Top 5 Weapons
bbear
Member Posts: 1,180
What do you consider as the top 5 weapons? Some guidelines are damages dealt, special abilities, compatibility (how often do you put pips in this particular weapon type?/class exclusive weapons?) and accessibility (the earliest moment in the game and the difficulty in obtaining the weapon).
1. Staff of Magi (cheesy Invisibility, free Spell Trap, dispel on hit)
2. Celestial Fury (save or else stun on hit)
3. Carosymr+5/+6 (50% MR and dispel on hit)
4. Flail of Ages +4 (33% chance of slow and additional elemental damages)
5. Foebane +5 (high damage output)
Contenders:
-Staff of the Ram+6 (high damage output and backstab capable)
-Blackrazor (15% level drain 4 levels, haste and boost strength of user)
-Ravager +6 (save vs poison for 3d6 damage and 10% vorpal hit)
-Firetooth+4/+5
-Sling of Seeking (strength bonus and +4 bullets are available)
1. Staff of Magi (cheesy Invisibility, free Spell Trap, dispel on hit)
2. Celestial Fury (save or else stun on hit)
3. Carosymr+5/+6 (50% MR and dispel on hit)
4. Flail of Ages +4 (33% chance of slow and additional elemental damages)
5. Foebane +5 (high damage output)
Contenders:
-Staff of the Ram+6 (high damage output and backstab capable)
-Blackrazor (15% level drain 4 levels, haste and boost strength of user)
-Ravager +6 (save vs poison for 3d6 damage and 10% vorpal hit)
-Firetooth+4/+5
-Sling of Seeking (strength bonus and +4 bullets are available)
2
Comments
I think that Nixil's Spear+6 > Celestial Fury +3, Sleep Immunity is stranger than Stun immunity in ToB, and it is a +6 weapon that gives Free Action, maybe it has a lower damage mx, but I think that it's better.
Foebane+5 is good when you use it with GWWA, so you have +40 HP for one turn.
For BG1:EE it is definitely the Stupifier, and not many have Stun immunity in BG1.
Crom Faeyr is good, better if solo'ing that if with party, helpful to open locks and other stuff.
Both Brage's sword and Kiel's Morning Star are useful if you are playing solo in BG1 with a warrior class.
Tuigan: additional attack, available from the beginning, only replaced with Gesen for fights where +4 are required.
btw, all slings give strength bonus now so seeking no longer top of the line.
Of the weapons not mentioned, The Answerer +4 and Axe of the Unyielding +5 are strong contenders in their own right. Answerer doesn't do much damage but opens up the target for easier hitting by party members and summons. Axe of the Unyielding has good passive effects and vorpal hit (save vs death at -4, Greater Malison can improve chances).
Honorable mentions:
K'logarath +4 - throwing axe with knockdown effect
Big Metal Rod - Pulse Ammunition has fast rate of fire (disrupts casting and stuns monsters momentarily). Characters who can't use ranged weaponry can use it with special ammo or even with bolts
1) Scarlet Ninja-To (extra APR, poison damage, easily obtained though only available for my thieves when they get UAI, which can be pretty quick in solo runs btw)
2) Tuigan bow (see @Skaffen's comment)
3) Defender of Easthaven (not very roguish, but nevertheless my favorite offhand weapon, great defensive bonuses and its +3 enhancement makes that it deals damage against most foes; almost like a shield with which you can hit your enemy, for style purposes it has to be wielded with another Flail, the FoA) - usually these are Anomen's weapons)
4) Staff of the Magi (implemental in my gnome fighter/illusionist's completion of TOB, also great for rogues with UAI, mostly for its equipped benefits: more an instrument than a weapon)
5) Celestial Fury (beautiful weapon, great effects)
Honorable mentions: Blade of Roses (perfect for my swashies), FoA (see above, 3), Ravager (brutal, great weapon for the Big S in TOB).
Never use Carsomyr because I don't use paladins (and I don't like it on a UAI thief), never assemble Crom Faeyr (except once just out of curiosity).
But if that bug hadn't existed I would say the sword is actually very good against marilith's because they are demons. At the moment however its only distinctive feature is that minor drain.
The description says "undead, shapeshifters and extraplanar creatures". Actually, by the endgame, undead monsters are relatively uncommon. Shapeshifters (doppelgangers, werewolves, etc.) are even rarer. Demons are relatively common but mostly manageable (alu-fiends, babaus, etc.) with the exception of possibly mariliths and balors. Omitting planetars/devas is an oversight (since the description promised the bonus), but I'll wait and see what Beamdog does. As for elementals, they should not be considered extraplanar creatures - elemental gods' avatars are considered natives of the prime material plane, so I consider elementals to be natives as well. Even if not, elementals aren't very strong themselves with the exception of the princes.
After elimination, this special damage is really nothing fantastic. The only remaining advantage is a +1 bonus to saves... meh.
N.B. For my installation, both the EFF and ITM files had problems. The EFF files did not describe correctly the bonus damage to race, and Foebane (both +3 and +5) did not include any reference to the EFF files. I copied a fresh set of EFF files into Override, then added the references to Foebane. Tested against a balor and the damage increased accordingly by +6, which was expected behavior. This will work for me until the official patch comes out. Beamdog will do a better job than my makeshift patching.
