G. Axe WAR question

[Ehran]

Thank you in advance for not suggesting Bravura.

Which G. Axe do you use, pros and cons? Is the Martial Bhuj really that good? Should I just not bother and stick with with Rampage?

Thanks in advance for the input.

[Blackice]

Martial Bhuj is hands down the best G.axe bar Bravura. With that said, what situation are you asking about? XP, HNM, Dynamis? Dual Wield in xp will be best for DoT obviously and Rampage tears xp mobs up. Dynamis you can do either and both will preform famously (except for in Dyna-Xarca, where WAR/THF shines or WAR/NIN with horrent club.) For HNMs it's really whatever your LS is geared to. If you have a ton of BRD support and lots of WAR/NINs, things die very quickly with that. If your LS likes SA+WS Steel Cyclone is a wonderful thing. Anyways I hope I helped a little.

[Jeryhn]

You

...Should just not bother and stick with with Rampage...

[Alina]

It really depends on the situation. Are you talking for melee burn? If so, Fortitude Axe loaded up with Virtue Stones would be your best bet. I've never tried it myself, or parsed against someone who has used it, but I think with the right setup it could be close to par with Axe/Axe, or Axe/Joy.

[Aero]

Byakko's Axe or Berserker Axe for 300 TP SteelCyclones. M Bhuj for everything else.

[Burginator]

Byakko's Axe or Berserker Axe for 300 TP SteelCyclones. M Bhuj for everything else.

M.Bhuj is very...VERY...sexy. But yes, I mainly use Byakko's

[Bagel]

I used to use M Bhuj for normal use, Fort for special occasions when I had stones and Byakko's for 300 tp. Now I just use Fort/Byakko's.

[XxSlusherxx]

I use fortatude in dynamis, but otherwise almost never, I have byakkos, but never use it.

[Ehran]

With that said, what situation are you asking about? XP, HNM, Dynamis?

Mostly, I'm thinking ahead to later floors of Nyzul Isle with my assault static (6 man Fafnir, etc.). I'm 99.9% NIN for other LS events. We've been fortunate with some key drops lately so we're considering trying two RDM/NIN tanks vs. NINx2 or NIN and PLD/NIN.

Thanks again for the input.

[Septimus]

If you don't have a Byakko's Axe, I used Gawaine's Axe and found it a fairly good weapon. (Plus the paralyze effect on it goes off quite often for an additional effect.)

[isladar]

If you don't have a Byakko's Axe, I used Gawaine's Axe and found it a fairly good weapon. (Plus the paralyze effect on it goes off quite often for an additional effect.)

I've always enjoyed seeing that Additional Effect: Paralyze go off, because it is not foolin' around -- and, as Septimus said, its not like a "oh hai, its March, time for my bi-yearly para to proc". Helping out with a Haku run a few days ago it went off sometimes two or three times a fight.

If I don't know what's going on, I use Martial Bhuj. As an all-purpose, its nigh-perfect. It performs excellently in Dynamis, where I rarely hold TP past 100%.

My question is, though, is that I often see people running around with a .. Bhuj equipped. Just a regular, vanilla-flavoured Bhuj. Is there something I'm not getting about this GA? If I had no access to sky or ENM-friends to get martial, I'd still pick Gawaine's a million to one over Bhuj. FILL MY HEAD WITH KNOWLEDGE.

[Tiernin]

Normal Bhuj sucks.

MB is great for a lot of situations, especially /thf (except 300 tp).

Fort can be a beast with /sam. If you are looking for more SC this is the best option.

Moral of the story put 8 merits in GA

[Demitrius]

I think Bhuj is for people with no money who just finished their Steel Cyclone quest and were sad to lose their trials GA. It's the cheapest high level GA. Martial is $, Berserker's is $, and Byakko's requires a sky shell.

I mean, nothing an ENM or two wouldn't fix, or some camping/farming. But a lot of people are just that lazy.

[Blackice]

I don't know about your server but if they can afford a Bhuj they damn well can afford a Gawaine's, it's 25k on seraph last I checked.

[Demitrius]

They probably think it's costing them by the letter.

[SassiAsura]

I think Bhuj is for people with no money who just finished their Steel Cyclone quest and were sad to lose their trials GA. It's the cheapest high level GA. Martial is $, Berserker's is $, and Byakko's requires a sky shell.

I mean, nothing an ENM or two wouldn't fix, or some camping/farming. But a lot of people are just that lazy.

Rune Choppa!
It has Acc AND Haste+9% (provided you have mp)

Which leads me to my next point... I should try using rune in besieged after the mp max+ potion :D

[Demitrius]

I wonder what would happen if you used that with Refresh sanction. In theory, every other hit would get the bonus, given that you'd get back 3 mp every 7.5 seconds, so that's like 5% haste.

