aligned fighters because of the Azuredge. A fantastic early bg2 weapon and good choice for kensais to go ranged as well. Axe of the Unyielding +5 is very good but comes late. It is nearly as potent as the flail of ages. What makes ages so good is that it has multiple elemental damage that goes through many protections and immunities, and the slow effect is too good. Vorpal effect of the axe is good, but there are immune monsters and there is a saving throw allowed. There are good elemental axes in SoA as well, so it is not a wasted choice.
Staves/spears should be for secondary fighter like clerics/druids. There are good choices though.
Dagger/dart/sling are for gimmick use and spell casters.
So imho:
Flails are the best
Very closely followed by axe
Long sword and katanas are decent, longswords are cool because there are many, katana is great just because of CF.
And dual-wielding is the power gamer way to go. As silly as it may look dual wielding a flail and axe or katana. Total bonkers when pictured in real life. But effective in game and lots of fun.
why?
ryn and later ram, and if the fighter is also a mage, multi or dual, SoTM.
it depends on the player's tactics, but ryn-ram have a long reach, so can be used behind summons or a dedicated tank that act as meatshield, and their bonus damage makes them almost as damaging as DW weapons with less dmg/hit, and you can have ryn very early in bg2.
the SoTM is as good as the special paladin sword to dispel on hit.
i don't say that they are the better possible weapon type for a fighter, but imho are a solid option.
about the sling i told before about the dmg/round potential that they have with anomen, but every fighter with very good str or even better FC or RC can use them very effectively, and it can be an important tactical plus, a fighter with a sling can hit where the damage is needed without moving around to save the casters or help a certain frontliner to kill fast an enemy and so on.
even if i go very often for DW with my fighters i find that in some party compositions a specialized sling (better if also cleric) or stave (better also mage or thief) fighter can be really useful.
I forgot about 2-handed swords. There are very good 2handers in early soa and tob, Lilarcor is very easy to get and has exceptionally useful immunities. Silver sword +3 is deadly, Psion's blade is useful but at that point in tob psychic attacks should not be problem, while at the start of soa Lilarcor's immunities really helps out. Gram sword of grief never appealed to me.
Problem is, damage wise dual wielding is better, +1 attack/round beats down 2-handers base damage. You can dual wield a katana for the same damage, even have a speed weapon off-hand like Belm for an extra extra attack, too. If 2-handers had base damage of 2d6 and gave better damage bonus for high strength (like in 3e) they could have competed. But the powergaming choice in bg2 is dual wielding.
Straight F (kitted or not) or F/C multi/dual - FoA main hand or single, Belm or Mace of Disruption Off Hand. OR - Azuredge Main hand (melee obviously) and FoA Off hand OR FoA main hand and Defender of Easthaven Off hand is potent as well with the damage resistances and damage output.
F/T (dual) - If you start as an Assassin and multi to F at level 13, you get x5 back-stab multiplier. Staves and Katanas are deadly. Backstabbing with Celestial Fury is so fun. You can also use Rynn or Ram which is just not fair to your enemies. Backstabbing someone with the ram and send them flying is just AWESOME.
F/M (multi or dual) - Staves, Short bows and Katana. Short Bow for Tuigian obviously which you can get in chapter 2. Staves for the same as above, minus the back-stab. Dualing the Celestial Fury (main hand) and Dak'Kon's blade (off hand) give you bonus spells and the chance of stunning an opponent so you can destroy them with magic. This is a fun dual wield for F/M all game long. Useful in 99% of SoA and 75% of ToB, when you can't hit the enemy, you use magic. The only solo run I ever tried was with this combo. I did change my off hand weapon in ToB because I didn't need the bonus spells anymore, and I needed a +4 to hit some opponents. I ended up using the Answerer in my main hand and keeping Celestial Fury in my off hand, which worked well also.
