Guild Wars 2

Is there anybod who uses a build focused around axe offhand ? I’d like to know lol

mamourrir.9641:

Is there anybod who uses a build focused around axe offhand ? I’d like to know lol

I don’t theres an exact build focused on axe offhand, the only thing I can really think of is getting the 10% damage for having axe mainhand trait and maybe think of using the potential of the whirl finisher combo.

NaturalPortman.9562:

mamourrir.9641:

Is there anybod who uses a build focused around axe offhand ? I’d like to know lol

I don’t theres an exact build focused on axe offhand, the only thing I can really think of is getting the 10% damage for having axe mainhand trait and maybe think of using the potential of the whirl finisher combo.

Theres a few things I want to test with it but yeah other than Off hand CD reduction and axe MH there isn’t anything obvious to it.

Might be a decent bleed or might on pet stacker on crit But I havent tested those specific combos in a crit build with proper rune choices under large scale enemy fire. Who knows maybe another way to stack might quickly on our pet. Might have to test that.

It works well with combo fields and rangers have acess to a good number of those.

Arrys.7145:

NaturalPortman.9562:

mamourrir.9641:

Is there anybod who uses a build focused around axe offhand ? I’d like to know lol

I don’t theres an exact build focused on axe offhand, the only thing I can really think of is getting the 10% damage for having axe mainhand trait and maybe think of using the potential of the whirl finisher combo.

Theres a few things I want to test with it but yeah other than Off hand CD reduction and axe MH there isn’t anything obvious to it.

Might be a decent bleed or might on pet stacker on crit But I havent tested those specific combos in a crit build with proper rune choices under large scale enemy fire. Who knows maybe another way to stack might quickly on our pet. Might have to test that.

It works well with combo fields and rangers have acess to a good number of those.

Just kinda building on this the axe off hand is lack luster on its own, however pair it with some combo fields and/or a strong pet and it almost immediately becomes one of our strongest options.

We have access to 5 different types of fields, Etheral, Poison, Ice, Fire, Water. Etheral and water are THE STRONGEST we have when paired with the axe, why you might be asking?

Well for water if you use path of scars through it you will apply regen to every ally that it passes through on both the way there and back (as well as yourself) and also applies a splash of regen to everyone near each enemy hit, you boomerang that in a melee range brawl in pvp or pve and you can stack SIGNIFICANT amounts of aoe regen. then there is the whirl, if you have an enemy targeted you’ll hurl healing bolts at their direction and in another random direction, healing everyone it passes through and where it splashes for ~400-800 health per bolt, seeing as how you throw ~15 bolts that can be a TON of health you just gave to your allies.

For etheral, this isn’t just strong, but it throws EVERYONE i’ve played against off guard. The reason why is it’s essentially a chaos storm field that you’re standing in, so if melee come it to fight you…. lets just say if you’re a condi build it’ll be the last thing they do… not only that, but if you boomerang your axe through it it’ll apply confusion to everyone on both the way there and back for i think 5 seconds or so, maybe more, so that’s 2 stacks right there, then if you whirl you once again, hurl a chaos bolt at both the target and in another random direction and can give the enemy ~15 stacks of confusion, which is enough to shut ANYONE down or end them pretty fast, -especially- if they’re a fast attacking thief.

Burning, poison, and ice fields all apply their condition for both of those, all of which are -strong- however they’re just not -AS- strong, that being said, stacking 30 seconds of poison or 15ish seconds of ice/burning is nothing to scoff at, that’s a TON of shut down/damage and that can make a lot of glass cannons panic due to the lack of condi removal they tend to have, and a 66% snare and 66% increased recharge time from chill kinda turns the tides especially if you’re splashing that all over an enemy team.

NOTE: -All- whirls will throw a bolt at your target and in a random direction, if you have no target it throws two bolts in a random direction, all whirls will continue to apply the effect even after the field is gone as long as you started your whirl BEFORE the field is actually gone (Ie if you hit whirling defense a milisecond before the etheral field goes away you will still trigger it the entire duration).

Another thing for whirling defense DO NOT quickness it, if you’re using it for defense or for a combo finisher because if you speed it up you reflect for a shorter time AND you throw out -less- combo bolts since both are done as long as it’s channeled, and do not continue afterwards.

PS: Axe Offhand is pretty good for a raw damage/crit build, especially with off hand training, however i just don’t think it’s as strong as some other options, where the axe really shines is the ability to give you access to tools rangers normally don’t have much of, however it’s certainly viable, and can actually hit pretty hard with crits!!

EDIT: I’ve fairly recently gotten really into double axe builds (again was into them in the beta but strayed for a bit) so if you have any questions just PM me and i can give you some more info/suggestions.

