Guild Wars 2

The range of axe is fine, the damage/utility is not.

There have been a lot of suggestions to how to fix it. I think it needs a far stronger 2 skill that isn’t channeled, and a chain to the 1 skill that incorporates a very weak version of the current 2 skill.

Range on axe is.perfict. i love it and want more 600 weapons at first.i.hated it but now

1. is fine
2. seems like a.offhand weapon skill
   #1Damage is meh vun is nice.but.it.just lacks.

Id like to see a torch. Implimented as a main hand weapon for.necro
Medium to short range 600-900, but give it ’splash damage.
So i lock target use skill and enimies within a certain radius of targetvalso take damage(reduced damage maybe so its not to op.

Idk…just a though id have to sit down and think about it more

Yeah the range is fine. But the current damage doesnt justify the range. The damage needs a buff.

Sarrs.4831:

Radmage.3741:

Bhawb.7408:

Axe’s issue is not its range.

It certainly is one of them.

It isn’t. While it’s not a strength, it isn’t a weakness.

Axe’s main weakness is a useless 1. 2 is solid burst + LF regen, and 3 is solid cripple+retal. They’re not stand-out amazing, but they’re not supposed to be.

I think it would be cool if the #1 skill on the axe was a chain that in some way consisted of a cleaving attack.

Bhawb.7408:

Axe fits best in spite…

I think dagger fits best in spite.

Axe is garbage. This is as constructive as it gets for this petty weapon.

Spectral Grasp! Axe is fine. That is all.

Krude.7495:

Spectral Grasp! Axe is fine. That is all.

Lol Spectral Grasp doesnt help with the bad autoattack axe has…

Muchacho.2390:

Krude.7495:

Spectral Grasp! Axe is fine. That is all.

Lol Spectral Grasp doesnt help with the bad autoattack axe has…

I’ve never had the problem of my axe not doin’ enough damage, plus, the axe isn’t where my damage is at. (that vulnerability, not the damage, is what I want)

I spectral grasp, axe cripple for the retaliation, maybe rendering claws, but if the enemy is a runner, I switch to dagger for the immobilize. And if it’s an ele who likes to run and use static field/chilling ground (don’t know actual name of skill), I got plague signet and DS 2.

You’d have to be a really good kiter to dodge all my stuff. So far the only class that can run circles around me is an engi (but engi’s are still plenty killable )

Krude.7495:

Muchacho.2390:

Krude.7495:

Spectral Grasp! Axe is fine. That is all.

Lol Spectral Grasp doesnt help with the bad autoattack axe has…

I’ve never had the problem of my axe not doin’ enough damage, plus, the axe isn’t where my damage is at. (that vulnerability, not the damage, is what I want)

I spectral grasp, axe cripple for the retaliation, maybe rendering claws, but if the enemy is a runner, I switch to dagger for the immobilize. And if it’s an ele who likes to run and use static field/chilling ground (don’t know actual name of skill), I got plague signet and DS 2.

You’d have to be a really good kiter to dodge all my stuff. So far the only class that can run circles around me is an engi (but engi’s are still plenty killable )

All that would still work without ever using the aa…

There is only one szenario where axe aa could be decent and that is when you run a mm build. If not i would always take staff over axe, simply for the fact that the damage both offer are bad (but staff gives condi damage, which is nice against high armor players) and staff gives better utility and hits harder in ds (well unless you take axe training but i would never give up a spinal shiver at 50% for that).

Muchacho.2390:

Krude.7495:

Muchacho.2390:

Krude.7495:

Spectral Grasp! Axe is fine. That is all.

Lol Spectral Grasp doesnt help with the bad autoattack axe has…

I’ve never had the problem of my axe not doin’ enough damage, plus, the axe isn’t where my damage is at. (that vulnerability, not the damage, is what I want)

I spectral grasp, axe cripple for the retaliation, maybe rendering claws, but if the enemy is a runner, I switch to dagger for the immobilize. And if it’s an ele who likes to run and use static field/chilling ground (don’t know actual name of skill), I got plague signet and DS 2.

