axe or sword

For wvw i think that sword is really unchangeble for his ambush skill. For spvp instead i think that now dueling, illusion, mirage with axe is really really strong. You lose sword mobility but you have much more damage and , in general , with new wizard amulet dueling is much more better . For what i have tried till now in spvp axe is really really good for me.

........ sword .......

Axe is awesome.

It allows less reliance on shatters for condi application - so taking Illusions is not mandatory for hybrid play. The target drop is really useful, and it has really low cooldowns when traited. You can stick to someone's face and unload pretty significant ambush and melee shatter bursts on them, the clones are not useless and the auto attack solid.

Sure sword ambush is good - but honestly sword has been overused at this point - axe is the new shiny and it's not only really fun to use but also has extremely beautiful animations.

As long as I play mirage I will be using Axe (and Staff).

Maybe in pve, but not pvp. Axe still sucks in pvp.

@Vieux P.1238 said:Maybe in pve, but not pvp. Axe still sucks in pvp.

I've had fun/success fighting in pvp and wvw with axe - it's pretty annoying to fight against too with the frequent target dropping. The melee range ambush into shatter combos can hit hard, and it's great paired with DE in this way.

well they made axe 2 clunkier and didn't move the evade from axe 3 to axe 2

@EUmad.7645 said:Axe or sword?

Why not both? I use both.

@Miroe.2054 said:

@EUmad.7645 said:Axe or sword?

But staff is so sexy on mirage! :D

Use scepter! ...Or better not, don't do that to yourself. (unless you are obsessed with it for no reason, like me lmao)

@Vieux P.1238 said:Maybe in pve, but not pvp. Axe still sucks in pvp.

pvp doesnt not suck in pvp, its strong, just less skillful and more nooby

@bart.3687 said:Use scepter! ...Or better not, don't do that to yourself. (unless you are obsessed with it for no reason, like me lmao)

Lol, what's wrong with the scepter? :smile: I use it all the time. :tongue:

For Spvp, it's a terrible idea to drop sword. But you can drop staff for axe..

@rank eleven monk.9502 said:For Spvp, it's a terrible idea to drop sword. But you can drop staff for axe..

This is what I'm doing

Both!!!!!!

@Veprovina.4876 said:

@bart.3687 said:Use scepter! ...Or better not, don't do that to yourself. (unless you are obsessed with it for no reason, like me lmao)

problem of scepter is clone generation, you have to hit 3 times to create a clone why axe, sword and staff or gs has skill which generate clones so it is much easier to shatter

Definitely use sword. Axe is still a dreadful choice for PvP and WvW. Axe 2 makes you ridiculously vulnerable and you HAVE to use a Mirage dodge whilst casting it or any sane player will just obliterate you whilst you use it - having to sacrifice half of your endurance to land one melee skill that doesn't really do much damage is pretty dreadful really. Axe 3 is just all over the place and simply can't cope with mobile targets. There's also some nasty delays on Axe 2 and 3 that also makes the weapon feel kind of nasty to use.

Axe is most definitely a PvE weapon.

@Simonoly.4352 said:Definitely use sword. Axe is still a dreadful choice for PvP and WvW. Axe 2 makes you ridiculously vulnerable and you HAVE to use a Mirage dodge whilst casting it or any sane player will just obliterate you whilst you use it - having to sacrifice half of your endurance to land one melee skill that doesn't really do much damage is pretty dreadful really. Axe 3 is just all over the place and simply can't cope with mobile targets. There's also some nasty delays on Axe 2 and 3 that also makes the weapon feel kind of nasty to use.

Axe is most definitely a PvE weapon.Well there is often a nasty delay on sword 2 and sword 3 cannot cope with mobile targets either so that pretty much balance out. I dont play sPvP much but sword 1 ambush is probably decent there... in WvW its either a blessing (another way to leap at thieves) or a death sentence (gg leaping into a zerg while trying to run away and having to dodge).

So tbh they are both pretty equally dreadful choices. I have found the axe to work decent if you use tp/ambush/jaunt and follow up with axe 3 in melee range, rather than trying to estimate distance. And of course using greatsword 90% of the time instead.

@Simonoly.4352 said:Definitely use sword. Axe is still a dreadful choice for PvP and WvW. Axe 2 makes you ridiculously vulnerable and you HAVE to use a Mirage dodge whilst casting it or any sane player will just obliterate you whilst you use it - having to sacrifice half of your endurance to land one melee skill that doesn't really do much damage is pretty dreadful really. Axe 3 is just all over the place and simply can't cope with mobile targets. There's also some nasty delays on Axe 2 and 3 that also makes the weapon feel kind of nasty to use.

