Hmm thanks for the ideas, I started trying out that strategy last night since I have Lidica. I don't have other great AOE, only thing I can think of is Haste or Tenebria and I could definitely build Haste up for speed but I'm not sure he hits hard enough to put units within Axe's S2 damage range. Maybe a really fast Tenebria because with a DEF break that could allow Axe to have a harder hitting S2.
I'm also curious how he performs on defense since he'll obviously use S3 first.
metaprogram's post to me reads like "if you combine him with these three OP units, he's awesome", lol.
I agree, Haste might not hit hard enough if you build him up for speed (instead of ATK). I own Haste, and he's mostly amazing (to me) because of the heal his S2 provides, he heals more than Hazel in my golem team, but his DPS output is... it's okay. To be fair, the AoE it's actually good in comparison, but not sure. Bellona feels like she hits harder. XD
If you just need him to bruise people, that might be enough, if you give Axe Dude enough oomph to make up for it.
I haven't build Tenebria yet, but seeing as both her S3 and S2 are AoE with a chance to lower defense (S3) and decrease combat readiness (S2), this sounds more like it could imitate what metaprogram has achieved.
Her base speed is even lower than Haste's though, but her attack is a lot higher to make up for it. You could build her for speed with better results, I'd wager. Not sure how high her speed would need to be for her to go first reliably in a defense team. Tough call.
Do you have Bellona? She has high speed and her S3 deals DEF break quite reliably first thing in most battles, maybe that's enough when combined with Lidica's damage?
I don't have Lidica, but I'm also considering building the Axe guy (have his specialty change in progress), so report back how he worked out for you.