Author Topic: How to use a lolaxe  (Read 1812 times)

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Offline Kafein

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How to use a lolaxe
« on: January 04, 2011, 02:39:08 pm »
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As we are currently seing more and more Looney Tunes Axes (aka lolaxe) in use lately, I found useful to make a short guide on how it should be used situational-wise.

1) Anti-cav

There are three different situations :

- You are somehow protected by a building, and you are protecting a small street from cavalry attacks. Pretty much intuitive : just hide with the correct side swing prepared, jump slash when you see a cav man coming. Sounds simple but requires timing practice.

- You are in an open field, protecting yourself or a few teammates from lancers. Just use your axe like a pike, don't forget to do some nice strafing and allways try to follow your teammates, as they are too dumb to follow you. When the horse is stopped go behind it and take a small distance to avoid hitting the shield and get max damage with an overhead swing. If you don't have much time, swing in a way you bypass the shield, but be sure to hit the horse too, unless you want it for you. When the rider is dehorsed, it's the moment to hold your overhead swing for a short moment (less than 1 second) to get the maximum damage of it, because you likely won't be able to get two free hits.

- You are  in an open field and protecting yourself from a LoC. Very difficult to do, but possible : strafe left and prepare a thrust when you see the rider coming. When he's close enough, strafe right and release your hit towards the horse head as soon as possible. Do NOT jump !

2) In a mob

First thing you need to know : your ping must be low and the server machine has to handle the data with ease if you don't want to see overhead swings turn into side swings that will likely make some nice tk's and make you look stupid (even more than the simple fact of wielding a lolaxe).

- You should make sure there is no ally behind you if you want to use the overhead swing. It's funny but not good for your bank account nor for your reputation to kill allies like that.

- Only use side swings when you are the last man of one side of the mob. Be wary because the axe is very long and the attack is extremely wide, so you can hit people behind you that you didn't see. Do some spinning to add damage and hit earlier.

- The thrust attack is just like using a pike, except you only have 21 pierce damage and it's way slower. You need a good speed bonus to get something from it.

No matter what attack you use, timing is your main ally to catch the enemy when he's not blocking. As an infantry with excellent reach and rather bad self defense, you have to be exceptionally aware of surroundings to poke every enemy you can, just like with a pike. And be fast to react when the tides of the battle change. You won't likely be able to survive long when mobbed. Just like for all weapons, attacking someone who was in your back half a second ago is a very good way to get easy kills.

3) Duel

You have to be a skilled blocker, aware of feints, kicks and other stuff to perform in duels. Avoid thrusts, they are too slow. The best tactic against an average player is doing some feinting or nasty facehug footwork to oneshot his back. Against more skilled players, play with your range advantage : block, attack then jump away and attack at the same time. Works wonders because most don't think you are going to use the jump. So don't overuse it, and never jump before a duel on the battlefield.

You will find great difficulties with two handers. They are faster, have 4 attack directions, and your reach advantage is EXTREMELY reduced due to the lolstab animation, that will hit your body faster than a side swing will catch the body of your opponent. Be very wary with blocking since their animation is both faster and able to do damage for a longer time ! Even when the blade doesn't move anymore, it can still be lethal ! So usually what you will have do to is relying a bit on your armor, try to hit the "dead angles" of their swings by jumping left or right and attack at the same time. Don't forget to try facehug + overhead.

Mace users. Never forget to block their side swings, and directly jump slash. Most "skilled" maulers know how to spin 180° so facehugging will likely end in your death. You can try to spam them with left swings accelerated by spinning if they feint.

Be aware of the ghost reach of one handers. Take them seriously. You are better overblocking than getting oneshot by a NCS wielded by a 10PS monster. Many of them will feint so try spamming after a while. You don't have any shield to slow you down so you'll probably have the footwork advantage. Your weapon is a shield murderer with it's massive damage and reach. Don't hesitate to spam their shield and keep the distance. When they have lost it, however, the speed difference will be extreme, and they will maybe be able to completly outspam you. As always, play with reach and side swings.

Finally, you can make profit of the bugs left in the game engine. Making very quick feints can randomly make you "slash" extremely fast, maybe even without any animation. Don't rely on that. It's luck and lag, mostly. I don't know exactly why this problem is bigger with this weapon, but it's probably due to it's very low speed rating.

4) Being an hero

Now it's time to wear your armor and play the hero ! You will likely not be as succesful as one handers with this. When you are alone against a dozen of enemies, the first thing you have to do is constantly being aggressive. This is the most important part. If you don't head straight on into the enemy mob, they will likely shoot you down before you can make any kills. Second line men will usually think they are safe. Thus, try to move and circle into the mob. Make them turn, hit each other. Never attack the same guy twice, as others will then be able to prepare and attack. Use the overhead swing to reduce the "dead angle" problem.

Aim for people without head protection first. Those are usually either good players or ranged. Then go for long range thrust weapons. Now they should be a little more scattered. Try to take them down one at a time. Isolate one and spam him (turtles won't attack, too scared). If you "sense" another guy is coming in your back, or see a change in the behavior of your victim, prepare a side swing and quicly turn. Release the swing when you think you won't hit the char you were isolating. This will often oneshot the guy trying to backstab you. But not if it was a shield user as they will likely hold their block while advancing, nor if it's a skilled player as those know very well this "showing your back to your opponent" trick.

This concludes this little tutorial about how a lolaxe should be used in an efficient way and with style.

Offline Zoidberg

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Re: How to use a lolaxe
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2011, 04:22:56 pm »
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Ah nice guide for the ajfla Weapon and 1question how would you skill a lolaxe char?
Sorry for my bad English.

Offline Kafein

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Re: How to use a lolaxe
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2011, 06:00:27 pm »
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Ah nice guide for the ajfla Weapon and 1question how would you skill a lolaxe char?

Although this is now out of date, a dedicated lolaxer should have been both strong and fast (running).

I'd have went for str 18, maxed agi

6 PS
6 IF
Max athletics (most important)
Max WM

Offline Zoidberg

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Re: How to use a lolaxe
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2011, 11:09:55 am »
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Why not using the long volgue instead of the good old lolaxe?
   
weight 3.5
requirement 12
spd rtng 85
weapon length 175
swing damage 37, cut
thrust damage 18 pierce
Can't use on horseback
Unbalanced
Bonus against Shield
Sorry for my bad English.