Runewarden swords question

Azram

I was eyeing picking up some artifact scimitars for myself. These would mainly be used for hunting at the moment, but possibly with a more long-term look of combat somewhere down the line. As is, I've been told that a pair of lvl 1 swords wouldn't be worth the upgrade price? Does that stand, or was the person in question mistaken.

Shecks

Weapon upgrades are always a big improvement, in terms of stats. The main thing is speed but you'll also usually see an appreciable increase in damage, and artie level 2 and 3 rarely if ever miss (although it will depend on weapon type and opponents dodge chance - I HAVE seen it happen just super rare).

Whether or not they're "worth" it is subjective, but I would generally recommend L2 minimum for any primary weapons, especially if you'll be using them to bash.

Saonji

If you want to get into combat, definitely recommend picking up a handaxe.

Mizik

Level 1 is fine for the sub 2.0s DSL, which allow for two attacks within the 4s restoration balance. Stop at level 2s, there is no gain from 2 to 3.

Shecks

There are gains from 2 to 3 (obviously?). It's faster (confirmed), misses less (confirmed), and deals both more hp safe and limb damage (confirmed).

In fact the gains from 2-3 are the larger than from forged to level 1 or level 1 to level 2. Damage is one point less than doubling level 2 damage margin compared to forged.

If you think longsword are dirks, then ofc you'll ignore the to-hit, dage, and limb damage aspects, but of course they're not dirks are they. Limb damage and accuracy are huge.

Petty sure more to-hit directly reduces the chances of missing with Clumsiness, too - something to consider. I'll make a note to do some testing on this but I'm pretty sure it's a multiplier so having ridiculously high to-hit is going to help a lot.

PS Saonji is trolling getting a forged handaxe for practice isn't a bad idea. Forged handaxe does around triple the limb damage as Level 3 longsword and ignores rebounding. Don't even need an artied one (artie just good because they can't pick it up).

Atalkez

I upgraded to level 3 scimitars and did not notice any reasonable increase in speed, damage, or accuracy. My dps testing on little girls was the exact same, I still missed entirely too frequently against serpents, and the limb damage difference wasn't enough to merit keeping them.

Anecdotally, I got a refund and went back to my level 2 scimitars. Mezghar and Mizik both had similar experiences, in feeling that the jump from 2 to 3 was not worth it whatsoever.

Shecks

Oh let me be clear - I haven't tested on scimitars. If that's true it sounds like a bug. Got mixed up because Mizik said the same thing about Longsword on SnB yesterday.

Atalkez

Oh I assume scimitars as the OP said 'pair of swords', so unsure.

I talked to Mak about it and he said he would look into it but afaik nothing was done or changed. Phaestus said it looks fine to him at a glance, but like I said several of us got refunds because it did not feel different whatsoever. -1, sometimes -2, to prep a limb is not worth 1600cr.