Warrior Combat and Group 1 Merits

[Suiram]

Tomahawk is good for JoT.. and it probably removes the damage immunities on the Apollyon where mobs have piercing/blunt/slashing immunities while

It doesn't work as well as you'd think. It doesn't remove the immunities entirely, at least in that limbus. Instead of doing 0% damage with slashing, I'll maybe do like 10%, I'm not sure exactly, but it's very low. You're certainly much better off just bringing piercing/blunt weapons than trying to rely on tomahawk. Does it remove immunities entirely from normal resistant mobs like elementals/slimes/etc, or just lower them like in this case?

Naver (who has Tomahawk unlocked, I think 2/3) and I did a few tests on it the other day, using the fact that it affects magic damage cut the same as it does to physical cuts. It appears to reduce the reduction by 1/4. I can't think of a grammatically unambiguous way of stating that right now, so I'll just give an example.

Evil Weapon mobs have a natural magic reduction of -32/256. So 1000 Needles (BLU spell) against them does 875 damage. 3/4 of 32 is 24, so with tomahawk it's only -24/256, and 1000 needles does 906. The weapon casts Shell 1, so that's an additional -24/256, for a total of -56/256 cut in magic damage. Under those conditions, 1000 Needles would do 781. 3/4 of 56 is 42, so 1000 Needles does 835 damage.

Tomahawk has no effect on damage when there is no penalty (1000 Needles to a Tomahawked Sapling still did 1000), nor does it have an effect on bonuses in the same term (1000 Needles to a Tomahawked Ebony Pudding still did 1250). Those 4 tests, the two weapon trials, the sapling, and the pudding is all we did though, so I'm not sure how it behaves when the prior reduction isn't evenly divisible by 4, or other similarly subtle details, but we do intend to check that out eventually.

[Amele]

I wouldn't bother to change them even if I got Ridill.

That type of laziness = fail

I'd love to know what you think the difference in damage is with 4% double attack Vs 20 seconds of Bergressor is on axe/ridill, and what's a great axe? 3/3/4 is the most versatile.

given that 4% double attack on axe/ridill is going to be equivalent to ~2% DA (or less) it is entirely reasonable that 20 seconds of bergressor would outperform.

that said, if you prefer great axe or don't have 18 spare merits I don't see any issues with staying 3/3/4

[Starr]

I nowhere said it wouldn't outperform it, just I don't think the time/difference would be worth it. Call it lazy but I rarely merit so I have higher priorities than changing merits for 1 job.

[Awoir]

5/5 bergressor

[Bagel]

Axe = dead to me.
Sword Chucks or G Axe for life.

[Rasantath]

Tomahawk is good for JoT.. and it probably removes the damage immunities on the Apollyon where mobs have piercing/blunt/slashing immunities while

It doesn't work as well as you'd think. It doesn't remove the immunities entirely, at least in that limbus. Instead of doing 0% damage with slashing, I'll maybe do like 10%, I'm not sure exactly, but it's very low. You're certainly much better off just bringing piercing/blunt weapons than trying to rely on tomahawk. Does it remove immunities entirely from normal resistant mobs like elementals/slimes/etc, or just lower them like in this case?

I've used it on JoT a few times, and with the same results. I was able to do non-zero damage while the jailer was in the wrong mode for the weapon i was wielding, but it just wasnt worth hitting it. This ability is not worth merting IMO. People just need to bring alternate weapons to JoT and SE Apollyon.

[Septimus]

I rather enjoy using Tomahawk on elementals in Limbus. Yes, it does not get rid of the weapon damage reduction, but it ups the damage considerably on some mobs. (Not just for you, but for everyone hitting it.) I capped it because it does provide a marked benefit for certain mobs that you will see in Limbus, Nyzul Isle, and Einherjar- but also because Savagery and Aggressive Aim are not very useful. (For me at least.)

[Aymee]

I rather enjoy using Tomahawk on elementals in Limbus. Yes, it does not get rid of the weapon damage reduction, but it ups the damage considerably on some mobs. (Not just for you, but for everyone hitting it.) I capped it because it does provide a marked benefit for certain mobs that you will see in Limbus, Nyzul Isle, and Einherjar- but also because Savagery and Aggressive Aim are not very useful. (For me at least.)

Despite a gaggle of testing and 9 months of nyzul static, I can't figure out wtf in Nyzul it works on. Tried it on... well basically everything. One thing I admit I have not tried is on bosses with penalties to SW (I'd rather a 1200ish SW with option for another with dusty wing than a 1500 rampage for hate at start).


From the GAX point of view...

As for my merit picks . . . I'm almost ashamed to say, but I like savagery. Since I'll never in my life be a riddaberk war, I've become a war/sam GAX addict--particularly begging/waiting for nyzul relics. For some reason it seems to 'fit' to me to have the minor TP bonus since war/sam is a freaking TP machine with such an easy 6-hit and option to use Fort axe (or rune chopper, I suppose). I'll assume you have access to perdu voulge, as well (<3!)
That said, aggressor does next to nothing for me in 90% of situations. With 299 GAX + Hasso, and haste or acc setups available, I can use attk food and still be near cap on just about everything. Only exception is on gods/kirin for my non-kings self.


I give major kudos to the OP for wanting to GAX like god intended instead of just whoring themselves out as a generic ridill nut. Honestly, if you want to use both, and you're using WAR are predominately a merit job... assuming you always have 1-2 support in your PT, your serkgressor merits hardly going to be noticable regardless. Use sushi vs meat depending if you have madrigal or just minuet. Standard stuff.

DA for the GAX and aggressor for sword use. Lvl1 warrior's charge at least (lvl3 is not terribly important unless you're using war/thf on extended fights), tomahawk lvl1 (nice to be rounded out), and I have savagery3--it suits GAX and a multi-hit setup, particularly since you get easily get in 2 (3?) WS during your warcry. I'm career WAR with odd opinions of things, so feel free to think I'm insane (most people do, at least).