W00T! Battle Axe and Fiery Melee Changes!!

[Warboss]

I'm really looking forward to running these set (yes, I know I already run a lot of FM toons, but still)...

[Warboss]

I got a chance to play one of my Battle Axe Tankers last night and I'm really liking the set now. Axe Cyclone totally rocks and is a perfect attack/special effect for a Tank (it draws mobs into the Tank). Running at level 38/39, 8 +1 and with a few uniques/sets, but mostly SOs , he had little trouble managing the fights. I was teaming with a friend who was running their Fire/? 'troller and it was a very effective duo. With a little movement (according to how the mobs shake out after the initial gather/positioning) you can use Axe Cyclone to bring everything to you (which is completely awesome). I'm looking forward to getting this toon leveled and IO'd up. I'm running Bio/Axe, and the potential looks great.

 

See you all in game!

[Garymathers]

I have axe/shield scrapper and it’s really good so far. I think axe is better on tank so I might pair it with ice or fire. I feel like it would have good synergy. 

[StriderIV]

How is everyone liking the new Battle Axe and FM so far? Seems like they could both fit best on a tanker.

 

To be fair… almost everything seems like it fits best on a tanker these days 😂

[MrAxe]

I love it. Cleave feels odd but I'll get used to it. Having mained Ice/Axe on live it's great to finally have the combo feel as powerful as others.

[smnolimits43]

i tried axe and FM, but i ended up with a new Ice/Ice Tanker.  He's actually created by the Robots in the Fortress of Solitude.  Created around the time that Superman was killed by Doomsday.  Note: He's not Superman.

[Warboss]

I have to admit, I did need to get used to Cleave, but I'm really liking the utility of the power, and it hits hard!

 

I agree that the set seems to be geared towards Tanks, but I don't see how the changes would negatively impact Brutes (more mobs around you = good, right?), I can see how this might impact Scrappers if there's too much incoming damage, but they "kill faster", so ... maybe an offset there?

 

So far I've run Axe with Bio and I like the combo, and Rad/Axe and REALLY like the combo on the test server I was able to create a "Carnie Hunter". I can't wait to try that build on the live server.

 

I also got a chance to run my Fire/Fire Tank, I think he's T2 and T3 on most of the incarnate powers. I was running the Infernal mission at EB 8 +4 and had no trouble taking things down. Bosses that were able to shift to "Invincible" were still a bit a drag, but not undoable. I wasn't able to get a good read on how the -Def from the various fire attacks was shacking out, so I'll have to run a few more missions with other mobs to see how that's working, but it looks like the powers shifted to Fire Only damage are working well. Anyone else see a difference?

[Warboss]

I got to watch Axe Cyclone from an external standpoint last night at Tanker Tuesday, I have to say it does a great job of gathering mobs. One of the events we enjoy running on TT is all Shield ITFs. After playing Battle Axe and seeing it in action, used by another party member, the only thing I can think is "Dang, I want to run an all Axer TT team....". The herding, positioning, and control of the mobs would be insane!

[Sailboat]

Are the BA changes good?  I have a perfectly tricked-out Shield/Axe Tanker I guess I'll have to rebuild now that things have changed.  Not looking forward to it.

[drbuzzard]

BA is drastically better. Almost every power has had the DPAS improved, and I'd guess it's easily top half now instead of bottom half. 

[Warboss]

20 hours ago, Sailboat said:

Are the BA changes good?  I have a perfectly tricked-out Shield/Axe Tanker I guess I'll have to rebuild now that things have changed.  Not looking forward to it.

 

Hey Sail, good to see you around. I'm not sure you'll have to change things. The way the powers work and the levels you get them at (guess you might have to respec to take advantage of that) has changes but slotting and sets are pretty much the same. If you have tried Axe Cyclone, got do it, you'll love the set even more.

[Sanguinesun]

On 10/27/2022 at 4:26 AM, Warboss said:

I got to watch Axe Cyclone from an external standpoint last night at Tanker Tuesday, I have to say it does a great job of gathering mobs. One of the events we enjoy running on TT is all Shield ITFs. After playing Battle Axe and seeing it in action, used by another party member, the only thing I can think is "Dang, I want to run an all Axer TT team....". The herding, positioning, and control of the mobs would be insane!

 

And all axer team would be a horrible thing to see.  The meme image I get is 1 bowl of kitty food with 8 cats competing to pull it to them based on where they're standing and thus pulling it out of reach of the others to greater/lesser degrees 😛

[Sanguinesun]

On 10/27/2022 at 1:26 PM, Sailboat said:

Are the BA changes good?  I have a perfectly tricked-out Shield/Axe Tanker I guess I'll have to rebuild now that things have changed.  Not looking forward to it.

