Guild Wars 2

Hi all just wanting to ask if dual axe can perform well in WvW?

Me and a friend are levelling together with a focus on PvP at the end and WvW is great and I will be doing alot of that. I currently LOVE dual axes and just wondering if this build will be viable:

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVRzzm9coRogmoRogmxpf9MMRmcVM

Maybe could even change Turtle’s Defence in the defence traits for Cull the Weak.

Any advice or discussion is helpful

I think Warriors are so tired to repeat for 5 months straight that off-hand axe is a joke that you won’t get a lot of replies here.
Nub Warriors run around with 2x axes because “it looks cool” but I doubt you’re getting any support for that here unless some other “^_^” Warrior happens to stumble on this thread.

Despite the post above, I run with dual axes. Most people play with a 2 hander, which is typical of most pvp games. If you are using a horn for your off-hand, you get a 7 second sprint which is all but worthless unless you are doing supply runs only. If you use a sword in the off-hand you might as well hold up a sign and ask the enemy zerg to CC you and burn you down. Sword would be my choice based on looks, but the additional skills are not effective for WvW.

With the dual axe build, it adds a high dps skill that is useful for 2 situations. First, it is much faster to burn down enemy siege. Second, I use it to break the push of an enemy zerg.

That said, I lucked out on an exotic axe drop from a skill challenge which is partly why I’m built around axes.

For me there is only one (2 sort of) use for the off hand axe. Skill 5 + high crit % + omnom ghosts = full heal and skill 4 when my mace is on cd.

I run A/M with A/A swap. 20/10/0/10/30. Full zerk or knights with zerk acc. Oil (or potion vs xxx), Venom, Ghosts. Damage close to GS, only real difference is the trade off of GS mobility vs Axe Heals.

Durand.5369:

Despite the post above, I run with dual axes. Most people play with a 2 hander, which is typical of most pvp games. If you are using a horn for your off-hand, you get a 7 second sprint which is all but worthless unless you are doing supply runs only. If you use a sword in the off-hand you might as well hold up a sign and ask the enemy zerg to CC you and burn you down. Sword would be my choice based on looks, but the additional skills are not effective for WvW.

With the dual axe build, it adds a high dps skill that is useful for 2 situations. First, it is much faster to burn down enemy siege. Second, I use it to break the push of an enemy zerg.

That said, I lucked out on an exotic axe drop from a skill challenge which is partly why I’m built around axes.

I’m sorry but Whirling Axe is not an high DPS skill by any means, it’s actually one of the lowest DPS skills we have.
The damage: is comparable to the third part of the Axe mainhand autoattack (aka the last 3 hits alone), but it’s spread on a much longer channel so the _DPS would be about half as much.
The only good thing about WA is that you build adrenaline faster (due to 15 hits) and it’s 360 degrees so you can tag/deal some minor damage to a lot of things.

Sadly most Warriors who run dual axes use it for damage even in 1vs1 situations and are basically gimping their own DPS.
Now, if WA had a projectile-reflection or blocking factor it would be another story (which I still hope will happen if we’re not getting a damage buff to that poor skill) but currently there are so much better options.

Not saying he should not use it, just making sure the facts are down right then OP is free to choose what he feels is best.

Shadows.9674:

Hi all just wanting to ask if dual axe can perform well in WvW?

Me and a friend are levelling together with a focus on PvP at the end and WvW is great and I will be doing alot of that. I currently LOVE dual axes and just wondering if this build will be viable:

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVRzzm9coRogmoRogmxpf9MMRmcVM

Maybe could even change Turtle’s Defence in the defence traits for Cull the Weak.

Any advice or discussion is helpful

Sadly, offhand axe is in a bit of a pathetic state atm. Feel free to continue using it, just be aware that you would better damage from axe/mace, better survivability with axe/shield, better CC with both of the above, and better survivability & team support from axe/warhorn.

As for your build, I can see a few things that I would change.

• Short Temper is an awful trait. On average you simply do not get blocked enough for it to be a significant source of Might. You would see much greater returns on Berserker’s Power.
• IMO, Arms is not a spectacular tree for axes. You can easily get all the crit chance you need from equipment and Fury and invest those points elsewhere.
• Similarly, the Defense tree gives you little for your investment compared to other choices. Adrenal Health is particularly bad for an axe build because Eviscerate is so good you shouldn’t want to hold your adrenaline.
• Dolyak Signet is….not good. It’s passive is a mere 90 Toughness and if you want Stability you’ll find Balanced stance to be better in almost all ways.
• You have no significant condition managment. This is a huge flaw in any WvW build. Mending and Restorative Strength alone don’t cut it.

