2H weapons are just awesome. I never even used a 1H. Not that I did much thinking about it. It just called for it - the animations are just way too cool. This game was made for feeling like Conan.
Pretty awesome 2H knowledge in this thread here. There’s nothing much to add.
I myself did it pretty simple and used the corpse smeared blade for the full story playthrough, maxing its damage and slotting a single AoE rune on it. It does not matter much which one. Many runes have an AoE, even though it’s just a small one. E.g. one is doing an almost invisible forward-shooting groundrip, which is also tearing multiple enemies even if a bit farther away. Many runes also offer a quick hit. Some axes have a quick far reaching swing. Timing to the enemy moves is crucial. The Ballfishheads and the witches used to drive me crazy. With the right 2H and/or rune they don’t even get their first cast out.
Blister, the 2H sword has an axe-like 3-attack combo. All its attacks are wide roundhouse swirls. The first attack is very quick without much delay. The third attack can be switched to a charged attack which has only half the arc but goes a bit upwards and can also hit winged brood in flight, if not too high up. just tried it. The standard rune is a 50 focus roundhouse fire swipe. This blade doesnt need much aiming for sure.