Curse

Zeek Aran · Nov 18, 2007, 07:03 PM // 19:03

This post has been edited many times.

So... 21 months of slashing with a sword, and I'm finally making an axe build. I've never used an axe besides cyclone farming trolls back in the day.

[edited after uselessness found, left open]
Spike Build

[skill]Insert Elite? Triple? Cleave? Whirling?[/skill][skill]Axe [/skill][skill]Axe [/skill][skill]Flail[/skill][skill]Enraging Charge[/skill]"I Am The Strongest!"

I'm saving one spot for a perma rez, probably rt skill.

Build #2, AoE based

[skill]Triple Chop[/skill][skill]Cyclone Axe[/skill]Whirlwind Attack[skill]Flail[/skill][skill]Enraging Charge[/skill]"I Am The Strongest!"[skill]Splinter Weapon[/skill][skill]Flesh of my Flesh[/skill]

Are the first three attacks overdoing it? Should I remove one? Which?

Qdq Swi · Nov 18, 2007, 07:47 PM // 19:47

Triple chop = best Axe elite in Pve... Some people prefer AoE in PvE over dps... Decapitate isnt as good as it seems, the adren wastage is high... Cyclone + Cleave works well, you build up adren quickly. Dismember is a nice skill to have. I dont suggest a heal (if you have confidence in your monks), Imo I'd say you would be better off with "watch yourselves!". And yeah If you MUST go with a rez go /rt and take Flesh of my Flesh. Oh and Executioner's Strike is also a nice addition. Choose either Cleave of Triple Chop, try both out and see what you prefer. Oh and maybe consider "For great justice!"

Hope this helped,
Qdq.

Crom The Pale · Nov 18, 2007, 08:03 PM // 20:03

Your build should also reflect your party set up and your secondary.

If your using rit secondary then [skill]Splinter Weapon[/skill] is still a great addition when in PvE. Pair it with [skill]cyclone axe[/skill] or [skill]Triple chop[/skill].

In PvE axe rake and twist are rarely of any use. If you run high strength [skill]Power Attack[/skill] and/or [skill]Counterattack[/skill] can be very fast and effective in a spike.

Keen chop is a good skill on any Axe War build these days.

Zeek Aran · Nov 19, 2007, 12:26 AM // 00:26

I already have a Triple/Cyclon/Whirlwind/Splinter axe build.

I'm a great reader. I JUST SAW Decap says lose all e+adr. T_T Okay, that's pathetic. *looks into other skills*

I think I like dismember more than Evisc, but I'm still not sure on Cleave or Triple...

I'm mainly looking for high spike damage [or highest DPS] and not anything AoE related.

What about Whirling Axe?

EDIT: I'm regretting almost everything I've said, and admit to knowing nothing of axes. Without tactics, can someone give me their highest constant DPS axe build for HM?

First post updated.

**Marty Silverblade** · Nov 19, 2007, 05:44 AM // 05:44

Whirling Axe? It's the Hundred Blades of the Axe line. Why?

-Hogs adrenaline from other adr skills from constant spamming
-Crap damage
-Sucks if blocked
-Inferior to other elites, which kill things

Go with Triple Chop or Eviscerate. Triple Chop is nice for AoE, Eviscerate is for large spike damage. I prefer Triple Chop, because I know how to handle aggro well and so I'm guaranteed to hit large amounts of foes (raptor nestling cave in riven earth is FTW!)

Zeek Aran · Nov 19, 2007, 01:11 PM // 13:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marty Silverblade

Whirling Axe? It's the Hundred Blades of the Axe line. Why?

-Hogs adrenaline from other adr skills from constant spamming
-Crap damage
-Sucks if blocked
-Inferior to other elites, which kill things

Go with Triple Chop or Eviscerate. Triple Chop is nice for AoE, Eviscerate is for large spike damage. I prefer Triple Chop, because I know how to handle aggro well and so I'm guaranteed to hit large amounts of foes (raptor nestling cave in riven earth is FTW!)

Cleave = 4 adr 26 damage, Whirl = 2 adr 17. Whirling is clearly better than cleave. It's like comparing final thrust to quivering blade, I would think. And it has nothing to do with Hundred Blades. o.O Block seems to be the only issue. I just won't bring it into block-heavy areas. I'm not saying I've decided on this one, but it just seems to have a good constant DPS.

Evisc, if you ignore the losing all adr and e [that I missed when I first chose Decap], is just a weaker version of it. Ignoring Deep Wound, it's less damage than Cleave with twice the adrenaline.

If I have made any mistakes, please correct me. I'm staring at the quick reference attack skills on wiki right now.

EDIT: *looks up* Wow, Power Attack and Counterattack do a LOT more damage than any axe attack, except Exec and Decap.

Is it possible to use a weapon switch to gain +5 e to use Enraging Charge, right after using a chain ending with Decap, and start over? It seems like a decent elite to me if used in this way.

A Leprechaun · Nov 19, 2007, 01:20 PM // 13:20

The main drawback of Whirling Axe is the fact that whenever you use an adrenaline skill it takes one adrenaline away from your other adrenaline skills, thus when you're spamming Whirling Axe every other attack your other adrenaline skills suffer.

Cleave is a good skill for PvE, cheap and simple it works well. I dont see much point with decapitate apart from gimmick value, its just too unwieldy for me. Eviscerate is great in PvP and has its place in high-end PvE. Triple chop is amazing, lots of damage and AoE.

