Battlepick (Piercing) VS Other (Slashing)

So a few days ago I finally aquired a nice Battlepick, I've always loved the skin. I was examining it and deciding which colour to dye it when I noticed it: Piercing Dmg: 6-28.


Which is better for a Warrior, the Piercing Battlepick or the Slashing of all other Axe types?


How does Piercing damage compare to Slashing damage?

When in doubt:

Look it up http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Axe

Um... it has nothing comparing the physical damage types.

There are a couple of sources that give +armor versus Piercing: Bonelace/Fanatic's armor, which has +15 AL versus Piercing, and "Shields Up!", which gives +50 armor versus Piercing attacks. There are also some shields with up to +10 versus any of the physical damage types, but those aren't commonly found or used. Slashing and Blunt damage, the other two physical damage types, have no armor or skill that protects specifically against them. Slashing-type axes are your better bet. (For the same reason, Dune Lizards and Black Widows are inferior to most other pet choices. Same with the two different types of daggers.)

Actually, if you had bothered to do any exploring throught that link, you might have learned something.

But I'm guessing that's too much work?

personally i prefer piercing, becase foes armor becomes less efficient, so you have more chance to do more dmg.
but i might be wong, just go buy 2 clean axes (white) same dmg and req, but 1 pircing and 1 slashing. try both on tralls or some other monstter that doesnt do too many spells, like that to see which 1 does more dmg.

I looked at the Axes article, looked at the Slashing damage article, looked at the Piercing damage article, and looked at the Pickaxe article. Doesn't do a lick to compare the two types or mention "Shields Up!", Fanatic's, shields with +damage versus a specific damage type, or anything else stating why Piercing is worse. About the best it has is:
Much of a difference can make or break games. There's a reason Pickaxes are at the bottom of the Axe chain, and not just because they look ugly.

Wrong. Piercing damage does exactly the same amount as Slashing damage versus the same amount of armor. Piercing damage is not armor penetration. The problem with Piercing damage is that there are more readily available sources for +armor versus Piercing.


To add: honestly, the amount of times you deal with +damage versus Piercing aren't very often, but if an enemy in PvE has resistance versus Piercing, or if the opposing PvP team sees this, you're going to have a much tougher time. However, since an elemental prefix overwrites the Piercing-type damage, you can always just use it as an elemental weapon and be just fine. Don't use it as a Piercing-type though.

A Battlepick is one of the coolest axes you'll come across. It's been part of my weapon collection for quite a while now, never regretted getting it. Here's mine:



Still need to mod it, but it already has a beloved place in my collection, it's a very pretty weapon.