[Ashqul]

I should totally play with you once and troll your life with an Axe.

[Ce'Nedra]

Won't be easy as im Europe and your US

[wev]

HR9 SwitchAxe user here.

I tend to use the Axe mode when your prone to being attacked as its much easier to dodge, although its can be difficult to beat on smaller creatures (although personally, I find this to be the case for anything other than Sword and Shield). When an enemies downed I'll switch to the sword as it allows for a quick melee of attacks whilst its on the ground.

A friend of mine uses Hammers most of the time at the moment (although I think his preference is Lances) and its fine when there's just one hammer user in there, but generally I find if you have more than one person using weapons like the Switchaxe or Hammer you tend to get people flying everywhere.

[Dray84]

Ever since my early hunting days in Freedom-2, I learned something important.

Shields are your friends.

When I was just starting out, I mainly stuck with the bow. I didn't have enough confidence to tackle monsters up-close. I'm the dude who did most of his early-rank missions wearing vespoid gear. VESPOID. Gimme all the crazy looks you like, that armor looked badass (The Gunner version, anyway).

But then I took a wild venture. I decided to give Melee-ing a shot once I had my now signature and primary armor, the Daimyo Hermitaur set. I took a GunLance and went out into the wilderness to hunt myself a Kut-Ku for practice.

All of a sudden, the world was a much more awesome place.

Now, to make a long story short, ever since then... I've become primarily a melee-er. While I've learned and grown accustomed to using the LongSword and Hunting Horn, I tend to lean more towards any weapon with a shield, because... I'm not perfect.

I'm not the guy who knows the exact timing to roll out of a Monoblos roar or how to dodge a tail-swipe by merely side-stepping. If I try that sh**, I end up dead. So I am always happy to have a shield ready to block what I can't dodge, and I like it that way. Turtle, Turtle, Stab. Turtle, Turtle, Stab. It never fails (GunLancin' ftw).

So, even though I'm a lot wiser and more experienced, I have a general rule about melee-ing.

"If you think that dude can f*** you up, bring a shield.".

If I go up against a monster who has a track record of catching me in moves I can rarely dodge (see: 10% evasion success rate), I bring the ace. The shield. Because if I can't dodge it, at least I can block it. And that, by far, is a better fate.

So, I was understandably skeptical about how well I'd fare with the Switch Axe, considering it has NO Guard function. I would be forever at the mercy of those undodgeables.

But... then again... it was an Axe.

... An Axe that turns into a sword.

... A sword that explodes.

And, well... I just KNEW somehow that me and this weapon were destined to BE. I gave it a shot.

And then I gave it another.

And before you know it I was putting the Blitzkrieg Beatdown on a Rathian. And then a Lagiacrus. And then every other reptilian son-of-a-bastard that dared get in my way.

All of a sudden, where was the Iron Wall of Pokke? Mr. Shields To All?

He was rushing forward, stabbing an Agnaktor in the gut, following up with a transform-slash, and paralyzing the bloody hell out of that beast with a SwordSplosion of fantastically fruity lemony flavor. He did not have a shield and he did not care. He WAS the Axe.

So what do -I- think of the Switch Axe?

... Eh, it's alright.

[Ashqul]

LOL at the wall of text.
Blos roars are undodgeable, I still feel like SA haven't really made a huge impact, like LS are the most popular, Hamm is the most powerful along with GS, lance for the tactical and GL for those tired of the lance, DS for fricken crazy spam pwnage and SNS for beginners, SA haven't really made an impression to me.

[Dray84]

Ashqul, on 10 September 2011 - 11:04 PM, said:

LOL at the wall of text.

Awwh, that's just an old man rantin' about his glory days. Don't you pay it no mind, sonny...

Ashqul, on 10 September 2011 - 11:04 PM, said:

Blos roars are undodgeable, I still feel like SA haven't really made a huge impact, like LS are the most popular, Hamm is the most powerful along with GS, lance for the tactical and GL for those tired of the lance, DS for fricken crazy spam pwnage and SNS for beginners, SA haven't really made an impression to me.

YA KNOW, THIS REMINDS ME OF A STORY...

[Ashqul]

Is it a good story?

[dionysus]

Dray84, on 18 September 2011 - 03:25 PM, said:

Awwh, that's just an old man rantin' about his glory days. Don't you pay it no mind, sonny...

YA KNOW, THIS REMINDS ME OF A STORY...

lol you sound just like an old man!

[Ralock]

I dont mind the Switch axe on it's own I actually am practicing with it myself.
BUT when I see a person in rainbow carnival armor( different sets all colloured another way)
I usualy go and take my gun to stay away from him because yeah I payed for an action game not a flight sim.

[Vult]

Switch axes are pretty awesome. You do have to know when to use each mode and how to switch between the smoothly, but they are stylish and unique weapons. Plus they are the closest thing to a gunlance in Tri They should get a power boost. Given their size and generally slow movements, they should be the 3rd most powerful melee weapon (behind hammer and gs). However, I think they lose that honor to longswords (especially in tri).

[Pirrip]

Vult, on 30 September 2011 - 11:58 AM, said:

Switch axes are pretty awesome. You do have to know when to use each mode and how to switch between the smoothly, but they are stylish and unique weapons. Plus they are the closest thing to a gunlance in Tri They should get a power boost. Given their size and generally slow movements, they should be the 3rd most powerful melee weapon (behind hammer and gs). However, I think they lose that honor to longswords (especially in tri).

I truly rue that. I play tri and love the design of this weapon. It's what I use the majority of the time, but it's unfortunate that Longsword Larry comes out doing more damage more quickly.
Yes, that's right. Longsword Larry... Like from the Monhan podcast. I am a Switch Axe Axel, though. I'm not usually a Sword and Shield Shawn, Greatsword Gary, Hammerin' Hank, Lancin' Lance, or Gunning Gunther.

The explosive phial doesn't come in handy as often as the built in EVP. And both of those features--according to many--don't outweigh multiplayer invonvenience that is the mighty upswing.

[Ce'Nedra]

I just love these axes. Been playing alot with them lately and i totally own everything. Maybe not high in power but they're great for tripping enemies, the sword mode of the axe is a nice damage dealer and the discharge often helped me break enemy parts. Not to mention it's not deflecting like Long Swords Spirit Blade (And you don't need to hit the enemt everynow and then to keep the bar up...). Also like how much you can dodge with the axe when drawn if you use a Evasion Set, the sidestep seems very usefull, more then long swords.

All known facts probarly but i just love the weapon so much ^^ Longswords are over-rated/used, SA all the way =D