Should I respec and go life-steal after getting the cursed axe?

[John.S]

I keep hitting a wall about two hours into The Last Stand of the Grey Guard, right after you get the cursed axe that drains your health to empower your attacks. I can't decide if I should just sell it or try to build my entire character around the life-steal mechanic, but respeccing is so expensive.

[Madison_R]

I actually sold the axe after a couple of tries. It felt like the payoff for draining HP wasn’t worth the risk, and I kept dying to the next pack while my HP was in flux. I figured I’d try a safer tempo build and see if I could map fewer resets.

[OliverC]

I messed around with a life steal focus for a while, stacking whatever passives I could find to feed the drain. The sustain never felt reliable, and it made me swing a lot more recklessly just to keep up. Respeccing is brutal expensive, so I kept grinding with what I had instead of blowing coins on a redo.

[HarperD]

In The Last Stand of the Grey Guard I keep wondering if the problem is really the axe or my gear and timing. I hit two hours and I could feel my rotation fighting the mechanic more than the boss, and it wasn’t clear what should change. Is the real problem the axe at all, or is something else going on?

[GeorgeW]

I drifted into a side dungeon and found a stash of random potions; it reminded me the problem might be how I manage resources, not the axe itself. I went back to the main quest and kept experimenting, still not sure what to do.