Guild Wars 2

Hi all,

I am brand new to both the game, and to the Necromancer class. Despite having done some research and realized that the class has issues (then again, it seems that most classes do) I still really found myself drawn to it.

Now, I am still low level and learning the game, but I have an odd question: How does the axe fit in to the arsenal of the Necromancer?

The other weapons each seem to have a valid use in terms of leveling (not that they don’t each have issues, but I digress), but for the life of me I can’t see how the axe fits in. Is it something that gets better or at least becomes more viable later in the game? I like the weapon thematically and think that the animations are nice and fun, but I can’t figure out why I would use it over the other options.

Am I missing something here?

Thanks!

Well, IMO, its a bit of a support weapon, though it doesn’t excel at it either. Necromancers generally find it annoying that the Axe is not the best for DPS (dagger is better), support (vulnerability is nice, but it doesn’t do this very well either) or life force (Both dagger and staff does it better).

You could check Nemesis’s Thread for the proper use of Axe, he is doing 5k-6k damage with it, which is awesome for a Necromancer plus condition damage.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/The-ultimate-necromancer-dmg-hybrid-tutorial

Derk is correct, it’s mostly for support, though it’s number two deals decent damage.
I run it when I run minions, because the vulnerability will increase the damage from them.

It’s also worth noting that necromancer power damage seems to be based around the idea of stacking up massive vulnerability.

Hi all, thanks for the responses!

My question then is: Does that make the axe more of an end game tool with a somewhat niche use? For lower level play, it doesn’t seem to offer the benefit that other weapon choices do.

Axe on Necromancer tends to deal more damage the longer you have #1 casted on the same target repeatedly. It has moderate range, a low-cooldown #2, and a chaser-bunker component on #3 (being Retaliation to you and Cripple on enemies [max. 5]).

Since Retaliation’s damage numbers increases in conjunction with Power, and Power is.. well, Damage. Yeah, Axe’s Damage increases with level. (But so does everything else in the game, really.)

Preference! Preference.

I mostly use for fun (I mostly play as a power necromancer) when playing as a condition necro. My main weapon set is Scepter/Dagger and 2nd weapon set is Axe/Focus. While dishing out the bleed condition with scepter, i just switch to axe/focus to apply a kitten ton of vulnerability with Focus4 and Axe1 then deal about 4500-5500 worth of damage overall and once the weapon switch is ready, switch back to Scepter/Dagger.

Like said above, Nemesis has a good build for it. If you seriously want to use axe, check out his thread.

Unfortunately the only practical use of axe is swapping into it for the #2 skill and occasionally the #3 skill, switch to DS for DPS while you wait for the swap, or #2 skill to cooldown. I agree that Nemesis proved it could be viable, and in a specific condition zerker style build has more value than staff in PVE.

The problem is that if you find yourself stuck in axe swap, with everything else on cooldown, or without life force, the axe #1 skill so so bad it makes you want to cut yourself. Part of the reason sceptor is so great, is because the #1 chain is okay for dealing conditions, and is a great gap filler for when your other skills are on CD. You don’t have to time your DS and swaps to AVOID sceptor #1. With axe #1 you do.

That being said, I have been using it some in PVE and I enjoy the huge bump to life force. Running a standard scept/dagger : Staff build, life force is hard to come by. Changing out staff for axe/focus gives tons of it.

Stacking vulnerability in PvP is just not effective with the Axe #1 skill. Axe is mainly used by direct damage builds for the high burst damage #2 skill, control from #3 and 600 range for a moderate safety distance.

Ascii.9726:

Stacking vulnerability in PvP is just not effective with the Axe #1 skill. Axe is mainly used by direct damage builds for the high burst damage #2 skill, control from #3 and 600 range for a moderate safety distance.

Agreed. Look at Illusion of Vulnerability from the mesmer (5 points into the spite tree as a minor trait). That makes their shatter #3 deal 5 stacks of vuln per clone. With Illusionary persona, that is 20 stacks of vulnerability for 10 seconds…. with one skill instantly with no cast time. Never mind that the skill is only suppose to cause 3 stacks of vuln per clone.

