2H Sword Dirwin - The Arm Annihilator, Shoulder Smasher, and Bicep Bomber

[strong saffron]

An incredibly versatile build that seamlessly shifts between impenetrable defense, and cutting off hands like they're made out of wet tissue paper. Provides an immense amount of dopamine when you destroy the arms of t5 enemies with a single Hewing Strike, or deal well over a hundred damage per Heroic Charge.

Statline
15 STR
15 AGI
30 PER
My preferred order is 15 PER -> 15 AGI -> 15 STR -> 30 PER. The rest of the points you can dump wherever you'd like.

Gear
Medium Chestpiece is a must, as it makes Flexible Defense one of the strongest buttons in the game.
Full medium armor is, however, abysmal dogshit. So instead, we use light gloves, light boots, and a heavy helmet for their great stats. Blademaster Gloves have accuracy, block, crit, crit efficiency, and fumble reduction. Heavy Helmets have a ton of fortitude, which is one of the best stats in the game, and crit avoidance. We don't care about reductions to vision because we have Perception out the ass, and it also helps protect you against enemies with Skull Crusher. Magehunter boots are the best boots in the game, so they're a no brainer.
The Jibean Cape is BiS, but the Jousting Cloak has a higher fashion stat, which is a lot more important.
As for the greatsword, I usually like the stagger/accuracy ones while I'm still leveling, for added consistency. Then I switch to the Knight Two-Hander. It's the best defensive option by far, with a huge boost to counter chance, block chance, and block power.

Why Dirwin? Doesn't he fucking suck and there's no reason to ever use him over Mahir? Why not just use Arna?
Correct! However, Mahir forces you to play as an elf, which is cringe. Arna's psyche states are incredibly powerful, and synergize very well with the 2H Sword tree, but she's very fickle. Dirwin instead incentivizes leaning into the Survival tree, with free Make a Halt, and 2 AP refunds on top of that. Since you're going to be wearing light gloves and boots for their amazing stats, you are prone to getting injured by lategame enemies. Will to Survive is amazing insurance that lets you keep fighting no matter how bad things get, and it also lets you abuse drugs to your heart's content. Cauterize helps against Proselytes and their bleed spam, and First Aid is amazing sustain both outside and during combat. Make a Halt is a nice bonus as it helps with fatigue management, which becomes an issue until you can solve your energy with Opportune Moment, Revanche, and Push the Falling. And Pathfinder + Ever Vigilant are no brainers, as they are some of the strongest 2 AP investments in the whole game.

Why not Thirst For Battle, or Sudden Lunge, etc?
Honestly? The build is practically finished by level 24, and you can do whatever you want afterwards. Personally I love Sprint Training with Heroic Charge, as with our statline it gives us a grand total of +120% Weapon Damage, and +30% Crit Chance. It's fucking stupid and I love it. And if you get Sprint Training, you might as well take Peak Performance (which is very easy to keep up at that point in the game) and Adrenaline Rush for added insurance. But experimenting is fun, so feel free to diverge and do your own thing.

_ _
So what's the gameplan?
Against enemies without charges, you frontload all your damage into Heroic Charge. Pop Offensive Tactic, Feast of Steel, and Parry, before making them eat shit. For most enemies, this should be enough to crush them into fine powder. But for harder enemies, and before you get Heroic Charge, you'll want to abuse Flexible Defense and Mighty Kick, and then cash out with Hewing Strike. Stagger neuters their offensive capabilities, and buffs the fuck out of Hewing Strike. Flex Defense and Kick also nuke their control res, move res, and crit avoidance, making them easier to stagger and crit. If you're getting your shit kicked in, switch to Defensive Tactic, and press Elusiveness to debuff adjacent enemies. If you're still dying, pop Will to Survive, or even First Aid. Worst case scenario, you can always dash out and hit the bricks, but you shouldn't ever have to assuming you didn't bite off more than you could chew.

2H Sword Dirwin - The Arm Annihilator, Shoulder Smasher, and Bicep Bomber

[mystic quiver]

is there a reason in particular for not this time in athletics?

[strong saffron]

it's really good insurance for an unlucky stun or stagger getting through your defensive layers

not necessary by any means, but i think it's well worth 1 AP

[mystic quiver]

been trying this, It is really strong but im a bit lost regarding the helmet. You are going for heavy because of the crit avoidance right? because if it was for protection youd be getting a t5 medium (because heavys are just too expensive energy wise) Am I wrong? maybe you just never got a better helmet and im just dumb lol

[strong saffron]

fortitude and crit avoidance yeah. you can upgrade to t5 heavy, i just never bothered

and you have so much energy regen between opportune moment, revanche, and push the falling, that the energy penalty isn't that big of a deal

[radiant sphinx]

If you’re going 30
Perception, making this a hybrid buikd with a Crossbow is a straight up better option. Not to mention the synergy with Dirwin’s starting gear.

