The 6 best weapons and their suited wielders
Moonheart
Member Posts: 520
What are for you the 6 best weapons (off-hand doesn't count there) of the game, and the companions that are the best suited to use them in both good and evil alignement?
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If you mean "most damaging", then it's perhaps something like this:
#1 Crom Faeyr
#2 Flail of Ages+5
#3 Club of Detonation+5
#4 Foebane+5
#5 Angurvadal+5
#6 Carsomyr+6
Rankings obviously differ based on a variety of factors.
Then there's also pieces that are more specialized in their use, such as Staff of the Ram+6 (best for backstabbing) or Celestial Fury+3 (stunlocking). Also things like Carsomyr have other advantages (dispel on hit, 50% MR) that may outweigh extra damage benefits.
Generally, it's hard to make definitive rankings because setups vary so much between individual players. You can make many arguments, e.g. that ranged is up there as well despite lower base damage because of its inherent range advantage, etc.
You also said "off-hand doesn't count", but obviously the 1h weapons are so good precisely because there are +APR offhands. If you don't use those (or things like GWW are in play) then things might look very differently.
#1 adjatha the drinker
#2 stiletto de marchess
#3 club of detonation
#4 lilrarcor
#5 azuredge
#6 tuigan bow
We could more likely make a list of the best weapons for this or that character.
For example, Staff of the Magi and Crom Faeyr are both excellent, but Imoen won't use Crom Faeyr, and Minsc, Staff of the Magi
Still I've got only half-answers, there. What I'm the most interested about is what people see as the best wielder for the weapon X, for good and for evil parties
There's very few weapons that actually have an impact on a character specific enough to make a difference. Come to think of it, I can't really think of anything that isn't blatantly obvious, e.g. giving Carsomyr to Keldorn or one of the rogues with UAI because they're the only ones who can actually use it.
Strength, a lot of power in characters comes from not just the weapon but their Str too to help them hit. If you build the Crom Faeyr then you will have in total 5 Str items on your party and if you don't, you get 6 Str-Boosting items. I know not everyone wants their wizards to able to hit hard in melee but sometimes you either no choice or better yet-use them differently, not to damage opponents but for on hit effects instead, like Staff of the Magi or Rod of Smiting.
So either you take someone (or be someone) with 18/00 or 19 Str to keep up with the guys with the 19 Str Belt and 20 Str Belt (same to hit boost from 18/00 to 20) or you forgo the Crom Faeyr.
If you chose the Crom Faeyr option, then those options for the non-Str Boosted guy would be Sarevok, Dorn and Anomen (due to Holy Symbol).
If you don't chose Crom Faeyr then just give everyone a belt and Angurvadal in your party.
People can argue about by buffing yourself so you don't need the Str-Boosters, not everyone likes to wait as they apply buffs for every fight and some fights can outlast those buffs, not to mention you could use your spellslots on other spells too.
But in both cases, you still need Angurvadal to make the party have total Str coverage so the main options for these would be (including yourself); Valygar, Haer'Dalis or Mazzy. Other characters could work but these are the easiest to work with.
Carsomyr is definitely powerful enough and extremely useful, whether it's a paladin using it or not, so for the options on who could use it, these are (PC included); Keldorn, Jan, Hexxat, Sarevok and Hear'Dalis.
Those are the main 3 weapons which always come up when discussing simply power, but here's a list of other great weapons which you can use to fill out the party:
Flail of Ages, (sadly the free action prevents Improved Haste hence why it's not described above)
Ravager,
Ixil's Spike,
Staff of the Ram,
Staff of the Magi,
Foebane,
Gesen Bow.
However, in an attempt to answer the OP to some extent, I would like to give an honourable mention to Kundane +2 as the offhand weapon for anyone dual wielding swords.
I don't really see how a definitive list could be put together, as a lot of it is subjective. Most people will tell you FoA is the best thing in the world but I personally can't use the vanilla version of the fully upgraded flail of ages as "free action" is a deal breaker for me.
Carsomyr dispel is amazing and more useful than pure damage in my opinion but the class restriction is a huge annoyance, especially because Keldorn already has dispel as part of his kit.
