Savage Axe CB: Focus 3 or Power Prolonger 3?

[Freaktacular]

[astranabeat]

Originally posted by Polaris:

Originally posted by Sᵘᵍᵃʳˡᵉˢˢ ᴛᴇᴀ:

Getting full phials without focus is literally the same combo then a sidestep/jump followed a sword slash and then boom full phials.....

Focus is a very good comfy skill but not mandatory, specially not for savage axe.

Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm still learning CB myself) but doesn't focus also speed up the double slash move in that combo? (Still not a huge difference, I just thought that was where some of the benifits came from)

It's faster. Just a few frame but man I can feel it. Without Focus, charge slash feel really slow.

[Xilo The Odd]

Originally posted by Kaldor Draigo:

Originally posted by Xilo The Odd:

providing you can hit the monster with all of them yes it is more DPS, but if its moving all over the place or murdering you then you die and stop doing damage. and if your using a mix of savage axe there is a lot of damage to be had with the axe swings as well. just simply increasing the rate you dump your phials doesnt equal higher DPS, just more DPS potential.

I mean when you are talking about a skill in a set, you're just making the set with basically idea of having more DPS potential isn't it, if you have the skill or not to pull it off isn't relevant.

I have no idea how Focus is related to dying and losing DPS because of it?, we are in post Fatalis content, you can fit Focus with Guard 5, with Divine Blessing, etc and with free Health Boost.

And even for elemental builds Focus is easy to fit with full Safi armor while still having comfort like HB3.

I honestly don't like hybrid builds for SAED/Savage Axe, I do have a few of them and in some monsters you can do both to a certain extended but, SAED bores me because of how I overused it in High Rank so I use Savage Axe on everything that is optimal.

SAED is only worth it on stuff like Lunastra and Namielle anyway.

well SAED is as you know a very dedicated animation. once you start there is no stopping. this leaves you open to being bashed in and stopped. which can ALSO thanks to some changes by capcom, result in phials just going missing dealing 0 damage each. so if your focused purely on your phials being the bulk of your damage and to be dumping them every second possible, you'll find they miss often enough, or you get stopped often enough that as a sole focus in practical combat SAED spam is not top DPS for a number of fights, including all the more difficult ones.

missed with both axe hits? there goes 1/3 of your potential damage as well, that 300 damage you did get from phials clipping your target the hammer guy in the same group got twice over with his simple combo. SAED is best used as a counter attack from a block, or an attack of opportunity, and occasionally, as a wild guess where you think the monster might leap to. its not the only move you should be using for top dps.

[stealthdriver]

Power prolonger is very convenient for sword only mode, overcharging with condensed element discharge.

[Kaldor Draigo]

Originally posted by Xilo The Odd:

well SAED is as you know a very dedicated animation. once you start there is no stopping. this leaves you open to being bashed in and stopped. which can ALSO thanks to some changes by capcom, result in phials just going missing dealing 0 damage each. so if your focused purely on your phials being the bulk of your damage and to be dumping them every second possible, you'll find they miss often enough, or you get stopped often enough that as a sole focus in practical combat SAED spam is not top DPS for a number of fights, including all the more difficult ones.

missed with both axe hits? there goes 1/3 of your potential damage as well, that 300 damage you did get from phials clipping your target the hammer guy in the same group got twice over with his simple combo. SAED is best used as a counter attack from a block, or an attack of opportunity, and occasionally, as a wild guess where you think the monster might leap to. its not the only move you should be using for top dps.

Except that SAED is the way to go against stuff like Lunastra and Namielle. Unless you have a way to permanently topple Lunastra and focus the wings, becuase that's the only place with decent hitboxes for melee. And even then, SAED with Kjarr Ice is just nuts.

As I said, I don't really use SAED unless it's those two monsters, my focus is Savage Axe but SAED only works if you know how to spam SAED properly, which is similar to playing Greatsword, know the openings and you're good to go, and for that reason Focus is helpful, you spam faster.

[Xilo The Odd]

Originally posted by Kaldor Draigo:

Originally posted by Xilo The Odd:

well SAED is as you know a very dedicated animation. once you start there is no stopping. this leaves you open to being bashed in and stopped. which can ALSO thanks to some changes by capcom, result in phials just going missing dealing 0 damage each. so if your focused purely on your phials being the bulk of your damage and to be dumping them every second possible, you'll find they miss often enough, or you get stopped often enough that as a sole focus in practical combat SAED spam is not top DPS for a number of fights, including all the more difficult ones.

missed with both axe hits? there goes 1/3 of your potential damage as well, that 300 damage you did get from phials clipping your target the hammer guy in the same group got twice over with his simple combo. SAED is best used as a counter attack from a block, or an attack of opportunity, and occasionally, as a wild guess where you think the monster might leap to. its not the only move you should be using for top dps.

Except that SAED is the way to go against stuff like Lunastra and Namielle. Unless you have a way to permanently topple Lunastra and focus the wings, becuase that's the only place with decent hitboxes for melee. And even then, SAED with Kjarr Ice is just nuts.