I would LOVE to use the Ethereal field+Whirling Defense combo. But let’s be realistic, this relies on a pet that spawns -random- items, one of which may be the right one, that you have to pick up off the ground.

So your pet has to be near you, it has to spawn the item, and not do that bug out thing where even though you have nothing targeted, there are enemies nearby and it insists on running toward them to do the F2 even though it doesn’t require a target, making you call it back and spam until it finally STOPS and does it, the item has to be the right one, you have to pick it up, use it, and then FINALLY, whirl in the combo field.

It’s just impractical. I’m not saying it’s impossible to pull off, it’s not. But compared to the other actions you could be taking in that amount of time you’re spending micromanaging your pet, you could make a larger impact doing something else, even though the combo field is SO COOL.

The whole mechanic of pig pets is just poorly thought out and I wish they would fix them. Get rid of Forage—you can’t use it in a split second moment, you don’t have the time, and the pets bug out too often. Make Warthog emanate some kind of stinky Ethereal Field on F2. Make the regular pig heal, and so on, pick the useful items from the Forage F2s and just give them to the pigs themselves. They’re just not viable otherwise.

Ultravalefor.5038:

I would LOVE to use the Ethereal field+Whirling Defense combo. But let’s be realistic, this relies on a pet that spawns -random- items, one of which may be the right one, that you have to pick up off the ground.

So your pet has to be near you, it has to spawn the item, and not do that bug out thing where even though you have nothing targeted, there are enemies nearby and it insists on running toward them to do the F2 even though it doesn’t require a target, making you call it back and spam until it finally STOPS and does it, the item has to be the right one, you have to pick it up, use it, and then FINALLY, whirl in the combo field.

It’s just impractical. I’m not saying it’s impossible to pull off, it’s not. But compared to the other actions you could be taking in that amount of time you’re spending micromanaging your pet, you could make a larger impact doing something else, even though the combo field is SO COOL.

The whole mechanic of pig pets is just poorly thought out and I wish they would fix them. Get rid of Forage—you can’t use it in a split second moment, you don’t have the time, and the pets bug out too often. Make Warthog emanate some kind of stinky Ethereal Field on F2. Make the regular pig heal, and so on, pick the useful items from the Forage F2s and just give them to the pigs themselves. They’re just not viable otherwise.

you don’t use forage for some split second improvising… and i’ve -never- had my pig run up to an enemy before using forage, i have had him say “Lolololol hold on let me use my charge attack first!” but if that’s on CD he’ll use it immediately. As I’ve said constantly my build is a close quarters build designed around not moving around, therefore my build as a whole works very well with the pig family because of the whole close range no movement thing….

And if you’re using forage with the expectation of getting the etheral field (which there’s a 1/3 chance of, there’s a 2/3 chance of getting a field period) you’re doing it wrong. Use the skill when you want to cause a bit of havok, i mean cmon, you and your pet leaping through a poison cloud applies weakness, then there’s the whole you apply more weakness on your 3 with a double axe, meaning you’re just boning them in the whole dealing damage and dodging department because they’re not going to be capable of doing either with weakness constantly on them, especially since with the warthog that weakness is easily 100% maintainable (seeing as how you can apply it with poison, etheral, and throw scale)

Once people such as yourself learn how to use RNG i have a feeling the pig family will become much more popular… until then you’ll just complain about how it’s “random” and can’t be used in a pinch therefore it’s bad…

PS: Throw scale says “Hi” it may be -the- strongest warthog forage, 15 seconds of weakness 30 seconds of poison, 15 seconds of bleeding, i’ll take that over the etheral field most of the time, then you also have the option for a poison field which is great for defending points because you can ground target it onto the point.

The pigs 3 second KD and durability aren’t bad traits either if you want to free a few points from BM to try something else. And since pigs rely on your traits applied to using their forageable that can be handy.

In point defense you can also stack up to two available items just make sure you know which will expend it’s 30 second timer first.

I used offhand axe in pvp for a very long time. I believe the build was 30 power, 30 toughness, 5 for the regen at 75% health, and 5 for pet quickness. I used stone signet, the condition removal signet, and quickening zephyr. The build was really solid for everything. 1 on 1 ones unless they were highly defensive, groups were fine because of whirling defense. Everything just came down to timing though. When they switch weapons or are using any range then whirling defense gives a nice 5 seconds of protection + dmg. This build crushed a lot of rangers, thieves, and engineers. I tried it out in pvp and it works alright. However, a lot of boss attacks can’t be reflected. I would mainly use it for pvp or wvw.

Hey can anyone confirm for me whether or not Moa Morph is still able to be reflected by whirling defense? Idk why but I’m really wanting to test it, because I know it was reflectable back in October…