Axes vs Swords

[Jim]

I realize a ton of people are going to tell me axes get a bonus against busting shields. OK got it.

Any other advantages? Axes are shorter and slower and they both do slash damage. Do axes get a bonus vs armor or something? I'm failing to see the point in using an axe at all.

[Emjay]

Axes are only good against shields from what I can tell. In theory your anti armour weapon would be a mace but I don't know if they have that implemented.

Otherwise yes, a sword is better as it's faster, longer and has more attacking options (thrust/stab).

[Chillum]

Sword is good vs cloth.

Mace is good vs armor.

Axe is the in between.

[Ri0Rdian]

Using Warband experience, you want axe or mace for heavy melee fighting (read: Siege), either to trash those shields or those heavily armoured enemies. Sword is nice in field battles on horseback to chop off heads of fleeing enemies though. :D

[Lord Lurk]

Weapon weight also plays a big role in damage output, so a slow but really heavy weapon could potentially outpace a faster, light, but higher base damage sword. From what I have seen so far most of the combat mechanics are nearly identical to Warband, so you should google up Warband combat mechanics and how damage works to get a better understanding.

[Morkonan]

I had limited success with Axes against Shields in the early game, so just stopped using them.

Are they really that effective in mid-to-late against shields? They were, somewhat, for certain units in Warband, but in the end those were always going to be for "siege troops" and their needs, not necessarily for front-line field-battle troops.

Tips? Particular axes that seem really effective across the board?

[Lord Lurk]

It's mainly due to your skills most likely. In warband low weapon proficiency meant really poor weapon performance, and I am sure that applies in a very similar way with the one-hand skill in Bannerlord.

As for best axe, I always found high weight+damage with a small focus on speed to be the best, even it ends up being really short because that can really help in moshpit fights and sieges.

[kekkuli]

Axes seem to do more stable damage.

[Kai]

They need to utilize more than just damage values and shield damage.

They need to take into consideration weight of stagger to the hits.

So for instance a sword swings faster on all counts than a axe, but has the least amount of weight other than the dagger, which means enemies recovers quicker after taking a hit (armor involved or not).

Axes are hefty and they are going to be staggered much longer if they take a hit, with or without armor.

Maces are the best at staggering, another level up higher than axes.

Spears has stagger based on the speed bonus of the attack, rather than the weight of the weapon alone, this means it's more effective on calvary or against calvary.

Basically you can knock down targets if stagger reaches a certain threshold, this is especially true for heavy 2handed weapons.

This requires damage values to be tweaked so 2handers don't one shot kill often, but knocks down and knocks back targets, whether they are guarding or not.

[ForwarD]

Just curious, do axes have bonus damage to gates? Because it might be only reason to equip an axe ever.

[creme_de_la_bear]

2 handed axes cleave through multiple enemies in a single swing.swords/polearms don't

[Lord Lurk]

Originally posted by ForwarD:

Just curious, do axes have bonus damage to gates? Because it might be only reason to equip an axe ever.

From some quick testing in MP siege the other day, I want to say that yes, they do make a difference.

[Friendly]

The bonus damage to shields is the main advantage. But...

Originally posted by ForwarD:

Just curious, do axes have bonus damage to gates? Because it might be only reason to equip an axe ever.

Yes they do bonus damage to structures as well. At least I know for sure they do in multiplayer, wouldn't think it's different in singleplayer.

Personally, if you don't want that, I'd take a sword since you have a larger area to strike with (not just reach typically, but the blade versus the axe head also), so it's more forgiving to use.

[Lord Lurk]

Just be aware that long weapons perform really poorly in the moshpit fights in singleplayer, so if you find yourself always snagging your swings, don't hesitate to give an axe, or even a mace a try! They are all fun weapons to use and I keep both a sword for field battles and an axe for sieges myself.

[Veolfen]

Also, you can find a bunch of axes with high damages, decent range (for an axe) and good speed (good for an axe, but actually better than the swords with the same amount of slash damages).
For the damages on shields, you won't hit shields much if you play a lord on cav, but in sieges you might consider it. But pretty sure each time you tried breaking shields, you were a few hits away from destroying them.

Axes shine on AI units & in multiplayer tho

[Lord Lurk]

Originally posted by Veolfen:

Also, you can find a bunch of axes with high damages, decent range (for an axe) and good speed (good for an axe, but actually better than the swords with the same amount of slash damages).
For the damages on shields, you won't hit shields much if you play a lord on cav, but in sieges you might consider it. But pretty sure each time you tried breaking shields, you were a few hits away from destroying them.

Axes shine on AI units & in multiplayer tho

I believe multiplayer has tweaked how shield HP and damage works, because of how turtley they can be, not 100% but it feels like shields break way faster in MP than SP.