Polearms

"Polearms are a broad category of weapons, some focused on goring and others on slashing. Any polearm will extend the reach of its wielder's arms noticeably, allowing them to fight foes from slightly farther away."

- Game Guide^(src)

Polearms are a class of two-handed Weapons in Diablo II and Diablo III, but are different from Staves and Spears. Generally, a polearm is any weapon on a long handle with a cleaving blade, that is, Scythe, Halberd or any of its variations. Tridents and Partizans are also included into this category. Even one blunt weapon (Trishula) got into the list.

In Diablo III, Eirena refuses to wield poleams, and Demon Hunters and Wizards may not equip them as well. Diablo III Polearms are very slow, even slower than Two-Handed Maces. Contrary to the lore entry, their length gives the player no advantage in combat. There are no crafted legendary polearms, and no set polearms. 

Polearms may only use transmogrification of other polearms, not other weapon types.

Diablo II

Diablo II polearm data

QL	Name	Damage	Speed	Max sockets	Range	Str req	Dex req	Lv req
5	Bardiche	1–27	10	3	2	40	—	—
11	Voulge	6–21	0	4	2	50	—	—
15	Scythe	8–20	−10	5	1	41	41	—
21	Poleaxe	18–39	10	5	3	62	—	—
29	Halberd	12–45	0	6	4	75	47	—
34	War Scythe	15–36	−10	6	4	80	80	—
33	Lochaber Axe	6–58	10	3	2	80	—	21
37	Bill	14–53	0	4	2	95	—	25
40	Battle Scythe	18–45	−10	5	1	82	82	25
35	Partizan	34–75	10	5	3	113	67	23
51	Bec-De-Corbin	13–85	0	6	4	133	91	25
55	Grim Scythe	30–70	−10	6	4	140	140	25
60	Ogre Axe	28–145	0	3	2	195	75	45
64	Colossus Voulge	17–165	10	4	2	210	55	48
71	Thresher	12–141	−10	5	1	152	118	53
79	Cryptic Axe	33–150	10	5	3	165	103	59
84	Great Poleaxe	46–127	0	6	4	179	99	63
85	Giant Thresher	40–114	−10	6	4	188	140	66

Diablo II two-hand swing attack speed data

Class	Base attack frames	Base attacks per second
Amazon	17	1.47
Assassin	18	1.38
Barbarian	18	1.38
Druid	16	1.56
Necromancer	19	1.31
Paladin	17	1.47
Sorceress	15	1.66

Polearms are two-handed Melee Weapons in Diablo II. Desert Mercenary hirelings can equip polearms in the expansion.

Polearms are compatible with Barbarian Polearm Mastery. Polearm damage scales with the wielder's Strength, with each point of Strength equivalent to 1% enhanced damage. Compared to spears, polearms support more rune words, tend to have a shorter reach, and tend to be slower for Amazons, about the same speed for Barbarians, and faster for other classes.

Set polearm

There are no set polearms in classic.

The only set polearm in the Lord of Destruction expansion is Hwanin's Justice (Bill).

Unique polearms

Main article: List of Unique Polearms

The unique polearms in classic are:

• Dimoak's Hew (Bardiche)
• Steelgoad (Voulge)
• Soul Harvest (Scythe)
• The Battlebranch (Poleaxe)
• Woestave (Halberd)
• The Grim Reaper (War Scythe)

Additional unique polearms in the expansion are:

• The Meat Scraper (Lochaber Axe)
• Blackleach Blade (Bill)
• Athena's Wrath (Battle Scythe)
• Pierre Tombale Couant (Partizan)
• Husoldal Evo (Bec-De-Corbin)
• Grim's Burning Dead (Grim Scythe)
• Bonehew (Ogre Axe)
• Stormspire (Giant Thresher)

Additional unique polearms in offline and ladder expansion play are:

• The Reaper's Toll (Thresher)
• Tomb Reaver (Cryptic Axe)

Polearm rune words

The maximum number of sockets possible in a polearm is 6.

In the expansion, the following Weapon Rune Words function in nonmagic polearms with exactly the specified number of sockets:

• Breath of the Dying (6 sockets)
• Call to Arms (5 sockets)
• Crescent Moon (3 sockets)
• Doom (5 sockets)
• Eternity (5 sockets)
• Fury (3 sockets)
• Hand of Justice (4 sockets)
• Honor (5 sockets)
• Passion (4 sockets)
• Malice (3 sockets)
• Silence (6 sockets)
• Strength (2 sockets)
• Venom (3 sockets)
• Wind (2 sockets)

Additional Rune Words for polearms in ladder play are:

• Destruction (5 sockets)
• Fortitude (4 sockets)
• Infinity (4 sockets)
• Insight (4 sockets)
• Obedience (5 sockets)
• Phoenix (4 sockets)
• Pride (4 sockets)
• Rift (4 sockets)

See also

• Polearm Mastery