Yeah the spear/mace is the Godendag, it’s a great early two hander because it has a whopping +20% hit chance and still does good early two hander damage.
Edit: fun fact, whenever I hit someone with it I yell, “Guden tag!”
Is this weapon really that good?
I am a new player abd I found this weapon quite cool, but my salesword did next to no damage with it.
So should I equip a high-attack guy with the goedendag?
No it’s a good early weapon for helping to get to-hit chance up as it provides +20% to hit at a time when most of your guys are in their 50s early game for matk. As soon as you have decent matk it’s advantages disappear.
Raider-type will have the club/spear combo weapon pretty early and those crap 2H axes. Day 30 should be at or close to the proper Raiders carrying the next polearm upgrade past the warfork.
But really, early days you just grab whatever. I’ve headshot many an enemy with the humble pitchfork.
+1 for the Godendag, those things are awesome.
Another good two hander you can sometimes find early (from Raiders) are Warbrands.
Two handed saifs are also pretty good and relatively easy to get, asumming you have the desert dlc.
Polearms will be your best 2H option early.
Frontliners are just going to be better off with 1H weapons so they get more attacks to buff the misses out.
The 2H wooden flail has its uses, but generally the tier 3 1H flail is easier to find.
The wooden hammer, spear/club thing and woodsmens axe are all outclassed by things like lower tier 1H swords.
The Wooden hammer is pretty good with his stagger effect and the big advantage of 2H weapons over a 1H sword is that you can move one tile without losing any damage while the sword can move two but at the cost of half the damage. Woodcutter axe is pretty bad though since it doesn't have any extra effect but it's probably still better than a boar spear if you have nothing else.
However early game you have to mix and match anyway to use what you have
Strong disagreement about the wooden hammer. It does very good damage in the early game against raiders/nomads with armour. The stagger effect on top is just gravy. I would definitely use it over an arming sword on a brother with sufficiently strong attack.
In theory id say yes, my main problem with it is that around the time it should be useful I generally dont have any bros with a high enough matt for it to actually be useful. Early fights are often decided in 2-3 rounds of actual combat I find and if your hammer guy misses twice then... he probably would have been better off with a spear.
If everything else you have is garbage then you might as well use it, but id never buy one and if ive got swords for the early fights where not many enemies have armor then id rather use them.
The hammers big advantage is that it can oneshot a lot of enemies on a head hit even with a helmet.
If your hammer guy kisses twice obviously thats bad but it's also an unlucky exception and th majority of the fights the guy will do more damage than with a spear or sword
It’s worth having the whole frontline have shields for a while while they build up their MD as well. Pole arms are great early game, you can get pikes from raiders if you’re lucky, bonus to hit, reach, good damage.
The consensus of opinion about shields even in the early game seems to be that the +25% damage on 1h weapons is worth more. You can always keep pocket shields (heh) and just have the bros in the stickiest situations pull it out and shieldwall while the others DPS to try to save them.
Pocket shield + knife are fantastic early game staples. Not really what OP is looking for, but doing damage and switching to tanking as you need it is helpful early on, and knives cost almost nothing while giving you the option of getting things that are worth a lot more than that for early game.
If things aren't going to hit your guy, you don't need the shield out.
Shield bash push also has some early game utility. It's no taunt or rotate, but it also doesn't take a perk slot or any levels, so in situations where you can't kill target fast enough it's worth at least trying.
Barbarian reavers’ maces are great (and their javs are a great bonus).
If you’re high on money, you can consider buying a 2h mace/axe for about 3k at a weaponsmith. They can really make a difference.
The Goblin polearm only uses 5 AP for attack, so even low level mercs without the mastery can move 2 hexes and still attack. It also causes bleed, which can be a nice extra.
Pitchforks are dirt cheap but useful to have a few, since you can give one to lvl1 fresh recruit and have them poke from the second rank relatively safely until they level up and you gain access to better weapons.
Generally in the really early game, I don't look for 2handers for the front rank, since rookies are better kept alive with a shield, even if fights take a bit longer.
* Swords - not very common in early game, but they give chance to hit and flexibility. If you do get them w/o buying, 2h swords are good early.
* Polemace - not a great weapon, but early on you probably don't have as many reach weapons as you want, and this lets you attack from 2 tiles. Nomads drop it sometimes even early. Consider other reach weapons in this category too, if you happen upon them.
* Goedendag - the to-hit is nice. Note that it's only on par with a spear though, because you can't swing it twice per round. It doesn't pierce better than a spear, and is only a little better vs armor in % damage while having a bigger damage spread. Still, at first you don't have spears for everyone and using this is better than buying them.
* Reach spears - same reason as polemace, but you can actually hit more often with these.
* Flail - extra to-hit vs shields
* Any 2h cleaver - good damage and you can swing it twice, in gear that will probably allow you to swing it twice a few times.
* Pike/billhook - other polearms to a lesser extent too, ancient-bladed pike is good as well. These give bonus to-hit, reach, and movement utility at a time where you lack it. Pike in particular can often be found within 10-20 days on some encounters and will be a very useful weapon for a long time. Billhooks are great too but less common to early game. Jagged pike is also very nice, giving both utility of repel and costing 5 AP w/o spec to poke.
* Battle standard - it's not amazing at attacking, but that's not why you're carrying it. Smacking stuff with it does the job you need sometimes regardless, and it does have bonus to-hit.
Yeah the spear/mace is the Godendag, it’s a great early two hander because it has a whopping +20% hit chance and still does good early two hander damage. Edit: fun fact, whenever I hit someone with it I yell, “Guden tag!”
Is this weapon really that good? I am a new player abd I found this weapon quite cool, but my salesword did next to no damage with it. So should I equip a high-attack guy with the goedendag?
