2H CHOSEN help

[GPMonz3524]

Hello everyone,
Ive been looking for an updated guide for a 2h chosen. Every thread ive come across is old and when i click on the build links they say they cant be found for some reason. That being said i understand 2h chosen are frowned upon and only decent RR70+ in usually small scall groups/sc’s.
Okay so i ran across a few high geared and high RR lvl 2h chosen and they do very good for themselves in sc’s im in. Sometimes topping dps charts and always in the thick of battle holding theyre own.
So what im asking if your one of them is what talents, tactics, gear, auras, and rotations you all are using. If you could include situational rotations and tactics that would be great being that those can be changed on the fly.

Thank you for anyone who takes the time to help.

[Paul77904]

Thargrimm is a high end Chosen, he should be able to give you some tips. Only thing I would suggest is max out parry and DD on your renown first

[anarchypark]

practice guard on, guard off.

[Asherdoom]

chosen 2 handed are worthless. tanks in this game got only one fuction: guardbot. you totally lack killing potential., leave dps/kill job to choppas/witch elves and marauder please.

[GPMonz3524]

Didnt ask about guard and didnt ask about your opinion on what more than 50% chosens i see play. But i guess thats cool to tell people how to play lol

[BeautfulToad]

2-handed tanks are fine, just have a SnB loadout for seiges and certain scenarios where you may be the only tank. Since SnB largely sits there taking damage, you dont really need a full respec once you have high end gear.

It might be better to level as an SnB tank, particularly between level 32-40, and get a 2h decent spec when you are level 40.

[peterthepan3]

. tanks in this game got only one fuction: guardbot. you totally lack killing potential., leave dps/kill job to choppas/witch elves and marauder please.

So, so wrong, and seems like you are only speaking about HtL spambots in Forts.

Chosen is rather mediocre (as a whole), but 2h tanks in general are not just guardbots - unless you play them poorly.

[kmark101]

Chosen is a dps machine with the new gear sets, Ravage spam is real once again (hitting for 4-500+), 2h spec is more than fine.

I think the biggest advantage of SnB tanks is that they aren't targetted that much due to the possible disrupt for casters, so they look for squishier targets. Once casters see 2h tanks they are happily target them as any other class and they go down just as fast.

[Skullgrin]

OK, its been a while since I've run thru what I feel is the best 2H Chosen setup, so I'll go ahead and try to get down what I think is a solid build at 40/40. Keep in mind that most of this comes from a solo perspective, however much of it does translate to group and warband play.

Stats

Spoiler:

Your initial goal for your primary stats (strength/toughness/wounds) should be to get them to 700/700/700 after aura and potion buffs. Initially I recommend the following priority for increasing them - strength, then wounds, then toughness. I put strength before wounds solely due to the fact that at lower rank your best chance at survival is to outdamage your opponent, rather than outlast them. When you reach 40/60 and up you will want to switch strength and wounds priority. At 40/84 my primary stats are around 850/700/925 when buffed.

The goal for secondary stats (weapon skill/initiative) should be around 250/250. If you do have a chance at increasing either of these I'd prioritize weapon skill as it increases your parry percentage. At early renown levels achieving these numbers will mostly be done by balancing out talismans, as most of your renown points will be spent increasing your defensive percentages. Later on you will also be able increase them a bit with renown points. My current stats for these are around 300/275.

Edit: To clarify on my stat totals, these totals are buffed by potions and auras but not by equipment/ability/tactic procs. As an example with Daemonclaw active I'd have 950 strength, 700 toughness, 925 wounds, 400 weapon skill, and 375 initiative.

Armor

Spoiler:

Early on your first set of armor will be probably be either Annihilator or Mercenary (35/39). Both sets are fairly comparable, however Annihilator has a few more stat points and the chest bonus of 60 HP every 4 sec. helps add to overall survivability. It is also easier to acquire via RvR.

The next set to get is Beastlord (40/33). It has a bit less in the way of armor but the resists are nice to have and the cloak/gem/pocket item are good to wear (+55 weapon skill for 3 piece bonus) even if you consider the armor items sub-par.

