High weapon skill Thane - Phoenix Freeshard

I'm going to be making a Thane that is high melee focused. 50 weapon (I'm going axe) / 42 shield / 39 SC / 6 parry. I decided on this because my thane is a Troll, and from a roleplay standpoint... it just feels right for what a Troll is all about. I also thought it would be kind of funny to have the enemy think I am a 2h Zerker/Savage and get surprised with lightning bolts. I know this is not normal (both spec and weapon choice), so I expect a lot of people to recommend not doing this but this is what I'm going to do for me. I am still semi-new, and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for RA's or any tips and tricks for going a melee focused Troll thane.

Thanks!

Thu 18 Mar 2021 3:56 PM by vxr

~Disclaimer: I have not played a thane or any melees on Phoenix~

I assume you are speccing for solo or small man as the rear snare is on the hammer line and specing 50 axe means your planning on using the frontal style.
You don't get anything from 39 SC. I would bump Parry up to 10 and drop SC to 38. That way you still have some defense when you pull out your 2-hander.

Regarding speccing slam
Slam is awesome and even better on classes that have ST, having said that:
Most people slam in order to use their positional or as a thane to gain space to pew pew, but you are melee oriented and as axe I think you will be spamming your frontal combo to stack bleeds and use your 50 style otherwise why spec it. You do have a side haste debuff, but you don't need 9 seconds to get it off and also you do have an anytime haste debuff of 21% as apposed to the side which is 34%. Still slam is great, but you might want to be open minded about it. I gave it a quick try, but I couldn't figure out a good spec with 50 axe and 48 SC. Maybe 50-axe 48-Sc 29-sheild 13-parry.

I would use a fast one hander for the first part of the frontal and switch to a slow 1-h and depending on situation maybe your 2-h for the follow-up to take advantage of the higher growth-rate.

Static Tempest (ST))
Another use for ST other than resetting stun timer. People will try to run out that's when you stand in the ST and pew pew.

RAs -
ST-1 - get this first
IP-3
Purge-2 minimum
WoC - but you need the higher levels for it to be effective so I would wait until higher RR. Its great for frontloading damage. That infil is at 40% you think he is going to vanish pull out the 2-hander and timer it with ur level 50 followup style and ur instas and WoC.
Then load up on passives.

If your fairly new to the game, why not go with the cookie-cutter spec until you are more experienced?

Hope this gives you something to think about.

Tue 23 Mar 2021 1:54 PM by Dunga

allways,ever, 50sc! ~25 more str/con, higer dam on the spells/insts wich are a big part of ur dps, less resists, higher DA, higher debuff... if u think the 50axe will outweigh that u are wrong

if u want slam, go with the cookiecutter 50sc,42shild,39 or 34 hammer rest parry.
if u want meleetrollhardhittingstuff go for 50sc,50axe/hammer/sword, 27parry,10shild (23shild,17parry are also an option). time ur stuff, after a debuff, and u hit realy hard.

RAs are the same. ST is also usefull/must without slam.

Wed 24 Mar 2021 1:36 PM by inoeth

what kind of opponents do you wish to hunt with your build? i am asking because slash dmg is not the most optimal type for midgard solo toons.
i assume that you do not plan on being the melee dps in a grp? because i doubt you will be better than a sv/zerk/warrior

i used to play troll thane in the past but figured that here on phoenix its not very optimal since you get access to an energy debuff and therefore do alot more dmg by casting and not by meleeing.

btw does anyone know if there is an energy dot available in midgard? looks like all the epic and dragon stuff is cold/heat based

Tue 30 Mar 2021 2:45 PM by whitewolf253

Back on live (Mordred server) I took a norse thane to rr7 with 2 hand axe (50), 28 party, and 50 stormcalling. I liked it and had a lot of fun, but I also used the rr5 ability to throw the weapon all the time.

Here slam is pretty important in big fights. Also note that hammer is on a higher damage table for thanes than the other options.