I guess the weapons I use in the most playthroughs would be
#1 Short Bow of Gesen
#2 Sling of Everard +5
#3 Firetooth +4
#4 Carsomyr +5
#5 Short Sword of the Mask +4
#6 Flail of Ages +3
This is my basic starter list all the strong weapons "besides Gesens" that can be obtained so soon as you break out of chateau Irenicus. I use these weapons for most of my playthroughts, well at least the 3 ranged ones anyways. These weapons will get you through all of the game with no problem, your ranged back line will be able too damage anything the game throws at you.
Why I added Gesen is that I don't think I've ever had a playthrough where I have not used it. Sometimes I don't use FoA or Carsomyr for a bit of a change up but Gesen is a staple of all my parties, as I can bring myself to ever leave Imoen behind again.
My weapon progression in my latest play through:
Inquisitor PC: Flail of Ages > Carsomyr
Mazzy: Frostreaver/Tuigan Bow > Axe of the Unyielding/Short Bow of Gesen
Anomen: Assorted maces/hammers > Crom Faeyr
Sarevok: Assorted 2-handers > Ravager
Imoen: Staff of the Magi/Tansheron's Bow
Aerie: Sling of Everard
Here is my list of the top weapons and in parens good targets for those weapons. This is based on end game power, and does not factor in added value from easy accessibility.
1. Carsomyr (Keldorn)
2. Ravager (Sarevok/Minsc)
3. Staff of the Magi (Imoen/Edwin)
4. Crom Faeyr (Anomen/Mazzy/Korgan/Minsc)
5. Short Bow of Gesen (Mazzy)
6. Axe of the Unyielding (Mazzy/Korgan/Minsc)
Foebane, Firetooth (crossbow), Flail of the Ages +3/4, Celestial Fury, Angurvadal, and Runehammer would be tier 2 weapons for me.
2nd best is Ravager-this is made for Sarevok. On Minsc it is a bit waste as he can not gain grand mastery at it, but still doable.
3rd best-Axe of the Unyielding-made for Korgan. Pure awesomeness.
4th best-Crom Faeyr, but for the off-hand. Korgan can be a dervish of destruction with Axe of Unyielding+Crom Faeyr dual. But any npc benefits from the massive str boost. Anomen can be very capable with it, too, despite not being an active fighter. Hell even Viccy can land a smashing blow with it.
5th best-Class spesific weapons-Carsomyr for a paladin pc or Keldorn, and Staff of Magi for a magic user pc or Edwin/Imoen/Nalia/Neera/Jan. Nothing else can do things those uber class weapons do.
Besides that, I am surprised I have seen very few Foebane in your lists. I mean, it deals very good damage (Already very good without its +6 damage against specific yet common enemies), it gives insane sustainability due to its on-hit effect. I often use it in combination with the Answerer (when I get it), because reducing MR will allows Larloch's Minor Drain to work everytime. And magic damage is resisted by very few enemies, which makes it unvaluable.
I have come to appreciate Blackrazor more and more as well lately.
Robe of Vecna and Amulet of power are not loots, and you don't need anything else
'Best' is subjective but here are a few thoughts: This only cover BG2 (and no weapons from WK)
Weapons I usually pick up:
1) Daystar - PC fighter or anyone that can use a long sword +2 sword +4 vs evil basically makes it a +4 sword plus it has equipped abilities that will damage the undead.
2) Celestial Fury - Hexxat, PC fighter (with katana mastery) - in my run Hexxat used it (although truthfully I almost never use it - my kensai is a master of the long sword)
3) Staff of the Magi - Aerie (for me she always carries it)
4) Mace of Disruption (upgraded +2) - Minsc, Aerie, Viconia, Anomen, Korgan
5) Tansheron - Hexxat, Imoen, Mazzy, Yoshimo, Nalia
6) Sling of Everard - Aerie, Jaheria, Neera, Imoen
7) Flail of Ages - Minsc, Viconia, Anomen, Aerie (Nalia let me borrow her family weapon even if the Keep becomes my stronghold - afterwards it sits on display above the mantle).