The next level of armor after this is the Redeye/Sentinel/Conqueror/Dominator (40/45). Personally at this level I grabbed Conqueror and Dominator, as Redeye required a solid group as well as more time and Sentinel wasn't released at that point. Things get tricky at this point tho, as the stats start to be more defined along tank/dps lines. At first I wore 3/3 of each set trying to maximize my wounds but in the end found that the Conqueror 5 piece bonus (on being hit 10% chance to gain 100 wounds for 20 sec.) is just too powerful to go without.

Current endgame armor is Vanquisher/Oppressor/Invader/Bloodlord, and again I initially went for the RvR/Scenario sets. I now also have 6 of 7 of Invader and mix and match all three sets depending on if I am going for more dps or more survivability. The best general purpose mix I've found tho is 3/3 Vanquisher/Oppressor. The extra wounds seem to trump any of the later bonuses you get in the sets.

My general experience with the various sets is as follows -

Full Vanquisher is good for Keep and Fort sieges but your dps is just too low when solo. It also works well when in a group due to the six piece bonus (on being hit:10% chance for -3% group damage for 10 sec.) but having all that + block percentage is a bit of a waste when going 2H.

Full Oppressor is just too squishy even with all toughness talismans, the only build I've gotten to work alright with it is 4/2 Oppressor/Invader and the four piece Oppressor bonus (on hit: 10% chance for +1% damage for 15 sec. stacks 5 times) is a bit underwhelming.

I just recently got my sixth piece of Invader so I haven't done much testing with it, But it looks to me to be better used with sword and board. It is nice to mix in 3/3 with the other sets as it surprisingly adds to overall dps. Once I have the gem for this set I think it will be nice to use it mixed 4/3 for the extra toughness.

I don't have any Bloodlord yet, however looking at the set in the preview thread for it it seems that you would be very squishy wearing it as only one piece has any toughness. The sets saving grace may be the 7 piece bonus, only time will tell tho.

Edit: For the record I'm currently wearing 3/3/3/2 set wise for armor and jewelry -
Oppressor helm, shoulders, and belt.
Vanquisher carapace gauntlets, and boots.
Beastlord Cape, Gem, and pocket item.
Genesis Warrior fragment and remnant.

Jewelry

Spoiler:

Your first set should be The Winds Impervious. It has excellent resists and gives a nice little armor bonus for the full set. The guide to find them along with all the other jewelry sets can be found here.

After that grind your way to the RvR Genesis sets, with Warrior then Undying being the priority. Everlasting would be my last choice unless you are specifically attempting a regen build and even then getting fleshrender rings would be the better route.

Other nice pieces to have are Chaos Seal of the Fist (T4 influence item), the Rough Gunbad Ruby and Rough Gunbad Amber (2% to parry on each of them). And of course the Beastlord, Sentinel, Invader and Bloodlord gems in order to experiment with which set bonuses you like most. Also useful to have for back items are the Subjugator Cloak and the Battle Brew Backpack. The abilities for both of them can be used without actually wearing them. Subjugator removes debuffs while the Backpack is a small DoT that can occasionally be crucial in close fights. Just place the items in your bag and then put a link on your hotbar to use them.

Talismans

Spoiler:

Talismans should be used to fill in any stats deficiencies you have after deciding on what armor and jewelry to use. The most common thing I tend to do is to place toughness talismans on dps sets, strength talismans on tank sets, and then have one wounds talisman in the mix - usually on chest armor. Some like to use armor talismans also, I've found that using an armor potion is usually enough of an armor increase, but if you feel too squishy in combat you may want to add one in.

Mastery

Spoiler:

RoR.builders - Chosen. This is my recommended build at 40/40.

I choose Quake over Downfall as a way to control opponents movement mainly due to the fact that it can also be used for crowd control and as an AoE damage ability in group situations. All the rest of the mastery points go into the Path of Dread as it raises your total strength (including strength gained from the Dreadful Fear aura) and increases the damage that you do with all Dread based abilities. I mentioned in a previous thread that I tend to use Cleave rather than Ravage, the reason why is that although Cleave costs 40AP to Ravages 35AP it is a Dread ability so its damage is increased beyond Ravages due to concentrating points in the Dread tree.

An alternate build that is more group centered can be found here RoR.builders - Chosen. This build focuses more on increasing your healing received and causing havok among back line casters. Be warned though that with this build you will find yourself outclassed by other tanks and some dps classes, as you don't have as much damage potential against them.

