Why are Swords More Prefered than Axes When not Using an Elite Weapon Attack?

Hammer owns all, but I used to be very axe heavy. I'd say I use sword more than axe simply because I love of the Fellblade ever since I was a wee little newb and saw the massive slab of metal.

Hammer is just fun because quarterknocking is the shit.

The only good sword is the sword I pull out of my enemies limp corpse.

swords look cooler

so if ur not bothered to put on an elite attack skill for dmg and bring sumptin like [defy pain] instead to be useless...

u mite as well look badass


on a side note...hammers r seriously fugly in this game lol

I think your sample was probably too small. Critical hits likely skewed your actual data from your calculated.

However you cut it, it's a personal preference. Axes will get you Big Numbers on a crit and Big Numbers is what people are impressed by. Unfortunately, no one crits all the time against level 20 opponents. Like it matters.

I use both Axe and Sword builds in PvE and PvP. I probably prefer Swords over axes because the occasional single digit hit on a soft target with an Axe pretty much pisses me off.

My Bronze Crusher says otherwise. I prefer axes, though, especially for the AoE+Splinter lulz.

What?! I thought the chance for critical hit depends purely on your weapon mastery and never changes no matter who you fight.

Also based on the enemy lvl. Your going to crit much less vs a lvl 30 than a lvl 10, etc.

Also, to the OP, swords used to be prefered to axes when dealing with an elite outside of your mastery because of [skill]Final Thrust[/skill]. Another reason swords are currently prefered (in the same scenario) is because nearly any axe bar without [skill]Eviscerate[/skill] is basically crap.

From the Official Wiki, under "Critical Hits" on the "Damage Calculation" page:

[Final Thrust] is only viable in a bar which have every intention to gain and lose adrenaline in a quick instance.
[Sever Artery][Gash][Final Thrust][Rage of the Ntouka]

I didn't figure in the criticals because, as stated, it was *SIMPLE* math. Also, since the critical % formulae aren't known, other than it depends on lvl, attribute rank, and target lvl, I didn't feel like dealing with it; after all, I did say it was simple math.

Also, I edited my original post, as I was in the middle of helping a Guildie when I was writing my OP. Added in critical info from the Master of Damage.

And I fail to see how finding the mean of a set of numbers then getting a different result at the Master of Damage means I failed in my calculations. A mean just goes to show what the average is. With the Axe's critical kicking the Sword's by 11 pts of damage, and the same chance to critical, as attribute ranks were the same, as well as the target lvl and AL (Master of Damage) you can't really say that the calculations were wrong, as the mean was reached, but just because it IS the mean (without factoring in crits, since we have no direct formula) doesn't necessarily make the Sword outperform the Axe every time since it has 1.5 more mean dmg per hit...

Just remember as well that the Master of Damage is a controlled test. It allows you to hit with every single attack. Until they provide an in-game DPS monitor, it's up to human trial and error to track this kind of thing.

Critical hits need to be included when calculating the mean.

Anything can quarterknock, just that hammer Warriors don't have to use their secondary.

On the master of damage post, who ran ~3 minutes with each, criticals would have been included there with pretty slight variation. As far as base damage goes, because of variables (and the fact with the same mastery att level the crits should be approximately the same) you can assume that they share almost the same base damage.

Now, as for skills, I don't know why Swords are preferred over Axes. I personally prefer Axe and Hammer. Both of these have AoE potential in PvE, (see above on [Splinter Weapon][Cyclone Axe][Triple Chop][Whirlwind Attack] and add [Earth Shaker][Crude Swing]) as well as tactical use in PvP. Your Eviscerate/Dismember + Executioners will be brutal for spiking and Backbreaker can be used to great efficiency as well.

From an aesthetic perspective, however, I do agree that swords have more awesome skins, and realistically, in PvE, as long as you've got a build that can produce sufficient damage ([Conjure Flame][Hundred Blades] baby!11!) what looks best is what wins.