[Mini-Guide] - Marauder 2x Axe

Just a small warning; melee is very boring in this game. . .
You likely be doing 1 or 2 attacks for the entire length of your character's adventure

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1 handed Axe does the highest DPS in the game
Using 2 at the same time blows away 2Handed weapons with a few exceptions like Double Strike
Does 2x Axe have better DPS at endgame than other builds with passives like Adder's Touch?

Well that's a very good question, but as I don't have all the answers you'll have to make your own decisions based on the info presented (also why this is a Mini-Guide)

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Here's your rough passive outline for normal: (click me!)

Your DPS progression on Duel Strike will be something like this:

Level 15: 200 DPS if you have 2 Iron rings and DMG gloves
Level 30: 580 DPS if you crafted +20% Superior DMG blues
Level 40: 3k+ DPS if you 3 linked Duel Strike with both +DMG support gems + "adds fire" gem

Before 40 though you'll want to go up left side of the skill web for Resolute Technique
As listed in most Marauder Guides it adds a lot of DMG and is almost always a must have

This is what your progression should continue to look like going forward: (click me!)

Update: I may go this route instead (click me!)
Or possible this if I don't get Blood Magic: (click me!)
There is also reasonable to get Iron Reflexes, but I think Duelist could do that route better

The key to the build is getting as many 1H and raw physical damage bonuses as you can since they effectively apply twice (you will notice that I stay away from most duel wield trees)

At anytime if things get rough you can throw points into Steel Skin
I got to Act 3 Cruel without any passive defensive bonuses and this is why:



I'd activate Molten Shell and immediately use a +99% defense mana flask tripling my armor

You can use Determination to crank it up even higher, but I typically run Haste

Other useful skills are Level 6 Warlord's Mark for the 2% Mana Steal
Decoy Totem which starts off awful, but quickly gets good
and Cleave to mini stun packs champions and other swarm mobs

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A trick I was doing for a while to survive casters was to keep rings in my inventory of the specific elemental and just equip them while fighting these mobs

Between this and a life flask that adds resist you should easily be at max resist for area you're in or for harder bosses like Vaal

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For End game you will want to try and get 2 more damage mods linked onto Duel Strike
Most likely Faster Attacks and Elemental Damage

More info to come if I continue to level it. . .
I may also try a duelist version of the build eventually

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Are you sure that 2x 1h-axe beats 2h-axe from DPS?

CommodoX:

It's because 1H weapon passives like Strong Arm apply to both weapons separately
So when you use an attack like Duel Strike the damage bonus feels like it has been doubled

This won't be the case for Duel Wield damage bonuses so the build tries to get as many axe and 1H passives as it can

As a side note some people say that the DPS calculation is bugged on some skills and doesn't display right, but regarding Duel Strike I do not think this is the case

You will hit crazy hard and while you aren't using slow axes like Cleaver also very fast

The only downside is that you won't have access to bigger AoE attacks that 2H gets

Skills are still being added to the game though and we could see more axe and possibly a duel wield specific axe skill added to the game

I also listed my baseline DPS on Duel Strike at some easily reached levels
If you already have a 2H build going see if your damage compares

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Nice guide, but are you sure that 1H damage nodes apply twice when dual wielding? It just seems a bit imbalanced that a 6% 1H node would actually add 12% damage...

Can anyone confirm this?

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MaximumSquid wrote:

The only downside is that you won't have access to bigger AoE attacks
that 2H gets

You can use Cleave, what else is left for axes? Sweep/Ground Slam works only with maces?

"

MaximumSquid wrote:

If you already have a 2H build going see if your damage compares-

I'm only lvl 28 at the moment, but I have only ~160 DPS with Cleave at the moment I guess.

But from the PoE-Wiki

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Damage: The DPS display is inaccurate for this skill because it can't account properly for dual wielding attacks.

http://en.pathofexilewiki.com/wiki/Dual_Strike

I read up on this, and dual wield increased damage % also applies to each weapon. So really, there's no need to stack 1H damage and avoid dual wield damage nodes, as they both do the same thing.

Vultighjime:

Ran a second line of tests and the DPS calculations seem completely unreliable and not just for Dual strike

Going from hold 2 identical weapons to +10% melee to +20% melee went like this for normal hits

8.9 (base)
10.1 (+1.2)
10.6 (+0.5) wtf!?
Total Increase is +16% according to in game DPS when it should be +20%!

Same thing on Duel Strike went like this:

20.2 (base)
21.3 (+1.1) why!?
23.7 (+2.4) seriously?
Total increase is +15% according to the in game DPS when it should be +20%!

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Attack speed on a single weapon calculated properly as both got the bonus

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For 1H weapon going up 6% here's what I got:

11.5 (base)
12.6 (+1.1)
Lines up perfect with 1H bonus applying twice on Normal Attack for 2 weapons

25.6 (base)
26.9 (+1.3) I got nothing. . .
The total is too low even if 1H applied once on Duel Strike so I don't understand

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Maybe I'll just start showing videos and you guys can decide for yourselves

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I decided to continue leveling my guy. . .
He's doing insanely well at the end Cruel and my Tank/DPS style is carrying a lot of people

Instead of plowing into Duelist start I decided that It might be more beneficial to grab the health and damage buffs near Templar instead

Blood Magic combined with -20% cost reduction before a Reduce mana gem + Vaal pact looks like it could be very good

I would need a leach life gem, but I'd probably be willing to do it

Before getting those keystones and also Unwavering I plan to level as far as I can while floating a bunch of points

Nice research. Keep going! Thanks for sharing info.

I've got something similar to this build going, glad to hear it's working out for you and thanks for all the help in this thread!