Guild Wars 2

I’ve finally decided to switch full time to axe. I’ll still have my GS in inventory for CoF farms and such, but I’m seeking to finally change into an axe main-hand build as my primary set-up.

Also, I will be sticking with my full Knight armor w/ Ruby (except the Flame Legion gloves which are berserker) and full Berserker ascended w/ Ruby (putting in Berserker armor in dungeons that are comfortable for me).

The build I have been running is 25/25/0/0/20. I found that 50% longer bleeds wasn’t all that great in dungeons since there are so many sources of bleed. That being said…

1. Axe/??? What do you recommend?
Axe/Axe – Sexy skins and perma-fury (although I’m only short like 4s w/o)
Axe/Mace – Vulnerability + CC (bad skin though…)
Axe/Shield – Sexy skins, stun, and the noob 3s survivability for when I screw up
Axe/Sword – Block every 15s + indefinite bleed stack (no need for trait)

Right now, I’m heavily leaning towards Axe/Sword. Why? Sexiest possible combination skins (lol), the indefinite bleed stack so I won’t have any worries in any circumstances, and the block every 15s. I know it’s not a full 3s block like shield, but from my experience, I’m inclined to believe that 2 well-timed blocks are better than 3s of immunity (in most cases, not all).

2. Build
Is the 25/25/0/0/20 good or is there a more optimal build for axe main-hand?
Going to tinker around with it again.

3. Secondary Set
Right now, I have a Rifle simply because of the skin… is there anything else you suggest?
I realize that for maximum efficiency, you should switch between melee weapons and pull out a ranged before bosses when necessary… but I’ve been becoming more casual lately… I don’t want to switch honestly haha
Rifle or LB? The new LB makes it sexy, but there are so many better skins for Rifle…

4. Bursting, is it worth it?
I know Eviscerate hits hard, but is it worth the down time of adrenaline = less damage and crit chance from traits?

5. Utilities (General that I utilize)
-Mending (I prefer it over Healing Surge)
-For Great Justice
-Shake it Off (Love it! Not just for the condition removal but also b/c if you get knocked down, it picks you right back up… Life saver)
-Signet of Stamina (I can’t get enough of the dodges)
-Signet of Rage (Fury, Might, and Swiftness… alright!)

Thanks guys for all your help!

P.S. Please recommend some really good skins for axe, sword, and Rifle/LB!!!

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/warrior/?8.0|7.1g.h2.c.1g.h1|4.1g.h1|1n.a7.1n.a7.1n.a7.1g.a7.1n.a7.1n.a7|2s.d13.2s.d13.3s.d19.3s.d19.2s.d13.2s.d13|p58.p57.0.0.k56|54.7|0.0.0.0.0|e

(Crack Shot simply because I don’t want to swap traits. I do for speed clears and farming, but I’m just making a slightly more casual build for FoTM and dungeons with guildies)

(Also, if bursting with axe does provide a LOT more DPS, then I would take 5 from strength and put that into arms to get adrenaline on critical hits)

EDIT:
I replace Crack Shot with Furious Reaction when I’m not lazy and I change traits lol
I love the definite perma-fury and more dodges

I run Axe/Mace. I use the Arah Axe and Mace, which don’t look half bad, especially when used together. I do agree with you though; it is rare to find a good-looking Mace skin. Just take a look at the Legendary Mace. Really Anet, really?

I run Axe/Shield and I love it. If you do run shield make sure to take unsuspecting foe in the arms line which gives you 50% increased crit chance on stunned foes. Shield bash followed by an eviscerate and you will ruin someone’s day. The trick is wait until they are down under 10k health before using it to keep your adrenaline level up. After you hit with eviscerate it doesn’t matter what your adrenaline level is because they’re dead. Don’t ask me about skins, all my weapons are ugly so I have no clue.

Mace: peacekeeper, thats all i got sorry
Axe: reaver of the mist, nightmare
Sword: whisperblade, fractal sword, infinte light
Rifle: lol gl
Longbow: there is the ele skill skin, the guardian spirit weapon skin. A few items, if you go to the wiki and go to each weqpons page at the bottom you will find a link to the gallery for all the weapons of that type.

Axe: Kryta’s salvation [&AgE8eQAA] – I’m a sucker for non-flashy skins and this GW1 throwback is absolutely my favourite axe skin.

Longbow: Eir’s Longbow [&AgFwbgAA] – It’s HUGE I play a female Norn and this thing makes max-sized humans look puny.

Mace: Moonshine [&AgGIZQAA] – Need I say anything ? (also, it’s cheap)

(Copy-paste the weird links into GW2 and you can inspect the items in-game.)

