Whirlwind

General Information

• An active ability found on the third slot of Greataxe.
• It is unlocked at mastery level 1.

Whirlwind	Energy Cost	0	Spin around like a whirlwind, swinging your axe and dealing 203 physical damage every 0.5s in a 5m radius while channeling for 2.5s(can't be interrupted and can move while channeling). Each consecutive hit on the same enemy increases the damage by 15 Each 0.5s spent channeling cost 10 Energy.
	Cast Time	instant
	Range	5m
	Cooldown	25s

Note: numerical values are based on gear with 1060 item power.

Ability Preview

Related Patch Notes

Patch Link	Date	Patch Name	Patch Notes
Version 19.040.1	26 January 2022	Lands Awakened Patch 4	Greataxe's E-ability is an uninterruptible moving channel with very high damage, making it somewhat overwhelming. To offer more counterplay options, damage on each enemy now ramps up over time. If the enemy can escape the channel before it ends, damage will no longer be as devastating. Additionally, its overall damage against players was reduced. However, damage output in PvE was increased, now dealing the same damage against mobs as players. Whirlwind (Greataxe): Damage now increases with each tick if same target is hit repeatedly First Tick Damage: 76 → 56 Each consecutive tick: Damage +4 (6 ticks total) Now deals equal damage to mobs and players
Version 19.010.1	13 December 2021	Lands Awakened Patch 1	Since the Whirlwind channel can no longer be interrupted, the counterplay options are either rooting/slowing the Greataxe player, or creating enough distance. However, with the movement speed increase built into the ability, it was very difficult to escape the Whirlwind damage. The movement speed increase has thus been removed from the ability. Whirlwind (Greataxe): Removed the movement speed increase
Version 18.040.1	6 May 2021	Call to Arms Patch 4 (Balance Patch)	Axes Axes have been overrepresented in a variety of content types. While the constant sustain damage and healing reduction is part of the weapon’s identity, the value axe weapons get from their Q abilities was a bit too overwhelming, making it hard for other melee weapon trees to compete. Additionally, the options of counterplay and skill expression for Rending Spin and Raging Blades have been improved with a sweet-spot damage ring to increase the importance of player positioning. The readability of visual effects was also improved for various axe abilities. Adrenaline Boost was changed to improve its ability to chase down a target offensively, while also reducing its use as an easy disengage. And a standtime was added to Razor Cut to add a bit more commitment to the ability and weaken its easy disengage potential. Vampiric Strike was reworked to the new ability Blood Bandit to make this weapon more dynamic and allow more skill expression during fights. Greataxes are now non-interruptible and have more upfront damage versus players, giving them a substantial buff in PvP. At the same time, their PvE damage has been toned down to bring it more in line with other weapons. Battleaxe Normal Attacks: Attacks per second: 0.9 → 1.1 Damage per attack: 50 → 41 Rending Spin (all Axes): Range: 6m → 5m Minimum distance for max Damage: 3m → 2.5m Rending Bleed stacks: now only applied via max distance effect (i.e. 2.5m or further away) Rending Rage (all Axes): Damage: 62 → 50 Rending Bleed Stacks (all Axes): Damage per Tick: 5.4 → 4.2 Healing Reduction on Max Stacks: 20% → 12% Adrenaline Boost (all Axes): Movement Speed Bonus: 50% → 40% Now also increases Attack Speed by 40% Max Duration: 5s → 7s However, if the caster doesn't hit an enemy with a Normal Attack for 2.5s, the Adrenaline Boost now ends early Energy Cost: 11 → 9 Internal Bleeding (all Axes): Improved detection of moving versus standing still on affected enemies Tick Interval: 1s → 0.5s Damage per Tick: 21.97 → 11 Raging Blades (all Axes): Now hits in a ring around the caster, instead of a solid circle (Inner Radius: 2.5m / Outer Radius: 6m) Vampiric Strike (Battleaxe) - reworked the ability; now called "Blood Bandit": Throw your axe in the targeted direction. Deals physical damage to all enemies hit and slows by 20% for 2s. Steal a percentage of the Health enemies lose based on Rending Bleed Charges on the targets. Throw Range: 22m → 17m Whirlwind (Greataxe): Channeling time: 4.5s → 2.5s Damage per tick vs Players: 50 → 75 (Damage per tick vs Mobs unchanged) Cooldown: 20s → 25s Channel is now uninterruptible Energy Cost on activation: 21 → 0 Instead the ability now consumes 4 energy per tick while channeling (total of 24 energy for full channel duration) Razor Cut (Bear Paws): Standtime: 0s → 0.3s
Version 1.12.365.126590	26 September 2018	Merlyn Preseason Balance Patch	Axes: Rending Bleed (all Axes) Multiple players can't stack the bleed on the same target. Instead they will now override each other's debuffs. Whirlwind (Great Axe) Damage per tick: 40.10 → 46.00 Tear Apart (Halberd) Damage: 137.37 → 125.00
Version 1.0.351.106399	14 December 2017	Kay Patch #1	Axes Whirlwind Damage per Tick: 30.78 ->  40.10