Talk:Penetrating Blow

This seems to be one of the most ignored skills in the game. If I understand the relationship between armor penetration and Strength correctly, this skill essentially overrides any passive penetration provided by Strength. If that is the case, then it seems like this skill makes most sense on the bar of a secondary War axe user (not that there are or should be many of those). That is, whereas other Axe attacks gain armor penetration from Strength, this one has a base 20% regardless of Strength since these two types of penetration do not stack. So if you ran a Ranger/Warrior axe wielder, Penetrating Blow would make up for the Ranger's lack of access to the Strength attribute. It definitely can't be classified in the 'terrifying' class of damage normally associated with Axe skills, but it might be a way to make use of Adrenaline and increase damage. --Semantic 20:39, 26 May 2006 (CDT)

That is a very good point, but the thing is that axes are bad idea for warrior secondaries. Without high chance of critical hit (level 16), the damage of the axe isn't much higher than a sword, and a sword often has better skills for non warrior primaries, espcially energy based ones which would work with the higher energy regen or expertise. Furthermore, sword doesn't require an elite to function, whereas axes and hammers do. Silk Weaker 05:14, 18 August 2006 (CDT)

Perhaps good for an A/W? Critical Strikes + Axe Mastery?

It does indeed work decently on an A/W for the reason you mentioned, though any melee-range assassin not taking advantage of their daggers is... questionable, to say the least (Crits are nice, but it's the bonus damage of dagger skills that give the assassin its killitude. But I digress). Where I find this skill shines is on Warriors with a heavier investment into Tactics or a secondary line of skills, like Command or Beast Mastery; since this skill essentially ignores Strength, you lose absolutely nothing by using it with significantly less Strength than you normally would. (Strength is pretty underpowered anyway, but you really can tell the difference between 13 and, say, 7, or even 0. It might only add 10-15 damage tops, but that 10-15 damage can mean the difference between your target getting infused or collapsing on the spot. In PvE of course this difference is less noticeable). That makes this skill a perfect choice to use with, say, Soldier's Stance or Steady Stance + Drunken Blow (or Desperation Blow, naturally, but Drunken has a funnier name). I know when my 20/20 kicks in I can hit for upwards of 80 damage on 60-70 AL targets. That's not bad for a 5 adrenaline non-elite with a duplicate. Granted the 80 damage is a rarity, it's usually more like 50 (40 against 100 AL), but still, that's nothing to dismiss casually when you consider the really low adrenaline and the capabilities it opens up for you. Primary attributes can be fun, but only when you use them as a tool, not a trap. Zaq 10:10, 23 January 2007 (CST)