Great Axe vs Maul - How valuable is ignoring enemy defense?

[The Unlawful Salmon]

Finally beat Legend of Grimrock 1 100% (with some help from the forums when I lost the Sword of Nex.)

Now that I'm onto Legend of Grimrock 2 I just finally solved a "lights out" puzzle and got a maul, but I have a great axe. The great axe appears to have higher damage, but the maul ignores 25 of the enemy defense. Does that make it a better weapon? The cooldown is 1 second shorter too, but the question I have here is: How valuable is ignoring the enemies defense? What is the actual X number to X number damage if the enemy loses 25 defense per strike with the maul?

[Sir Tawmis]

Finally beat Legend of Grimrock 1 100% (with some help from the forums when I lost the Sword of Nex.)

Now that I'm onto Legend of Grimrock 2 I just finally solved a "lights out" puzzle and got a maul, but I have a great axe. The great axe appears to have higher damage, but the maul ignores 25 of the enemy defense. Does that make it a better weapon? The cooldown is 1 second shorter too, but the question I have here is: How valuable is ignoring the enemies defense? What is the actual X number to X number damage if the enemy loses 25 defense per strike with the maul?

I am sure someone here can break it down for you - for the exact X vs X... but I found that Maul tended to work better (I believe I have it on my Minotaur on the front line... been too long since I have played that game).

[minmay]

Protection reduces incoming melee damage by a random number between 0.5*Protection and 1.5*Protection, but not below 0.

Most enemies have between 0 and 5 protection. There are seven enemies that have more than 5 protection, there are only four enemies that have more than 10 protection, and there's only one enemy with more than 20 protection (Summon Stones, the little people made of rocks. They have 30 protection). So most of Maul's piercing effect is wasted against most enemies.

Keep in mind that the damage bonus from strength (or dexterity) is purely additive. This means that cooldown becomes increasingly important as you gain more strength (or dexterity), while base damage becomes relatively less important. The sabre and scythe are actually two of the best heavy weapons in the game because of their short cooldowns.