BATTLE AXE
Slotting for all attacks is similar, and addressed at the bottom of the section.
Brawl:
Have to mention this, since youll be using it A LOT. As mentioned above, control-click brawl so its an auto attack and building Fury gets much easier. Throw an endurance reduction or maybe 2 in Brawl, you really dont care if it hits, you just want to build Fury for your real attacks. Brawl doesnt do enough damage for you to care if it makes contact or not. Pool attacks like Boxing, Kick, and Air Superiority make you put the axe away, brawl doesnt.
Beheader
This is the most questionable pick in Battle Axe. I mentioned that almost all the attacks use the same damage per activation; this is the one that doesnt. Its a very useful attack to have early since it has a short recharge time and contributes greatly to your damage per second when you dont have a full attack chain. After you do have a full attack chain, it costs you a bit of DPS. Take early and respec out of it if you can. Like almost all the attacks in Axe, it has a chance for Knock-Down. Against foes below your level, or ones weak to knockback, this will translate into Knock-Back insteadwhich can be annoying.
End Cost: 5.2
Recharge: 4
Cast: 1.33
Damage 41.7
Chop
This is your other possible starting pick. Roughly 160% of the damage of Beheader in the same cast time, with twice the recharge time. Take this if you dont want to do a respec since its a better attack than Beheader starting around 27, certainly by 33. Beheader is more useful until then.
End Cost: 8.53
Recharge: 8
Cast: 1.33
Damage 68.4
Gash
Take this onea fraction slower than the first attacks, but worth it. Longer recharge, more damage. Gash is average in all ways, but a good, solid attack.
End Cost: 10.2
Recharge: 10
Cast: 1.5
Damage: 81.7
Swoop
Again, Swoop does little more damage, with a little longer animation and recharge. This is a great attack for damage and your best attack for damage mitigation. Swoop does Knock-Up where other attacks to Knock-Down Be somewhat careful using this on ledges, since you may knock things slightly off to the side, and off the ledge. Swoop is a great choice against things like Sappers, since it has a 70% chance of Knock-Up where most of the other attacks have 40-50% chance of Knockdown.
End Cost: 11.9
Recharge: 12
Cast: 1.83
Damage: 95.1
Taunt
Taunt is optional on a Brute. You arent a tank, but once this build is fleshed out you ARE awfully close. If you play regularly on large teams, this can be useful to help you hold aggro and to keep enemies in close range to you. Where they are debuffed by Rise to the Challenge, and simultaneously boost your regeneration rate.
Whirling Axe
The damage from Whirling Axe is pretty modest. Its basically a 360-degree Beheader, hitting up to 10 targets in an 8 radius. It is, though, the only easily useable AoE attack you get for a while, and its a GREAT damage mitigation tool. Charging into a spawn you arent sure you can handle? Jump into the middle and hit Whirling Axe. Around 5 enemies are now sitting on their butts while you get a chance to get your regeneration rate up to full speed. Cast time is a touch long, it seems like there is an unnecessary pause at the end of the animation. Not a good single target attack, it doesnt really help build Fury and its inefficient for endurance against one foe.
End Cost: 13
Recharge: 14
Cast: 2.67
Damage: 41.7
Cleave
Your second AoE, but its mostly a single-target attack. Cleave is a narrow 20-degree cone, 10 long. Use it as a straight line when you first get it, ideally targeting an enemy standing directly behind another. You can also jump one step back, hit Cleave, and jump forward again. This is your heaviest hitting attack, so even against one target its great. When you hit 2 or 3, its positively barbaric. Cleave is your other good mitigation against targets like Sappers with an 80% chance for Knock-Down.
End Cost: 14.4
Recharge: 15
Cast: 2.33
Damage: 115.1
Pendulum
Now heres your real AoE damage attack. Swing your axe in a huge 180-degree arc, knocking things off their feet while doing solid damage. Laugh as your barbarian sweeps the legs out from underneath your foes. Cast time is reasonable, too. Only negative to Pendulum is that its only a 5 radius cone and it is only allowed to hit 5 targets. Other than that, its a nice tier 9 power.
End Cost: 14.4
Recharge: 15
Cast: 2
Damage: 79.2
Battle Axe slotting is pretty standard. Early in your barbarians career, slot almost exclusively for accuracy and endurance reduction. You want 1-2 accuracy and 1-2 endurance reduction in every attack (except Brawl, no accuracy required there); ideally 2 end reduction. Beyond that, slot damage and perhaps recharge reduction. Once you have both Quick Recovery and Stamina, you can afford to slot only a single end reduction and now you can slot full damage.
WILLPOWER
High Pain Tolerance
For a no-endurance cost auto power, this is just amazing. 20% additional hit points un-slotted, and up to 30% with slotting which is almost as good as resistance to all damage types. And if thats not enough, it provides 5.6% resistance to all damage types. Take it immediately.
Slotting: 3 health as soon as you can, 2-3 damage resistance before 50
Mind Over Body
This toggle gives you resistance to Smashing, Lethal, and Psionic damage. Since its a toggle, its a constant drain on endurance you probably dont have early on. The 16.9% resistance to smashing and lethal is nice but this is a power you can delay until after you have Quick Recovery
Slotting: 3 damage resistance, 1 endurance reduction, by the mid-20s.
