Guild Wars 2

I’ve started playing around with main hand axe on my mid-50’s ranger lately, and I have to admit I’m really digging it. I pretty much see 99% of rangers using LB, but I almost sort of feel like it’s way too boring and one-note. I particularly like the amount of might that I can stack up. I know the meta tends towards zerker/power build for PvE, but is axe something that’s viable for end-game PvE content, or am I forced into/stuck in LB meta?

Also would I trait/stat for condi or zerker?

Thanks!

Axe main hand is a very good tag machine, add a sigil of fire and you’ll be hitting everything.

I played with axe mh for most of my ranger life and I really like it, but after the LB update and after I finally starting to get the feel of the sword I dropped my axe mh and I only use it as off hand.

I’ve played around with sword/axe as well, but with the animation that locks you in with sword 1, I’ve found myself leaning more towards mh axe (especially with the might stacking). I still feel a little lost how I should be statting weapons/armor though.

For pve? Go full zerker.

Since you clarified end-game PvE content*, mainhand axe is literally the worst possible weapon we have. You can however use it to solo dungeons on a condi build. I don’t think even that’s optimal over SB, but I’m not a dungeon solo expert.

*Edit: I guess end-game could involve zerging in the living story, where axe could be ok. Crap damage though, and literally anything will work in a zerg.

If by end game PvE you mean dungeons then no, but open world PvE throw a sigil of fire on your MH axe and go nuts.

I generally tend towards Teq/Silverwastes, since I’ve had some pretty negative experience in dungeons, I just don’t enjoy them. I’ve got a level 80 ele I’ve tried everything on, but I really do love my ranger as well. Sounds like maybe I should just count on the ele for all of that, since I’ve read people say that ranger/LB is crap for Silverwastes.

I have used axe extensively in the Silverwastes to greater effect than my current quasi-zerker build by making use of sharpened edges and torch. It becomes very easy to stack 10+ bleeds in a single splitblade on multiple enemies. In terms of other things axe is very frustrating because although your auto stacks might, #2 and #3 on your bar do not help much so you have to rely on your OH, by extension either WH (which has weak offense) and OH Axe (#4 is a dps increase for direct ranged damage), meaning you will struggle to compete with other weapon sets.

If you want to play pure condi, then go axe. I’m sure if you are creative you can get ‘zerker’ levels of DPS with sinister/rabid armours. I don’t agree that SB is a better option in terms of condi ‘cleave’, as a trapper build with axe from my experience can generate a much greater total number of bleeding stacks across multiple nearby foes. For direct damage you are limited by the base damage of all of your MH skills, so I would use something else entirely.

One thing I would mention, which lead to my newest ranger build, is that it gets hard to create a condi ‘nuker’ build without sacrificing other things. Axe/Torch has no mobility and taking traps limits this even further. Taking OH dagger gives you a maximum of 50% burn uptime (Fire Trap). Sword/WH as your second weapon set gives you swiftness, a blast for your fire field and some mobility, but losing splitblade for 10s causes your AoE DPS to drop massively. SB is the best option here but it sucks for moving around in PvE. Compounded with this, any sort of significant party support goes out of the window because you have to focus on using specific condi-inducing traits e.g. taking Spotter AND Frost spirit becomes a challenge because of heavy investment in Skirmishing and Wilderness survival. A 4/3/4/3/0 split is a problem because multi-ticking traps can really help with stacking those all important bleeds, and 3 in Skirmishing misses out on both Trap traits. If you don’t want to use traps then fair enough, but maintaining burning on multiple foes becomes a problem. Taking even one of the above + support/control of any kind becomes a drain on condi-DPS.

My old build was 0/6/4/0/4 with krait runes using rending attacks + birds/devourers (profession mechanic ftw >.>). Yes this build was deeply flawed, but this build was made with highest total bleed stacks in mind. I quite liked Nike’s point on builds having some measure of damage/control/support and my old axe build had to work too hard to give these three characteristics in any sort of regard, whilst also having ‘aim splitblade so all axes hit’ as the only skillful play.

TL;DR Traiting an axe/condi build on ranger becomes a very selfish activity despite its relatively effective condi stacking ability. It swiftly becomes a very lonely experience. In dungeons you are not helpful, and in PvE zergs (excluding SW) there are only so many times splitblade —> 10 bleeds is fun to look at. For Silverwastes, the sheer level of destruction of mordrem husks makes condi axe more than worth your while, however, if you are willing to sacrifice other, less relevant things.

I think of axe as a 900 range AoE weapon. I run axe/dagger and sword/ warhorn and if you trait right the damage can be very impressive. Boss fights in dungeons not so much but anything trash or lots of mobs it is really good. Honestly to play end game ranger you should have all the weapons and swap them out based on the situation. Is Longbow better damage? yes is Barrage a good AoE? yes. but barrage has a long CD and if they move then it is wasted. and Axe is far better then Shortbow no matter what for a 900 range weapon

Axe main works well with both full Zerker and just about any condi build. If you need more aoe then go axe main hand. In full zerker you can crit for around 2k per hit.

So it comes down to more whether you are fighting a single target or multiple targets (including single targets with more than one hit box ).

Belarorn.9062:

Axe is far better then Shortbow no matter what for a 900 range weapon

SB is usually pretty crappy, but if you’re soloing dungeons or open world bosses I think it comes out ahead because your pet/entangle allows you to take the back and get high or max bleeds. If I remember right, Brazil has a video of soloing P2 Arah with a SB condi build. SB does more direct damage as well, and I think it was a sinister build.

I’m not really in to the PvE scene at all anymore, so don’t take any of this as fact.