[strong saffron]

ranged is cheating

[mystic quiver]

Ranged is cheating yeah

[hidden pilot]

@strong saffron what type of enchantments on equipments (weapon,armor,accessories) would you recommend for this build?

[strong saffron]

weapon; +5% life drain, +3 block power, +3% counter chance, +3% crit chance, +8% crit efficiency. +1 magic damage or +4% weapon damage are fine too
armor; +3 block power, +8% move/control resistance, +5% fortitude, +3 health, +3 energy. move and control res are better on armor because they're global stats
jewelry; +3 block power, +3% physical resistance, +8% piercing/slashing/rending/crushing resistance, +5% fortitude, +3 health, +3 energy. damage resistances are better on jewelry because they affect every bodypart, instead of only affecting the one protected by the armor piece

generally i don't savescum or spend a ton of scrolls, i just roll until i get something im fine with. you can't really complain about +3 health or +3 energy even if it's not super flashy

[hidden pilot]

Thank you so much! Having a blast with this build.

[lethal inlet]

Gonna bump this by commenting that, while I don't like Hewing Strike focused builds, I think this is one of the better documentations of builds on this forum.

[lethal inlet]

This build is suddenly surging in effectiveness. But with the lighting update I think I'd try to squeeze Heroic Charge (it's been bug-fixed too, yay) and Elusiveness in earlier, if possible.

[strong saffron]

funny how much damage it was dealing even when it was bugged

but yeah, i could see that. maybe skip out on warfare and try to get heroic at 16?

[lethal inlet]

I think Tactical Advantage is priority at 16

but Charge could be 17 or 18

or maybe it's possible to get both earlier with his SP gain now

[strong saffron]

that's true

[lethal inlet]

but still, I'd prioritize Advantage over Charge

[strong saffron]

as a sidenote, i think there could be a custom adjustments angle now, with how much it was buffed

[lethal inlet]

You could refine is a lot if you looked into how to effectively tackle hunting grounds and everything

Maybe Not This Time for CA

or I guess it could be one of the two extra APs

[radiant sphinx]

im playing a dodge focused custom adjustment medium armor build with 2h sword arna right now. about to fight manticore at levvel 16. the build fucks.

its probably gonna be my next guide

[trail frost]

would love a peek at your skill tree

[radiant sphinx]

Pathfinder is my only survival skill so te builds are very different

[mystic quiver]

now my goat dirwin doesnt fucking suck.

stocks went so up

[rapid charm]

heya, quick question, after blood and omen update, am I supposed to still run heavy helm, med chest and light boots/gloves?

[strong saffron]

you don't have to, but that's my personal preference

you can totally go with a light hat, or heavy gloves if you'd like

for more offense/defense respectively

[rapid charm]

I understand, ty so much for the quick response I'm still pretty new to the game so I don't fully understand the choice I just follow along

[strong saffron]

if you have any questions, feel free to ask either here or in #questions. one thing ill say is that before t3 dungeons, you want to rock full medium preferably, and then transition to light and heavy pieces with t3 gear

[mystic quiver]

Id say tho, with the new proselytes early game without offensive skills is relatively hard. Cant recommend going straight to mannhire (to learn 2h swords) after the first dungeon because thats annoying af, but it makes early game 10times easier imo. I did it and got really good results.

[rapid charm]

oh thats alright im lvl 13 and rocking mostly t4 atm

[strong saffron]

mighty kick is a really good offensive skill early, imo. just kick people into walls to daze them. or into traps. or into eachother

[mystic quiver]

I think the only way of getting charge and t.adventage earlier is not going for the right side of survival. And just save points for warfare and 2h sword. But then youd either pick between only having kick for the first 3 contracts in osbrook, leaving the town after the first contract to get to manshire early or run to mannshire after the first or second osbrook contract. If you also save the Not this time point you have 3 points to accelerate charge.

Every option is annoying af but I really cant see it in any other way, brace is just too good and flex is the best button. Maybe not taking pathfinder is also an option but id rather die than playing so many lvls without pathfinder lol.

I really like this build btw. Ive played it twice