With that in mind, here is a revised build. In deference to your original plans I retained the 30 points in Strength and the Longbow; though I personally dislike both.

http://tinyurl.com/bafyaee

There are several advantages here.

• Berserker’s Power, Empowered, & Heightened Focus give you passive damage & crit chance increases that do affect Eviscerate.
• Leg Specialist turns axe #3 into a root so you can smack people with Eviscerate more easily.
• Between the Boon Duration from the Tactics tree and the signet cd reduction trait you can easily maintain perma-Fury and high uptime on Might stacks with SoR & FGJ.
• You get Fast Hands.
• You can easily sub in the Longbow traits for besieging a keep or tower.
• SoS gives you some badly needed conditional removal (and some free endurance regen for more dodges) and Balanced Stance gives you better access to Stability than Dolyak Signet plus a stun break to boot.

If you’re wondering about gear, I would recommend:

• Weapons, Chest, Legs, and Jewelry: Knight

• Helm, Gloves, Boot, Shoulders, and Back Piece: Soldier

• Gems: Berserker

• Runes: pick between Lyssa (for even more condition removal and crit chance) or Air (for more damage)

• Sigils: Some combination of Blood, Force, Bloodlust, and Accuracy

• Consumables: Maintenance Oils and either Omnomberry Pies or Mango Pies

Should give you good damage with decent survivability. Just don’t try to solo with it or use it in sPvP.

Durand.5369:

Despite the post above, I run with dual axes. Most people play with a 2 hander, which is typical of most pvp games. If you are using a horn for your off-hand, you get a 7 second sprint which is all but worthless unless you are doing supply runs only. If you use a sword in the off-hand you might as well hold up a sign and ask the enemy zerg to CC you and burn you down. Sword would be my choice based on looks, but the additional skills are not effective for WvW.

With the dual axe build, it adds a high dps skill that is useful for 2 situations. First, it is much faster to burn down enemy siege. Second, I use it to break the push of an enemy zerg.

That said, I lucked out on an exotic axe drop from a skill challenge which is partly why I’m built around axes.

Three things.

1. If you think that swiftness is the only thing the warhorn offers you are delusional.
2. Taking off-hand axe specifically so you can use Whirling Axe on siege is laughable. Hundred Blades or just plain old axe auto attack will do just as well, if not better.
3. Whirling Axe is about the least threatening skill warriors have, might as well try to zerg bust with bloody emotes.

Edit: bloody spoiler function seems to be broken.

I use it in wvw all the time. Because I like it. And I get kills. The end.

I run double axe myself and I think skill 4 and 5 can be very useful.

First off, skill 4 does not bad damage and gives fury, the fury is not alot but can sometimes give you the 2 seconds of fury you need to have all time fury.

But now to skill 5, the real deal here. It’s damage is not as high as the melee attack, but this isn’t about damage. First of all it hits 15 times, with a near to 100% crit chance you will hit 14-15 times critical, so the damage is not that low, but you will get around 10 heals combined with omnomberry ghosts, and that’s only when you are hitting a single target. When there are alot of mobs I seriously cant die with this skill – like cof path 2, they simply cant drop me, I do it with 4k health and Im back at 20k.
Next nice thing, I recently choose not to go for the trait where burst skills cost less, so Im low on adrenaline when using eviscerate, so at boss fights etc. I use it directly after my eviscerate to get to nearly full adrenaline again.

And ofcourse if you are in a group of mobs it does really nice damage considering it hits everything around you in a relatively wide radius.

Just my two cents

Whirling Axe animation doesn’t even look cool… simply because you look like a Ballerina while using it.

If it looked cool I’d use it even if the damage was extremely under-powered.

Brennus.1435:

I use it in wvw all the time. Because I like it. And I get kills. The end.

“Zerg get kills for you and you like it.”

Whirling Axe generates adrenaline ridiculous fast, and is useful in large-scale AoE situations. Dual Strike is pretty underwhelming, but not useless.

I think people make a way bigger deal out of the A/A vs A/M thing then they should be. A/M has the better group benefits, but I mean really, nothing on /M is going to make or break your group.

if you have Sigil of Rage you can use axe whirl to get it to proc and then spam 1 like a bad mofo,
you can also use it as a nice adrenaline builder or to finish off a low HP thief in shadow refuge,
it has its uses, shield just seems more valuable with its block and stun.

Wooyadeen.6491:

Brennus.1435:

I use it in wvw all the time. Because I like it. And I get kills. The end.

“Zerg get kills for you and you like it.”