Fast Healing
Another auto power, this boosts your hit point regeneration rate. Its a 75% regeneration rate boost, which while only nice at first it starts to get really good when slotted and purely awesome when stacked with Rise to the Challenge and Health
Slotting: 3 heals, as soon as you reasonably can
Indomitable Will
Your mez protection toggle, you need this at level 10 when its available, or by level 14 at the absolute latest. It also provides defense to psionics, but its a long time before you need both resistance and defense to psionic damage. Indomitable Will is one of the better status protections, since it gives you comprehensive protection to disorients, holds, immobilizes, sleeps, knockback, repel, sleep, fear, and confuse.
Slotting: 1 end reduction only for a long time, 2-3 defense by the early 40s
Rise to the Challenge
This power does a LOT of things for you. It boosts your regeneration rate dramatically. It debuffs your enemies. It taunts your enemies. Its a great, great power. Up to 10 enemies in melee range boost you regeneration speed, with the first enemy giving the largest bonus. So you would really prefer to have everything youre fighting up close and personal with you! Once Rise to the Challenge (RttC) is slotted up, a nearby minion typically makes you regenerate health significantly more than that minion is able to hurt you. RttC also applies a mild, resistable ToHit debuff on your enemies, initially 3.75%.
Finally, RttC is your taunt aura which makes enemies attack you instead of other possible targets. Taunting is NOT what RttC does best. Most Brute taunt auras are identical to tanker taunt auras, a mag 4 (boss level) taunt lasting 13.5 seconds, typically firing every 2 seconds. Rise to the Challenge is a weak taunt aura on tanks and for whatever reason its reduced even further on brutes, to a mag 3 (minions and lieutenant) taunt lasting a mere 1 second, firing each second. It can be worth slotting some taunt in here, since it lets you fill the job of tank better if that is needed, and it encourages enemies to come and fight youwhich is right where you want them.
Slotting: 1 end reduction, 3 heals as soon as you can, 1-2 taunt or 0-2 ToHit debuffs as a low priority
Quick Recovery
This is Stamina, but better, with no pre-requisite powers. It boosts your endurance recovery by 30% un-slotted (Stamina is 25%). It doesnt do anything else, but it does what you need.
Slotting: 2-3 endurance modification; worth 4 slots if you get the performance shifter chance for +end. 2 level 50 IOs are nearly as good as 3 if youre using regular IOs.
Heightened Senses
Willpower is a blend of resistance (mostly to smashing, lethal, and psionic damage) and typed defense to exotic damage, everything except toxic. Heightened Senses is your defense to smashing, lethal, fire, cold, energy, and negative energy damage. This power makes attacks less likely to hit you in the first place. Heightened Senses gives you a token amount of defense to smashing and lethal damage (2.5%) and a decent amount of defense to other damage types (9.8%, 15.2% slotted). Heightened Senses also improves your perception so you are less likely to be blinded and gives you resistance to defense debuffs. Some people say this power can be skipped. Those people are foolish; take this so your warrior fears nothing.
Slotting: 1 endurance reduction, 3 defense, quickly but not necessarily immediately
Resurgence
Finally an optional power in Willpower, Resurgence is a fairly basic self-rez. You get back up from death with most of your hit points, half your endurance. Youre a bit stronger than usual for the first 90 seconds after you rez, then a bit weaker for 45 seconds after that.
Slotting: 1 heal
Strength of Will
Berserker rage! This is your tier 9 power, a bit less of a god mode power than some tier nine powers, but honestly youre awfully hard to kill outside of Strength of Will (SoW) so a god mode power isn't really needed. Strength of Will boosts your resistance to smashing and lethal damage by 18.8%, and your resistance to everything else (including toxic) by 9.4%. Your endurance recovery is boosted by 30%, and SoW also boosts your status protection, something only infrequently necessary in PvE play more nice if you PvP. SoW lasts 2 minutes, and recharges in 5 minutes. At the end of 2 minutes you are drained for half your endurance. This is ideally used proactively before charging into a dangerous spawn, rather than reactively when youre already in trouble. The recharge time is not enhanceable, so this will never be a permanent power
Slotting: 2-3 damage resistance, soon.
POOL POWERS
There are 3 main pool powers to consider: fitness, fighting, and travel. Brutes just arent that good at leadership (youre a bloodthirsty barbarian, not a natural leader), you generally arent very stealthy, and medicine really just isnt needed.
Travel
I recommend Combat Jumping and Super Jump for travel. Super Jump is a fine travel power and CJ gives you a little bit (almost 2%) of defense to stack with Heightened Senses. Flight is an option, but Air Superiority causes redraw with Battle Axe, which is something you want to avoid.
Fitness
Not necessary, but very nice. Quick Recovery and Stamina together and you can fight indefinitely without worrying about the endurance bar. If you are rich or lucky and have the Miracle and Numinas unique IOs to slot, fitness is unnecessary. If you dont have them, life as a brute is much more fun with both QR and Stamina. Health boosts your regen a nice 40%, and swift lets you move faster in missions, getting to that next spawn a little quicker while Fury is still high.
Fighting
Also not necessary, but this turns you from really tough into just stupidly hard to kill. Your smashing/lethal resistance jumps to around 53% (82% under Strength of Will) and your defense to most damage types to around 23%. One Good Luck or two Lucks. puts you at the PvE soft cap. Boxing and Kick both cause Axe redraw, so I dont recommend planning to use these powers. Both make great IO mules, though, so if you have spare slots you can throw a Stun set into Boxing or a Knockback set into Kick for some nice IO set bonuses.
