IMO the strength of the throwing axes, particularly the franciscas, is their ability to counter other throwers/cav/archers better. i have an 18/18 thrower/shielder alt and I can carry a hand pavise shield and 18 franciscas (6 ammo per slot). Cav can only attempt to horsebump you, archers can only try to kite you (but u got a shield and ranged of your own) and other throwers, unless they are using axes as well, won't be getting through a shield. Plus CUT damage means your strength is against light armored opponents (ranged and horses).
also think of your melee ability when you have to engage enemy archers/throwers/infantry in melee. just give them a couple blocks/attacks, bait them into trying to s-key you since you're a shielder, and then S KEY THEM RIGHT BACK and throw axes back at them
shield thrower may have had some 'nerfing' done to it, but it's still more than viable, it's probably the best global counter-class (horse archers can't even do shit 2 u xdd)
Yeah, so that doesn't work.
I tried a variety of builds, and by far the most effective was level 32 12/27, with which over a week managed to get around a 1.3kdr on, using iberian mace for melee damage (don't even try to kill an average player with franciscas in melee), 3 shield skill and 145 1h/throwing.
That's compared to my normal build of level 32 18/21 hoplite sword shield, with which i average ~~2-2.5kdr, everything heirloomed on both classes. Quite clearly the melee was a lot better. It's ~~ 3-4 franciscas to kill an archer, and sometimes ~~5-6 to kill normal tanky players. Javelins are usually ~~2-3 and 4-5, as well as being much much much easier to hit with, and you only get 1 more ammunition with franciscas to compensate for that (which is clearly not worth it). So again, no point in taking the franciscas (and tbh very little point in taking throwing in general; there's so much hate against archers, when's the last time you actually saw a player doing really well with throwing?).
I've honestly had cases, wearing almost no armour, +3 franciscas and 145 throwing, where i've missed 3 axes in a row stood ~~2-3 metres from someone who was stood still with the reticule right on them. It's ridiculous, they're just almost impossible to hit with, and when they do, they do practically no damage.
Just buffing their accuracy and reload speedwould go a long way to making them a viable weapon