Guild Wars 2

1. rework into an auto attack chain, keeping the function of both the first and second hits applying vulnerability, and the third and final hit dealing 600-700 damage(maybe a boon rip, functioning like mesmer’s sword, dealing more if there are no boons)

2. turn this into a frontal ranged aoe(using warrior’s eviscerate animation), the necromancer leaps forward slightly, dealing 1100-1300 damage(base, 900 range)

3. leave as is.

Before we adjust the skills themselves, I would like Axe range increased to 900 units (up from 600) ala Ranger Axe.

Increase the damage coefficient on all skills, blast finisher on 3.

Axe (and scepter and focus) need to stand on their own as weapons now that the reaper doesn’t have life blast. If this doesn’t happen, Reaper will suck. (staff can’t do everything).

Axe (and focus and scepter) can’t function effectively as damage weapons because they nerf shroud damage (and a trait to get shroud wielding an axe back to 100% normal isn’t a fix). Axe and focus should be utility weapons with useable damage, and scepter should be a ranged condition weapon.

We already have a post like this. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Axe-Resurrection/first

Lily.1935:

We already have a post like this. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Axe-Resurrection/first

Oopsie.

First of the damage numbers are just pathetic and Range should be globaly increased to 900 on axe, up from 600.

Axe Skill #1, Rending Claws a coeff of at least 1 instead of 0.7. It is on ranged and it is single target, so it should be lower than dagger coeff/s wise. Axe auto seems to be a 1 sec auto with afterswing and so a 1 coeff/s for it along with the vulnerability application seems reasonable. I would also like to see a vuln increase per stack to 3 or an increase in duration to 10 (instead of 7). Preferably the 3 vuln. This makes for a nice setup for burst.

Axe Skill #2, Ghastly Claws deals low damage and generates LF. All it needs is a damage and range increase. The damage coeff should be 4 for the total channel, possibly a bit higher and but definitly not below 4. This skill is similar to Rapid Fire, but it does not apply vulnerability by itself and has a shorter range, cooldown is two seconds shorter, down at 8 compared to Rapidfires 10. It deals more damage at a shorter range and at a lower CD and is also not a finisher.

Axe Skill #3, Unholy Feast is a skill that I thematicaly wondered why it didn’t steal boons. So my suggestion is simple, remove the retaliation part and instead grant the remaining duration of the boon removed to the Necromancer, and of course convert it to a condition on the target from which it was stolen. I would like it to strip two boons on each target (and steal them, of course), but considering what happens if you were to hit 5 targets and steal two from each it might be a bit too strong, increased cooldown to 20 might be a solution. I would also increase the coeff to 1.3 (up from 0.8) and add an additional 0.3 coeff damage when a boon stolen/converted. If you were to steal two boons this way the skill would hit like Lich Form #1 Deathly Claws. I would also like for Necros to have reliable access to blast finishers and this skill would suit it perfectly, make it one. And maybe increase the CD to 20.

But that’s just my thoughts on Necro Axe.

I give the suggestion a giant “heck no” just for the idea of changing the animation on Ghastly Claws. GC is seriously one of my favorite attack animations in the entire game. I absolutely love the look of my necro spinning his axe in front of his hand all telekinetic-like. They already ruined the auto-attack animation, don’t ruin Ghastly Claws too!

And anyway, I don’t really think axe needs a complete rework. There’s nothing wrong with it at a core level, it just needs some buffs and tweaks. 3-target cone cleave and a whirl finisher on Gastly Claws, blast finisher on Unholy Feast (I also like the idea above of actually stealing boons instead of just stripping them). Damage boost all around. Change those things, then see where Axe sits before looking at it again for further needed improvements.

Keep it as a direct damage weapon:

1. Add 3rd attack chain that deals higher damage and has a secondary effect (chill/cripple).
2.Shorten cast time OR increase damage.
3. Add blast finisher.

Make it a HYBRID damage weapon, like a ranged warrior sword:

1. Add 3rd auto attack chain that inflicts torment
2. Leave as is
3. Swap 1 condition with 1 boon for each target hit.
Trait: change trait to have a 33% chance of inflicting either torment, poison, or bleeding for 5 sec on hit with no icd.

tboneking.2531:

Keep it as a direct damage weapon:

1. Add 3rd attack chain that deals higher damage and has a secondary effect (chill/cripple).
2.Shorten cast time OR increase damage.
3. Add blast finisher.

Make it a HYBRID damage weapon, like a ranged warrior sword:

1. Add 3rd auto attack chain that inflicts torment
2. Leave as is
3. Swap 1 condition with 1 boon for each target hit.
Trait: change trait to have a 33% chance of inflicting either torment, poison, or bleeding for 5 sec on hit with no icd.

i like this one more than mine honestly(the first one) because there’s already a hybrid weapon, scepter.
though i would shorten the cast time as well as increasing the damage. it should be at least on par with volley, or even rapid fire. it’s the only ‘ranged’ power weapon we have.