It would take you 10 seconds with axe #1, and you would need increased condition duration to even pull it off.

Ascii.9726:

Stacking vulnerability in PvP is just not effective with the Axe #1 skill. Axe is mainly used by direct damage builds for the high burst damage #2 skill, control from #3 and 600 range for a moderate safety distance.

Yeah, but 2 has a long animation and is easily dodged to mitigate most of the damage. I’d say 3 is the best part about the axe in PvP (fix’d! thanks rennoko!).

Derk.3189:

Ascii.9726:

Stacking vulnerability in PvP is just not effective with the Axe #1 skill. Axe is mainly used by direct damage builds for the high burst damage #2 skill, control from #3 and 600 range for a moderate safety distance.

Yeah, but 2 has a long animation and is easily dodged to mitigate most of the damage. I’d say 3 is the best part about the axe in pve.

PVP maybe is what you meant to say? PVE mobs don’t dodge.

Personally if I had 100-200 more range on axe I would like it a lot more. That 600 is right in the danger zone for pretty much everything and without the damage that dagger brings.

I find myself ignoring Axe because I can get better Vulnerability stacking elsewhere with better damage. Running Dagger/Focus gives me 12 stacks of Vuln and when I throw Blood is Power into the mix just maximizes damage for minimal effort required. The time spamming Axe #1 for Vuln can just be done better that I just forgo the axe entirely. Though I haven’t looked into Nemesis’s build, though perhaps I will.

It fits into the recycling bin quite well…

…as do any bookmarks to axe based builds you may have.

well with 30 points in spite and Axe mastery skill the damage is okay but i have really good survivability. signet of locust gives me speed so i can use offhand dagger to weaken and transfer conditions. Dagger is fun too but axe lets me always land my attacks 600 range vs 130. and its all about the (2) dagger channel.

I think axe is a great weapon as secondary weapon set for leveling. I used wells to level so I focused on power mainly and used staff as main weapon. with the axe you got the 3 for finishing aoe and the 2 to finish single targets. I disliked the daggers range.

Prins.1586:

I think axe is a great weapon as secondary weapon set for leveling. I used wells to level so I focused on power mainly and used staff as main weapon. with the axe you got the 3 for finishing aoe and the 2 to finish single targets. I disliked the daggers range.

How does it fit in for you? I really would like to make the axe work, but I just can’t figure out how. The vulnerability from 1 just doesn’t seem to really do anything of value. My ultimate problem is that I spend more time per single mob than I do when using a dagger or scepter, and I can’t gather multiple mobs as with the staff.

Even swapping into it just to use 2 or 3 doesn’t seem to actually increase my kill speed.

I was hoping that if I leveled more and traited up to make axe viable it would work better, but I feel like I’m gimping myself a bit in the meanwhile. I running with a staff and scepter for now, and the results are decent, but everytime I get the itch to try that axe again, I find myself slowing down.

Axe auto-attack should only be used while everything else is on cooldown. It’s not much, but it does amplify all of your damage+ your allies.

You should still be using it, but that’s because its low damage and vulnerability is a heck of a lot better than nothing at all, not because the skill itself is any good.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Axe auto-attack should only be used while everything else is on cooldown. It’s not much, but it does amplify all of your damage+ your allies.

You should still be using it, but that’s because its low damage and vulnerability is a heck of a lot better than nothing at all, not because the skill itself is any good.

Couldn’t disagree more. There are plenty of other classes and skills to apply vulnerability without having someone dealing horrible damage. Take just the normal GS and sword attacks for warror and mesmer respectively. If you really need the vuln in a team, use offhand focus.

Bottom line; if you speced for axe training/hybrid power and have only a single target to attack, you should only have the axe up long enough to cast 2, switch to DS for a few life blasts or possibly use the 4 and/or 5 skills on a focous offhand. If you are on axe and 2 is on cooldown, and DS is on cooldown, you need to swap to your other set, not use the #1 skill.