2. Blackrazor - Really sweet blade.
3. Celestial Fury - Yeah OK this thing is pretty deadly.
4. Staff of Curing - I'm a sucker for the -2 AC bonus.
5. Staff of the Ram - Kicks ass. Forcibly.
1. My Brain.
2. Prior knowledge. (Unfortunate advantage... When memory wipe is available on the NHS, I'm signing up)
3. My spells. A list of top spells is not in the spirit of this thread, but say, timestop is one.
4. A range weapon.
5. And last but not least... Running away... As you can come back and kill them later... very dangerous.
Anyway, I'll disregard the staff of the Magi as its not a particularly strong offensive weapon unless you abuse the cheese:
1) Carsomyr: Can be acquired fairly early on, very high damage for BG2 and fantastic utility with dispel on hit and 50% MR. Holds its own in TOB. Obvious drawback of requiring a paladin, but as an inquisitor, taking Keldorn if CHARNAME isnt a paladin is hardly the end of the world. Also considering how late on you get it, the +6 version is an underwhelming upgrade.
2) Crom Faeyr: Late game SOA, but a TOB powered weapon earlier than any other +5 or better TOB weapon. Great offhand, or even a great mainhand if you you dont other means of getting really high strength. Crushing damage also. By the time you get it, its troll and golem killing abilities arent a massive deal but still useful.
3) Celestial Fury: Can be acquired very early, stun is fantastic, decent base damage and with a chance of doing another 20 electricity damage. Unfortunately, it is the only decent Katana there is, and the stun becomes very unreliable in TOB, plus you need plus +4 weapons against some important bosses. So the proficiency is really good for SOA only.
4) Blackblood +3, can be acquired early on after one of the easiest stronghold quests, +6 damage, kills trolls and disrupts casting through stoneskin, can backstab (I think), crushing damage and uses a proficiency accessible to everyone except pure arcane casters.
5) Staff of the Ram +6, acquired earlier on than most upgraded TOB weapons, huge crushing damage, with only the minor bonus piercing damage not multiplied on crits of backstab, can backstab, proficiency accessible to the great majority of classes. I remember playing a Tutu evil half orc Kensai who had 25 natural strength after Lum the Mad (though with the removal of the +1 core stat on the wrath trial, this is no longer possible), and he did around 50 damage per it on a non crit.
Honourable mentions:
-Firetooth, decent base damage, one additional attack per round, can be thrown, disrupts through stoneskin and kills trolls. Fairly late in the game for an SOA weapon, and doesnt really hold up that well in TOB. Plus not dual wield friendly in spite of being a one hander, and piercing damage is the worst meele damage type.
- Foebane +5, one of the earliest upgrades available in TOB, and the self healing is very substantial, and works even if minor drain is resisted. An additional +6 damage vs enemies which are fairly common in TOB. And better saves never hurt. However, against targets with magic resistance and not subject to the bonus damage, its damage output is unremarkable. Plus, it use a proficiency which has probably the worst weapon selection across BG1 and SOA, in spite of being warrior and bard only and not usable for backstabs.
- Scarlet ninja-to is a fantastic offhand with UAI, but arguably a bit cheesy.
- Flail of the Ages, can be acquired early on, does very respectable damage and has solid upgrades in TOB, and does crushing damage. Slow and later on free action are both handy. Kills trolls and disrupts through stone skin. However, the final upgrade is very late on, and the very heavy reliance on elemental damage in its +4 and 5 versions is often almost entirely resisted against some of the some of the most powerful enemies, and not subject to crit multipliers.
- staff of the ram. Best backstabbing weapon. Probably also the best weapon to use with whirlwind.
- FOA (all versions). At all points in the game, foa is one of the best choice. Great damage, bypass stoneskins for interruption, slow effect is deadly.
- carsomyr : 50%MR, dispell on hit
- firetooth crossbow : easy to get. Once you get gww, this thing is deadly (especially in the hand of an archer)
Staff of the magi is a much more powerful item than all these, but i do not consider it as a weapon.
2. Celestial Fury (save or else stun on hit)
3. Daystar (easier to acquire than Carsomyr and has a special ability that can't be interrupted and that I've found to be useful against both undead and non-undead)
4. Carosymr+5/+6 (50% MR and dispel on hit)
5. Flail of Ages +5 (still useful with GWW and you get it so late that you should have a fair bit of those). The other Flail of Ages versions are also great.
My list:
1-Staff of magi-so many uses, it smells a bit like cheddar, though.
2-Flail of the ages-best weapon against pretty much anything. Stoneskin? Damage resistance? This will still hurt and possibly slow a deadly opponent:very very handy!
3-Carsomyr-if only more classes could use this, it is extremely powerful!
4-Ravager-this will kill enemies so fast it is scary. Perfect for Big S in ToB. Nuff said.
5-Foebane- when upgraded this was used to make the wielder reach 400 hitpoints or such easily while whirlwind attacking. Apparently hit point bonuses did stack in bg2. I have yet to acquire this beauty in my enhanced game though, I wonder if it is nerfed.
Honorable mentions:Celestial fury is wonderful but +3 just won't cut it against some enemies. Blackrazor is awesome too, but evil and still +3. Answerer sword also has its uses, it can quickly reduce an opponents defenses, but otherwise rather lackluster. Cromfaeyr is a tool of legends but is costly to create and is doomed to be an off-hand weapon. Gessen bow is able to shoot +4 arrows naturally, if I remember correctly, so is quentessential weapon for an Archer to beat Demiliches and other bigger baddies.
"...and this one's for grandma, who said I'd never amount to anything more than a butterknife!!"
Yes I'm nuts. Lol