Will axe ever be viable?
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Well I would say that axe is (again) a result of the necromancer’s_Hidden_overpowered_potential (the NHOP). If you have the perfect condition at hand I think with the same stuff accross all classes, the axe with the help of vampiric trait is vastly superior to all these other weapon. What need to be done to achieve this result:
- All classes in cleric or maybe Magi
- Necromancer trait in blood magic
- 5 foes around the necromancer (in Magi or *cleric stuff of course)
This done you got :
- Rending claw : hit 2 every second which mean a you double your siphon efficacity giving you huge boost in damage and sustain not to mention the free vuln
- Gastly claw : sustain yourself a lot both in health and LF
- Unholy feast : This is exactly the skill that should support every Necromancer because don’t forget that “the necromancer want to be hit” and this skill as long as you have 5 foes around you grant you a permanent retaliation. You should look at this retaliation as if it was a permanent hundred blade that can hit an unlimited number of foes.
Well, even if it’s right (and I sadly think I’m not far from the truth here) I really should stop writing this kind of nonsense (and Anet really should stop balancing for optimal situation that happen once every 39th of the 15th month)
No core profession should be balanced around an optional elite specialization.
Axe does not maintain 25 vuln so no it would not improve things in the slightest.
Vulnerability cap stays at 25.
Therefore, axe still sux and is in need of rework.Vuln stacking with axe would suck even if there was no limit.
True, but it would suck less in group PvE than it does now. >25 per cent damage increase would be useful. Knocking someone’s vulnerability off the 25 stack for your own latest one is absolutely useless right now.
Doesn’t matter, you’d still not use the axe to stack vuln, Bitter Chill will be far superior.
Chillblains + Epidemic will do 5 stacks aoe at first, then Epi will double that and stack another 5 vuln for the reapplication of chill. So that’s 15 stacks vuln aoe with just 2 skills. Now add Dark Path, Chill of Death, Death’s Embrace, maybe Chilling Darkness + Well of Darkness or blasting darkfields, or just whirl through your ice field as Reaper with Chilling Nova.
The point is, with Bitter Chill you’ll easiliy be able to maintain 25 stacks of aoe vuln on your own. Do you really think anyone would still bother applying 2 stacks per second on a single target with the weakest auto attack ever?
If Necromancer can stack 25 vulnerability on a single target and maintain even half of that as Reaper, then the whole profession will be more unwanted than it is, now.
The vulnerability cap is staying at 25 per cent damage bonus and every profession will benefit on condition damage so every profession will be encouraged to use vulnerability more often. If Necro-Reap applies 25 vulnerability by itself, then it is already broken.
viable in what aspect of the game? a/d has always been the most powerful combo for valk/zerker necros in wvw, small scale and gvg’s. axe is very very good and generates LF like crazy. not the best for 1v1’s though.
Axe has a few problems.
1. It stacks vuln too slowly compared to other professions
2. Vulnerability is easily capped in group PvE so axe is often a waste of time
3. Scepter has bleed, poison, easier postioning, and longer range making it way better in 1v1, dagger has much higher dps because it does not mess around with conditions MH, and staff has AoE and more range.
There are a lot of situations where axe just does not fit and those situations where it does fit, it performs poorly compared to what other professions get.
It does have excellent LF generation, though.
Scepter also has a much better cripple than axe. The only thing axe has going for it is the boon rip on #3. That’s not enough.
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