Power Herald: why S/S over S/Axe?

[Turkeyspit.3965]

Leveling a Rev for PvE / Fractal, and will eventually go with meta Power Herald S/S + Hammer, but I've found that I enjoy offhand Axe more than offhand sword.

I feel Axe 4 is a better gap closer than Sword 5

Axe 5 is handy for grouping up targets to die under swirly hammers.

 

But every build I've read proclaims Sword/Sword is the way to go. My Rev is still very low level, so there must be some synergy I'm missing here. I suspect it's Sword 4? Is it that solid in DPS that makes running with Axe bad?

 

[Blocki.4931]

I don't play Rev, but the Sword 4 seems to be really really good. Try giving it a bit of a try and see how it feels?

[castillle.5248]

Axe 5 doesnt group stuff well. its a line where enemies get pulled tot the middle. Id be more understanding if it was a circle pull.

 

Sword 5 does significantly more damage than axe 4.

 

As for sword 4, it deals quite a bit of damage and nothing really can compare to it from axe line.

[Einlanzer.1627]

Axe used to be more useful than OH Sword, but since they reworked OH Sword there's little reason to use Axe instead. Axe synergizes with Mace/Mallyx much more than with Shiro/Sword. #4 and #5 are both better on OH Sword than on Axe since the rework.

 

While I really like OH Sword now, it kind of sucks how much Rev weapons are lacking in versatility. Like I've mentioned in other threads, I'd love to see MH Axe get added to core so Revs have a hybrid power/condi option that could work as an alternative for either build type or, optimally, for a hybrid Viper setup.

[Turkeyspit.3965]

Thanks all for the replies. Still very low level so I was looking more at feel than raw DPS output, but now it makes sense.

[meri.9187]

Sword simply hits too hard and too fast for axe to keep up anymore.

 

In addition to being the ideal weapon in PvE it's pretty much the only thing you can use at high tier PvP as well. It deals too much spike damage too fast, masking the design flaws in Rev. Believe me, a lot of us would like to see sword's power toned down and to see axe (and shield in a PvP scenario) come back into the meta.

[LucianTheAngelic.7054]

> @"Turkeyspit.3965" said:

> Leveling a Rev for PvE / Fractal, and will eventually go with meta Power Herald S/S + Hammer, but I've found that I enjoy offhand Axe more than offhand sword.

> I feel Axe 4 is a better gap closer than Sword 5

> Axe 5 is handy for grouping up targets to die under swirly hammers.

>

> But every build I've read proclaims Sword/Sword is the way to go. My Rev is still very low level, so there must be some synergy I'm missing here. I suspect it's Sword 4? Is it that solid in DPS that makes running with Axe bad?

>

 

Axe is still decent for open world pve and has some niche uses in pvp/wvw, so if you like it don’t feel like you can’t use it. Just swap to s/s when you’re doing group pve so you can get higher dps. Also if you need/want you can run s/s + /axe in the other offhand for a little extra CC with minimal dps loss if you don’t want to take staff (tho surge of the mists is amazing and if you need to carry group CC can easily do so). Also hammer isn’t great for organized pve so s/s + /a would be a fine option when you want to do fractals/raids.

[BlaqueFyre.5678]

With the Rework to OH Sw and subsequent Tweaks it is just a far superior Power Weapon.

[ScottBroChill.3254]

Axe's shadowstep requires you to hit a target while the swords doesn't. You can use it on enemies that are too far away and still get the shadowstep. Also, sword 4 synergizes well with Shiro's impossible odds

[otto.5684]

> @"Turkeyspit.3965" said:

> Leveling a Rev for PvE / Fractal, and will eventually go with meta Power Herald S/S + Hammer, but I've found that I enjoy offhand Axe more than offhand sword.

> I feel Axe 4 is a better gap closer than Sword 5

> Axe 5 is handy for grouping up targets to die under swirly hammers.

>

> But every build I've read proclaims Sword/Sword is the way to go. My Rev is still very low level, so there must be some synergy I'm missing here. I suspect it's Sword 4? Is it that solid in DPS that makes running with Axe bad?

>

 

Off hand sword substantially outdpses axe in power builds. Both sword 4 and 5 deal significant damage.

[Scar.1793]

Never liked Axe and they selled Shiro Rev with S/S. Now it’s because of the damage and deathstrike TP. Even if the range is a bit shorter it’s compensated by the damage.

[LucianDK.8615]

The axe shadowstep is far more vulnerable to terrain too.

[narcx.3570]

> @"Turkeyspit.3965" said:

> Leveling a Rev for PvE / Fractal, and will eventually go with meta Power Herald S/S + Hammer, but I've found that I enjoy offhand Axe more than offhand sword.

