Three Axe Problem

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Rathy

Well-known member
Hi!

I'm pugging 1-4 Skull (so far!) Reaper quests on Orien. It's my first real run at reaper (maybe I'll earn a Reaper cosmetic
in the next HardCore, haha!) so all the reaper types etc. are unknown to me. I'm a 1st life, 28pt Human Fighter/dragon-lord (just took
level 7). I sent multiple HC seasons fighter-types to retire here (transferred with their gear etc.) so I was able to cobble together a 'respectable' low
level gear set! I don't know different reaper types, etc. and just plan to learn vie experience. I died about 1 a quest in R4 but do
OK in R3 so far at least!

Anyway, my 3-axe problem is:

I have 3 great axes available to me all starting at level 4.

1. Hellstroke Great Axe (empty slot)
2. Carnifex (empty slot)
3. Antique Greataxe (slot = Ruby of Ghostbane) <--huh, did a HC season have Night Revels festival in it? I guess so!!
Note: I can move that ruby to any axe but I just have the one.

Question: If you can only choose one (no weapon switching) which of those three great axes are optimal for a newbie running Reaper difficulty in your opinion? And explain why if you want!

Thanks!!
 
R

Rathy

Well-known member
Thank you all for the advice! There seems like that there is no question or contest between these three.

And wow, I was wrong. I thought The Antique Greataxe with all it's extra damage and stuff would be the best.
Oh well, that was not the first time nor the last time I will be wrong!

Thanks again!!
 
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Reactions: dur
saekee

saekee

long live ROGUE
Rathy said:
Thank you all for the advice! There seems like that there is no question or contest between these three.

And wow, I was wrong. I thought The Antique Greataxe with all it's extra damage and stuff would be the best.
Oh well, that was not the first time nor the last time I will be wrong!

Thanks again!!
Click to expand...
extra damage add ons do not scale in higher skill—bane damage, elemental etc just disappear.This is why folks are obsessed with things that still work—Crowd control, crit range, vulnerability procs etc. Add a snowpeaks augment in that Carnifax when you can.
 
Purr

Purr

Well-known member
Rathy said:
Thank you all for the advice! There seems like that there is no question or contest between these three.

And wow, I was wrong. I thought The Antique Greataxe with all it's extra damage and stuff would be the best.
Oh well, that was not the first time nor the last time I will be wrong!

Thanks again!!
Click to expand...
For information, there is a meta-game discussion about surplus damage in the sense that doing 50 to 75 damage a swing due to extra damage like force damage on antique might be slightly better than doing 30 damage sometimes and 300 damage sometimes like with carnifex or other crit dependent weapons, since a mob dies at zero, there's no point in doing 300 damage when it would have died with 75.

I think the ooooovvvverrrrrrrrwhelming number of players much rather see a big ol' damage number sometimes than plinking away with 2d6 fire per hit, though :D
 
dur

dur

Paladin. Disruptor. Since the 1970s
Yeah, 17-20 crit is nice but that's it's only thing. Without Reaper points in Melee, it's meh. I would unslot*** the aug (insert acid/whatever) n use Antique, (be)cause (of the) force damage - it can also be upgraded to Epic n slotted with real damage. Or leave aug cause Ghostbane*** is GREAT for Incorporeal monsters. v hard to have at CR4.

**Aren't Reapers Evil Outsiders? Never looked n don't always cheat w wiki but yes, yes they are ;)

***"Attacks from this weapon bypass the miss chance of incorporeal creatures, such as ghosts, shadows, and wraiths." ...and Reapers.
 
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Marshal_Lannes

Marshal_Lannes

Well-known member
Purr said:
carnifex by a lot. lots of people will use it all the way to 20 if they don't have an Sword of Shadows at level 10
Click to expand...

This would be excellent advice. For 2010. I don't know any regular player who would use Carnifex up to level 20. I suppose someone might, but it certainly isn't a good choice.

You always want a Vorpal in the early and mid stages of heroics. Since you likely don't have a loot gen one, your first named great ax that you'll want is the Twinchopper from the Isle of Dread. If you don't have IoD, when Night Revels comes around you can get the Spectral Great Ax which also has Vorpal on it - ML8 version. Sword of Shadows is the best THF weapon at level 10, then Tail of the Scorpian, ML14 is the best weapon to use until level 20.

Twinchopper is fairly easy to get. Spectral Great Ax is very easy to get. Sword of Shadows is somewhat easy to get (can be bought with VON runes). Tail of the Scorpion is hard to get since it comes from a quest that people don't like running (long quest and challenging end fight on Reaper).
 
