Best weapon for an avenger

[Cadfan]

Answer 1: Execution Ax beats Fullblade for most situations. Most people don't realize this, but as one of the people who ran the numbers when the Avenger was previewed, its true.

Answer 2: The difference is pretty negligible, so you probably shouldn't care.

Answer 3: But apparently you DO care, as evidenced by this thread. So if you try to take powers with high [W] values, go for the ax. If you go for powers with bonus damage or with effects other than damage, then hitting becomes slightly more valuable for those particular powers. Make a judgment call.

 

[keterys]

Out of curiosity I ran some quick numbers on a mid-high heroic tier avenger using fullblade vs. executioner axe who had a +2 weapon, armbands, focus, expertise... trying to hit targets that it needs between a 7 to 14 on the die to get and the fullblade edged the executioner's axe out by a tiny margin. If I expand it to 4 to 14 on the die, executioner is ahead by a tiny margin.

So the damage difference is near negligible - if your avenger has powers where hitting does _anything_ other than damage, I'd suggest the fullblade. If the avenger just has damage powers, then the executioner's axe is the way to go unless your DM tends to throw higher level opponents at you with great frequency.

 

[Garthanos]

Out of curiosity I ran some quick numbers on a mid-high heroic tier avenger using fullblade vs. executioner axe who had a +2 weapon, armbands, focus, expertise... trying to hit targets that it needs between a 7 to 14 on the die to get and the fullblade edged the executioner's axe out by a tiny margin. If I expand it to 4 to 14 on the die, executioner is ahead by a tiny margin.

So the damage difference is near negligible - if your avenger has powers where hitting does _anything_ other than damage, I'd suggest the fullblade. If the avenger just has damage powers, then the executioner's axe is the way to go unless your DM tends to throw higher level opponents at you with great frequency.

And if your DM throws minions at you with efficiency and regularity.. the fullblade pulls out ahead at every level... (shrug., I get the impression they are under used and under considered because more damage is cool). Campaign setting can impact the usefulness of everything.

 

[DracoSuave]

50/50 computation is a baseline which you can then differentiate either direction from.... If your party has a lot of characters able to buff your to hit a boost to to hit is even less useful and if your party has a lot of characters able to buff your damage to hit is more useful. The circumstance of your game will shift things around quite a bit.

Not really. Every time I run -real- numbers with -real- characters with -real- monsters or -real- encounters it is -never- on the 50/50 line.

It's just one of those things that people keep -saying- is true, but never actually has any basis on real data, which is why I reject it whenever I see it now.

Campaign setting can impact the usefulness of everything.

Truth.

Fact is... fullblade and Execution axe are about as good as each other. You can do a -mean- critvenger build with -either- weapon and do just fine. If you want to max out your crit tho, and have the second highest crit chance possible in the game, you -have- to use a fullblade to do it.

But that's splitting hairs. Frankly, all three superior weapons are solid for an Avenger. You don't really care about HBO, the other paragon feats are either terrible for Avengers or terrible for Execution Axe, so you can't really go wrong.

 

[Byronic]

With all this calculation and such, have people held account with magical weapons?

Wouldn't the Jagged Weapon be one of the best magical weapons for Avengers since it gives you a crit range of 19-20 which is really nice for the Avenger?

Or do Avengers usually have 21 strength by epic level?

 

[DracoSuave]

With all this calculation and such, have people held account with magical weapons?

Wouldn't the Jagged Weapon be one of the best magical weapons for Avengers since it gives you a crit range of 19-20 which is really nice for the Avenger?

Or do Avengers usually have 21 strength by epic level?

It's not -that- difficult to get to that mark. Granted, it means sacrificing some defenses, but it's not impossible.

And Jagged is a -great- weapon for an Avenger.

 

[msherman]

On a related note, what's the best +2 weapon enchantment for an Avenger? Preferably one that works on an Execution Axe (there's already a Fullblade Fighter in my party, so I'd rather take the axe just to avoid cloning him too much). I know that once you hit the +3 weapons, there's all kinds of great crit-enhancers, but +2 seems thinner.

 

[keterys]

Hard to go wrong with Bloodclaw and Reckless, but Berserker's a pretty solid option for crits and a fun power at that level if those aren't an option.

Course, Vicious is generically good for crits.

 

[Klaus]

Weapon of Oaths Fulfilled is specific for avengers, so that's always a good possibility (when your oath of enmity target dies, the next attack you make with the weapon deals +1d6 damage per plus, and the weapon serves as an avenger implement).

 

[renau1g]

Thanks for the tip Klaus, I must've missed this one.