All right -

I play an Axelord Ur'Guard and am having some issues, so figured I'd cast a line for help here and see if anyone takes the bait.

I chose axelord because it seemed to be underused - lots of bonecrushers and pureblades, haven't noticed many axelords. So I went with that, because I like to be a bit different if possible.

So, here's the advice I'm looking for:

Good maneuvers to use. The maneuvers I've been using lately just don't seem to work. My weapons aren't the issue, I have really good forged weapons. This has become especially evident against bards, where they literally avoid everything. The only way I've been able to get any leeway is through using just 'jab' and letting it randomly pick where it hits. What would you suggest?

How do you keep your opponents in one place? Knockdown is the best thing I've found so far, yet it doesn't hit every time, so that makes it a bit more difficult. On the flipside, Aiakon kept me pretty much prone using legtendon. I tried using carcer, but that didn't seem to work. I spent entire spars chasing Rheum around the arena.

Being an axelord, and delivering only one venom per round, I've been using a lot of dulak and mantakaya, but is there a better option?

I'm working on transcending resilience, but why does my endurance drain so fast when fighting and bashing? How on earth do you have a prolonged battle with 200 endurance drain per swing, on top of endurance draining abilities?

Any other advice is also very welcome.

For the record, I am transcendent in: Planar, Axelord, Necromancy, Athletics, Discipline. I have expert: Highmagic (Geburah), Environment (Uh... either tumbling or one past), Discernment (magiclist), combat (weaponparry), and resilience.

For the endurance drain, there's a skill in athletics for it, breathing. For bards, generally try to build up as many legwounds as possible, go for a high precision axe, and then assault once to the leg. Then hit a second time or so and then they should have no leg left. Then go for the head and work up legafflictions as necessary.
You could try going for slitlock, chansu and senso and hitting the head.
And BCs are really underused, I know me, Daganev, Ethelon and Nico. <.<

Amputate for a PB is incredibly hard to get, so I would have to assume for a AL it is just as hard, especially when you aren't going to get much higher than 507 prc on a greataxe, then etch it for round about 530prc, and since he is an Ur'Guard he gets no stat mods from night/moon.

AL and PB slits are nothing compared to BC ones simply because you cannot envenom your axe with chansu AND senso and expect this to lock, BC's can do this in a matter of seconds. AL's on the other hand if they hit with chansu, it is cured before they can swing again with senso. I know they said they did something to the stacking of poisons for 2handed users, but honestly, I don't see my poisons sticking anymore than before, no matter how heavy the wounds are, and I can't agree that more chance to afflict with 1 poison is equal to having the opportunity to hit with 2 venoms per BC/BM combo.

By far I would call BC's the best affliction/proning class in Warrior archetype. BM's though they dont get the great proning can afflict just as dangerously. PB's and AL's can get the wounds high, but that isnt enough to compare them to BC's BM's (affliction wise)

Er, what?

You don't need chansu and senso for a slitlock, you only need senso - slitthroat stops eating calamus to cure the slickness and slickness stops apply mending to cure the slitthroat.

For a windpipe lock, though, you need both chansu and senso - windpipe stops eating calamus to cure the slickness, slickness stops apply melancholic to cure the asthma, and asthma stops smoke myrtle to cure the windpipe.

lisarel pulled off this nasty two hitter on me that is just sick on all accounts if you can get the axe to do it. She swept my leg with umm the leg shrivel one? Calcise? anyways prone stun/broken leg. THen before I recovered from the stun she managed to sweep my head. Got slitthroat and senso is that slickness? yeah so slitlocked prone. no way to stand and use cleanse or any time of random affliction curing. After looking back it at I saw that the only way out was to restore stand and then cure the lock.

PBs are even nastier 'cause they can do the same with severing your tendons. You can't even restore out of it.

I have breathing in Athletics (trans) - it gave me the impression it was an auto-on. Do I need to activate it or something or is the large drain I have now smaller then a previously unnoticed huge drain?

It's not auto-on. You will need to BREATHE DEEP every time you log on / die-- and the drain will be significantly less!

Ahah! Thanks!

Ok, so I spent my money smoking crack, and this is what happens when I do.... my baaaaaad.... I thought slitthroat can now be healed using a smoking cure, which is why the chansu was so important