Axes | Elden Ring Wiki

In the words of the famous Dark souls PVPer Eustace Bagge: "Chop,chop,chop, Down ya go!"

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Very mediocre in pvp but for pve axes are pretty amazing. They've received constant buffs ever since the game released. Give them a try in pve if you haven't yet especially the warped axe or rosus' axe

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Use a straight sword. These are hot garbage.

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If From wants axes to be a decent weapon class, they have to stop trying to balance them like straight-swords. Increasing the attack speed is better than no buff at all, but it doesn't really help with the main weaknesses of axes, being their lack of range, stagger and poise. In previous games they had high damage and stagger, to the point where they could stunlock, but were balanced by their slower speed, and somewhat predictable moveset.

In Elden Ring, axes are supposed to specialize in using charged attacks, but they have no hyper-armor that would enable them to properly use this feature. The most reliable way to use charged attacks (excluding Iron Cleaver's amazing R2) without fear of getting staggered is in conjunction with War Cry, which requires a lot more setup to deal damage, compared to other weapons that are much faster and have more range.

The hyperarmor that the mace has on its charged R2 attacks, that's what the entire axe class needs. Hammers can keep their higher poise break, but there is no reason axes shouldn't have just as much hyperarmor on their regular charged R2s. It wouldn't make them significantly stronger in pvp, but would make them feel much more intuitive to play in general. The powerstanced moveset also needs a lot more hyperarmor, not more speed. As long as they keep trying to buff the speed, without touching the hyperarmor, axes are always going to function as worse straight-swords.

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Why are ppl so tilted about this weapon class? It ain't half as bad as you think. Even the celebrant's cleaver can clear the haligtree with ease.

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They should bring back the dual wield axes moveset from Ds3. That would make power stanced axes a lot more viable, probably

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definition of mediocre, even flails have innate bleed

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Axes and straight-swords in Souls are kind of like Vegeta and Goku. No matter how hard axes train and struggle, straight-swords will always get the most positive attention/glory from the creator.

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axes are worse hammers and still need to be buff in some area to make them stand out. only specific axes with the non generic moveset are worth using.

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the ones that use the stock axe moveset are kinda meh, but the cleavers and other variants are awesome though

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Why is Warped Axe missing from all of the views on this page aside from "Base"?

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Pretty pathetic weapon class overall, even the Rosus axe, the longest axe in the games range is just terrible. Iron cleaver is the only one that’s somewhat viable imo.

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why the r2 so slow tho

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I miss the Dragonslayer Axe from DS2 and DS3... It looked so nice...

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the quick axes are really really good now, but the slower axes like rosus or the battle axe could really use a bit more poise damage to give them something over straightswords.

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I don't get what the complaints are about. Idk about pvp, but in pve, axes are probably the best light weapons with the highest dps. Especially the warped axe. Better than straight swords or katanas.

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I wonder why there's no faith based axes

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Contending with colossal weapons for worst category overall. Colossals at least have reach and one-hit potential with jumping attacks... Hammers and flails are generally, if slightly, better but especially in PvE where strike damage is universally awesome and they do more posture damage. Axes are truly the worst of both worlds: stubby reach, middling stagger/posture damage, awful powerstance moveset, barely any better single moveset, slow enough to not combo without storm stomp, no thrust attacks, no chase down ability. In terms of having nothing going for them, they have it all!

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It's weird that powerstancing hatchets uses the same moveset as other heavier axes even they are lighter and attack faster in single wielding.

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Dual wielded axes uses the animations like it's heavier than a greataxe. I'd even argue it's perhaps even slower than that because of the lack of range and distance you have to go through to pull off an attack with a damage worse than any other weapon on an enemy.
Also dual axe attack slides forward on the first dual attack because they realised too late it was such a bad animation it had to have more range or they just thought they could get away with another soul-series with bad axe animations.

To make it even worse the dual greataxe moveset is faster, more range, more damage, more poise damage and the only downside being weight if you even care about that. Greataxes also doesn't have a stupid animation where you hit with your left weapon first with a missed attack on the ground and then uses the right weapon afterwards with no range to boot to the ground. It's a bigger chance you hit yourself on the foot than an actual player with axes.

They also dumped the first hype on seeing Stormhawk Axe for the first time when seeing the npc Nepheli using it against Godrick. It should have been the only axe in the game with both axes count as one armament instead of giving us two axes to upgrade. Favoring over Straight Swords once again due to Ornamental Swords existing.

Which... Why are Straight Sword allowed to dual wield and hit both swords at the same time while retaining excellent range and axes are not? Katanas are more balanced in that way they actually hit like the axe does with one swing and then the next afterwards, but Straight Swords, spears, curved swords and so many others don't follow this rule. This makes two-handing obsolete in these class except for the axe-class where it's better two-handed than dual wielded because no one saw a Berserker in movies and thought they were dumb as rocks and only slammed axes to to the feet of their foes.

