Guild Wars 2

Here’s a random Thought. What if Unholy Feast also gave us a stack of stability for each target hit?

:-)
I remember fondly how much “feedback” I swallowed asking for stability.

“L2p! Watch for tells and dodge!”
“Second health bar!”
“Lich is OP!”

Lily.1935:

Here’s a random Thought. What if Unholy Feast also gave us a stack of stability for each target hit?

Actually, scratch that idea. This alone would make it a must have almost.

Would like to see Unholy Feast have a “draw in” animation added to it. The cast time is long enough for this to work already. Make Unholy Feast draw in conditions from nearby allies and then spread them to nearby foes when the attack lands.

Keep its current effects as well.

Now that would be a good skill.

Zefrost.3425:

Would like to see Unholy Feast have a “draw in” animation added to it. The cast time is long enough for this to work already. Make Unholy Feast draw in conditions from nearby allies and then spread them to nearby foes when the attack lands.

Keep its current effects as well.

Now that would be a good skill.

Unholy Feast is the only skill on the axe that really doesn’t need much modification. I’d say no on this part.

My personal Take on the topic:

Autoattack: I wouldn’t say Boon Corruption as much as Boon Stripping, merely that it stacks Conditions if it removes Boons, like Weakness. Perhaps something like this:

Rending Tear: Strike your Foe with a Ghastly Claw. 900 range, 1/4s Activation Time.
Rending Claws: Strike your Foe twice with ghastly claws, stacking Vulnerability (1 Stack, 5s x2). 900 Range, 1/2s Activation Time.
Ghastly Cross: Strike your foe with ghastly claws, Removing 1 Boon. If a Boon is removed, the enemy is Weakened (2s). 900 Range, 3/4s Activation Time.

Ghastly Claws: Same as it ever Was. I like the idea of it being a Whirl Finisher, though having Unholy Feast as a Blast Finisher strikes me as more useful.

Unholy Feast: Increased Damage and Reduced Cast time, agreeing with OP here.

As for the Traits:

Unholy Fervor:

• Corrupting or Removing a Boon while wielding an Axe grants Life Force and a Stacking Power Buff for each Boon removed. Axe Skills recharge 20% Faster.
• Life Force Gained (Per Boon removed): 2%
• Unholy Fervor: 20 Power. Duration: 10s
• Max Stacks: 10

This trait, I believe, will put the Axe back on the market. It’s not a “Passive Power Boost” but instead rewards the Necro for hitting the opponent with key skills. Furthermore, it adds Life Force Generation to the Axe which will help make it compete with the Staff as a ranged weapon and hopefully will let people opt out of feeling forced into using Soul Marks (Seriously, the SR line is our Arcana line.) This will synergize extremely well with Axe/Focus and Well of Corruption.

Spiteful Spirit
Same as what OP suggested.

Let me just be forward here. You’re not going to see a full revamp of the weapon. If you want to theorycraft it, by all means do so, but it’s a naive venture. What you will see, however, is adjustments made to the weapon to keep it functionally near-identical to how it currently is but more useful.

Think of it this way. If you put a blast finisher on Axe 3, every single good Necro in PvE will carry one if not at all times, then at least in his inventory. If you give Axe a 10% damage boost either in raw power numbers or via increased attack speed and maybe expand the Unholy Fervor trait a bit so it isn’t terribad, then we’re talking about a ranged power option that isn’t horrifically outclassed by the likes of Life Blast.

Rising Dusk.2408:

Let me just be forward here. You’re not going to see a full revamp of the weapon. If you want to theorycraft it, by all means do so, but it’s a naive venture. What you will see, however, is adjustments made to the weapon to keep it functionally near-identical to how it currently is but more useful.

Think of it this way. If you put a blast finisher on Axe 3, every single good Necro in PvE will carry one if not at all times, then at least in his inventory. If you give Axe a 10% damage boost either in raw power numbers or via increased attack speed and maybe expand the Unholy Fervor trait a bit so it isn’t terribad, then we’re talking about a ranged power option that isn’t horrifically outclassed by the likes of Life Blast.