You’d have to be a really good kiter to dodge all my stuff. So far the only class that can run circles around me is an engi (but engi’s are still plenty killable )

All that would still work without ever using the aa…

There is only one szenario where axe aa could be decent and that is when you run a mm build. If not i would always take staff over axe, simply for the fact that the damage both offer are bad (but staff gives condi damage, which is nice against high armor players) and staff gives better utility and hits harder in ds (well unless you take axe training but i would never give up a spinal shiver at 50% for that).

Axe gives retal + has aoe cripple <- I’ll use that to my advantage due to the fact that I’m a melee/hybrid necro. I get bleeds on crits and rendering claws has great chances for bleeds. The axe aa isn’t supposed to be the killing strike, just a means to an end, and the vulnerability is the perfect means considering I want to spectral grasp, dagger immob, n go ham. Staff attacks are just too easily avoidable (and i have no mouse :p ). And I’d much rather take the life-force from rendering claws than the life-force from staff auto. Also, I much prefer deathly swarm for my condition transfer as opposed to staff 4, the blind is much appreciated along with it. AND, marks don’t hit downed players, axe does

And yeah, the axe aa isn’t killer because its the auto attack. No class’s auto attack should be that strong – otherwise it would take away from the skill required to manage the rest of your moves and utilities. (I barely use the auto attack, but when I do, its usually cuz I’m waiting to switch weapon sets, go into DS, or use another move in that weapon set after CD)

All in all, I can’t complain. My damage is just dandy ^^

Krude.7495:

Muchacho.2390:

Krude.7495:

Muchacho.2390:

Krude.7495:

Spectral Grasp! Axe is fine. That is all.

Lol Spectral Grasp doesnt help with the bad autoattack axe has…

I’ve never had the problem of my axe not doin’ enough damage, plus, the axe isn’t where my damage is at. (that vulnerability, not the damage, is what I want)

I spectral grasp, axe cripple for the retaliation, maybe rendering claws, but if the enemy is a runner, I switch to dagger for the immobilize. And if it’s an ele who likes to run and use static field/chilling ground (don’t know actual name of skill), I got plague signet and DS 2.

You’d have to be a really good kiter to dodge all my stuff. So far the only class that can run circles around me is an engi (but engi’s are still plenty killable )

All that would still work without ever using the aa…

There is only one szenario where axe aa could be decent and that is when you run a mm build. If not i would always take staff over axe, simply for the fact that the damage both offer are bad (but staff gives condi damage, which is nice against high armor players) and staff gives better utility and hits harder in ds (well unless you take axe training but i would never give up a spinal shiver at 50% for that).

Axe gives retal + has aoe cripple <- I’ll use that to my advantage due to the fact that I’m a melee/hybrid necro. I get bleeds on crits and rendering claws has great chances for bleeds. The axe aa isn’t supposed to be the killing strike, just a means to an end, and the vulnerability is the perfect means considering I want to spectral grasp, dagger immob, n go ham. Staff attacks are just too easily avoidable (and i have no mouse :p ). And I’d much rather take the life-force from rendering claws than the life-force from staff auto. Also, I much prefer deathly swarm for my condition transfer as opposed to staff 4, the blind is much appreciated along with it. AND, marks don’t hit downed players, axe does

And yeah, the axe aa isn’t killer because its the auto attack. No class’s auto attack should be that strong – otherwise it would take away from the skill required to manage the rest of your moves and utilities. (I barely use the auto attack, but when I do, its usually cuz I’m waiting to switch weapon sets, go into DS, or use another move in that weapon set after CD)

All in all, I can’t complain. My damage is just dandy ^^

Ohhh i dont want axe aa to be killer but for its range it should offer more than staff aa. Probably giving it cleave would be enough to make me consider using it insted of dagger. Some necros may disagree but in my opinion staff offers to much to ever give up in any build exept maybe a mm build.

I wouldn’t mind a damage increase or a range increase, or a cleave. Or… something.

The axe itself isn’t completely useless. There are a couple of circumstances where I find the axe is good:

#1: The axe attacks are spells. Being a ranged attack that is immune to reflects, bypasses walls, and has no flight time means that it is good in circumstances where both meleeing and ranging is dangerous. For example, HotW P1 final boss is great to fight with the axe.

#2: Unholy Feast is a good escape skill. The large radius means that anything chasing you gets crippled, and the retaliation isn’t too bad, either. This is nice, because it can help against stealthed foes.

