A little extra guidance please.

[CloudKing]

Thank you for all the help and advice, I will be switching my rings out for the rings of slaying, and my necklace for the ankh, and I will save my wish for D:50, I will be heading down to D:50 now and training with morgia on the way... wish me luck

[Aerin]

Best of luck, that first run to D50 is always stressful. Hope we get to see a post in YAVP.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

Seriously, how on Earth is Big Punch better than Bugbiter? 8 less average base damage in exchange for an enormous DV loss?

Bugbiter: 4d7+3

Minimum: 7
Average: 19
Maximum: 31

Big Punch: 8d5+3

Minimum: 11
Average: 27
Maximum: 43

I'll take 8 more average damage (which is probably like double damage in practice, given the monsters' PV) over 20 or so DV in a character that has 95 DV any day.

When you have 30 or 40 DV, some more DV is very helpful, when you have 70 it's not so important. And by doing more damage you get hit less anyway.

[Silfir]

Poison resistance is better than stun resistance though. At this stage, the rune-covered trident is a real prospect, so polearms training does more than mace training (Bugbiter taking a bit of a while to kill things helps reach Grand Mastery, too). Also, Big Punch takes up a bigger chunk of the PC's encumbrance. Also, +3 extra Dx on Bugbiter add to missile damage and to-hit. (In addition to Bugbiter's intrinsically higher to-hit.) Oh, and nevermind DV, Bugbiter adds a point of PV which Big Punch does not.

In the very limited scenario that Cloudking has to resort to berserk mode melee to break through something rather than his assortment of slaying missiles, including Far Slayer-backed quarrels, it is possible eight points of damage might make a difference. I think 90 DV is more better than 70 DV than eight points of damage could balance out, while we're at it. Also, we aren't given the current tactics setting. If it's 90 DV on Normal, that means 70 DV roughly on Very Aggressive, which adds much more than eight points of damage.

[JellySlayer]

If he doesn't have intrinsic poison resistance by this point, he's done something very, very wrong. Multiples aren't necessary. Stun resist, it's possible he might not have, though it's not all that useful anyway. +3 Dx is not going to significantly affect missile to-hit or damage. Probably less than 1 point to each. Stats don't have that big of an effect. Encumbrance doesn't matter, since he's already carrying around both weapons.

Of his weapons, Serpent's bite is clearly the best (aside from Far Slayer). Bugbiter and Big Punch are probably about equivalent in my books, and are both trash at this point in the game. If I had to use one of them, I'd probably use Big Punch, but honestly, you can find better eternium weapons just lying around. Eternium two-hander is twice as good as either of them. Heck, a bloody dagger with a couple scrolls of damage on it is probably better than either weapon for a character with his strength and tactics score.

[CloudKing]

Thank you for the advice.... finally after so long of playing this game I have done it. I WON!!
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His further life:
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After he leaves the Drakalor Chain he is welcomed by his people with great
honors. They acknowledge his noble deeds, his valor, his cunning and his
great skills that helped to prevent the complete destruction of the world he
knows. He is crowned to be the king of all dark Elves and lives a long and
prosperous life full of power, happiness and pleasure.
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I will post more in a victory post.

[Spellweaver]

Serpent's Bite is most likely better than Bugbiter. But with his zero skill in dagger and mastery in polearms it's going to be worse even after some training.
And currently it's not going to deal any damage to D:50 inhabitants even with 100% crit.
Not to mention he has find weakness, so slaying damage increase is not as significant.

[JellySlayer]

Serpent's Bite is most likely better than Bugbiter. But with his zero skill in dagger and mastery in polearms it's going to be worse even after some training.
And currently it's not going to deal any damage to D:50 inhabitants even with 100% crit.
Not to mention he has find weakness, so slaying damage increase is not as significant.

It'll deal a lot more than Bugbiter would. Find weakness doesn't have that big of an effect compared to slaying. Unless your weapon has an "of penetration" suffix on it, a slaying weapon is always better.

[Spellweaver]

It'll deal a lot more than Bugbiter would. Find weakness doesn't have that big of an effect compared to slaying. Unless your weapon has an "of penetration" suffix on it, a slaying weapon is always better.

You are theorizing, while I actually tried using it on a character trained in polearms and 2H only. It was far from impressive. Don't forget energy cost as well.
My spear was better than Bugbiter, but still.

[JellySlayer]

It depends on your stats. The higher your St, tactics bonus, etc., the less that your weapon damage matters, and the more that critical hits benefit you. With high stats, slaying, +Crit, or penetration will beat out weapons with significantly better damage scores.

Training is important, I agree, but you can get up to level 7 or 8 from 0 very, very quickly. Clearing Darkforge with a brand new weapon will gain you this many ranks on its own, IIRC.