Two Handed Axes Guide
2HA Guide
Below you'll find everything important to know about Two-Handed Axes (2HA).
In a Nutshell
Pros
- Many (single-hitting) high damage attacks.
- Chance to disarm your opponent if they block your stronger attacks.
- Many utility moves within the skill set (Sap, variety of hooks, fling, shield-breaker, aggressive stepping, parting).
- Strong against Brawling & Pankration due to unarmed blocking mechanics.
- Versatility in damage types with three moves for bludgeon damage, and the choice between traditional axes for cutting damage or pick axes for piercing damage.
- Pick axes allow users to mine while being able to defend themselves from nuisance critters without swapping weapons in and out.
Cons
- With no access to shields and no easy blocks for the weapon, a two-handed axe wielder has very limited defensive capabilities.
- Two-handed axes are not as conveniently/easily acquired as other weapons.
- There are no moves that can easily exploit common defense holes, so highly defensive opponents can be difficult to deal with.
- Many moves are locked behind multiple layers of prerequisite ranks, which limits the weapon's attack variety early on. Be sure to note all of the prerequisite ranks to plan your training accordingly!
Advice & Tips
- For fights where you're able to control the start of combat, starting combat in a more defensive stance than you primarily use and opening the fight with Stepping Slash is a great way to open combat and take advantage of the tremendous damage output of Stepping Slash.
- With defenses being in short supply for the weapon, sometimes your best means of defending yourself is to disable your opponents' ability to attack you. With the assistance of Swinging Disarm, your Hook skills will be your best friends. Basic Hook will allow you to disarm armed opponents, where Ankle Hook and Arm Hook can be used to make your opponent prone/kneeling.
- When fighting creatures where you don't need to rotate moves and you just need to kill them as quick as possible, Overhead Chop will be your most useful attack due to its high damage output and ability to be used at range.
- Remember that Swinging Disarm can also be used defensively; if an opponent snares your weapon with their own weapon-entangling attack, you can use Swinging Disarm for a better chance of not only freeing your weapon, but sending their weapon flying out of their grip.
- Your best 5-move rotation early on will be Basic Slash, Chop, Swat, Haft Strike, and Overhead Chop.
- Crossing Block and Haft Block - These two blocks will cover everything that Jump and Leg Dodge will, and then some, with the same difficulty level. While there are advantages to having your dodges have a higher rank bonus than your weapon blocks in the long run, in your early training, it can be worthwhile to prioritize these two blocks over those two dodges.
- Swinging Disarm - When attempting to disarm an opponent, swinging disarm is nearly 100% effective against targets that are not standing. If you are planning to use disarmament as a strategy, it is advised to use ankle hook to put the target on their back before hooking their weapon accordingly!
- Pick axes have a unique speed advantage over traditional two-handed axes in that they reach maximum speed for most attacks with perfected Reflexes, rather than max speed stat.
Weapons
This is the list of weapons that can be used by the 2HA skill set.
SPECIAL NOTE: Pick axes will modify the damage type for moves that normally inflict CUT damage to instead inflict PIERCE damage.
| Weapons | How to get it | Est. cost in shops |
|---|---|---|
| Two-Handed Wooden Axe | Usius (Bronze Lane) | 95d |
| Two-Handed Tin Axe [RF] | Apecuia (Officium de Humanitas). | 44d 1st 1s + 19 Pebbles |
| Two-Handed Tin Axe [RF] | Grouthar (Stromheim) | 25 tokens or NPC loot. |
| Two-Handed Bronze Axe [RF] | Grouthar (Stromheim) | 200 tokens or NPC loot. |
| Two-Handed Alanti Axe [RF] | Occasionally sold by Nayden (Iridine Forum) | ~4-6t |
| Two-Handed Iron Axe [RF] | Grouthar (Stromheim) | 600 tokens |
| Two-Handed Boison Axe [RF] | Occasionally sold by Nayden (Iridine Forum) | ~40-60t |
| Blackroot war-axe (iron) [RF] | Grouthar (Stromheim) | 1200 tokens |
| Tin Pick Axe [RF] | Sold by Concinnant (Seld) | 950d or NPC loot. |
| Bronze Pick Axe [RF] | Sold by Concinnant (Seld) | 2t 675d |
| Iron Pick Axe [RF] | Sold by Concinnant (Seld) | 24t 500d |
| Boison Pick Axe [RF] | Sold by Nominis (Seld) | 43t (+Reputation) |
| Retalq Pick Axe | Sold by ??? (Vetallun) | ??? |
[RF]: This item can be Re-Forged by Ferrarius.
Summary
In most cases you'll want an Iron Axe/Blackroot War-Axe or Boison Pick Axe. (TO BE CONFIRMED FOR MAX SPEED AND UNLISTED WEAPON STATS)
In scenarios where you need to be more tactical in your strategy, such as in combat with another player, an Alanti Axe will often be the best option due to its speed bonus over boison axes which will allow you to capitalize on stuns and hooks more effectively. (TO BE CONFIRMED FOR MAX SPEED)
A rank of 1 signifies the best in this category.
| Weapon | Damage Rank | Speed Rank | Weight Rank | Overall Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two-Handed Tin Axe | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Two-Handed Bronze Axe | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Two-Handed Alanti Axe | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Two-Handed Iron Axe | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Two-Handed Boison Axe | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| [ReForged] Two-Handed Boison Axe | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| Blackroot war-axe | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Tin Pick Axe | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Bronze Pick Axe | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Iron Pick Axe | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Boison Pick Axe | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Retalq Pick Axe | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| [ReForged] Boison Pick Axe | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
Weapon Damage
A rank of 1 signifies the best in this category.
