Highest DPS one-handed weapons in BG2/TOB?

Debaser

I'm trying to calculate DPS for endgame weapons...surprisingly Scimitars/Wakizashi/Ninja-To are destroying Katana's with mean averages in DMG.

I'm also really like hammers...

Worg

The speed factor for weapons in BG have always been a mystery to me. So to me dps is not calculable.

Millardkillmoore

Worg said:

The speed factor for weapons in BG have always been a mystery to me. So to me dps is not calculable.

Speed Factor determines in what order people attack. Lower speed factor is better.

I believe the highest damaging weapon is the Flail of Ages +5, but I'd have to check.

bbear

forgive my ignorance but what is dps? damage per second?

What about the staff of ram+6. Doesnt it deal +12 extra piercing damage?

Debaser

@bbear yeah DPS is more...DAMAGE PER SWING in D&D =P the staff of Ram is amazing. But it's not one-handed...though it's totally worth hanging onto. I usually give it to Jaheria.

Freche

DPS isn't every thing in bg2. A weapon like Celestial Fury has far from best damage but Booming Thunder is just awesome.

Tome

Also, the Zerth Blade is pretty much essential for a fighter/mage of any sort-in short, katanas aren't about the damage, they're about the effects. That said, I wouldn't say no to being able to upgrade the Celestial Fury to +5 in ToB-katanas do need a buff there.

bbear

katanas are extremely rare in the game. The upgraded tob katana hindo's doom is a +4 weapon that grant greater restoration once per day (meh), immunity against all death (meh), and 10% magic resistance (meh). Very underwhelming. I think a better effect is cause opponent to lose -2 saving throw per hit (analogous to the long sword The Answerer that penalize 2 AC AND 15% magic resistance on target per hit).

The celestial fury can use a boost. I've seen one in an item mod where it upgrades to a +5 weapon.

Itstucktwice

bbear said:

The celestial fury can use a boost. I've seen one in an item mod where it upgrades to a +5 weapon.

Weimer's Item Upgrade Mod. It is disgusting how effective of a weapon it becomes.

bbear

I played that along with the tactics mod. The enhanced items made a few encounters easier.

Cheesebelly

Damage per second (or better, round) isn't necessarily a thing, but if it was, then the weapons that add Attacks Per Round should beat mostly any other weapon, despite being of low level (they get twice an attack, meaning, for instance, Scarlet Ninja-To deals 1D8 + 3 (4-11) x2 damage, making it 8-22. Very few weapons can compete with such a one handed damage without strength bonuses or buffs, Two handers included)

As far as weapon damages go -

Foebane and Runehammer +5 deal 7-13 damage
Flail of Ages +5 should deal 7-12 +10 elemental damage (disadvantage being BYEBYE HASTE)
Agruvandal, Spectral Bane and Axe of the Unyielding deal 6-13 damage each

So basically yeah,
Scarlet Ninja-To, followed by Belm (3-10 x2) and Kundane (3-8 x2) are the most damaging weapons per round.

Not counting FoA+5 because every human being with their mind in the right place shouldn't go to the +5 version, as it sucks.

Shrimp

@Cheesebelly You forgot the Staff of the Ram: 1d6 + 12 + 1d4, so a 14-22 damage range. And some people do use FoA+5... and Greater Whirlwind... (I know I did, but mostly in solo playthroughs, where I didn't have a way of using improved haste)
PS: didn't the IH version from the Ring of Gaxx bypass the FoA+5 ?

Millardkillmoore

@Cheesebelly

A better use of the extra APR weapons is using them in the off-hand and using a weapon that does more damage/attack in the main so that the extra attack is done with the more dangerous weapon.

I remember a Kensai that used Celestial Fury with Belm in the off-hand. He could slaughter just about everything in a matter of seconds.

Cheesebelly

@Shrimp : As the OP mentioned, I was just listing the one handed weapon. With two handers included, there would be many more mentions (Wave being also a good damager, as the elemental damage all bypass Stoneskin, same with FoA really)

FoA+5 is great... but not really great. I mean, I tend to think that the use of Greater Whirlwind for 10 APR is a bit of a nuisance, as it only lasts 6 seconds. Belm and Kundane in conjunction with improved haste do the very same thing, but they last 6 seconds per caster's level if I am not mistaken, which is MUCH BETTER (without mentioning that you can also activate Critical Strikes that way, meaning that you'll do even greater damage than the FoA, as the elemental damage doesn't get multiplied for it)

Belm and Kundane are both backstabbing weapons too.

In general, I tend to think of the Flail of Ages as a Tanking weapon to take care of mages (as mentioned, it bypasses stoneskin, and three slow effects mean that a mage needs almost 6 seconds to cast magic missiles, as they are cumulative) in conjunction with Defender of Easthaven, Armor of Faith and Hardiness as well as a big bad armor. Obviously meaning that Minsc is the only character in the game being able to do that, outside of a possible PC. In theory, Valygar can too, but his armor class is going to be worse.