Crom Faeyr is cool cause of the golem and troll destruction, not to mention the 25 STR, but I find this best used for Viconia or Aerie. It can work for a F/C, but not nearly as good as Flails or Maces. Not to mention, there aren't many good war hammers in SoA. If you want war hammers, then hold out for the Rune Hammer in ToB. More damage, better equipped abilities and protections. And if you play it right, you can have it upgraded early(ish) in ToB. I have done the Runehammer (main hand) and Crom (off hand) before.... DEADLY!
the MH has more attacks and FoA deal more damage then the axe, and its slowing effect is super powerful.
unless you are facing undeads i would swap them.
clerics can rise their str with buffs, at the moment you can build crom a cleric, even a multi like aerie, should be able to bring the str to 25 or really close with his spells only.
and a figher has more attacks then aerie or viky, so if he uses crom, MH or OH does not matter, the party get that +14 damage bonus on more hits, while the 2 npcs can have it any way in every battle that matters without using items.
there is a good hammer you can get pretty soon in SoA, in the temple district sewers, that is really easy to get if a certain shield is used. not a super weapon, but also not bad, can carry a fighter that is working his way towards GM in hammer and doesn't want to waste pips in other weapons.
on runehammer i agree, but you get it quite late. rune and crom is a fantastic combo for a fighter that DW with GM in hammer. if he is dwarf he has also GM for the ranged weapon and all with only 8 pips needed so pretty soon
agreed, and the same with the staff of the ram, but it depends on how often you like to rest.
at cap level a fighter should have 21 fighter HLA, if is a multi way less as probably he want also mage, thief or cleric ones. and GWW last only a round. it is something that is really powerful to kill a strong enemy when his defenses are breached, but until late tob, if in a full party, GWW is a precious resource that must be used only in few situations, while DW and improved haste, if the party has enough arcane power, is something that can come earlier and give much more rounds, a single IH spell from a high level mage give almost the same rounds of very high apr then the whole HLA pool of a cap level fighter.
i use GWW, and when i do it i equip the most damaging weapon possible, but i see it as a spike of power to be used in particular situations, like when the IH gets dispelled and a mage can not cast it again or there is an ambush ( i don't pre buff if i can not spot the enemies before) or i want to kill fast a certain enemy before he has time to put on new defenses. but i don't see it as the regular engine of my fighters, is a turbocharger that has to be used only when really needed. so i don't choose a weapon and invest pips in it because with GWW can be devastating.
different play styles i suppose (and every style is fine if it works for the player
you are right, no returning weapons in OH possible, my bad...
When all of these 2 are maxxed, then I usually go with either Katana or Flails...
One of my Multiplayer DD setup was The Equalizer is one hand, and Daystar in the other.
( Nobody complained me having Equalizer at Firkraag or the Umar Hills... except twice and I switched to the +3 sword we find early in the game).
I love wearing Fullplate as well... IMHO Fighter is better than picking a ranger for 2W-Fighting.
When a cleric gave me haste it was insane
Also, because of how the build develops, I'd master the staff first and the sword second. The sword you really want to use isn't available until Use Any Item at thief level 24, anyway.
Two-handed weapons do work well for a kensai build - and that's mostly about the defensive advantages. By being farther away from your enemies, you get targeted less and your AC weakness is less important. Of course, this requires another party member up front to do the tanking. On offense, you get fewer attacks per round than the dual-wielding kensai, which means fewer chances to apply the primary kit feature.
Rule of thumb: a paladin, ranger, or multiclass fighter using halberds or two-handed swords should take two dots in two-handed style. Anyone else - a pure or dual-class fighter who can reach grand mastery, a spear user, or a staff user - should only take one.
the staff of the ram is more damaging then the swords, fantastic to stab and to dispell on hit the SoTM is there anyway.
and i prefer granted huge damage on every hit to the vorpal effect of the silver sword, that often happens when the enemy is already at low health and grants a save so in tob is way less effective.
a fighter like mr tob with the vorpal halberd (and deathbringer attack) spamming GWW is a completely different thing and there the vorpal weapons shine without doubt.
as i value MR i still value GM in 2Hsword, but i would equip it only for protection, opting for the stave every time my toon don't risk to be hit by a high damaging or other way powerful spell. maybe swapping weapon only at the moment i see the cast animation begin.
the DW option is different but as good, less damage on stabs, but more apr, and makes assassination or the use of mislead scrolls shine.
for a lev 9 dual i would go for it as the boost from crom imo is a key factor to keep him competitive in tob, while with a multi or a FMT i often go for staves and then 2Hsword.