So I've had this nagging feeling ever since I picked up one of these splintering cudgels. First, it sort of made me call into question exactly what a weapon's level really means. Clearly this isn't one of those games where you need to be level 15 to use a level 15 weapon. Apparently all you need are the orbs and you're golden, which is fine by me. However, it seems kind of weird to me anyway that this is a level 13 weapon, but it requires a yellow orb that you need to be level 15 to have before you can equip it. Does that strike anyone as... weird? I just don't know what to make of it, but I'm guessing it just means it's an especially crummy yellow-orb-quality weapon? At any rate, I'm beginning to see a bit of a trend in my gear, and I was wondering if anyone could confirm my findings. Basically, I'm beginning to wonder whether bashing damage (not necessarily crushing, mind you) is intentionally nerfed just a bit for warriors. Compare this club to my favorite fallback axe the hefty chopper. Notice that it's also a crummy level 13 weapon, but it doesn't require a yellow orb, so that's already a plus. Now assume you're maxing out your potential with either Slicer or Bruiser martial skills, and that you're doing your best to use these two types of attacks most effectively, meaning you're doing your best to hit multiple targets with your chops, using Strong chop to buff your regular chops, and bash to buff your simple bash. Lets even say for the sake of argument that you're not wasting your time chasing your bash targets around after you hit them, and they're somehow staying conveniently close to you so you can have the best damage output. In almost every case I can imagine, the chops come out way ahead of bashes, to the point where it makes me even wonder, was a bashing PvP warrior build proven at some point previously to be too powerful and they had to reduce it's effectiveness slightly? My personal theory, is simply that this is a subtle way of creating a bit of class-related hardship for the warrior while fighting things like skeletons. Limit the amount of crushing power available to a warrior in these mid-campaign battles, and it gives the other two classes something they can feel like specialists for. Coincidentally, I'm fine with that if that's the case, I just want to see if anyone else thinks I may be onto something, here. If there's an actual trend, and I'm not just imagining it, then I might change how I feel about certain skills like Bruiser.
I think a Bashing warrior isn't supposed to be an offensive type of warrior at all, rather a defensive or manipulative warrior. A warrior loaded up with bashes is impossible to get into melee with, because whoever tries just keeps getting knocked away. You can't hit what you can't reach, after all. Therefore, it has lower damage potential, because being able to keep opponents at bay while still doing damage comparable to Choppers may be a little too much. The obvious counter to Bashing warriors is Stabbing or Stepping warriors, though, and IMO Stabbers also get a lot more damage potential than Bashers. (When I say Stab, I mean Melee Range 2, and not Penetrating. Even though they do share a few cards). Neither of those get their own support trait, though.
In beta I never got a bashing build to work well, not even for skeletons. So I went back to armor destruction and chops.
Bash works best vs few slow short range heavy hitters. Most of the SP swarm you with crap that's why it's not usually optimal. But against skeletons with their Only Bones It's quite a good idea to deal 1-2 less damage to avoid getting hit altogether since you're doing crushing damage anyway. I mentioned tirenicus specifically because it's quite important not to get hit by him AT ALL.
Behold the power of nested quotes: Next, you asked about utility of Bashes. Unlucky Scarecrow noted that "The obvious counter to Bashing warriors is Stabbing or Stepping warriors." Lemme tie these two together: Bash is good IN COMBINATION. It's a "setup." Back during beta, I reported that my best party was Bash-and-Stab Warriors backed up by a Terrain Wizard. If you have to force an enemy against a wall in order to use multiple Bashes, then you're making up for a handicap, right? What's better is to have some reason to WANT the pushback effect: to want the enemy at range 2. That is, with Bash you make the enemy waste all its movement and stand where you want: in range of your Stabs and right on a Hot Spot. Also, get every flippin' copy of Lunging Bash you can get. It's a Step card AND a Bash, thus incorporating the other of Unlucky Scarecrow's "counters." And whew, what a card.
Bash warrior with Shimmering Armor and Missile Blocks. You only have to worry about damage every happening from spears basically. And you know for certain you WILL be able to sit on a victory square. Seems like the ideal for a bash warrior, then your goal is just surviving and racking up points from the squares. Of course, that only locks down ONE square for you, and the enemy would enjoy taking down your other two characters knowing your warrior won't join the fight. So not exactly a GOOD strategy.