And? I like doing it with two axes. I’ve used every weapon we can use and it’s just my favorite in both dungeons and wvw. I do have solo kills with it, too. It’s not always zerg. Sometimes you get lucky and it’s just some kitten that goes, “Oh a guy with two axes what a nub.” And then gets stomped because he’s an idiot.

you know, im sick of people putting down most builds. all in all almost any build you make can be useable. you dont need top dps or be the best of the best tank. any build can work. and limiting yourself to trying to make the super best is dumb in 2 ways. 1 you dont get to play how you want to play. minion master gets a lot of crap making people not want to play a necro. a class many people love playing as. 2 your best of the best build is already made and most likely you are just coping someone else. games like this allow you to be creative. SO BE CREATIVE. you want to play dual axe go for it! have fun its what YOU want! enjoy the game how you want it. and if someone else is saying go 2h more dps. well screw them. i love themed characters. its an mmo RPG ROLE PLAYING. so go role play. be that dual axe kitten. plus 2h is over rated anyways. you wana be the same guy everyone else is???? doesnt sound loke fun to me.

Hi Shadows,

Despite what 99% of warriors think, there is more to the game than just doing damage.

I use dual axes myself. They are way more helpful than most warriors realize for a couple of reasons.

1 – Axes are fast attacking weapons. This is very helpful in many respects. Blinds aren’t as detrimental to axes, and you can get rid of blocks faster without sacrificing your BIG HITS.

2 – Axes 2 adds vulnerability. 4% damage for yourself and everyone else that hits that target. Pretty good

3 – Axe 3 adds a cripple. Not much to say about this one. Helpful

Now to the controversial weapon ( axe offhand)

4 – Axe 4…This ability is soo good. I don’t get why most warriors don’t understand it. It gives you 4 seconds of fury for every target hit. Up to 3 targets. Cooldown of 12 seconds. So you basically have fury ALL the time if needed. Another benefit is thakittens only 4 seconds on fury. You might think thats a bad thing, but its really actually great. 4 seconds of fury means your boon is less susceptible to being stolen or converted. So you get the fury then use it for what you need without worry. You can have fury with Signet of Rage for 30 seconds, but if it gets debuffed or worse yet stolen, you will now be without fury and your opponent will be stronger. My personal favorite is the Axe 4 then eviscerate…guaranteeing that my eviscerates always have 24% crit chance at least.

5 – Axe 5…everytime i see this mentioned on the forums…someone says “it does less dmg than autoattacks”. That’s not entirely true. Whirling Axe hits 5 enemies. auto attacks hit 3. If you calculate the dmg between the 5 enemies vs the 3…the dmg will be about the same. If we are talking about single target, then yea autoattacks do more damage but that only makes sense. You don’t see an elementalist trying to Meteor Shower one opponent to death do you? No. You use it in the proper situation. Not only that, but axe 5 is a whirl finisher as well. This is VERY significant in calculating damage. Whirl through a poison, ethereal, fire field and you are adding A LOT of extra damage. Water fields? Heal yourself and your allies. Not only that but axe 5 also has a pyschological effect on players in terms of pvp. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE dodges out of Whirling Axe. Now that they used their dodges, use your eviscerate and catch them without their dodges up (except for thieves of course).

Are dual axes perfect. No. But no weapon set is. You will win some, you will lose some. But if you can master them, you will win more than lose.

In terms of your build, I cannot really comment on that. Builds for everyone are different…depending on how you play (aggresive, passive, etc) and also on how much offense vs defense you wanna have.

In any case, i hope i shed some light on some aspects of dual axes. See you in wvw =)

This thread is such a great example of how a majority of the warrior community doesn’t help improve the terrible state of the warrior in this game. kittenI would settle for people wanting mediocrity but people settling for us being little more than a pve mob in this game is facepalm worthy.

why did you guys necro this thread as well?

Axe/Shield. Shield as off hand wins hands down based on Shield Bash for CC and Shield Block for life saver.

When the battle gets too heated, use Shield Block to get you out plus you can heal while channeling Shield Block. Shield Bash to setup your burst.

The dude who said warhorn isn’t useful as an offhand is trolling you. It is great to provide AoE swiftness for your guys, and if you trait to to condi peel and replace with boons it is very helpful in a support sense.

Axe/Shield is one of the better sets in the game, but in a zerg situation, offhand Axe is actually quite good, if ONLY for that adrenaline boost. Otherwise it’s pretty bad. =(

I used to run A/M A/A with Omnomberry. That was fun, until they put an ICD on the food. In other words, the only reason to ever run A/A was nerfed a few months ago. At that time, Whirling Axe was like having an extra heal in AoE situations.