Sovereign of the Berserker. This is clearly the best set no mater what build you have. Starting with 2pc and 3pc bonuses, give you a solid 80 strenght and wounds. Then passive 10% armor penetration (4 pc) and lots of crit (5pc) will be the go-to for everyone I feel. The +2 Path of da Wrecka basically lets you get Chop Fasta! and Can't Stop Da Chop + something else, most likely extra tree point IMO and assuming your a version of RoR.builders - Choppa. Full set bonus works wonders in all aspects of the game, pve, solo, small scale (2-6) and even WB as you spam your aoe. About perfect as you can get, no complaints, get it and go chop-chop-chop!
Sovereign of da Flurry. Might dip into this for 2pc and extra 80 strength, but this set just doesn't do it for me past that. Starting with the toughness bonus (3pc), it doesn't match choppa play style. Even without Don't Wanna Live Forever (-120 toughness), we will never stack toughness; I'm at 181 in Invader gear and not using DWLF, with DWLF I'm at 61 and raising that to 149 is a wasted 3pc bonus. The armor bonus (5pc) is okay I guess, but once you hit red its cut in half unless your weaving Pent Up Rage... you know, from the Hitta tree. Having +2 Savage is basically the same as +2 Wrecka, as the above build is pretty universal. For us 2H slaves, it is okay and gives the potential to play around with more things in the middle tree. RoR.builders - Choppa with either Bleed Em Out, Tired Already, Pent Up Rage/Wot Rules or top out one of those trees. Over all, nothing special with two major 'ooof's.
Warlord: Seems a replacement for Beastlord, with the only WS bonus (3pc), and I don't mind the +99 MP (5pc). I feel the +2 Path of da Hitta (6pc) is an expansion of the SovF justification above - you get two more bits to play around with. The 7pc bonus is, okay? Seems lack-luster over all, as AP drain-proc on one target isn't much pressure, especially as WP don't use much AP (other than converting it every once in a while to their mechanic), and RP just AP drain you. Good vs other tanks/melee? On the +15% AA haste (4 pc), this, along with the back 4% AA haste, bugs me the most. My assumption for this set is as follows: they are trying to 'speed up' 2H as some viable dps option, which it is not. I looked at various AA haste values for: Subjugator 2H (Speed 3.4), Blood Bane (Speed 3.6), Bloodlord (Speed 3.2), and Massive Hemorrhage (Speed 2.7). I ignored the T4 epic rewards at 3.5 Speed (Badmoon Bigchoppa & Bigchoppa of Light).
I am using (Swing speed = Speed - Speed * AAhaste%) as my formula. If this is incorrect please let me know with the correct one.
- With basic Get Stuck In, 2.7 > 1.76, 3.2 > 2.08, 3.4 > 2.21, and 3.6 > 2.34.
10% passive: 2.7 > 2.43, 3.2 > 2.88, 3.4 > 3.06, 3.6 > 3.24
20% passive: 2.7 > 2.07, 3.2 > 2.56, 3.4 > 2.72, 3.6 > 2.88
29% passive: 2.7 > 1.84, 3.2 > 2.27, 3.4 > 2.41, 3.6 > 2.56.
- 45%, GSI+10%: 2.7 > 1.49, 3.2 > 1.76, 3.4 > 1.87, 3.6 > 1.98
55%, GSI+20%: 2.7 > 1.22, 3.2 > 1.44, 3.4 > 1.53, 3.6 > 1.62
64%, WL 4pc+GSI: 2.7 > 0.97, 3.2 > 1.15, 3.4 > 1.22, 3.6 > 1.3
75%, WL 4pc+GSI+SovF head: 2.7 > 0.70, 3.2 > 0.95, 3.4 > 0.88, 3.6 > 0.94. For kicks and giggles.
My point is, to get decent AA haste you realy need to stack it, or have it on CD with GSI. Fun fact, White Lions have the same Warlord set-up and have a single tactic, Pack Hunting, in the very popular Hunter tree (pounce, armor debuff). So with 4pc Warlord they can simply get a passive 79% AA haste, 89% if they get their defensive Sov hat. You do the math on that. Slayers have a standard tactic Push For More that gives +10 in yellow, and +20 AA haste in red. We might be tied there, not sure what they would have to give up.
What I would like to see is the Warlord bonus changed to something more useful, like parry strike-through. Say 2% on cloak and another 6% or so from the bonus. Two-handed choppa really need those hits to land, more so than dual-wield with their aoe spray-and-pray style. Even the Savage tree's main attack, Go Fer Da Soft Spot, is positional so can't be parried. Warlord shoulders hint at this, with 2 reduced chance to be parried (rctbp), and considering the difference in wounds (WL 138, SovB 213, SovF 233) this further needs a better change than a passive 29% AA haste. Heck, keep the 15% bonus and just change the cloak to 2-3% rctbp is a step in the right direction.
So there, my thoughts on choppa city sets. What are your thoughts?