Is there any reason for using a Great Axe rather than a Great Sword?

kmoustakas

kmoustakas

Scourge of Xaos
It used to have a faster animation actually, no longer sure if that's the case after the animation pass.

x3 is way better than 19-20/x2. (of course SoS breaks this but that's another story).

The only reason to use a greatsword - again, other than sos - is because there is NO WAY in game to make greataxe a favoured weapon for those builds that care.
 
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PurpleSerpent

Monster Hunter of Moderate Renown
kmoustakas said:
The only reason to use a greatsword - again, other than sos - is because there is NO WAY in game to make greataxe a favoured weapon for those builds that care.
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One way now, technically, but that's a fairly rare curse from the Deck of Many Curses, so it's not exactly reliable. (Unless you have lots of copies of the same greataxe and a lot of time on your hands, I guess.)
 
kmoustakas

kmoustakas

Scourge of Xaos
WDS said:
why?
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Oh man, a whole book has been written about this! I'll go look on the old forums to see if I can find it, it's a really old post even before old destiny adrenaline broke everything. Has to do with math and stuff.

PurpleSerpent said:
One way now, technically, but that's a fairly rare curse from the Deck of Many Curses, so it's not exactly reliable.
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So you are saying there IS a way? Man if you can get this on a paladin!
 
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LunaCee

Well-known member
Early game the answer is YES. Its very hard for greatswords to trump a Carnifex at low levels when the player won't have the improved critical feat and a raw 17-20x3 is simply massive.

Late game you are a bit more build dependent on getting value out of a given greataxe versus having something like an Epic SoS or Epic Xuum handy which can be slotted the moment you hit level 20 and serve as a very dependable sentient weapon.
 
Fisto Mk I

Fisto Mk I

Well-known member
kmoustakas said:
So you are saying there IS a way? Man if you can get this on a paladin!
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My paladin throw stars... favored stars!
lE2E7Ff.png
 
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popejubal

Avatar of Jell-O
If I ever get an endgame Favored greataxe or Kukri, I’m moving it to a Paladin that I’ll build just for that weapon.
 
gravisrs

gravisrs

From DDO EU servers
Adrenaline. It gives +16 threat.

So it's much better to have 4-20/x3 than 3-20/x2
Or including most common threat increases (feat, ench trees) 2-20/x4 vs 2-20/x3 - you always miss on 1
 
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Grunndi

Grunndi

Well-known member
I think a better question is when is a greatsword better than a falchion? Pallys and Cha based PDKs are about the only times I can think of to use a greatsword over a falchion.

Great Axes work wonders for builds with lots of auto Crit attacks to rotate through, Horc Fighters in particular can get 4 different ones at cap including the Mob pack deleting Legendary Rally.
 
Geezer

Geezer

Well-known member
IMHO, a Greataxe is better than a Greatsword in end boss beatdown because of the higher crit damage. Otherwise, greatsword is better for everyting else. Then theres falchion to consider too. Depends on what kind of named weapons you have and if your build uses favored weapons or not.
 
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l_remmie

Well-known member
It's not an exact science, yes you can calculate dps but there is more to it than that.
The axiom is at low lvl you want crit chance, at higher lvl you want more crit multiplier.
Especially with bosses it might be a good idea to switch a weapon.

Any weapon with a crit profile better than the usual Is worth having a conversation about.
 
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LurkingVeteran

Well-known member
- If you don't crit much (e.g. cannot pierce fort), then great sword is a tiny bit better due to 2D6 > D12.
- If you crit more than normal (adrenaline etc), great axe is better.
- If the monster has high DR, then great axe is better due to large crits losing less to DR.
- Berserker +2 mult is better with sword (or even better: falchion) than axe. Ravager +2 range is better with axe.
- If you tailor a paladin build, hammer also has better crit profile than both weapons.

As a rule, maximize the product of the total range and multiplier, it is better to increase both equally than to stack just one. 3*3 > 4*2 even though they both sum to 6. However, if you generate additional crits via abilities, or suffer from DR, higher mult might still be better.
 
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unbongwah

Well-known member
Reasons to use greatswords instead of greataxes:
  • You have a Sword of Shadow.
  • You want 2H Favored weapon bonuses (and don't have Curse of Divine Fortune or are a wood elf with Faith of the Forest).
  • You're a Purple Dragon Knight using Cormyrian Knight Training.
Reasons to use greataxes instead of greatswords:
  • You have a Carnifex.
  • You're using Ravager's Critical Rage, particularly with a Riftmaker (17-20/x4 w/Improved Critical + Crit Rage).
  • Adrenaline favors weapons with higher crit multipliers.
 
Kathwynn

Kathwynn

Well-known member
As for me I prefer the Great Axe. Yes, we can debate what weapon is better than the next all day. Is the Falchion better than say, the Great Sword. Maybe or the Maul a better choice,. Could be.

For myself I prefer the Great Axe. In my experience it works better over all. Not saying that other weapons can not work better or are better over all. Just a matter of preference in seeing what works best for me.
 
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WDS

Member
kmoustakas said:
math and stuff.
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Got it.

But for real, I don't understand any of this jibber-jabber about Carnifexes and adrenaline and sentient weapons. The only things I understood were "at low lvl you want crit chance, at higher lvl you want more crit multiplier" and "maximize the product of the total range and multiplier"
 
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