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Posted by: beatthedown.2651

beatthedown.2651

I know we have this topic since launch and I also know mainhand axe has it’s place in PVE but can we please discuss these weapon skills again?

Aside from that, that it’s animation looks like a monkey throwing poop, it really feels akward and the more recent buffs don’t help.

What is axe even trying to be? Is it a condi weapon? Is it a ranged or a melee set? Who knows? What’s with axe 2? Why is it so slow in general?

And wtf is the axe trait in the BM line? It’s a trait for direct damage for a “hybrid” weapon? Why???!!

Nothing makes sense. Only a mad scientist can create such a abomination.

To clarify things, I’m talking about the set from a pvp perspective. The weapon is just outdated. It was clearly designed for a very different meta, or maybe for pve only.

This weapon set does not need any damage buffs. It needs a complete rework. Why not add a CC/evade/combofield or a position skill an mainhand? AA could be a bit faster or maybe it should not be ranged at all.

I wish we had some harder hitting single strike skills like GS 2 since ranger makes use out of these with the MM line. Having these on axe would make more sense.

Make axe a burst or a condi weapon. Pick one Anet. You already have SB to cover the hybrid niche( this needs some thought too honestly).

Edit: Or at least give this weapon some harder hitting direct damage skills and add some condis. Mesmer scepter works that way and is not OP

(edited by beatthedown.2651)

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Posted by: Crossaber.8934

Crossaber.8934

I have a similar feeling about axe mainhand too, but i want to see axe become a more mobility tool.

I prefer:
Axe 2 add a short evade window along with a short distance jump back
Axe 3, remove projectile, change to a forward leap maybe 400 distance?

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Posted by: HeadCrowned.6834

HeadCrowned.6834

Fix the AA into something useful, and change the axe trait completely, and then you have a decent condi mainhand weapon. You could also turn it into a power weapon, but we already have the sword for this role (although the axe might be more suitable as a power weapon, you need to have at least one condi mainhand weapon).

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Posted by: Levetty.1279

Levetty.1279

Add the second bounce back to auto as there was 0 reason to remove it (the damage buff was laughable and even if it wasn’t there would still be no reason too).

Make skill 3 aoe by default and increase its direct damage.

Change the trait too add ferocity for every axe equipped, add a small bleed to the auto attack and lets us move when using axe 5 and maybe even a further damage buff for offhand axe. It is a Grandmaster trait that is meant for 2 different weapons filling 2 very different roles after all, it needs a lot on it.

(edited by Levetty.1279)

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Posted by: meeflak.9714

meeflak.9714

Axe torch shortbow is our only viable condi build. Go ahead with the rework but keep it condi or rip every ounce of damage a ranger can do.

Edit: autocorrect op. Pls nerf

Another edit: please don’t call for a change away from condi lol. Not until we have something else that’s viable for condi damage. I agree a re work would be nice but we absolutely need it to be a condi main hand.

All professions lvl 80. x2 elementalist
main Druid ~~Adalyn Del Rayna~~ [SIGH]
[Ehmry Bay]

(edited by meeflak.9714)

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Posted by: InsaneQR.7412

InsaneQR.7412

Make axe Mainhand total Condi:
AA is ok animation is a little weird but works.

  1. do something like sword #3 of guardian, throwing a lot of projectiles doing damage and bleed (moving possible)
  2. AoE default + Explo finisher

Trait:
Axe CD
Do more damage against Bleeding foes, cripple (5s) bleeding foes when hit (some short icd like 10s)

And axe MH is useful in pvp and pve.

Pale Raiders united.
9 Sylvari, 9 unique Builds.

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Posted by: blitzkrieg.2451

blitzkrieg.2451

Make axe Mainhand total Condi:
AA is ok animation is a little weird but works.

  1. do something like sword #3 of guardian, throwing a lot of projectiles doing damage and bleed (moving possible)
  2. AoE default + Explo finisher

Trait:
Axe CD
Do more damage against Bleeding foes, cripple (5s) bleeding foes when hit (some short icd like 10s)

And axe MH is useful in pvp and pve.

That trait with incapacitation sigil would be broken

Tanbin – Ranger / Thief / Ele
Maguuma

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Posted by: Wondrouswall.7169

Wondrouswall.7169

I still want a small bleed attached to the auto if the bounce strikes a second target and Winter’s Bite AOE baseline. If they want to keep the stupid ferocity on Honed Axes, fine, but alter it so it applies when we have an axe equipped in general – not just the main hand.

If they want to keep Winter’s Bite AOE as part of the trait, then give something to off-hand axe like the trait boosts Path of Scars to inflict daze on the outgoing strike. Buffing only 1 of 5 skills is pretty lackluster and lame.

PET PRECISION & DPS TESTS -OUTDATED-
Will update once Path of Fire releases.

