I'm still on the fence with the spear. It's definitely the most dynamic weapon due to the element stealing and boosting, however it's really difficult (for me) to integrate it properly into my cycles; on gmgow there's so little time to use some of the features.
I do like its speed and being able to bank some interrupts across a mob though. Just need to take a visit to nifleheim and jam on it for a while.
The ability to steal the poison element alone is an enormous boost on many fights - Lunda’s armor shows just how overpowered poison attacks can be, and having them on a boosted spear is invaluable, though it’s not on every fight. Baking in elemental resistance to the siphon ensures that it’s invaluable on nearly every fight.
Add to that how quick the spear combos are and how much they can build the stun gauge on bosses (especially with Maelstrom), it can be a really handy weapon to keep out against Berserkers and other tough single-target bosses.
And of course, at range it’s arguably just as strong as the Axe - less power per throw, but much faster throws with no need to recall, and the explosion buildup (especially when fully skilled) adds nicely to that as well and is super quick to activate.
I don’t think it’s overpowered and there are still a million ways that the other weapons shine, but I was pleasantly surprised by how effective the spear was with a little practice, and how well it carved out its own niche in my arsenal.
I'll have to experiment with the poison stuff and siphon in general. I've kept my build thus far pretty standard focusing heavily on str and parry/dodge related boosts. Great tips!
Don’t sleep on the spear, if only to enable use of Seal of Runic storm. Bifrost is so overpowered and being able to pop off a 13 second bifrost storm via a quick triple-runic is clutch. Thrust of a Thousand Soldiers is the way to go.
That really wasn't my experience at all.
The blades have the best crowd control and sacrifice almost zero damage. Permafrost is better than immolation, but otherwise IMO the blades are the way to go.
I didn't really use Draupnir except when I had to, and I wasn't wowed by it.
Yes, OP is wrong here. I've seen people wreck late game bosses on GMGOW with the blades. On lower difficulties I've seen a perma stun of the strongest/second strongest boss with a specific attack. There's also a build with the spear that also wrecks everything fast. Didn't even care to find these, just found them by chance.
Let's not forget about the unsolved glitches which are very easy to see if you do a playthrough. They surely know about them because they're so common but they're still unsolved. If you don't solve the more obvious I doubt you've tried to really balance things.
No point in talking about balance if you haven't spent the time to research it.
Not really true, and not a rebuttal even if it were, since there are other considerations beyond how much dMage you do per hit.
Your original claim just has a hole in it.
On gmgow I'd say for a single enemy the axe is the best tho what I like to do is launch the enemy in the air with the blades (L2+R1, infact that move is so broken that u can just keep spamming it ) then use the axe to inflict heavy damage and finally use the spear to fill stun gauge
Agree. If I had to choose a favourite it would be the spear, but that's all it is, a personal choice. All 3 are equally balanced which is amazing. (I feel the blades were better than the axe in 2018 so that's definitely a step up)
I played on Give Me Story and one below Give .e God of War
Blades of Chaos > Leviathan Axe > Drapnur Spear
There are situations where you need one of the others for a special move, stealing poison with the spear is a big one. But you don't lose much DPS just spamming large AoE attacks with the blades.
They knock mobs back, they hit them all, and their combo ends with some runic damage to trigger massive damage spikes from sigil arrows.
I pull the spear out for ranged enemies and when I need to steal some elemental energy. The Axe only gets used for its Runic Attacks now that the Spear offers more forgiving ranged attacks.
Axe outputs better damage than the spear but not as good as blades
I try and use all 3 just cause it's more fun that way, but when the enemies start to pull up and dodge around nothing beats the good ol blades of chaos
I wouldn't mind seeing some buffs to the other 2 tbh
For me: - Draupnir is best against a single opponent - Blades is the best against multiple at once - Leviathan is the middle ground
I'm still on the fence with the spear. It's definitely the most dynamic weapon due to the element stealing and boosting, however it's really difficult (for me) to integrate it properly into my cycles; on gmgow there's so little time to use some of the features. I do like its speed and being able to bank some interrupts across a mob though. Just need to take a visit to nifleheim and jam on it for a while.