[isladar]

I wonder what would happen if you used that with Refresh sanction. In theory, every other hit would get the bonus, given that you'd get back 3 mp every 7.5 seconds, so that's like 5% haste.

It.. ends up not working out so great. With Walaharaaldkflambchop Turban as my only source of MP, and the RDM taking a good hour to figure out that yes, I was in the Refresh cycle, I found that once I hit zero, it was this uphill battle to get any MP with just Sanction Refresh. If I recall correctly, and this was between the parts where I was shrieking "OH GOD, OH GOD, I ATTACK SO FAST", my MP would refresh to 1, then suck back down by the Chopper.

I maybe wrong, since anytime I didn't have refresh I experienced life-threatening depression, and when I did, I couldn't stop giggling.

Anyway, thanks for clearing up the fact that people who use NQ Bhuj are just regular-old-retarded, and not somehow smart. I'd been wary to just label them as stupid, because (silly me), I couldn't quite understand why they'd pay MORE for a weapon that sucks instead of LESS for a Gawaine's, which is made of happygotimesyes.

[Allundaria]

Played around with it for a while, and in general I found that it wasn't worth the hassle to try and get the 9% haste latent activated. In merit PTs our RDM was generally a little too busy hasting everyone, refreshing the bard, and curing us bleedy melees to refresh me on a consistent basis. I even brought along like 10-15 pineapple juices to pop for those occasions to bridge the gaps and it was still annoying.

Without the MP to power the latent your damage starts to suck hard, especially when you compare it to the potential low-maintainence dmg that dual wielding as /NIN would have given you.

And to reiterate what everyone else has already noted: Gawaine's is a solid alternative to Martial Bhuj and Byakkos. The paralyze goes off more than you think it would, and the neat sizzly black spark animation it makes is very noticeable and satisfying

[Melchiah]

I just feel like I'm kicking more ass every time I land a blow with a GAxe. It's the weapon we are meant to use, and parser data be damned, I feel better with a 700 Steel Cyclone than I do a 1300 Rampage. I can't explain it, I just do. However, I cannot deny that the numbers speak very loudly and passionately in favor of /NIN Spampage. Let's look at a few numbers, and discuss(Way oversimplifed, so no elitist sexual intellectuals busting my balls prease, and for sake of conversation we will ignore /Ridill).

My setup: Woody/Manny/Suppa
Assumptions: Fully leveled NIN sub, Suppa, and 100% ACC, 285 Axe skill, 284 Gaxe skill(8 Axe/4 Gaxe merits)

To combine base damage, you would come up with 50 + 49(assuming latent active) = 99 base altogether, and delay 288 + 276 = 564 total delay minus Dual Weild I, II and Suppa if you have it(30% total) which brings delay to 395.

Berserker's Axe at 95 base damage is the highest base damage GAxe outside Bravura, delay 504. The only relatively difficult piece of the setup listed to obtain is the Suppa, but most WAR/NINs have that piece. So the point I'm making here is that it is much easier to eclipse GAxe potential with DW.

Summary: Damage over Time ratio is grossly weighted in favor of DW.

Woody/Manny = 99 base damage 395 delay
Berserker's Axe = 95 base damage 504 delay

DA doesn't help the GAxe weilder because with DW you have 2 chances to proc DA as opposed to 1 chance with a two-hander. DW can swing 2-4 times, while GAxe can swing 1-2 times. It just isn't competitive in the meripo arena. Also, haste gear doesn't factor since it would affect both options equally. In addition, while Rampage carries WS base damage of 50 since you WS with main hand, it is a five hit attack, while SC is one hit carrying 95 base damage(other factors ignored for the sake of brevity) and RR just sucks ; ;

Personally, I have always been of the impression that GAxe base damage should be increased a bit, and that WARs should get a 10% DA bonus when using a GAxe or GSword(lolWARGSword but it does happen >.>). I think that 10% bonus, coupled with original DA trait and DA merits and gear would bring GAxe up to a competitive level in the meripo arena.

/soapbox off, sorry ; ;

As for gearing, since that is the real question here, I use Byakko's myself, though I hear good things about MBhuj. If the situation is one like DL where you might sleep TP to 300%, then Byakko's outshines MBhuj simply because of the base damage. I suppose one could sleep TP to 300, SC with Byakkos, equip MBhuj and then TP wing for 150% SC, but that's extra gear for minimal gain IMHO. Gawaine's is also a solid alternative, but unless you have exceptional accuracy, merited GAxe skill and tons of STR gear that won't interfere with your ACC, DW will still eat GAxe's lunch. Fucking Ninjas.

Edit: 'zerker Axe not Byakko's