A good strat that I, someone who uses a sword, use against axe users is to not crit with the sword. When it comes to weak attacks, the sword is better bc you back away to stay out of reach. When the person using an axe jumps for the crit, you now have the advantage, and can hit their feet, before they hit you.
If you back off or hold shield they just can hit you once max. And you hit them once too, so you got the most damage bc of the axe. So they can't have the dps advantage then😂
In my opinion criting someone with an axe and switch to the sword is better But do not switch to the sword if you get 2 Crits on and when you didn't get get a crit