> I feel Axe 4 is a better gap closer than Sword 5

> Axe 5 is handy for grouping up targets to die under swirly hammers.

 

As everyone else said, sword oh is a huge chunk of your damage, but I wanted to add a few more things:

- Sw 5 can be used if the target is out of range, axe 4 cannot, which makes deathstrike wildly more useful as a mobility skill.

- In PvE, you don't really need to use axe 5 to group enemies up, they tend to do this naturally in the flow of combat.

- Hammer is not meta... While you can certainly use whatever you want in open world, if you do want to start playing Rev in fractals, you're going to not want to swap to hammer ever. There are zero encounters in fractals that actually require you to be at range, not stacking makes some of the fights actually take longer (Man Trin, Bloomhugger, Cliffside, etc..), and it's damage output is horrible compared to sword. It is a *HUGE* red flag that you're an inexperienced player, and will quickly turns groups salty. You'll want to use Sword/Sword/Staff, but only swap to staff for emergency CC. As in, like, if we don't break this bar right now, we're goin to wipe. I guess you could also go Sword/Sword/Axe, and only swap to Axe for cc... You lose less dps this way cuz you're always on your mainland sword, but also axe 5 isn't that huge of a cc.

[Infusion.7149]

Sword is better for PvE because it does greater power damage + immob / fury .

[Aigleborgne.2981]

> @"ScottBroChill.3254" said:

> Also, sword 4 synergizes well with Shiro's impossible odds

 

Why does it synergy better than other skills ? Since it has an internal cooldown of 0.25

 

Recent improve of sword 5 makes it great. I can reliably land it and regularly one shot trash mobs. It is also a source of fury, which is not that easy to get during leveling. And if started with invocation line, fury might give 40% critical.

Axe can't compete at all.

 

[InsaneQR.7412]

> @"Einlanzer.1627" said:

> Axe used to be more useful than OH Sword, but since they reworked OH Sword there's little reason to use Axe instead. Axe synergizes with Mace/Mallyx much more than with Shiro/Sword. #4 and #5 are both better on OH Sword than on Axe since the rework.

>

> While I really like OH Sword now, it kind of sucks how much Rev weapons are lacking in versatility. Like I've mentioned in other threads, I'd love to see MH Axe get added to core so Revs have a hybrid power/condi option that could work as an alternative for either build type or, optimally, for a hybrid Viper setup.

 

Well you could use mace/sw and sw/axe with hybrid stats and abyssal chill. Actually quiet nice dmg just as you said rev has not much versatility in weapon choice and goving trait choices like abyssal chill actually helps with that IMO.

 

Btw your username is so hard NSFW it made my day^^

[narcx.3570]

> @"InsaneQR.7412" said:

> > @"Einlanzer.1627" said:

> > Axe used to be more useful than OH Sword, but since they reworked OH Sword there's little reason to use Axe instead. Axe synergizes with Mace/Mallyx much more than with Shiro/Sword. #4 and #5 are both better on OH Sword than on Axe since the rework.

> >

> > While I really like OH Sword now, it kind of sucks how much Rev weapons are lacking in versatility. Like I've mentioned in other threads, I'd love to see MH Axe get added to core so Revs have a hybrid power/condi option that could work as an alternative for either build type or, optimally, for a hybrid Viper setup.

>

> Well you could use mace/sw and sw/axe with hybrid stats and abyssal chill. Actually quiet nice dmg just as you said rev has not much versatility in weapon choice and goving trait choices like abyssal chill actually helps with that IMO.

>

> Btw your username is so hard NSFW it made my day^^

 

In open world yeah, but the OP wants to start doing end game content (fractals), and once you get past t1 yolo groups, playing hybrid is not going to fly there...

[ScottBroChill.3254]

> @"Aigleborgne.2981" said:

> > @"ScottBroChill.3254" said:

> > Also, sword 4 synergizes well with Shiro's impossible odds

>

> Why does it synergy better than other skills ? Since it has an internal cooldown of 0.25

>

> Recent improve of sword 5 makes it great. I can reliably land it and regularly one shot trash mobs. It is also a source of fury, which is not that easy to get during leveling. And if started with invocation line, fury might give 40% critical.

> Axe can't compete at all.

>

 

Yeah actually forgot about the internal cooldown, so maybe a lot less synergy lol but it's still a really good spike combo for damage and immoblization at least in pvp. But yeah what you said is basically it.

[InsaneQR.7412]

> @"narcx.3570" said:

> > @"InsaneQR.7412" said:

> > > @"Einlanzer.1627" said:

> > > Axe used to be more useful than OH Sword, but since they reworked OH Sword there's little reason to use Axe instead. Axe synergizes with Mace/Mallyx much more than with Shiro/Sword. #4 and #5 are both better on OH Sword than on Axe since the rework.