Speed
This is a reasonable pick if you like Hasten, but really unnecessary. Hasten does nothing for Willpower, and Axe really doesnt need it either.
Patron power pool
You really only get to choose 2 of the 3: fitness, fighting, and patron. In the current issue 12 version of the patron pools, I prefer fitness and fighting to any of the patron power pools. None of them are particularly thematic with a barbarian, all have multiple powers that cause redraw. If you have enough good +recovery IOs that you just dont need Stamina, I recommend Soul Mastery for some nice damage and the ToHit stacking with your other defense and ToHit.
IO BUILD GOALS
Many IO builds focus on +recharge. Axe/WP benefits less from +recharge than the vast majority of builds, so this isnt the best place to invest in hideously expensive Luck of the Gambler IOs. Recharge doesnt really affect anything in WillPower, and Battle Axe, has, mostly, a large number of similarly good powers. Is getting good recharge nice in order to have Pendulum up as often as possible? Heck yeah. But beyond that I wouldnt worry about most of the rest of the powers. The Force Feedback Chance for +recharge IO is relatively reasonably priced these days, and slots in every single Axe power, including both your main AoE powers where the chance for recharge is quite likely to fire. Put one in Whirling Axe and enjoy!
Common goals in a WP build include +Health (hit points), +regeneration, +def(energy), and +def(fire). The Steadfast Protection +3 defense +3 resistance is ALWAYS a great thing, of course. Increasing hit points is better than increasing regeneration, but its far easier to boost your regeneration and the HP cap on a brute is high enough you wont get to it without outside help. Increasing smashing and lethal resistance would be nice too, but nearly impossible with issue 12 IO sets.
Nearly all the single target melee sets have +hit points as the bonus for slotting three from that set. The damage bonus from Touch of Death and Makos Bite for slotting 4 from that set is OK, but not really noticeable on top of Fury until you have a few from that set. Crushing Impact is the only set thats really worth slotting 5 or 6 of, otherwise consider Franken-slotting 3 of 2 different sets in an attack to get as many +hp bonuses as possible.
The PBAoE sets that you can slot in Cleave, Whirling Axe, and Pendulum are largely not great. Cleaving Blow gives a tiny bit of +recovery and a tiny bit of energy defense at 2 and 3 slots respectively. Sciroccos Dervish gives some HP regeneration at 2 slots and some accuracy at 4 slots.
The Healing sets you can slot in a variety of powers have some good bonuses. Possibly the best is Numinas Convalescence. Both +HP and +regeneration? Nice.
A few of the resistance sets have worthwhile bonuses for slotting 3: a solid amount of HP from Titanium Coating, a bit of energy defense from Reactive Armor, and some fire/cold defense from Aegis.
Your best defensive set is Luck of the Gambler, with nice bonuses in all of the first 4 slots. Its quite expensive, so if you cant swing it, Serendipity is a reasonable alternative.
SAMPLE BUILDS
Heres an example build for how your budding barbarian might look leveling up. I tend to push out travel a little bit red side since there are so many good temp travel powers. You could easily flip Super Jump and Health in order to get travel at level 14. The power I havent taken yet at this point that I would love to have is Build Up. Very useful for dealing with bosses and annoying accuracy debuffing foes like Spectral Demon Lords. Quick Recovery is only 2-slotted, I found this sufficient with good endurance reduction in the attacks and eventually 2 level 50 IOs give you 83% enhancement with 3 giving you 99%.
At 35 and 38 I recommend either Build Up/Strength of Will, or Kick/Tough. I prefer Build Up/SoW slightly since I like Build Up, and SoW is much better than Tough when its up--40% of the time. If you prefer consistent damage mitigation, Tough is superior.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.4006
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Barbarian Leveling: Level 34 Natural Brute
Primary Power Set: Battle Axe
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Beheader -- Acc(A), EndRdx(7), EndRdx(13)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Heal(A), Heal(5), Heal(11)
Level 2: Gash -- Acc(A), EndRdx(3), Acc(3), EndRdx(5), Dmg(15)
Level 4: Fast Healing -- Heal(A), Heal(7), Heal(13)
Level 6: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 8: Swoop -- Acc(A), EndRdx(9), Acc(9), EndRdx(11), Dmg(15)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- EndRdx(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff(A)
Level 14: Health -- Heal(A)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- EndRdx(A), Heal(17), Heal(17), Heal(21)
Level 18: Whirling Axe -- Acc(A), EndRdx(19), Acc(19), EndRdx(25), Dmg(25)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- EndMod(A), EndMod(21)
Level 22: Mind Over Body -- EndRdx(A), ResDam(23), ResDam(23)
Level 24: Super Jump -- Jump(A)
Level 26: Cleave -- Acc(A), EndRdx(27), Acc(27), EndRdx(29), Dmg(31)
Level 28: Heightened Senses -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(29), DefBuff(31)
Level 30: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(31)
Level 32: Pendulum -- Acc(A), EndRdx(33), Acc(33), EndRdx(33)
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
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IO BUILD
This is an IO build, meant to be primarily an inexpensive build. Relatively few things here cost tens of millions, and no purple sets listed.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.4006
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Barbarian IO build: Level 50 Natural Brute
Primary Power Set: Battle Axe
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Chop -- C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:45(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:45(7), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:45(13), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:45(34), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:45(42)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Numna-Heal:45(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx:45(5), Heal-I:45(11), ImpArm-ResDam:40(39), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(40), ResDam-I:45(43)
Level 2: Gash -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(3), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:45(5), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:45(15), Mako-Dmg/Rchg:45(43)
Level 4: Fast Healing -- Numna-Heal:45(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx:45(7), Heal-I:45(13)
