[SM] - How good is GWM really?

[Nebuchadnezzar]

I'm playing around with the idea of rolling a 2H SM with the standard Khaine/Hoeth spec(ED, CW, PoH with BA, EA and PE tactics), but am questioning the utility of GWM like most people take

10% damage and 5% parry for a full tactic slot seems a bit mediocre to be honest. I have a hard time buying that 10% damage is likely to make much of a difference when your primary role is tanking, and 5% parry doesn't seem like that much when you consider all the other sources of parry(Reflexes, EF etc.)

The options below seem like they'd be comparable or better:
Discerning Offence - -10% chance to be defended against. Higher bonus on bulk damage when you consider that your target has a nonzero parry chance and also reduces the chance your key debuffs/DoTs will be nullified
Lingering Intimidation - Intimidating Blow suddenly becomes a useful skill for peeling and good in 1v1
Impeccable Reactions - Moar parry. Too lazy right now to calculate the effective increase. Could be good in 1v1/small scale, but obviously bad in large scale
Rugged - Self explanatory
Unstoppable Juggernaut - Anti kite

Is anybody who's tried any of these able to comment?

[Aethilmar]

Well, I'll chime in with my $0.02 and start with a rhetorical question: what is the purpose of being a 2-hander SM?

My answer is to bring extra damage for your mdps with a little bit of utility. 2-hander SM is not a 1v1 build. 2-hander SM is not particularly sturdy compared to other 2-hander tank builds even with WoDS.

2-hander SM is pretty much a vanity build and a SC build. And if you are going to go that route, you will want to maximize your DPS with a nod towards survivability (dodge, disrupt and crit reduction). None of those other tactics (except maybe DO) do anything for you there and honestly you can always step behind the target.

If you are going to try to go super defensive with a 2-hander I would just suggest you go offensive shield build instead. It has more utility than DPS build and a pretty nice punt on block (which is easy to get).

[HarkonenTimber]

The tactic is worth it; it increases your blurring shock procs with 10%, which is amazing in groupplay --> will increase your dps over any other tactic/buff/ability available.

[stmarrow]

If I could hijack this thread with an almost related question: I'm going for an RR70 build with both ED and WW and can only afford one tactic slot. Would I be better off with GMW or BA? (I'm willing to skip CW.)

[Flavorburst]

If I could hijack this thread with an almost related question: I'm going for an RR70 build with both ED and WW and can only afford one tactic slot. Would I be better off with GMW or BA? (I'm willing to skip CW.)

Depending on what gear you are running, I would probably favor GWM.

[wpc56]

Impeccable reaction is bad with internal CD of 5 seconds... so you parried one of choppa or WE's auto-attack ever 5 seconds?

SM have very few good tactic, I'm beginning to think in the context of 6v6, whether 2H is the way to go because you have no single target peel (aoe punt just gives everyone immunity)

PE is actually bad in 6v6 because you may break other ppl's stagger (knight's) and adds very little dmg... even EA is just more dmg, no utility

I've been using lingering intimidation so as least i have some tools to relieve pressure... though I have a BG as well and in comparison BG have everything so much easier (super punt, core crit-reduction, aoe ensnare and debuff)

There is a reason why BG is up top in 6v6 leadership board and you don't see any SM near the top

[donkawonka]

PE is not bad. It instantly procs 1st tick of dmg. Also if your knight uses stagger than he’s a bad knight.

[Lithenir]

How should PE break other ppls stagger? Isn't it that it just procs on the target which triggers the enchantment? In this cause you would have broken the stagger before PE procs

[Earthcake]

Aethilmar mentioned an offensive shield build, would someone be kind enough to share such a build ?
Definitly want to play a tank next, with a shield, but i also noticed order lack of damage in sc and nooone **** die, ever, so i d like to be able to spec offensively for scs, but keeping a shield and dunno if IB or SM are better for this

[Myxam]

Aethilmar mentioned an offensive shield build, would someone be kind enough to share such a build ?
Definitly want to play a tank next, with a shield, but i also noticed order lack of damage in sc and nooone **** die, ever, so i d like to be able to spec offensively for scs, but keeping a shield and dunno if IB or SM are better for this

There's a couple ways to do it. SM's SnB damage isn't quite gonna get you enough pressure to single out someone being focused by an unmolested healer alone, so we really excel at general pressure and CC. Denial's a big part of our kit with Morale and AP drains, Silence and Knockdowns in Hoeth, so play to that strength when you're going for that.

Hybrid Building here is how you're gonna get your damage output, so taking gear with STR/WS/Weapon Power/Crit Chance etc. DoTs like Ensorcelled Agony, Potent Enchantments, Deep Incision (and Centuries of Training to a lesser degree) provide you the majority of your damage pressure. The Mastery Build is gonna largely be you to figure out, in the one I link here picking up Sapping Strike and Whispering Wind will give you and your party some potent Healer Shutdown but you're gonna lose a lot of usefulness in places like RVR, so stick this to SCs and Roams.

RoR.builders - Bleedmaster

SM's Two-hander Build kinda revolves around lining up Taunt, Blurring Shock, and Ether Dance to chunk someone. But on the OP's Question: Great Weapon Mastery isn't worth the slot, 10% damage is gonna be less than what you'd get DPS-wise over picking up a DoT Tactic, and 5% Parry isn't going to help you terribly much compared to Eagle's Flight -- which you get baseline. Plus, that mastery point can go towards something more useful like Protection of Hoeth or Crashing Wave.