It is assumed you have already read through the Gear and Arena sections on this site before ready this guide, if not, you should do so first as there are concepts there that need to be understood first.
Written by Gretchen/The Black Knight
I will assume you have read through the other guides, so I won’t repeat the information there and solely focus on the differences with my approach.
Background Theory The traditional method of 2 handed play in Blades is to focus primarily on PDIA (physical damage ignores resistance) combined with EDIR (elemental damage ignores resistance) or PDOC (physical damage on conditioning). Heavily stamina based and use lots of double strikes. Warlock’s ring is seen as essential because it makes you basically the same speed as a versatile player.
Another method is to focus on your elemental damage, which is the purpose of this guide, using primarily PDOC and condition early. More Magicka than stamina with the focus on maximum damage from critical conditioned hits. I have Warlock's ring but don't use it as I want the extra elemental effect from the ring slot and the extra PDOC to increase damage. I should probably note that I live near the bottom of the planet with high piing for every match and so my view is from this perspective, and this should be considered when reviewing my style.
The focus, as always, is to do big hits using the critical multiplier that applies for 2 handed hits through critical hits and critical combos, when conditioned. Note PDOC scales up with the 2H critical multiplier and combo multiplier, however, neither PDIA or elemental damage do, they remain the same whether you do a critical and/or combo. I am not sure of the exact numbers, but roughly 4 x PDOC (with ES5) = 4 x 32= 128, and a critical will make that something like 280 and a critical combo 400 on top of you weapon damage (similarly multiplied), whereas 4 PDIA will stay at 60 more damage per hit.
2 Handers need to be good with manual swings and blocks, as you can’t do criticals or combos criticals with stamina buttons, similarly blocking is manual. 2 handers do massive damage, but without a shield they are defensively weak, unable to stop incoming spells and can only partially block damage, though they can block and stun opponents. To stop spells like ice spike, paralyse, blind, delayed lightning bolt etc (also stops bashing effects), you need spells like ward, absorb, resist elements and blizzard armour.
I like 2 spells, Thunderstorm (TS) and Wall of Fire (WoF). The reason is because they are instantly activated, you don't have to wait for cast times. There's no reason you couldn't use spells like ice spike, paralyse etc. In most matches I use a quick strike as soon as I can and my attack spell, then the rest of the fight is manual. Some exceptions are occasionally with an elemental versatile I will cast RE. Against mages, I often hold back all spells, waiting to stop their incapacitating spell.
Note, I never use RE verses a mage, which may seem counterintuitive, however, they are going to condition you regardless, so RE does little (and if I save my Magicka I can often get 2 absorb/ward spells cast) and what unusually kills you is the aftereffect of Ice Spike (IS) or Para, not the Frostbite (which will freeze you through RE and a frost resist pot anyway).
I used to focus heavily on WoF and TS, stacking them high with rings and it was highly effective, in the early stages of the arena. However, when you're playing experienced players, they are less effective at high levels. Often you can get hit by a lightning bolt and it removes your ability to cast them at all, as they require too much Magicka at high levels, or your opponent waits behind a shield for WoF to subside. My current strategy is more focused on having EDIR on my builds and then these attack spells don’t need to be powerful, because the damage gets through regardless of what they do, and you have the needed defensive spells available as well.
It should be noted if you don't condition your opponent, then your PDOC is useless and if you're not using elemental damage then your EDIR is useless. Not all your builds need to be focused on elemental damage. You will need a PDIA based breaching build (also useful for exhaustion and nullify, just swap the weapon).
I find that with mages they will ice spike or paralyze you, and it doesn't matter what you're wearing, or cast RE, it's going to get through. You can only stop it with resist potion or a well timed absorb/ward. It's very difficult to prevent getting conditioned, especially verses the top of the table players, as they have lots of EDIR and they're going to condition you anyway, so you've got to live with it and try and condition them and kill them first. You can use recovery strikes and RE to get out of it, but at the end of the day you're going to get reconditioned again.
You will need to learn to swing properly when frozen and avoid letting your swing go to early. I rarely use RE, though I have used it for some seasons and then not used it for some seasons and gone back to it, and I currently have it on all my builds, but probably only use it less than 1/3 of the time. I find it's just as effective to hit someone while they're casting RE. They will either try and block, breaking their spell casting or take the hit. I can potentially do so much damage with a hit and a double strike, that a third of their health has gone before the fight starts at their end! This is something you will need to experiment with, and it also pays to mix it up, as if you always use the same strategy, you will quickly become predictable and you regular opponents will be able to counter your strategies.
POTIONS
I tend to use defensive resist pots for 2 thirds of the season and aversions at the end.
