i dont care how good is it! my character only uses stuff he likes! so HELL YEAH!

There's a glitch were you can get both on the Xbox version

This is not a Rueful Axe.

Best solution in my mind would be to make the Daedric Quests REALLY hard. Take a look from other RPG's, MMORPG's and stuff...the best loot, the unique stuff, the most powerful stuff if it isn't crafted, is a real pain in the butt to get whether it's for a single player quest, or a group quest, or a Raid or an Operation.

To me that would be well worth it especially for a piece of equipment that is:

1. Rare Unique
2. Powerful
3. Lore-wise, just super awesome
4. Worth a lot of money (hey some people don't give a crap to collect or use, so give them incentive too)

That's why I said MOST of them. Also notice that the Masque is the other reward to the Axe, you can't have both (unless you use a glitch, which I don't so I don't consider that ever). I like the Ebony Mail, though I don't care about the poison damage that much, I like it for many other reasons but the Sneak bonus I can put on any piece of armor and make a better one if I really wanted it. Who doesn't love Azura's Star (The Black One). Dawnbreaker has a cool effect, but I'm not a fan of it so I guess we can disagree about that one.


I've just found that I can make better items, and that's without perks or using enchanted crafting gear.


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Also, if you choose to get the axe, it doesn't count towards the Oblivion Walker trophy.

Why not, Umbra was totally badass. This was a clear design decision on Bethesda's part to nerf the living [censored] out of Daedric artifacts as well as other areas of the game....but this isn't the thread to discuss those other issues.

Clavicus originally gave the axe to troll the person who asked for a cure to lycanthropy. What better way to rub it in than making it a rubbish axe to boot.

Wait a second, do people STILL not know that the Rueful Axe is supposed to be terrible? It's supposed to be a joke played on you by a Trickster God. You do know what the definition of rueful is, don't you? It's a term expressing sorrow or regret, as in "Sorry, but you're going to regret choosing this axe jajaja."

In fact, Barbos the dog specifically warns you NOT to take a deal from Clavicus Vile because it's never worth it.

You got goofed.

On another playthrough, I chose the Masque, because my character wasn't shortsighted and benefited from the Masque's powers.
On this playthrough, I'm a Nord two-handed warrior who wears light armor. My Nord is also a little bloodthirsty, and didn't hesitate to kill Barbas.

And honestly, the idea that the axe is a prank is just silly. Clavicus Vile created the axe as a weapon. A joke weapon, but a weapon nevertheless. And a weapon fit to kill his own mighty familiar.

The idea that a trickster god created a prank weapon that he offers you in place of his much more useful and valuable artifact is silly? Can you please further explain the logic you're using to come to this conclusion? You are told by Barbas not to accept a deal from Clavicus Vile. If you choose to do so anyways, that is no one's fault but your own.

And regardless of how "mighty" his familiar may be in his own realm of Oblivion, the fact is is that on Nirn, he's nothing more than a silly little dog with a funny voice, which would never require some legendary daedric artifact to kill.

That whole quest is just an exercise to see whether or not you're paying attention.

Barbas always tells you to stick with the 'better' item - in Oblivion Umbra was miles better than the Masque and Barbas told you not to return it; in Skyrim the Masque would generally be considered the better prize so Barbas says to trade in the axe (with the plus side he gets to live!). Pretty interesting.

Rueful

Adjective
Expressing sorrow or regret.
Synonyms
sad - sorrowful - mournful - woeful - sorry - doleful

The axe is this way it is to make the player say why did I keep this peace of garbage. Hints the name buddy and it is not a Dedric Weapon.

This. It's supposed to be bad. It's a trick. The mask is the real "item".

Okay...
A. You knew the axe's stats before being given the choice to keep it or get he Masque
B. It's not in keeping with the other Daedric artifacts in the game
C. It's an axe created to kill. That much can't be questioned.
D. The axe is actually quite good at lower levels. Does Clavicus Vile only prank high level players?


No, the Rueful Axe is an oversight, not an intentional lemon.

I guess you didn't hear him say how happy he is that he doesn't have to hear Barbas for a millenia or something to that effect. Barbas held a piece of his power so you basically made him a full strength daedric prince without the need of his annoying companion to achieve the same effect.

Even though the axe is mind numbingly slow, it felt damn good to shut that annoying dog up

Wow.

The entire nature of Clavicus Vile's existence and the things he offers you in place of his true daedric artifact throughout the history of TES has completely and utterly gone over your head.

You can say the Rueful Axe is an oversight a million more times and it's never going to make it true. The very basic fact that everyone outside of yourself apparently understands, is that it is indeed a lemon.

You made a dumb/weird choice to kill his little dog for a weapon called a Rueful Axe that has never existed up until this game in favor of the legendary Masque of Clavicus Vile.

You can still save face by saying you were just roleplaying a stone-headed, naiive, Eddard Stark-inspired Nord. I'll believe you.

Well, that's not entirely true. There's a lot of enchanted items in the game that are much more powerful than you would be able to enchant yourself. One example is resist shock/frost/fire items. In-game they could be up to resist 70 percent. Sometimes the misconceptions seem to live their own life in the forum.
On the other hand when it comes to smithing you are quite correct. Unfortunately there's no way for a non-smithing char to get decent damage on their weapons. The choice would then be to lower the difficulty to adept and then it gets unbalanced with the other features in the game.

Ha in Oblivon you trade Umbra, the weightless and arguably best 1 hand sword in game for the same stupid "Masque"....I think the artifact is the joke and the item you trade for it makes you a fool

Well, if you're just going to ignore everything I say...

By the way, the original Masque was a prank itself. He gave it to an ugly woman, who then became popular, but he later took it back and everybody saw her as ugly again and she was banished.
And honestly, Clavicus Vile lacks subtlety. If he's going to give you a stinker, you're gonna know it's a stinker. Killing people to cure them of vampirism or lycanthropy? The Bittercup?
No, if the axe was meant to be a joke, it would damage the player with every swing, or it'd be too heavy to even pick up.

Hey, it's not that bad: The innocent hero trying to slay the vile dragon with the Rue Axe...just to find out it svcks . It's classy.

If it was an oversight, then why does only the Mask count toward the achievement? Seems pretty intentional to me.

The Black Star doesn't count for the achievement either.

it counts for the achievement. it doesn't matter if it's azura's star or black star. I know because I got the achievement both on 360 and PC, and I never choose the azura's star.

In this quest you are dealing with the prince of double edged deals, and only one of his rewards is actually of significant value. I'm not seeing this as a coincidence, and when the lesser item itself is called the rueful axe I'm even more assured this was intentional.

@RafWaster: You're right, my bad. I still don't see the axe as intentionally crappy, for the reasons listed above

@DTH: it's called the Rueful Axe because it was created for a guy to kill his daughter with. That was the trick, not giving the player the crappy axe. Some guy's daughter became a werewolf, father wants her affliction ended, Clavicus Vile gives him an axe.