Curse

Squishy ftw · Mar 04, 2008, 06:02 PM // 18:02

drop endure pain, wielders strike and light of deldrimor for an ias, speedboost and dpsig.

h9dlb · Mar 04, 2008, 07:43 PM // 19:43

dont see the point of stances

Squishy ftw · Mar 04, 2008, 07:54 PM // 19:54

IAS = 50% more damage. Any warrior should see the point of that.
and a speedboost is to catch anything that tries to run from you. Altho this is less important in pve.

h9dlb · Mar 04, 2008, 10:03 PM // 22:03

hmm so which IAS would you recommend for an axe build - flail,
I will avenge you,
berserker stance or
tiger stance ??

Yichi · Mar 04, 2008, 10:05 PM // 22:05

frenzy and rush for speedbost

Stormlord Alex · Mar 04, 2008, 10:07 PM // 22:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by h9dlb

hmm so which IAS would you recommend for an axe build - flail,
I will avenge you,
berserker stance or
tiger stance ??

PvE - Flail
PvP - Frenzy + Rush

Crom The Pale · Mar 05, 2008, 12:26 AM // 00:26

In some few instances I actually have run Flail + Tigers stance as the cancel stance if something kites or I have 0 adren built up.

blue.rellik · Mar 05, 2008, 03:07 AM // 03:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Savio

Warriors, or any good build in general, require that your party work well.

Outside of high-end PvP and select PvE players, that is nearly impossible to find.

Dr Strangelove · Mar 05, 2008, 03:55 AM // 03:55

For PvE, enraging charge and flail work very nicely together.

Torqual · Mar 05, 2008, 12:12 PM // 12:12

The PvE and PvP debates are totally seperate, but people keep blurring them together and making statements that are only valid for one or the other.

For PvE my view is as follows: it all depends what PvE skills you take!

Overall, what I always liked about Axe was:

1) Good options to hit multiple opponents (Triple Chop/Cyclone) vs very weak option to do so in Hammer (Crude Swing) and none in Sword.

2) Easy access to Deep Wound without chaining (Hammer requires KD/Crushing and Sword requires Bleeding/Gash).

Therefore, before the introduction of PvE skills I would have said any Axe bar should have Deep Wound and a multi attack otherwise why use an axe at all?

The issue is now, if you're high in Sunspear, Whirlwind Attack is one of the best skills in the game. And if you're half-decent in Norn, "Finish Him!" is a superb Deep Wound applier.

If like me you have high level Sunspear and Norn, I think you can see that a Sword or Hammer build can do everything that the Axe build could before?

Assuming that the OP is starting out, not doing High-End stuff and hasn't levelled PvE skills, I go back to what I said before. The advantages of Axe are multiple attack and Deep Wound. So consider a bar with:

Triple Chop/Dismember
Eviscerate/Cyclone
....if neither elite available, have Dismember/Cyclone available.

Just on personal preference, I strongly recommend Furious Axe. But this on a bar with Cyclone can mean energy depletion due to low recharge of both and temptation to spam.

The next question is of course whether you're running Axe/Strength or Axe/Tactics. Whichever, you have a nice choice of big hits to complement your Axe attacks:

Power Attack (Strength): a noob skill and easy way to drain your energy but does what it says
Counterattack (Strength): a superb energy management option, can help to offset Furious/Cyclone's energy demands
Soldier's Strike (Tactics): Great if you have a Paragon in the team.

Thrill of Victory is a bit meh....not keen.

Tactics used to be a lovely combo with Axe due to the ability to spam Cyclone and use it to charge "Fear Me!" But post-nerf of "Fear Me!" the joy of this build has gone. Really it's hard to justify Tactics against Strength at all. Strength is full of speed boosts and IAS, tactics gives you....blocking stances and heal sig...wow.

Really in answer to the OP, if you want better advice, let us know what campaigns you are doing and what your progress is on PvE skills, plus whether you're investing in Strength/Tactics. Another point is whether you are doing high-end PvE (Deep Wound more important) or low-end, and whether you have access to heroes (especially hero monks).

Bobby2 · Mar 05, 2008, 01:19 PM // 13:19

Quote:

1) Good options to hit multiple opponents (Triple Chop/Cyclone) vs very weak option to do so in Hammer (Crude Swing) and none in Sword.

[skill]hundred blades[/skill]

Iz win teh thred

I am really, really starting to dislike the recharge on Triple Chop though. Right now Splinter Weapon + Cyclone seems like a way better option, and I'm not too thrilled about speccing into Channeling either. The existence of Whirlwind makes TC look even paler in comparison.

*needs to hear about more upsides to Triple Chop*

Still like Cleave. Especially with FGJ! up.

Crom The Pale · Mar 05, 2008, 02:32 PM // 14:32

Personally I think its a matter of build purpose.

If you make a Nuker Elementalist your going to take AoE spells, Energy management and maybe self healing/defence skills. Not 2 AoE + 2 single target skills.

So if your building a war to take down mobs via AoE dmg then go all the way and use Triple chop+cyclone axe+whirlwind Attack(+splinter weapon).

Cleave is a good skill, but if your focus is in single target killing then your other skills should reflect that.

Torqual · Mar 05, 2008, 02:52 PM // 14:52

I think a good 'general' PvE build combines single and multi target attacks, and I think the OP was after advice on such a 'general' build.

Not so keen on Triple Chop myself either; 10 sec recharge isn't great. But I can't help hating Jade Brotherhood Knights! So TC must be half-decent.

It's such a shame they nerfed "Fear Me!" I had a lovely build with Whirling Axe and Fear Me as the two adrenal skills, plus Furious Axe and Cyclone Axe. With 'To the limit' as well, I could hit about 3-4 Fear Me's in 10 seconds (without even using IAS as it was a Tactics buid).

Torqual · Mar 05, 2008, 02:54 PM // 14:54

And lol, I forgot Hundred Blades. Elite Sun & Moon slash that CAN be blocked! It's a while since I used that, but it did creep in some pre-Whirlwind Attack sword builds.

Bobby2 · Mar 05, 2008, 03:24 PM // 15:24

I'm not the OP, but ya a 'general' build just suits me better I guess.

On top of that if I wantd pure single target dmg... I'd just run Dragon Slash

Savio · Mar 05, 2008, 08:10 PM // 20:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torqual

I think a good 'general' PvE build combines single and multi target attacks

Not really, single-target attacks are what warriors excel at. Killing one monster is better than just hurting several.

Bobby2 · Mar 05, 2008, 09:03 PM // 21:03

I agree with you there! Which is why I'm not much for Splinter Weapon (only dmgs adjacent) but:

- Cyclone Axe is just friggin' awesome for building adren
- Whirlwind has enough +dmg to justify the use against single targets

moriz · Mar 05, 2008, 11:12 PM // 23:12

whirlwind has the same +damage progression as executioner's strike... assuming you can get your sunspear title track high enough.

Savio · Mar 05, 2008, 11:57 PM // 23:57

Whirlwind Attack is 20 damage at max. Executioner's Strike is 42.

blue.rellik · Mar 06, 2008, 03:17 AM // 03:17

Gimme a sec to find my post on why TC/CA/WA really isn't reliable for general PvE....

EDIT: Found it, some of the points might not be pertinent for this thread but you should be able to get the general gist of it.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...3&postcount=44