Build talk:N/W Soul Taker Axe

I'm not sure if the +8 armor from the tactics investment is worth it over putting all points into axe. -- DANDY ^_^ -- 04:10, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Hello Dandy, and thanks a lot for your input ! Much appreciated, you are a very nice guy.
 * Good note. If the team support can protect effectively (Protective Spirit, Refuge, Xinrae's Weapon), we can go for no tactics investment.
 * I went with the choice of defense, because the damage mostly comes from Dark Aura, and due to this I think staying alive is more important. I don't think a lower axe mastery miss out on a lot of damage, as most foes have high armor rating.--Ruineternelle (talk) 09:04, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
 * This really needs Frenzy as one of the variants imo. There's no real problem with Frenzy in my experience as long as players micro shelter (and/or prot enchantments). Sonofthort (talk) 12:09, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

Dps number
For whoever it can interest, the master of damage often says 250 in one second hitting the two adjacent targets (if chaining cyclone axe and whirlwind, 310-320 damage, reached 452 - theory says 430+the armor-respecting damage in 1s), with an average 115 dps on single target damage.--Ruineternelle (talk) 13:31, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Moved from article
If this is meant to be a mandatory hero we have to turn this into a team build page. Else it'll suffice to drop a note on the page stating that this build requires a dark aura hero and benefits from vigorous spirit. --Krschkr (talk) 11:11, 4 June 2020 (UTC)

Thoughts on the main bar and optionals
Just some thoughts on the main bar and optionals. 1) Dismember is main-barred on most axe builds, and related to this, its nice to limit the number of other adrenaline skills so that dismember (and whirlwind attack) can be spammed often. What are your thoughts on dismember? 2) If dismember is main-barred, do we need to list Penetrating Blow/Chop as optionals? What are your thoughts on Penetrating Blow/Chops in general? I haven't seen these skills used very often, so just curious. 3) The 1/2 second attack skills make sense to me, but could these be optionals instead? 4) Executioner's strike is alright, but is expensive and gets in the way of other adrenaline skills. What do you think? 5) Thoughts on Furious Axe and Thrill of Victory? They do almost the same amount of damage as Executioner's, but are on-demand and can help build adrenaline. 6) Thoughts on Tormentor's Insignia? Sonofthort (talk) 12:51, 7 June 2020 (UTC)
 * I've been running around with this. I have to say I've been totally surprised by how good it has turned out to be. I know I'm missing whirlwind attack, which has great synergy with soul taker, but for normal gameplay cyclone + splinter is enough to spike any ball, and balling itself is made much easier by IAU!, besides cyclone being a non-adrenaline skill you get much more uses out of it anyways. 1) + 3) Dismember + protector's is a great spike with soul taker/dark aura, and if you're taking more than one adrenaline skill protector's is even better. 5) If you're taking tactics (extra from the shield really does help) soldier's gives more damage. 6) Armour is still best stat. (Blessed also work)


 * I like this bar. Imo cyclone+splinter, dismember, armor, and ease of use and energy management are the reasons I'd take axe over daggers in general (and dismember->prot strike is nice I agree). IAU is good main-bar material IMO. What's your take on To the Limit here? Is it better with whirlwind, and how does it compare to For Great Justice? Plague Sending also makes sense but cast time is a bit long Sonofthort (talk) 12:50, 9 June 2020 (UTC)
 * To the limit is better on bars with multiple adrenaline skills for sure, but it does allow two uses of dismember back to back. The slot might be better used for something else but it's a decent skill in any case. Plague sending is there for a support hero to cast Dark Aura on me (I use a Discord Necro with smiting skills) and you can pass on blindness/weakness to enemy physicals, none of the other sac-skills seem to be much of use to me with so low attribute investment. Master Elros (talk) 17:12, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Rename this build to Soul Take Axe?
Just a suggestion - I think there could be interest in other N/W Soul Taker bars which do not use axe. User100425457 (talk) 17:33, 29 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Once someone submits another N/W bar, such as N/W Soul Taker Scythe, it'd make sense to rename the page. Until then I don't think there's a point in changing its name. --Krschkr (talk) 17:49, 29 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Sounds good, I was looking for the N/W Scythe page actually, guess we don't have it yet. User100425457 (talk) 17:57, 29 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I could make one for this bar: OAFSY4KTf1facFGFFFSiqi0k – just let me know. --Krschkr (talk) 18:10, 29 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Only questions are about Distracting Blow and Distracting Strike. So these each do zero damage on their own, but they are just a quick attack to trigger Dark Aura? Distracting Blow does not trigger for each interrupted foe, correct? Just thinking that if you are going for quick attacks, /D has some quick attacks also which will do damage as well. What do you think about something like this?

