Guild Wars 2

I mean yeah, its got an auto chain, and yeah you’ve got to go through the whle thing to get the most DPS. But isn’t that like any other weapon? Why the axe QQ?

You’re question is vague, do you mean in pve or pvp?

For pvp –
No mobility (very little from Eviscerate)
No condition damage application (only condi is cripple)
No control such as stun, knockdown
No defensive abilities such as a block

Sword and mace each bring at least 2 of the above items.

Im talking about pvp. But thats why you pair it with shield.

It’s not too bad if it’s based on pure damage and you are fighting a dummy who can’t dodge. Or in ZvZ where you care little to support the group because there’s already 10 other HammerWars.

Pairing it with another weapon doesn’t give Axe those abilities, it just gives you, I can pair 2 other weapons and get more of the CC/Mobilities. If you want Axe for the damage, no ones going to stop you, it’s just not as useful as the other weapons.

Carpboy.7145:

Im talking about pvp. But thats why you pair it with shield.

You can pair mace and sword with the shield as well and you’re still better off.

I see axe as a glass cannon weapon, get lots of power and you can do crazy damage with Eviscerate. You just won’t be able to survive well if focused.

Well, compared to other weapons, it’ws even more critical to land the whole chain. And that means staying on the enemy’s face for more time without dodging/disengaging. Thus you have to build tanky, unless you use it for the burst mostly. It’s easier to use in big fights, but they are not that common in pvp.

And it doesn’t add any more mobility, which is critical if you roam to get to a contested point as fast as possible. And it’s important to go in and out of battle, which is how you outplay the enemy, for example if he is using the hambow build and you don’t, or if you are not a cc centered build against a necro, or if you fight against a mesmer in the same situation.

This means it needs a lot of support, and you need greatsword for the other set. I might actually try it instead of Longbow some day, but I think LB/GS is soooo elegant, I don’t know why.XD

AttackAttack.8917:

Carpboy.7145:

Im talking about pvp. But thats why you pair it with shield.

You can pair mace and sword with the shield as well and you’re still better off.

I see axe as a glass cannon weapon, get lots of power and you can do crazy damage with Eviscerate. You just won’t be able to survive well if focused.

Might try it with a tanky might-stacking build. Lots of power, lots of toughness, lots of HP. Kinda tricky to raise might stacks, but when you do you are unstoppable.XD

Only problem: after the patch I won’t be able to use Eviscerate + shield bash and having a guaranteed crit, unless I don’t use Forceful GS, which is core in might stacking. Or I give up furious (30 points in arms).

As I recall, there hasn’t been “QQ” or even any discussion so much as a single new thread that I brought up, especially among the hammer jammer threads in recent months. A new thread in which you also could have replied in instead of posting a new one. However, I’ll bring up some of my opinions on the subject.

The problem is the usability and therefore function of the weapon. As far as function goes, I feel it’s designed as: good sustained damage, minimal mobility, minimal CC. It fulfills the sustained damage role well in PvE as it is now. Enemies sit there and let you attack them, and the last hit of triple chop can hit quite hard, but if you talk about usability, it’s not something that can be counted on in any PvP setting.

Previous to the auto chain change, it was approximately equal damage on all hits of the chain, and that fit the role of the weapon (as I see it at least). Sustained damage. It did that job great, and now it doesn’t. It’s now an unreliable weapon with an ‘unsafe’ playstyle. i.e., trying to stick to an opponent who has a large amount of ways to prevent you from doing that and still hurt you. This in contrast with the P/D Dire thief playstyle, which is extremely ‘safe’, even if it’s an unpopular weapon set now despite its strength.

While it’s true that other weapons usually have a harder-hitting third-chain hit, the chain is also usually much shorter, and all your hard work, sticking to your opponent and getting through that axe chain, will not be negated by a single dodge. And for the axe, it’s not the 3rd hit like “any other weapon”. It’s the 6th. I have no problem with the limited CC and mobility of the weapon. I actually prefer the style. However, I find the auto chain change both unnecessary and almost kitten ing to the weapon on the warrior in terms of PvP, even though I still use it.