~A Leprechaun~

Zeek Aran · Nov 19, 2007, 01:41 PM // 13:41

How does Power Attack, Wild Blow, Keen Chop, Counterattack, Decapitate work for a spike, while under I Am The Strongest?? Maybe take out Counterattack.

A Leprechaun · Nov 19, 2007, 02:12 PM // 14:12

It doesnt look that great, Executioners Strike is one of axes main damage dealers. Wild blow would stop the chain dead as it makes you lose all adrenaline. Also wild blow and keen chop arent great for damage. And you dont want to many energy attacks on your bar, you have 3 which seems a bit much.

~A Leprechaun~

Crom The Pale · Nov 19, 2007, 04:53 PM // 16:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeek Aran

How does Power Attack, Wild Blow, Keen Chop, Counterattack, Decapitate work for a spike, while under I Am The Strongest?? Maybe take out Counterattack.

This is a good combo, but change the order, start with wild blow.

Decapitate is a nice spike, but it severly limits you to only one spike then a slow build up to your next spike.

Evicerate is a better choice, then skip wild blow on your second run of the spike unless your being blocked by a stance.

Your running high on energy skills so I would sugest [skill]Flail[/skill] for an IAS and [skill]Lion's Comfort[/skill] for a self heal if you feel you really need one.

Note: For this build you should concider some raident insignias and a +5energy axe. My war generaly runs 30-35 energy for this type of build and has a second set of armor for adren builds.

iridescentfyre · Nov 19, 2007, 08:30 PM // 20:30

Zeek, that's not a spike. Its way too slow. Furthermore, Wild Blow will drain all of the adrenaline you need for Keen Chop and Decapitate.

Under 33% IAS, this is a spike:
[skill]Eviscerate[/skill][skill]Executioner's Strike[/skill][skill]Agonizing Chop[/skill]

Zeek Aran · Nov 19, 2007, 10:12 PM // 22:12

Thank you much for the input. It seems I... continue to not fully read each skill.

Leprechaun, how are criticals not good for damage?

iridescentfyre · Nov 19, 2007, 10:26 PM // 22:26

I think what he meant was that Keen Chop is not a substitute for such things as Executioner's Strike because its guaranteed critical isn't going to out-damage +38 armor-ignoring damage.

Zeek Aran · Nov 19, 2007, 10:34 PM // 22:34

Thank you again.

ANOTHER question: I refuse to use a superior, but what's best? +1 helm and a minor? Major and str/tac helm? My sword build uses minors everything with str helm.

iridescentfyre · Nov 19, 2007, 10:38 PM // 22:38

I would recommend a helm with +1 of your weapon mastery... strength isn't such a great attribute, you'll rarely need to run more than 9 or 10 or so. In PvE, use whatever rune you want, including Superior, and you'll do just fine. In PvP, I'd use all minors with 12+1+1 in your weapon mastery.

Arkantos · Nov 19, 2007, 10:53 PM // 22:53

In PvE, go with triple chop. The DPS of an axe warrior is inferior to a dslash warrior, so theres no point in playing a DPS build.

Zeek Aran · Nov 19, 2007, 11:52 PM // 23:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crom The Pale

This is a good combo, but change the order, start with wild blow.
Evicerate is a better choice, then skip wild blow on your second run of the spike unless your being blocked by a stance.

Against Master of D:

Tested Wild Blow, Counterattack, Ex Strike, Evisc, Flail, IatS!, and En. Charge. Low DPS [40s], runs out of e slowly, used max 14^50 axe, no helpful mods.

Replaced Evisc with Triple Chop. Instead of stopping after one, two, and then three chains of the elite as I did for the above build, I continued until I had used it four times. The average DPS was higher, but still in the 40s, and I still ran out of energy, but the death still occured at 11 seconds. A Zealous mod or higher strength [counterattack] would make this easy though.

Am I missing something? *aiming for 50^ against MoD without using splinter or more than one AoE attack, or Conjure anything*

Shadowfox1125 · Nov 20, 2007, 12:23 AM // 00:23

Go with this imo:
[card]Triple Chop[/card][card]Dismember[/card][card]Executioner's Strike[/card]

terminus123 · Nov 20, 2007, 12:28 AM // 00:28

....Triple Chop is porbably best bet for pve, Eviscerate is also fun but best in pvp
Dismember takes advantage of axe's instant Deep Pwound so take that, Furious Axe or Swift Chop depending on if you want more adreniline or more spike.

Zeek Aran · Nov 20, 2007, 01:13 AM // 01:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadowfox1125

Go with this imo:
[card]Triple Chop[/card][card]Dismember[/card][card]Executioner's Strike[/card]

Gasp. I forgot deep wound in the builds I tested...

Tried Triple, Dismember, Exec Str, Counterattack, Flail, E Charge, IatS!
51 DPS, death at 9s with deep wound
52 DPS, death at 10s with deep wound

Energy hurts still after thirty seconds without a zealous mod. How can I help this? My Cripslash build uses Knee Cutter, Counterattack in this build only has a net of +1 e.

BIG EDIT: WHOOOOOOOOPS! Forgot MoD isn't attacking me, so I don't get the e boost. Where can I test this in PvE? Otherwise I won't know how my e-management is with any of my builds. Currently, instead of net +1, it's -5 with counterattack.