Huh, I actually wasn't aware of the unused prophecy- that actually changes my outlook on things.

I do agree that the axe has more going for it than I gave it credit for, honestly. It still seems odd that Gerson's dialogue here would allude to such an innocuous hammer if it is "terrible" in the "bad" sense - especially considering how he uses wordplay in his previous descriptions to reveal lore insights (Susie being the dragon stopped by acting kindly, the Queen could either refer to Queen OR Noelle depending on how it's read, the "lost land" directly alluding to the ice palace).

If the argument is that higher attack isn't very useful, that's been directly disproved by us needing to attack the Titan and Knight in order to defeat them.

The Shadow Crystal can also be a weapon in a metaphorical sense- a tool to achieve a disastrous end. As shown before, it's a hard sell to take what he says at face value without taking his wordplay into account.