BoTh vs MH (in General)

I'm trying to come up with my next character strat and had a question about the BoTh.

Is the Life drain Stackable with VA like it is with the MH?

I'm thinking of going with 1 of each if they both stack with VA and wasn't sure, so thought I would try to get this clarified.

Is the Life drain Stackable with VA like it is with the MH? YES

On a similar note, is it worth the decrease in skills to put a shield of capacity with a MH for the extra damage? Has anyone even tried to see if this is feasible?

What decrease in skills are you typing about?

No penalty to DX and Skills with 1-handed melee weapons.
Negative 12% to DX and Skills with 2-handed melee weapon.

That's from the shield of capacity.

Is it worth the 12% Dx and Skill penalty to boost the MH damage?

That depends.

Best to see what the biggest weapons out there are now and see for yourself.

biggest current weapons don't mean much. I've got a big BoNE, and the only reason it's a BoNE is because it has better forge efficiency than a MoD (by like 30%... totally worth salvaging!). Most of the overly large weapons are either just toys of their owner's for fiddling purposes, or decided based on the strategic build of the team.

It really depends on what kind of tank you're running. UC tanks need not worry about a melee weapon. Evasion tanks would likely feel most comfortable with a 1H deal. The heavier variety of tanks should probably use 2-handed weapons to capitalize on the damage boost 2H weapons bring without worrying so much about the penalty cuz they hardly train any DX anyway.

But your most common melee tank is typically moderately armored (like what 150-200 AC?), and hidden among a few killslots, training a fair amount of Dex and ST, often relying at least partially on AS for HP. For this, I'd opt to go with something with some versatility. Decent damage, no big penalty, and I want to know that the guy that I hit feels it... MoD is awesome for that. No PL to worry about, enemy AS is nothing but a steroid, and even against non-AS and/or non-PL opponents, it's still a pretty decent weapon that's compatible with the SoC should you ever decide to use one at any point.


More detailed answers can be provided with more detailed questions ^_^