1. Make the auto attack a chain and have it remove a boon at the end
2. Increase the damage of the 2 skill

3. Combine spiteful spirit and unholy fervor into one grand master trait.
Grand master: Spiteful spirit- Axe cooldown reduced by 20%, Axe damage is increased by 10% against vulnerable foes. When you enter death shroud, cast unholy feast (no cooldown).

4. Additionally, buffing focus would also help the axe by extension since they have lots of synergy.

Spiteful Talisman- Deal 5% increased damage to foes with no boons. Focus skills recharge 20% faster. Boons removed by Spinal shivers are instead corrupted.

Alternatively:
a new master trait in the now open master slot:
Spiteful Rend: Whenever a boon is removed, it is corrupted instead.

This would give the axe more power while also giving the focus 5 some much needed love. As of now the necromancer has the most access to boon corruption, and I’d like to see that theme expanded on as it fits perfectly within the necromancer design.

the 600 range is okay with axe. going further away would lead to a damage reduce and it also helps to remember the 600 range for ds 1 bonus damage

People keep trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to the axe…

Yes it would be nice if the auto attack was reworked into a chain (OP’s suggestion is quite nice) but the greatest problem lies in its power scaling. Increase the power coefficients on ALL axe attacks and make axe 3 a blast finisher. Simple stuff.

Axe as a concept is fine, it’s just severely undertuned. No need to try and reinvent it.
Axe #1 and #2 range increased to 900, damage increased, and hits up to 3 enemies. #1 cast time decreased to 1/2 second. #2 cast time decreased to 1.5 seconds and LF increased to 20%. #3 is now a blast finisher.
Spiteful Spirit ICD removed. This alone is probably enough with #3 now being a blast finisher, but the following is a cool idea (even though it’s probably completely broken and OP) so I included it: Each foe hit by Unholy Feast now spawns another Unholy Feast, Unholy Feast’s spawned from this trait do not activate Spiteful Spirit. Affects standard axe.
Unholy Fervor’s damage bonus should affect all weapons but that’s another discussion.

axe range increase to 900 and damage by 15% on axe 1 axe 2 need to channel faster and be a finisher axe 3 stays the same

Anybody have video of the old animation on AA?

Arche.7326:

First of the damage numbers are just pathetic and Range should be globaly increased to 900 on axe, up from 600.

Axe Skill #1, Rending Claws a coeff of at least 1 instead of 0.7. It is on ranged and it is single target, so it should be lower than dagger coeff/s wise. Axe auto seems to be a 1 sec auto with afterswing and so a 1 coeff/s for it along with the vulnerability application seems reasonable. I would also like to see a vuln increase per stack to 3 or an increase in duration to 10 (instead of 7). Preferably the 3 vuln. This makes for a nice setup for burst.

Axe Skill #2, Ghastly Claws deals low damage and generates LF. All it needs is a damage and range increase. The damage coeff should be 4 for the total channel, possibly a bit higher and but definitly not below 4. This skill is similar to Rapid Fire, but it does not apply vulnerability by itself and has a shorter range, cooldown is two seconds shorter, down at 8 compared to Rapidfires 10. It deals more damage at a shorter range and at a lower CD and is also not a finisher.

Axe Skill #3, Unholy Feast is a skill that I thematicaly wondered why it didn’t steal boons. So my suggestion is simple, remove the retaliation part and instead grant the remaining duration of the boon removed to the Necromancer, and of course convert it to a condition on the target from which it was stolen. I would like it to strip two boons on each target (and steal them, of course), but considering what happens if you were to hit 5 targets and steal two from each it might be a bit too strong, increased cooldown to 20 might be a solution. I would also increase the coeff to 1.3 (up from 0.8) and add an additional 0.3 coeff damage when a boon stolen/converted. If you were to steal two boons this way the skill would hit like Lich Form #1 Deathly Claws. I would also like for Necros to have reliable access to blast finishers and this skill would suit it perfectly, make it one. And maybe increase the CD to 20.

But that’s just my thoughts on Necro Axe.

honestly with reaper coming and gaining so much chill i wouldnt mind seeint the vuln completely removed from the axe AA because necro can stack vuln so easily in many other ways. The damange needs to overall be higher and maybe like some one suggested turn it into a chain with the last hit stripping a boon or something more useful.

Perhaps we could get a pull on axe? But I’m not sure where we’d put it, I love the tree because that’s 5 retaliation put on you when you hit 5 enemies and it fits the reaper theme of getting stronger the more enemies there are, plus it is good for base necro with the boon corruption on it. Maybe the two, but I’m not sure how that would work, obviously can’t go on the auto attack.