Level 6: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 8: Swoop -- C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:45(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:45(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:45(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:45(11), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:45(15), F'dSmite-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(42)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- S'dpty-Def:40(A), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx:40(46), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(46)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff(A)
Level 14: Health -- Heal-I:45(A), Heal-I:45(37)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx:45(A), Numna-Heal:45(17), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:45(17), Tr'ge-Heal/EndRdx:30(21), Taunt-I:45(37), Taunt-I:45(40)
Level 18: Whirling Axe -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg:45(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx:45(19), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:45(19), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:45(25), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg:45(25), FrcFbk-Rechg%:45(37)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- Efficacy-EndMod:45(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:45(21), EndMod-I:45(42)
Level 22: Mind Over Body -- TtmC'tng-ResDam:45(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:45(23), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:45(23), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(36)
Level 24: Super Jump -- Jump(A)
Level 26: Cleave -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:45(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx:45(27), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:45(27), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:45(29), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:45(31), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:45(39)
Level 28: Heightened Senses -- LkGmblr-Def:45(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:45(29), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:45(31), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg:45(36)
Level 30: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(31)
Level 32: Pendulum -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:45(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx:45(33), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:45(33), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:45(33), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:45(34), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:45(34)
Level 35: Build Up -- AdjTgt-Rchg:45(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg:45(36), RechRdx-I:45(40)
Level 38: Strength of Will -- ResDam-I:45(A), ResDam-I:45(39), ResDam-I:45(43)
Level 41: Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(45), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(45), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:45(45), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(46)
Level 47: Weave -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx:40(A), S'dpty-Def:40(48), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(48), Ksmt-Def/EndRdx:30(48)
Level 49: Taunt -- Zinger-Taunt:45(A), Zinger-Taunt/Rng:45(50), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg:45(50), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg/Rng:45(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- EndRdx-I:45(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
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PLAYING THE BUILD
Axe/WP is a fun, strong build pretty much right away in Mercy Island and all the way up. Fury building early is a bit more annoying than on some builds but not as bad as some detractors suggest. Fighting Mu in the early going is frustrating since you wont have enough endurance after swing a big Axe around to have somebody draining the blue you have left. Spectrals are annoying, since they debuff accuracy so much and are hard to kill with lethal damage.
Once you have Rise to the Challenge in your build, and have it slotted up a bit, you become fairly durable. Its probably obvious, but having a few minions near you as you fight is a Good Thing. If youre up against a tough boss, youll actually survive longer if youve dragged a few typical minions into melee range into the fight. Be sure to kill the minions last!
Later, virtually the only things that you will need to fear are endurance drain (especially the horrible carnie Mask of Vitiation), hard hitting single enemies (mostly AVs and AVs reduced to EBs) and occasionally alpha strikes from large spawns that do primarily non-smashing/lethal damage. Anything with big -regen like Lingering Radiation from some Longbow Warden is also bad news, but thankfully these powers are rare in PvE. One other thing to be a bit cautious of is Cimeroran Traitors. These soldiers do heavy lethal damage and leave a significant defense debuff on you. In addition, if two or more soldiers fighting you have drawn their shields out they all get enough knockback resistance that youll never knock them down, reducing your damage mitigation dramatically. Id recommend not spending too much time in Cimerora until you have Tough added to the build.
One of the IO set bonuses I highly recommend is +Health, or +HP. Dont forget the traditional way of accomplishing this as well, accolades. Born in Battle, High Pain Threshold, and Invader combine to add 20% to your hit points which is extremely helpful for the Willpower set.
Once you have all the powers in Willpower slotted up, with Tough and Weave running as well, very little in PvE will be able to kill you. Enjoy the carnage.
Excellent guide! Thanks for taking the time to make it!
I've been thinking of trying out Axe, but I've been trying to think of a good secondary. Willpower may be worth giving a shot. 
This guide is yummy. That is all.
Good guide. IMO Willpower is the only set that is compliment to Axe because of the attacks heavy drain on endurance. Particularly another reason you see a ton of SS/WP as well.
You touched breifly on the non need for stamina, and particulary Hasten.
However I am sure for those of you who know weapon re draw, and absolutly hate it, you will find that these two powers will pretty much make that a non issue itself.
As i am sure most of the vet' around here will attest, there is nothing like just jumping into the middle of a 16+ mob and laying utter waste to it as well as being the main target.
With no need to suck down blues, or have any slow down, I will leave it to everyone's imagination if your only lucky enough to have a /kin and a /rad corr on your team as well.
In short, Too Easy.
Thanks for the guide! I am going all hardcore and I'm going to make a Axe/Elec Brute! Wish me luck...I'm going to need it!
Great guide. Thanks for putting it together.
I haven't looked too closely or run the numbers or anything, but it seems like War Mace and Axe are very similar. Do you think it's safe to say that, besides some slotting differences (like knock* vs disorient), you could interchange Axe and Mace in this guide?
