What to pair with new and improved Axe?

[Bionic_Flea]

I want to make a new Axe tank but unsure of what to pair it with.  My leading candidate right now is Electric, but I've also thought of Shield, Rad, and Bio.

 

Was also considering grabbing fold space to add to Axe Cyclone's vacuum.

 

Any thoughts or builds anyone wants to share?

 

Bonus points for anyone who can come up with a good "________ic Flea" name for this Axe tanker!

[Grimm2]

Shield/Axe sounds iconic... so you have a Heroic Flea? You could do a He-Man kinda theme. 

[BrandX]

3 minutes ago, Grimm2 said:

Shield/Axe sounds iconic... so you have a Heroic Flea? You could do a He-Man kinda theme. 

 

As I have one...Fire/Axe for the iconic.  Grab that fireman's axe and go 🙂

[roleki]

I went with the Broot option for my Axe/Shield, figuring (correctly) that Against All Odds, Fury, and an insp macro would keep me at/close to the damage cap and help offset the Lethal damage tax.   

 

Onliest thing is, it's more... steady solo than on teams, because AAO wants dudes crowding around you for fuel; against AVs and hard targets, you can feel kind of like you're fighting uphill. 

 

All in all, still a fun character... I've always liked the Battle Axe animations, and the idea of 'arresting' people with a move called "Beheader."

[Sanguinesun]

Rad/Axe   Ionic Flea   Solid resistances, 2 utility/damage pbaoe in rad as well.

[PLVRIZR]

2 hours ago, Bionic_Flea said:

Bonus points for anyone who can come up with a good "________ic Flea" name for this Axe tanker!

 

Adzeic Flea

 

[BrandX]

5 hours ago, BrandX said:

 

As I have one...Fire/Axe for the iconic.  Grab that fireman's axe and go 🙂

 

Demonic Flea

[Bionic_Flea]

22 hours ago, PLVRIZR said:

Adzeic

What the heck is Adzeic?  Closest thing I could find is an Integrated Chip (IC) from a company called Adze.

 

18 hours ago, BrandX said:

Demonic Flea

Good one!  So good that I have a Demon/Thermal MM on another server with that name.

 

I went with Shield/Axe and named him Iconic Flea.  Right now it's kind of a pun for Eye-conic, but I plan to add homage costumes for a bunch of Iconic Shield or Axe bearers.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Bionic_Flea

[PLVRIZR]

4 hours ago, Bionic_Flea said:

What the heck is Adzeic?  Closest thing I could find is an Integrated Chip (IC) from a company called Adze.

 

 

An "Adze" is a type of axe or axe-like cutting tool.  Some blades are perpendicular to the handle/shaft, like a tilling tool (usually used for woodworking/bowl making), some are horizontal, just like a regular axe or hatchet.  Some examples:

 

I thought that the obscurity of the reference added to its relevance, or more appropriately, elegance 😉

[lemming]

I just got a Inv/Axe Tank up to 50.  With all the knockdown, I feel like a mobile Bonfire

[drbuzzard]

I have a rad/axe tanker and a axe/Energy brute. Both are good as the set is drastically improved. The brute has (near) perma hasten, and this smooths out the single target chain. Though really by just using cleave as a single target in the chain, you don't give up much. 

 

There's a lot of AOE going on (which is the strength of the set, especially now), so I'd definitely opt for a set which includes endurance recovery. 

[JayboH]

Bio would grant a damage aura but there is a number of clicks in case we bring up redraw

[Warboss]

With the changes to Axe I don't think there is a "bad" pairing. Dark is going to hate End a bit more than the other sets, but other than that, any of the primaries should be fine.

[Warboss]

13 hours ago, PLVRIZR said:

 

An "Adze" is a type of axe or axe-like cutting tool.  Some blades are perpendicular to the handle/shaft, like a tilling tool (usually used for woodworking/bowl making), some are horizontal, just like a regular axe or hatchet.  Some examples:

 

I thought that the obscurity of the reference added to its relevance, or more appropriately, elegance 😉

 

Points for knowing what and "Adze" iz, but I thought the whole distinction of the tool was the blades relationship to the handle. Anyways, look at how much you can learn on the Tanker threads...

 

With that said, to learn even more fun and interesting facts join us for Tanker Tuesdays on a server near you (schedule in sig) (yes, I know it's a shameless plug, but that's my job).

Edited November 5, 2022 by Warboss

[Spankea]

I just started a rad/axe, it seems promising.  Once you get enough Force Feedback 100% recharge procs in the axe attacks, the rad set will be great with all those AoEs for damage and survivability.  Add foldspace and you'll be a happy camper.

