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The Godsword - Comparison of Hilt and Godsword Types The GodSword - Bottom Line, Should You Get One?

The godsword caused quite a splash when news of it first hit the streets of RuneScape. A sword with the biggest slash and strength bonuses ever seen? One named after the gods themselves? Surely, everyone figured, it must be the most impressive weapon ever seen in the realm. But is it really the best, or just the most hyped? Jagex doesn’t usually put out new items that are better than old ones in every way, so how does it compare to the other weapons that are most often used by the warriors of RuneScape?

I’ve spent quite a bit of time comparing the godsword to other popular weapons, both subjectively and through numerical analysis. Here’s what I’ve found.

Before getting into specific comparisons, I thought it would be useful to summarize the good and bad aspects of the weapon.

Here are the godsword’s most important advantages:

• High Damage: The sword hits big, easily doing 40+ damage by a high level player even without enhancement prayers or potions. This gives it excellent “knockout” capabilities for both PvP and PvM (see Figure 23). I have on many occasions in Castle Wars, for example, hit a 40+ on someone to take them down to under 10 HP, then finished them off on the next hit even when they healed themselves.
  
  
• Big Prayer Bonus: A +8 prayer bonus is very useful for combat where prayer is being used.
  
  
• Doesn’t Degrade: Unlike Barrows items, the godsword doesn’t degrade, and doesn’t have to be repaired.
  
  
• Useful Special Attacks: All four godswords have cool and typically useful special attacks.
  
  
• High Protection Value: The godsword’s general shop value is 500k, so you aren’t going to lose it if you die unless you’re skulled.
  
  
• Fun: The godsword is simply fun to use. Its animations are top notch, and most people get a lot of satisfaction out of the big hits it can dish out.
  

  Figure 23: The Godsword’s “Knockout” Capability

  While weapons like the abyssal whip and the Veracs set are very useful, they lack the sheer knockout power of the godsword. This ability to finish off either a monster or a player in one big hit makes the godsword (any type) extremely useful against teleporting monsters like the giant mole and against monsters or players who can heal themselves during combat.

  
  

And here are the godsword’s major drawbacks:

• Two-Handed Requirement: The fact that the godsword is two-handed rules out certain types of combat where a shield or other specialty item is required in the off hand. This includes fighting metal dragons (at least with any degree of safety!) and certain slayer monsters.
  
  
• Slowness: The godsword is a relatively slow weapon. It’s faster than other two-handed swords, but it’s still no speed demon, especially compared to weapons like the abyssal whip.
  
  
• Expensive: The godsword is extremely expensive, with the cheapest versions currently costing at least 45 million, and others going for 100 million or more.
  
  
• High Profile Item: The godsword is still rare in the game and wielding one really draws a crowd, particularly in busy places. You can expect lots of people asking you questions and making comments if you use one, which some people will find annoying.

I’m going to start with this comparison, because it’s the one that most people were immediately curious about when the godsword came out. After all, the abyssal whip has been considered the best all-around weapon in the game since its introduction, and as its price has fallen it has become a “staple” of RuneScape. Most players, unless they need a particular weapon for a specific purpose, will reach for their trusty whip for most kinds of combat.

With its huge bonuses and special effects, the godsword represented the potential to upset the “balance of power” and so lots of people wanted to know, simply, is the godsword better than the whip? The answer, as best as I have been able to determine is that the godsword is generally better than the whip. It beats it in many situations, is about the same in some other cases, and is worse than the whip in very few applications.

The main tradeoff between the godsword and the whip is the classic one in RuneScape melee: speed versus power. The whip is a faster weapon that hits for less damage, while the godsword takes longer between swings but hits harder. This has led to much argumentation between the “speed freaks” and the “power brokers”, each insisting that the other is underestimating the importance of frequent hits or high hits respectively.

