Guild Wars 2

It seems compared to other weapons axes are getting “shafted”. It is now grand master trait compared to greatsword, also there is nothing for axe offhand. While axe offhand before could at least have CD reduction now there is nothing for axes offhand. There was lot of giggling and banter during pod cast, but little focus was given to fact that rangers are being pushed into using bows. Personally I think this is too stereotypical approach to class. Other classes seems at least invite using various weapons use.

Maybe instead of trying to sound like you are cleaver, real balance of weapons should be thought on and worked out instead of just moving stuff around and patting each other on the backs.

PS besides seeing very few axe using rangers longsword rangers are also rare. Maybe if you made those weapons more interesting people would use them more. Hearing about machine gun rangers sounds like you love “Lord of the Rings” elves too much instead of focusing on making rangers better overall on different choice of play.

I also forgot to add What does any weapon have to do with beast mastery. Not sure but seems beasts have nothing to do with weapons use.

Already posts on the 1st page of the RForum about this.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Already posts on the 1st page of the RForum about this.

Please post the link – then ask for a merge.

We need to know what is happening before we can ask that they don’t kill our present builds that are working.

Axe/Dagger or Axe/Torch has been decent in condition builds for a long time, but the Axe/Axe set unfortunately doesn’t have much synergy.

Personally I’d prefer to see the Axe auto turned into a hard hitting melee chain with a unique 3rd attack effect (maybe a Slow when the new condition system launches), but I understand that lots of people wouldn’t like that. The entire Axe/Axe set seems focused on getting in close to your enemy with Winter’s Bite, Axe 4, Spliteblade, and Axe 5 as a defense from projectile nukes.

Offhand axe suffers from an extremely weak 5th skill comparatively and although Axe 4 hits hard, it isn’t good enough to justify bringing the weapon.

Ranger does need a weapon capable of Ranged AoE/multi-target pressure, but Axe mainhand isn’t cutting it right now imo, and Axe offhand is still in the dumps because Whirling Defense is so outdated.

atheria.2837:

We need to know what is happening before we can ask that they don’t kill our present builds that are working.

Well, not a lot of present builds use Honed Axes. So how is this new trait breaking them?

infantrydiv.1620:

Offhand axe suffers from an extremely weak 5th skill comparatively and although Axe 4 hits hard, it isn’t good enough to justify bringing the weapon….
…and Axe offhand is still in the dumps because Whirling Defense is so outdated.

Whirling Defense is exactly that, a defense. Not only does it reflect projectiles so you do not get hit by them, it also does damage while doing it and gives retaliation. Reflect is as powerful as the thing it is reflecting. Take a look at Lupi, Ranger can kill him in phase two in seconds because of the reflect.

Axe MH is fine.

Axe OH needs a complete overhaul. Path of scars is far too slow to actually hit twice, and whirling defense is a joke if you have to stay stationary with it. There are literally zero reasons to take OH Axe over torch or dagger. This is a problem.

Gotejjeken.1267:

Axe MH is fine.

Axe OH needs a complete overhaul. Path of scars is far too slow to actually hit twice, and whirling defense is a joke if you have to stay stationary with it. There are literally zero reasons to take OH Axe over torch or dagger. This is a problem.

I use OH axe all the time and quite often connect with even 3 hits in WvW. With an intelligence sigil, it downs a lot of people right away. They just have to be on the right, err, path.

I can’t see them making vanilla WD usable while moving, but maybe with a trait?

No one uses the honed axes trait in its current form, so axe will only be made worse by the fact that other weapons will gain the opportunity to be better than they are now.

Looking at the proposed version, the cooldown reduction is not that important as axe cooldowns are already pretty low. This is also the perfect chance to remove the ill-fitting ferocity bonus and replace it with something better, but it looks like anet is opting for a lazier approach. Depending on what AOE winter’s bite means, I could end up being wrong about this trait. Idk, AOE winter’s bite better be really frickin good, or this trait won’t be worth taking.

That brings me to my next point. Honed axes’ placement in beastmastery is NOT an issue. Honed axes’ placement as a grandmaster trait is. I think this fits better as a master tier trait. Axe (huehuehue) the ferocity bonus if need be. Then also get rid of instinctual bond and move natural healing to that minor slot. Remove the periodic player heal, since it’s not in the tooltip anyway.

OP does have a point about the whole offhand training bit, though the wording of honed axes suggests ALL axe skills will receive 20% shorter cooldowns.