Any help with this would be appreciated:
I'm starting to delve into umbris camp and sgail, and I'm sure the new lands will have similar areas. I finally got my hands on a weapon worth turning into an AoE damage/survival tool.
Just curious, for those with experiences in the harder areas with limited healing, mortal strike, etc:
Do you prefer a halberd/double axe for lumberjacking bonus? Do you prefer a war hammer for single target support?
Also, do you think it's best to max out one hit area? Go for two? Also, which hit area is generally considered best? Is 60 HML necessary with whirlwind?
Just looking for a basic template from the min/maxers out there. My starting stats will be HPA/HLL/HLA.
Thanks!
Help please on a good AoE wep build
Re: Help please on a good AoE wep build
This is my opinion: for a whirlwind wep, areas are nice to have at champ spawns, but an AOE over 40-50% is overkill since its actual hit % of setting off the AOE is higher since you are hitting several mobs at the same time. That being said, I don't think you need 58% or higher. Having AOE for Umbris or Sgail is almost counterproductive since you are trying to lure a less amount of mobs given their hard hits and diminished healing and targeted hits for certain drop items.
A better whirlwind wep would be a 4x46% with a hit and the 3 leeches, and adding another hit or 2 or taking them to 60% OR depending on the stats of wep, try to get the 3 leeches and if there is an AOE, I would leave it at 46% and raise the others and add any essential stat which is missing or adding more AOEs depending on its purpose.
I have a champ specific wep with 4 area hits and lightning (and the other leech stats) and it works great with AOEs at 46% and 23%.
Depending if for champs or not, i would decide wether to add str/dex/hp increase. Once you have enough relayers, adding dex is a waste (since u reach max ssi at 237 dex), str is ok (since it gives harder hits but not essential for champs really), and hp increase is useless, since the only champ that can actually kill you is Kronus (and maybe Serado), but then again you dont attack Kronus in melee mode.
[pm alejandro if you have further questions
A better whirlwind wep would be a 4x46% with a hit and the 3 leeches, and adding another hit or 2 or taking them to 60% OR depending on the stats of wep, try to get the 3 leeches and if there is an AOE, I would leave it at 46% and raise the others and add any essential stat which is missing or adding more AOEs depending on its purpose.
I have a champ specific wep with 4 area hits and lightning (and the other leech stats) and it works great with AOEs at 46% and 23%.
Depending if for champs or not, i would decide wether to add str/dex/hp increase. Once you have enough relayers, adding dex is a waste (since u reach max ssi at 237 dex), str is ok (since it gives harder hits but not essential for champs really), and hp increase is useless, since the only champ that can actually kill you is Kronus (and maybe Serado), but then again you dont attack Kronus in melee mode.
[pm alejandro if you have further questions
Re: Help please on a good AoE wep build
60 HML is never necessary in my opinion, 50 will do more than fine for a non-AOE weapon, 20-30 if AOE (or maybe even none). You should aim for cold dmg at umbris, also life leech wouldn't hurt due to the diminished healing + mortal strike... 
Re: Help please on a good AoE wep build
Also note that whirlwinding does not utilize mana (or only minimal). However, using crushing blow (as the secondary ability) does utilize mana.