Hi!

This could be a spoiler because it concerns one-off quest rewards. If you've read this far you aren't bothered, so I'll continue...

...Fairly recently I got the quest from Dawnguard to retrieve the Dawnguard Rune Axe. I now have the thing and have been testing it out. I think I've got an idea of how it works but I have no idea of how much power it's getting: There seems to be no way of telling how potent it is.

First off, it seems to be getting stronger with every un-dead that I kill with it. I say this because the flash of blue light surrounding vampires when I hit them appears to be getting more intense and I think they are getting easier to kill. It does not affect un-dead. I have yet to find out if it is effective against draugrs, skeletons and the like because I've killed most of the bu***rs and I've been wandering around hoping they've re-spawned somewhere.

Anyhow, to get back to the point, I'd like to know for certain that it is improving with each kill and if so, by how much.

The weapon stats always remain the same with each un-dead killed: same damage (219*), same value (495*), same weight. I have checked active effects with the weapon sheathed and drawn and they show nothing that I didn't already have. I've checked powers with the same result. I want to improve its efficacy but don't want to do Dawnguard quests forever trying to improve a weapon that has maxed out.

Is there any way to find out what magika power it has at any one time? It's frustrating because with any other enchanted weapon you can tell what it does exactly: 'causes 50 points of stamina damage' etc. With sunhallowed arrows you can gauge the effect and see it but you know that it won't get more potent: they are what they are. It would be nice, after sweating over killing a few master vampires if I knew its sun-damage had gone from 50 to 60, or whatever.

One of you will know the answer, so don't be shy!

* weapon improved with four smithing items worn at 31% improvement and fortify smithing potion at 148%

I'm afraid I don't use it, when I get it I usually sell it to Gunmar or Sorine (or whichever vendor is nearby when I want to get shot of it). I just want my Daedric greatswords/battle axe, crossbow, staffs, Auriel's Bow and Mehrune's Razor (and probably one or two other things that I've forgotten).

I've yet to use it. I use a Dawnguard war axe named Hand of Stendarr with double enchants. I just collected the rune axe and put it away in my unique/named weapons storage. I didn't really find much use for the Lost Relics items other than just to finish out the last of the Dawnguard quests and add to my collection.

For consolea its a nice weapon for undead killing as it stacks

I've put mine in a chest for now. I'll probably display it in a case sometime.

I found something elsewhere that stated that it got stronger with each undead killed but also went on to say that it lost power with each sunrise.

I'm playing master difficulty now and some of those vampire nightmasters take a lot of putting down. I'd rather I knew how strong my weapon was going to be hen I charged at them with it.

I too sold off most of the items because I'm doing these side quests late in the game. I do like the enhanced crossbow, though. After it's been given the treatment at my forge and double enchanted with the three types of Dawnguard exploding bolts (fire, frost and shock) it really packs a punch.

If it's true that it varies in power from day to day, there really ought to be a bar like your health or magika bars to let you know how strong it is.

This is why I don't use it. I don't use the shield because it drains stamina to block with it, and don't use the rune hammer because I'm a one handed warrior, and really didn't see the use behind a hammer that throws runes on the ground. I already know some rune spells. They're just collector items to me, something to hang on the wall or shove in a trunk somewhere.