Kensai: Katana or Longsword
jukaga
Member Posts: 49
After having a great Kensai run in BG1 with Scimitars I am regretting my choice as in BG2 there doesn't seem to be anything better than a +3 Scimitar. I am going to change my 5* mastery to either Katanas or Longswords in EEkeeper tonight. Katanas are cool, but there seems to be a far higher variety of Longswords. What's the best course for a dual wielder? Level 9 Kensai, 5* weapon mastery, 3* Two weapon style, dc'd to Mage 11.
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There are however some weapons(both long swords and katanas) added by ToB and among those I'd say the edge goes to long swords. The greater restoration on Hindo's doom(katana +3 or +4 with upgrade) is sweet but you can just keep that in another slot because the weapon itself isn't that impressive. That being said, Celestial fury is imho better than all of them, with the caveat that you can't beat some monsters like demi-liches.
I always prefer longswords to katana, though Celestial Fury is by far the best weapon in SoA. Good advice would be to switch to katana, and then just put points in longsword later for ones like Angurvadal.
There aren't many high level Katanas, but the one with bonus spell slots is worth building for, Longswords are good, and also a better choice in BP2 for enchanted weapons spell.
If your dual classed to a mage then Id rather go with Quarterstaffs in BG2 for staff of power / staff of the magi, and for melee damage BBOD outclasses any dual wielded weapons in the game, perhaps except foe Crom Faeyr. And phantom blade destroys most undead, except any that are immune to +3 weapons, but BBOD works on those.
Why stay Oriental? How about an enchanted Italian-style rapier that has a reach of 2 and does extra piercing damage?
I'm on a tangent, aren't I?
With Flails, Flail of Ages is a no-brainer, but Defender of Easthaven, on top of being a decent +3 weapon, lowers your AC a bit and grants defense bonuses to all physical damage.
Longswords are pretty common honestly, so there's always good options for them.
As for Katanas... well... Hindo's Doom is your end-game option, but really it's the only +4 katana available, and Celestial Fury is good for most of SoA and early TOB, but endgame it's 'meh'.
So take your pick.
Then there's also bastard swords, apparently better because their minimum damage is higher, but in practice their attack speed is too slow, and an extra 1 point of min damage is insignificant when you have the Kai ability. Still, BBOD > almost every dual wield option for a Kensai / Mage, so by the end game weapon choice is insignificant.
You may have heard "go suck a BBoD" used as an insult.
The closest thing to a katana in the western world is the rapier, which is essentially the same thing except it's made for stabbing rather than slicing. While rapiers are nice and all, they're hardly multi-purpose - it takes an extreme amount of skill to deal damage to an armored opponent when you're wielding a rapier, as does harming an armored opponent with a katana. With a longsword, you just hit them anyways. It's a bashing weapon as much as it is a cutting weapon. The katana may excel in a handful of areas (namely unarmored combat), but the general purpose strength of the longsword outclasses it by far.
Longswords have variety and there are a lot of good ones, katana has one really good one for soa.
The only 2d12+5 weapon in the game. And I think it can backstab too.
In the context of an RPG world which contains magic, though, there should be just as many enchanted katanas as other blades. That's all.
Now...as far as katanas being rare and valuable...I once heard a rumor that you could buy a seemingly-well-made katana from a pawn shop in El Paso for only $250. Sounds like a great deal.
mayby I am pretty one dimentional (c) but I use blade of roses/daystar until chapter 5, then it become Equalzier + Crom fayer (25 str ftw) + improved haste from ring or mage under berserk. Also i use Celestial Fury on thief (hexxat) for nice backstabs. Otherwise its hit-stun proc is too overpowered.
And actual fun start when u create 6 chars in multiplayer with 5 fighter and a thief dc mage to spam haste. Thats where u really enjoy all that nice weapon selection of lategame.
Another point is that if you want the goodness of Celestial Fury while Charname weilds Sword of Rose and FoA, then you can always recruit Valgyar. I have also seen somewhere that there is an exploit that does not require EEKeeper that allows keeping Yoshimo in the party if that is not too much of an RP stretch.
because i really don't know, why everyone likes the +5 version so much...
you can't haste yourself anymore, and therefore can't get 10 apr with improved haste...
you could use whirlwind, but then you could also just use a twohanded weapon, wich would do about the same damage...
can somebody please explain, why they prefer the FoA+5 so much?
As for dualling, I would dual at level 9, others swear by 13, but this is an entire thread on it's own, so I'm going to assume you know what you're doing and drop it.
Celestial fury always struck me as a backstabbing weapon, the stun effect is perfect for someone who doesn't plan to go toe-to-toe with some hulking monster, unless the monster is comatose on the floor. Valygar/Stalkers are a cheap alternative to a proper thief, he can sneak, backstabs for x2 damage, and can then melee whoever's left better than a thief would be able to.
I loved Celestial fury back in the day, but SCS really makes it worthless, so haven't used it (CF) for at least 5 years. Even the Tactics mod allowed you the cheese of exploding a mage to start the fight, with suitable sound effects to boot, but SCS said nope, sorry, this mage is really bored, has a full spell book, and likes to put up massive defences and then drop an ADHW whenever a leaf blows louder than normally. Which is actually more fair, and probably the right thing to do, but fun .. eh.
As for long swords, the blade of Roses is OK, the Equaliser is better, and Blackrazor is fantastic, with a fallback on Angurvadal for good players, but there are probably better weapon specialisations.
Axes seem promising. There are two +3 throwing axes, one good-aligned and one if you side with Bhodi, and otherwise Stonefire & frostreaver have to last you all the way until you get Unyielding.
Actually, this all depends who else is in your group. Korgan wants those axes, (except for Azureedge) and you don't argue with Korgan. Everyone but Keldorn want flails (OK also not Imoen, Jan, Nalia, or Edwin), and there's stiff competition for a couple of maces too.
I would go halberds. They have long range, which is nice while you work towards level 11 without any armor, you can buy a pretty good one upstairs at the Adventurer's mart, or loot one in the unseeing eye or shadow temple quests. In the underdark you get Dragon's Breath, and this should be good enough for the rest of the game, but if it's not, you can switch to the Ravager.
and you can also have kai+critical strike+10apr through improved haste...
which is better then kai+critical strike
well... maybe all three is a bit overkill, i never tried...