I love Axe mode in SwitchAxe

[ADarkRaccoon]

But I cannot get into Sword mode, I dislike the small hops while fighting and I really dislike the ultimate attack of the weapon.
I was wondering if there was a difference in damage by only using Axe comparaed to Sword?
I find it difficult to balance them and Axe is winning so far.

[Efesell]

A substantial difference, if you aren't using both then you are wasting a lot of potential damage.

[ADarkRaccoon]

Originally posted by Efesell:

A substantial difference, if you aren't using both then you are wasting a lot of potential damage.

Help me understand please :o, I'm kinda one of the guys that use GL and sees 100 damage per shot and thinks "i'm op!"

[Poothoottoot]

So sword mode can get different effects depending on the phial in the weapon, the most common is power which boosts your raw damage by 20% which is... hefty to say the least. The other phials are element which boosts elemental damage and exhaust which can tire out monsters faster/cause minor KO damage.

That said you hit the nail on the head with the small hops in sword mode, it trades mobility for its increased power, you can try running evade extender on it and see if that helps the small hops feel more natural.

Yes sword mode does more damage than axe but after the axe buffs in Iceborne it's really pretty good as well, axe mode plays more for staggers/trips by getting the power axe buff active which makes it easier to flinch monsters which in turn opens them up for big sword combos after they fall over.

As for sword mode's "ultimate attack" or the Zero Sum Discharge honestly in most situations they're damage losses lol, normally you're better just doing 3 normal hits then the double slash and repeating in sword.

Hope this helped some I've been immensely enjoying SA after the axe buffs.

[Rester]

Axe gets a boost in breaking/stunning if you use the power up mode after doing 3 wild swings and finishing with a slam if i recall.
Sword prevents your attacks from bouncing in addition to increased damage, and of course allows you to use your Zero Sum Discharge (ZDS) with B+Y on the ground, or on a monster with a clutch claw.
Button Prompts assume you're using a standard xbox controller.

Honestly, you should be using sword mode when a monster is immobilized via trap or has been knocked down.

[mewlynx]

Phials only benefit the weapon in sword mode afaik, and considering power phial is a 20% increase to raw, you definitely want to be using it. This doesn't take into consideration the little mini explosions you get when your sword is glowing, the damage they do adds up.

[Scorcher]

Play how you like, although nothing seems to beat zero sum discharge spam for max dps on switchaxe, it's stylish to change it up for axe gameplay. Tbh I decided to try out switchaxe again after first maining it in base then spending 60% of my game time on greatsword and I found zsd to be really unfun (I know even when all greatsword does is true charge slash among a few other variations). Zsd hits for say 87 crit roughly 12 times then you let go for a 300 dmg explosion. Immediately follow up with clutch claw and rinse and repeat 7-8 times until sword charge wears off and mantle wears off, that's why zsd dmg is good albeit linear and boring. Axe gameplay isn't terrible now and if you want you can still play old style sword side for the sweeping slashes. Just know that unfortunately how it's set up right now you won't get maximum potential out of it without abusing mantles and zsd. If you dont care about speedruns then just enjoy yourself! Axe side has some cool fade slashes and escape options with slinger that are satisfying to use!

[Ironslayer541]

Originally posted by ADarkRaccoon:

Originally posted by Efesell:

A substantial difference, if you aren't using both then you are wasting a lot of potential damage.

Help me understand please :o, I'm kinda one of the guys that use GL and sees 100 damage per shot and thinks "i'm op!"

Well for 1 sword mode just does more damage in general since thats kinda the point of it. And the big charge attack on the sword does alot of damage. Its normally best to end the big charged attack early once you get the time down for it for the explosion to happen a bit sooner because if you go all the way through the recover animation takes longer and can often get you hit.

Also I remember correctly using Zero sum discharge while on a monster gives you ear plugs 4 for free so consider slotting in a single deco of earplugs to make it 5.

[Rester]

Originally posted by Ironslayer541:

Originally posted by ADarkRaccoon:

Help me understand please :o, I'm kinda one of the guys that use GL and sees 100 damage per shot and thinks "i'm op!"

Well for 1 sword mode just does more damage in general since thats kinda the point of it. And the big charge attack on the sword does alot of damage. Its normally best to end the big charged attack early once you get the time down for it for the explosion to happen a bit sooner because if you go all the way through the recover animation takes longer and can often get you hit.

Also I remember correctly using Zero sum discharge while on a monster gives you ear plugs 4 for free so consider slotting in a single deco of earplugs to make it 5.

That is... incorrect sadly. You can get thrown off at any point during ZSD. You'll need Temporal or Rocksteady to prevent being thrown off. It seems to be kinda 50/50 I've gotten thrown off with stronger roars before :\

[Efesell]

Yeah I love ZSD but I feel like I get thrown off a lot and sometimes when it makes very little sense.

[ADarkRaccoon]

Thanks for all the comments, so I should be using Sword when the monster is stunned/trapped and stick to Axe till they go down?
The only thing I do with Axe right now in my hunts is focus tail with B B B Y and I'm loving the backwards attack that pushes your Axe up while you slide back.
To be honest, I think I love the feeling of breaking parts of the Axe mode xD
My build is:
Crit Eye 7
Evade Window 5
Divine Blessing 5
HP Boost 3
Weakness Exploit 3
Part Breaker 3
Evade Extender 3
Item Prolonger 3
Stun Res 1
Flinch Free 1
Protective Polish

Anything I should change or add to the build to be able to use the Sword mode more effectively? Or maybe Part Breaker doesn't stack with the Axe boost mode?

[Ironslayer541]

Originally posted by ADarkRaccoon:

Thanks for all the comments, so I should be using Sword when the monster is stunned/trapped and stick to Axe till they go down?
The only thing I do with Axe right now in my hunts is focus tail with B B B Y and I'm loving the backwards attack that pushes your Axe up while you slide back.
To be honest, I think I love the feeling of breaking parts of the Axe mode xD
My build is:
Crit Eye 7
Evade Window 5
Divine Blessing 5
HP Boost 3
Weakness Exploit 3
Part Breaker 3
Evade Extender 3
Item Prolonger 3
Stun Res 1
Flinch Free 1
Protective Polish

Anything I should change or add to the build to be able to use the Sword mode more effectively? Or maybe Part Breaker doesn't stack with the Axe boost mode?

Ive heard power prolonger makes the sword mode last a bit longer and from what little ive used the switch axe part breaker seems to effect the amped axe part damage. But someone with far more knowledge then me about the weapon should confirm or deny it.

[LonesomeSparrow]

if you want to get the most out of the damage your endgame build will probably look like this:

attack boost 7
critical eye 6 (gold rathian swax only needs 6 to get to 100% crit)
agitator 4
health boost 3
critical boost 3
weakness exploit 3
power prolonger 3 (for additional time in sword mode)
blast attack 2 (which is just part of the teo coil but needed for teo set bonus)
heat guard (again comes with teo set)
latent power 1 (also comes with teo)

survivability comes from using health regeneration on your weapon + making use of the defensive mantles, temporal and rocksteady.
if you need healing you just put on a mantle, clutch onto the monster and spam ZSD. monsters won't be able to throw you off while using temporal mantle so all the damage and healing will both go through 100% of the time.
when using rocksteady mantle you won't be thrown off either but you will still get damage while hanging on the monster and it tries to get rid of you. luckily the heal you get will easily outheal the damage.