 

Make one on the test server and io it out properly and see.  I think you'll be rushing then to rebuild it.

[Warboss]

1 hour ago, Sanguinesun said:

 

And all axer team would be a horrible thing to see.  The meme image I get is 1 bowl of kitty food with 8 cats competing to pull it to them based on where they're standing and thus pulling it out of reach of the others to greater/lesser degrees 😛

 

Ha, true to some extent, but imagine this. At TT's we have up to 8 Tanks on a team, 8 x Aggro Cap = ~136 mobs (a BIG kitty bowl ;)). They can't all fit into the space around the Tanks (pulling to a single point). As the mobs crush in and are defeated Axe Cyclone keeps them pulling them in from the edges. It would be a thing of beauty. We already see that at some TT events, Axe Cyclone would just supply the mechanic to keep the grinder going.

[Warboss]

I got a chance to run by Bio/Axer again last night , solo and duoing. I'm still having a blast with it. I'm really liking the utility of Cleave. With the range it has now you can hit those annoying mobs that want to sit on the edge and plink away at you, and it hits pretty hard. I've only done some base Carnie action with him so far, but looking forward to what he can do. At level 44/45, he's ramping up to be a fun toon (moves much faster through mobs than previously). Not sure when I'll get to it, but I'm interested in seeing how BA plays out on a Brute.

[Spaghetti Betty]

I haven't played Battle Axe on a Tanker yet, but I have done an Axe Brute.

 

I think I just wanna emphasize how crazy and dynamic of an effect Axe Cyclone is. Has anyone tried jousting with it yet? For as long as the move is active, the affected mobs will be drawn to your position, even if you are moving. I have been doing this to successfully create massive pools of mobs while on teams. Having access to the ability to control game space on demand like this has my brain turning in interesting ways.

 

On the Tanker end of things, I did roll a Shield/Fire Tank and I'm blown away by how well it performs. Although I'm sure the power unlock changes certainly helped the experience, I was soloing +1x8 by lvl 20 something (it was like 22 or 23). By that point I had Shield Charge -> Combustion -> FSC deleting mobs. Breath of Fire dealt enough damage for me to experiment using it as a cleaving ST, but I will probably respec out of it once I have Incinerate and GFS. Really fun toon!

[Cancrusher]

I have an old axe/shield scrapper that I haven't messed with in a long time.  I'll have to dust him off and take him out for a test drive with the new version.  😁👍

[Warboss]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:48 PM, Spaghetti Betty said:

Has anyone tried jousting with it yet? For as long as the move is active, the affected mobs will be drawn to your position, even if you are moving.

 

I noticed something like this the other night when playing, but nothing I tried to repeat. Now that you bring it up, I'll have to see if I can reproduce the affect/maneuver.

 

On 11/1/2022 at 11:48 PM, Spaghetti Betty said:

On the Tanker end of things, I did roll a Shield/Fire Tank and I'm blown away by how well it performs. Although I'm sure the power unlock changes certainly helped the experience, I was soloing +1x8 by lvl 20 something (it was like 22 or 23). By that point I had Shield Charge -> Combustion -> FSC deleting mobs. Breath of Fire dealt enough damage for me to experiment using it as a cleaving ST, but I will probably respec out of it once I have Incinerate and GFS. Really fun toon!

 

I've always liked FM, but it wasn't until a few months ago I saw the reason why, posted on these forums (less resisted by mobs). With the new changes the set has really come into it's own. I had a Shield/Fire Tanker on live and he was a blast to run even back then (go Fire Mastery for the Epic set and pick up Fireball for more AoE fun ). 😉 I thought I saw something about the changes that made me do a double take on BoF, but sounds it's not like a keeper. If you can pack both Incinerate and Greater Fire Sword into the build you can pick up some high end damage output. I usually take one or other, with GFS being the choice, it does a big whack of damage and is great for starting the damage chain and finishing off the remaining hit points.

[Spaghetti Betty]

25 minutes ago, Warboss said:

I thought I saw something about the changes that made me do a double take on BoF,

The original proposed change was for BoF to deal a massive 45 second DoT on hit. I believe on an enhanced Scrapper it did somewhere in the 1k dmg range. IMO this would've been an incredibly unique addition, but it was axed since that meant mobs got it too.

