Weapon Choice

[Giddian]

When choosing a Weapon, What do you look for exactly? I was looking at the damage of the weapon, obviously I was wrong. Like a +4 Short Sword that does 7.8 damage {Guessing} is not what to look at. Some one please educate me. I love the Game and wish to make the right choices

[Gnorbert]

There are many things to consider when choosing your weapons.

1. crit range or "threat" range - this is the die roll the item will crit on. the higher the range, the more often the crits, more crits = more damage.

2. crit multiplier - the multiplier ranges from x2 to x4.

these two together are the most important part of the damage you'll be doing in general. For instance a Khopesh has crit threat range of 19-20 / x3. So it's damage and your strength bonus to damage are multiplied by 3 on a crit and it has a 10% base chance to crit (crits on a die roll of 19 or 20).

Compare that to a long sword which is 19-20 / x2. So on the same crit range the longsword only gets multiplied by 2.

These are both 1d8 slash damage weapons but the khopesh is clearly superior.

3. the next thing about weapons is situational use based on the enemy you are fighting. Use blunt against skeletons and oozes, use slashing against zombies and most living things, piercing against living things as well.

4. next will depend on racial bonuses and enhancements, drow get enhancements for short sword and rapier, Elf get longsword enhancements, dwarven melees get dwarven axe proficiency for free plus an enhancement line to go with it.

5. Next the roll of your character. DPS types tend to take feats that augment slashing weapons and use khopesh or dwarven axes. Some builds use heavy and light picks as DPS and so they take pierce feats (Picks have x4 crit multiplier). On the other hand, if you want to do more stat damage or other effects that trigger on crits then typically you would take piercing weapon feats and use rapiers. Improved Critical feat for piercing weapon will Rapiers crit on any roll of 15-20 which makes effects from crits apply faster.


With two handed weapons you typically are in contention with the swing speed animation which unfortunately favors the greataxe weapons. With some changes in the upcoming release this should be fixed and you can use the advice above for two handed weapons as well.


Also remember that crits are determined by the unmodified die roll only. Your bonuses to attacks are factored in after the swing is determined to be a crit or not.

Hope this helps, I'm sure there are other more experienced people who can fill in gaps.

[LawstCawz]

Jan 06 join date. Interesting.

[Gnorbert]

Might have tried it, quit and then reapped recently due to recent announcements.

/shrug

[Giddian]

That is Very Interesting. I think this is where it looses the casual Player. Most people wont ask. If you play WoW or even LotRO you normaly go by DPS. Quick and easy. All that well and good but what you have just explained makes it alot more realistic. I like it.

Yes I have played 4 about 3-4 Moths on release and just came back to it last month. People allways seemed to do better than me on attacks and I never figured out why. it was in a recent group I had when some one gave me a weapon to use and was hitting better and it looked like a worse weapon. thats the reason for the Question

[hydra_ex]

Gnorbert is entirely right, but just to say what (generally) the best weapons are, so that there is no confusion:

For STR based TWF or S&B characters:
1) Khopesh
2) Dwarven Axe is acceptable for Dwarves with the axe enhc line
3) Heavy Picks are good for high STR Barbarian who plan to take the frenzied beserker line when mod 9 comes out.
3) Scimitar/Rapier deal decent damage as well, and have the highest crit range in the game. They are even better in the hands of elves who get enhc to increase their damage (scimitar line comes out in mod 9)
4) Shortsword, kukri or Handaxe (this is only to wield in your offhand if you go TWF if you find yourself missing a lot with two normal weapons and do not have the OTWF feat. Choose handaxe if you have IC:Slash or are a dwarf. Choose the Shortsword if you have IC pierce. If you have IC slash and are not a dwarf, the kukri deals decent damage as well)

For DEX based TWF or S&B characters:
1) Rapier
2) Shortsword (this is only to wield in your offhand if you find yourself missing a lot with two rapiers and do not have the OTWF feat)
3) Kukri (very good if you have IC:Slash, otherwise, its about as good as a shortsword, and if you have IC: Peirce, its worse than a dagger)
3) Daggers come a close second to shortswords

For THF characters:
1) Greataxe
2) Greatsword/Falchion (although now these are much inferior due to slower attack speed, in mod 9, they are faster, putting the Greataxe, Greatsword and Falchion at about the same damage)

For Ranger archers, or those with the bow strength feats (to be released in mod 9):
1) Longbow

For other archers (or those without the bow strength feat):
1) Repeating light crossbow

For high STR, situational archers, without bow strength (namely fighters and barbarians without any range spec):
1) Throwing axe

For monks concerned with being centered:
1) Kamas for stat damage if you TWF
2) Handwraps for DPS for TWF monks or STR based
3) Quarterstaves for STR based monks

If you do not plan to fight very often, and only have proficiency with simple weapons:
1) Heavy Mace/Morningstar (melee)
2) Light Crossbow (ranged)

[szaijan]

One consideration that is often overlooked is the reach of a weapon. Longer weapons can hit their target from further away. The in-game difference between a shortsword and a longsword seems trivial, but you actually need to get marginally closer to the target to hit with the shorter weapon. In a battle where the target is on the move (most of them) not getting a swing because the target has moved out of range can cost you far more DPS than you'll make up with superior stats on a weapon.

In addition, I prefer to avoid piercing weapons where I can. The damage resistance against piercing weapons seems to be ubiquitous when compared to DR against slashing weapons.

The above list ignored the Kukri, which is a decent off-hand, light weapon alternative to the shortsword or handaxe. It only does a d4 base damage, but has better critical characteristics than the other two.

[bobbryan2]

When choosing a Weapon, What do you look for exactly? I was looking at the damage of the weapon, obviously I was wrong. Like a +4 Short Sword that does 7.8 damage {Guessing} is not what to look at. Some one please educate me. I love the Game and wish to make the right choices

Well, first I look at it and see if it's a khopesh.

Then I look and see if it's greensteel.

If yes to both above, you can equip and use it.