Resist pots are mainly frost (for mages) and fire for WoF users, which can kill you when you swing through. You will quickly work out most opponents’ strategies and common builds and load accordingly.
Many complain about aversions, and I use them a lot. Not for the damage they do, which is minimal, but to help get the conditioning enabled quicker. Most of the time viscous and intense are ample to get the job done, maximum potions are not required. Even a deadly potion is only going to cause a maximum of about 150 damage across an entire fight for a 2 hander, whereas a conditioned critical can get into the mid 900s in a single hit, so the damage from aversion is rarely useful from a damage perspective, just the extra elemental damage that enabling conditioning faster.
WEAPONS
When I make weapons, I tend to avoid making weapons that are swords and axes because most people when they're facing 2 handers (because of the weapons available in the Sigil store are swords and axes) and they will tend to use shields with slash or cleave resist. The top three weapons in the Sigil store are Spiderfang, Stormkiss and Breathtaker. I think those are all essential if you haven't made your own, you need to buy those. The 2nd tier down includes Sunderblade and The Maul of Aureal. I would focus on making a Shock weapon, then fire and buying the Sigil store weapons as your primary objective.
JEWELLERY AND GAUNTLETS
All rings and gauntlets are enchanted with the element that matches the weapon, all the focus is on maximizing damager per hit. Necks can have anything you like, but I like Retal, as it combines with other elemental damage and multiplies accordingly, becoming what we call super Retal. None of my gear has any regeneration whatsoever, even the non-elemental build. As usual you want to avoid increasing things that are not beneficial, like Recovery Strikes, Ward, Absorb etc. Focus is on secondaries and therefore only enchant rings with/without attributes you want/don't want, the exception is double imbuement rings from the Sigil store. Bad attribute DI rings I enchant with health for PvE. You want rings with low attributes, so making cheap silver rings is usually best.
ARMOUR
I have experimented with a range of armour, and there is nothing special about elemental 2 handed build in regard to armour, though I do like a bit of built-in resistance (from Sigil store armour pieces) where I can minimize Retal attacks coming back from my weapon. So, for example Dragonscale is useful to wear with Spiderfang. Personally, I favour physical resist turtle style with scale/mail armour to add a little elemental resist. SR/Shorten is also very good against mages, but I generally find they use their weapons to kill you, so if you can stop their stun/para turtle is best. Read through the armour section.
SECONDARY ENCHANTMENTS
The objective for all my jewellery and gauntlets is PDOC and EDIR, however, that is going to take a very long time to achieve. Gauntlets are the easiest and should be your first focus, then rings and lastly necks. This will take considerable time and persistence. After 2 years neither of my 2 characters has been able to complete their sets yet. In the interim I would primarily focus on PDOC and then fill any other options with what you can, such as PDIA, EDOC and even health damage options (PDCH can win a down to the wire match, but a poor long term strategy), until something better comes along.
I have tied mixes with PDOC/PDIA/EDOC and combining mixes, but the best is definitely PDOC/EDIR and that should be the long term objective for all jewellery and gauntlets, however, expect it to take years. I don’t recommend PDOC/PDIA as an endgame objective. It is great, and I had 2 builds I used with 3 of these (rings and gauntlets) for a year but have found PDOC/EDIR is much better. The damage is less per hit, but kicks in much earlier due to conditioning earlier (and more effectively) and the fight can be over before the big hit at the end is needed. I used to focus on that combo and could hit more than 1000, but that was a strategy based on getting that ‘Hail Mary’ hit at the end.
My PDOC/EDIR strategy is more effective overall, as the conditioning occurs quickly, no matter what they do (RE, resist potions, shield etc) and the total damage is faster sooner. Currently all my builds are PDOC/EDIR and if I can’t do that, I use one PDIA/EDIR, though I still have 2 PDOC/PDIA necks I am using. Making great gear takes time and the odds are poor. Everyone thinks their ‘luck’ is poor, but it just requires persistence. For both my toons I have only made 1 double ravage weapon and have enchanted close to 1500 weapons (200 of which would have been DI)! But I have many other great pieces and they last forever.
SKILLS TREE
The usual focus for two handers is to use a lot of stamina with quick strikes, recovery strikes, indomitable smash, guardbreaker etc. They will not have a lot of Magicka and usually only for defence. I have found that my stamina was usually wiped out by stamina shields or ravaged in most matches very early on. Therefore, I lean towards Magicka which I tend to use for both attack and defence. Currently Magicka 490 - Stamina 400. There is no reason you couldn’t try heavy stamina and lots of quick strikes with PDOC/EDIR, which is likely to be effective. The reason I don’t because of my high ping and lag. This is my current skill tree as a guide:
