The Switch Axe Is at its absolute best in Iceborne

[jrubz]

There's every viable way to play it now.

Yes, zero sum spam can be stupid, but unless the monster has a part that rarely ever emits an attack, this won't work unless your team trips better than you.

my favorite is how viable the power axe mode is. With the ability to setup trips faster and ignore your phial charging which can be difficult without knockdowns, you play a more evasive style that can dish out damage while having superior manuverability.

The backwards swing has no i-frames? Exactly! it isn't for dodging. It's for positioning. Preemtively using it when finishing an axe combo places you in perfect position to dodge most attacks. Having Evade 2 and a bit of evade extention or more makes it much easier to use, and getting good at it is fun.


No this post wasn't made to complain about the other post on switch axes, I'm genuinely wanting to express how much I'm enjoying the weapon with its new improvements harking back to its original design of having 2 key modes to play in.

[Volfuric]

I mean there is a reason SA became the 2nd highest dps weapon in the game, with that said however dps isn't everything but the buff and finally a use for axe mode (clutch claw ZSD) really gave this weapons tons more play styles to use that are not being wasted like the original axe mode.

[JPM岩]

Автор сообщения: Volfur

I mean there is a reason SA became the 2nd highest dps weapon in the game, with that said however dps isn't everything but the buff and finally a use for axe mode (clutch claw ZSD) really gave this weapons tons more play styles to use that are not being wasted like the original axe mode.

Not to be that guy, but factually it's like 5th in DPS, HBG, Bow, SnS, DBs, all out damage it massively; according to WR Speedrunning at least

[Amos]

Agreed, but I still mostly gave up on it when I started facing faster monsters that attack a lot. I guess I got fed up with the animations and moved to something else.

[JPM岩]

Автор сообщения: Amos

Agreed, but I still mostly gave up on it when I started facing faster monsters that attack a lot. I guess I got fed up with the animations and moved to something else.

Axe Form, mate, just roll on into them DMs and slap away

[zzz]

PSA: slinger burst can be used right after almost any move you do with axe mode. Excluding the upswing and downswing, you can do it after the fade slash, downward fade slash, morph attacks, roll morphs, forward slash, side slash. Slinger burst when used will also let you turn around in any direction and is effectively a combo reset from which you can roll, morph to sword, wild swing, downswing, etc...

[puzzlefox]

SA has weirdly became one of my comfiest weapons to use in any hunt.

[Jay Vi]

Автор сообщения: puzzlefox

SA has weirdly became one of my comfiest weapons to use in any hunt.

Does it have regen? I cant imagine the weapon being more comfy than the others for someone but hey xD

[Fraktal]

I tried SA in early IB. Too slow a weapon with no defensive moves like tackle/guard/slash etc.

Pass.

[y u do dis Fromsoft?]

switchaxe is my favorite weapon in mhw and i really enjoy the changes of the moveset, however i am a bit disappointed with the balancing of the weapon, and i dont mean balancing between different weapons types, but the balancing of one switchaxe to another.
the power element phial is simply inferior in pretty much every situation, since its much weaker than the power phial. furthermore, they dont allow you to put paralysis or poison phials on your safi switchaxes, which is a missed opportunity in my eyes. additionally, elemental switchaxe builds really need the silver rathalos set bonus to even come close to the damage of raw builds, which means you cant use masters touch, which is pretty annoying.

[jrubz]

Автор сообщения: The Orange and Blue Ninja

Too slow a weapon with no defensive moves like tackle/guard/slash etc.

Pass.

you said like half the weapons in the game.

[Fraktal]

Автор сообщения: JRubz

Автор сообщения: The Orange and Blue Ninja

Too slow a weapon with no defensive moves like tackle/guard/slash etc.

Pass.

you said like half the weapons in the game.

Pass on those too.

I'll stick with SnS and Lance.

[Cherry Blossom ✿]

SA is kind of the most risky weapon. But risks pay, zero sum discharge is really overpowered and if you spam it on the monster you can outshine almost all other weapons in terms of dps, but note that tenderizing parts is important as it really affects ZSD's damages.

Why it is risky ? Because it doesn't have much mobility and almost no defensive skills (backward swing ?). When you use clutch claw and then ZDS, there are chances that the monster hits you and make you fall down (it also depends on the monster) if you don't wear rocksteady or temporal mantle. After doing ZSD, you'll land and take a certain amount of time switching back to axe and during this time you're totally vulnerable. That's why, for survavibility purposes, i advise to play with defensive decos such as stun res, divine blessing etc. Because it could be really frustrating to get carted because of your lack of mobility and luck.

I rarely play axe mode, i only play it for cutting tails otherwise i'm mostly on sword mode, charge and spam ZSD. The biggest advantage is that ZSD doesn't use your sharpness a lot, so you don't really need master's touch if you have enough white sharpness.

[puzzlefox]

SA with health augment can regen HP like nobody's business. The simple fact that you can pump out dmg while grappled IS a large part of the weapon's defense. MOST monsters have parts that are rarely used in their attacks, so if you grapple into, let's say val hasaak's tail, then it has very few options to actually knock you off.

I wouldn't ever use rocksteady mantle if you plan on using ZSD cause it's pretty much a death sentence for monsters that spam attacks where their whole body is a hitbox.

The main thing is don't just go in and yolo it. And don't neglect axe mode. Axe mode SA, iirc, has the highest flinch values of any weapon. It also has insanely high part breaking values.

[!?!]

How much partbreak and trip damage bonus does power axe mode have exactly?

[[Wahr] Eogard]

Well, every weapon is better with iceborne