As I said, I don't really use SAED unless it's those two monsters, my focus is Savage Axe but SAED only works if you know how to spam SAED properly, which is similar to playing Greatsword, know the openings and you're good to go, and for that reason Focus is helpful, you spam faster.

but you can only use it as often as the opportunity to use it right presents itself. as mentioned, charging the blade in one combo is super easy, without focus in 3-4 hits in 2 seconds your charged. focus maybe shaves off 1-2 hits of that and pending on what move you used, doesnt end in a guard point which can be just as dangerous as a misused SAED. focus just promotes inefficient combo usage in blade form.

[stealthdriver]

Originally posted by Xilo The Odd:

Originally posted by Kaldor Draigo:

Except that SAED is the way to go against stuff like Lunastra and Namielle. Unless you have a way to permanently topple Lunastra and focus the wings, becuase that's the only place with decent hitboxes for melee. And even then, SAED with Kjarr Ice is just nuts.

As I said, I don't really use SAED unless it's those two monsters, my focus is Savage Axe but SAED only works if you know how to spam SAED properly, which is similar to playing Greatsword, know the openings and you're good to go, and for that reason Focus is helpful, you spam faster.

but you can only use it as often as the opportunity to use it right presents itself. as mentioned, charging the blade in one combo is super easy, without focus in 3-4 hits in 2 seconds your charged. focus maybe shaves off 1-2 hits of that and pending on what move you used, doesnt end in a guard point which can be just as dangerous as a misused SAED. focus just promotes inefficient combo usage in blade form.

Focus 3 gives the most efficient combo to completely charge the blade, storing phials, and completely charging the blade again during the same move as charging the shield. Anything less creates much more inefficiency.

[stealthdriver]

I highly recommend this video if youre trying to take your cb play to the next level:
https://youtu.be/HJwvrmuK000

[Xilo The Odd]

Originally posted by stealthdriver:

Originally posted by Xilo The Odd:

but you can only use it as often as the opportunity to use it right presents itself. as mentioned, charging the blade in one combo is super easy, without focus in 3-4 hits in 2 seconds your charged. focus maybe shaves off 1-2 hits of that and pending on what move you used, doesnt end in a guard point which can be just as dangerous as a misused SAED. focus just promotes inefficient combo usage in blade form.

Focus 3 gives the most efficient combo to completely charge the blade, storing phials, and completely charging the blade again into in the same move. Anything less creates much more inefficiency.

and i dont find this true in practice. i get to red and fill just fine without it. leap forward, into charge slash and round slash for the guard point if needed and it wont result in overcharging which causes deflections. then you fill and repeat as needed. all without focus 3. focus 1 i can skip the roundslash or miss with the one of the charge slash hits and still get to red. going for 3 is pointless when you could get much more useful skills in there.

[Kaldor Draigo]

Originally posted by Xilo The Odd:

but you can only use it as often as the opportunity to use it right presents itself. as mentioned, charging the blade in one combo is super easy, without focus in 3-4 hits in 2 seconds your charged. focus maybe shaves off 1-2 hits of that and pending on what move you used, doesnt end in a guard point which can be just as dangerous as a misused SAED. focus just promotes inefficient combo usage in blade form.

I mean to be fair CB has a lot of different playstyles so if that works for you then so be it, but I can play both Focus and Focusless without issues, and SAED with Focus is just superior.

I got a 3:49 on the Temp Lunastra from the Seliana Supply Cache event quest, using Focus and SAED spam with Kjarr Ice+Full Safi armor.

But if you find easier to play without Focus ain't gonna tell you otherwise, no veteran CB user plays in the same way so it's up to personal preference.

[𝓇𝒾𝓃𝒶𝒶𝒶𝒶𝒶]

Originally posted by Polaris:

Originally posted by Sᵘᵍᵃʳˡᵉˢˢ ᴛᴇᴀ:

Getting full phials without focus is literally the same combo then a sidestep/jump followed a sword slash and then boom full phials.....

Focus is a very good comfy skill but not mandatory, specially not for savage axe.

Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm still learning CB myself) but doesn't focus also speed up the double slash move in that combo? (Still not a huge difference, I just thought that was where some of the benifits came from)

It does but when you trade focus for power prolonger each phial last 25 secs and the shield last
4 mins 11 secs, this removes some of the micromanagement allowing the user to focus on damage. Savage axe + power prolonger have a beautiful synergy.

[Jargous]

This is ultimately dependent on how you manage your phials. If you're going SAED only, focus. Savage Axe, this is more of a personal preference based on the following...

1) How comfortable you are switching between sword and axe mode.
If you're not comfortable with it at all, power prolonger will help you maintain savage axe mode. If you are, then it's a matter if you want to access to SAED faster in which focus helps. Else, you do not need focus or power prolonger and can concentrate on other skills to complement your build.

2) Savage axe combos
If your combo is the uppercut sweep, rinse and repeat, back to point 1. Power prolonger if not comfortable, focus if you are (simply because you will drain all of your phials).

3) Guard/Guard Up jewels
If you don't have at least guard 3 (especially at harder monsters and up), focus, then power prolonger. If you have Guard 3 or higher, this opens up the single phial attack alternate attack when doing SAED.

CB builds vary quite a bit depending on the level of guard you want to open up the SAED attack variant after blocking an attack. By not getting guard at all (and it's optional as it is your choice), your option to counter on block with a phial attack will not be possible in some cases.