Anyhow, well written and helpful! I started a Mace/WP brute and I may just run an axe/wp one to see if there's any big difference. Doubt there is and I ike mace better for the concept...
War Mace and Axe are very similar. With the buffs WM got in I13, WM is probably a bit better overall but not much different. BA is better early and against small-medium groups, WM is better late and against large groups.
The issues are similar, Bash is your high DpS low DpA fury builder you might respec out of later. Clobber is an amazing take ASAP power. Shatter does a touch less damage than Cleave but it's easier to hit multiple targets.
You can mostly interchange the two in this guide, just expect less mitigation early from knockdowns and a bit better area damage late with Crowd Control.
I can't get your first build to import into Mids for some reason. It's giving me a weird error. Could you please try it again, maybe with the direct data link?
EDIT - Sorry I meant the IO build!
I would have to say that playing a Axe/WP Brute is very fun! So far I like it better than my original SS/Invul. I've played most combination's, so I can safely say the Axe/WP Brute is by far my favorite.
For those looking to start one, below is my current lvl 33 build. It's slotted in SO's at the moment, so that is what the build entails.
Because I've been through stamina hell before with other brutes I wanted to take a different angle with this one. As you will see, I waited on some of my toggles and put off on a travel power into my 20's. I got a Jet Pack that that has about 15 min left. I'm not sure how beneficial slotting stamina with 4 is, but this is the first time I've ever tired it. I thought why not.
This is also a build after a respec. For those that like my build and are inspired to start an Axe/WP, I'll let you know now that I did in fact have Beheader and Whirling Axe. I intend to add one of them back on my next respec.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Drake Hollow: Level 34 Natural Brute
Primary Power Set: Battle Axe
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Chop <ul type="square">[*] (A) Damage Increase[*] (13) Damage Increase[*] (13) Accuracy[*] (15) Accuracy[*] (19) Endurance Reduction[/list]Level 1: High Pain Tolerance <ul type="square">[*] (A) Healing[*] (7) Healing[*] (7) Healing[/list]Level 2: Gash <ul type="square">[*] (A) Damage Increase[*] (3) Damage Increase[*] (3) Accuracy[*] (5) Accuracy[*] (5) Endurance Reduction[/list]Level 4: Fast Healing <ul type="square">[*] (A) Healing[*] (25) Healing[*] (33) Healing[/list]Level 6: Build Up <ul type="square">[*] (A) To Hit Buff[/list]Level 8: Swoop <ul type="square">[*] (A) Damage Increase[*] (9) Damage Increase[*] (9) Accuracy[*] (11) Accuracy[*] (11) Endurance Reduction[/list]Level 10: Combat Jumping <ul type="square">[*] (A) Defense Buff[/list]Level 12: Swift <ul type="square">[*] (A) Run Speed[/list]Level 14: Hasten <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction[*] (15) Recharge Reduction[/list]Level 16: Rise to the Challenge <ul type="square">[*] (A) Healing[*] (17) Healing[*] (17) Healing[*] (19) Endurance Reduction[/list]Level 18: Health <ul type="square">[*] (A) Healing[/list]Level 20: Quick Recovery <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Modification[*] (21) Endurance Modification[*] (21) Endurance Modification[/list]Level 22: Stamina <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Modification[*] (23) Endurance Modification[*] (23) Endurance Modification[*] (25) Endurance Modification[/list]Level 24: Super Jump <ul type="square">[*] (A) Jumping[/list]Level 26: Cleave <ul type="square">[*] (A) Damage Increase[*] (27) Damage Increase[*] (27) Accuracy[*] (31) Accuracy[*] (31) Endurance Reduction[/list]Level 28: Mind Over Body <ul type="square">[*] (A) Resist Damage[*] (29) Resist Damage[*] (29) Resist Damage[*] (31) Endurance Reduction[/list]Level 30: Indomitable Will <ul type="square">[*] (A) Defense Buff[*] (33) Defense Buff[*] (33) Endurance Reduction[/list]Level 32: Pendulum <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction[/list]Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Sprint <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: Rest <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Fury
[img=http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/8514/statusm.th.png]
[ QUOTE ]
I can't get your first build to import into Mids for some reason. It's giving me a weird error. Could you please try it again, maybe with the direct data link?
EDIT - Sorry I meant the IO build!
[/ QUOTE ]
Here's the repost on the IO build...not sure what changed to make it not import any more, but I got the same error.
Plenty of flexibility in the build, this is just a jumping-off point, I'd say. I made a minor change here to pull the Kinetic Combat IOs out, since they've become pretty pricey now where they were dirt cheap when I originally posted this.