As far as the other weapon skills go, I’ve lived with them so long that I don’t really want to make an opinion on them. But honestly, if you completely dismiss the offhand axe with a “take a shield”, what does that say about offhand axe?

Edit: Gosh darnit. The word’s in the Bible. Why is it censored here?

Reason i bring this up is i posted an axe build awhile ago and got hardly any feedback on it. But the idea is for a fairly tanky burst build, using eviscerate whenever you get an opening.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIMQRAne8ZjkOpwFPCPMxBAkirqyo4ngUPszt4A-jkyAY/ioRTUAILJjKAmALiGbzoIas6aMlbSVxCy28ioVLFgeCjA-w

I was testing it in spvp and dueling servers and was hitting 8-9k crits with eviscerate all the time. Plus it was in spvp where you can’t customize stats as easily and get less crit dmg too.

I’ve actually seen a few people QQ about mainhand axe lately, not necessarily in specific threads, just a post here and there. Plus most of what you guys are telling me in this thread is axe isnt good, and then telling me theres not QQ? Im just wondering why, since ive been getting some pretty good results. And i thought everyne agreed offhand axe is lolwut?

The raw numbers aren’t really the main problem. Eviscerate still certainly has the potential to hit very hard. Again, it’s the usability. Unless your build revolves around Eviscerate and getting those big hits off, then most people would ask why use axe at all? I still use it, I still like it. It’s just that the weapon is so much less potent than it used to be/should be because of that huge backload on the autoattack damage.

And yes, I believe that most agree that offhand axe isn’t where it should be. I was under the impression that you were questioning complaints about axe in general.

So its still really good if you build around eviscerate? I think that clears up a bit of my question

I.. Wouldn’t say “good”. I’d say if you build around it, it has a purpose, and yes, it still does pretty high damage. But that requires the right gear and the ability to land it, which isn’t something that I can quantify. Against a class that has high evades or other damage avoidance abilities, you’re not gonna be landing that many eviscerates, and then you’re open to a lot of damage in the interim. More situational than optimal.

The thing about axe is that it does damage and virtually nothing else. Fantastic for PvE, not so much for PvP, when sword does good damage in either power or condition setups while remaining versatile, and greatsword does good damage with great mobility.

Which I mean, it is what it is. It’s there if you want the pure damage, but in PvP you’re going to need skills that do things other than damage too.

In WvW I run an axe+axe/LB DPS/condition hybrid with 3k armor, 500 condition damage and regularly maintains 10k eviscerates from bursts. The downside? No condition removal. It’s a great team build for when you’re running with a class who’s built to remove your conditions and buff your damage, but as far as solo roaming goes you’re pretty well screwed.

Because everything what you can do with axe, you can do better with other weapons. It was suppose to be pure dmg weapon, but after few nerfs it is useless at higher pvp lvl.

Look, ANet even busted up Whirling Axe dmg (but only in spvp) by 50%!!! i repeat 50%… This is the final evidence that they failed with axes, and don’t know what to do about it.

I too am curious about this lack of popularity for the axe/shield setup…well, not so much curious, as I know why it’s not effective and what you can/can’t do with it, but more so that I just really really want it to be viable because it’s my preferred aesthetic/playstyle.

I’m running something very similar to OPs build with situational success…fun when it works, absolutely deflating when it doesn’t because it’s rarely a close fight, you either smash or get SMASHED.

I actually use dual axes on swap and own with this build

eviscerate is good if you ever hit with it.

offhand whirl does a little low dmg and it’s easy to kite. it works nicely with quickness bursts though. if you ever manage to launch one with right timing.

imo problem is that GS is so much better for mobility and you probably want something else for offhand either shield or mace maybe..

i think axe does what it’s supposed to do. imo animations could use a boost so it would look cool.

I got an axe precursor and subsequently made it a legendary so I have been messing around with an axe main hand.

Here is the build that I am still working around with.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/warrior/?8.0|7.5g.h4.g.5g.h17.d13.0.d13|2.5g.0.d13.0.0|1n.79.1n.79.1n.79.1n.79.1n.79.1c.79|2s.d13.21j.d13.31j.d17.2v.d13.3v.d17.2s.d13|k3a.0.u289.k69.0|2e.1|5x.6c.6h.6g.6m|e

First off this build is meant to run with zergs and is very tanky. You should always be on the front lines.

