Stone Etched War Sword

[Derrin]

Apologies if this topic has been done before, I couldn't find anything as specific as what I am looking for.

Currently my guild is debating what should be done with the Stone Etched War Sword. Hybrids are normally given preference on two-handers over warriors (which I am opposed to, but I digress). The argument has been made that the Stone Etched War Sword is an excellent all around weapon for warriors and we should have equal rights to it. Problem is, no one in my guild has a SEWS or even a BBB, so my aggro arguments carry little weight. My understanding is that some mobs don't care about rune, but that it tends to cause aggro on boss mobs. I also argue that the SEWS is a good aggro weapon simply due to the DPS it provides compared to one handers.

If those of you with a SEWS or a BBB could chime in with your experiences it would be appreciated. I would like to get an idea as to how well they hold aggro in general as well as compared to either a BoC or a BoC/BF dual. I'm more interested in experiences with boss mobs than with yard trash, but any input is appreciated. Thanks.

[Beornegar]

Why would hybrids be given preference on 2handers over warriors? There are plenty of Pal/SK only 2handers out there for them to choose from(most of which are better than what warriors have available given equal difficulty of attaining). Given how much more damaging 2handers are at higher levels, and how nice they can be for MT's in PoP due to riposte damage, I'd say that's a pretty silly thing to do.

Beo

[Injektilo]

leave the SEWS for the hybrids and get a BoW. If you are in the elemental planes then this is feasible. While its a good all around weapon for all the classes listed, its more suited for hybrids due to the Blade of War being available to us. Just my opinion of course....

[Gnomb]

The first BBB my guild got (only a few days ago) went to a SK.
Soon after she was already complaining that it wasnt that good for holding agro (she was offtanking at emperor and vallon zek encounters).
She had a blade of angles off XtC before that (wraithful strike proc and sk/pal only).
Generally i'd say dual Enraging Blow weapons > everything short of BoW for agro (if you can live through the ripostes).
As a dkp guild we unfortunately have not that much influence where weapons go, except that it was a common opinion that EB weapons are warrior only even when stated different (Blade of Carnage for example).

[Tima]

I agree with a few of the above posters, dont worry too much about a SEWS, hold out for a Blade of War if your guild is still actively doing Rallos. I dont have any personal experience with a Rune 3 procing wep, but a guildmate of mine has both BBB and a BoW. Hes bagged the BBB and uses the BoW almost exclusively now and says its superior in practically every way; dps, aggro, and stats.

[EmiliaEQ]

(-- Has had TWO times a Quad (flurry) with Quad proc with a BoW !

And i've spend 10 15 fights without proc

[Grimmlokk]

Why would hybrids be given preference on 2handers over warriors? There are plenty of Pal/SK only 2handers out there for them to choose from

Yes, but none on par with SEWS. A couple of our wars use BBB and have very little trouble with agro. And I've even seen it theorized that SEWS will out-agro BoW. But personally I'd give it to knights first. At least your top few who play a ton.

[Derrin]

Thanks for the input; still hoping someone who actually has a BBB or SEWS will chime in. As for the SK having trouble holding aggro with a BBB, um... since when do knights rely on weapons for aggro? Also we are a RC/DKP guild, and RZ is not a target we plan on doing much more. If someone who has a SEWS can come on here and say it's not good for aggro, maybe I will push for more RZ kills; however, I felt SEWS would be a good (and in some instances superior since it can be used when not tanking) alternative to a BoW.

[Grimmlokk]

It's obvious you just want someone else to tell you it's good for agro. So yes, it's good. Take it. Stop fishing for someone else to justify your DKP purchases=P

[Timmok]

I dont see why a guild would stop doing RZ before having a fair amount of BoWs(unless they won by virtue of some alliance raid they cannot easily repeat). I mean, its a 1 - 1 1/2 hour encounter tops. Rather refreshing compared to endless PoAir/PoEarth marathons..

But anyway if you are a DKP guild, and plan to stop doing RZ, then I dont see whats the problem is. You cannot stop doing RZ and then not allow warriors to go in on the PoE 2hander.. that would be absurd imo.

