Difference between revisions of "Breach axe"

Revision as of 04:10, 31 October 2022

Breach axes are melee weapons that trade general efficacy for extra damage against buildings, and is commonly carried by tribal breach raids.

Acquisition

Breach axes can be crafted at either a fueled or electric smithy once the Smithing research project has been completed. They require 50 Stuff (Metallic, 500 for SMVs), 5,000 ticks (1.39 mins) of work, and a Crafting skill of 3.

They are also carried by breachers during Tribal breach raids.

Summary

While weaker than a mace, the breach axe has a significant damage multiplier against buildings. The head attacks of breach axes deal Demolish damage which has a 10x damage multiplier against passable buildings and a 7.5x multiplier against impassable buildings such as walls. Thus, for base damage before quality modifiers, the head attack deals:

Passable buildings: 75
Impassable buildings: 56.25
All other targets: 7.5

Note that only the head's attack has the multiplier. As this multiplier is not taken into account when choosing which attack to perform,other, much weaker attacks may be used instead.

For the purposes of armor calculation, all attacks by the breach axe are considered Blunt damage. However, it is classified as a 'Melee Piercer' weapon for Ideoligion Weapon Preferences.

Analysis

Breach axes are very dangerous against buildings. Generally, this makes them much more effective when used against the colony than by the colony, as players often don't need to break walls.

A niche use may be against mech clusters, where the ability to access them in the early game and high building damage can aid in rapidly destroying turrets in a few strikes. At high qualities and with the right material, this can even kill the large turrets in a single strike.

Against other targets, the mace deals more damage, with same cost and research requirement. While breach axes seem to have a similar (but lower) DPS to the mace, the mace has a significantly higher AP. And because the mace has a stronger, but slower attack, it is more likely to destroy body parts. While blunt armor is typically low, the AP of even a Legendary Uranium Breach Axe is insufficent to invalidate the blunt armor of some commonly encounted enemies.

As all attacks performed by the breach axe do blunt damage, uranium is the ideal material.

Material table

Material	DPS^[1]	AP^[1]	Handle (Poke)					Handle (Blunt)					Head (Demolish)					HP	Value [ExpandCollapse]
Material	DPS^[1]	AP^[1]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	HP	Value [ExpandCollapse]
Bioferrite Breach axe	5.67	10.35%	8.1	2s	11.7%	4.05	12.5%	8.1	2s	11.7%	4.05	12.5%	6.75	1s	9.9%	6.75	75%	200	83
Golden Breach axe	6.3	11.5%	9	2s	13%	4.5	12.5%	9	2s	13%	4.5	12.5%	7.5	1s	11%	7.5	75%	60	5015
Plasteel Breach axe	7.09	10.35%	8.1	1.28s	11.7%	6.33	12.5%	8.1	1.28s	11.7%	6.33	12.5%	6.75	0.64s	9.9%	10.55	75%	280	490
Silver Breach axe	6.3	11.5%	9	2s	13%	4.5	12.5%	9	2s	13%	4.5	12.5%	7.5	1s	11%	7.5	75%	70	520
Steel Breach axe	6.3	11.5%	9	2s	13%	4.5	12.5%	9	2s	13%	4.5	12.5%	7.5	1s	11%	7.5	75%	100	113
Uranium Breach axe	8.59	17.25%	13.5	2.42s	19.5%	5.58	12.5%	13.5	2.42s	19.5%	5.58	12.5%	11.25	1.21s	16.5%	9.3	75%	250	335

^{Assuming Normal quality, for the effect of other qualities, see Quality.}

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the wielder
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Chance for attack to be selected, assuming only the weapon's attack verbs are considered. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder

Version history

1.3.3066 - Added.
1.3.3200 - Changed breaching axe's damage multiplier versus walls from 1 to 0.75 (so their damage versus walls drops from 75 to ~56).

Weapons

Melee | Neolithic: Breach axe • Club • Ikwa • Knife (Jade) • Spear

Medieval: Gladius • Longsword • Mace • Axe • Warhammer

Ultra: Eltex staff • Monosword (Persona) • Plasmasword (Persona) • Zeushammer (Persona)

Improvised: Beer • Elephant tusk • Thrumbo horn • Wood

Ranged | Neolithic: Greatbow • Pila • Recurve bow • Short bow • Flamebow

Medieval: Nerve spiker

Industrial: Assault rifle • Autopistol • Bolt-action rifle • Chain shotgun • Heavy SMG • Launcher (EMP, Incendiary, Smoke, Toxbomb ) • LMG • Machine pistol • Minigun • Pump shotgun • Revolver • Sniper rifle • Hellcat rifle • Incinerator

Spacer: Charge lance • Charge rifle

Consumables: Doomsday rocket launcher • Triple rocket launcher

Throwables: EMP grenades • Frag grenades • Molotov cocktails • Tox grenades

Mechanoid: Heavy charge blaster • Inferno cannon • Needle gun • Thump cannon • Beam graser • Charge blaster turret • Hellsphere cannon • Mini-flameblaster • Mini-shotgun • Slugthrower • Spiner • Toxic needle gun

Structures: Autocannon • Mini-turret gun • Mortar (Weapon) • Uranium slug cannon • Auto-mortar • Inferno cannon (Turret) • Light charge blaster • Mini-slugger • Tactical turret gun