I’d grab a mace Offhand for vulnerability and ranged knockdown and I always have shield/warhorn in bags for whenever the need arises. The sword OH is actually a cool idea and might make missing out on whirlwind attack for an extra dodge bearable, I don’t think you drop bleeds with the attack speed of the axe, though.

My favorite of those combos would be Axe/Mace followed closely by Axe/Shield. I don’t care much for bleed unless I’m going full condition, and if I was I’d go Sword/Sword.

Thanks guys for all your posts about the skins!
I’ll look them all up!

Anyone know as far as the math goes? (And eviscerate Axe Burst?)

Also, I would go 25/25/0/10/10 (to get empowered) if running with at least 2 other warriors that use FGJ. Not sure though if it is worth running it when I won’t have outside sources of fury. The extra damage seems awesome, but meh… hmmm

I don’t have concrete numbers for eviscerate, just what I’ve seen playing with it. I run 20-20-0-0-30. Knight’s armor with ruby orbs, mix of soldier/berserker accessories and berserker weapons. I’m on my phone so numbers are Roughly 2000 power, 50ish base crit chance, and 85% crit dmg. When in wvw/dungeons I use butternut squash soup and maintenance oil. With signet active I’m around 85% chance and 95% dmg. Like I mentioned I try to always shield bash first for guaranteed crit – eviscerate crit hits for 3500 on the very low side and I’ve had them get up to 11-12k on glass cannon opponents. Average seems to be around 6-7k.

Others may have different results, I just posted gear and build so you can compare.

Candir.5608:

I don’t have concrete numbers for eviscerate, just what I’ve seen playing with it. I run 20-20-0-0-30. Knight’s armor with ruby orbs, mix of soldier/berserker accessories and berserker weapons. I’m on my phone so numbers are Roughly 2000 power, 50ish base crit chance, and 85% crit dmg. When in wvw/dungeons I use butternut squash soup and maintenance oil. With signet active I’m around 85% chance and 95% dmg. Like I mentioned I try to always shield bash first for guaranteed crit – eviscerate crit hits for 3500 on the very low side and I’ve had them get up to 11-12k on glass cannon opponents. Average seems to be around 6-7k.

Others may have different results, I just posted gear and build so you can compare.

What do you mean on glass cannon opponents in PvE?
Also, is it worth having to rebuild your adrenaline?

Thanks for your input though!

Sorry about the confusion, the damage numbers were from WvW. I’ll have to test out PvE numbers later tonight. I find my adrenaline charges pretty quickly in fights, and with the holdover adrenaline from one fight or mob you can use eviscerate as an opener on your next target and begin rebuilding it. I know I lose out on some sustain damage when I pop evisc, but I use it when I need burst. It really doesn’t feel like it takes long to recharge.

Candir.5608:

Sorry about the confusion, the damage numbers were from WvW. I’ll have to test out PvE numbers later tonight. I find my adrenaline charges pretty quickly in fights, and with the holdover adrenaline from one fight or mob you can use eviscerate as an opener on your next target and begin rebuilding it. I know I lose out on some sustain damage when I pop evisc, but I use it when I need burst. It really doesn’t feel like it takes long to recharge.

Ah cool, thanks!
Let me know what you find out!

Can anyone else contribute to this thread?
Still have a lot more I need more knowledge on T_T…
and I’m sure other Axe Warriors out there need help as well!!

I’m playing an axe build too, but a bit more supportive since I put 30 into tactics to get healing shouts. I know the healing you get is not that much (around 1,2k) but that results in a nice 3,6k heal for your whole group, and even this 1,2k can save your life pretty often, and there is no cast time and you can use them while knocked down etc.

Rest is 20/10/0/30/10 – 5% more damage is superior to 10% crit damage that’s why I took it, ofc both traits that benefit from adrenaline (12% dmg and 9% crit chance), healing shouts, faster shout recharge and more damage with boons (Usually 3 boons due to sigil and shouts).

I use a mace offhand, mainly for the vulnerabilty and the situational knockdown. I like the knockdown because it is ranged and can hit multiple enemies, but the real good thing about this weapon setup is the vulnerabilty.

When I see that eviscerate is up I use mace 4, axe 2, on my mark to get 18 stacks of vulnerabilty on the target + 1-3 additional vulnerabilty stacks due to critical hits and rendering strikes and then use eviscerate for 20% more damage. Also using sigil and FGJ non stop for perma fury and some might.
I use knights gear mostly, with berserker shoulders and gaunlets and ruby jewels. Atm I use some mixed accessories, some knights, cavalier, berserker and my beloved karka shell. In PvE I sometimes hit up to 11-12k with eviscarate using my vulnerabilty skills