But barring those, I keep the axe on the back burner mostly. For ranged attacks, I just go with Death Shroud now.

Axe’s skill arn’t bad…but i’d appreciate Anet change skill #1 weakness by torment (in AOE?)

Just that…

Axe needs to cleave – and, yes, a blast finisher on #3 would be very nice.

I thought Necromancer is supposed to be mid-range?

For the most part, I like Axe MH weapon. The #2 burst is nice, and #3 is cool. It’s the #1 autoattack which sucks. Also, it NEEDS cleave!

Kain Francois.4328:

I thought Necromancer is supposed to be mid-range?

For the most part, I like Axe MH weapon. The #2 burst is nice, and #3 is cool. It’s the #1 autoattack which sucks. Also, it NEEDS cleave!

2 isnt nice burst. Its terrible considering the channel time.

I think they should take the #2 skill, and add it as a chain to the auto attack, but with only 2-3 hits, make it cleave, and then re-balance it with that in mind. Then make the #2 skill a frontal cone burst skill.

Bhawb.7408:

I think they should take the #2 skill, and add it as a chain to the auto attack, but with only 2-3 hits, make it cleave, and then re-balance it with that in mind. Then make the #2 skill a frontal cone burst skill.

I like this.

Bhawb.7408:

I think they should take the #2 skill, and add it as a chain to the auto attack, but with only 2-3 hits, make it cleave, and then re-balance it with that in mind. Then make the #2 skill a frontal cone burst skill.

We have a winner! Genius.

I like it in pvp, in pve damage should get a boost, it’s single target and barely breaks 15k with zerk build and might stacks, with skill #2, warriors break 15k with soldier gear and cleave

Bhawb.7408:

I think they should take the #2 skill, and add it as a chain to the auto attack, but with only 2-3 hits, make it cleave, and then re-balance it with that in mind. Then make the #2 skill a frontal cone burst skill.

Personally I really like having the channel as it is. It feels visceral and rewarding to press, imo.

What if the frontal cone was 1’s chain skill? So it’s more like slash-slash-boom, a bit like how Warrior Axe 1 is backloaded.

The issue is that Axe 2 will never, ever, work as a damage weapon in PvP, unless other things are absolutely broken. Just like how 100000blades warriors don’t work unless the rest of their profession is broken, due to how stupidly easy it is to negate a skill that is basically useless unless you allow it to hit you consecutively for a few seconds.

I mean, think of it this way, Axe 2 is such a bad DPS skill that it gets out DPSed by auto attacks. I mean, Life Blast alone, in a decent build, can in ONE shot deal comparable damage to a 3s channeled attack on an 8s CD, while having no CD, blasting more often, and having the utility of stacking might, piercing, and stacking vuln. Axe just doesn’t cut it outside of minion builds.

Staff is actually the power ranged weapon for necro. The auto pierces(if target is behind peeps), and the marks all hit well with high power, especially putrid.

The only downside is the auto-attack projectile speed. It’s slow. But it’s not supposed to be fast, that’s what Rangers are for. If they made the projectile as fast as an arrow, Necros would be OP.

The cooldown on Axe #2 is 6 1/4 sec if specced I think, improving the DPS. Axe training spec also lowers the cooldown of #3, which also helps DPS. Again axe needs to be specced and it helps to set the target up with ranged focus skills (1200 range if specced from same line) or I like to use Signet of Spite (1200 range) then hit 3 for retaliation on me, then drop the deuce for the damage. Seems to work well enough in wvw.

Dagger is ‘close your eyes and hack’. No need for specs, setups or thought, axe isn’t that but it can be effective if you know what to do.

Axe 2 is really useful for two reasons: it channels through stealth and it procs crit sigils very well. Axe 3 I think everyone can agree is good. Axe 1 really just needs to be able to work without a target, that’s all.

Sarrs.4831:

Bhawb.7408:

I think they should take the #2 skill, and add it as a chain to the auto attack, but with only 2-3 hits, make it cleave, and then re-balance it with that in mind. Then make the #2 skill a frontal cone burst skill.

Personally I really like having the channel as it is. It feels visceral and rewarding to press, imo.

What if the frontal cone was 1’s chain skill? So it’s more like slash-slash-boom, a bit like how Warrior Axe 1 is backloaded.

i think giving us a chain similar to warriors axe might even put ours on par with theirs. lolnonotinamillionyears.