Related | Body part weapons: Prosthetic arm • Bionic arm • Archotech arm • Power claw • Field hand • Drill arm • Venom talon • Venom fangs • Knee spike • Elbow blade • Hand talon • Flesh whip

Integrated weapons: Grenadier armor • Phoenix armor

[Actual-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the wielder

[Chance-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Chance for attack to be selected, assuming only the weapon's attack verbs are considered. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 41: / Line 41: @@
 '''Breach axes''' are melee [[weapons]] that trade general efficacy for extra damage against buildings, and is commonly carried by [[tribes|tribal]] breach raids.
-'''Note:''' Although classified by the [[Ideoligion]] Weapon Preferences{{IdeologyIcon}} as a 'Melee Piercer' weapon along with weapons that predominately deal sharp damage, it only has attacks that deal blunt damage. It is unknown if this categorization is a bug or intended behavior.
 == Acquisition ==
@@ Line 49: / Line 48: @@
 == Summary ==
-Like its [[mechanoid]] equivalent, the [[thump cannon]], the breach axe does significantly more damage to buildings than to pawns on average.  The head attacks of breach axes deal  [[Damage types#Demolish|Demolish damage]] which has a 10x damage multiplier against passable buildings and a 7.5x multiplier against impassable buildings such as [[wall]]s. Thus, for base damage before [[quality]] modifiers, the head attack deals:
+While weaker than a [[mace]], the breach axe has a significant damage multiplier against buildings. The head attacks of breach axes deal [[Damage types#Demolish|Demolish damage]] which has a 10x damage multiplier against passable buildings and a 7.5x multiplier against impassable buildings such as [[wall]]s. Thus, for base damage before [[quality]] modifiers, the head attack deals:
 * Passable buildings: {{#expr: {{P|Attack 3 Damage}}*10}}
 * Impassable buildings: {{#expr: {{P|Attack 3 Damage}}*7.5}}
 * All other targets: {{#expr: {{P|Attack 3 Damage}}}}
-Note that only the head's attack has the multiplier. As this multiplier is not taken into account when choosing which attack to perform,<!---Tested as of 1.3.3159-->other attacks without the multiplier can still be chosen when attacking buildings and the resulting DPS versus buildings is not simply 7.5x or 10x that when used against pawns.
+Note that only the head's attack has the multiplier. As this multiplier is not taken into account when choosing which attack to perform,<!---Tested as of 1.3.3159-->other, much weaker attacks may be used instead.
-For the purposes of [[Apparel#Protection|armor calculation]], all attacks by the breach axe are considered Blunt damage.
+For the purposes of [[Apparel#Protection|armor calculation]], all attacks by the breach axe are considered Blunt damage. However, it is classified as a 'Melee Piercer' weapon for [[Ideoligion]] Weapon Preferences{{IdeologyIcon}}.
 == Analysis ==
-{{Stub|section=1}}
+Breach axes are very dangerous against buildings. Generally, this makes them much more effective when used ''against'' the colony than ''by'' the colony, as players often don't need to break walls.
-Although relatively weak against pawns, it is dangerous against buildings. Generally this specialization makes it more effective when used ''against'' the colony than ''by'' the colony. Typically colonists do not need to destroy buildings rapidly and raids of tribal breachers, while not as dangerous as their counterparts from other factions, will still use the axe to level buildings and poke holes in defenses fairly rapidly.
-A niche use for players may be against [[mech cluster]]s{{RoyaltyIcon}}, where the ability to access them in the early game and high building damage can aid in rapidly destroying turrets in a few strikes. At high qualities and with the right material, this can even kill the large turrets in a single strike.
+A niche use may be against [[mech cluster]]s{{RoyaltyIcon}}, where the ability to access them in the early game and high building damage can aid in rapidly destroying turrets in a few strikes. At high qualities and with the right material, this can even kill the large turrets in a single strike.
-Another potential use is for [[ideoligion]]{{IdeologyIcon}} with the Melee Piercers set as Noble weapons, providing a blunt weapon option that grants mood buffs instead of penalties.
+Against other targets, the [[mace]] deals more damage, with same cost and research requirement. While breach axes seem to have a similar (but lower) {{DPS}} to the mace, the mace has a significantly higher {{AP}}. And because the mace has a stronger, but slower attack, it is more likely to destroy body parts. While blunt armor is typically low, the {{AP}} of even a [[Quality|Legendary]] Uranium Breach Axe is insufficent to invalidate the blunt armor of some commonly encounted enemies.
 As all attacks performed by the breach axe do blunt damage, [[uranium]] is the ideal material.
-Its performance outside of these niches is lackluster however, being outperformed by the [[mace]] which has a similar cost and research requirement. At first glance, the {{DPS}} of the breach axe is relatively close, if still inferior, to that of the mace, however as this near-parity is achieved by attacking faster but for lower damage, the breach axe both has a significantly lower {{AP}} and is less likely to successfully destroy body parts. While blunt armor is typically low, the {{AP}} of even a [[Quality|Legendary]] Uranium Breach Axe is insufficent to invalidate the blunt armor of some commonly encounted enemies. As such, the mace or better weapons should be used when the destroying buildings is not required.
 {{Weapon Material Table}}