Oliphant

Oliphant

Well-known member
To the extent the crit-wins-out theory is still in play, keep in mind you want to be max max maxing your damage stat to leverage it.
 
dur

dur

Paladin. Disruptor. Since the 1970s
Disagree. But i'm just someone who doesn't have 30 past lives, etc. On it's face, the Antique Great Axe is winner the aug is Clincher. not sure why other players dismiss it. ..asuuming working as stated, as opposed to wai lolololololol
 
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R

Rathy

Well-known member
Oh! So it is not as clear-cut as I had hoped. Boooo but also yay as I now have things to consider!

I'll do something that resembles thinking about my 3-axe problem and post my current conclusions after some weekend play and experimentation.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, advice, and reasoning! Happy to hear more of course!!

And: Dur on this property of the Antique Great Axe:
dur said:
***"Attacks from this weapon bypass the miss chance of incorporeal creatures, such as ghosts, shadows, and wraiths." ...and Reapers.
Click to expand...

I did not know that! Hahahah, so me having a slotted 'Ruby of Ghostbane' in it is.....worthless!! Well, there's some bane damage but sigh....
Thanks for pointing that out Dur!
 
Buddha5440

Buddha5440

"There are some who call me...Tim"
For Heroics just use a crafted, dual-slotted whatever weapon of force/light/good and piercing/bludgeoning/slashing (or Evil Outsider Bane if just worried about Reapers). Throw in a Ruby of Ghostbane plus a ruby of whatever elemental damage you want (I'd recommend Acid or Cold) and you're set.
 
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P

PraetorPlato

Well-known member
Marshal_Lannes said:
This would be excellent advice. For 2010. I don't know any regular player who would use Carnifex up to level 20. I suppose someone might, but it certainly isn't a good choice.

You always want a Vorpal in the early and mid stages of heroics. Since you likely don't have a loot gen one, your first named great ax that you'll want is the Twinchopper from the Isle of Dread. If you don't have IoD, when Night Revels comes around you can get the Spectral Great Ax which also has Vorpal on it - ML8 version. Sword of Shadows is the best THF weapon at level 10, then Tail of the Scorpian, ML14 is the best weapon to use until level 20.

Twinchopper is fairly easy to get. Spectral Great Ax is very easy to get. Sword of Shadows is somewhat easy to get (can be bought with VON runes). Tail of the Scorpion is hard to get since it comes from a quest that people don't like running (long quest and challenging end fight on Reaper).
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Tail of the scorpion is a substantial downgrade from SoS. You're giving up a crit multi on a 6 wide range (in other words, ~20% of your overall damage) for 3 base damage, 10 on hit damage, and vorpal. Vorpal isn't a real benefit, because a x5 sos crit (dragonlord) will kill stuff in heroics super dead.
 
Marshal_Lannes

Marshal_Lannes

Well-known member
It is not. I've played dozens of THF lives. Tail of the Scorpion is unquestionably better. Again, I urge people to get out of 2010. DDO has specifically made weapons/armor/items that surpass old "best-in-slot" items. Of course, if you are a Paladin, you will want to go with the SoS. Unless you are a Wood Elf Paladin. I know, I know, the game gets complicated :)

I did some testing on this. The best L4 weapon ends up being a Loot Gen Cannith-crafted Holy of Slashing with two Ruby DPS augments. Adding a Snowpeaks Ruby supercharges this since you also get a freeze effect. I make it at L6 so you get 3d6 from both Holy and Slash. So you are getting 3d6 holy, 3d6 slashing, 2d6 fire/acid, 1d8 cold plus freezing.
 
P

PraetorPlato

Well-known member
Marshal_Lannes said:
It is not. I've played dozens of THF lives. Tail of the Scorpion is unquestionably better. Again, I urge people to get out of 2010. DDO has specifically made weapons/armor/items that surpass old "best-in-slot" items. Of course, if you are a Paladin, you will want to go with the SoS. Unless you are a Wood Elf Paladin. I know, I know, the game gets complicated :)

I did some testing on this. The best L4 weapon ends up being a Loot Gen Cannith-crafted Holy of Slashing with two Ruby DPS augments. Adding a Snowpeaks Ruby supercharges this since you also get a freeze effect. I make it at L6 so you get 3d6 from both Holy and Slash. So you are getting 3d6 holy, 3d6 slashing, 2d6 fire/acid, 1d8 cold plus freezing.
Click to expand...
Math please on ToS>SoS? Look at my prior post, math isn't mathing unless you're oneshotting everything on a ToS crit already, in which case it doesn't matter at all, and the extra boss DPS and saved inventory slot is better. +3 base damage is at most 5% of your base damage on a decent THF build at 14, 10 flat damage is at *absolute* most 10%, 20% extra from crit handily outweighs.
 
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