The only real problem with the axe is that the auto attack doesn’t do “enough”. If they extended the duration of the vulnerability the axe applied, it would make it more of a “attrition weapon” in that taking too much vulnerability leaves you open to be killed. They could also increase the damage a tad on the auto attack.

Axe 2 is good damage and the life force generation is solid. No real problems there.

Axe 3 is good in about any and all situation. Be it chasing, fleeing, group fights, or just trading blows.

honestly more range would be OP axe 1 could use some buffing but axe 2 at 1200 range or even 900 range? HOLY kitten you realize i can burn 60% of a light armor player with axe 2 alone right? axe 3 does aoe cripple retal and boon removal mean ANYTHING to you? also its 600m radius that is a 1200 diameter range on that aoe in most pvp team fights that is hitting the whole team and shattering all of the mesmers active clones. please just stop you have no idea what it is like to face a good axe necro. an axe necro deals long range defensive damage with his 7-10 abilities which are some of the most damage wise devastating abilities in the entire game. a good well of suffering will tick for 5k and so will auto attack from lich form plus vs certain classes lich form 4 is auto kill because of its consistent damage from minions that move much faster than any player without haste.

no i know that you dont see many necro in meta and that well it sucks i know but its more because the current meta doesnt like zerker builds but if you take a zerker necro to WvW you will find your zerg roflstomping fights they should have lost and wait for meta to rotate back towards condi builds and you will see necro showing up again. please keep in mind meta rotates as players make a build to counter the current meta build then someone else makes a build to counter that build then a build is made to counter that and that build is countered by the original meta. give the game time to adjust the patch threw a wrench in the gears of the meta machine and it needs time to figure out where the necro and mesmer fell off to.

striker.3704:

The only real problem with the axe is that the auto attack doesn’t do “enough”. If they extended the duration of the vulnerability the axe applied, it would make it more of a “attrition weapon” in that taking too much vulnerability leaves you open to be killed. They could also increase the damage a tad on the auto attack.

Axe 2 is good damage and the life force generation is solid. No real problems there.

Axe 3 is good in about any and all situation. Be it chasing, fleeing, group fights, or just trading blows.

They already buffed the vuln duration and the dmg slightly several months ago. It wasnt nearly enough.

Axe 2 isnt good damage. Its only good for lifeforce generation and it provides better damage than the auto. But its not good damage.

Axe 3 is fine but it should be a blast finisher.

and probably aNet will decide to nerf axe instead, in next patch…

axe is just too weak, skill 2 is ok but after you’ve used that you’re stuck with the weak autos

spoj.9672:

striker.3704:

The only real problem with the axe is that the auto attack doesn’t do “enough”. If they extended the duration of the vulnerability the axe applied, it would make it more of a “attrition weapon” in that taking too much vulnerability leaves you open to be killed. They could also increase the damage a tad on the auto attack.

Axe 2 is good damage and the life force generation is solid. No real problems there.

Axe 3 is good in about any and all situation. Be it chasing, fleeing, group fights, or just trading blows.

They already buffed the vuln duration and the dmg slightly several months ago. It wasnt nearly enough.

Axe 2 isnt good damage. Its only good for lifeforce generation and it provides better damage than the auto. But its not good damage.

Axe 3 is fine but it should be a blast finisher.

are you kittenting me axe 2 is a total killshot i can rip half a players health away with it in a single shot tho blast finisher on axe 3 would be nice if not overkill since a necro can lay a darkness to apply aoe blind without any teamwork needed

Axe 2 imo doesn’t need more dmg as in higher numbers. But it could get some Extra flavour via other means.
For example to be able to keep channeling for dmg up to 1200 range but need to be in 600 to start the cast. since we are slower than molasses in in january and all.

Axe 3 needs blast finisher , a lower cd , and a trait to increase # boons removed. Master spite Line would be the place for it.

Rangerdeity.5847:

spoj.9672:

striker.3704:

The only real problem with the axe is that the auto attack doesn’t do “enough”. If they extended the duration of the vulnerability the axe applied, it would make it more of a “attrition weapon” in that taking too much vulnerability leaves you open to be killed. They could also increase the damage a tad on the auto attack.

