Axes

[dale]

I have finally collected the stuff for the beast slayer ax. As things go, it does not look like that bad a weapon -- except that by now all of my fighter types are much better in swords, daggers, pole-arms and the like and none of them has ever lifted an ax. It seems like it would be a bit silly to switch now (level 15). What do the rest of you think?

Perhaps I could have thought ahead and started off someone in ax skills, but swords seemed much more available.

Similar comment could be made about mace. I have not seen any that tempt me to switch yet. Will I be missing out a really great tool near the end? I did have my ranger using a bull whip for a while, but switched him back to sword and dagger.

[Nix]

Not worth it, if you ask me. There are lots of good swords in the game, and at your level you'll probably see some more of them. There are very few good axes and maces, and none of them comes close to the swords. Next to swords, I think the best weapons in the game are the polearm types and the staff/wands, even some of the daggers. I personally wouldn't waste precious skill/practice points on axes and maces. I think it's a bit of a shame that the game tends to "force" you to favor some weapons due to limited choices. I would have liked more diversity and flexibility.

[Jem]

Well, the best mace I know about in the game is the Diamond Eyes but what you -really- want to build up that mace/flail skill for is the lovely Vampire Chain that Ferro makes. It's definitely worth the effort of putting up with a bullwhip or some such to be able to use that in the later portions of the game.

As for the Beastslayer, I have to agree that it is pretty useless. The only other decent axe I know of in the game is the Plague Axe which can be found in one of the Retro Dungeons (can't recall if it's N or Mtn Wilderness one). It does good damage and has some nasty side-effects for your opponents but I don't think it's worth building up the axe skill just for it.

Of course, someone could go in and edit the axes' powers/effects using ObverseReaction's SLFEditor if they really wanted a nice axe to play with for, say, a dwarf fighter? [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Merulus]

Swords are the best type of weapon, hands down. Axes tend to be rather weak and difficult to find. I’ve never really understood why anyone would want to use axes over swords (roleplaying reasons aside, of course).

There are several good polearms early on in the game, but there are relatively few really good ones in the late game. The same goes for daggers (you’ll have access to almost every dagger in the game by the time you reach the swamp).

Maces/flails are good for dual-wielders (the samurai being an exception), since they only need to train in one weapon skill. The best off-hand weapon in the game is a mace, and there are a few decent primary-hand weapons as well. There are also a couple of very nice extended-reach flails, but you won’t see those until quite late.

There are quite a few good staves in the game, but they tend to be out-classed by other weapon types (with a few notable exceptions). Staves work well for casters (extended reach), but you’ll probably not want to use them for most melee-types (again, with a few exceptions).

Generally, I’d advise you to stick with whatever you’re already using. It’s a much better idea to become very skilled with one or two weapons rather than try to learn to use several weapons.

[Farscry]

Yeah, the lack of good weapon diversity kinda bummed me out when I found out about it. When I got the game and started up my first group, I built a Dwarven Fighter as my primary melee guy, and had him focus on Axe as his weapon skill of choice since that just fit the character.

It wasn't until later that I learned of how few axes there really are in the game (and particularly how few *good* axes). I'm still working on the game with the group though, and refuse to ditch my fighter. Heck, I decided to keep him focused on axes anyway, just for the heck of it.

Ah well... next time my fighter'll probably use either swords or polearms (or both)

Farscry

[Annheiser]

You get some decent axes early in the game, Bipennis for one, and the Woodsman Axe which rocks against the annoying Acidvines, or Caustic Vines. After that, no doubt, swords dominate the game. There are too many good ones to not develop multiple characters with the sword skill.

[Mage_77]

Along with the Plague Axe you can find in dungeon there's a plague axe in the cave between Nessie & sea caves path in the shallows.

[Warhammer]

Top 5 weapon categories (without counting too class/race specific stuff)
1/ Swords (Light Sword, Excalibur, Fang, Bloodlust, Ivory Blade...)
2/ Maces/Flails (Diamond Eyes, Chieftans Mace, Cat O'9 tails, Vampiric chain...)
3/ Staves & Wands (Bonebasher Staff, Flame Staff, several wands...)
4/ Polearms (Dread Spear, Mystic Spear...)
5/ Daggers & Axes (hard to say which one is worst)

[Gothmog Lord of the Balrogs]

I reaaaaallyyyyy hate playing a dwarf and not use axes, could might as well choose another race (and yes I did). I "allways" have a axe wielding dwarf in my parties, gotta love Gimli in Lord of the Rings, "Never toss a dwarf!".

[Nightowl2]

The best axe in the game is the Blades of Aesir, which turned up once for me in either the Keeper's chest or the Rapax queen's chest (that was awhile ago and I don't recall exactly). It's quite a good weapon, but being it's random, there's not much point in building up axe skill in the hope of getting it.

What the designers should have done is put in one good axe as a fixed item, the way they did with Fang, Staff of Doom, Cat O' Nine Tails, and Diamond Eyes.

As it is, you're better off going with sword or polearm skill for fighters, even a Dwarf

Nightowl2