User blog comment:Lord Loss/Discussion of the Week: Switch Axes/@comment-4212769-20120901144235

I love them! Best weapon on same level as Bow and LS! I like the moveset. It makes it quite easy to specific body parts if you know how to use the right. In MHP3rd they got much better to use especially in the Sword Mode as there you can now get tails with Triangle and you don't need to click Triangle + Circle + Triangle... But for tail cutting the Axe Mode is still better with the great reach especially the upswing.

My favorite SA in general and in look are the Barioth (Subspecies) SAs. I just love them (quite obviously...). The Qurupeco SA looks good, too but I like the Subspecies version more because the colors look better IMO and it has thunder what only Jinouga has in MHP3rd. And of course the Agnaktor SAs are great, too although I'd prefer Jhen Mohran's SA over Agnaktor Sub SA when it goes for water element. I like Jhen's SA more than Ceadeus'.

SA in MH4? Best you can get. Don't put them away again Capcom, please. :(

Sword Mode vs. Axe Mode? False thought! Only if you can use both it can be the great weapon it actually is. I, myself, had a preference first for Sword Mode what changed into Axe Mode later. I still like Axe Mode more but Sword Mode is still important especially with ESP against hard monster parts to break them. I like Axe Mode more but for me it's "Sword Mode + Axe Mode = Awesome!" and not only one of them.

For me they work on everything, lol. There isn't a monster I can fight that isn't easy with SA. Let's say there are some monsters that are easier with other weapons but with SA it's always easy and not one monster really difficult what doesn't work with other weapon. With the Axe and Sword Mode you have of course two counter movesets to monsters. If the monster has hard skin Sword Mode is your choice, if the monster has a high tail Axe Mode will get it, and so on. They just work against everything. ^^

It depends on how high the tail is. The higher the tail the less weapons can reach it and the highest cuttable tail is only really reachable with SA Axe Mode. Lance is a bit too inflexible (I don't use it so excuse if I miss something), GL has those up- and downswings that can hit it but still not always getting the tail, and so on. For me SA is the best tail cutter but if the tail is on the ground other weapons (like LS, DS and even GL) can come on par with it. But my answer to your question is "No, there isn't."

Btw, the Exhaust Phial makes the monster lose stamina faster and not let it KO. Correct that please. ^^