Best Weapon for Heros?

[Khalim]

I wonder what might be the best weapon for a cavalery hero.
Now I have all my heros equipped with sword and shield, but now I looked at axes, morningstars and blunt weapons.

All of them have different advantages. For me there are 4 types of weapons which might be taken into consideration:

1, Swords: moderate damage, high reach and speed
2, axes: superior cut damage, but slower and and less reach
3, Blunt waepons: less damage/speed/reach, but many prisoners. Also I think that blunt damage has an advantage against heavy armored enemies whicht might compensate for the less damage done
4, Mornigstar: Huge damage which is further improved by the type of damage(pierce), but slow and low reach

I would like to know, what is your favourite type of weapons for yourself and your companions. Might reach and speed maybe overestimated? Or is attackspeed important for your own survivability?
Is there a weapon you think is the best?(only onehand) What is about the "crush through shield bonus" of the moringstar, is it useful?

 

[DrowningFish]

I like giving companions blunt weapons when I can because it helps me get more prisoners after a battle.

 

[Remedius]

All my companions have the iron or heavy iron mace in one weapon slot then a weapon or weapons most suited to thier character in the other slots. So Matheld has iron mace balanced throwing axes and heavy great long axe and Nordic sheild - as she is Nordic. Bunduk has the same mace and shield but masterwork crossbow and steel bolts which can be used from horseback - most times I am looking to take prisoners and have my companions as a group under special cavalry so they only really get to use blunts but when my prisoner stack is full - free reign!

 

[Anth]

Also I think that blunt damage has an advantage against heavy armored enemies whicht might compensate for the less damage done

True. Blunt damage is the best against armour, piercing somewhat better and cutting the worst. The actual values are in module.ini.

Personally my favourite one-handed weapon is the military hammer. Great blunt damage(27 I think), reach of 90 and a speed in the mid 90s. However I like to switch it up depending on what I feel fits the character best. Other good weapons are iron war axes(best reach for one-handed axes), sarranid cavalry sword and elite scimitars. There's others too, but I forget.

 

[killer-blead]

Yeah I like killed a armoured knight while playing as my companion (See the mod Custom commander: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,111808.0.html) While there is a big fight going on I'm sneaking from behind hitting a knight/Mameluke/sergeant in his back making him fall to the floor and giving a strike on his head. Its a real buzz kill for the knights.

 

[tyrannicide]

For a character fighting from horseback, the best weapons are probably the scimitar or the sarranid cavalry sword.

But then again, even those of my companions which I give morningstars or axes or two-handed blades or whatever to, seem to manage fairly well. Give them some cool weapons and don't think too much about it, is what I'd say.

Footwork is another matter. Too long a blade can be a trouble in melee, even if it's fast.

 

[Kyoss]

From horseback i use a 2-handed Sword of War and a Light Spear.

On Foot a Huscarl Shield with a Bastard-Sword.

 

[Urlik]

the bastard sword would be better on horseback.
you can use a shield with it and still kill most enemies with 1 or 2 hits

 

[Kyoss]

the bastard sword would be better on horseback.
you can use a shield with it and still kill most enemies with 1 or 2 hits

Yeah but the Bastard got only a length of 105 (i think) and the Sword of War got 125

 

[zimbabwe]

I experimented with this in my last few games by giving Firentis, Lezalit, and Alayen different weapons and having them use only that type during the whole game. I also increased their STR every 2 levels and AGI every 3 or so, and as soon as possible increasing their power strike, iron flesh, weapon master, and shield if appropriate. I generally spread their level-up proficiencies evenly once I get them over 150ish in the main weapon.

These observations are possibly unique to my playstyle, but here are my multiple games' worth of observations:

1) 2 hand SoW, no shield - absolutely brutal killing machines. They levelled by far the fastest with this because of their insane kill rate. In ridiculously outnumbered siege defenses (say my 80 vs. 1200) where it was basically just me and my companions, they would easily kill 100, including the lords that come in the first wave, before the first one fell over. Companions in mid 30s.

2) Bastard sword and shield - still killing machines, less effective on the field but nigh immortal until the shield breaks. Levels come slower but more consistently because they typically would end field combat at 90%+ health rather than being unconscious. In the same siege situation I can again count on 100+ kills before the first one falls over, but in this case the companions are only high teens-low 20s. My idea here was that they would use the bastard sword 2 handed when the shield breaks, but I haven't been able to decide whether they actually do that.

This is my current game and it feels like the sweet spot for me, partly because the shields simply make Khergit and Rhodok siege attacks a lot less stressful. The sword may be worst against armor, but I spend much of my games chasing lightly armored bandits and raiders around anyway.

3) Polearms - I used Lezalit with the awl pike and a staff (2 separate games), with all else equal, and his level lagged the others' by a consistent 25% throughout although his durability seemed to be about the same. I really don't know why; I followed him around on the field and he didn't seem like a klutz or anything with either weapon, but the other companions just stayed way ahead of him. Perhaps this just means that weapon speed is more important to the companions.

Side note - In this game I also picked up Matheld for the first time. I'm not sure why but she consistently out-kills the rest of them. I may let her try the polearm next game and see if she can make it work

 

[Baguette Eater]

Pierce is better agaisnt armor than the blunt, and they both own the cut.

 

[Captain_Octavius]

Whether pierce or blunt damage is better against armour depends on the damage value of the weapon. This is because  a set number is subtracted, and then a percentage of the remaining damage is absorbed (though this may be the other way around, I am not sure). If you compare them: For blunt the initial reduction is higher, but for pierce the percentage of remaining damage that is absorbed is higher.

armor_soak_factor_against_cut      = 0.8
armor_soak_factor_against_pierce    = 0.65
armor_soak_factor_against_blunt    = 0.5

armor_reduction_factor_against_cut      = 1.0
armor_reduction_factor_against_pierce    = 0.5
armor_reduction_factor_against_blunt    = 0.75

 

[SPD_Phoenix]

the bastard sword would be better on horseback.
you can use a shield with it and still kill most enemies with 1 or 2 hits

It's useless for companions with shield because they don't know that they can put away their shield and use the sword two handed. That means, they always get penalty for using the sword one handed when dismounted. Either one handed or two handed for companions or hand and a half without shield.

 

[Baguette Eater]

Someone did the calcs of both numbers, in the end it was like 35% less damage block with pierce and 20% with blunt. cant say if its the real numbers tho.

 

[Boduar]

Heavy Morningstar + Shield is all I use on my companions.  Prevents them from making any stupid weapon choices since I have yet to see one of them try to use it 2hand instead of 1hand + shield.  They also cut through pretty much everything like butter (1-hit enemy lords once in a while).

 

[Falcon Critical]

I'm not really into min-maxxing, I like to have each companion different.  The ones that work well for me are Nizar with Heavy Shortened Military Scythe (2h sword), Ymira with 1h pick and board shield, Bunduk with siege xbow and 2h sword, and Klethi with jarids and a cleaver.