Request: /Axe primary advice and leveling build

I've been hankering to fool with weapon customization, and since I find tankers more to my taste than scrappers....

Axes include some neat models, I see. What's good with /axe? Shield seems an obvious option. Would invulnerability work with it?

Please propagandize, and if you have suggestions on leveling builds, I'll welcome those too.

Everything works well with Axe as long as you don't slot any KB enhancement, which would be fun, but insane. Axe's secondary effect is knockdown which goes well with every primary to add to your mitigation abilities. Pick whichever primary you like, they'll all benefit from being paired with Axe. I prefer Invulnerability myself, but Shield is pretty nice as well. Willpower is nice if you like soloing, but holds aggro about as well as a cute little puppy.

As for Axe itself, it's a pretty simple set: take powers, slot them, hit things till they fall over. No bad powers, no 'hard to figure out' powers, just good old fashioned butt whooping. I had thought of making a guide to Battle Axe at one time, but a) Maltese Knight beat me to it, and b) after naming it "Take Powers, Slot Powers, Kill Things", there wasn't a lot left to add.

*giggle* Great, thank you.

While Shield is a nice primary it, like all defense sets, suffers early due to low mitigation. I'm currently working on a Shield/Fire tanker and until my defenses climbed above about 25% (in the mid-20's leveling up) it really felt like I had no primary. Now that the tank's in the mid-30's however it's a different story... my defenses are roughly 40% to all positions and he feels much more like a tank. My build plan has him soft capped to all positions by level 41 at which time he'll be more than solid enough to handle anything in the game.

Invuln is stronger starting out and can be stronger defensively once it matures; it won't put out the damage numbers that a Shield will but it can be more durable. If you decide to go with Invuln then check out my first 20 levels guide to help you build a sound foundation to build your tanker on. Later on you may want to check out my guide to soft capping defense on your Invuln to create a nearly unkillable monster.

The bottom line is you won't go wrong with either Shield or Invuln; both can be very tough and both will do the job well. Invuln is tougher both early and late with IO bonuses while Shield is considerably more offensive with AAO and Shield Charge. Please note that while I say Invuln is tougher I am by no means saying that Shield isn't tough... my Shield SCRAPPER is tough enough to main tank the ITF; a Shield tank will be even more durable. The first 20 some levels will be tough on a Shield tanker though so if you go that route don't give up... things will get MUCH better a little later in your life.

Thanks! I shall call your advice awesome.

I would say to take it with a primary that has a damage aura, like Dark, Fire, Ice.... or maybe Stone. The reason is that it has a lot of slow recharge powers, and you don't get any AOE attacks until level 28. Your axe attacks also use a lot of end, so it's nice to be able to just stand there and let your aura continue damaging your foes while you wait for your endurance to replenish.

If you want your tank to be a tough tank, you need to mostly be taking defensive powers, so you don't have room for a full attack chain of Axe attacks. My level 28 Ice/Axe tank right now can solo block mobs that are very scary in size and scope, but I've only taken 3 Axe attacks so far. (The first two, and the level 28 AOE). I let the Icicles in my damage aura do most of the killing for me, and just use my axe attacks to knock down the strongest mobs before they can damage me.

Axe is a solid secondary that mixes well with almost every primary. The only combination I would shy away from is Dark. That's an endurance heavy primary that excels when you add specific synergies (stun, fear, endurance recovery, self-heal) from your secondary, and Axe is an endurance heavy secondary that does not offer any of those things.

Fire/Axe offers more synergy; the knockdown would seem to help Fire a whole lot. Willpower/Axe is good: there's a lot of AoE in Axe, and the knockdown does no harm.

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I enjoyed Shield/Axe very much. As Starflier says, the knockdowns from Axe help shore up Shield while you're leveling, and Shield buffs your damage nicely. Also Shield Charge is another knockdown attack; it can be a knockdown-themed character.

I'm currently enjoying two Fire/ Tankers. Although neither is /Axe, it seems to me like I'd be stronger if I had a lot of knockdown in my attacks, and Fire/Axe would probably be a nice pairing.

Edit: ah, I see Heraclea also concluded that.