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Posted by: Gotejjeken.1267

Gotejjeken.1267

I’m not seeing how MH Axe is in any way a power weapon. Ferocity on trait does not make it a power weapon, it makes it a poor choice for the trait.

The purpose of Axe 1 is to boonshare might with the pet. Using it and resounding timbre / RaO you can have 25 stacks of might quite often (pretty much permanently in zergs).

Could axe use some work? I think so. Ricochet could be faster and splitblade as well. I agree with giving the extra bounce back also.

Wouldn’t mind seeing some kind of evade in there, or at least reworking our other offhands to have one. Dagger is the only one with an evade and it’s already been nerfed range-wise.

That is, taking SB + A/T sounds great in theory, until you get hit with hard cc or face a hammer anything in PvP. If you are on the A/T set you have two dodges then you are done.

So it’s almost necessary to run S/T + A/D in a PvP setting unless you like dying.

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Posted by: OGDeadHead.8326

OGDeadHead.8326

They could give back the extra bounce, keep the damage as it is now (on axe auto that is), and the weapon would still not feel op, and I bet noone would even complain about it if they were to face it in pvp/wvw.

Win10 pro | Xeon 5650 @ 4 GHz | R9 280x toxic | 24 Gig Ram | Process Lasso user

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Posted by: alain.1659

alain.1659

Even with the bounce axe is bad. But I gave up on the idea of a rework.

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Posted by: Spartyr.6795

Spartyr.6795

Axe just isn’t a PvP weapon. It is THE weapon for high level PvE though. To me, that puts axe in a good place.

My only suggestion for PvP would be to make axe #3 traited as a blast finisher so we had some access to stealth with it.

Spartyr – Norn Thief
[GSCH] Gaiscioch Gaming Community

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Posted by: Cufufalating.8479

Cufufalating.8479

I think it’s main problem is the lack of survivability and the need for close range to use #2. You’re only option is to pick up a Dagger to pair it with which does help, but still doesn’t give it any mobility.

Either #2 needs to be reworked to be effective at range, essentially making the axe a proper ranged condi weapon, or one of its still needs a total rework to give it mobility, or we need an offhand weapon with mobility (OH Sword )

Cufufalating – Ranger / Part-Time Mesmer
Gunnar’s Hold

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Posted by: InsaneQR.7412

InsaneQR.7412

Make axe Mainhand total Condi:
AA is ok animation is a little weird but works.

  1. do something like sword #3 of guardian, throwing a lot of projectiles doing damage and bleed (moving possible)
  2. AoE default + Explo finisher

Trait:
Axe CD
Do more damage against Bleeding foes, cripple (5s) bleeding foes when hit (some short icd like 10s)

And axe MH is useful in pvp and pve.

That trait with incapacitation sigil would be broken

Fine maybe something else but you got the point what i want, give it more effectoveness against bleeding foes and give advantage against cripple foes.
How about the other way arround?
Bleed enemies you cripple and give extra condi duration while weilding an axe.

Pale Raiders united.
9 Sylvari, 9 unique Builds.

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Posted by: Xhean.3452

Xhean.3452

What would be a simple solution to axe is to make it a condi melee weapon (since it’s basically played melee already).

What would the skills do you say?
Well, they would pretty much do the same thing as they do in the current state but without the range. The dmg would be the same but with a couple of tweaks because it’s now melee (risk/reward).

#1: 2 target cleave (instead of bounce) and is now a chain attack:
1: Bleed your targets
2: Cripple your targets
3: gain 3 stacks of might

#2: Sweep your axe (front cone) and apply 6 stacks of bleeding to a maximum of 3 targets, apply 2 stacks of poison if you hit a crippled target

#3: Slam your axe into the ground and give 4 stacks of bleeding and chill your targets (5 targets). Your pets next attack inflicts weakness, Blast Finisher

The skills are slightly buffed since we would lose access to projectile finisher

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Posted by: Gotejjeken.1267

Gotejjeken.1267

We can’t handle melee without one of two things:

1. Escape / kite ability
2. Stealth access

Rangers aren’t a heavy armor class, and going frontline is way more likely to end up in melting than it is success.

I guess the blast finisher on the above would give stealth access, but would also make taking smokescale mandatory forever.

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Posted by: Xhean.3452

Xhean.3452

Really? I play my ranger melee, otherwise you’ll lose too much dps by missing out on splitblade hits, bonfire area, SB poison volley. And there’s no problem staying alive like this, I guess it comes down to how you handle your ranger

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Posted by: Gotejjeken.1267

Gotejjeken.1267

SB has an evade back + swiftness, of course you won’t have too many problems staying alive.

Even if you go true melee (SB/X + GS), both swords and greatsword have enough kiting ability to keep you alive.

Basically, if one were to turn MH axe melee, it’d need some kind of escape / kite mechanism.

