hand axes viking conquest

[rgreen]

I used a Heavy Long Hand axe in the start of the game, and just fell in love with these one handed short range axes. Found a better one after a while; Heavy Pictish Axe; 31c, speed 88, reach 68. My question is, I've run over a number of "unique" sword like draugunir-something and nad and maybe someothers, and goidelic variants swords, any chance to get an unique 1-handed axe or a goidelic named long handaxe/hatchet/pictish axe? Awesome game btw

[White Knight]

The best and longest two-handed axe in the game (possibly the only one?) is the Troll's Axe. You get it from defeating the "Troll" at his bridge in Danmark. I don't know the stats off hand since it just sits in my inventory waiting for me to get another point in Strength (you need Str 22 to wield it), but it's ridiculous.

Next to that, I think the Champion's Goidelic Sword is the two-hander of choice for most (no Str requirement and much easier to acquire).

[Tuidjy]

The two-handed sword definitely has a strength requirement, but it is something like sane like 9 or 10.

There is also at least one two handed axe that you can get from a master blacksmith, and it is not all that much worse than the 'Troll club' unless they have changed its stats again. Mine sits in a chest in the hideout, right next to the Elf shield, Ragnar's langseax, and other cool but useless gear.

As for one handed named axes, I have not found any. I do not see the point, really. A sword is longer, faster, more damaging, better against armor and if it does not break shields as well as an axe, I would not know, because I try not to hit shields. Sometimes I still do, from horseback, and shields break just fine.

Axes are cool, I'll give you that, but there is a reason people paid fortunes for a good sword.

[rgreen]

Yeah, aware that sword may be the better option, its just that axes are so cool. I just use the horse for hunting down other horses, and to exhaust javelins and spears, then I park it and run with my infantry. Not the most effective I'm sure, but I'm finding it more fun this way. Maybe I'll try out that frankish one from the named blacksmiths. Thank you for replies :)

[Sohei]

The best one handed axe is the big pictish axe. You can upgrade it into a heavy version if you like. I preferred to keep them as standard quality to maintain the weapon speed and sacrifice the extra damage because with some power strike I rarely needed more than one hit to put enemies down. Upgrading to the heavy version of a weapon will trade -2 speed for +2 damage.

In my opinion this is also the best axe in the game overall because you get to keep a shield. It also has just enough reach to be usable from horseback although certainly far less than ideal. It also smashes shields very quickly which makes it particularly good for use by companions. The damage is the best because the damage listed for all 1H/2H weapons is only for when they are used with two hands and they suffer a -25% penalty in damage as well as a speed penalty when used one handed.

The damage difference compared to the best swords is not that significant since either will typically kill in one hit anyways with enough power strike or inertia to help them. They are slower and have shorter reach than swords but the big pictish axe in particular isn't too bad in either regard. The troll axe can deal massive damage with a long reach but is less useful if they get close and the huge damage is usually overkill anyways.The strength requirement is also much higher for the Troll axe. If you want to give axes a try I highly recommend picking up the big pictish axe. I think it is definitely better than the Frankish axe you can buy from smiths and happens to be a lot cheaper too.

These can occasionally be found in markets in Alban or as drops from certain Pictish troops.

Here are the stats as well as my current sword for comparison:

Big Pictish Axe
one handed
sell price: 420
weight: 2.0
swing damage: 32c
speed rating: 87
weapon reach: 73
requires strength 9
bonus against shields

Balanced Nad
one handed
sell price: 14784
weight: 1.3
swing: 37c
thrust: 17p
speed: 92
reach: 96
requires strength 7

As you can see the axe has less damage and much less reach but is far cheaper, has a large bonus against shields, and has a cool factor. Even though I obtained this sword as an encounter reward upgrading it to balanced was expensive. Other high end swords that you can buy such as Widow Maker are also expensive. The speed penalty is only 5 points slower than this balanced version of a good named sword so is not really much of a handicap. The reach is fine for on foot if you also have some option for longer range such as a missile weapon or spear or both. On horseback with 73 reach it can be a struggle to hit targets on foot because you need to get very close so I would switch to a spear as a primary and keep this as backup. By the way the best spear is a balanced Ray that you can buy and upgrade from smiths.

Some of the other pictish axes (the ones with a stripe on the grip) come pretty close to the big pictish axe stats for slightly less strength requirement but upgrading to this is worth it for the improved reach and damage.

[Andritern]

VC doesn't have any two handed axes, has it?

[Sohei]

Originally posted by andritern:

VC doesn't have any two handed axes, has it?

It has the troll's axe which is two handed and it has many different one handed / two handed axes. It also has a two handed sword.

