Macing talents¶
Macing is a per-weapon, offensive-only tree that works with any weapon that swings on the Macing skill - club, mace, maul, war hammer, smith's hammer, the lot. It feeds off Crush, the PvM special baked into every mace strike: a 10% on-hit proc against creatures.
No defensive lane
Macing / Swords / Fencing trees ship as offensive-only. See Melee Defensive for shared survivability nodes.
The Crush baseline¶
Every Macing-skill weapon hit against a creature has a 10% chance to proc Crush:
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Proc chance (baseline) | 10% per hit |
| Damage multiplier on proc | 1.5x |
| Broken-armor bonus | If the target's effective armor is already 0 or below when the proc fires, the multiplier stacks to 2.25x (1.5 × 1.5) |
| Effective armor reduction | -25 effective armor while crushed |
| Crush duration | 8 s on the fastest maces, scaling up to 16 s on the slowest |
The bigger the maul, the longer the armor stays shattered. If you remember this proc under the name Pierce, it's the same effect.
Offensive path¶
T1 - Crushing Blow¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive |
| Max ranks | 5 |
| Cost / rank | 1 pt |
| Effect / rank | +5% macing damage vs creatures |
| Rank | Total bonus |
|---|---|
| 1 | +5% |
| 2 | +10% |
| 3 | +15% |
| 4 | +20% |
| 5 | +25% |
T2 - Bone Shatter¶
Prereq: Crushing Blow.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive |
| Max ranks | 5 |
| Cost / rank | 1 pt |
| Effect / rank | +4% Crush proc chance AND +2% flat macing damage |
| Rank | Crush proc | Flat damage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14% | +2% |
| 2 | 18% | +4% |
| 3 | 22% | +6% |
| 4 | 26% | +8% |
| 5 | 30% | +10% |
T3 - Skull Smash¶
Prereq: Bone Shatter.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive (consumed follow-up) |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 2 pt |
| Trigger | Crush proc lands |
| Effect | Your next macing strike on the same target deals +50% damage AND sends a 1-tile shockwave splashing 30% of that damage to every adjacent creature. Mark window: 6 seconds. |
The shockwave is a tighter cousin of the Swords Cleave splash: 1 tile instead of 2.
T4A - Stunning Strike¶
Prereq: Skull Smash. Branch-exclusive with Earthen Hammer.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Active (primed) |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 2 pt |
| Cooldown | 30 s (starts on consume) |
| Prime window | 15 s |
| Effect | Primes your next macing hit. On consume: +50% damage AND stuns the target (Frozen + Paralyzed) for 3 seconds. |
| Hotbar verb | stunningstrike |
Cooldown timing: the 30 s cooldown starts when the primed strike lands damage, not when you prime. Let the 15 s window lapse without a hit and you've spent nothing - re-prime immediately. Firing the verb again mid-prime does nothing; the window can't be extended.
T4B - Earthen Hammer¶
Prereq: Skull Smash. Branch-exclusive with Stunning Strike.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive (on crit) |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 2 pt |
| Effect | Macing critical strikes deal +25% damage and briefly stun the target for 1.5 seconds. Stun won't fire on an already-stunned creature (no chain-lock), but the damage bonus always applies. |
T5 - Titan's Crush¶
Prereq: Stunning Strike OR Earthen Hammer. Capstone.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Active |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 3 pt |
| Cooldown | 60 s (starts on consume) |
| Effect | Primes your next macing strike (15-second window). The primed hit detonates a concussive smash dealing 500% of your weapon's max damage AND stunning the target for 2 seconds, PLUS a 3-tile shockwave dealing 50% of that damage to surrounding creatures and stunning them for 1 second. |
| Hotbar verb | titanscrush |
How to use: fire titanscrush from the hotbar (or chat command) to prime the strike. Your next clean swing with a macing weapon inside the 15-second window consumes the prime and unleashes the full smash plus shockwave - the 60 s cooldown begins at that moment, not at prime. Window expires without a hit? You've paid nothing; re-prime at will. Firing it again mid-prime does nothing.
Swap to a non-macing weapon during the prime window and the prime holds - the consume only fires while a macing weapon is wielded, so swapping back in time is fine.
Like Bladestorm and Eviscerate, this is the capstone that levels the whole pull, not just the focused target.
Build notes¶
- Crushing Blow 5/5 + Bone Shatter 5/5 + Skull Smash is the canonical 12-point opener: +35% direct damage, 30% Crush chance, +50% guaranteed follow-up after every Crush.
- Stunning Strike vs Earthen Hammer comes down to your targets. Take Stunning Strike against large, hard-to-interrupt elites - a 3-second stun on demand. Take Earthen Hammer if you crit a lot and want passive lock-down at fight pace.
- Titan's Crush scales off the weapon's max damage, not your skill - swing the highest-tier weapon you can carry for the biggest hit.