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Posted by: Swagger.1459

Swagger.1459

Of all things, someone complains about axe? Axe main hand is fine… Axe off hand sucks. Sword is all wacky and sucks still. Dagger off hand sucks. GS damage sucks… The main problem with ranger/druid is that our overall damage sucks because of our sucky pets. The only decent damage output builds now are with pve condi builds, the rest are junk by comparison.

New Main- 80 Thief – P/P- Vault Spam Pro

221 hours over 1,581 days of bank space/hot pve/lion’s arch afk and some wvw.

(edited by Swagger.1459)

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Posted by: Krispera.5087

Krispera.5087

Not really hoping a change from ANet since the last minimal balance patch, but I’ll give my 2 cents.

1) Ricochet : Keep the damage buff, give the 2nd bounce back.
2) Splitblade : Give the Poison Volley treatment (boost on damage) or make it a real narrow cone attack like Guardian Staff Wave of Wrath (Poison Volley too)
3) Winter’s Bite : Make it AoE baseline and buff the damage. I want it to be a targeted AoE, but some people won’t like it.

It should make Axe just fine.

4) Path of Scars : Bigger and faster.
5) Whirling Defense : 5 targets. Stability.

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Posted by: meeflak.9714

meeflak.9714

Not really hoping a change from ANet since the last minimal balance patch, but I’ll give my 2 cents.

1) Ricochet : Keep the damage buff, give the 2nd bounce back.
2) Splitblade : Give the Poison Volley treatment (boost on damage) or make it a real narrow cone attack like Guardian Staff Wave of Wrath (Poison Volley too)
3) Winter’s Bite : Make it AoE baseline and buff the damage. I want it to be a targeted AoE, but some people won’t like it.

It should make Axe just fine.

4) Path of Scars : Bigger and faster.
5) Whirling Defense : 5 targets. Stability.

I very much agree with winters bite being targeted aoe

All professions lvl 80. x2 elementalist
main Druid ~~Adalyn Del Rayna~~ [SIGH]
[Ehmry Bay]

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Posted by: Wisty.4135

Wisty.4135

Hmm, I personally like the way the axe is in its current iteration. I typically build as a condi-tank, runnin Axe/torch and SB, with pet traits for CC and survivability. It does feel clunky, but when paired with quickening zephyr after the enemy CC’s you, you can output a boat of damage at once.

Does it need a rework? I don’t think so, but some quality of life changes to make it smoother (less clunky animations and cast times; perhaps skill buffering so that way you don’t have to spam buttons to get an entire combo off correctly). The Winter’s Bite AoE baseline does sound nice, though would require some reworking of traits. I’d be interested to see what they do with this if they ever do consider it for a rework.

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Posted by: atheria.2837

atheria.2837

I know we have this topic since launch and I also know mainhand axe has it’s place in PVE but can we please discuss these weapon skills again?

Aside from that, that it’s animation looks like a monkey throwing poop, it really feels akward and the more recent buffs don’t help.

What is axe even trying to be? Is it a condi weapon? Is it a ranged or a melee set? Who knows? What’s with axe 2? Why is it so slow in general?

And wtf is the axe trait in the BM line? It’s a trait for direct damage for a “hybrid” weapon? Why???!!

Nothing makes sense. Only a mad scientist can create such a abomination.

To clarify things, I’m talking about the set from a pvp perspective. The weapon is just outdated. It was clearly designed for a very different meta, or maybe for pve only.

This weapon set does not need any damage buffs. It needs a complete rework. Why not add a CC/evade/combofield or a position skill an mainhand? AA could be a bit faster or maybe it should not be ranged at all.

I wish we had some harder hitting single strike skills like GS 2 since ranger makes use out of these with the MM line. Having these on axe would make more sense.

Make axe a burst or a condi weapon. Pick one Anet. You already have SB to cover the hybrid niche( this needs some thought too honestly).

Edit: Or at least give this weapon some harder hitting direct damage skills and add some condis. Mesmer scepter works that way and is not OP

As a Druid who uses an axe, I am appalled too that traiting an axe is in the BM line.

It really doesn’t make any sense at all and should be moved.

To take that one trait I have to lose so much to gain the ferocity I need but the rest of the line isn’t anything near ‘traiting’ a weapon and most don’t make any difference to a fight.

Blobbed down, no one wins, but in a 1v1 or 2v1 fight, yes, fixing the traitline would make a huge difference.

Not keeping all IT jobs here is a major reason IT is so bad HERE. 33y IT 10y IT Security

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Posted by: Ertrak.9506

Ertrak.9506

I have a similar feeling about axe mainhand too, but i want to see axe become a more mobility tool.

I prefer:
Axe 2 add a short evade window along with a short distance jump back
Axe 3, remove projectile, change to a forward leap maybe 400 distance?

So….Sword?