How Good is Switchaxe with Iceborne?

[Scorcher]

When I first played I mained switchaxe for about 200 hours and had a ton of fun until end game when it got harder to use. I found greatsword to be more rewarding and simplistic with high damage, easier stagger, and amazing solo potential especially when deviljho first came out. 300 hours later I've only used greatsword and have been having fun easily breaking shara heads and glavenus tails off like nothing, but some iceborne monsters I feel would be easier with say a faster more mobile weapon setup so I looked back at my old dusty switchaxe. I hear it was better than base game which was apparently horrible. Can it rival a greatsword veteran for damage now?

[Cpt. Asperger]

It is great. Easy to use and big damage.

[pcdeltalink]

As someone who only meddled with GS I can't comment on the comparison as I never learned monsters well enough to predict their movements like you need for them to literally step in the way of your charge attacks so I'm not sure how it would compare.

That being said as a switch axe main since Tri I have always liked it and even in the base game I never had an issue with it. However it got some very nice changes in Iceborne. Biggest change being it got a new attack during the wild swing animation which in basically a double overhead chop and after it is performed (doesn't matter if the attack hits the enemy or not) your axe attacks are buffed for the next minute or so. If I remember correctly the buff makes your axe more likely to stagger/trip the enemy during that time. This attack is also one of the highest damaging attacks in axe mode. It feels amazing to use and does so much damage.

Switch axe in axe mode was also was granted a fade slash move similar to the longsword which can be a handy way to get a hit in and immediately move away from the target. From my testing, while I don''t use it often, you can basically use it almost anytime after nearly any other attack to move away.

[Laughing kookaburra]

it's garbage, trash damage, ZSD is risky and slow

[(ノ°□°)ノ]

It's more fun in iceborne

[pcdeltalink]

Originally posted by Compa Desu:

it's garbage, trash damage, ZSD is risky and slow

Don't care. Almost nothing is more satisfying than landing it. And you can always end it early to still get the explosion even if you can't get all the smaller hits in. Damage is good, assuming you're not trying to do Team Darkside levels of DPS. I'm here for the thrill of the hunt and having fun is what matters to me, not crunching numbers to such a degree that I have to land specific hits on specific parts or only use specific weapons in order to get "optimal hunt times."

[Zukabazuka]

In terms of dps it is counted as second highest on the list. It got some massive improvement in Iceborne compared to the launch of MHW. Right now its very viable weapon.

[Scorcher]

Good insight, may be worth looking into again, if anything just for fun. I guess the answer I was more so looking for is can it carry a team? Like say you had some friends that weren't the best, but you still play with them because they're your best friends right? GS can do it can SA do it too?
Edit: Ah nvm I see the person above replied before I finished typing. 2nd place huh? With optimal setup that sounds promising.

[pcdeltalink]

Originally posted by Scorcher:

Good insight, may be worth looking into again, if anything just for fun. I guess the answer I was more so looking for is can it carry a team? Like say you had some friends that weren't the best, but you still play with them because they're your best friends right? GS can do it can SA do it too?

That's harder to say. I can be the best axe player in the squad and dodging attacks like it's Dark Souls but if my allies happen to not be able to dodge stuff on their own I can't really help them or prevent them from carting. There's only so much you can do to protect your allies, especially for how mobile a lot of monsters are now.

[Scorcher]

Good to know, hell I'll give it a whirl again later on, if anything it will spice things up at least!

[Mosh]

Hasn't the Switch Axe always been the most broken boring weapon in the game?

[Faust Wither]

it become flexible now since you can do burst with clutch claw.

[Nonexistinghero]

Originally posted by Compa Desu:

it's garbage, trash damage, ZSD is risky and slow

It was awful in base World, but it's actually very useful in Iceborne when used properly. You can end it slightly early and you won't have to spend like 5 seconds waiting for recovery, you'll be able to move as soon as you touch the ground again and your weapon won't switch back. Meaning you can use it immediately afterwards again. And if the explosion happens to completely empty your gauge, you can press R to switch back to axe mode and immediately get some charge back.

Especially with stuff like the rocksteady and temporal mantles this can make for some crazy dps. The new elemental discharge into clutch claw is pretty good as well. From there you can immediately wound an enemy or do a ZSD. And thanks to the new 'wound' system in Iceborne, ZSD's tick damage can be crazy high.

Anyway, the Switch Axe is awesome. But I don't think it's an easy weapon. It's easy to start playing with, but being good with it requires very good positioning and micromanaging. You need to make sure your attacks hit while you do not get hit... and the SA is one of the hardest weapons to not get hit with. Luckily, Iceborne did give it some much improved mobility.

And I can play 10 weapons by now. The SA is still my favourite by far and it can do massive damage.

[Nope]

Originally posted by Nonexistinghero:

Originally posted by Compa Desu:

it's garbage, trash damage, ZSD is risky and slow

It was awful in base World, but it's actually very useful in Iceborne when used properly. You can end it slightly early and you won't have to spend like 5 seconds waiting for recovery, you'll be able to move as soon as you touch the ground again and your weapon won't switch back. Meaning you can use it immediately afterwards again. And if the explosion happens to completely empty your gauge, you can press R to switch back to axe mode and immediately get some charge back.

Especially with stuff like the rocksteady and temporal mantles this can make for some crazy dps. The new elemental discharge into clutch claw is pretty good as well. From there you can immediately wound an enemy or do a ZSD. And thanks to the new 'wound' system in Iceborne, ZSD's tick damage can be crazy high.

Anyway, the Switch Axe is awesome. But I don't think it's an easy weapon. It's easy to start playing with, but being good with it requires very good positioning and micromanaging. You need to make sure your attacks hit while you do not get hit... and the SA is one of the hardest weapons to not get hit with. Luckily, Iceborne did give it some much improved mobility.

And I can play 10 weapons by now. The SA is still my favourite by far and it can do massive damage.

I recommend not to respond to that attention seeker
That's all that thing does all day

[Djeeta]

SwitchAxe is strong and really good now.
I dont main it but i really love to use it, ditch out 900+ damage with Zero Sum Discharge and 500+ single hit damage on Power Axe mode.
When people just run around having trouble with effluvia damage on Tempered Vaal Hazak, you can just hang on it and trade the damage with Healing augment.
You can also choose to play only with Sword mode with Focus 3, or if you are comfortable with both mode no Focus 3 is needed.
SwitchAxe is also a Heavy type weapon so it takes only 1 claw to wound the monster and the animation is quicker than other Heavy weapons too.
You also have 2 high mobility move for evasion.

The only problem with SwitchAxe is it mobility, you either need Evade Extender 2 or Evasion Window 3 to be able to play this weapon properly.

[Mango]

I mainly use SA and its amazingly good in iceborne.
You get high damage numbers with relative fast attacks, you have very high reach, the new axe attack is very fun and very usful.
Also the ability to use ZSD right from clutch claw is super handy.