Sword of shadows vs Lit II for TR

[Bolo_Grubb]

a regular sword of shadows, usable at level 10.

Should I stay with that or make a Lit II THF weapon for my TR?

I already have all the shards from a previous life and I can swap out the needed altars on my guild ship. Also I have all the needed ingredients.

This is for a THF warchanter Bard TR. So which is better for leveling? Which is better at level 20 and beyond? What other THF weapons should I think about?

[Habreno]

SOS is still 18-20 x3 with 2d6 base.

Lit II depends on the weapon type. Presuming a Greatsword to stay similar, you get 19-20 x2 with 1.5[2d6].

At that point it depends on your crits. If you have a lot of Seeker on, then you may see SOS better for the bigger crits and crit range. If you don't run Seeker, then Lit II may do better.

[Chai]

Ax of elemental fire. Cannith challenges. Make the level 12 version then either put the masterful craftsmanship augment on it making it a level 10 item, or put masterful craftsmanship + righteousness on it making it still level 12 but able to break DR.

Use your shards for a HP/conc op item.

Use the SOS in situations where it is better than the ax.

[Kmnh]

Ax of elemental fire. Cannith challenges. Make the level 12 version then either put the masterful craftsmanship augment on it making it a level 10 item, or put masterful craftsmanship + righteousness on it making it still level 12 but able to break DR.

Use your shards for a HP/conc op item.

Use the SOS in situations where it is better than the ax.

The Ax becomes a serious DPS option when you craft Vicious on it. The vicious effect procs on glancing blows, so it effectively adds 4d6 damage to your attacks. You better have good self-healing if you are going for that

[Kmnh]

Depends on the content that you plan on running.

If it takes you 3 non-crit hits to kill a mob, the SoS has a 30% chance of killing on the first blow, while the LitII falchion will always need 2 hits unless you proc a lightning strike. Also, lightning strike is only useful 2/3 of the time - Proccing a lightning bolt on a dead mob doesn't add any DPS.

OTOH, if you don't have a high base damage and you are running elite content, it will usually take 10 or more hits to kill the mobs, giving lightning strike and shocking blast more chances to shine. If your damage is low enough, holy + shocking burst +shocking blast + lightning strike adds up to more damage than the SoS's higher crit range gives you.

Edit: At cap, the SoS is much better than the litI, but it's likely that you can find a weapon that's better than either.

[Indoran]

If you are going for a Li2 to compare against SoS the best idea would be to go with falchion (better threat) unless you are a WF fvs or something that favors the greatsword.

Base damage is an aditive bonus to damage. but threat range and crit multiplier are multiplicative. which means the more you have to multiply the better... that's why SoS is a dps monster, because on the other extreme of the weapon you have a huge toon wielding it with lots of str (main source of the bonus that will be multiplied on a crit)

So basically to answer your question we need to know the stats and equipment to start grinding a few numbers together...

Also it matters whether you have seeker, claw set, encrusted ring or other bonuses that can be multiplied

So tell us a little bit more and we can help a bit more.

[Bolo_Grubb]

well here is the link to the character in question
http://my.ddo.com/character/sarlona/djgrubb/

Since this character is my 5th or 6th character, he get hand me downs and cast offs from my Main 2 characters. I don't mind farming for a bit of stuff, and will listen to any suggestions. So far this has been a fairly fun toon and a bit different from my others.

[count_spicoli]

Lit 2 falchion hands down. Slightly lower base damage but with holy shocking burst shcking blast and lightning strike there is no comparison. Lightning strike is an insta kill even on first hit until elite vale. Get an arti to throw silver on it and you got a nasty devil beater as they have no dr to electric

[Bolo_Grubb]

interesting thought

already have a GS HP item. I have the spell master's touch (not really any other level 1 spells that are all that useful) so I can make any weapon I want and be proficient with it.

[SmashBang]

Use the SOS and work on making it Epic as soon as you hit 20

[rakhtal]

I see that your guy is a bard/rogue so you probably don't have a very big dmg bonus and that means lit 2 may be better for you.

The basic comparison is fairly simple. You just have to calculate average damage of both weapons.
I'll compare here sos with pos,air lit2 falchion (even though I actually prefer air pos as it's more universal and only slightly behind pos air on evil mobs (~1,5 dmg/hit))

*disclaimer* this was calculated quickly, so there may be errors *
I assume no seeker, no improved critical range/multiplier, no dr and no fortification.

x is your total damage bonus
average sos dmg is ((7+x)*13+(7+x)*3*6)/20=1,55x+10,85
average pos/air lit 2 falchion damage is ((7,5+x+7+3,5)*13+((7,5+x)*2+5,5)*6 + 4*3,5+19*9)/20=1,25x+26,4

So now you just have to solve
1,55x+10,85>1,25x+26,4
and the result is
x > 51,83
so if your total damage bonus is 52 or higher sos is better

Of course that is an oversimplification but it can be helpful.