12 replies to this topic

[Death Midgett]

I am new to GW2 and as such am new to the Warrior class in this game as well. I believe I found an amazing PvE leveling build good for all but dungeon bosses where the bleed stacks become less important, from what I read in other threads. Other than that is there any reason why no one, from what I can see, uses Axe MH + Sword OH combo?

[Mootillay]

I think a lot of people shy away from swords, but I could see it as being perfectly good utility to go along with an axe.  You get a block on demand every 15 seconds and multiple bleed stacks to complement raw dps from axes.

Trouble with swords themselves is the focus on bleeds, to get the most from it you have to dump a lot of points into condition damage and gear/trait for bleed duration.  If you balance this setup right, it's fairly strong against bosses, elites and other foes with a decent amount of health.  You absolutely need the duration bonuses to maintain large stacks of bleeds(I seem to peak at around 20 on average), however there is also the issue of overlap since bleed spam is a common feature of many classes.

[animaillusionaria]

Tried both Axe/Sword and Sword/Axe

Axe/sword didn't work very well for me as the Axe 1 chain is channel.

While you can still move and attack at the same time, using any other abilities/ dodge will stop the chain and not getting those triple chops hurts the dps.

Axe 2 was underwhelming as the vulnerability stacks/ the dmg of the skill itself were weak

Axe 3 was only good for pulling ( sword 4 is  better) or to back off as again the dmg was weak

sword 4  and 5 are great
ranged pull+ bleed with a follow up ability that does huge single target dmg gave the set some burst.

A block that does dmg with a rather short cooldown compared to similar abilities is great just doesnt really shine in this set due to Axe1 having to be interrupted for it .



Sword/Axe on the other hand seemed to mesh a lot better although it  does lose the block.

contrary to common belief sword "can" go a power route and isn't limited to condition dmg only.

the 3rd hit on the sword 1 chain  hits really hard and you can fit in a sword 3 after every chain ,thanks to its instant animation resulting in a pseudo 4 hit chain.

You also get free dmg from the bleed ticks who even without condition dmg do  ok dmg thanks  having a constant number of them on the enemy at all times.(seriously a 5% scaling of your condition dmg is a waste if bleed is all you can apply )

while you miss the block you get sword 2 wich not only gives you mobility but can also be used to jump away from monster when you see a powerful attack incoming to dodge it instead of  blocking it.

Axe offhand rounds the set up perfectly by giving you some much needed AoE (something Axe/Sword lacks)

Axe 4 gives you 4 second of fury wich allows you to follow up with axe 5 and/or f1 for some heavy aoe dmg


basicly Axe/Sword isnt bad on paper but u wont be able to just stand still and auto chain everything and sadly autochain is the only thing this set has dmg wise.

Sword/ Axe just has more versatility and superior Aoe and shorter chains/ better synergy.

Edited by animaillusionaria, 28 October 2012 - 08:46 AM.

[Mootillay]

animaillusionaria, on 28 October 2012 - 08:43 AM, said:

Tried both Axe/Sword and Sword/Axe

Axe/sword didn't work very well for me as the Axe 1 chain is channel.

The impale/rip skill is pretty non-obtrusive for bleed spam on single targets.  I don't see why you couldn't pause your 1 slot spamming for a momentary impale toss, you certainly have to do it for eviscerate.  Also, every block skill is going to require you to pause and use it.  Passive blocks in gw are a thing of the past.

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contrary to common belief sword "can" go a power route and isn't limited to condition dmg only.

Common belief? It's totally self evident that swords can go the power route.. or more over, the raw damage route.  It's just that the axe and possibly even the mace are better suited for this.  So where does that leave swords? Well either you love the gap closer/snare(mainly for pvp) or you focus on what swords are clearly intended to do and that's spam a poop load of bleeds.

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Axe offhand rounds the set up perfectly by giving you some much needed AoE (something Axe/Sword lacks)

Axe 4 gives you 4 second of fury wich allows you to follow up with axe 5 and/or f1 for some heavy aoe dmg

Axe off-hand is pretty suspect, but I believe it's designed to be yet another multiple hit tool to build adrenaline and then off-load for burst.  There is also the small bit of fury duration, which is useful for axe damage in general... but guessing with the potential of 5 secs or so on average, it's probably intended for your burst skill(mainly eviscerate).  You *could* use it with swords, but I don't think flurry demands constant usage in PvE.

[animaillusionaria]

Mootillay, on 28 October 2012 - 09:56 AM, said:

The impale/rip skill is pretty non-obtrusive for bleed spam on single targets.  I don't see why you couldn't pause your 1 slot spamming for a momentary impale toss, you certainly have to do it for eviscerate.  Also, every block skill is going to require you to pause and use it.  Passive blocks in gw are a thing of the past.



Common belief? It's totally self evident that swords can go the power route.. or more over, the raw damage route.  It's just that the axe and possibly even the mace are better suited for this.  So where does that leave swords? Well either you love the gap closer/snare(mainly for pvp) or you focus on what swords are clearly intended to do and that's spam a poop load of bleeds.



Axe off-hand is pretty suspect, but I believe it's designed to be yet another multiple hit tool to build adrenaline and then off-load for burst.  There is also the small bit of fury duration, which is useful for axe damage in general... but guessing with the potential of 5 secs or so on average, it's probably intended for your burst skill(mainly eviscerate).  You *could* use it with swords, but I don't think flurry demands constant usage in PvE.

I never said that you couldn't/shouldn't pause  1 spamming my point was that since the chain is so long you'd either have to wait for the chain to end or interrupt it, generally giving you less freedom on the timing of your abilities without dropping your dps.