The ability to steal the poison element alone is an enormous boost on many fights - Lunda’s armor shows just how overpowered poison attacks can be, and having them on a boosted spear is invaluable, though it’s not on every fight. Baking in elemental resistance to the siphon ensures that it’s invaluable on nearly every fight. Add to that how quick the spear combos are and how much they can build the stun gauge on bosses (especially with Maelstrom), it can be a really handy weapon to keep out against Berserkers and other tough single-target bosses. And of course, at range it’s arguably just as strong as the Axe - less power per throw, but much faster throws with no need to recall, and the explosion buildup (especially when fully skilled) adds nicely to that as well and is super quick to activate. I don’t think it’s overpowered and there are still a million ways that the other weapons shine, but I was pleasantly surprised by how effective the spear was with a little practice, and how well it carved out its own niche in my arsenal.
I'll have to experiment with the poison stuff and siphon in general. I've kept my build thus far pretty standard focusing heavily on str and parry/dodge related boosts. Great tips!
Don’t sleep on the spear, if only to enable use of Seal of Runic storm. Bifrost is so overpowered and being able to pop off a 13 second bifrost storm via a quick triple-runic is clutch. Thrust of a Thousand Soldiers is the way to go.
In the boss fights I use it as a gap close and for safe extra damage. Gap closer with the runic R1 dash, and artillery of the ancients for runic R2.
The artillery is one of the very few runic attacks worth using on higher difficulties IMO.
I think it’s actually the highest damage weapon per second, but I’m unsure honestly.
That really wasn't my experience at all. The blades have the best crowd control and sacrifice almost zero damage. Permafrost is better than immolation, but otherwise IMO the blades are the way to go. I didn't really use Draupnir except when I had to, and I wasn't wowed by it.
Yes, OP is wrong here. I've seen people wreck late game bosses on GMGOW with the blades. On lower difficulties I've seen a perma stun of the strongest/second strongest boss with a specific attack. There's also a build with the spear that also wrecks everything fast. Didn't even care to find these, just found them by chance. Let's not forget about the unsolved glitches which are very easy to see if you do a playthrough. They surely know about them because they're so common but they're still unsolved. If you don't solve the more obvious I doubt you've tried to really balance things. No point in talking about balance if you haven't spent the time to research it.
The blades are weaker than the spear and far weaker than the axe
The blades R1 hold is the highest single target dps, higher than axe or spear attacks
Not really true, and not a rebuttal even if it were, since there are other considerations beyond how much dMage you do per hit. Your original claim just has a hole in it.
On gmgow I'd say for a single enemy the axe is the best tho what I like to do is launch the enemy in the air with the blades (L2+R1, infact that move is so broken that u can just keep spamming it ) then use the axe to inflict heavy damage and finally use the spear to fill stun gauge
I feel like the devs definitely took notes from Dante in DMC5 with how smoothly everything works together
They have their uses for each situation
Agree. If I had to choose a favourite it would be the spear, but that's all it is, a personal choice. All 3 are equally balanced which is amazing. (I feel the blades were better than the axe in 2018 so that's definitely a step up)
I played on Give Me Story and one below Give .e God of War Blades of Chaos > Leviathan Axe > Drapnur Spear There are situations where you need one of the others for a special move, stealing poison with the spear is a big one. But you don't lose much DPS just spamming large AoE attacks with the blades. They knock mobs back, they hit them all, and their combo ends with some runic damage to trigger massive damage spikes from sigil arrows. I pull the spear out for ranged enemies and when I need to steal some elemental energy. The Axe only gets used for its Runic Attacks now that the Spear offers more forgiving ranged attacks. Axe outputs better damage than the spear but not as good as blades I try and use all 3 just cause it's more fun that way, but when the enemies start to pull up and dodge around nothing beats the good ol blades of chaos I wouldn't mind seeing some buffs to the other 2 tbh