Pikeman Archive

Hi guys and gals,

I'm new to the pikeman profession and I would like to know, in your opinion which is a better weapon? The Vibro Lance or the Long Virbro Axe? I would think that although the VL does less damage then the LVA it'd be a better weapon as it is more accurate. Please let me know what you think Thanks in advance for the help

You need both and I'd add in a regular lance for debuffing then hot key over to another lance type depending on your needs. Someting open to electrical damage, your lance, at times, is better.

i use both dependent on what im killing

I had this same question. I upgraded from my Combat Staff to a Long Vibro Axe and wow - what a difference. But my LVA had a -65 range modifier and its HAM costs sucked. Eventually as I took novice pikeman, it no longer served me. After careful investigation, here is what I have determined:

You need both.

• Vibro Lance has Electric Damage, uses less HAM, has better Range Mods, but is only a light armor weapon. Vibro Lance primarily drains the Action Pool.


• Long Vibro Axe has Kinetic Damage, uses more HAM, has poorer Range Mods and is a medium armor weapon. Long Vibro axe primarily drains the Health Pool.

I had a master weaponsmith make me about 4 Vibro Lances and a Long Vibro Axe with different stats. Here's what I've determined:

If you are hunting with armor:

• Damage and Range is what is going to matter the most, since you probably won't be doing too many special moves. For this, you'll probably want to get yourself a damage/range experimented LVA as well as a damage/range experimented VL. You'd probably end up using the LVA more than the VL because of the damage boost. Probably wanna get the weapon sliced for speed/ damage.


• If you want to use special moves, then you'll wanna crank a lot of experimentation into the HAM cost because armor and special moves with a pike will wear you down to nothing.

If you are hunting without armor.

• If you aren't hunting with armor, you'll be utilizing the special moves. A nice even spread is probably what you are looking for. At least that's what I found.


• I found that reducing the HAM cost on the weapon beyond a certain point doesn't really matter. a -21 Range Mod is comparable to a -40 believe it or not. Beyond -40 you REALLY start to notice.


• Your HAM costs on the Vibro Lance doesn't matter as much on your Long Vibro Axe. I say this because with a Long Vibro Axe, your special moves are coming out of the health pool - the same pool being drained by that big mob yer smacking around. This makes a Vibro Lance a little better of an option, since you can put more experimentation points into damage, and less into HAM. But don't forget the range.

Remember to know your creatures. If you are attacking something that is protected against kinetc, and no protect vs electric - the vibro lance will be the way to go. For PvP - a lot of armors are against kinetic and blast - not much against Electric - except Composite - which you'll want a LVA

My two bits.

Recently, I decided to add Pikeman to my template by dropping Master Fencer. Currently I'm at 1011 Pike and climbing the stances tree. My question is this: Which is better to use as my main weapon; the LVA or the VL? I have some NS Lances that I switch out for DoT infliction. Also, this is strictly for PvE. I hardly ever do PvP. I realize that one does Kinetic and one does Electricity, but is there any benefit to using one over the other? Here are the stats on both weapons:

LVA:
108-376 speed 3.4

VL:
96-302 speed 2.6

I've been levelling up with a looted VL that has a 2.1 speed slice and 60-220 dmg (not great but works) and I grind on Dantooine doing Hourton Huntress lairs, but when I hit 3000 the spin and added speed works with my 3.2 142-374 LVA or 2.8 96-320 VL.

Thank you for the advise on the weapons. I've noticed that the VL doesn't do as much damage as I thought it would do even again Elec vulnerable creatures. I appreciate the input from everyone.

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TurboSith wrote:

plus a VL looks like those claw things you see cons picking up garbage with on the side of the road

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