Very little can kill this build, the biggest threat is taking the alpha on 8-man ITFs. Strength of Will comes in very handy on those.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Barbarian IO build: Level 50 Natural Brute
Primary Power Set: Battle Axe
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Chop -- C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:45(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:45(7), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:45(13), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:45(34), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:45(42)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Numna-Heal:45(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx:45(5), Heal-I:45(11), ImpArm-ResDam:40(39), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(40), ResDam-I:45(43)
Level 2: Gash -- S'ngH'mkr-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(3), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:45(5), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:45(15), Mako-Dmg/Rchg:45(43)
Level 4: Fast Healing -- Numna-Heal:45(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx:45(7), Heal-I:45(13)
Level 6: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 8: Swoop -- C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:45(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:45(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:45(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:45(11), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:45(15), F'dSmite-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(42)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- S'dpty-Def:40(A), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx:40(46), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(46)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I:50(A)
Level 14: Health -- Heal-I:45(A), Heal-I:45(37), Heal-I:50(37)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx:45(A), Numna-Heal:45(17), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:45(17), Tr'ge-Heal/EndRdx:30(21), Taunt-I:45(37), Taunt-I:45(40)
Level 18: Whirling Axe -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg:45(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx:45(19), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:45(19), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:45(25), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg:45(25)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- Efficacy-EndMod:45(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:45(21), EndMod-I:45(42)
Level 22: Mind Over Body -- TtmC'tng-ResDam:45(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:45(23), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:45(23), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(36)
Level 24: Super Jump -- Jump(A)
Level 26: Cleave -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:45(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx:45(27), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:45(27), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:45(29), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:45(31), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:45(39)
Level 28: Heightened Senses -- LkGmblr-Def:45(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:45(29), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:45(31), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg:45(36)
Level 30: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(31)
Level 32: Pendulum -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:45(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx:45(33), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:45(33), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:45(33), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:45(34), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:45(34)
Level 35: Build Up -- AdjTgt-Rchg:45(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg:45(36), RechRdx-I:45(40)
Level 38: Strength of Will -- ResDam-I:45(A), ResDam-I:45(39), ResDam-I:45(43)
Level 41: Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(45), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(45), RctvArm-EndRdx:40(45), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(46)
Level 47: Weave -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx:40(A), S'dpty-Def:40(48), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(48), Ksmt-Def/EndRdx:30(48)
Level 49: Taunt -- Zinger-Taunt:45(A), Zinger-Taunt/Rng:45(50), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg:45(50), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg/Rng:45(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- EndRdx-I:45(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Buddahsmash--- You're not the only one who puts a value on getting Stamina and QR both ASAP. There's a tradeoff you have to make on offense, defense, and endurance, and taking Stamina at 22 is a valid way to go.
I personally can't see putting off mez protection until 30, that would be painful for me. 4-slotting Stamina is probably only worth it if you intend to fill the 4th slot with the performance shifter chance for +end proc, which is a great thing to throw in there. Bit expensive, but there's a reason why it's expensive, it's good.
I'm guessing Heightened Senses next pick, you'll enjoy having defense to help when fighting mobs that aren't heavy smash/lethal! You can survive without it with smart use of RttC, but it's a whole lot easier with it.
Ever taken a Brute to the hill in "The Hard Way" in St. Martial in your late 30s? The hill that's just top-to-bottom Freakshow? I recommend it, it's fun to just get Fury up to 80%+ and run around the hill demolishing one spawn after another!
Phosphorescency thanks for the build. I used your guide to get my Ax/WP to 50 as of last night WOOOO! Anyways, I am a RP'er and a PvP'er at heart. I have a tendency to get into Arena matches. I don't need to be uber by any means, but is it possible to make this build decent? You say not to go for an uber recharge build. Is this because of the animation times? From what I figure the long animation times should give me a better damage in Arena matches. If you have any advice on this I would appreciate the help.
Learn About The Empyrean Mandate
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The Masked Mayhem (LvL 45 Fire/Fire Blaster)
Phos, do you mind if I post my WM/WP brute build in this guide? There are no current guides for it and I actually used your guide to help build mine. There are a lot of parallels in the powers so it works out pretty well I think.
I just "respeced" at 30 using my second build and filled him up with "cheap" IO sets (15-20m total inf spent). I made a poor choice for power at 30 and felt like I needed the blow the respec. My new build is AWESOME compared to my old one and I thought it'd be fun to post up here so people could see how to get a great build on the cheap.
It doesn't fit the guide, being War Mace, so let me know.
No problem here, interesting to see what different people do differently and in no way do I have all the good ideas.
Will say that if you're feeling awesome now, wait until you have Crowd Control taken and slotted up a bit. Great power!
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Level 43 Natural Brute
Primary Power Set: War Mace
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Bash -- S'ngH'mkr-Acc/Dmg(A), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/Rchg(3), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(15), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(15), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(19), H'zdH-Heal(19), H'zdH-Heal/EndRdx(21)
Level 2: Pulverize -- S'ngH'mkr-Acc/Dmg(A), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx(5), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/Rchg(7), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 4: Jawbreaker -- S'ngH'mkr-Acc/Dmg(A), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx(9), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/Rchg(9), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), FrcFbk-Rechg%(21)
Level 6: Hover -- Flight-I(A)
Level 8: Clobber -- S'ngH'mkr-Acc/Dmg(A), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx(11), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/Rchg(13), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13)
Level 10: Fast Healing -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(25)
Level 12: Indomitable Will -- EndRdx-I(A), Empty(33)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I(A)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- H'zdH-Heal(A), Tr'ge-Heal/EndRdx(17), H'zdH-Heal/EndRdx(17), Tr'ge-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(23)
Level 18: Mind Over Body -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(31), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(31), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), EndMod-I(23), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(25)
Level 22: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 24: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 26: Shatter -- Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29), FrcFbk-Rechg%(29)
Level 28: Heightened Senses -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 30: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A)
Level 32: Crowd Control -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Whirling Mace -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 41: Tough -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Weave -- Empty(A)
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]10% Defense(Smashing)[*]10% Defense(Lethal)[*]2.5% Defense(Energy)[*]2.5% Defense(Negative)[*]5% Defense(Melee)[*]1.25% Defense(Ranged)[*]5% FlySpeed[*]67.5 HP (4.5%) HitPoints[*]5% JumpHeight[*]5% JumpSpeed[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 11%[*]MezResist(Sleep) 1.65%[*]3% (0.05 End/sec) Recovery[*]14% (0.88 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]5% RunSpeed[/list]
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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Some random notes:
- Next respec I'm going back to SJ. Flight is too slow when you're traveling and too hard to control when you're going short distances.
