Guild Wars 2

If the patch leak is legit do you guys see viable Axe builds in the future?

IMO i do.

I already see the AXE as an underestimated weapon. But with the trait change and the boon removal i can see a lot of builds popping up in my mind.

What does every one esle think?

Talking about tpvp

The biggest problem, for us at least is the lack of a knights amulet. power prec vit sucks compared to power precision toughness. It is really hard to make a great axe power spec with the seriously lack of toughness we get in that version of pvp. A good spec though would still be the typical 30/25/0/0/15 for tpvp power. Some argue 30/10/0/0/30 is better but for axe #2 when you bring crit up to extreme numbers like 50% base then you start seeing higher dmg caps then you would with a lower crit. That and against bunker builds strait power is cut by a 3rd.
That being said, I did love axe when I played with it, and the channel #2 can be great for getting all my procs off asap, but the lack of being able to attack invis targets or take roots off me just got to be to much, so I replaced it with dagger.

I have been using axe, and will continue to use axe, in a few builds of mine. The buff is nice, but I don’t think many people will begin to use axe because of it alone.

Ghastly claws may actually become decent dps when targets are below 50% hp. Problem is you will still be locked into axe or DS for 10 seconds until you can switch back to dagger. So for people trying to maximise dps, it wont be part of the rotation. I stopped using ghastly claws for burst months ago because its weak for the channel time, I did keep using it for lifeforce generation though.

If they made Ghastly Claws not require you to be facing your target for its entire duration (like how Life Siphon works on MH Dagger) I think it will do wonders for the weapon.

based on the patch notes I think I may be leaning towards a 30/10/0/0/30 hybrid build using axe as the direct damage weapon, mainly because in PvE, the dagger damage is great, but I don’t want to risk taking more hits from melee range. Also in PvE I feel like the imobolize and life siphon can be a bit less important, so Axe 3s AoE/retal is very nice and I Axe 2 is very usable damage. Axe 1 is lacklustre sometimes, but I can probably just switch to scepter or life blasting during Axe 2 CD.

Given that the patch notes are relatively accurate, I’ll probably take Spiteful Talisman/Retal on on DS/Reapers Might for my 10 point spite trait depending on the build, Axe Training for the 20 point trait, and then the 30 point burning trait. Moving the trait really would make axe more useful than dagger for such a build. My only concern is lack of a staff, but its AoE isn’t that amazing when using epidemic or wells.. I’ll miss having a blast finisher though as axe/focus/warhorn and scepter/dagger have 0 combo finishers

The boon removal addition to axe 3 is going to be INSANELY powerful in WvW. In conjuntion with Sigil of Nullification and focus, you could be stripping boons constantly without having to use wells. I’ve already built myself a build I think will be fairly viable in WvW team fights but i’m waiting for the actual patch to test it properly.