Bardins Axe and Shield

[TmanDW]

I love the Axe & Shield. It’s probably my most favorite weapon in this game. It’s not at all super powerful or anything, but there’s a depth to this weapon, once you get some practice with it, that I wish was in more weapons. The thing is, and @RandomLurker has said it already: Axe & Shield has several sweet combos that are really good in a variety of situations. This makes Axe & Shield a suprisingly versatile weapon, once you get the hang of it! Being able to do these specific combos is really rewarding gameplay.

The other day I made a reply in a thread about Ironbreaker Axe & Shield loadouts. I’ll link it, here. That’s a long post about Ironbreaker in general, but I’ll quote the relevant passages about Axe & Shield combos below:

@TmanDW

Weapon: Axe & Shield, with Block Cost Reduction and Attack Speed, Opportunist trait.
Reason: I like Axe & Shield a lot better than Hammer & Shield, as the light attacks on H&S are pretty redundant when you have the shield, and you need to spend stamina to do any (still relatively mediocre) damage to armor. Axe has not-bad single target damage on lights however, you can chain Light 1 - Heavy and have access to a usefull sweep attack with the axe to damage and stagger hordes, and you are still able to chain Light 2 - Heavy to do pretty decent single target damage as well. The biggest reason A&S is awesome however, is because of the combo of Push - Heavy, which pushes followed by a shield bash. This can be chained ad infinum and controls enemies (and generates THP) like nothing else. You won’t damage anything, but it clears room whenever you need it and is amazing support. I feel I don’t need extra Stamina with a shield + Ironbreaker’s bonus Stamina, so I take Attack Speed instead (cause the weapon is pretty slow). Stamina is not a bad choice however, and I’m sure there are other options as well.

@TmanDW

Axe & Shield (seems to me to) beat Hammer & Shield in every situation I can imagine because of its way better combo moveset and more useful light attacks. (Might be personal though, but I never managed to make Hammer & Shield work nearly as well.) Learn to use the different combos of the Axe & Shield, and you’ll find it’s a way more versatile weapon than most people give it credit for.

@TmanDW

Don’t forget you have your axe! Don’t just be a staggerbot, you’re more useful if you fight as well, but apply your staggers liberally and in service of your mates when you can.

Remember you can chain both Light 1 - Heavy (sweep attack) (for hordes) and Light 2 - Heavy (downward chop) (for single target) forever by going light - heavy - light - heavy - light - heavy - etc., as @RandomLurker already said. You can also chain Push - Heavy (shield bash) forever as well, and that’s great for controlling everything and generating a billion temp HP when you need it.

Having said all that, I do feel A & S could do with a little attack speed buff. Even though it’s versatile, it’s still a lot less powerful than most other weapons, and mostly useful to support your team only. Its defense is amazing, but its killing speed is rather bad, which will get you overwhelemed easily if you’re not careful. But it’s a way better weapon than most give it credit for.