Axe 2 is good damage and the life force generation is solid. No real problems there.

Axe 3 is good in about any and all situation. Be it chasing, fleeing, group fights, or just trading blows.

They already buffed the vuln duration and the dmg slightly several months ago. It wasnt nearly enough.

Axe 2 isnt good damage. Its only good for lifeforce generation and it provides better damage than the auto. But its not good damage.

Axe 3 is fine but it should be a blast finisher.

are you kittenting me axe 2 is a total killshot i can rip half a players health away with it in a single shot tho blast finisher on axe 3 would be nice if not overkill since a necro can lay a darkness to apply aoe blind without any teamwork needed

Its not how high it hits. Its how long it takes to hit that high. 15k over 3 seconds is bad. Especially when warrior can hit 50k with a 3 second channel that cleaves. Other classes have similar skills aswell.

spoj.9672:

Its not how high it hits. Its how long it takes to hit that high. 15k over 3 seconds is bad. Especially when warrior can hit 50k with a 3 second channel that cleaves. Other classes have similar skills aswell.

50k is twice that of a HIGH hp player and i dont believe i have EVER been one shotted in pvp so lets think of things in real apples to apples terms and stop Q_Qing about things warriors can/cannot do axe 2 deals 12k pvp damage unbuffed easy that is huge spike damage even tho it takes almost 3 seconds to finish very few classes other than thief can boast that kind of single target single skill damage.

Axe 2 in sPvP will hit 6k in a really good situation, GS 2 can easily hit 10k+, and BOTH are awful PvP skills.

Axe 2 does in 3 seconds what a real burst skill will do in 1 or less.

Basically what Bhawb said. You do more damage by auto attacking with dagger (and its often more reliable in pvp). The channel time is too big compared to the damage.

Theres loads of really strong to semi strong burst skills in the game. Axe 2 isnt one of them. And 100b is only good burst in pve.

Necro axe is god at blossom clearing in TA but apart form that, meh. When I run my necro as a zerker with my axe and admit I sometimes just swapped it out for my sceptre ._.

Needs autoattack upgrade + cleave.

Sarrs.4831:

Bhawb.7408:

I think they should take the #2 skill, and add it as a chain to the auto attack, but with only 2-3 hits, make it cleave, and then re-balance it with that in mind. Then make the #2 skill a frontal cone burst skill.

Personally I really like having the channel as it is. It feels visceral and rewarding to press, imo.

What if the frontal cone was 1’s chain skill? So it’s more like slash-slash-boom, a bit like how Warrior Axe 1 is backloaded.

I actually did a bit of research on this topic, because I had the same realization. The axe 2 skill -felt- really powerful, but I knew from my PvP-ing that it really wasn’t. It actually does similar damage to the dagger’s life-syphoning channel, only it lacks the life syphon.

It -feels- powerful because the 1 skill is, for lack of a polite way of wording it, complete trash. It doesn’t stack enough vulnerability, it doesn’t do enough damage, it doesn’t cleave, I would actually argue it to be the worst auto-attack skill in the entire game, with the (possible) exception of some of the underwater weapons that I’ve not done experimentation with.

Necro axe needs work, simply put. I really wanted to like it too, since the skills for it actually do -look- pretty awesome and flavorful, there’s just no situation I can imagine preferring it over other weapons. Even MM Necro is generally better using a staff to spam regen on the minions against most foes in my experience.

MM Necros have the ability to use Axe/Focus because you don’t need it to deal damage, but the utility it brings is very helpful for an MM because everything synergizes decently with minions, whereas most other builds would not have that synergy as YOU are needing to deal your damage; an MM build has the luxury of having about half their damage done by their utility skills.

However, if a strong support/tank main-hand or 2h weapon was introduced I’d probably drop axe in a heartbeat.

Bhawb.7408:

MM Necros have the ability to use Axe/Focus because you don’t need it to deal damage, but the utility it brings is very helpful for an MM because everything synergizes decently with minions, whereas most other builds would not have that synergy as YOU are needing to deal your damage; an MM build has the luxury of having about half their damage done by their utility skills.

However, if a strong support/tank main-hand or 2h weapon was introduced I’d probably drop axe in a heartbeat.

