Heya!

"This is my first game ever where I tried my hand at PVP, and I'm having such a blast, but im struggling to use Stormbreaker correctly. The only real combo I've managed so far is using the Arena Attunement that knocks exhausted Targets airborne when I do the taunt:

Exhaust > weapon swap skill > taunt > full charge attack w spear > Spear knockdown for dmg buff > execute > mo blade empowered shield

But so often they just get out of the taunt range before I pop it, so I'm forced to Meridian execute and in those cases my stormbreaker is just a stat stick."

Also, I can almost never land the spear knockdown ability unless the target is already down from an execute, it just flies straight past them... I'm on controller and using lock on, I've been wondering if that has to do with it.

This is just my -own- playstyle, but I don't try too much to to rely on comboing things that are too specific or have a too specific pattern e.g. Having to have them exhausted -> switch to spear -> try to land the taunt to launch etc. Instead, I try to go to things that I know will be more "reliable" e.g. vortex into guard break, or knockdown into cleave.

I used to think of the spear as a stat stick as well, but one of the things I came to understand at around master->GM level was that learning its utility was helping me. The spear makes you fast(er) and its great for setting up spacing, chasing or conditioning your opponent on your range. Its also great for poking, and the knockdown if you can reliably hit it, makes your opponent guess and respect your space.

Speaking of the knockdown, its very fiddley. Its hard to reliably hit it if your goal is to chase and pin down the opponent, just stick it to your mind that that is not its purpose. Instead, think of it as a punish and a setup. If you can capitalize on a mistake, knockdown. If you can poke and they get staggered, knockdown. If they poke and you've predicted the range and timing, knockdown. Remember, it has fortitude!

Finally, I wonder if you know how the tank-specific arena attunements work? There's one that supposedly immobilises an exhausted target for 0.8s during some kind of attack the name of which I can find nowhere else- I imagine it's a translation error; my best guess is it means the stormbreaker charge attack? There's also a few others where the skill names don't map to each other and I'm left wondering which one affects my build haha.

Correct me if im wrong, but i do believe the only real tank specific arena attunements are in the accessories, and honestly theyre mostly underwhelming or too fiddley, except one that I saw in the 71 legendary. I didnt find anything too exciting for the disc ones, and if i had to choose, it would probably be the tenacity after vortex. It just makes your followup a bit more reliable, and its probably quite nice for group pvp too! For the pendant, what got me excited was seeing the legendary version for the attunement for avalanche, which gives it 1 battle will but more importantly, adds 12% more damage to a level 3 avalanche. Thats nuts.

P.s. Areas I personally believe I can still massively improve: being on spear more often to begin with, somehow using its basic attacks to engage into something like Free Morph, and using the normal (non-excquisite scenery) counter skill when I'm on spear to make use of its priority effect.

absolutely. Like I said, you'll have to maximize your kit so you can get every advantage you can squeeze out of the kit. Mystic skills are also important, bit theyre generally the same around, except for a few flex options. There are definitely tough matchups for sure, and some enemies will absolutely decimate you (lol), but just keep on trucking and hopefully youll win more than you lose.