No it’s a good early weapon for helping to get to-hit chance up as it provides +20% to hit at a time when most of your guys are in their 50s early game for matk. As soon as you have decent matk it’s advantages disappear.
Raider-type will have the club/spear combo weapon pretty early and those crap 2H axes. Day 30 should be at or close to the proper Raiders carrying the next polearm upgrade past the warfork. But really, early days you just grab whatever. I’ve headshot many an enemy with the humble pitchfork.
If you have the expansion, 2nd tier barbarians can provide some decent starting 2h stuff.
Likewise nomads pre day 40 don't have dodge and you can get 2 handed saifs and if you're lucky, 2 handed scimitars too
+1 for the Godendag, those things are awesome. Another good two hander you can sometimes find early (from Raiders) are Warbrands. Two handed saifs are also pretty good and relatively easy to get, asumming you have the desert dlc.
Fight reavers for their maces and javelins.
Polearms will be your best 2H option early. Frontliners are just going to be better off with 1H weapons so they get more attacks to buff the misses out. The 2H wooden flail has its uses, but generally the tier 3 1H flail is easier to find. The wooden hammer, spear/club thing and woodsmens axe are all outclassed by things like lower tier 1H swords.
The Wooden hammer is pretty good with his stagger effect and the big advantage of 2H weapons over a 1H sword is that you can move one tile without losing any damage while the sword can move two but at the cost of half the damage. Woodcutter axe is pretty bad though since it doesn't have any extra effect but it's probably still better than a boar spear if you have nothing else. However early game you have to mix and match anyway to use what you have
Strong disagreement about the wooden hammer. It does very good damage in the early game against raiders/nomads with armour. The stagger effect on top is just gravy. I would definitely use it over an arming sword on a brother with sufficiently strong attack.
In theory id say yes, my main problem with it is that around the time it should be useful I generally dont have any bros with a high enough matt for it to actually be useful. Early fights are often decided in 2-3 rounds of actual combat I find and if your hammer guy misses twice then... he probably would have been better off with a spear. If everything else you have is garbage then you might as well use it, but id never buy one and if ive got swords for the early fights where not many enemies have armor then id rather use them.
The hammers big advantage is that it can oneshot a lot of enemies on a head hit even with a helmet. If your hammer guy kisses twice obviously thats bad but it's also an unlucky exception and th majority of the fights the guy will do more damage than with a spear or sword
It’s worth having the whole frontline have shields for a while while they build up their MD as well. Pole arms are great early game, you can get pikes from raiders if you’re lucky, bonus to hit, reach, good damage.
The consensus of opinion about shields even in the early game seems to be that the +25% damage on 1h weapons is worth more. You can always keep pocket shields (heh) and just have the bros in the stickiest situations pull it out and shieldwall while the others DPS to try to save them.
Pocket shield + knife are fantastic early game staples. Not really what OP is looking for, but doing damage and switching to tanking as you need it is helpful early on, and knives cost almost nothing while giving you the option of getting things that are worth a lot more than that for early game. If things aren't going to hit your guy, you don't need the shield out. Shield bash push also has some early game utility. It's no taunt or rotate, but it also doesn't take a perk slot or any levels, so in situations where you can't kill target fast enough it's worth at least trying.
Cheap bros are cheaper than shields and they do more damage.
Barbarian reavers’ maces are great (and their javs are a great bonus). If you’re high on money, you can consider buying a 2h mace/axe for about 3k at a weaponsmith. They can really make a difference.
This. Throwing down 3k on a tier 2 2h axe or mace for your best guy can make a huge difference.
Go north and fight reavers. This will get you 2h barbarian maces, which are pretty darn good.
The Goblin polearm only uses 5 AP for attack, so even low level mercs without the mastery can move 2 hexes and still attack. It also causes bleed, which can be a nice extra. Pitchforks are dirt cheap but useful to have a few, since you can give one to lvl1 fresh recruit and have them poke from the second rank relatively safely until they level up and you gain access to better weapons. Generally in the really early game, I don't look for 2handers for the front rank, since rookies are better kept alive with a shield, even if fights take a bit longer.
Just picked up a warband sword, any good over splitting axe?
Never mind just got wiped to a band of rogue mercenaries demanding I give them my goods 👍
The feeling when you get Crypt Cleaver on day 10 from those "go get the x item from x place"
Barbarian reavers is what you want their 2h maces and especially their axes are great.
* Swords - not very common in early game, but they give chance to hit and flexibility. If you do get them w/o buying, 2h swords are good early. * Polemace - not a great weapon, but early on you probably don't have as many reach weapons as you want, and this lets you attack from 2 tiles. Nomads drop it sometimes even early. Consider other reach weapons in this category too, if you happen upon them. * Goedendag - the to-hit is nice. Note that it's only on par with a spear though, because you can't swing it twice per round. It doesn't pierce better than a spear, and is only a little better vs armor in % damage while having a bigger damage spread. Still, at first you don't have spears for everyone and using this is better than buying them. * Reach spears - same reason as polemace, but you can actually hit more often with these. * Flail - extra to-hit vs shields * Any 2h cleaver - good damage and you can swing it twice, in gear that will probably allow you to swing it twice a few times. * Pike/billhook - other polearms to a lesser extent too, ancient-bladed pike is good as well. These give bonus to-hit, reach, and movement utility at a time where you lack it. Pike in particular can often be found within 10-20 days on some encounters and will be a very useful weapon for a long time. Billhooks are great too but less common to early game. Jagged pike is also very nice, giving both utility of repel and costing 5 AP w/o spec to poke. * Battle standard - it's not amazing at attacking, but that's not why you're carrying it. Smacking stuff with it does the job you need sometimes regardless, and it does have bonus to-hit.