[White Knight]

Originally posted by andritern:

VC doesn't have any two handed axes, has it?

It certainly does. Go check it out for yourself.

[Sohei]

Originally posted by White Knight:

Next to that, I think the Champion's Goidelic Sword is the two-hander of choice for most (no Str requirement and much easier to acquire).

There are two different versions of champion's swords with very different stats.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/48700/discussions/0/535152511381777445/

[White Knight]

These are what they can do in my game:

Heavy Troll's Axe
Two-Handed
Sell Price: 1884
Weight: 4.0
Swing: 52c
Thrust: 12b
Speed Rating: 68
Weapon Reach: 120
Requires Strength 22
Bonus against shields
Cannot be used on horseback

Tempered Champion's Goidelic Sword
One-Handed/Two-Handed
Sell Price: 9054
Weight: 1.5
Swing: 42c
Thrust: 17p
Speed Rating: 86
Weapon Reach: 120
Requires Strength 11
Cannot be used on horseback

I imagine skills and upgrades might account for some variability but this is what I see when I look at my weapons in the inventory.

Since I was in there anyway, here's the stats for a few other noteworthy items:

Elf's Langseax
One-Handed
Sell Price: 3090
Weight: 1.0
Swing: 34c
Thrust: 18p
Speed Rating: 94
Weapon Reach: 76
Requires Strength 4
Cannot be used to block

Balanced Nad (Tempered Nad)
One-Handed
Sell Price: 5322 (16128)
Weight: 1.3
Swing: 37c (38c)
Thrust: 17p (18p)
Speed Rating: 92 (89)
Weapon Reach: 96
Requires Strength 7

Tempered Draguandil
One-Handed
Sell Price: 16128
Weight: 1.3
Swing: 32c
Thrust: 26p
Speed Rating: 92
Weapon Reach: 81
Requires Strength 7

The Elf's Langseax cannot be upgraded currently. My Nad was down to "Rusty" so it's a good thing I looked - it cost me around 15k to upgrade it to Tempered...again. I'm suddenly seeing the wisdom of the Weapon Maintenance skill. Other than the price difference in value, the difference between Balanced and Tempered is one point of damage at the cost of three points in speed. I'll take that +1, thank you very much.

The Tempered Draguandil does 8 more damage while thrusting, so depending upon the player's style, this might be a better choice?

Note: The price discrepancies seem strange to me. I almost didn't include that information because of it. It's there for the sake of completeness but I wouldn't count on that info for much.

[Tuidjy]

Six out of my seven companions, and my character himself use a balanced Goidelic long sword.

One-handed
Weight: 1.3
Swing: 36c
Thrust: 14p
Speed Rating: 90
Weapon Reach: 100
Requires Strength 9

The length and the speed are very important to me. As for the damage, with power strike 10 and weapon proficiency over 500, I seldom need two swings. Even on foot, I sometimes get damage in the 120s, and on horseback, I've seen 250.

Sometimes, in sieges, I use a shorter weapon that's lying around. It makes a huge difference. I could have seen myself using a champion's sword with a shield, despite the speed penalty... but it not without being able to use it on horseback. Two handed axes are too slow, and one handed ones do not have the reach I want.

Still, if you want an axe, the big pictish one is the best,

[rgreen]

Gotta try that Big Pictish Axe also, and thanks for that weapon maintenance tip

[Andritern]

I'm pretty sure the troll weapon is a club, and not an axe

[Andritern]

Does anyone know why they didn't include weapons like the Dane axe (two handed)? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dane_Axe

I know they want it to be historical, so even though this is a viking age weapon, it might be used in a later period than the setting of the game.

[Tuidjy]

Originally posted by andritern:

I'm pretty sure the troll weapon is a club, and not an axe

It used to be a club, then last time I looked, it was an axe. It is definitely an axe in all my saves, but of course, they may have changed it again since I've started a new game.

Originally posted by andritern:

Does anyone know why they didn't include weapons like the Dane axe (two handed)

Well, there are a few two handed axes in game, and at least one is found in Danmark, so you can say they did. As a matter of fact, it may be telling that the dimensions of the two two-handed axes I can see both have halfs of the length of the longest historical Dane axe.

Seriously, though. The heads of Dane axes require significantly better steel working than common in the period of the game. Furthermore, some of the hand and a half axes are long enough to fit the common perception of a Dane axe. And finally, you have at least two, probably more axes that are Dane axes in anything but name.

I think it's enough.

[Andritern]

Ok, I haven't played VC since before the reforged edition. Also I think VC is set in maybe the 900th century, and I think the Dane axe was more common later, so it makes sense that it isn't that common