[KhalidtheGrey]

Time to get kicked in the teeth.

So, I've been mulling over the idea of 'finesse axeman' for a while and thought it was just ridiculous. At first. I've been warming up to the idea though. I thought up a set of skills to throw on duelist and a modification for Vent Petal to accommodate this properly.

This first one has been the worst to figure out how to do. It's the axe idea of Sil/Sidecut. The targeting line I've been leaning toward is a crescent style dash. You move forward one space, then diagonally left (or right), forward, then diagonally right (or left) to have the same ending position as Sidecut while attacking in a sweeping, wide attack. It would perform a basic attack and cost 10/8/6/4/2 FP, as with the rest of them.

The second one, the AoE to go along with Crystal Rose and Cyclone Spear, would be to just hurl your axe down and cause AoE earth damage that inflicts Slow. Same size, range, and cost as Crystal rose. Same Scaling too but with Defense. The slow's level would be 1/2/3 at ranks 1, 3, and 5 with a duration of 2. I know the worst part about this one is coming up with augments but I would love to see Flatfooted level 20 on the Quaking Augment.

Third skills was a double-tapping basic attack skill described as a downward chop followed by a lunge with the axe head's upper point. You attack twice against a target within one range and deal 60% damage during the action (so you can't do things like dagger dance shenanigans). Probably with a debuff to hit of -20/15/10/5/0. Same cost as Power Gradation.

Fourth skill targets someone within one range and performs a basic attack. You target their armor directly and shred 2/4/6/8/10 (+50% on crits) Armor (Not defense, armor) but deal 10% less damage with the attack. Same costs as L'au-Dela. Debuff lasts 3 rounds.

The Vent Petal change was to just allow Axes to be valid. Can't use two of the same weapon still but an axe, sword, and/or spear would all work to get the benefits.

Personally... I would very much like to see Duelist's Vent Petal lose the FP cost reduction and grant +1/2/3 Skill Pool since they're one of the more skill pool intensive classes when coupled with Kensei or Ghost as their promos. I can honestly be a pure Ghost or Kensei and use nearly every single skill pool I have if I don't build Will, Skill, and Guile through the roof.

Alright, tell me why this is all a horrible idea. I'm expecting points like 'Soldier is already an axe class and is the only one to have all three weapons available!' What about Bonder? And why wouldn't the master duelist have mastery over whatever not-piddly weapon they want but the soldier would? They both live, eat, sleep, breath battle. Soldier is the more tanky approach, duelist is the, well, duelist, they run up and beat you to death. 'Duelists don't need more skill pool! Rogues and mages are the skill pool monkeys!' And what about that educated swordmaster over there who has both trained by practice and learned through study with treatises?

[Snake]

To be honest, Duelists also have Ghost for Axe, so why not add some special skills for Axe, with damage before utility in mind?

[KhalidtheGrey]

Well that's kinda what sparked this. The axes are kinda coming out of no where in Ghost and because there's no duelist support and only *two* skills for it in ghost, no one really uses it unless they were going to use axes anyway. And I'm not sure what you mean by 'damage before utility' here. The first one is just extra basic attacks in a line (curve), the second is a big AoE which is a complete myth for axes otherwise and it reduces hit to help ease the problem of axes which is crappy accuracy (more damage because you can hit them and because AoE autohit), a double-tap to rip through things like Cobra and Body of Isesip while applying on-hits, especially stacking ones (See: Rampaging, which means more damage), and the last one is more damage for you and everyone else without making squishies even more squishy. Couple these with Reaper Scythe and you've got a pretty solid defense busting set-up.

[Ranylyn]

My big issue is that presently, nearly every single axe skill is an autohit, which is contradictory to their emphasis on crits. Your options for either crits or on-hit effects are basically to use "General" skills that work with any weapon, like Repel or Hanging, or Attack/Widespin. While a change to Vent Petale to include Axes for any Sword/Spear/Axe combo would be nice for Ghost, I'm honestly more interested in axes getting skills that aren't autohits.

"But Rany, Axes are strong, they don't need buffs."

Remember when guns were basically OP? I still wanted more gun skills besides just spamming basics/ parting shot, just for variety. Variety is not a bad thing. They could be used to fill niches (Like being Low Power/ High Hit, because axes are less accurate than swords or spears) and don't need to just be flat up power.

[Snake]

I really agree with you now too, Rany. You're right about the fact those two are needlessly polarized. Plus, Axes lack hit for those basic-hit check skills, Guns lack power for autohit skills. It's completely balanced if we think about it.

[KhalidtheGrey]

I'm still unhappy with the axe dash skill. If you or anyone else can think of something better, speak up. I also don't want it to be a pain in the ass for dev to have to code any of this.