Also the biggest laziness of this dual wielding axes is it is EXACLY the same animation as dual wielded maces and flails. So no love was given to either maces, flails or axes in this game. So if you thought you could dual wield the other alternatives such as maces or flails sorry to disappoint you. They have the same issue except they can at least do a bit of damage.

On top of that Occult Forked Hatchet does less damage than Occult Scavenger despite using same amount of attributes and one having less range, worse speed and design. That is at 99 arcane and 25 dexteriy in case you're wondering. Occult Forked Hatchet should deal more damage.

Anyways axes, maces, flails are the most neglected class and I wrote this on axes because I have the biggest issue with them of them all. They've neglected axes in every single god damn soul-series type of game and it's annoying. Lastly axes have 0 unique ash of wars in both Greataxes or Axes while Swords have Stormblade.

Screw this neglection to 3 classes and give me that sweet Fromsoft love you give Katanas, Curved swords and Straight swords. (-_-)

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Something that annoys me about axes is the way your character holds them. Imo it should be over the shoulder 1 handed and the DS2 sideways at the hip stance for 2 handed. Right now it just looks goofy sprinting around holding one of these the same way you hold a damn dagger

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**** it, just give axes poise on like every r1 or r2. have that be the axe thing. you don't need to stack poise to have poise with axes, so you can actually utilize the cool charged attacks and be a proper berserker build

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Axes now reliably hit rats and dogs. They still can whiff, point blank, against erdtree avatars, but it's nowhere near as bad as pre-1.08.

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To OP 13h Dec. Speed increase of 22% is only for a given number the frames. The speed of the first hit is still the same, with the speed of frames from 1st to 2nd hit being increased by 22%. That's the first L1. The second L1 follows the same pattern but with 19% speed increase.

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They're still are kinda weird crossbreeds between hammers and straight swords, while not being as good as either.

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Hidden buff in patch 1.08 : all axes have more Attack Rating it seems. The speed increase in the powerstance moveset is 22% according to Chrightt on YT.

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To 07 dec OP. Axes are not faster than straight swords. Sorry.

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The cleavers got a good speed buff, the warped and ripple are still slow and irrelevant.

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i think to separate axes from everything else, they should use the old DS3 combo system where the r1 chain was infinite

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I know axes are faster now, but are they also faster with dual wielding. Haven´t found a video that compares and i don't see much off a difference in game.

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This patch finally gave Axes a nichee. Before 1.08, using an Axe was a handicap as the hammer does everything better. And now finally the charge attack is faster than the Greataxe charge attack. Like, what a joke it took them so long to fix this weapon class

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Before the latest patch they used to share the same swing speed as hammers. Now they're noticeably faster, which is fair imo considering hammers poise break a lot faster.

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I knew I wasn't going crazy. The attack speed has been increased significantly.

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As of 1.08 they are now faster than straight swords!

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Axes in DS3 have better range, however can't apply pressure at all as even warcry R2's can be interrupted with regular attacks from light/fast weapons. In contrast, Elden Ring axes have much worse range and significantly less stagger. However, both warcry and "wild strikes" grant hyper-armor that actually works and scales with your poise. Charge attacks also do a lot more damage compared to DS3, which can be further enhanced with talismans.

I'm of the opinion that axes are actually stronger in Elden Ring compared to DS3. However, they could definitely use some improvements, particular to their abysmal range and poise damage. Their poise damage and AR should always be higher than straight-swords and other faster weapons, because the latter are generally more versatile, especially at endgame where you can only afford 1-2 hits before you're forced to dodge.

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straightswords but bad

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need a poise damage buff to be even remotely viable for pvp. I struggle to poise break people in regular armor

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i have played with axes in pve and pvp for every game in this series except Demon Souls. The verdict:

Dark Souls 1 - Underwhelming for pvp but good in pve. I'll always remember taking the golem axe into the tomb of the giants and whipping people off the cliffs there.

Dark Souls 2 - Surprisingly great for pvp and pve. Good range and ability to pressure opponents with the running attack. Also low stat requirements on most so they fit into just about any build.

Dark Souls 3 - A straight downgrade to straight swords, but still a decent combat option. The r1 has range and is great for roll catching and there are a couple of axes that have specialized skills like shield chip to deal with turtles or insane damage for their weight. They underperform overall because they have no move that can apply pressure on opponents.