 

Also, update on that Tank. With Incinerate, Fire Sword, and GFS I am absolutely tearing through +2 bosses. I still recommend picking of BoF for progression and respeccing it out later, as you get it early and it does deal pretty solid damage during a time where you don't have many ST attacks.

[Warboss]

20 hours ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

The original proposed change was for BoF to deal a massive 45 second DoT on hit. I believe on an enhanced Scrapper it did somewhere in the 1k dmg range. IMO this would've been an incredibly unique addition, but it was axed since that meant mobs got it too.

 

Also, update on that Tank. With Incinerate, Fire Sword, and GFS I am absolutely tearing through +2 bosses. I still recommend picking of BoF for progression and respeccing it out later, as you get it early and it does deal pretty solid damage during a time where you don't have many ST attacks.

 

Are you adding procs to your STs, Franensloting or sets (with whatever procs they have in them)?

[Spaghetti Betty]

20 minutes ago, Warboss said:

 

Are you adding procs to your STs, Franensloting or sets (with whatever procs they have in them)?

No IO sets yet. Just ATOs and a handful of procs. The normal loadout of defense and recovery procs, and I fitted Combustion and FSC with a FOTG and Achilles Heel proc respectively.

 

Normally when I spot a boss I don't like in a mob, I'll use Combustion + FSC to soften them up, Build Up then do Incinerate -> Fire Sword -> GFS. With AAO behind all of that, I'll watch a +2 boss go from full health to less than 1/3.

[Warboss]

On a Fiery note, I got a chance to run my Fire/Fire/Mu Mastery Tanker last night (haven't run him in awhile). His Incarnates range from T1s to T4s. I had forgotten I was experimenting with with the build to see what I could do PSi-Resist wise. It uses Impervium Armors instead of UGs. Anyways... against 8 +2 Carnies he did well, except for the End Drains. When Consume was used at the start of the fight there were no problems. I could also decrease the affect of the drain by eating a mid size Purple Shield.  I think once I get Hybrid Melee to T4 he might be even sturdier.  Anyone have an idea/trick to getting Consume's recharge faster (currently running Ageless, Hasten, and a couple of LoTGs). I'll test against other mobs soon. But so far this build looks pretty good.

[Warboss]

Absolutely loving the changes to Battle Axe. A friend and I duo'd Citadel last night and Axe Cyclone allowed me to position, reposition, and drag mobs around and really control the combat. (note: this iteration of the build has Axe Cyclone updated from the when Whirling Axe was available at 20). With the changes, Axe Cyclone now not available until 28, so you'll be w/o it on lower level TFs (but there's still time to get it for Citadel!). I sort of miss it at level 20, but I think the swap was made to allow from greater damage earlier, and Pendulum is an awesome power in it's own right at level 20. This was with a Bio/Axer. I believe my friend was running a Rad/Dark Def (Yeah, my Tank was pretty buffed, and the mobs pretty debuffed. No, I didn't feel sorry for them. They were Council after all....). I just started work on a Rad/Axer which looks very promising. Can't wait to get both these toons totally built out.

 

So anyways, I love the changes to Battle Axe, thanks Devs for making the set better and giving it a unique mechanic that actually works great for ATs the set was created for.

[Warboss]

Under the "Fun with Axes" topic. Yes, you can move mobs using Axe Cyclone. It takes a little practice, but you can have fun moving them around. If you jump, then at the mob's head height, hit Axe Cyclone, you can "pull" them into the air. They do scatter but it's fun to watch. Once you can do that, you can start positioning them (to some extent).

1) you can jump towards and object and hit Axe Cyclone. I successfully did this and pulled a few mobs into a small dumpster.

2) Lampposts, if you gather them by and lamppost and hit it, it gathers the mob a little better, however the lamppost also provides additional scatter (do to the arc of the light arm(?)).

3) In low ceiling areas, there is little scatter, so if you jump then hit it, it pulls the mobs together nicely.

4) I successfully pulled a mob over a wall, onto a wall, etc...

5) it's very fun, give it try!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ran a BP mission and got to do a "Tiki Toss" as well. Very fun, but no pics at this time. Hopefully my teammate got some 🙂

 

If you haven't rolled a Axer, do so. They're fun!

Edited December 8, 2022 by Warboss

[Spaghetti Betty]

Once you become adept at dragging mobs through the air with Cyclone Slinging we're calling it this now no exceptions, pair it with Fold Space to make galactic-sized mobs! With some skill and a good team comp, you can make mosh pits that will be reminiscent of the i0 days. Yes, I have been having too much fun practicing this, to the detriment of those around me.