Sword Stats

[Yvi]

I've seen a lot of threads on how to optimize a weapon, but (1) they confuse me somewhat, and (2) they don't quite answer my question. My fighting style is: wildly wave sword in front of me. I'm not terrible interested in changing that strategy, or weapon type. I like wildly waving a sword around. I would like to know what enchantments / profession / etc. would be best for killing enemies quickly without switching my weapon or trying to learn a different play style. The most I've ever done is make an infinity sword - I've never dabbled with forging beyond that, and I normally pick a profession at random (embarrassing to admit for how long I've been playing).

If anyone could help me figure this out, I'd be grateful <3

 

[Lew Zealand]

I see we are both masters of the Hackan-Flail style of swordspersonship.

Rule 1: Keep the pointy bit away from our soft, easily-sliced personal space
Rule 2: Keep the pointy bit in the places that are not our personal space
Rule 3: If there's a place that is not our personal space and the pointy bit isn't there, move it there
Rule 4: Repeat Rule 3, but faster!

I had been playing with added Damage alone, Forging 3

Rubies, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that as it lifts minimum Damage pretty nicely for low and mid enemies. However I've now leaned into Critical Hit Chance with 2

Aquamarines (and still 1

Ruby) and I seem to be dealing with monsters better, especially the Serpents. You can swing fast enough to roll for a lot of Critical Hits, and to goose the numbers in your favor just a bit more you could go to the Shrine of Uncertainty in The Sewers and change your Combat Skills to

Scout -

Desperado to further increase Crits. That's what I'm using now.

Getting the Crusader Enchant is a goal of mine so I can perma-kill Mummies with just the Sword and always having a

Slime Charmer Ring is essential for ignoring those pests. For me it's all about reducing monster threats so I can have a good time in Skull Cavern or on the Qi Mines and SC runs, and these merge meaningfully to minimize my monster madness and maximize mayhem.

Edit: Changed 1 thing to be correct as @FilthyGorilla pointed out, Crit Chance is what you want and what I posted, buuuuut I put the wrong gem in there: should be Aquamarine, not Jade. Moral of story: Don't post when you're too tired. Zzzzzzz......

 

[MogBeoulve]

I'd suggest all rubies for damage and Fighter/Brute, again for increased damage. This doesn't change anything about how you use the sword, except it should now kill things more quickly by inflicting silly amounts of damage with each hit. (You may or may not find your play style affected by the speed of your weapon. I do, and I can adjust, but it's also easier not to.) Crusader is a great choice since it'll let you kill mummies without bombs or using the slingshot - I think you also do increased damage to ghosts, making them easier to kill as well.

 

[Yvi]

Thanks for the suggestions!! I kinda spent all my money right now (baby on the way - had to emergency buy the furniture catalog so I had a nursery that wasn't a storage room), but as soon as I'm back in money I'll switch professions. Also just unlocked the volcano dungeon thing on this run so I should be able to start forging soon.

 

[Yvi]

Hackan-Flail style of swordspersonship

I am a huge proponent of Hackan-Flail

 

[FilthyGorilla]

I see we are both masters of the Hackan-Flail style of swordspersonship.

Rule 1: Keep the pointy bit away from our soft, easily-sliced personal space
Rule 2: Keep the pointy bit in the places that are not our personal space
Rule 3: If there's a place that is not our personal space and the pointy bit isn't there, move it there
Rule 4: Repeat Rule 3, but faster!

I had been playing with added Damage alone, Forging 3

Rubies, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that as it lifts minimum Damage pretty nicely for low and mid enemies. However I've now leaned into Critical Hit chance with 2

Jades (and still 1

Ruby) and I seem to be dealing with monsters better, especially the Serpents. You can swing fast enough to roll for a lot of Critical Hits, and to goose the numbers in your favor just a bit more you could go to the Shrine of Uncertainty in The Sewers and change your Combat Skills to

Scout -

Desperado to further increase Crits. That's what I'm using now.

Getting the Crusader Enchant is a goal of mine so I can perma-kill Mummies with just the Sword and always having a

Slime Charmer Ring is essential for ignoring those pests. For me it's all about reducing monster threats so I can have a good time in Skull Cavern or on the Qi Mines and SC runs, and these merge meaningfully to minimize my monster madness and maximize mayhem.

Pretty much agree but will tack on, forging jades onto your weapons for crit power is next to absolutely useless, they increase crit power by like 2-3 and any weapon that comes with them that's useful later on has 50-200.

Instead, forge pure aquamarines (for crit chance which is very substantial, increasing crit chance from smt like an inherent 2% on most weapons to ~15%) or two aquamarines and a ruby, they're functionally the same on something like a galaxy sword. For innate forges on a 'dumb, fast swing' weapon, you can't really be using galaxy/infinity, and if you're going dragontooth cutlass with a semi-optimized build, either straight +5 damage or 75 crit power are good, depending on what you're primarily fighting.