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Aion:The attack speed myth about Polearms vs. Greatswords

Sep 16, 2009 aion|2,270views

Unless there is something about the way these stats are read or used/applied to the weapon, I fail to see the attack speed advantage that a Greatsword (GS) has over a Polearm (PA).

Here is why I believe so.

I went through the list of every orange con weapon in the Aion armory to see how many weapons have additional attack speed as a stat.

For the PA, 11 out of the 38 weapons listed had an attack speed buff. Or 29% of the weapons.
For the GS, 12 out of the 42 weapons listed had an attack speed buff. Or 29% of the weapons.

So based on that information, it certainly appears that there are just as many PA’s with attack speed as there are GS’s.

Also, the attack speed percentages themselves are pretty much the same, usually ranging between 16 to 19% on the orange con weapons I reviewed, depending on their level.

There is of course the base weapon speed of 2.4 for the GS versus 2.8 for the PA, but it is my understanding that is for auto-attack only. Which doesn’t fire at higher levels when skill chains are being used.

So to compare apples to apples, Menotios’ Greatsword versus Menotios’ Spear, here is what I found (I wish I knew how to link those images in here);

Menotios’ Greatsword;
Attack 316- 334
Attack Spd 2.4
Physical Crit 10
Magical Acc 270
Accuracy 880
Parry 833
—————-
Max Hitpoint 264
Physical Crit 52
Physical Attk 33
Attk Speed 19

Menotios’ Spear;
Attack 241- 449
Attack Spd 2.8
Physical Crit 50
Magical Acc 270
Accuracy 780
Parry 793
—————-
Max Hitpoint 264
Physical Crit 52
Physical Attk 33
Attk Speed 19

So comparing apples to apples with two level 50 weapons the differences slice out roughly in this manner:

Average attack for the PA is 345 with the chance to go low and the chance to land high burst damage. A 6% increase in average damage over the GS.
Average attack for the GS is 325 nice and consistent.

Pa has 40 more points to crit.
GS has 40 more points to Parry, as well as 100 more points to accuracy.
The 40 points in crit and parry offset in a way as far as stat allocation is concerned. The crit is more valuable, both can be offset by manastones. So the real difference boils down to the 100 accuracy points, or if I understand it correctly, a 10% difference.

So 6% extra damage versus 10% accuracy. With a slight nudge to the PA for having extra crit instead of parry. Some people may not feel the need to add that extra parry and use their manastones for something else. Also another slight nudge to the PA for having burst damage. It’s a little easier to heal someone who is getting hit and consistantly dropping in a measured manner than someone who gets hit lightly then gets clobbered by a couple huge burst hits. Which the PA can very well do. They could be down and out before the healer can react.

That seperation in stat allocation seems consistent throughout the weapons I reviewed. So you will pretty much see the same difference throughout the weapon selelction, not just my examples. Occasionally the stats at the bottom change and accuracy or knowledge may be the stat, which mixes things up a bit, but in the attack speed debate, it is pretty clear.

So unless there is something that I don’t know as far as how the point allocations work, attack speed truly isn’t a factor in the Polearm versus Greatsword debate. At higher level weapons you are just as likely to get added attack speed on a PA as you are a GS. Even a quick review of the listed blue con weapons revealed the same information.

Tags: aion