Help with swords

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IceBlade wrote on 2010-05-25 10:58

Ok recently I've been thinking about this: Is it better to wield a 2 Hander or just duel wield?
I currently have two Bastard swords that I'm upgrading for: 30-61 8% Crit 47 Balance and 5 Dura. But I was wondering if a 232 Dragon Blade wouldn't be better. It's stats would be: 35-95 10% Crit 60 Balance 7 Dura.

All my calculations shows that the two Bastards will do more damage. Is there any other aspects to 2 Handers that would make it worth changing? I know about the Smash advantage, but my calculations still show that duel wielding does more damage.

I have a close to pure Mage build with almost no Melee skills and my swords/sword are just for when I don't want to wast mana or during Trans.

Pros to Dragon Blade:
High Balance, making it easy to get 80% Balance.
Looks
Cheaper to repair and upgrade than than two Bastard swords

Con's to Dragon Blade:
Does less damage than 2 Bastard swords
Expensive/hard to get

Another thing I was wondering about is enchants.

I was thinking of the following enchants:
Prefix: Wolf Hunter's/Metal Needle (Though I think Metal Needle would be hard to get)
Suffix: Courageous

Is there some other better enchants for my swords. I've heard of Raven for a suffix, but I don't have the melee skills to make use of it.
Zatrox wrote on 2010-05-25 11:06

If you aren't willing to invest in the skills to achieve optimal output, might as well just use stock weapons and sell them as ego repair.
Dual > 2H weapons until you reach about 200 base damage, then it just comes down to preference (damage vs. stun time from 2H).

If you are willing to grind out skills:
Dual Wield -> Wolf Hunter Spike
Cheaper Dual Wield -> Wolf Hunter Raven
2H -> Lich Destruction [crocodile if you can get it]

I would actually opt for no melee.
If you are a Dark Knight, you could always wait for Disarm, get into Potion Poison, and then enjoy the +%-age of MP Potion. You get more MP/pot however your STR will suffer, however...
IceBlade wrote on 2010-05-25 14:12

Thanks for your quick answer. The thing is I can't really use stock weapons, because I've got really low str and need the upgrades to do some damage :fail:
I don't use swords for leveling, only while exploring to kill the Millipedes and bolts charge to slow to kill them with before they vanish :T_T:

Wolf Hunter Spike seems like a really good combo for my skill set, thanks.
Archibald wrote on 2010-05-25 16:40

Wolf Hunter raven would be alot easier to get for you. Unless your willing to grind alot in ciar adv for stamp items. Note me when your ready to try. Also Switch to 240 gladius. Better damage and crit.
Justified wrote on 2010-05-25 20:45

The stun from two-handers is extremely useful is messy situations. Smashmill is a bit easier, and fast mobs like rats and horses aren't as tough. The splash is also pretty handy as well, but Final Hit isn't as great since you can't stun lock with it (also anything you hit with single-wield FH gains complete invincibility for like 2 seconds).

Dual wielding is usually more expensive to repair. Since both swords lose dur on each hit you'll end up repair twice as many points and risk more failures. More failures is more spending on high cost equipment in the long run. As far as repair costs, Dragon Blades and Dustin Swords are about 3x as much as Broadswords, but the good single wield enchants like Goddess blow that out of the water (and you have 2 of them!). The other good enchants are extremely hard to get for the most part.

/bias towards 2h
Zatrox wrote on 2010-05-25 20:47

Quote from IceBlade;43685:

I don't use swords for leveling, only while exploring to kill the Millipedes and bolts charge to slow to kill them with before they vanish :T_T:

If you only use swords for millipedes, then it really isnt worth your time to go out and get enchanted goods o_O
Chihaya wrote on 2010-05-25 22:09

I'd go 222 (enter your favorite Prefix here) Spike Broads =3
and make an ego two hander =D

it works for me ;)
IceBlade wrote on 2010-05-26 09:23

Quote from Archibald;43742:
Wolf Hunter raven would be alot easier to get for you. Unless your willing to grind alot in ciar adv for stamp items. Note me when your ready to try. Also Switch to 240 gladius. Better damage and crit.

Raven does seem easier to get and it doesn't have the nest - crit. Getting r9 Smash to use it won't really be that hard ether.

Once G10 comes out, the 186 Upgrade of Bastard swords would have more damage and crit than the 240 gladius, with a little less balance. And I'm a little bias to Bastards swords, because I like they way the look and hate the looks of the gladius.

Quote from Zatrox;43985:
If you only use swords for millipedes, then it really isn't worth your time to go out and get enchanted goods o_O

Yes, I mostly use them on millipedes, but I would also like them to serve as back-up weapons. I've gotten out of some stick situations, by transing and switchings to my swords.

Quote from Joyjason;44089:
I'd go 222 (enter your favorite Prefix here) Spike Broads =3
and make an ego two hander =D

it works for me ;)

I've got less than 50 Dex, so 222 Broads aren't really an option.