I've been wondering about this... Hopefully there are some opinions (or hard facts and rainman-type-math to back them up) from this community.
Conventional Wisdom seems to dictate that, as far as tanking weapons, The Sun Eater and King's Defender are kindof the cream of the crop as far as Tanking (Mitigation) weapons from Heroics/Kara/Faction are concerned.
Unfortunately... as an Orc... the fact that there are no comparable axes is a bit of a downer. Life would be significantly easier if I could land one of the premier tanking weapons around my point in the progression, and thanks to my racial Axe Specialization (Expertise... yum), not have to worry as much about any TPS stats I'm sacrificing in other slots.
Most comparable and acquireable Axe I can see is the Warbringer from Thrallmar (just wish I'd spent more time in HFC at lower levels).
Basically, it is inferior to either Sun Eater, Kings Defender or both in every stat but Defense Rating. However... the Racial Axe Specialization (+5 Expertise) should compensate for its shortcomings (esp in terms of TPS generation potential). I'm just not sure whether its enough to elevate Warbringer (for Orcs) to the same level as the two swords.
Edited, Mar 19th 2008 1:52pm by soobooboo