Curse

Lishy · Feb 26, 2011, 09:46 PM // 21:46

Hey. I'm trying to play PvE without PvE skills, and I'm having trouble making an axe build since the skills are more PvP oriented (Or just plain suck, see: Cleave, Decapitate)

How is the build? Any way to better the damage capabilities or usefulness for HM?

Xenomortis · Feb 26, 2011, 09:58 PM // 21:58

Triple Chop or Warrior's Endurance as the elite.
Then spam Cyclone and Power Attack. Penetrating Chop is fine as is Thrill of Victory (but I'd hold off the massive Tactics spec).

And Frenzy.

Lishy · Feb 26, 2011, 10:08 PM // 22:08

But I've always thought Triple Chop was a bad elite due to its 10 second recharge?

Xenomortis · Feb 26, 2011, 10:28 PM // 22:28

It's AoE. That's more than Eviscerate. Although the recharge does suck.

S4br3t00th · Feb 26, 2011, 10:56 PM // 22:56

Yeah, pretty much Warrior's endurance and spam the hell out of enregy attacks.
You can add dismember and maybe replace flail by burst of aggression seeing you wont use SY!
This build from PvX to sum it up... I used this before switching to the scythe and now the almighty daggers

FoxBat · Feb 27, 2011, 04:50 AM // 04:50

Triple chop always seemed vastly inferior to Echo on cyclone axe or better, whirlwind (albeit PvE). But WE axe is the most solid general option.

Bobby2 · Feb 28, 2011, 09:09 PM // 21:09

cyclone
dismember
agonizing
frenzy
CHARGE
watch yourself
fgj
death's charge, or fear me, or a cancel stance if you lack cojones

LifeInfusion · Mar 01, 2011, 12:01 AM // 00:01

I'd drop tactics but soldier's strike if you intend to use it. Also body blow with 13 strength is comparable to Executioner's strike.

Furious axe is mediocre unless there's blocking since with a zealous weapon you could slot power attack there, or your case Soldier's strike. I'd drop something for cyclone axe to build adrenaline (fear me?).

Wenspire · Mar 02, 2011, 09:14 AM // 09:14

I used to run this when I used my warrior. (If I had to remove the PvE skills, I would replace them with Cyclone Axe and Dismember probably.) It worked well for me, but this was before they changed Enraged Charge so don't know if that would affect it.

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14 Strength (used with Sentinel's Insignia. 14 in case of Weakness condition)
13 Axe
07 Tactics

Enraged Charge going in to power Defy Pain and Burst of Agression to build adren. Bonettis used for when I need to build energy or need damage reduction via blocking.

If you wanted more damage than defense, then probably would swap out Defy Pain for something like Triple Chop.

Urcscumug · Mar 09, 2011, 02:20 PM // 14:20

Effective W build = damage. A monk will do protection, healing, condition removal far better than a W. Cut Tactics down to zero; don't use Tactics skills unless they are actually useful AND effective at zero points.

A good build can spam attack skills non-stop. For this you need energy and/or adrenaline. Things to consider:

1) You want an IAS skill. Always good, essential for adren builds. Problem: all IAS have downsides. Frenzy is particularly dangerous due to doubling taken damage, so you have to be very skilled with a cancel stance, which means another wasted slot.

Personally I prefer Flurry. The 25% dmg reduction only applies to base damage (and you still end up with +12.5% anyway due to increased speed). Bonus damage and increased adren gain are unaffected. The recharge and duration are the same, which gives a great visual clue: if it's lit, hit it.

2) Warrior energy is 20. This means you either limit yourself to 2-3 energy-based skills with cost 5 or you do energy management (Warrior's Endurance or skills that recup energy). A Zealous weapon also helps.

3) For adren builds you want stuff that improves adren gain. "For Great Justice" + IAS is a classic combo. Various skills have extra adren gain as side effects. For /P secondaries, Enduring Harmony can be used to extend "For Great Justice" duration. Use a Furious weapon mod.

4) Choose skills that complement each other in some manner. Skill chaining can be used to regain energy or to build up conditions which amplify damage or bad effects on enemies. Also consider having other party members maintain stuff that amplifies your damage (eg. Mark of Pain, Judge's Insight, Winter spirit + elemental weapon etc.)

5) Knock-downs, area-of-effect, interrupts are good to have, but be careful not to underplay massive single-target damage for the sake of much weaker area damage. When given a choice, I prefer to take one foe out permanently than to keep scratching at 2+ foes without killing any of them. KD is an exception because of its shutdown effect.

Bottom line: at the very least, a W build should have an IAS and 3-4 damage-dealing skills. The other 3-4 slots should be used mainly to support attack spam or damage increase.

There are particular situations that will warrant special skills in those extra slots. Some examples:
* Condition removal, healing, res signet; when (for some reason) you can't have a monk or other party members do them for you.
* Snare/IMS combo for foes that kite/run a lot.
* Aggro control/alternative (eg. "Save Yourselves", snare).
* Opening strikes (eg. snare, shadow step, first attack, interrupt etc.).
* Running skills (anti-KD, shadow stepping, teleportation etc.)
* Signet of Capture.

Take PvX with a big grain of salt. Use your own head. The cookie cutter builds on PvX are exactly that, generic examples.

Beomagi · Mar 09, 2011, 08:18 PM // 20:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lishy

Hey. I'm trying to play PvE without PvE skills, and I'm having trouble making an axe build since the skills are more PvP oriented (Or just plain suck, see: Cleave, Decapitate)

How is the build? Any way to better the damage capabilities or usefulness for HM?

I was never a fan of eviscerate. It's good bar compression but the 8 adr really puts this in spiker-ville. I don't PvP - where I see this has it's merits. I've always been the PvE type where sustained damage is necessary.

I know there's an over-reliance on Warrior's Endurance, but there's really nothing better for fueling energy spammable attacks.

For deep wound I'd go dismember - 5 adr, so you'll have it charged faster. There's no +damage, but that's easy to make up from any number of ~+40 damage skills. Hell - throw strength of honor on there and you're running around with a 5 adr skill a few points shy of eviscerate.

Assuming you stick to flail+rush for IAS and cancel stance.
You can carry Warrior Endurance + Power attack + Dismember. This alone delivers decent damage, and is the basis behind most warrior endurance builds. Smacking +40 damage on a 3 second recharge? awesome.

You have 3 slots left to toy with.

Some considerations:
- Augment damage with conjure/strength of honor.
- Take prot strike for a speedy attack that can follow power attack.
- Carry some energy heavy skills for fun - go nuts - experiment.
- Counter attack for more energy (also decent damage).
- More attack skills.
- You have less need to build adrenaline.
- You can do a 3 way split - str+tac+axe. Nothing wrong with it. You'll be able to use Fear me to boost the axe potential, and Thrill for damage/adr.
- No PVE skills, so give some thought to Watch Yourself if using tactics.

Urcscumug · Mar 09, 2011, 09:34 PM // 21:34

ABIRkl8gVmKwRoSU5qAAAAA
Adren build and support skills that will allow you to keep spamming attacks.

Consider adding Enraging Charge and open attacks with it, it will start you off at 2 strikes of adren instead of zero.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beomagi

- You can do a 3 way split - str+tac+axe. Nothing wrong with it. You'll be able to use Fear me to boost the axe potential, and Thrill for damage/adr.

If you've maxed out Str and Axe, sure, nothing wrong with putting the points into Tactics. Then again, you might consider putting them into something from your secondary.

If you're taking points from Str/weapon and putting them into Tactics... that's counterproductive.