Vanquisher VS AotME

[mjkittredge]

So my little Hurthling Druid is level 30 and has finished the maze, and has a hard choice to make. Should she wield the silvery slaying sword or the massive axe? Or either depending on the situation? I know axe has best flat dps in game but I'm wondering if the guaranteed crits of Vanquisher beat that dps against what it slays.

I have big punch and tower shield for stuff that hits her too hard, suns messenger for all the slaying ammo, 500hps, 57 strength with fire orb, level 8 in 2handed weapons.

Strangely, even as a druid, have not found a single ball spell so I'm going to the library, and might use a wish for spellbooks of Acid ball. So she's been a primarily melee character with occasional spell-casting. Got some bolt spells leveled for clearing out summons faster.

Hoping this can be my first gate closer. Any advice is welcome.

[grobblewobble]

The axe is better. It scores almost 50% crits on everything (depending on your other equipment). Together with the higher base damage this is better than 100% crit on vanquisher.

[Blasphemous]

Clerical classes by definition get *very* few spellbooks of foo ball. Remember to wish for spellbooks of rain of sorrow rather than acid ball.
As for AotME versus any other weapon, I once made a test where I started slaying only normal and ancient blue dragons with Wyrmlance and then with AotME.
The general result was that at lvl 11 in both pole arms and two-handers, AotME was always better. No amount of crits can top that damage output.
Knowing that Wyrmlance slays dragons, even its considerable damage dice wasn't enough.
Vanq only has 6d5+3 or so which makes criticals less effective than the sheer 4d20+X of AotME.

[Carter]

yup the axe is better.

i had a weaponsmith with both awhile back, and when i finished i reloaded and tried both vs a red dragon vault. the axe was way way stronger.

[divij]

Vanq only has 6d5+3 or so which makes criticals less effective than the sheer 4d20+X of AotME.

but what abt tactics setting, tactics skill, weapon proficiency, B/U/C status, findweakness skill etc.
vanq gives 21 damage and aotme gives 58 damage. easy calculations will show that V will be better if your base damage is more than 45 (assuming you dont have findweakness). this is almost always the case with strong characters atleast in the mid to late game and hence i think that Vanq is better. also weight is a minor consideration.

[_Ln_]

but what abt tactics setting, tactics skill, weapon proficiency, B/U/C status, findweakness skill etc.
vanq gives 21 damage and aotme gives 58 damage. easy calculations will show that V will be better if your base damage is more than 45 (assuming you dont have findweakness). this is almost always the case with strong characters atleast in the mid to late game and hence i think that Vanq is better. also weight is a minor consideration.

AoTME has an intrinsic crit chance of 40%. Even without other crit-boosting items it is quite good. It also gives 4 PV points and a bunch of somewhat reasonable intrinsics.

It is also pretty satisfying to crush opponents into bloody bits with a freaking giant axe.

[GordonOverkill]

I always feel a little uncomfortable with these 2-handed weapons... lost quite a couple of Vanquisher-wielders over the years. My last winner (dark-elven fighter) sold Vanquisher and rather stayed with his eternium battleaxe of penetration (well, not the worst weapon for itself) and a shield.

[divij]

i am probably oversimplifying but the damage output, for 50 (say) base tactic damage, for V will be (50+21)*2=142 and for AOTME it is (50+58) *1.4 = 151. so its marginal.

[_Ln_]

i am probably oversimplifying but the damage output, for 50 (say) base tactic damage, for V will be (50+21)*2=142 and for AOTME it is (50+58) *1.4 = 151. so its marginal.

Exactly. Now add 4 PV and extra +10 and you have the answer to the original question. Also, (50+58)*1.4 is minimal damage for the axe. Find Weakness + innate crit chance + other items + class powers will only increase it, while V is already at the possible max.

[Blasphemous]

I had an archmage once with 99 in all attributes, all skills at 100 and all weapon proficiency levels at 15.
Also I had the bracers of war, ring of the master cat and aotme.
Aotme leaves behind every other conceivable weapon at that point.
I was slaying ancient blue dragons until they started spawning at lvl 100-110 and had a crapload of HP and PV.
The problem was their spiraling DV which made misses dangerously frequent, no matter what was the weapon used.
At some point chance to hit becomes more important than sheer damage.
Nevertheless, the only really effective weapon at that point was aotme and only because of the massive criticals.
Slaying powers of aotme's contenders were of secondary importance.