As for IH from the Ring of Gaxx, I have no idea, it might be. Never really tested it out :P

Edit -

@Millardkillmoore : agreed, but using only one of those weapons won't give you five attack per round. In theory, yeah, it could, but kinda late in the game. Needless to say that if APR bonus in offhand is transferred over to mainhand though (so 10 APR with Belm in offhand should mean 9 attacks main hand, 1 attack offhand)

AlexDeLarge

Celestial Fury is the best 1H in SoA
In ToB u have quite a lot of good candidates. I would go for Foebane +5 and Axe of Unyielding +5 as best, since they also have insane specials.

Millardkillmoore

The problem with relying too much on the extra APR weapons is that they are only +2. Many of the nastier enemies that you actually need those extra attacks against are immune to +2 weapons.

I prefer to use them purely as a method of pumping up the damage of my characters' main hands.

AlexDeLarge

Of course, Belm was created as an OH weapon. There is absolutely no reason to use it in main.

Cheesebelly

I've been using Belm in Main-hand and Kundane in Off-hand for an eternity now. There aren't nearly as many immune people than you might think. And those that are usually aren't foes that need high damaging weapons in the first place (liches, various golems and demons for the most part. Mages, dragons etc, get Stoneskin or Prot from Magical weapon, so +1, +2, +3, +4 or +5 doesn't matter at all against them - in fact a non enchanted weapon is better for Prot. from Magic weapon protected mages.

Truly, all you need is a second slot weapon with a higher level of enchantment, preferably blunt weapon to deal with various clay golems, etc... Besides, you can get so many +4 weapons early on in the game : Hammer +1, +4 vs Giantkin, Daystar, Short Sword of Mask, Staff or Rynn, of which just the second one could be difficult (not really if you got the flail of ages, and therefore most probably also the hammer, since the two are found in the same, low level place.)

ryuken87

There's a lot of contributing factors to consider in BG2. I believe the best way to calculate DPS is to calculate damage per round and divide by six. FoA does the most damage per swing assuming all other things are equal, but they rarely are - different classes can get different numbers of maximum attacks, different max strengths, etc.

In SoA I think the best combination for a pure fighter is probably Crom Faeyr + Belm when you factor in the strength bonus.

In ToB I think the Club of Detonation is often overlooked. I prefer to average the dice rolls, it makes things easier to compare. I also don't see a reason to exclude additional effects, like Larloch's on Foebane.

Club of Detonation +5: 3.5 + 5 + 0.3(15) + 0.05(35*) = 14.75

Compared to Foebane +5: 5 + 5 + 2.5 = 12.5

* I'm assuming the fireball is 10d6, I can't find if it's documented or not.

AlexDeLarge

Now do the math for 10% chance to straight up kill someone, in the case of Axe of Unyielding ) Conclusion, math/calculating weapon dps is almost useless in BG2. Common sense/experience helps you much more to realize what the best weapons are.

Gloomfrost

Axe of Unyielding still has a save against it, ravager has no save against it, doesn't really matter since both are so late in ToB. Also instant death (decapitations) don't effect the big bosses (Melissan Demigorgon etc.) but SLOW always does no matter how big or strong or what their MR is. I'll take FoA any day.

hansolo

Best DPS = Flail of Ages +5 with Greater Whirlwind
And most often than not the use of one GWW should suffice when timed right.

Best Effects:
1) Axe of Unyielding (10% chance of kill) -> but some are immune to it and a save is possible
2) Celestial Fury. This weapon owns everything not immune to stun. Can only hit as a
+3 though, but this should work for the great majority of antagonists.

Offhand-weapon (when not using GWW):
1) Scarlet Ninja-to (If Use Any Item HLA is available)
2) Belm
3) Kundane

When using GWW, combine as you like or use one handed style for better crit chance.

Gloomfrost

hansolo +1 for your observations GWW and FoA upgraded or not is my choice as well.

AlexDeLarge

FoA +5 is kind of mediocre imo, since you can't haste yourself if you wear it. Ruins the whole synergy of the party, seeing as everyone will have boots of speed by the end of the game.

ajwz

Don't worry so much about dps. What makes a really good weapon in the endgame are additional effects, such as stun (celestial fury) , slow (flail of ages), dispel (Holy avenger) or other stuff.

Nellyniel

No one has Mentioned Bloodrazor? I find that weapon to be disturbingly OP xD

Freche

hansolo said:

2) Celestial Fury. This weapon owns everything not immune to stun. Can only hit as a
+3 though, but this should work for the great majority of antagonists.

Even though it's just a +3, the stun can still apply if you hit something that's immune to +3 weapons.