Greatmace

Lore & Background

In the world of Torchlight, maces and their two-handed kin have long been the weapon of choice for those who favor blunt, crushing force over the cutting edge of a blade. Where a sword might glance off a scaled hide, a Greatmace drives its weight straight through, making it a favoured tool against the heavily armoured golems, stone giants, and plated brutes that populate the deeper caverns and ruins of the series' underground settings.

The Knight class in Torchlight II embodies this philosophy. Trained in the old martial traditions of the surface kingdoms, a Knight wields the Greatmace as both a shield-bearer's alternative and a pure damage option. The two-handed grip frees the off-hand for no shield, but the mace's slow, heavy arcs pair naturally with the Knight's defensive stances and taunt abilities, letting the player absorb hits while the next overhead smash is already winding up.

Across the Torchlight titles, the Greatmace appears in the hands of NPCs, as a loot drop from enemies and chests, and as a vendor stock item. Its design language—broad flanged heads, reinforced shafts, and heavy pommel caps—distinguishes it visually from the lighter one-handed Mace and gives it a distinct silhouette in the player's inventory and equipment screen.

In Their Own Story

The cave mouth exhaled cold, mineral air. Kael set his back against the stone and watched the iron golem turn its blank face toward him, hydraulic joints groaning. No shield. No room to dodge in this narrow passage. He raised the Greatmace overhead, the flanged head catching the faint glow of a wall sconce, and waited for the creature to lunge. The first swing connected with a sound like a blacksmith's hammer on an anvil, and the golem's shoulder plate cracked. Kael didn't lower the weapon. He never did, not until the thing was scrap.

Reader's Guide

Slot & Rarity: The Greatmace occupies the two-handed weapon slot. It is a weapon category, not a single named item, so it appears across all rarity tiers—Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Legendary—each with randomized base damage and affixes.

Stats & Effect: As a two-handed mace it deals pure physical damage per hit. Because it is two-handed, you forgo a shield, so builds that pair it with high armour, taunt, or damage-reduction passives (Knight in Torchlight II) mitigate that trade-off. Crit and damage bonuses on the affix line stack on top of the base swing value.

Build Context: The Greatmace shines most for the Knight in Torchlight II, where its slower swing speed pairs well with the class's defensive toolkit and area-control abilities. In Torchlight I it serves any class that can equip maces, though the Knight-equivalent playstyle still benefits most from the blunt-force identity.

Acquisition: Greatmaces drop from regular enemy loot, vendor stock, and chest rewards throughout the campaign. No unique crafting recipe is required; they are a standard part of the loot table.

Fan Verdict: A reliable, no-frills two-hander that always feels satisfying to swing—less flashy than a Greatsword, but the crunch of a mace on a golem's skull is its own reward.

Did You Know?

• The 'Great' prefix in Torchlight denotes the two-handed variant of a weapon type, so a Greatmace is the two-handed counterpart to the one-handed Mace.
• In Torchlight II the Knight class is the primary wielder of mace-type weapons, making the Greatmace one of its signature two-handed options.
• Because the Greatmace is a weapon category rather than a single named item, every player will see different stat rolls and affixes on each Greatmace they pick up.
• Two-handed weapons in Torchlight free the off-hand, removing the option to equip a shield and shifting the defensive burden to armour and class passives.