My current Mastery build at 40/84 is here RoR.builders - Chosen. I've finished out the basic build by taking Rending Blade for more AoE (useful in groups/sieges or when outnumbered) and Siphoned Energy to get a tactic that is situationally useful against spell casters.

Renown

Spoiler:

You should initially use your renown points in Reflexes to max out your parry, then take at least three ranks of Deft Defender to help defend against ranged/caster opponents. Next you want at least one rank in Futile Strikes to lower your chance to be crit. Most recommend getting two ranks in Futile Strikes however I've found that one will suffice if you are using the Flawless Armor tactic - you can decide whether or not you feel the need for the extra protection.

After you have these basics you are free to use the rest of your renown points as you see fit. Personally I tend to place them all in base stats in the following priority - strength, toughness, wounds, weapon skill, then initiative.

Morales

Spoiler:

Fairly basic stuff here.

Rank 1 - Demolishing Strike for the armor debuff. Champions Challenge also has its uses but I don't like to be locked in place due to crowd control PTSD.
Rank 2 - Distracting Bellow when solo, Tzeentch's Amplification when grouped with a healer.
Rank 3 - Raze is the best choice in most situations, however Impenetrable Armor can be nice in sieges as an 'oh s**t' button.
Rank 4 - Immaculate Defense as I never spec to the top of any Mastery path.

Tactics

Spoiler:

The key thing to note when selecting tactics as a 2H Chosen is that they are one of your main survival tools. You need to use at least two defensive tactics at all times, and sometimes three. The two that I recommend using always are Rugged for toughness and Flawless Armor for the 10% crit reduction.

The third tactic that I recommend for 2H is Oppressing Blows (+15% to crit).

For the fourth tactic I use Daemonclaw for my default choice as it procs often with Oppressing Blows - increasing damage done, parry rate, armor penetration, dodge rate, etc. I do swap this tactic out with other tactics depending on the situation. Other tactics that I tend to use in the fourth slot include Siphoned Energy, Quickened Discord, Critical Suppression, and Warped Flesh. You may have others that you like to use, feel free to experiment and find what you like best.

Auras

Spoiler:

For auras the three that I mainly run are Dreadful Fear (strength bonus that increases with points in the Dread tree), Dreadful Agony (the first of the many DoTs you will place on your enemies - also acts as an early warning system against Witch Hunters as you go into combat if they are in stealth and in range), and Discordant Instability (increases your resists and debuffs enemy resists).

Generally I always keep Dreadful Fear and Discordant Instability up, swapping out Dreadful Agony with either Dreadful Terror (AP regen buff and drain) or Discordant Fluctuation (damages spellcasters that attack you or your group). Corrupting Retribution (health regen) can also be situationally useful, mostly in PvE, however it tends to be weak due to having nothing spent in the Corruption tree. Corrupting Wrath isn't really worth using as with no points in Corruption the toughness potion gives more in the way of stats.

One key thing to remember when switching up auras is to always keep a Discordant aura up, the synergy with Blast Wave (-75 wounds) is an important part of your damage rotation.

Potions

Spoiler:

The two main 60 minute potions I use are armor and toughness. The toughness potion is better than Corrupting Wrath aura with no points in its tree, and the strength potion is useless as it does not stack with your Dreadful Fear aura. Some swear by Liniments but I tend to like the larger stat bonus potions better, and I find the 30 minute timer to be annoying.

For healing get the best that you can. Carry a stack of each of the vendor purchased healing and AP ones along with a stack of each of the crafted healing, recovery, AP, and aversion potions. There is also a low level slowing potion that reduces its targets movement speed as well as doing minimal damage (useful for catching kiting classes).

As a side note on potions, if you don't have another character that you can make them on I recommend getting Apothecary/Butchering otherwise you will be VERY poor after purchasing the potions you need for RvR. All the materials for the potions I use can be farmed via Butchering, and as a tank you can easily farm multiple mobs at the same time. You can also make a good profit selling off the potions you don't use, giving you plenty of cash to buy talismans.

Rotation

Spoiler:

Now for some basic rotation tips. Most of this is geared toward solo encounters as that's what I do most. I'll try to note some of the things that work in groups also, but there are others here who are better suited to give advice regarding that.