Edited November 9, 2022 by Spankea

[Cutter]

8 hours ago, Spankea said:

I just started a rad/axe, it seems promising.  Once you get enough Force Feedback 100% recharge procs in the axe attacks, the rad set will be great with all those AoEs for damage and survivability.  Add foldspace and you'll be a happy camper.

Hey, me too! Any thoughts on what to skip in /Axe? I like to think I have a decent grasp on Rad Armour, but never played Axe on live or HC. And especially with it being reworked, everything looks to have an appeal. Needing to find room for 3 powers out of the teleport pool (and I hate TP for travel, so there's an extra tax I'm dealing with) feels like it would make for a very tight build with some potentially significant sacrifices.

[Spankea]

9 hours ago, Cutter said:

Hey, me too! Any thoughts on what to skip in /Axe? I like to think I have a decent grasp on Rad Armour, but never played Axe on live or HC. And especially with it being reworked, everything looks to have an appeal. Needing to find room for 3 powers out of the teleport pool (and I hate TP for travel, so there's an extra tax I'm dealing with) feels like it would make for a very tight build with some potentially significant sacrifices.

Beheader, Gash, and Pendelum, are the three to skip.  Unless you need IO bonuses out of them, you'll never use these powers in your attack chain.

[BrandX]

1 hour ago, Spankea said:

Beheader, Gash, and Pendelum, are the three to skip.  Unless you need IO bonuses out of them, you'll never use these powers in your attack chain.

 

Why would you skip Pendulum?

 

I can understand skipping Beheader and Gash, as you can probably go Chop (able to have the -Resist IO probably moves it above Gash) > Swoop > Cleave for single target, but you'll lack some attacks for awhile doing that.

 

Pendulum has the 8ft AOE around target.  

[Bionic_Flea]

I didn't on my Shield/Axe.  Even with shield charge, I like the extra AoE.

 

But on Rad I can see it as they have Radiation Therapy and Ground Zero to add AoE damage, especially if using damage procs.

[Spankea]

1 hour ago, BrandX said:

 

Why would you skip Pendulum?

 

I can understand skipping Beheader and Gash, as you can probably go Chop (able to have the -Resist IO probably moves it above Gash) > Swoop > Cleave for single target, but you'll lack some attacks for awhile doing that.

 

Pendulum has the 8ft AOE around target.  

Cones aren't worth the hassle.  Damage isn't great either.  You have plenty of attacks with Chop, Swoop, Cleave, Cyclone, to keep yourself busy.  Plus, you have rad armor AoEs to plan out.

[Cutter]

Good conversation, thanks gang! I suspect I will try out a bunch of things as I level and then respec into a proper attack chain once I have the IOs and recharge sorted out. (I did skip Beheader at creation.) And yeah I do usually proc out the 2 AOEs in RA.

[BrandX]

57 minutes ago, Spankea said:

Cones aren't worth the hassle.  Damage isn't great either.  You have plenty of attacks with Chop, Swoop, Cleave, Cyclone, to keep yourself busy.  Plus, you have rad armor AoEs to plan out.

 

It's not a cone anymore.  It's a PBAOE around the target of the attack.

[Spankea]

9 minutes ago, BrandX said:

 

It's not a cone anymore.  It's a PBAOE around the target of the attack.

You're right, they did change it.  It still has to fit into your attack chain and invest another power and five to six slots into.  If you solo or farm a lot it might be better to have.  But for teaming it still isn't going to fit into my attack chain.

 

[BrandX]

13 minutes ago, Spankea said:

You're right, they did change it.  It still has to fit into your attack chain and invest another power and five to six slots into.  If you solo or farm a lot it might be better to have.  But for teaming it still isn't going to fit into my attack chain.

 

 

Works for mine as I go Cyclone (bring them all in close to you) > Pendulum > Cleave > Burn

 

Cleave has a smaller AOE around the target, so it doesn't hit as many as Pendulum, but it usually tags another, and it's still a good Single Target.

 

I'd think the AOE is good for teams 🙂  However, you're right, it's an attack, so you'll likely want the slots.

[Spankea]

8 minutes ago, BrandX said:

 

Works for mine as I go Cyclone (bring them all in close to you) > Pendulum > Cleave > Burn

 

Cleave has a smaller AOE around the target, so it doesn't hit as many as Pendulum, but it usually tags another, and it's still a good Single Target.

 

I'd think the AOE is good for teams 🙂  However, you're right, it's an attack, so you'll likely want the slots.

I would have to give up Swoop or Cleave to get Pendelum.  Chop I have to take at level one and Cyclone is obvious.  It's a lot better with Chop/Swoop/Cleave/Cyclone than Chop with either Swoop or Cleave then Pendelum/Cyclone to clean up bosses or higher.  The investment to have all five would really affect a final IO build.

 

edit: I would have to run something like invul rather than rad to make Pendelum work.  I still will most likely not take it.

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Spankea