Axe is most definitely a PvE weapon.

I find none of this to be the case other than maybe the delays, but it's not nasty. If you use your blinds, stealth, and jaunt properly you can land axe skills just fine.

@Tinnel.4369 said:

If you use your blinds, stealth, and jaunt properly you can land axe skills just fine.

@Dawdler.8521 said:

I have found the axe to work decent if you use tp/ambush/jaunt and follow up with axe 3 in melee range, rather than trying to estimate distance.

These are some of the many reasons that led to my above assessment.

@Simonoly.4352 said:Definitely use sword. Axe is still a dreadful choice for PvP and WvW. Axe 2 makes you ridiculously vulnerable and you HAVE to use a Mirage dodge whilst casting it or any sane player will just obliterate you whilst you use it - having to sacrifice half of your endurance to land one melee skill that doesn't really do much damage is pretty dreadful really. Axe 3 is just all over the place and simply can't cope with mobile targets. There's also some nasty delays on Axe 2 and 3 that also makes the weapon feel kind of nasty to use.

Axe is most definitely a PvE weapon.

You probably know PvP better than I do, but I did try axe/torch with sword/pistol and it didn't seem all that bad to me. Axe seemed effective at making me an elusive target while delivering overwhelming burst to opponents. For those enemies that manage to survive the onslaught, sword/pistol will shut them down whether they try to run, heal, or fight.

It's true that using endurance as an offensive resource is generally a poor strategy in PvP, where a timely dodge is often the difference between winning and losing. However, when used to cover brief vulnerabilities in an otherwise fairly invulnerable rotation, I think it can be effective. The risk of using endurance in this way may be somewhat mitigated by using energy sigils and adventurer runes. You're only ever a heal and weapon swap away from being topped off on health and full on endurance, ready to make your next move.

@Simonoly.4352 said:

These are some of the many reasons that led to my above assessment.

Meaning?

Are you trying to say that if you have to use other skills to set it up it's inherently bad?

@Veprovina.4876 said:

@bart.3687 said:Use scepter! ...Or better not, don't do that to yourself. (unless you are obsessed with it for no reason, like me lmao)

Thought OP meant PvE, my bad.Yeah, in PvP Scepter is definitely usable, specially for duelling, I personally use it too.

To answer the OP, if I had to choose between sword and axe for pvp, I'd more likely go with sword. It's based on my experience, I simply can survive longer using the sword.

tried both again now for wvw... still cant decide.

I really wish axe + sword would have been one weapon.sword ambush + BF is LOVED. Axe condis + axe 3 is LOVED

Dream Weapon ;

axe auto chainsword ambush + 2 confu + rip 1 boon = ambushaxe 2 = sword 2axe 3 = axe 3

@FaboBabo.3581 said:tried both again now for wvw... still cant decide.

I really wish axe + sword would have been one weapon.sword ambush + BF is LOVED. Axe condis + axe 3 is LOVED

Dream Weapon ;

axe auto chainsword ambush + 2 confu + rip 1 boon = ambushaxe 2 = sword 2axe 3 = axe 3

:D Good, good. But yeah that would be an awesome combination in one weapon!

But as we can't have that -yeah sword ambush is awesome, but I believe axe 2 and axe 3 are better than sword 2 and sword 3, especially in wvw.

Sword 2 is not the crucial survival skill as it is on core or chrono, when you've got 1s evades available whenever you've got enough endurance. Sure it's an extra evade, but you don't really need it. Axe 2 is semi spammable (especially if traited) and deals good damage in addition to getting out clones for shatter (even more if you use DE and dodge during the animation).

Sword 3 is also kind of meh, because in open field you don't need the z axis porting so much (unlike in pvp) and even in pvp you've got jaunt. Sure the immobilise is useful, but axe 3 does great damage and sets up nice shatter bursts as well as having a built in evade. Personally I feel liberated with axe 3 compared to sword 3. Oh the target drop is pretty nice to have too. :)

Sure in interrupt then sword ambush is just too good to give up, and in pure power it's still great (though axe isn't too shabby for power either).

@FaboBabo.3581 said:tried both again now for wvw... still cant decide.

I really wish axe + sword would have been one weapon.sword ambush + BF is LOVED. Axe condis + axe 3 is LOVED

Dream Weapon ;

axe auto chainsword ambush + 2 confu + rip 1 boon = ambushaxe 2 = sword 2axe 3 = axe 3

This would contradict the design philosophy for Mesmer weaponsMH:1 Auto Attack1 Clone generator1 Evade/BlockOH1 Phantasm1 Crowd control