Guild Wars 2

Dagger is higher dps, and has an extra “oh kitten” heal skill. Axe is nice if you have to drop back for range a bit. So it becomes situationally dependent on if you need a bit of range or not.

Axe is among the worst weapons in the game for DPS. Is it now the worst after the nerf?

The auto attack is lower than scepter for power damage. Axe 3 gives you a boon strip, but you are better off using any other weapon than axe.

nekretaal.6485:

The auto attack is lower than scepter for power damage.

I don’t want to defend the axe’s auto attack, but that’s not true.

On topic, dagger (or scepter) have better auto attacks but the axe has better skills 2-3.
So the real question is: how often do you auto attack?

flow.6043:

nekretaal.6485:

The auto attack is lower than scepter for power damage.

I don’t want to defend the axe’s auto attack, but that’s not true.

On topic, dagger (or scepter) have better auto attacks but the axe has better skills 2-3.
So the real question is: how often do you auto attack?

Nope its true the direct damage per second is roughly equal and the scepter beats it with the additional condition application.

Just go with dagger. Necros already have a range attack built in: Life Blast. That, and Lich Form. Those are usually more than sufficient if you need to back off for a bit.

Axe’s only real niche was in WvW well zerging, where you’d want to not be in melee range, but I expect the cleave-tasticness of the reaper GS and RS to change that.

On a DS build, which one is better: Dagger or Traited Axe?

Oh My God.8423:

On a DS build, which one is better: Dagger or Traited Axe?

Dagger so you can take chill of death, which is one of the main traits that holds power necro together.

Traited axe for the DS build will no longer be a thing once the spec changes come in. So that one advocated use for axe is going. Never really used axe before. Probably never will again.

To be honest this subtle damage change in DS has always bothered me. Its not obvious to new players but its a pretty important thing to take advantage of. So now everyone will be using staff or greatsword for DS camping builds. Which to be honest is another vein of the same issue.

Id seriously love it if anet normalised the weapon strength while in DS so we dont have to worry about using specific weapons just to maximise a transform.

Dagger feels strange in wvw, so it’s axe mainhand for me.

nearlight.3064:

Oh My God.8423:

On a DS build, which one is better: Dagger or Traited Axe?

Dagger so you can take chill of death, which is one of the main traits that holds power necro together.

No one forces you to take Axe Training with the axe though.

spoj.9672:

Traited axe for the DS build will no longer be a thing once the spec changes come in. So that one advocated use for axe is going.

Considering how much negative feeback they got on both axe and Axe Training, I’m pretty sure they will at least change the trait again.

If they change it again then id like to see the modifer change to 10% against crippled foes. So its not axe exclusive. Then they just need to improve and rework axe itself.

Well, of course the 10% dmg gated by cripple doesn’t make a lot of sense, but for me the real bummer was the change to its cd reduction.
The only way they could come up with these changes is if they thought: axe damage op so we’re gating the same modifier by a condition, also cd reduction op so we force them to perma auto attack to get the same cd as before which would again mean less damage… two birds one stone, genius!

flow.6043:

nearlight.3064:

Oh My God.8423:

On a DS build, which one is better: Dagger or Traited Axe?

Dagger so you can take chill of death, which is one of the main traits that holds power necro together.

No one forces you to take Axe Training with the axe though.

Still when talking about the necro pvp meta, all it really is right now is a collection of passiveprocs and downstate damage modifiers. You need chill of death, and it doesn’t make since to use even traited, let alone untraited axe over dagger in a pvp power build.

Axe has been getting negative feedback on how weak it was since day 1, I don’t know why they continue to nerf it.

Literally the only use I’ve ever had for axe were WvW guild raids/pugging since necros need the range. Not because it’s good just because you needed the range it offered.

Whole wep needs reworked.

only time I ever really use axe is in a duel fighting melee classes Where I’m never going to need the range… also the condi transfer has a lower cd so it helps agaisnt condi classes even if mark 4 is more likely to land.

Even then….. I still use staff the majority of the time for the interupt and how easy it is to land marks.

D/w staff is the only way to go one power. You can try and debate focus all you want but it’s garbage compared to warhorn