Okay, I can appreciate the value of the AoE cripple for a MM build. Goodness knows the class has few enough tools to deal with kiting, but a Scepter or Staff is still arguably better. Scepter can pair with the focus with an aimed cripple on the 2 while staff has its poison/chill and fear.

Excellent point, though.

For an MM scepter is only better when considering just sitting around auto attacking with no sources of poison and no cleanses, basically it just kills an unmoving golem slightly faster. The poison is useless, the bleeds don’t do a lot for you, less LF generation, the cripple is harder to land, no retal, less vampiric procs, and in a real fight less damage overall. There is no reason to use scepter unless you’re playing a condi MM.

Staff has a valid use and can be argued to be just as good as axe.

My thoughts on Scepter probably are a bit biased. I’ve spent so much more time, comparatively, sitting way back from the fight that the increased range also likely has an inordinate amount of appeal for me.

My main problem with MM comes from my other PvP main, mesmer. One moa and all the minions are dead. It really neuters the entire build so hard it hurts, and the other mesmer elites aren’t really good enough to hope the bird won’t be there anytime a mesmer is.

Well, that and bunker warriors. A good bunker warrior can ignore most MM builds without being in too much danger, due to the lack of hard spike damage.

I switched from Staff to Axe+Dagger while having Dagger+Focus as my other weapon set, and I haven’t looked back. I understand everyone’s reasoning as to why it isn’t a very good weapon, but I actually really like it in my build.

Axe #2 is just another source of damage in my kitten nal, so if they choose to dodge it, I miss the LF more than the damage. But it’s fine, because they have about 5 other things the need to be dodging/keeping me from doing to avoid high pressure, so I just roll to the next option.

Axe #1 is terrible beyond the point of hilarity and into the realm of crippling despair, but I don’t find myself ever running out of options and needing to use it at any point anyway at the moment.

I’d be fine with them revamping it to generally make it better, but I don’t necessarily understand all of the hate, unless people just want the aesthetic so they want the weapon to be better so they can justify it.

Axe is extremely useful for me in gvgs. Best single target burst we have outside of lifeblast. Get a good build, you’ll love your axe.

Axe is fine, would be great with cleave. I would love to see scepter bleeds changed to torment, seems more inkeeping with profession.

Visirale.6097:

Axe is extremely useful for me in gvgs. Best single target burst we have outside of lifeblast. Get a good build, you’ll love your axe.

LoL, the only reason why axe is used in gvg is. Skill 3, AoE and retalation, because the necromancer has nothing else beside this. (Cause melee is to risky)

Singeltarget burst in focus 4/dagger 1. Axe 2 is NOT a “burstskill”, it´s a channeld medium/low dps skill.

Visirale.6097:

Axe is extremely useful for me in gvgs. Best single target burst we have outside of lifeblast. Get a good build, you’ll love your axe.

No need to assume people have just not found “good” builds for axe. Doing something like 6/2/0/0/6 or 6/0/2/0/6 or 6/4/0/0/4 isn’t rocket surgery, and if you DO build around axe, you become a one-pump chump where your pump is a channeled ability that forgives late dodging because it’s channeled.

If anything, Axe #2’s ability to do pretty solid damage is a red herring, or at the very least a spike that requires a set to max its potential. I prefer to get some LF ticks, apply some pressure, and force a dodge. If I can force a dodge, it means they have less tools to avoid other real burst, like a Dagger #3 into Focus #4/Dagger #1/DS #1 with a fear just before the immob ends. Or, if you want the Focus #4 to benefit from 50% crit, you throw it then immediately go into DS for LBs instead of doing any Dagger #1s.

Even then, when the Focus #4 crits 3 times, LB crits, and if your target is under 50%, Chill of Death crits, that damage (which can go upwards of 11k fairly easily with only 1 LB) is gated by Necro’s cast times. It isn’t like being caught by a shatter burst and watching your health disappear, or getting backstabbed, or feeling the ele air pain out of nowhere. All of it screams “YOU’RE ABOUT TO TAKE DAMAGE”.

If they turned Axe into something that didn’t broadcast so heavily, I’d be down with that. The problem is, how do you put a real burst skill like that on a weapon’s #2? I don’t think there’s really a precedent for that in the game, but I could be mistaken. If Axe doesn’t change, I’ll still use it, but I don’t think it balls as outrageous as is sometimes claimed.