Rennoko.5731:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Axe auto-attack should only be used while everything else is on cooldown. It’s not much, but it does amplify all of your damage+ your allies.

You should still be using it, but that’s because its low damage and vulnerability is a heck of a lot better than nothing at all, not because the skill itself is any good.

Couldn’t disagree more. There are plenty of other classes and skills to apply vulnerability without having someone dealing horrible damage. Take just the normal GS and sword attacks for warror and mesmer respectively. If you really need the vuln in a team, use offhand focus.

Bottom line; if you speced for axe training/hybrid power and have only a single target to attack, you should only have the axe up long enough to cast 2, switch to DS for a few life blasts or possibly use the 4 and/or 5 skills on a focous offhand. If you are on axe and 2 is on cooldown, and DS is on cooldown, you need to swap to your other set, not use the #1 skill.

Bolded the key part of my post. You typically only get one auto-attack in there before something is off cooldown.

It’s also okay for stripping Aegis and Blinds that would stop your other attacks, since you’re losing pretty much nothing.

I think the #2 (?) ability, the claws one, is really good at stacking LF so in a LF build I suppose it could do ok, but then the staff’s auto attack is probably better at it still.

jellmoo.7801:

Hi all, thanks for the responses!

My question then is: Does that make the axe more of an end game tool with a somewhat niche use? For lower level play, it doesn’t seem to offer the benefit that other weapon choices do.

I use it endgame all the time to much success, one thing to realize though, it was never meant to be your primary attack weapon (except as some mentioned for a minion team), it’s overall success depends largely on your offhand too and how well both synergize with your build. you can take a look at some of these other builds out here and see if it tickles your fancy, but it’s really going to boil down to what feels most comfortable to you. Someone with confidence in their build and who is proficient with it will usually outperform someone running a build because someone told them to because it’s the best.

Combined with glass gear, a focus, d/w and wells this was the power build i used for roaming and dueling on my necro. Excellent choice for 1 on 1. But shhhh dont tell. People might realise axe is a good weapon. :-)

The animation on skill #3.

Need I say more as to why you wanna equip an axe?

Axe/Warhorn is wonderful for disengage. The 3 skill on Axe is a AoE cripple that gives you retaliation for every enemy hit. It also has longer range than the dagger and does not require getting into melee range to proc anything,rand you won’t have to aim your cripple like you would with the scepter.

It is the most amazing weapon combo for escaping and just all around not getting caught period.

I use staff + Axe/warhorn. I mostly use my staff, but when I am on the move I switch to Axe/Warhorn for swiftness on 5. During a team fight I mostly use staff because it deals more damage for my build on multiple targets. When chasing down retreating enemy, I often switch to Axe Warhorn for swiftness and cripple as well as more single target damage. When retreating myself I switch to it for 2 cripples and swiftness.

I think I should point out I play “tankromancer” in WvW and when zerg meets zerg, my objective is to get into the middle of that zerg and cripple them all. I have over 34k health without buffs and that goes up to 46k while is LF, which also has a massive AoE cripple and for some reason people have difficulty targetting me whilst in this form. Once thats finished I still have DS for my get out of jail free card.

Im still working on the build, but I dont have the highest stat gear yet either and Im working/experimenting on it still. But with the way I play and build my Necro, Axe/Warhorn is my best secondary setup.

It has synergy with any build that focuses on direct damage, but it’s hard to justify using it over the staff.

