Guild Wars 2

So is using Axe/dagger or Axe/focus best for burst?

Focus I say, the boon rip does more damage with more boons. And the other one can do a lot of damage and vulnerability with good bounces.

Dagger has more conditions

Out of those two? Focus.

Out of Dagger/Focus AND Warhorn?

Warhorn. (Pop locust as you are running in and passively add damage during your burst).

scepter/focus for full burst with 2x wells, dagger/dagger with wurm+spectral+anything for “sustained burst”

Id only take the warhorn if ur confident in interupting the guardian heal and you arent facing any condi pressure. Or warriors with immob. And if u can trait it.

What kind of burst condition or direct?
Well i will assume you mean direct because of the use of the axe. So focus is probably the best offhand for burst, but you should keep in mind that offhand dagger and warhorn also good offhands and in most situations probably the better choice (focus casttime is too slow for my liking…).

Dagger/Focus, Axe 2 is not rly “burst” it´s ranged, but not better for dmg then dagger 1.

Axe damage is lower but more reliable than dagger… at least you can keep some distance between yourself and your target.

I personally like dagger/warhorn with axe/focus because it seems to rotate better. Hit them with focus 4, then focus 5 if they have boons and then if they are close axe 3, then swap; hit wh 5 for locust and to keep them crippled while you AA them; go into DS for some attacks or defense or for DS5, leave and if locust is up, hit it again and if it isn’t swap. You could also save locust for when you’re about to hit DS if they are still chilled from Focus 5 that way you get passive DS regency plus make it easier to keep them in range for DS 1.

Since we’re on the subject of optimizing damage:

I saw Bhawb comment in another thread about MMs giving a brief input on the DPS that minions add by themselves, can anyone find what he mentioned about the Wurm ? I’ve put might stacking in my build and subbed out a stun break (WoP) for BiP and I’m curious how good the Wurms damage is should I opt to take the might stacking back out.

I really don’t have a set utility to put in that slot otherwise.

Dagger/Dagger for normal mobs, Axe/Focus for stronger mobs, like vets+. It’s been working great for now. (lvl 52)

solaire.5847:

So is using Axe/dagger or Axe/focus best for burst?

PvE, WvW or PvP?

IMO you should only be using Focus with Axe MH. You not only lose out on the Vuln stacking and LF generation that shares so much synergy with the Axe but you lose out on a ton of damage that makes the Axe a viable weapon in the first place i.e. the Focus 4 + Axe 2 burst combo, with the added boon ripping and control from Focus 5 with Axe 3

Warhorn functionally works better with Dagger since the dagger requires you to get right up in your enemies face and the Warhorn enhances your ability to do so. The Axe however has no such requirement making the Warhorn clunky at best when used together.

Assuming both a pure power builds of course.

First one for PvP, second for zerging or PvE

I agree with what Hackks are saying. The Axe Main Hand and Focus Off Hand works like a charm! Although I consider the Focus to be a “single target” weapon. That’s where it really excels!

Especially in PvP situations: I always open with Focus #5 (for boon removal), Axe #3 (cripple my enemy and add retaliation for me), Focus #4 (add some nice regeneration to help carry me through the fight) and then Rigor Mortis from the Bonefiend (chain my enemy in one spot) and rip into them with Axe #2!

When doing normal PvE I run with dagger/warhorn and axe/focus, traited for extra axe damage.

When wanted to do heavy condition damage, I use scepter/dagger traited for extra scepter damage.

Axe/Focus, Dagger/Warhorn, and Scepter/Dagger are the best weapon combo for the one-handed weapons that necro has.

Any other combo could work but they are sub-par to these.