| Weapon | Damage Rank |
|---|---|
| [ReForged] Boison Pick Axe | 1 |
| [ReForged] Two-Handed Boison Axe | 1 |
| Two-Handed Boison Axe | 2 |
| Boison Pick Axe | 2 |
| Retalq Pick Axe | 3 |
| Two-Handed Iron Axe | 4 |
| Blackroot War-Axe | 4 |
| Iron Pick Axe | 4 |
| Two-Handed Alanti Axe | 5 |
| Two-Handed Bronze Axe | 5 |
| Bronze Pick Axe | 5 |
| Tin Pick Axe | 6 |
| Two-Handed Tin Axe | 6 |
Weapon Speed
A rank of 1 signifies the best in this category. (FURTHER TESTING NEEDED)
| Rank 90 Reflexes | Maxed Speed | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Speed Rank | Median Speed | Speed Rank | Median Speed |
| Two-Handed Tin Axe | 1 | 2+mos | 1 | 1+mos |
| Two-Handed Bronze Axe | 1 | 2+mos | 1 | 1+mos |
| Two-Handed Alanti Axe | 1 | 2+mos | 1 | 1+mos |
| Two-Handed Iron Axe | 2 | 3+mos | 2 | 2+mos |
| Two-Handed Boison Axe | 3 | 3+mos | 3 | 2+mos |
| Blackroot war-axe | 2 | 3+mos | 2 | 2+mos |
| Tin Pick Axe | 1 | 1+mos | 1 | 1 +mos |
| Bronze Pick Axe | 1 | 1+mos | 1 | 1+mos |
| Iron Pick Axe | 2 | 2+mos | 2 | 2+mos |
| Boison Pick Axe | 2 | 2+mos | 1 | 2+mos |
| Retalq Pick Axe | 1 | 1+mos | 1 | 1+mos |
Weapon Weight
| Weapon | Weight Rank | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Two-Handed Wooden Axe | N/A | Less than a pound |
| Tin Pick Axe | 1 | 5 lbs |
| Two-Handed Tin Axe | 2 | 6.5 lbs |
| Two-Handed Alanti Axe | 2 | 6.5 lbs |
| Two-Handed Bronze Axe | 3 | 7 lbs |
| Blackroot war-axe | 3 | 7 lbs |
| Bronze Pick Axe | 3 | 7 lbs |
| Iron Pick Axe | 3 | 7 lbs |
| Boison Pick Axe | 4 | 9 lbs |
| Two-Handed Iron Axe | 4 | 9 lbs |
| Two-Handed Boison Axe | 5 | 12 lbs |
| Retalq Pick Axe | 1 | 4 lbs |
Moves
Worthwhile
- Overhead Chop - High damage output and usable at either range makes this one of your best attacks.
- Cross Chop - Second most damaging 2HA attack, after Stepping Slash. Good pairing with defenses, making it one of the easier attacks to land.
- Woodcutter Slash - Excellent shield-breaker to get rid of an opponent's shield quickly.
- Swinging Disarm - A necessary move to make full use of your three Hooks, as well as making it easy to free your weapon from your opponents' weapon snares.
- Haft Sap - This move is difficult to land on an opponent that is able to defend themselves, but a great move to follow-up a successful to takedown from Arm or Ankle Hook to stun your opponent and keep them down longer.
- Haft Strike - Against most opponents, this maneuver will tend to be your easiest move to land due to being an easy attack with few weapons having any defenses easier than average to defend against its default aim.
Less useful
- Falling Strike - Not only is this move difficult to land on opponents, it also causes you to retreat and there are no engaging attacks for the weapon, nor are there enough moves that can be used at range for a full rotation. The damage output of the move is good, but generally when you want to retreat from an opponent, you're better off just using Fall Back.
- Backhand Strike - This move has to follow a slashing attack so it isn't as versatile to fit in rotations, and is also difficult to land.
- TBC
Complementary Skill Sets
- Brawling is highly encouraged for access to kick/headbutt moves and additional ways to knock your opponents off their feet. Additionally, there are no non-metal two-handed axes, so you'll want to have a way to deal with some of the Valley's more electrifying fauna!
- Combat Maneuvers is necessary for any weapon, but especially so for two-handed axes due to the weapon's extremely lackluster built-in defenses.
- While not a skill set, it is highly recommended to learn the Blackroot Language during your early training so that you will have easy access to the Nehal village of Stromheim.
Complementary Traits
- Cunning Opportunist is highly recommended due to the high raw damage output of the weapon and lack of any multi-hit moves. Note that Woodcutter Slash does not benefit from this trait.
- Ox's Grace /Granite Grip are recommended to increase strength further. Two-handed axes are not meant to be flashy, graceful weapons; they are meant to overpower opponents quickly. Bonus strength will not only increase the already high damage output, but also assist in the effectiveness of the Swinging Disarm. Note: Granite Grip will not allow you to wield two-handed axes with one hand.
- Ravenous Hunger is highly recommended for the huge damage increase it provides to the weapon's already huge damage output.
- Night Vision is useful due to the weapon requiring both hands, preventing you from carrying a torch/lantern in your off-hand.
Miscellaneous
- Both regular two-handed axes and pick axes can use the behead command. Special tip: heads are useful trade-ins for Nehal tokens to help pay for your training later on!
- Pick axes can be used for mining metal ore.