The first things to quickly take into account when encountering an opponent are your tactics and then your auras. First select the best tactic setup for whom you are fighting, within the guidelines I placed above you should have only to choose what your fourth tactic should be. I use Daemonclaw as my default, it is good for fighting both ranged and melee dps classes as well as most tanks, and it can be overkill against some classes in a group setting. Warped Flesh is good when up against heavy tanks or when outnumbered. Siphoned Energy and Quickened Discord work well on casters and healers. As for auras I use the main three mentioned earlier, swapping out The AP drain aura for the DoT one when up against a healer or caster. The reason I do this is that you generally cannot out-damage a healer, but you can drain them of AP over time and then kill them once they are unable to cast heals.

The next thing you need to do is use an ability to control their movement, either Dizzying Blow (close range), Quake (to close within melee range), or a slowing potion. Often you may have to use Quake to close and then apply Dizzying Blow to keep them in range going forward. Quake also has the added benefit of acting as a spell interrupt and can be used later on in the fight to hinder casters (Taunt is also good for this). Slowing potions I use as a last resort when the other methods don't work or are on cooldown.

Once you have some control over your opponents ability to maneuver your next task is to apply both of your main DoT's to them - Touch of Palsy and Seeping Wound. Add Withering Blow to the list if you are against a caster, to siphon off their AP. After that I use Suppression to improve my own parry and then reapply Dizzying Blow to keep them from running away. At this point you have several options depending on what class you are up against. For dps and tank opponents I tend to go for as much damage as possible by using Relentless, Tooth of Tzeentch, Cleave, and Blast Wave. For casters and healers I mix in Sever Blessing, Taunt or Withering Blow in addition to the former. Challenge can also be added in to reduce group damage, however it doesn't affect damage done to you so it is useless in solo situations.

I generally don't use Repel very often as I feel that as 2H you want to keep your opponents close to you so that you can do as much damage as quickly as possible. I have found that there is a mini rotation where it helps out a bunch tho, and that is against Engineers or others when they are standing next to a healing keg. Simply apply Touch of Palsy, then hit them with Repel and chase after them channeling Relentless. Repel takes them out of the kegs healing range and also causes damage via Touch of Palsy movement and Relentless gives a nice burst of damage on top of it all. Very satisfying if you time it right.

One thing I didn't mention in the earlier rotation is that there are a few abilities that you want to try to keep up all the time if possible. These are Dizzying Blow (slows movement), Blast Wave (-750 health), Suppression (+25% parry), and Touch of Palsy (damage every 1/2 sec they are moving). Touch of Palsy is probably the most critical of these, I've seen people die from this running away after I've gotten their health to around 50%.

Against multiple opponents like in keep/fort fights add in AoE damage via Quake, Blast Wave, and Rending Blade. Be careful when using these in a group, people on your side can get pissed off when you break their crowd control. If your side is funneling in a keep tho, feel free to go nuts. Challenge and Bane Shield are also good to use in these types of situations, as they affect all around you regardless of whether you are in a group or not.

For finishing moves I like to use Relentless, Blast Wave, or occasionally Cleave/Ravage. Most like to use Ravage due to its high crit damage potential, however I think many underestimate Relentless as I've seen it crit all six hits for around a total of 2500 damage. Blast Wave is also a nice finisher if you haven't kept it up during the fight, as in addition to its damage the -750 to health component catches many opponents off guard.

So there you go, what I hope is a fairly comprehensive overview of my thoughts on 2H Chosen. Hope it helps, and if anyone sees something that I forgot to mention feel free to point it out as I'm gonna keep a copy of this and try to add to it as time passes.

[Skullgrin]

Hello everyone,
Ive been looking for an updated guide for a 2h chosen. Every thread ive come across is old and when i click on the build links they say they cant be found for some reason. That being said i understand 2h chosen are frowned upon and only decent RR70+ in usually small scall groups/sc’s.
Okay so i ran across a few high geared and high RR lvl 2h chosen and they do very good for themselves in sc’s im in. Sometimes topping dps charts and always in the thick of battle holding theyre own.
So what im asking if your one of them is what talents, tactics, gear, auras, and rotations you all are using. If you could include situational rotations and tactics that would be great being that those can be changed on the fly.

Thank you for anyone who takes the time to help.

Updated my original post, hope you find it useful!