Throwing Weapons

DiscOH

Artisan
Is there ever a reason to use throwing weapons?

It seems like you can't do anything unique with them. They have less damage, they don't get the 1.5x damage rate of bows, you can't double coat them with alchemy. What's the draw?

Do throwing weapon players really value shield + projectile? Are wands just too hard to get? Are they just a new player skill to waste 4 build on?

They look terrible from a numbers perspective.
 
You can assassinate and terminate with them from the front.
 
So its mostly a cheaper fall back for people who don't want to carry a bow?

Thats interesting. Backstab builds sound complicated.
 
Yup. They can be, yeah.
 
The game "as played" can be a lot different from how things look from a purely numbers perspective. For example, if you're just worried about the absolutely most efficient combat, you'd never buy Craftsman (other) skills - but those can be some of the most rewarding options in the game, and I've seen people work with their Plot teams to do some really creative stuff (even affecting mods or combat) with them.

For thrown weapons specifically, they can also be a great "soften them up" option. For example, I have an Earth Templar who has a number of simple thrown weapons on the back of his shield. When I'm approaching an enemy, I'll fire off 3-4 of them in rapid succession as I'm closing the distance, and expect to land about half. This is one less blow I need to land with my sword when I'm in melee combat, which can make more difference than you think. They're also a great option to affect a distant part of combat and pull attention away from your friends while you're trying to reach them. Thrown weapons have more utility than just looking at the straight "in the book" numbers.
 
True. Despite the 'rules deficient' setup of them, I use thrown weapons with the majority of my characters, not only because it helps add to the atmosphere but as well as having me create some rather interesting things to throw. I've also been able to smuggle a few of them into places where no weapons are allowed. And I think that some people enjoy seeing something coming at them other than a packet.
 
My non-fighter character uses them to pop a line of monsters' magic armors. They're useful in these specific circumstances.
 
They are most efficient for rogues. Backstabs only add +1 damage to ranged weapons, whether or not they are two-handed, so you only lose a few points of base damage, as a rogue, when using thrown weapons instead of bows or crossbows. However, this slight loss is easily made up for by the fact that you can throw throwing weapons at a much faster rate than you can fire arrows/bolts. A good thrown weapon user can probably throw daggers almost three times as fast as an archer can fire arrows. Sure, there is a limit to how many you can hold, but if you have about 5 or 6 strapped to you (in such a way that you can easily draw them), in the average battle situation that limit doesn't actually affect you much (or at all).

As a previous person mentioned, a thrown weapon is a truly excellent way to unleash a Terminate or an Assassinate from the front with almost no warning (definitely less warning than an opponent would have if you were using a bow of some sort).

Thrown weapons are a lot less impressive for fighters, though they do have some meaningful utility for a shield using fighting because having to unequip a shield to equip a bow is VERY time consuming. And as previously pointed out, a quick flick of a thrown weapon by a fighter is a good opening shot that may pop a magic armor or just deal a light alpha strike.

Thrown weapons are pretty much least effective for alchemy warriors (people who supplement damage using vorpals). Unlike arrows where you can coat two at a time, each poison can only be put on one dagger at a time.

-MS
 
I have a Gorilla-kin polearm fighter that also carry ten thrown weapons on me at all times. They are mostly coated for takeouts. It is hard to fight a couple guys at the same time and so much easier to give a quick tap to make sure no Magic Armor and a quick flick of a coated dagger and now it is one on one. They can also come in handy for a BBG or one of his tougher minions. Archery costs a lot of BP if you aren't an Elf.
 
I just started using some javelins that a friend made that don't look terrible and fly pretty awesome. Base Dmg of 3 is nice plus a large thrown weapon grabs the attention of an enemy better than a smaller one. We found that basically who ever was holding a javelin was the target just due to the fact they were annoying to be hit with all the time, this might be just due to stupid monsters willing to take massive amounts of dmg to get to an annoying javelin thrower but they were pretty effective in all the mods I used them on. It was great because unlike archery people can pick up your thrown weapon and use it if they have the skill. My javelins were being tossed around the entire field. Also a great way to be more dynamic. I am typically a sword and board front line fighter but after being disarmed or shield shattered I am always able to step back behind the line and still harass the enemy.
 
As a fighter, I use my throwing dagger frequently. Multiple times an engagement, and most often with slays. I also have a bow, shield, and spare short sword on me, yet the throwing dagger sees more use than anything else, outside a sword + board setup. They're small, often a surprise, and regularly difficult to block.
 
Thrown weapons are one of those "luxury" skills for me. They fit my concept as a swashbuckler-adept, so I spent the built and paid for good reps.

Do I use them every game? No.

What have I used them for? Hard-to-block Assassinates from the front to get me through 1-on-1 combat, second-line contributions against the big bad that others were better suited to pile in on, easy alchemy delivery, tunnel fight damage, ranged disarms that aren't stymied by reflect golems, cutting people free of Entangle, and as an extremely convenient Waylay implement.

In summary: I find that they are a piece of the toolbox for my very toolbox-oriented character, and it always feels great when they are the right answer to the question of the moment, but they aren't "optimal."
 
The reason I use thrown weapons is because archery is expensive build-wise and they're easy to carry without looking armed. I can keep up my "humble merchant" guise and still feel moderately protected knowing I can start throwing knives and rocks coated with takeouts.
 
Recently, I was extremely effective in a rather high "Killing Blow Active" encounter. I had a couple of throwing weapons and anytime an NPC started a Killing Blow count, I'd run over, hit the bad guy with one to stall it until the melee fighters could get to him. Then, when they pushed him back, pick up the weapon and move to the next one. Could I have used a bow instead? Probably but if hit with a shatter, that would have made it useless. Would have had to been hit with a few shatters to destroy all my thrown weapons that I had on me but there seemed to always be a couple on the ground that wouldn't be affected.
 
As someone who got the fun of hearing someone count to "killing blow two" half a dozen times over my prone body, you, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.
 
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