+1

Dreaming doesn’t hurt. But lets be realistic, asking for sweeping changes is simply being naive and setting yourself up for disappointments.
There are small tweaks that can be done to make a lot of stuff more viable.

I can’t see either of those making the weapon viable. Neither a blast finisher or a 10% DPS increase would make the weapon useful over dagger/X and the limited range on axe wouldn’t get it slotted over staff for the ranged fights. Certainly not due to utility.

So while a complete redesign may not be practical, it needs more than a slight nudge.

It’s a ranged weapon. If you want it to “compete” with Dagger for BiS for PvE, it never will nor should it because it’s ranged. What you should, instead, be focusing on is how to not allow it to be outclassed by a Dagger build simply spamming DS1. Putting a blast finisher on it enables functionality otherwise impossible without the Axe, and giving it a slight damage nudge coupled with a blast finisher will do wonders in PvP formats. With 900 range, you might even see some WvW players use it seriously.

That’s the problem though, dagger still blows it out of the water. The life force gen and immob is still leaps and bounds ahead of what a blast finisher and 10% more damage would provide at 600 range.

900 range, 10% on auto, 15% on #2, and a blast finisher or fury on #3 would at least give the weapon an identity.

Rising Dusk.2408:

It’s a ranged weapon. If you want it to “compete” with Dagger for BiS for PvE, it never will nor should it because it’s ranged. What you should, instead, be focusing on is how to not allow it to be outclassed by a Dagger build simply spamming DS1. Putting a blast finisher on it enables functionality otherwise impossible without the Axe, and giving it a slight damage nudge coupled with a blast finisher will do wonders in PvP formats. With 900 range, you might even see some WvW players use it seriously.

It’s true that Damage and Range is an issue for the Axe, but there’s also the problem that the Life Force generation from Axe pales completely in comparison to Staff, especially when Coupled with Soul Marks. Dagger and Staff has it in common that they both generate Life Force with their AA, while Axe is confined to a single skill that is easily read and dodged. It also cannot benefit from Warhorn #5 as Axe is primarily a ranged weapon best paired with OH Dagger or Focus.

Working in he 10% Extra Damage into Baseline Axe and making the Trait Unholy Fervor cause the Axe skills to generate Additional Life Force, coupled with Range increase and a Blast finisher, could make Axe a serious contender to the Staff, despite the remaining Limitations.

False.

Life force on staff is terribad, even traited. Axe has life force on 2 and can be paired with focus for additional lifeforce, or even Warhorn for a lot of additional lifeforce.

nekretaal.6485:

False.

Life force on staff is terribad, even traited. Axe has life force on 2 and can be paired with focus for additional lifeforce, or even Warhorn for a lot of additional lifeforce.

I’m sorry, but that’s Bull.

Staff has the advantage of Piercing, each time the Projectile from the Autoattack strikes an enemy, the Necro gains Life Force, meaning that if it hits 3 or more targets (Which is rather easy to do in a Zerg, for instance) you gain 12% Life Force, which is equivalent of hitting all 8 strikes with Ghastly Claws.

Furthermore, Marks have a short Activation Time of 1/4s, are all ground-targeted at 1200 range and Mark of Blood has a CD of 4 1/2s untraited. Soul Marks also makes all Mark Unblockable, meaning you can’t be denied Life Force gain by enemies who turtle up, such as Guards or Engis.

But the problem isn’t this. It’s that Ghastly Claws is a Channel skill that stacks Life Force overtime. Not only is the Necro defenseless while Channeling, the skill is easily ruined by breaking LoS, moving behind the Necro or simply Dodging. It’s not that the Life Force Gain is horrible on Axe, it’s the Way you gain it that makes it an unviable option when compared to Staff.

This is speaking from a PvP standpoint. In PvE, enemies barely move as it is and never dodges. In PvE, Axe #2 is pretty useful.