> > >

> > > While I really like OH Sword now, it kind of sucks how much Rev weapons are lacking in versatility. Like I've mentioned in other threads, I'd love to see MH Axe get added to core so Revs have a hybrid power/condi option that could work as an alternative for either build type or, optimally, for a hybrid Viper setup.

> >

> > Well you could use mace/sw and sw/axe with hybrid stats and abyssal chill. Actually quiet nice dmg just as you said rev has not much versatility in weapon choice and goving trait choices like abyssal chill actually helps with that IMO.

> >

> > Btw your username is so hard NSFW it made my day^^

>

> In open world yeah, but the OP wants to start doing end game content (fractals), and once you get past t1 yolo groups, playing hybrid is not going to fly there...

 

Well yeah fair point, i honestly just red the title.

[otto.5684]

> @"narcx.3570" said:

> > @"Turkeyspit.3965" said:

> > Leveling a Rev for PvE / Fractal, and will eventually go with meta Power Herald S/S + Hammer, but I've found that I enjoy offhand Axe more than offhand sword.

> > I feel Axe 4 is a better gap closer than Sword 5

> > Axe 5 is handy for grouping up targets to die under swirly hammers.

>

> As everyone else said, sword oh is a huge chunk of your damage, but I wanted to add a few more things:

> - Sw 5 can be used if the target is out of range, axe 4 cannot, which makes deathstrike wildly more useful as a mobility skill.

> - In PvE, you don't really need to use axe 5 to group enemies up, they tend to do this naturally in the flow of combat.

> - Hammer is not meta... While you can certainly use whatever you want in open world, if you do want to start playing Rev in fractals, you're going to not want to swap to hammer ever. There are zero encounters in fractals that actually require you to be at range, not stacking makes some of the fights actually take longer (Man Trin, Bloomhugger, Cliffside, etc..), and it's damage output is horrible compared to sword. It is a *HUGE* red flag that you're an inexperienced player, and will quickly turns groups salty. You'll want to use Sword/Sword/Staff, but only swap to staff for emergency CC. As in, like, if we don't break this bar right now, we're goin to wipe. I guess you could also go Sword/Sword/Axe, and only swap to Axe for cc... You lose less dps this way cuz you're always on your mainland sword, but also axe 5 isn't that huge of a cc.

 

Weird question, I was wondering why axe is not used over staff if breaking bars is not required. You can switch to axe right after sword 4 and 5 are used. Is axe 5 weaker damage wise than sword aa?

[narcx.3570]

> @"otto.5684" said:

> > @"narcx.3570" said:

> > > @"Turkeyspit.3965" said:

> > > Leveling a Rev for PvE / Fractal, and will eventually go with meta Power Herald S/S + Hammer, but I've found that I enjoy offhand Axe more than offhand sword.

> > > I feel Axe 4 is a better gap closer than Sword 5

> > > Axe 5 is handy for grouping up targets to die under swirly hammers.

> >

> > As everyone else said, sword oh is a huge chunk of your damage, but I wanted to add a few more things:

> > - Sw 5 can be used if the target is out of range, axe 4 cannot, which makes deathstrike wildly more useful as a mobility skill.

> > - In PvE, you don't really need to use axe 5 to group enemies up, they tend to do this naturally in the flow of combat.

> > - Hammer is not meta... While you can certainly use whatever you want in open world, if you do want to start playing Rev in fractals, you're going to not want to swap to hammer ever. There are zero encounters in fractals that actually require you to be at range, not stacking makes some of the fights actually take longer (Man Trin, Bloomhugger, Cliffside, etc..), and it's damage output is horrible compared to sword. It is a *HUGE* red flag that you're an inexperienced player, and will quickly turns groups salty. You'll want to use Sword/Sword/Staff, but only swap to staff for emergency CC. As in, like, if we don't break this bar right now, we're goin to wipe. I guess you could also go Sword/Sword/Axe, and only swap to Axe for cc... You lose less dps this way cuz you're always on your mainland sword, but also axe 5 isn't that huge of a cc.

>

> Weird question, I was wondering why axe is not used over staff if breaking bars is not required. You can switch to axe right after sword 4 and 5 are used. Is axe 5 weaker damage wise than sword aa?

 

Axe5 does slightly more damage than the first hit on your aa-chain, but less than the next two... The biggest reason though is that's 10 energy that is better spent on your upkeep skill/precisions strike/inspired reinforcements (depending on where in your rotation you'd be swapping to axe you'd lose one or more of those casts) since the max-dps rotation is very tight energy wise. Basically, something's gotta pack a pretty good punch to justify spending 10 energy on it, and Temporal Rift only meets that requirement if you have Viper's gear on to scale the torment/confusion.