2H weapons seem to be in a very bad place.
I used them pretty extensively on my first toon, using 2H to clear mobs, and faster 1H on bosses. Now I’m on my fourth alt giving a fully 2H build a go.
It’s by far and away the most challenging experience I’ve had since first playing. Which is fine. The issue is, the risk/reward of 2H seems off.
First of all, a 2H weapon should absolutely be able to block. Not as well as shields obviously, but they are still massive weapons, that logically and visually should be capable of throwing up a block.
Secondly, this is kind of a dream feature, but it’d be nice to throw an unarmed punch with your off hand, or perhaps a kick. Time and time again a situation arises, I get off a few attacks on an enemy, they have a sliver of life left, I know I can’t get another full attack of any sort in, I roll away (bc I also can’t block).
Effectively, though the enemy has only a sliver of life remaining, the fight starts over with us squaring up at a distance. It would be nice to be able to throw a melee attack here to not just finish up the enemy, but also for every other time you’re in range and have no choice but to roll away or parry.
Finally, let’s talk about the biggest issue imo: boss staggering. Staggering a boss with a 2H weapon feels like an accomplishment, and honestly it should. To stagger a boss with a 2H can take up to half a dozen fully charged attacks.
And when you finally do bring the boss to its knees with the might of your giant hammer! … you barely have time to pull off a single charged attack and safely roll away.
Contrast this to dual daggers, focus throwers, and one handed butter knife wielders who can stagger a boss in seconds, and chain stagger them into oblivion (we all know there’s a problem here).
So, how could this be remedied?
Well, they could make it so only 2H weapons can stagger a boss, this makes sense in theory, but isn’t fun for everyone else.
Alternatively they could have two types of stagger: light stagger and heavy stagger.
Light stagger is similar to existing stagger. It would fill up the stagger bar in orange and only briefly stagger the enemy. For good measure, make the stagger bar retreat slightly sooner than it currently does. Also the possibility of adding diminishing returns, as in they would require more hits to stagger each time, or alternatively, be staggered for less time than previously.
Heavy stagger would fill up the stagger bar with red. It would stagger an enemy significantly longer, and retreat slower. This could only be accomplished with a “super heavy” type of weapon.
Anyways, maybe I just need to accept the advice I frequently give that “not every build is suppose to be good or even work”. Having said that, at the bare minimal 2Hs should be able to throw a block.