best weapon for rune word(s)

[xarth_]

best weapon for rune word(s)

I'm sure this gets asked a lot, but I didn't see it in the stickes or FAQs.

After sending many characters to the hellforge, I've found the runes for a Kingslayer, but I don't want to waste it. So I was wondering what weapon to use?

My preference is a sword, because my conc barb's mastery is sword, and I figure my vengence paladin could use it too. So I was thinking a phase blade looked great -- really fast and indestructible. I've been running Tal's Tomb to find a nice one (ATMA says that's the best place), but I haven't seen too many. But is the max damage too low? I've found a superior balrog blade with 4 sockets, but the str requirement is pretty high (my barb has max blocking). Anyway, I can always recreate a character for an item.

 

[Vajar]

Its good for a kicksin too - I also used it on my Frenzy barb with a beta crescent moon phase.

 

[wildjinn]

I'm thinking about making one as well, and haven't decided what to put it in. Phase blades are a fantastic idea because they're indestructible (good for a +skill weapon because repair costs are through the roof) and because the ED on Kingslayer isn't that hot, and you might as well use a quick weapon for the most frequent application of the crushing blow. Another good build to use this on is the BF sin, which takes similar mods as a DTaloner, as Vajar suggested.

 

[Crazy Runner Guy]

IMO, for any character actually swinging the sword i.e. your barb/pally, I wouldn't put the runes in a phase blade. I would go for a Conquest Sword or a Cryptic. The Conquest has higher requirements and slower, but a higher average damage and a tighter damage spread, while the Cryptic is faster and has lower requirements, but a lower average damage and a large damage spread.

For all the info on elite swords, check out the Arreat Summit: Elite Swords page.

IMO, the only characters worthy of a Kingslayer Phase Blade is a Smiter (like mine) or a DTalon assassin. In their cases, they don't actually swing their weapon, but it is there for mods and speed, which the KPB excells in.

crg

 

[Yavanna]

If you've got the runes, and the weapon has enough sockets, and it's not woefully under- or over-powered for your char...any weapon can be the right weapon.

 

[Crazy Runner Guy]

...any weapon can be the right weapon.

Here's the thing though. He mentioned swords (for his barb's mastery) and an avenger pally (I am assuming one handed weapons then), so therefore we are limited to Phase Blades, Conquest Swords and Cryptic Swords. I stand by my judgement that PB's are not a good choice, and I personally would pick the conquest cuz I love average damage.

crg

 

[xarth_]

I wonder which has the bigger advantage though: faster so that the crushing blow processes more often, or slower so that the average damage is bigger. Maybe I'm still tainted from my Everquest days, where slow, high damage weapons didn't come close to competing with fast proc'ing weapons.

I guess what I should do to really answer the question is find the barb & palading IAS breakpoints for the 4 one-handed swords that can have enough sockets. Then I can figure out the number of swings per second, to get the average damage per second (and rms) and the average number of times crushing blow can be applied.

I suspect though that it really depends more where the sword will be used.. Probably a faster weapon is better for boss killing, but a higher damage weapon is better for swarms of low-hp monsters...

 

[Crazy Runner Guy]

Paladin IAS Tables Your column is the left one, "Normal Attack without Fanatacism"

As for barbs, just do a google search for IAS Calculator. It will bring you to the english version of a german calc that I can't directly link to.

crg

 

[xarth_]

So there are only 3 one-handed swords that can have 4 sockets: Phase Blade, Conquest Sword and Cryptic Sword. Going by the damage ranges listed on Arreat Summit,

PB: 31-35 gives an average damage 33 +/- 1.1 (mean +/- std dev)
CqS: 37-53 gives average 45 +/- 4.6
CrS: 5-77 gives average 41 +/- 20.8

Assuming I make a Kingslayer with the minimum 230% enhanced damage, this leads to:

PB: 102.3 - 115.5, average 108.9 +/- 3.8
CqS: 122.1 - 174.9, average 148.5 +/- 15.2
CrS: 16.5 - 254.1, average 135.3 +/- 68.6

So the Cryptic Sword will just have huge fluctuations. As far as pure damage output is concerned, the Conquest Sword is the clear winner.

However, going by the IAS tables at stats.diabloii.net, the Conquest Sword needs a ton of IAS to get it up to speed.

For a Paladin,
PB: 10 F @ 8 IAS
9 F @ 24 IAS
8 F @ 54 IAS
CqS: 10 F @ 54 IAS
9 F @ 86 IAS
8 F @ 152 IAS
CrS: 10 F @ 35 IAS
9 F @ 60 IAS
8 F @ 109 IAS

For a Barb,

PB: 10 F @ 19 IAS
9 F @ 42 IAS
CqS: 10 F @ 75 IAS
9 F @ 125 IAS
CrS: 10 F @ 52 IAS
9 F @ 89 IAS

So what I need to do is check my equip to see how much IAS I can get on equipment that I would "normally" wear. I don't want to sacrifice too much in order to get IAS.

If getting 80 IAS is easy with the stuff I have, I may go for a Conquest Sword. I think the Cryptic Sword has too wide a range in damage to make it worth doing. The Phase Blade is obviously easiest to get going fast, but the damage isn't quite as high..

Anyway the number of procs per second for a certain frame rate (given the game runs at 25 fps)

Frame Atk/F Crush/s (just from Kingslayer)
15 1.67 0.56
14 1.79 0.60
13 1.92 0.64
12 2.08 0.69
11 2.27 0.76
10 2.50 0.83
9 2.78 0.93
8 3.12 1.04

So getting to 9 or 10 frames looks like it'll have a huge impact on the procs.

So yeah, I think if I can get 80 IAS pretty easily, I'll do a Conquest Sword. Otherwise I think Phase Blade seems best.