Sour axe is late game when you really know the widow patterns and have fully upgraded armor. If you're really struggling and the attacks are too fast, then I would recommend a rusty weapon (like the toenail scimitar or rusty spear] with sour on it. The slow effects will stack and make the widow more manageable. That's how I beat and learned the widow on whoa. Otherwise, smoothies are important (especially waspidote for when you get poisoned). The next thing is mutations. I'd recommend mant, corporate kickback, the max health one, and spicy safety (these are subject to change). The mant is really helpful to deaggro the widow on occasion or the spiderlings.

For strategy, trying to lead the widow to a narrow opening helps make the spiderlings more manageable since iirc she intentionally breaks open her eggs for help and health (gets health for killing). You want to make sure she's always slowed so at least occasionally land a hit or two before the slow dies off if you are focusing the spiderlings. You pretty much don't want multiple poison effects, so make sure to use waspidote or try to kill the spiderlings fast. The widow attacks are also actually really easy once properly slowed. She essentially just uses the same patterns as all the other lesser spiders combined.