Hi. I am playing a male warrior and sword specialisation comes with the class - however I wonder? It seems to me that axes are more common (at least in Aleroth); they seem to drop more often and seem to have better stats generally. The catacombs are full of axes - none of which I can use at my level - but I get the feeling the game is prompting me to use axes.
Anyone tried specialising in axes?
Are they better than swords?

The reason that the catacombs have so many axes is that there is a quest related to the axes. Although it's barely a spoiler, I'll refrain from saying more just in case.

But as I recall, the game doesn't otherwise have a preference for axes.

Yes I know about the quest; but there doesn't need to be half a dozen quality axes in the catacombs on that account. It seems odd to me the only good weapons in that first dungeon are all axes. That's why I was thinking - is the game trying to give me a hint?
Also if one were to specialise in axes you would have a fair selection to choose from once you get your stats up.
How do those early axes compare to swords and other weapons found later in the game?

Well the amount of axes is related to the quest because I guess you're meant to think "Is that the axe I'm looking for?" each time it drops, particularly with unidentified ones. I've not got that far in the game, but it's true that once you leave that area, you generally never see axes. From what I've read, the better unique weapons tend to be swords, though as I said, I haven't got that far myself.

I know you're asking between axes and swords but I just switched from daggers to bows and I can't believe the improvement. I went from not being able to kill anything harder than a basic skeleton to one-shotting the most powerful enemies - and that's without any levelling up in between. My dagger did something like 5-15 damage whereas the bow does 8-75 or something along those lines, and you don't even need to be near the enemy. It's slow but bow proficiency significantly speeds it up.

I too love the bow. It's even very good on my mage, saving him a huge amount of mana, which not only makes him effectively more powerful in combat for longer, but also saves time you might have spent resting.

Getting a quick bow, even if it is low damage, seems to make all the difference. Sometimes all you need to kill a dangerous enemy off is 8 or 15 or 4 damage, so having a slow and high-damage bow can be overkill and its own sort of "too little too late."

And bow specializing is pretty sweet too, though it uses up valuable points.

Hadn't given much thought to bows; although I do use a crossbow with 'poison weapon' to deal with tougher enemies. Must check them out. Thanks.
So far I think DD is a pretty good game.

The only problem I have with all of the axes in the first dungeon is that no one in town has the money to buy them all :(

I always end up with a chest stuffed full of valuable axes that I can't sell because I have bartered for everything I want and every last dime I could get.

That and my characters never seem to be strong enough early in the game to use them effectively. I REALLY like axes but never found one in DD that compared to the swords in damage and speed.

I usually store them in the abandoned house in the upper right corner of the Aleroth village. I came back an tried them as my character got stronger but found the swords (Singing Blade and Sword of Chaos specifically) did much more damage in a shorter time.

Now I just store them and sell them later as I need the money . . . =)

Yeah, it's like in Fallout. Any half-decent item is far to valuable for any merchant to afford. You have to trade for other items but if you're just trying to lighten your inventory without losing value, it's a real pain in the ass. It seems pretty silly that a weapon merchant can't afford most weapons, even ones that you've just found lying around. It'd be like trying to sell a game to a game shop but they only have £10 in the shop.

Anyway, even if you don't plan on using bows permanently, I recommend keeping any decent one you find early on and then going to the ruined abbey when you've sorted out the possessed guy at the start. You can keep running from the zombies - they're so slow - and kill them for enormous amount of exp with no real risk to yourself. If you run around the perimeter of the abbey, rather than going into the central area, you'll avoid the more dangerous enemies. You'll be levelling up every couple of minutes.

I'm not sure anyone can tell you what the "best" weapon is, if there is such a weapon. Because the character build (strength, dexterity etc, etc) also determines a weapons effectiveness . . . some will swear by xxxxxxxx others claim xxxxxxx is better.

Taking your personal game play style and other factors like what charms are installed on the weapon, how many charms, what kind of armor, armor charms (strength / dexterity charms added to equipment enhance the damage a weapon does) , what critter you are attacking and you have numerous variables which affect the weapons damage / speed.

I prefer axes but in DD, as I attacked the same enemies with different weapons . . . I came to believe the swords were best overall (Singing Blade and Blade of Chaos by name) However, others claim the bow, axe, spear, hammer, mace etc etc are the best. I all depends on your preferences and what you expect from a weapon.

I would try different weapons until you find the one that works best for you and your character build. The variations for a weapons damage level are numerous so I couldn't give you the name of the perfect weapon to use.

Look at the attached image and you will see there are many variables for a sword (any weapon for that matter). I used this one till the end of the game never finding any other weapon of any kind that gave me the results this one did . . . with that character . . . in that game.

I look at two things in a weapon, the damage and the recuperation time. Going for the highest damage range (which is variable as mentioned above) and zero recoup time (more strikes per encounter). I carry my old weapon with me while I try another after which I will sell the least effective . . . =)

Edit: It "seemed" that impact weapons worked better on skeletons with cutting / piercing weapons working better on fleshy enemies. The recoup time for axes, maces, etc always seemed to insure that less damage was done due to fewer blows being struck. Occasionally an axe would strike a death blow quickly but overall I found the swords gave me shorter encounter times with the higher damage for the majority of critters.

Any discussion on how the way the different weapon specialisations work, as they all seem to effect damage, speed chance to hit in different ways, e.g. level 1 axe is +50% damage, which is going to make them hurt.