- I "discovered" that Swift sucks majorly compared to Hurdle. Swapping that out later too.
- Those Force Feedback +recharge IOs are relatively cheap and make a HUGE difference. I almost never need to use Brawl anymore and sometimes I don't even need Bash. Jawbreaker is on auto.
- I do NOT run out of endurance. Doubt I'll slot Stamina at this point.
- I want more good healing sets in Health and Fast Healing, but they're REALLY expensive and what I have in there works plenty well.
- I play on difficulty 4 and the only time I had to run from a fight was when I got jumped by 2 purple bosses.
- I'm really proud of my RttC slotting. I used to run 1 Endred and 3 Heals. This give the same healing amount and MORE endred plus set bonuses. Also it was so cheap as to be negligible.
- Again, this build cost no more than 20m, closer to 15m, and performs amazingly. Nothing in there looks amazing, but there's definite synergy in there somewhere.
I really appreciate this thread. I've been using it as a tool to grind my Axe/WP to 50..currently 40. To be honest this thread gave me the idea to try it out. Phosphorescency, I was wondering if you could look at my build and maybe if you have time cook up an IO build. I really like how it plays right now in terms of endurance. Stupid question of the day: How in the world do you get money for an IO build?! Thanks for any help. Below is my current lvl 40 build and future plans.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Drake Hollow: Level 48 Natural Brute
Primary Power Set: Battle Axe
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Chop -- Dmg(A), Dmg(3), Acc(3), Acc(5), EndRdx(5)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Heal(A), Heal(7), Heal(7), ResDam(9)
Level 2: Gash -- Dmg(A), Dmg(9), Dmg(11), Acc(11), Acc(13), EndRdx(13)
Level 4: Fast Healing -- Heal(A), Heal(39), Heal(39)
Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx(A)
Level 8: Swoop -- Dmg(A), Dmg(15), Dmg(15), Acc(17), Acc(17), EndRdx(19)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(37), DefBuff(37), EndRdx(37)
Level 12: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 14: Health -- Heal(A)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Heal(A), Heal(40), Heal(40), EndRdx(40)
Level 18: Whirling Axe -- Dmg(A), Dmg(19), Acc(21), EndRdx(21)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- EndMod(A), EndMod(23), EndMod(23)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(25), EndMod(25)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff(A)
Level 26: Cleave -- Dmg(A), Dmg(27), Dmg(27), Acc(29), Acc(29), EndRdx(31)
Level 28: Heightened Senses -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(31), DefBuff(31), EndRdx(33)
Level 30: Super Jump -- Jump(A)
Level 32: Pendulum -- Dmg(A), Dmg(33), Dmg(33), Acc(34), Acc(34), EndRdx(34)
Level 35: Mind Over Body -- ResDam(A), ResDam(36), ResDam(36), EndRdx(36)
Level 38: Strength of Will -- ResDam(A), ResDam(39)
Level 41: Kick -- Acc(A)
Level 44: Build Up -- EndRdx(A)
Level 47: Tough -- ResDam(A)
Level 49: Weave -- DefBuff(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Not a stupid question at all... generally, easiest way is simple though. Beat up a whole load of stuff, and sell the drops.
You're actually at a pretty good level for one of the closest things there is to a hazard zone red-side where you can defeat a LOT of things quickly.
Try this--clear your inventories. Go to St. Martial, head to the far southeast. There's a hill in The Hard Way that's almost entirely large spawns of Freakshow. Dive into one and cut loose with Pendulum, Whirling Axe, etc. Assuming you're the only one around, the spawns should be mostly level 40s, so not terribly hard to kill, but there are lots of them. You'll be at full Fury in no time, and as soon as you finish one spawn you can circle the hill to the next. You can basically head around the hill at 70%+ Fury non-stop!
Fill up salvage or recipes, and head to the Black Market.
If you can find a good mish in the MA, you can do similarly with bronze recipe rolls or salvage rolls from tickets, and you can run the MA at any level.
If you're selling all your drops and you price toward the high end of the range stuff sells at (not necessarily AT the high end, just up there a bit) you can make loads of cash. It's not hard to get 20 million or so, especially with a couple of good drops scattered in lots of stuff selling for 10-50K. And you don't need 100 million to get some decent IOs as long as you don't pay the Right Now price.
Basically, vendor all your drops, getting an above average price, and get a feel for how far stuff swings (some stuff varies INCREDIBLY in price) so when you're buying stuff you don't pay the high end price you sold stuff at!
As for your build, looks good and I'm glad it's not a clone of mine! I would have gotten Rise to the Challenge slotted up earlier, but at 40 you've got all the essentials, slotted decently. Now you get level 42 and 43 to get things slotted really really well.
I hope you're having fun, I found it a great Brutish build with lots of SMASH.
