Moonstone Axe Starter Build

The Moonstone Axe Aspect of Melinoë is the most difficult Aspect of Melinoë due to its extremely slow Attack Speed. The Special is also a long animation with a tiny range, making both moves difficult to correctly utilize.

To help you counter this weaknesses, this build starts with Apollo's Nova Strike to increase the AoE of each Attack Swing. The increased Attack size allows you to position at a safer distance from enemies, making it an excellent offensive and defensive option.

The rest of the build revolves around increasing the damage and speed of every attack. You'll have high damage to help defeat Guardians and the quickness required to minimize damage taken.

• Note that any high damage % Attack Boon will work great with Aspect of Melinoë. Sub in Flutter Strike if you want max damage, and don't feel you need the increased AoE.

Based on what you are offered, putting Flutter Strike or Sworn Strike on your Attack is also a great option. Everything else about the build recommendations still applies. Anywhere you see Nova Strike, just sub in whatever Attack Boon you have.

Aspect

Aspect of Melinoë increases base standard Attack power, and starting Health. The increased Attack power does not effect Omega Attacks, so we'll primarily focus on standard swings.

The 3rd swing in the Axe combo is a massive slam that deals huge damage, but has a super-long startup animation. Therefore, it's generally best to use the first two swings, then a Special so you don't go into the final slam.

• If you accidentally start the Final Chop when you don't want to commit, it can be cancelled with a Special. The Special can then be Dashed out of.

Animal Familiar

Toula grants a one-time use bonus Death Defiance that restores health based on her bond rank. You'll want this extra safety net because the slow swings of Aspect of Melinoë often result in taking more damage than usual.

Against pesky, fast-moving enemies, Toula chases them down more easily than you can. Don't sleep on letting her sleep. Sprint through her and maintain a high uptime.

Arcana

Priority: The Huntress (III), The Swift Runner (XI), Persistence (VII), The Furies (VI), The Wayward Son (II), The Messenger (VIII)

Secondary and Optional: The Lovers (XV), The Artificer (XVIII), The Champions (XXII)

The Huntress (III) is the most important Arcana Card for damage in this build since we are mainly using standard Attacks. Start every encounter with an Omega Move, and make sure your Magick is never Full.

The Messenger (VIII) grants brief invulnerability and enables a drop-and-go strategy with Casts. Take advantage of the speed boost and move to your max range before you start swinging.

Keepsakes

1. Harmonic Photon
2. 1. Starting out with Nova Strike is the goal. Take any rarity as the increased AoE is the primary purpose. Save the rarify from Harmonic Photon if you aren't offered the Attack Boon.
2. Barely Sheaf
3. 1. Demeter's Freeze from either Ice Flourish or Arctic Ring stuns enemies for easy big Attack combos.
3. Experimental Hammer
4. 1. Dashing Heave turns this build from good to great. If you don't have it by the 3rd region, go for Experimental Hammer. Basically, every Hammer upgrade will benefit this build. Just note if you get Hell Splitter, you'll need to adjust Attack strategy completely.
4. Luckier Tooth
5. 1. As aforementioned, Aspect of Melinoë tends to be a difficult Aspect to use and take a lot of damage. Skelly's Keepsake will improve our odds of surviging the final region.

Hammers

Each of the target Daedalus Hammers work to improve your speed and saftey of Attacks. The Attack speed increase from Rapid Slash makes the general combat loop easier to execute. The increased speed also decreases the amount of time you spend vulnerable in startup animations.

Adding Dashing Heave to your build will completely overhaul the combat strategy, but the Boon synergy remains constant. Start focusing on Dash-strikes as your primary source of damage. The increased AoE of Nova Strike also works with Dashing Heave so your Dash-strikes will be very powerful.

Hermes

We're looking for an increase in Attack and move speed from Hermes. Nimble Limbs will help improve the primary weakness of Aspect of Melinoë, being its slow Attack speed.

Nitro Boost early in a run makes a huge difference in damage taken because the blocked hits are refreshed every encounter. Dashing Heave also perfectly pairs with Nitro Boost since you'll be dashing in to Attack frequently.

Magick and Health Requirements

The Omega Special deals good damage, and the Axe Omega Attack has usefulness depending on what non-Core Boons and Hammers you get. However, we aren't too concerned with increasing max Magick, so choose Health, Gold Crowns, or Poms over Soul Tonic when given the option.

Hexes

Moon Water

The low Magick usage of this build means you won't have your Hex ready very frequently. That won't matter with Moon Water's limited uses per region. Moreover, you're going to want the healing during encounters. Omega Specials should be your main Magik use.

Try to path towards Panacea, Radiance, and Zeal whenever you grab Path of Star upgrades. A Hex is not a core part of this build, so don't go out of your way to invest in one.

NPC

Lethal Snare will be the rarest Boon we're looking for, but if you get lucky enough to run into Artemis, look for it or Pressure Points.

Combat Loop

Without Dashing Heave

1. Dash-Cast-Strike (One Dash)
2. standard Attack
3. Dash
4. 2nd Attack
5. Dash
6. 1. Pause (to reset combo) or
   2. Special (to reset combo) or
   3. Final Chop as a finisher

With Dashing Heave

1. Dash-Cast-Strike (One Dash)
2. momentary pause
3. Dash-Strike repeatedly until you need to Special or Cast.

or

1. Dash-Cast-Strike (One Dash)
2. standard Attack
3. momentary pause
4. Dash-Strike
5. standard Attack
6. repeat

Demeter's Freeze curse easily buys you the time to wind up those big swings and Final Chop safely. When using Arctic Ring, drop Cast immediatly after the 2nd Swing, before the Final Chop.

Because your swings will have such a massive reach, Poseidon's Breaker Rush is ideal for getting enemies off of you and out of your reach, where you can zone out the enemies.

Whenever you have a build without Dashing Heave, focus on outspacing most enemies. You can freely swing through barriers or across gaps where the many enemies can't hit you. Only dash in close when you need to drop Cast on an enemy.

Otherwise, use Cast as a CC tool between yourself and the enemy. They will walk into the Cast, and you can obliterate them with Attacks.