Strongest single Artifact

[JellySlayer]

Well, if you're using a weapon like Vanquisher, yeah, you're going to need that paralysis resist so you don't get your level 20 character eaten by a carrion crawler.

Vanquisher ends up killing a fair number of players, IMHO, since a lot of people aren't used to playing with single-digit DV.

[Harkila]

Vanquisher ends up killing a fair number of players, IMHO, since a lot of people aren't used to playing with single-digit DV.

Suit yourself if you insist on berserk tactics. With Vanquisher you get halfway decent DV with defensive / very defensive, and you still deal huge damage. Then just berserker the ones that have good DV since the low to-hit needs to be remembered.

[Carter]

Suit yourself if you insist on berserk tactics. With Vanquisher you get halfway decent DV with defensive / very defensive, and you still deal huge damage. Then just berserker the ones that have good DV since the low to-hit needs to be remembered.

Vanquisher isn't actually that strong. It has slaying powers which double your damage but for a two hander it isn't actually that good. 6d5+3 is 9-33. Assuming you slay everything (or close to) its only 18-66.

Consider the cow axe is 4d20+16 which is 20->96 + 30% crits = 30-120
or executor which is 5d6+6 which is one handed and does 11-36 and slays humanoid (which is 90% of mobs in the late game) so thats 22->72 which is more than vanquisher. And you aren't taking the PV hit.

[Blank4u47]

While I agree that vanquisher isn't that great, I'd just like to add that the guaranteed criticals from Slaying are much better to have than improved criticals are. So in the cow axe vs. vanquisher debate you need to include increased damage from other sources before discounting it. So by the time you get cow axe let's say you have 40 str (very conservative estimate) and 12 skill and rings of slaying. So a total of 18(skill)+21(str)+12(rings)=51. 71-117 times 2 30% of the time for 92-152 for cow axe vs. 60-84 times 2 100% of the time for 120-168 for vanquisher.

in conclusion, vanquisher is much better for characters who don't have find weakness, ring of master cat, and/or BoW.

[JellySlayer]

While I agree that vanquisher isn't that great, I'd just like to add that the guaranteed criticals from Slaying are much better to have than improved criticals are. So in the cow axe vs. vanquisher debate you need to include increased damage from other sources before discounting it. So by the time you get cow axe let's say you have 40 str (very conservative estimate) and 12 skill and rings of slaying. So a total of 18(skill)+21(str)+12(rings)=51. 71-117 times 2 30% of the time for 92-152 for cow axe vs. 60-84 times 2 100% of the time for 120-168 for vanquisher.

in conclusion, vanquisher is much better for characters who don't have find weakness, ring of master cat, and/or BoW.

Isn't Crit rate on cow axe 40%?

To be fair, in terms of raw damage, Vanquisher and pretty much all other slaying weapons actually do much more damage when thrown rather than wielded because of the insane crit mods on missiles. Thrown ToTRR is absolutely devastating. Even thrown RCT or regular arrows of slaying can beat the 120-168 figure above quite comfortably.

[Harkila]

Vanquisher isn't actually that strong. It has slaying powers which double your damage but for a two hander it isn't actually that good. 6d5+3 is 9-33. Assuming you slay everything (or close to) its only 18-66.

Consider the cow axe is 4d20+16 which is 20->96 + 30% crits = 30-120
or executor which is 5d6+6 which is one handed and does 11-36 and slays humanoid (which is 90% of mobs in the late game) so thats 22->72 which is more than vanquisher. And you aren't taking the PV hit.

This discussion was about artifacts that can be gotten as precrowning gifts on lvl 8. If you know a way to get the minotaur axe that way, please let me know. If not, you're just skewing the discussion.

Executor is very good, but I don't like being cursed.

And as for "90 % of the late game mob being humanoids", I'll just say
Wyrms
Ancient dragons
(Greater) elementals
Grues
Ghost kings

And since many of the nasty bastards are either demon / undead / unlife, I consider Purifier better than Executor. It leaves pretty much only titans out.

[JellySlayer]

And since many of the nasty bastards are either demon / undead / unlife, I consider Purifier better than Executor. It leaves pretty much only titans out.

Also: Doppleganger Kings, Chaos Mutants/Warriors/Wizards, Master Summoner, Chaos Archmage, Quickling Royalty, the cat lord.

Grues are daemons, btw, so Executor slays them just fine. Of the monsters you've listed, Purifier only has the edge on elementals and ghost kings. And if you're long-lived, you don't care about ghosts unless it's a huge group; if you're short-lived, you probably don't want to melee ghost kings regardless of your weapon.

For dragon types, I don't think there are any particularly good options for one-handers. Just something high damage, penetrating, or bloody dagger.

[Blank4u47]

Isn't Crit rate on cow axe 40%?

To be fair, in terms of raw damage, Vanquisher and pretty much all other slaying weapons actually do much more damage when thrown rather than wielded because of the insane crit mods on missiles. Thrown ToTRR is absolutely devastating. Even thrown RCT or regular arrows of slaying can beat the 120-168 figure above quite comfortably.

I never thought of doing that with vanquisher, nice! And whoops, I was going off of what carter said for the crit % on mino axe, I should've looked it up first.

As for executor, cute puppies die very often with me, I just don't like using it.

[JellySlayer]

I never thought of doing that with vanquisher, nice! And whoops, I was going off of what carter said for the crit % on mino axe, I should've looked it up first.

Well, the raw damage isn't very useful for a one-time use attack. I guess if you're desperate to kill a karmic dragon or something, maybe it would be worth a go. Returning weapons are a different story, of course.

[Blank4u47]

Well, the raw damage isn't very useful for a one-time use attack. I guess if you're desperate to kill a karmic dragon or something, maybe it would be worth a go. Returning weapons are a different story, of course.

True, but it's still fun! When I play duelists, I pick the strong thrower talent and kill things with thrown whips at grand mastery. Oddly it often causes bleeding damage.