I'll take a look at an IO build tomorrow if I can! What kind of budget do you have to operate with?
Can't stop without mentioning an alternate fund-raising approach, which you'll see detailed better in the Market forum, under being an evil marketeer.
You'll notice that some items swing widely in price? Well, as a villain you can take advantage of this. Drop a bid on a stack of 10 of something toward the low end of it's price range. Run a mission, or log off. Come back, grab your new stuff, and place it on the market, closer to the high end of its price range. Run a mission or log off. Profit. Rinse and Repeat, with multiple stacks of 10 as needed.
I prefer to play the game vs. playing the market, but it's an alternate mini-game in CoX that I have taken advantage of, especially following spikes of server activity.
Thanks for the advice. The second build I posted isn't exactly how the in-game build was created but in the end it represents where it sits atm. I just hit 41 about 3 hours ago. I picked up kick from the fighting pool.
I currently have around 20 mil saved up. I've been fortunate to have a plethora of tickets to buy my enhancements. All together I've only spent about 2 mil for my enhancements.
The idea would be to IO at lv 50 right?
For anyone else checking out this guide I very much recommend an Axe/WP Brute. Very fun to play with and you feel pretty much invincible at times.
Phosphorescency, before the shutdown maintenance I decided to go to that hill you speak of, for the couple min I looked around at it..I only saw a couple mobs of like 3. I do have about 2500 tickets left so I may try to get some randoms from the AE to sell.
Check that hill again, I just rolled over there and there were multiple spawns of 10-12 Freakshow each there. Occasionally they fight with Wailers, so you might have seen a spawn that just finished a battle.
I'm a supporter of early IOing. Just as an example, say at level 32 instead of putting in level 35 SOs you put in 5 Focused Smite. The bonuses are utter trash, but that's part of the reason you can buy the set so cheap...you can buy the full set for $250,000, where the SOs cost $200,000.
Yes, with the SOs you need crafting cost and salvage. But now you're done until you find something better. And at all level 34s, instead of 66% acc, 66% dam, 33% end you get 59% acc, 84% dam, 41% end, 59% recharge. So for the same cost or less 32-47, you can be far better off. And when you get your patron arc respec, you can pull those things out, sell them for a profit, and buy Crushing Impact or something nicer!
Post deleted by Buddahsmash
[u]Be the BarbarianAxe/WP[u]
Chop! Gash! Swoop! Cleave! Destroy your feeble adversaries with your mighty Battle Axe, rending them asunder whilst you stand unmoved and unsullied. This is the power of the Barbarian.
Axe is one of the newest primaries for Brutes, and loads of fun to play and watch. Axe was given some of the very best weapon customizations, and all of the attacks in Axe have the chance to do knockdown, which gives you time you need occasionally for Willpower to help you regenerate your hit points. Its a very strong, fun combination.
If you want to farm, its probably not your best choice. Its also not a build to sink a half billion infamy into since it doesnt benefit from all purple IOs as much as some. The animations are a bit lengthy, and the damage is all lethal. Is Axe/WP the ultimate Brute build? Nope. Is it loads of fun to play and very strong? Yep.
Battle Axe is an interesting set. Solid single target and AoE damage and solid mitigation, its good at everything without being the best at anything. Its one of the better internally-balanced sets, with nearly every attack using the same damage per endurance and damage per activation. None of the animations are short, but none of them are eternal either, and theyre beautifully rendered. You can pick almost any combination of attacks and you wont go far wrong.
Willpower is a good match with Axe, since one of the banes of Axe is having to take the thing out again. Only Strength of Will in Willpower causes redraw. One of the designed weaknesses for Willpower is that it doesnt get a self-heal, and Axe helps Willpower out by giving it some breathing space for Willpowers huge regeneration rates to kick in. Enemies knocked down are still boosting your regen, even though they arent hitting you for a moment.
Other brutes with damage auras will do more damage than you do on teams. But Willpower lets you fear almost nothing in the game. Barbarians should fear nothing, and Willpower has few holes in its armor. Very little other than a stoner in Granite will out-survive you and you dont pay the price tag of running in Granite.
FURY AND YOU
The key for any Brute doing good damage is in Fury. As you attack and are attacked, you build Fury. Eventually your berserk attacks leave only pieces of your enemy in your wake. Note that being attacked builds Fury, not being hit.
Brute attacks initially do only decent damage, but as you build Fury you rapidly do more damage. At 50% Fury you double your starting damage, at 100% Fury you do triple damage (though you wont be at 100% with any consistency) and attacks fully slotted for damage and with 100% Fury do quadruple damage. So getting and staying at 75%+ Fury is more important than slotting for damage on a Brute, especially at early levels.
Axe has a bad reputation for being hard to build Fury with. This reputation is only partially deserved. Between Brawl, Beheader, and 1-2 more attacks its not too hard to build Fury though not quite as easy as on a Brute that has a fast recharging, fast animating attack like Jab or Shadow Punch. The fact that an Axe user cant cleanly add pool attacks like Boxing or Air Superiority to their attack chain due to Axe redraw complicates matters. But Brawl on auto simplifies matters and its not as hard to build Fury as some claim.
Once you have Willpower fully slotted, take advantage of your toughness and the fact that being attacked builds Furydrag a couple of spawns of minions together so you have more things trying to hurt you and merely instead helping you regenerate health and build up your Fury!