Choice of weapons

[Dravok]

I doubt I will ever be the lucky owner of a BotD BA or CB and wonder if there are decent mid level to end game axes other than BotD or Crescent Moon? I imagine swords are more abundant when it comes to needing a mid to high level weapon.

[acceleration turkey]

I doubt I will ever be the lucky owner of a BotD BA or CB and wonder if there are decent mid level to end game axes other than BotD or Crescent Moon? I imagine swords are more abundant when it comes to needing a mid to high level weapon.


well, first of all, if you cant afford crescent moon you probably cant afford much. with 2 months of playing and one or 2 hell level characters, anyone should be able to trade for an um rune.

crescent moon is a good weaponm, and can be the end-game weapon for certain builds, but i wouldnt say its an end game weapon.

there are other good axes though:

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/uaxes.shtml

all four 1-handed elite unique axes are pretty good
razors edge
runemaster
cranebeak
death cleaver


razors edge is a good all around weapon, and easy to find (low TC). it has defense cut, open wounds, good speed and decent damager from deadly strike.

runemaster, for a poor player, can be a pretty fast weapon if you put shael runes in the open sockets. 3-5 sockets means 60-100% ias.

cranebeak has lower damage than the other axes, but it is the fastest, and it has defense cut as well as a lot of magic find (up to 50%). makes a good running weapon because it has /12 as much magic find as ali baba but 5 times the killing power.

death cleaver is in a league of its own, both in rarity and excellence. as a TC 87 item, as well as a highly demanded item, it is far more expensive than any of the previous 3. but it is also a killing machine. very high damage. an ethereal one does more damage than a BotD in a berserker axe base once the deadly strike is added.

good choice on axes, of course. axes have low requirements and great mods. consider all those whacky elite swords...blood moon, flame bellow, etc. all the axes have killing mods...swords have fashion mods. if youre looking to make some kind of niche build, swords can help, but if you just want to play then axes are a great choice.

also, the blood craft works on axes. take a blue (magic) axe and stick it in the cube with an ort rune, jewel, and perfect ruby. you get a rare with tha base you started. they start out with as much as 60% damage, and so they max is +510%, the most in the game (cruel is +300% and masters is +150% = 450%. add 60 = 510%).


i assume you want a one handed axe, because for some reason everyone on this forum is scared of ditching their shield. in case you are not scared, ethereal edge is an awesome 2 handed axe. its pretty fast, does around 350 average damage, has a huge AR boost (around 300) and also has high fire absorb. with fire absorb of 10 or 12 like eth edge grants, you end up becoming immune to council member hydra attacks...nice. add that to the fact that eth edge is also packing damage to demons, and this thing makes a great mephisto killer. it is also easy to find.

there are some cheaper runewords than crescent moon. passion is pretty cheap, requiring only a lem rune. for most people lem is the highest rune that they see consistently (as in more than once a week) if they play a lot, and so you should personally be able to find this, or trade gems for it. it gives a good speed bonus, about the same damage as crescent moon, and a huge %AR boost. be warned: it has target flee and also target blind mods, so it will overwrite other curses such as battle cry. it gives you the zeal skill though, which can be really nice for conc barbs who want a way to trigger more crushing blows (zeal is much faster, but weaker, than conc).

and then there is the runeword which remains pound for pound the best runeword in the game (in my opinion): honor. honor is amn-el-ith-tir-sol. anyone who has finished normal diff can makes this.

+160% Enhanced Damage
+9 To Minimum Damage
+9 To Maximum Damage
25% Deadly Strike
+250 To Attack Rating
+1 to All Skills
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
Replenish Life +10
+10 To Strength
+1 To Light Radius
+2 To Mana After Each Kill

pretty damn good mods considering the runes. the only thing this is missing is some nice 20 or 30% ias, so it will be slow. however, you get good damage (about 200% with the deadly factored in), big AR boost, life leech, and even a skill boost. the sad truth of the matter is that this runeword is better than any rare you are likely to find while leveling, and so it is good at least in a relative sense, if not literally. if you are broken, honor is your friend. just know that you need 5 sockets, so not all weapons work.

one last thing. since you described crescent moon as end game i am going to assume you dont have many runes. but if you do, upgraded butcher's pupil is also a good choice. it is exceptional so you need a pul and lum rune to upgrade it to elite. it does good damage, has good speed, and has open woulds. its basically the same thing as razors edge, so go for whichever is cheaper.

[Dravok]

Thanks for the quick reply. As for what you said about not having collected many runes yet, you are correct. I've only started playing and have picked up runes but not many different types, I've got so many El runes it isnt funny :cheesy: . As for the other axes you listed, thanks for listing them and I do have Runemaster so I'll try for some Shael runes though I imagine if I get Shael runes I'll go with Crescent Moon. I'll also try crafting a Blood Axe too. What would be a good axe to use with the recipe? Maybe a Cruel Beserker Axe?

[Halciet]

Any magical berserker would be fine; it doesn't add the values or such, it's just a new random roll, so any magical one should do you fine.

-Hal

[Dravok]

To add some more information on the Runemaster I have, it has 5 sockets on it. Any advice on what would be a good combination of runes, jewels, or rune/jewels to make it a effective frenzy weapon?

[Omikron8]

For a non wealthy person, swords are actually the worst choice for a high level weapon. If you look at all the elite unique swords they are a joke except for grandfather (too slow), azurewrath (very low range) and doombringer.

If you are poor go with axes and maces. There are lots of choices including razor's edge, death cleaver, b-star, stormlash, etc.