alt="" src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/70873">

face="Times New Roman" size="3"> style="font-weight: bold;">This could be your new
rogue in 3.2!
 Welcome back to the Stone Age.

face="Times New Roman" size="3">Well,
according to the patch notes, after much quiet contemplation, soon
we'll have the ability to use axes.  Fantastic.  Now
perhaps we can stop coveting Calamity's Grasp, and steal more loot from
that Enhancement Shaman.  Excellent.  Let us have
some quiet contemplation of our own and take a look at what axes we're
going to be going for now! 

 

DISCLAIMER - I am not responsible for raising your weapon skill to 400
with axes.  If Blizzard will have any mercy on us, they will
make it maxed out upon training it if you're 80.  If not, I
highly recommend the purchase of a Dalaran Axe and a speedy green off
hand, and don't forget to switch to them when running your daily
quests.  Your sanity will thank me later.

[protip]Don't get caught with your pants down when the best axe in the game drops from the Coliseum! I'm calling it![/protip]

face="Times New Roman" size="3">Heroic
Level

face="Times New Roman" size="3">The
Key -
Lavanthor, Violet Hold 

    This
is actually really well itemized.  The only downside to this
weapon is the fact that you have to trudge through Violet Hold to get
it, and pray he is one of the enemies unleashed, and THEN get the
drop.  Our lives are so hard, aren't they? 

 

Stalactite Chopper - Revered
status with Sons of Hodir 

    The
stamina is a little high, so it's a second rate main hand to The Key,
but it's so much easier to get that you can't complain.

face="Times New Roman" size="3">Epic
and Beyond

face="Times New Roman" size="3">PvP
Axes -
I wonder? 

    Even
with the wasted resilience stats, you just can't argue with the top
rate damage ranges on these.  Just don't expect to use axes on
the way up the ladder standings.

face="Times New Roman" size="3">Touch
of Madness -
Yogg Saron, 10 man 

    You
are probably already poison hit capped at this point, so if your
current main hand doesn't have hit on it, this might be somewhat worse
than other main hand options.  Still the best DPS PvE axe in
the game, and that leads us to our next point

face="Times New Roman" size="3">Wait,
what?  That's it?  Where the hell are the off hands?

face="Times New Roman" size="3"> 

    That's right.  Since warriors
got Titan's Grip, one hand axes have fallen specifically to tanking
stats for the most part.  Thankfully, Hack and Slash applies
to swords as well and we do have many options there for solid off hand
choices.  I suppose you could off-hand Last Laugh if all else
fails though, and you would enrage every Warrior and Paladin in a ten
mile radius if you wield that.  Stick to real off-hands like
Hatestrike from Patchwerk and keep your tanks happy.  After
all, if they're not happy and content, we're likely going to die
painfully. 

 

    The Crusader's Tournament with 3.2 will
likely have a few DPS axes for us to look forward to however, and if
you're an Orc, then you just got the best of both worlds. 
This axe change in 3.2 perplexes me, because at the same time, they
gave Orcs Fist Weapon Mastery as well.  So you take a Rogue
who would want to benefit from some free racial stats the option of
using that weapon type, and then give that stat to a much more common
weapon at this point in Fist Weapons... Blizzard, what are you trying
to do here?  Nevertheless, get that axe skill up and shatter
that mindset that axes are now worthless to us.  It's time to
embrace something different in our combat builds for the first time
since release.  We should cherish this change, even if we have
no axes worth using at the moment!