Other good weapons some more useful than others:
a) Hammer of Thunderbolts - Korgan, Minsc, Aerie, Viconia, Anomen (sadly for me I usually don't have anyone that can use hammers besides Aerie or Viconia)
b) Frostreaver - Korgan, Minsc (something I normally don't buy)
c) Blackblood +3 club - Jaheria, Cerad, Hexxat
d) Spear of the Unicorn+2 - Jaheria, Valygar
e) Staff of striking, staff mace, martial staff, rod of smiting, etc - Aerie, Neera, Imoen, PC mage, Edwin, Nalia, (my thieves do not backstab with staffs that is just odd) but honestly I don't remember the last time any NPC mage every used it in actual melee. The staffs these mages carry is usually just for show - a mage without a staff is just a bit odd.
f) Taigan (bow) - Hexxat, Nalia, Yoshimo, Imoen, Mazzy
g) Staff of air, earth, fire +2, thunder and lightning+2 - Aerie, Imoen, Nerra, Nalia, Edwin (nice to carry and the plus you get when equipped but almost never used in melee)
h) Halberd: Dragons Bane +3, Duskblade +2 - Mazzy (yes I give Mazzy points in halberd - a shorty with a two-handed polearm is something I do)
i) Lilarcor - Minsc (although sometimes I feel like finding a nice deep hole and burying the sword)
j) Belm - Jaheria
k) Impaler (spear) +3 - Jaheria, Valygar
l) Sling of Arvoreen +4 - Jaheria, Neera, Imoen, Aerie
m) Jade Fang+3 / Pixie Prick +3/ Firetooth+3 - Hexxat
n) Azuredge - Minsc, Korgan, Mazzy (in my current run I bought it but sadly no one case use it after Misnc and Mazzy left so it just sits in my bag of holding collecting dust).
o) Darts +5 (from the cloak of the stars) - Neera, Hexxat, Rassad
p) Mauler's Arm +2 - Viconia, Anomen
q) all the named longswords +2 have good equipped abilities - always good to have - PC fighter
r) Blade of Roses +3 - relatively cheap +3 weapon and you get a +2 to CHA (good to have early in the game - I always buy it since my fighter is almost always a master in longswords)
Weapons you can build if you want and/or battle for:
1) Crom Faeyr - great hammer but it uses 2 str items - I normally have no one but Aerie who can use it unless I have Viconia with me. I almost never make it (usually the parts are on display in a case at home).
2) Carsomyr - great probably the best two-handed sword BUT only usable by a paladin - so totally useless for me usually and no I don't use UAI so my thief can't use it -- too cheesy -- so it usually sits on a sword rack at home on display ( or I lend it out to a wandering paladin or Radiant Order that needs it for a small rental fee)
3) Gesen (bow) - Hexxat, Imoen, Nalia - if I remember to find the string (of all the forged weapons you can make in chapter 6 - this is usually the only thing I make)
4) Silver Sword (assuming you don't return it, those fish people follow you everywhere and so I usually just return the bloody thing - "stop following me already!") - Misnc
5) Halberd Wave+4 - Mazzy (only forged if I bring Mazzy along or if my PC fighter is proficient in it - usually its just in parts in a display case at home).
6) Equalizer +3 (assuming you have all the parts plus its really not that great considering all the hassle to find all the parts and yes I usually build it if only to hang over the mantle at home - for me Daystar shines throughout the game) - PC fighter
7) Staff of Power - assuming your apprentices can even make it (a very small chance it works) and you need the second most powerful staff in the game (if you don't know about the Staff of the Magi) - I've never actually ever gotten this staff although to be honest I've never asked my apprentices to make it (when I play a mage). Once I tried to see if they could make it (reloaded a bunch of times) and sadly I've never actually seen it in the game.
If you plan on using an assassin, it certainly means you will rely on backstabs.
The best backstab weapon certainly is Staff of the Ram, which you get rather late unfortunately. Early game, Namarra+2, Usuno's blade and Celestial Fury are very good backstabbing weapons, arguably better than Blackrazor.