I haven’t used the tac-axe in a long while, I’d rather have picked the knife for more attack speed and crit, or the combat axe for more power before taking whatever in-between the tactical axe was. Does the new blessing, Slaughter Spree, (making a critical hit guaranteed after a critical weak-spot kill) make the tactical axe worth it? It seems nice for killing hordes of poxwalkers, since you can easily line up headshots and get crit after crit, but hordes are easy to deal with normally without criticals on every hit.
Against normal enemies I feel like Slaughter Spree wouldn’t be as good. It seems like I would get more crits against tougher enemies, when I actually need to get crits, with just the Shred blessing (crit on chained hit). Just wondering before I invest in the weapon, since I really didn’t like it that much before, even with Shred and Decimator.
This blessing completely changed the weapon for me. FOR ME PERSONALLY, it is now the best defensive melee weapon on Veteran. Gives infinite dodges in most cases, unless you’re the last one alive against dozens of enemies of all types. It makes Vet as mobile as knife Zealot, though you still go down in 3 hits without VOC, if enemies get you.
Relentless Strikes also feels like a direct upgrade to Decimator. You get the stacked damage much faster against beefier solo targets, and you don’t feel it as much when you lose the full stacks after missing a hit.
I haven’t tried Slaughter Spree, but I guess it’s a perfect match for crit Zealot. Not sure what’s the best blessing to pair it up with though. Shred seems like an obvious choice… maybe too obvious? But I have good melee weapons that work on Zealot, so I’m in no rush to test it.
Agile was actually why I was considering using the tac-axe again lol. I felt like the dps of the tac-axe was a bit low the last time I used it, and the attack pattern always kind of annoyed me, so I’m somewhat hesitant though. I was planning to use it on Zealot, but I’ll probably try it on Veteran, since I always use the combat knife to stay safe.
Not wrong…
This is what I use when picking the tact axe.
Agile is great on zealot and with a dodge build
I disagree. This works only on one target, except if there’s a bug.
For me decimator + brutal momentum is pretty solid on the tactical axe. This is one of the combinations that works well.
I would say:
agile + BM (good on vet and zealot. on vet, you must pick reciprocity to get the best of this combination)
decimator + BM (the classic)
shred + BM (to increase the criticals rate and get the +50% TDR onm a zealot… not sure it is interesting on a veteran)
all or nothing + BM (requires to pay attention how you play, as you will want to deplete your stamina, so harder)
Of course you can also try headtaker + BM, but I don’t like this one. It is easier, but you loose half the power you can get from decimator.
Slaughter Spree + BM is pretty good also. But it works well if you use it on a zealot with a full critic build (so with fury rising).
EDIT and precision: a full critic build is also a toughness build.
I have to test the tactical axe without BM. I did it on combat axe, I am not sure it could not be even better to not pick BM with tactical axe. I had tested it a long time ago, but now with all that I experimented since that, I would try something totally different.
But to be honest, I stick with penances that I chain, and I have yet several builds to test (actually I am testing beacon of purity builds, when I want to play a new build and I also play a lot achlys when I don’t complete penances)
EDIT: what I would want to test is a shred + Slaughter Spree, Slaughter Spree + agile, Slaughter Spree + shred on a zealot with Stalwart
More crits for 8s wont let me reach any new 1 shot breakpoints I dont already reach, and for the big guys nothing is faster putting them down than quick swapping to the bolter.
I don’t use Keystones because they hyperspecialise builds to a degree that I personally dislike. Don’t get me wrong, Keystones are great, but they are by no means essential.
I never said desperation does read my build notes. desperation + duellist does. It really changes nothing much. again similar to more crits doesnt change any breakpoints i dont already reach. maybe stalwart with the TDR can be worth it but then you need to reallocate points which would lose too much value in other things for me.
i refuse to believe you somehow find value in blood redemption, what is the 1-2 more toughness on kill getting you if youre abusing the crit cdr anyway
it changes that you dont have to waste stamina to have any uptime on this
with sust assault you have 100% uptime
You can cleave multiple targets in a horde with each swing using push atk > heavy 1 and the difference is 9 points vs 14 without it. more than the 1-2 points you make it out to be. kill 3 in one swing and you get 42 Toughness back on every swing.
there is a legitimate argument for sustained assault vs desperation sure feel free to swap those around. you can however bind sprint to w and have desperation proc 100% all the time by just moving forward.
That kind of ignorant stance is spawned by being arrogant and snooty towards others who have different playstyles than yourself. If I can complete Damnation while never going down consistently without any Keystones, that is a huge sign that they are not essential and thus you should not sit there and judge others for not using them. Get off of your high horse, my guy.
Why would anyone use Master’s Retribution is beyond me. This talent will proc on stray hits from horde enemies 90% of the time, so I don’t see point in using it, especially if you’re running Agile already and can dodge away infinitely. And stuff like Ragers often attack in packs, so stunning just one of them won’t make a big difference.
Also I have a hard time believing that +5% melee and 5% damage reduction is more important than taking Blazing Piety in your case and either Stalwart by itself or both right side talents.
Like, okay, you don’t need to use keystones, I get it, but choosing +5% dr and +5% melee over a keystone that provides you with much more damage reduction from Enduring Faith is strange.
Agile is supposed to prevent getting stray hits by dodging infinitely, a pack of dogs is more of a problem imo.
Masters Retribution also doesn’t just knock back 1 target, it knocks back all targets that hit you at the same time (happens more often when in a horde and you are spamming pushes and their attack timing ends up syncing).
the extra 5% melee lets you reach 1 shs on pox hounds and 2 shs on scab gunners without any buffs.
I guess if you bind sprint to w and have desperation proc 100% of the time (but no stamina) you can reallocate the 2 points to Blazing Piety and Stalwart for more TDR and crits.
Personally I find the use cases for Relentless Strikes to be very limited. Unless you like wailing on Crushers with Tac Axes… most likely it wont make a difference because a teammate with an actually good armor-piercing weapon is around.
It’s also much too easy to lose the stacks if another enemy waltzes into your strikes.
The question is, why would you need 1 hit breakpoints on dogs, when most of the time you’re gonna kill them with a throwing knife while they approach you. Tacaxe is a fast weapon and most players just spam light attacks continuously during fights, so I don’t really see much difference in killing a dog in one or two hits when it has such a high base attack speed.
You rarely fight multiple dogs at the same time outside of Hunting Grounds, and even when you play the modifier most of the time it’s really easy compared to darkness/poxgas/shock troop missions.