[build prof=N/D sou=12+1+3 earth_p=12 scyth=3][Soul Taker][Sand Shards][optional][optional][optional][optional][Drunken Master]["I Am Unstoppable!"][/build]
 * So some fast attacks available, as well as a multi-attack and a double attack. Even more AoE with Sand Shards, and flash enchantments can be good cover enchants. Wish these were all 1/2 second attacks though. User100425457 (talk) 13:43, 30 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Distracting Blow: Deals no damage, but triggers the vampiric scythe and the soul taker health sacrifice for each targeted foe. Distracting Strike: Deals 0 damage (= all damage bonuses like soul taker and strength of honour are applied!) and triggers soul taker for each hit foe. Combine these two with protector's strike and you have three attacks in one second. Easy to know what to do with that: You see balling foes, run towards them, auto attack->protector's strike->distracting blow->distracting strike. With three balling foes that's 708 damage to each foe from dark aura + 2x standard attack hit damage + 1x vampiric scythe only + 1x damage bonuses only. Assuming two critical hits and targets with 60 armour that's 876 damage per affected foe, aka guaranteed kills. Without the auto attack it's still 654 damage (531 from dark aura). Add one or two energy surges and all affected foes are dead. The /D skills don't allow for this level of damage compression because those attack skills aren't as quick and foes might start to scatter before they're dead. But I haven't them. --Krschkr (talk) 11:16, 31 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks - I'm still not sure I understand Distracting Blow. The description of this skill makes it seem like it should behave like Whirlwind attack, but it actually doesn't "hit" all adjacent foes. Are you saying that is does behave like a whirlwind attack in terms of triggering ST, or it just triggers ST a maximum of 3 times (because of scythe)? User100425457 (talk) 13:30, 31 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Distracting blow targets foes depending on your weapon type: With normal weaponry only the target foe, with a scythe also two additional less-than-adjacent targets. If distracting blow would hit the target(s), an interruption is triggered on the target and foes adjacent to the target (I do not know whether a scythe triggers multiple interruptions; I guess not). In this case you also trigger the vampiric/zealous prefix and soul taker's health sacrifice aswell as additional effects such as critical hit bonuses (assassin: critical strikes energy gain; probably also the PvP version of find their weakness), sand shards, splinter weapon, adrenaline gain. Just imagine it's a normal attack, but if it hits, the damage package it would inflict is eradicated before you apply it. --Krschkr (talk) 14:31, 31 July 2020 (UTC)
 * E: It does trigger an individual interruption for each "hit" target. --Krschkr (talk) 14:35, 31 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Gotcha and to confirm, Distracting Blow does not function like a Whirlwind attack/cyclone axe. That doesn't really matter, I was mostly just curious about your motivation for the skill. I think this bar makes sense after chewing it over. If your enchants are stripped, then Distracting Blow and Distracting Strike loss a lot of effectiveness; however, it doesn't matter much because Soldier's Strike and Prot Strike are still quite spammable. Assuming enchants are good, then your bar can do some huge AoE spikes in a matter of a second. The N/D bar I posted seems OK too but I have to play around with that concept more. User100425457 (talk) 13:37, 1 August 2020 (UTC)

Bump to rename this page to soul taker axe now Willarddog (talk) 14:40, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Also, due to no progress being made on this build for several months, I'll look at updating it when I have a chance. Willarddog (talk) 04:24, 15 April 2021 (UTC)