I also didn't like the fact that Axe MH is Prone to interrupts, more so than other sets since having to start the chain over and over is annoying as hell.

As for OH Axe with swords its the only  offensive choice MH sword has, shield is purely defensive, sword OH locks you into single target dmg while Mace is the jack of all trades OH.

to be able to spam flurry is actually a great thing, sure it doesn't match eviscerate but it is in an Aoe and is great for clearing trash mobs and tagging, since it has a snare stuff cant just walk out of it like it tends to do with Hundred blades.

in the end traits and your secondary weapon choice are going to determine which of the sets is gonna work out better for you.

i just prefer Sword/Axe due to it being more versatile .

Edited by animaillusionaria, 28 October 2012 - 05:58 PM.

[Mootillay]

animaillusionaria, on 28 October 2012 - 05:55 PM, said:

to be able to spam flurry is actually a great thing, sure it doesn't match eviscerate but it is in an Aoe and is great for clearing trash mobs and tagging, since it has a snare stuff cant just walk out of it like it tends to do with Hundred blades.

Immobilize isn't super useful in PvE, where foes willingly come right at you. Occasionally it's good defensively, but if you have to stand there for the full duration then it may very well defeat the point.  Also, while you get a quick burst of bleeds, the durations are short and the raw damage is quite low.  Similarly, whirling axe damage is quite low, despite being AoE.  Bleeds tend to overlap and you can get more consistent bleed stacks from simply spamming the 1 slot on the sword.

Both flurry and whirling axe(from your beloved axe OH) are skills based around hitting the target multiple times(for poop damage) in a short period.  For whirling axe, this charges your adrenaline.. not so much for flurry.  So if you don't need a quick adrenaline charge, as is the case with swords, then you're left with the utility of on-hit procs.. i.e. bleed on critical.  Sorry, but that's all either are good for in PvE, in this arrangement.  I would consider axe off-hand with an axe main hand if I were you.

[animaillusionaria]

Mootillay, on 28 October 2012 - 06:52 PM, said:

I would consider axe off-hand with an axe main hand if I were you.

No Doubt that Axe/Axe is better, i was just stating my oppinion on why i prefered Sword/ Axe over Axe/ Sword.

Sword OH just doesnt seem to do much for Axe MH that other OH could do better.

[Enscheff]

Through level 57 I have had good experience with Axe/Sword.

The nerf to Axe1 is pretty annoying, but the difference between letting Triple Chop finish and just spamming Chop again ends up being very little DPS difference (252 single chop vs 286 on each triple chop hit), especially when mobs die so fast anyways. I usually just opt for the ease of spamming 11111111 over a small DPS boost.

Axe1 is an AoE if you back away from the group of mobs enough so they are in the cone in front of you. It is very easy to just run through a group of mobs with your Axe flailing away to tag everything during an event. Add a Fire sigil to your Axe and you proc a Fire AoE while hacking a group of mobs almost every time anyways, so I have found there is little need for a "true" AoE.

Eviscerate and Rip (Sword4) do so much damage they take about 50% of a single mob's health. One of the two skills will be up for almost every mob if you are out somewhere chain killing loners, so they go down very quickly fighting one on one.

If I find myself fighting something at range, I just switch to rifle and blast away (even though I find range fighting extremely boring).

[Death Midgett]

So far the theory behind my current Axe + Sword build involves using Axe 3 and Sword 4 to pull the target and allow stacks of bleed to tick, Axe 1 is used for my AoE as I have found that Axe 1 does the job that Axe 5 does, only better imo especially when coupled with frenzy. 50% increase in damage taken is offset by endure pain.

Ultra fast DPS and inclusion of burst damage with sword 4.

Almost every trait taken synergizes very well with this build.

My build:

http://www.gw2db.com...|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

When I feel the need to blow For Great Justice, Frenzy, Endure Pain, and Signet of Rage all at once stuff just pretty much insta-dies, and from my observations faster than any GS warrior can manage.

There are only two weaknesses I've found with my build thus far.

This is mostly theory crafting on the other hand, as currently my warrior is only level 34, but so far most content is a breeze with this build, can and have taken almost every elite mob that I've encountered solo

1.) Not much in the way of defensive utility slots. Which also makes this one of the strengths of the build. When you're in danger blow all the utility skills at once and annihilate the foe before he can kill you. This also is partly why I chose to take sword OH; for sword 5.

2.) No condition removal.

Optional changes: Switch Healing signet to one of choice, remove 5 Defensive points and place into Arms to get Deep Cuts (III)

Any thoughts / suggestions??

[Umbradomo]

I've been using Axe/Mace to some good results. The Vulnerability from Axe 2 and Mace 4 are nice. Plus with Mace 5's Knockdown you have some CC as well.
Has anyone else tried this and what were the results? Not much of a number cruncher here. I just play what feels comfortable.

[Krispykid]

Try this thread: http://www.guildwars...-sword-or-mace/
I use this build for my warrior and as far as I know it is the only complete Sword/Axe build

[MrCats]

Umbradomo, on 30 October 2012 - 06:57 PM, said:

I've been using Axe/Mace to some good results. The Vulnerability from Axe 2 and Mace 4 are nice. Plus with Mace 5's Knockdown you have some CC as well.
Has anyone else tried this and what were the results? Not much of a number cruncher here. I just play what feels comfortable.

Strife's build uses this, you should check that out. Works well for him.

[Ninja Battle Lion]

Axe/Mace makes for BRUTAL Eviscerate chains. Lack of mobility is an issue but your 2nd set could help with that.