Because I am not running lemongrass I needed something for the conditions. Hoelbrak runes, Clensing Ire, Zerkers stance, and condition removal from warhorn have you covered (maybe too much but more on that in a sec.)

The axe chain does not have to hit the same person, with a bit of practice your chain should be able to land every time, though not on the same person. (Immobilize should be removed ASAP but with the runes and traits only long immobilizes are a threat.) What’s also nice is that during skill lag battles you still pack a punch with your main attack.

Your second ability helps recharge adrenaline and the third is just your basic cripple. Your warhorn is there to get you in and out of trouble. Don’t underestimate the weakness 5 provides if you get caught out of the zerg low on health and a thief begins his chain, it has saved my life and made me lol when I eviscerate him down. (Even with all the toughness eviscerate still hits for around 6-11k with a crit.)

Right now I feel I am sitting on too much toughness and may switch to more damage. As I mentioned, I also feel I have too much condition removal. I’ve considered dropping Zerkers stance for something else but have yet to find anything.

Another alternative was to take 10 out of defense and place it into Disciple, losing either balanced stance (no big deal I have 2 forms of stability) or Cleansing Ire and keeping my other condition removal. But the new patch will be buffing both armored attack and greater fortitude, give me 3% more life and 5% more power.

Anyways not saying its the best or most efficient but I really enjoy it. It allows me to survive in a zerg, help allies with conditions and boons and still do good damage.

EDIT: Saw that you use GS and secondary weapon. In my experience its a great mobility weapon, I always carry one, but is not that great in battles since your main source of damage is #2 which is easy to avoid. I have hammer right now only because it is the first ascended weapon I made but I think LB is a very valid secondary.

All Matters Fecal.9560:

I too am curious about this lack of popularity for the axe/shield setup…well, not so much curious, as I know why it’s not effective and what you can/can’t do with it, but more so that I just really really want it to be viable because it’s my preferred aesthetic/playstyle.

I’m running something very similar to OPs build with situational success…fun when it works, absolutely deflating when it doesn’t because it’s rarely a close fight, you either smash or get SMASHED.

That is what I’ve noticed too. If you can land your eviscerates you totally own people. But I’ve noticed (mostly against blind spamming thieves, since they make me miss eviscerate) if i miss eviscerates ive just gotta kinda kite around till the CD is back up. Disappointing too since i wasted a ticket on a dream thistle axe

A: Because they don’t know how to utilize it properly in PvP.

I typically don’t run any axe traits. However, I use shouts and stack might. Interesting things happen with evis at over 2500 power

Yes, axe/shield seems the natural combo for evis setup and unsuspecting foe. However, Evis really doesn’t need any setup imo. If you build right, you should have plenty of adren to pop it practically every (5s) weap swap. If it misses, I figure I’m still getting adrenal healing and can just swap/burst with my other weap. That means you really aren’t tied to shield OH.

So, I suggest a more… laid back approach to axe. It’s okay if you miss evis or your triple chop, it’s NOT okay for your enemy to miss their dodge

I love the weapon for solo roaming/5man in wvw. I pair it with shield/GS. Simply put its a finisher. Once you get the hang of it you will be ending fights with one move. Paired with bulls charge you can really dish out some nice crits. I have plenty of mobility with GS, so it’s nice to have instant damage like that without waiting for 100b.

In our five man I usually am pressuring someone other than the called target. Squishy players who arent being focused never see the combo coming. It can swing entire fights when someone on the other team gets bursted down almost immediately. Charge into evisc then shield bash 100 blades. A lot of the time even if they stun break you can get the evis off before the dodge roll. Also if you are good at recognizing when someone is out of dodges you don’t even need to set it up.

I can understand why people do not prefer this set up but I use it often with success. Axe/shield is a great combo of huge instant damage/blocks/stuns. It does take some time to learn how to stay live when focused though. I use knights armor/zerk everything else, its a little glassy but its so nice to have instant raw dmg like that in the current condi meta. I feel like a lot of opponents dont know what to do against a set up like that, everyone is geared to fight more bunkery/condi heavy people.