Guild Wars 2

don’t know about you guys but I now use the axe in pvp and its actually working quite well for me. I run celestial and also bring the shortbow. have yet to be beaten in 1v1’s in tpvp and spvp but here’s the Q:

Have any of you tried the axe and liked it since the latest patch?

i have and quite a bit with the dual axe build

I’ve tried it a bit, but while I see its merits, it doesn’t feel as right to me as the others …

… that may be because I’ve always used it less than other Ranger weapons.

It does have wonderful synergies with pets though … especially with 3+ traits in nature magic to help with stacking might on your pet. That plus the chill to help your pet stay on target is very nice.

I’ve also been dual axe a while… Prefer it for wvw since it gets lots of bounces which makes it highest damage (not sure if that’s still true with rf buff) Also doesn’t draw aggro like a bow does.

MH Axe has always been my favorite weapon, so after the update I couldn’t be happier.
In WvW and against trash mobs you can easily maintain 9 stacks of might w/o any source of boon duration, and sigils or runes.
I run axe/axe + GS and the damage is great against several targets and in 1v1, and my pet is hitting like a truck, in WvW a drake filled with might is a power to be feared.

Just out of curiosity what kind of numbers is your drake autoattacking for on average?

ill just say that in Spvp my cat could split a guy hit point in half with his bite when properly buffed with enought targets to stack my might

What kind of numbers is that though, let’s say with 25 might (that’s the normal amount on the pet right?) against the typical hambow?

In WvW my drake hit for about 3k auto attack, I usually use it in the middle of a zerg, so the cleave and blast finisher is great, and the TU + SotW and the natural high HP keep the drake lasting surprisingly long in the battlefield.
I usually use the river drake and I often see the F2 skill reach 12k (if ppl would stay still it would hit for more haha).

In small scale fights (5v5 max) I use the jaguar, I see it hitting 5k very often against other players, usually medium armor targets.

The mainhand axe has pretty much become the best possible weapon for any beastmaster build. Permanent 25 stacks of might on any pet will turn it into a force of nature. It also sets you up to take pretty much any offhand and be effective, depending on your playstyle.

Offhand axe gives you a pull to keep the enemy close and in the pet’s range and an awesome reflecting, retaliation giving doom sphere that is a pretty strong defensive channel.

Offhand torch is perfect if you’re going a hybrid beastmaster and want to add some conditions to your opponent while your pet dishes out direct damage.

Offhand dagger gives an evade and a ranged cripple that can keep you alive and help your pet stay in range.

And finally warhorn can keep your pet rich with swiftness so it can hit more reliably, fury so it can crit more reliably, and provide better team support so the build is less selfish.

There’s really no wrong answer with mainhand axe, which I find very appealing.

what is this dual axe build that I hear about?

25 might on pet? with axe auto? Did not know that.

There is a trait in the Nature traitline that shares any boon you get with the pet.

The boons are not copied precisely, that is, might for example will copy to the pet as a 10 seconds might.

Which means that you can easily maintain a lot of might stacks on your pet, which is good because an eagle does 3k auto-attacks when having 4 points in BM traitline. The bad thing is, that you have to use the axe auto-attack to stack might, which means that you will have to keep track of how often you auto-attack so that you keep the pet updated and you will also have to use the other skills because you can’t survive on auto-attack alone.

Second, people will realise what’s happening quite fast and will adapt. Either by attacking your pet when they can or by using different tactics. This will lead to you having to swap a lot, use pet skills while using your utilities and weapon skills. The whole game will become a rotation of “Use skills that are suitable” instead of “Do this rotation, then use these until you can redo the rotation”.

(Healing Spring + Warhorn #5 + Monarchs’s Leap is a very good combo for a bm build)

above is for spvp

If people attack my pet … more power to them.

Also, if you are sharing boons with your pet … OH axe gives you retaliation … which you can share with your pet. Just saying :-p

Have an overzealous melee attacking you with both you and your pet right there? OH Axe for some great damage and you and pet will be slapping him with retal as he cleaves both of you … just make sure you can hand whatever is cleaving you.