Build talk:W/any Seven Weapons Stance Axe

Keen chop? What about Penetrating chop/blow? Willarddog (talk) 16:50, 11 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Well, some rough calculations (against 60 AL):
 * Keen Chop (always crits, 16% armor penetration from strength) will do 86 damage per use with a 3 adrenaline cost
 * 28.7 damage/adrenaline
 * Penetrating Chop (28.71% crit chance, 20% armor penetration, +25 bonus damage) will do an average of 78 damage per use with 5 adrenaline cost
 * 15.6 damage/adrenaline
 * Against 100 AL:
 * Keen Chop: 48 damage per use (3 adrenaline)
 * 16 damage/adrenaline
 * Penetrating Chop: 55 average damage per use (5 adrenaline)
 * 11 damage/adrenaline
 * From this, we can conclude that Keen Chop is probably better from a DPS standpoint, in a vacuum. Even when Penetrating Chop starts averaging more per use (breakpoint AL is around 75), it still takes longer enough to charge that the slight gain can't make up for Keen Chop's more frequent use.
 * Caveats: The actual DPS contribution of each is going to vary quite a bit based on how fast your adrenaline is building and how much you crowd out Keen Chops with other attack skill usage. Toraen (talk) 20:39, 12 April 2021 (UTC)
 * good to know! Did you take into account during when "FGJ!" is up? "FGJ!" probably leans the scale in Penetrating Chop's favor I would assume. Willarddog (talk) 21:29, 13 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I didn't compare DPS here, I only went as far as comparing the damage/adrenaline efficiency of each (no FGJ or other boosters). Assuming FGJ is the only boost though, Keen still pulls ahead in these simplified calculations (just divide the damage numbers by 2 and 3 instead of 3 and 5, respectively). Toraen (talk) 11:19, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Toraen already pointed out why the penetrating attacks are relatively unsatisfying for a strength build. At 20 axe mastery guaranteed critical attack spam is alright damage. I'd rather see the alternative for dismember + keen chop in body blow (6.2 adrenaline/+42 damage, chance for deep wound) combined with executioner's strike (8 adrenaline/+50 damage). With FGJ and some area hits with cyclone axe it might work alright for short fights, although I think this combo holds up better in general gameplay. Axe attacks really don't scale well in terms of raw damage, especially compared to swords and hammers. --Krschkr (talk) 13:14, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Executioner's and Body Blow can probably be added as variants. I was simply curious about the penetrating attack as I don't really have much experience with them (only have ever run axe with Warrior's Endurance) and I've never seen Keen Chop used before, but in this context it works well, which is cool. What I'd really like to see is how this holds up DPS wise vs WE Axe. It probably holds its own weight. I'm unable to test myself, but theoretically it looks solid. Willarddog (talk) 18:17, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Seemed to be a good bit better than Warrior's Endurance axe, albeit a lot less fun. I love dash + frenzy and protector's strike. If you have asuran scan, non-frenzy IAS and IAU on the endurance bar SWS should be better by a good margin. --Krschkr (talk) 21:47, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I'll add my vote as soon as you do. Willarddog (talk) 04:27, 15 April 2021 (UTC)