If the auto attack was better it would be an axecellent weapon.

axe has always been pretty bad. the 2 get often dodged out of the 1 is weak and the 3 got its uses but doesnt warrent going for axe.. this is mainly from ap ure pvp focus tho not www and inflated numbers vs undergeared oponents.

in real pvp you should be happy to see 5k numbers and you probably only see those in fury stance dancing low armor oponents heavy stacked vuln on them or people on frenzy..

its the whole 600 range thing too wich might as well be 100 range for that matter its almost impossible to kite a half decent player in the 600 range there so many gapclosers and insane damage burst in the 600 range in this game that 600 range might as well be 0 range. 900 and 1200 maybe 600.. no way not against half decent players anyways.

show me a half decent pvp movie with axe as main not www or www duels and i will retract my statement untill then.. yea.. axe = trashheap.

barti.7685:

axe has always been pretty bad. the 2 get often dodged out of the 1 is weak and the 3 got its uses but doesnt warrent going for axe.. this is mainly from ap ure pvp focus tho not www and inflated numbers vs undergeared oponents.

in real pvp you should be happy to see 5k numbers and you probably only see those in fury stance dancing low armor oponents heavy stacked vuln on them or people on frenzy..

its the whole 600 range thing too wich might as well be 100 range for that matter its almost impossible to kite a half decent player in the 600 range there so many gapclosers and insane damage burst in the 600 range in this game that 600 range might as well be 0 range. 900 and 1200 maybe 600.. no way not against half decent players anyways.

show me a half decent pvp movie with axe as main not www or www duels and i will retract my statement untill then.. yea.. axe = trashheap.

I seriously doubt anyone has ever admitted axe as being a viable main weapon, because it’s not. If you think axe is trash you need to learn to use it properly.

Nay of the Ether.8913:

I seriously doubt anyone has ever admitted axe as being a viable main weapon, because it’s not. If you think axe is trash you need to learn to use it properly.

as secondary it competes with the staf wich is a much better alternative even for power buiilds..

use properly ?

its like giving someone a wooden stick in a sword fight and say hey you just have to use the wooden stick properly then you can win.

imo the axe is a piece of trash.. and i never saw anyone utilizing the axe in a way where i thought wow thats amazing.. because its mostly impossible because of the lack of dps and real kiting ability because of the crappy range. like i said before 600 range to kite is nothing and the dps pales in comparion to dagger auto atk.. so whats left then ? its just a weak weapon in pvp .

I’ve actually killed more thieves in pvp with my axe than I did with daggers, and I wasn’t intending to, but when they wanted to just do 1-2 hits on me then stealth or jump around like wet ferrets rather than actually do any fighting, the movement controls on the axe turned the tide and once they were forced to fight it was over quickly. And yes, learning to use the axe properly means knowing you don’t use it as a primary weapon, but rather when to use it and when not to. Just because it doesn’t have omgroflstomp dps doesn’t mean it’s a trash weapon.

Dagger/horn main with axe/focus secondary. Power build

I think we can all agree that axe #1 is bad, whether it be boost range a bit, or speed up attack it needs some love.

That said it does have its uses

The axe is a niche weapon. I personally use it for wvw events as a secondary weapon for pushing. Mainly for the 3 ability. It does moderate damage, but is an aoe cripple, that gives (if you hit 4 players) permanent retaliation. And you don’t have to aim it.

It can also work for dungeons if you don’t want to melee in a situation and/or stack vulnerability with focus offhand.

Other than that i always prefer dagger or scepter.

I’ve found Axe damage is more dependent on using the vulnerability infliction to its fullest potential, allowing for stronger damage output. For this reason, it pairs well with focus in offhand, since Reaper’s Touch can help you build extra vulnerability, as well as extra life force at the same time. I use that setup in my power builds, along with Well of Suffering for additional vulnerability stacking, and because it does a crapton of damage. Unholy Feast is also a fairly decent AoE damage/self buff skill with a very wide radius.

In WvW, you can also use Spectral Grasp to pull targets into your well radius and chill them at the same time (provided it connects, though since they buffed it it’s become more useful). Blood is Power is also handy for the extra damage boost. The trick is to boost your own power stat as much as possible, while lowering your opponent’s defenses as much as possible. It’s not really as facerollish as Conditionmancer, but it can be used effectively provided you have the gear for it.