Elden Ring - Possibly the worst weapon class in the game. Damage and stagger is almost identical to straight swords, which have lower weight, better range, and superior moveset. The dual wielding option is possibly the worst way to play pve and pvp with any melee class (I have tested flails yet). The L1s on dual wield axes actually come out slower than the L1 on dual wield great axes, imagine that. The Stormhawk axe gets an honorable mention for having an absolutely insane ash of war (seriously, keep one of these in your inventory if you ever get stuck on an elevator) but it's so short ranged that your whole strategy is going to involve surprising your opponent or baiting them to be in range for a trade which doesn't work well against people with pokes or spells. Right now axes are right down there with hammers for worst class in the game (also maddening considering DS3 buffed hammers to be niche and decent). I'd give hammers the nod over hammers because at least they do strike damage and their charge attacks have heavy stagger build up.

Also, the hunter's axe and shinobi axe in BB and Sekiro respectively have more use than axes in Elden Ring.

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*pulls out copy of DS2*
Back in my day axes were actually good

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Straight swords are trash, relatively speaking.

Axes are trash, objectively speaking.

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The short sword literally has more range than every single basic axe, as well as most of the basic hammers. Tested it against Erdtree avatar, the giant gargoyles, dogs and rats. I'm not even counting the straight-sword guard counter, which is massively better, just the regular R1s.

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I miss DS3 axes. Better moveset, better War Cry animation, just so much more fun to use. The greataxes in ER are, well, great, especially after 1.06, but the normal axes just can't stack up to the glories of days past

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Patch 1.06: Fixed a bug when dual wielding Axe and Greataxe which caused additional effects from Spells, Weapon Skills and Items to not be applied correctly

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straight swords are faster, have better range, better moveset, similar damage & same poise break. 240 motion value on square off.
katanas are faster, have better range, better moveset, similar damage & same poise break. 240 motion value on unsheath.

what's the point with axes? even with their built in bonus on wild strike, with the slow heavy combo (has 230 motion value), cannot outdamage above.
axe need a huge buff or the other weapon classes needs to be nerfed down to axe level.

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axes have higher damage with wild strikes and charged attacks compared to straight swords, that's about it. range, speed. moveset & stagger is mediocre though, this weaponclass really needs a buff.

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I found a lot of success by using celebrant axe MH with beast roar combined with highland axe OH with sword dance. Beast roar gets some dammage boost from the highland axe and talismans (the troll roar and shard of alexander talidmans) makes it incredibly deadly. Doin about 700-1k damage in pvp with a single roar. And the special heavy attack from the celebrant cleaver do catch off guard a lot of people. Theres definetly a lot of potential with 1h axes in elden ring. If you didnt like 1h axes yet in elden ring i highly recoomend this build.

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I've found the best way to utilise this weapon class in PvP is to stack poise and hence 2H them instead of powerstancing. 2-handing also comes with the added benefit of faster atk speed which is much needed when this game is dominated by pokes. For AoW, use something that has good hyperarmor or range to make up for its bad moveset

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If there is anything DS2 did right, it was giving the axe class a decent moveset.

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Is there a way to effectively powerstance axes/hammers without having to stack 99 bajillion poise?

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I know this has been stated to hell and back, Axes and Hammers need a serious buff. the slow swings, short range, and usually less than stellar stagger for weapons these speeds make them obsolete. The damage they do is respectable but needs to be a bit higher. Axes and Hammers are so slept on and its sad seeing how amazing alot of Axes and Hammers have been in previous games, but being shafted in this game.

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I wish these and greataxes had a charge attack cancel where you just give them a little axe boop like Godfrey does.

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I feel like the axes with the general battleaxe moveset could use a range buff. Both small and large enemies can be missed at point blank with them, which doesn't seem fair considering their poise break/damage doesn't seem to be much better than straight swords, which are generally faster and have a much more reliable guard counter.

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I was playing while tired and neglected to think things through, and was tricked into giving her poison......If I was a christian I'd be repenting for the rest of my life.....instead I just have a nagging guilt for my uncharacteristic ignorance in that moment.....

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A lot of good axes. The ironic part is that axes are nothing special as a class and have nothing that define them but a lot of them get random movesets and skills that are great.

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There aren't any that look similar to the dragon slayer axe, rip Creighton build.

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There's no way the same people that made the Hunter's Axe in Bloodborne made these as well. Even the loaded Axe from Sekiro is better

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oh boy
I can't wait to see how they improved axes in elden ring

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I love all the people flaming Axes in the comments as if they aren’t the true ‘ol reliable. I just did a gauntlet of beating the Souls trilogy and Elden Ring solely by two handing an Axe and it was a blast

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The weakest weapon class in every Souls game.

At least give us back Winged Knight Twinaxes moveset when Powerstanced.

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I just killed the 2 Giants pulling the hearse and opened the treasure chest to find a “GREATAXE”. Skill is Barbaric Roar.
“The blows will flatten enemies and the force of its charge attack is a sight to behold”
The catch is your strength has to be 30.