And as for the question on agro.. well we dont have any SEWS. But we do have BBBs and BoWs.. both those weapons can hold agro fine for a warrior clearing trash in various elemental planes. We have also had warriors with BBB MT Sol Ro etc without problems. Hell, we had a warrior MT Fennin Ro with a primal 2hander to 40% on our first attempt(but thats another story ).

But since a SEWS basically is a BBB with a much better ratio, I would think it would be a rather decent MTing weapon, and quite possibly one of the best choices if you no longer will kill RZ.

[Gerald]

I asked a warrior on my server what his initial thoughts were on the SEWS after he got it and he said he preferred it over dual EB weapons, although I can't remember which two 1 handers he had. Not to idolize the guy at all or anything, but his name is Migob if you want to cross server /tell him.

Personally I'd love to have either a SEWS or BoW, although I'll admit I'm sure BoW would win out agro ranking wise. I just don't think you can go wrong with a SEWS.

[1ludor]

if you want to change your guilds mind, do the work. parse the riposte dmg taken from those minis in PoS with 2 1h and then the dmg taken with 2h. or just parse the riposte dmg on xp junk in PoF. then, post it.

out of disc the pos guys will kill you with one cleric healing using 2 1hers. with a 2h you should make it unless you get storm proc at the wrong time.

single tanking mobs is the way to go if u can do it, and 2h is the way to do that out of disc.

[Gnomb]

Dont remember those minis as that bad, but its been a while ago.
I didnt have much choice what to use back then.
Before i got my Gaudralek i was using KT axe and for a short while Dain axe for 2hs.
Both were not that good for agro (we are talking about a guild where rogues had tunare piercers and knights ntov 2handers).
I didnt even have EB weapons back then (i think i got my BoC end of january) and was using Willsapper and some dps offhand to tank.
But of course we didnt do them with a single group at the time so some fast heals were available.

Grimmlokk, grow a clue please. Hes not asking for justification on where to spend dkp points. Hes asking for solid info on how well SEWS holds aggro. You really have no idea what the situation is regarding this weapon, so stuff the tough guy tude in your ass please.

Currently they favor knights for 2h weapons. Yes, you know and I know that there are a metric ass ton of knight only weapons out there... but like the knights there have said "they all suck". And they swear up and down that using a knight 1h and a shield is not a viable option, eventhough theres another metric ass ton of knight only 1h too.

PoP sucks big time for pure melee loot. Everything has mana or some friggin focus effect or FT on it anymore, and if youre a warrior and you want to roll on something that lets a caster get one more nuke in, then youre in for tell hell from every caster in the zone.

Yeah yeah...get a BoW. Sure, lemme just pop in and smack RZ around because we know he drops one every time right? Hell, lets go kill him because we know he will drop at least 2 or 3 at a time! Pfffft. Maybe on YOUR server he drops it often. On 7th Hammer there are like 2 BoWs total on the server. Its drop rate is less than stellar there. Not to mention the fact that if youre not MA, what are you gonna use? BoW? Risk taking aggro from the MA, screwing up the heal chain? Yeah...whatever.

The SEWS is the best multipurpose 2h there is. In Derrins guild(also my guild, but Im retired), the knights want preference on SEWS over warriors. Its a one way street kinda thing, but we cant convince the guild leaders that warriors should be in on it as well. The knights have em all snowed into feeling sorry for them because only 2/3 of SoL and PoP loot is knight only...and it all sucks except this one sword... and we warriors are labeled greedy because wanted in on the roll. We didnt want preference over knights, we just wanted to be able to bid on the weapon.

So Derrin is trying to find out some solid info about the SEWS. We have 1 BoW using warrior, who also happens to have dual EB weapons as well and prefers the BoW. If you have no info about the SEWS vs BoW vs Dual EB then keep the snotty remarks to yourself tough guy.

I use a stone etched war sword and have no problems at all with aggro. There are a few things that give it an edge over using BoW. For one, you can use it full time with little worries about stealing aggro and getting killed. Aggro is more controlled with it, I almost always have a mob on me the instant i hit taunt and then just back off if you need to do a switch.
I think most people know, it's a anoying pain to have to switch weapons all the time depending on situation. I like having one weapon for all.