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My gut says axes NEED buffs, BUT I just found out that when used with the ash of war Wild Strikes, axes and only axes get a secret/hidden +25% damage modifier, most noticible on the follow-up R2.

Now I'm curious if axes have any other hidden boosts/interactions with skills.

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I would sell me own soul to get this weapon class to be good. I beg of ye Fromsoft, buff axes, in some way at least

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ugliest and weakest weapon class, but ohh they made sure to slap random japanese swords into the game with overpowered stats and high quality designs

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the best ive used and their ash combos are sword dancing warped and lightning ram celebrants. agree with most on dual wielding is a joke for these
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Once again the most forgettable, possibly objectively worst weapon class. Sigh. At least highland axe has some niche use, and icerind hatchet had a brief moment in the spotlight, but only as an L2 button.

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It feels like axes in this game share some of the weaknesses of heavy weapons, but with less range and slightly higher swing speed. Their poise break feels similar to straight swords, which is a problem imo because straight swords are faster and have much better movesets. Things like wild strikes and war cry are also a lot more situational and/or require set up compared to things like "Square Off" or katanas in general.

In short, they're in a weird spot where they technically work, but there are better options, especially for dealing standard and strike damage. If they don't receive any damage buffs, hopefully DLC can introduce some better axe options. I personally would like to see at least one that applies scarlet rot, without having to sacrifice str scaling or having some arbitrary 16+ int and/or dex requirement.

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Let's all agree that axes deserve and need some buffs, as of today in 1.04 :/
Yes we can make them work, but... there's no incentive to use them besides fashion.

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Headless horseman role-play. Only reason I'm using an axe.

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I got the kaiden armor and thought I would use axes and in the end they are quite lack luster but we all know that the only thing that matters in this game is fashion so I recommend the Highland axe with sword dance and frost affinity. as for my off hand I go with the hand axe with poison mist does ok dmg but falls off late game due to range and attack speed but is quite fun

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The way I see it, the strength of axes SHOULD be high damage in comparison to other weapon classes. Not really the case unfortunately, even more so given they have the same poise damage as straight swords.

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They really need to buff this type of weapon. I already miss my Winged Knight Twinaxes.

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Rip man serpent hatchet, gone but not forgotten

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God, why? Why they have to make axes this ugly and ridiculous? Do people actually like such exaggerations of proportions?

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Why is the warped axe not showing up in most of these tables?

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Practically speaking, axes are not as good as other weapon classes (not horribly awful for PvE, where anything goes) and suffer range issues for their slower swing speed (very problematic in PvP). Can barely hit larger enemies with big collision boxes like Gargoyles and Erdtree Avatars with some of the shorter axes.

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Practically speaking, axes are not as good as other weapon classes (not horribly awful for PvE, where anything goes) and suffer range issues for their slower swing speed (very problematic in PvP). Can barely hit larger enemies with big collision boxes like Gargoyles and Erdtree Avatars with some of the shorter axes.

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Man Axes are ugly in this game, there are maybe 3 good looking ones.

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With the exception of the Hand Axe, this weapon class always leaves me disappointed. From has no idea how to make Axes a more attractive option compared to straight swords or hammers. They are always the red headed step child of the three.

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kinda surprised there's no faith axes.

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for whatever reason, the iron cleaver, with the magic upgrade, scales unusually well. At +25 and 50int, its above the most of the other axes by about 50AR.

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Axes are for silly conan people!
Real pros like SANTA CLAUSE use the MACE!!!
I am Santa Clause and use the mace every day!
Don't be silly like conan, be a pro like Santa Clause!

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There seems to be 3 different basic axe move sets: regular(your normal axes), fast(hand axe and forked axe), and a third more clunky one( iron cleaver idk of any others have it), the power stance move set is the same no matter the base move set, the clunky ones benefit a lot from that but the fast ones lose a lot of speed power stancing

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they used to have the best one in each arms category, did they take that out?

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Ok, after testing a bunch of these axe's at 1 from max. the Warped Axe wins once you use a whetknife on it. if you look at standard stats without using a whetknife the Stormhawk Axe wins (the extra lightning damage from the Ash of war puts it beyond the rest). with my build (67 str 80 dex) the sac axe +24 has 560ar on heavy, 579ar on keen, and 635 on quality. the Warped axe has 605 on heavy, 644 on keen, and 681 on quiality.

I have no idea why this page lists the hand axe as the #1 "best axe" that pos aint even in the running.

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Axes in this game are just straight up much worse than straight swords and katanas, they don't do comparatively more damage or poise, and are outclassed by their lack of useful weapon ashes other than hoarfrost. Square up, Unsheathe, Double Slash and stuff like that make this entire weapon class into a complete joke.

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the frozen forked hatchet is missing from this page, you get it from the stone imps in the consecrated snowfield

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