Arguing wouldn’t resolve this conflict, so I decided that only some real world testing would help me to convince myself. First, I took a variety of godswords to the duel arena with a friend of mine to try out. He used a whip and a dragonfire shield with his best melee gear and I used a variety of godswords with my best melee gear. This wasn’t the most scientific test—I suspect that the armor I chose may have been slightly better than what he picked out, he was level 126 where I am level 120, and he wasn’t using a rune defender. Even so, I beat him about 60-65% of the time, which surprised me. We then tried again with armor off, and again I beat him more often than he beat me despite his higher levels—certainly not due to any superior skill at dueling on my part, I assure you! (Thanks to Warlordace1 for his help with this test.)

For PvP, what it seems to come down to is the specials. The whip’s special is effectively useless, while the godsword specials can make a huge difference. In particular, if the Bandos gets a big hit on its spec, the match is pretty much over as every swing after that will probably hit. The Sara specials can mean the whipper having to deal with 20 to 40 extra HP before winning, and the Armadyl special is just sheer power. (I three-hit him in one duel with the Armadyl.)

I performed a timed test on two different high level monsters—brutal green dragons and abyssal demons—first using a godsword, and next using a combination of an abyssal whip and a rune defender. I believe this is the fairest comparison, because the defender helps to compensate for part of the difference in attack bonuses between the whip and godsword, while taking advantage of the fact that the whip is one-handed.

My tests showed that in terms of the time to complete a series of kills, it was nearly a dead heat between the godsword and whip+defender combo. In fact, in one of the tests I found that the difference between the two was only 5 seconds on a test that took over six minutes.

So does this mean that the godsword is no better than the whip? Well, not so fast. The whip is a formidable weapon, and is certainly capable of killing some monsters in the same amount of time as the godsword, but the latter still has a number of important advantages over the whip.

First, the godsword has far more useful special attacks, especially the Armadyl, Bandos and Saradomin versions. (The whip’s special attack is pretty much useless.) Second, the godsword has a +8 prayer bonus, which makes a big difference in prayer related tasks. For example, when killing the brutal green dragons, I typically needed an additional one or even two sips of prayer potion when using the whip to complete a run of 7 kills. Third, the godsword can be used to train Strength, while one of the most common complaints about the whip is its inability to be used for this purpose. Finally, the godsword is just a lot more fun to use; the whip has become rather “old hat” for most experienced players, and getting two hits of 45 is more exciting, somehow, than getting three hits of 30.

For its part, the whip has the benefit of being one-handed, which makes combat against dragons and other monsters that require a specialty shield far more feasible. (Of course, you will also do less damage if you forego the rune defender.) The whip is also a lot cheaper and easier to get; in fact, it is less than 1/20th the cost of even the most affordable godsword at the present time.

I should also point out one other aspect of the speed equation that I have not yet tested but I can speculate about with some degree of confidence. I believe that the godsword will be better than the whip for slayer tasks and other situations where you need to kill a large number of low-level or medium-level monsters. Its high accuracy and high damage mean that you will get more one-hit kills with the godsword on monsters with up to 30 Hitpoints. This would make it better than the whip for those who get herbs from chaos druids, or kill unicorns for horns and so forth.

Comparing the godsword to the Veracs set from the Barrows is a natural choice. The weapon of this set, Verac’s flail, is not that remarkable of a weapon taken by itself, but when used with the accompanying three pieces of Veracs armor, the Veracs set effect is enabled. This effect, which occurs randomly, allows hits from the flail to ignore the defence bonuses and even protection prayers of its target. This makes Veracs the choice of those fighting very difficult monsters such as the Kalphite Queen; it is also sometimes useful in player versus player combat because of its ability to hit through armor and prayer.

I am not a big PvP player, but I use Veracs extensively against opponents ranging from mithril dragons, to the giant mole, to the Barrows brothers themselves. I started bringing my godsword with on some of these trips to compare it to Veracs, and what I found is that which is better depends on the defence level of the monster in question.

Both weapons are about the same speed, so it comes down to which hits more often and for more damage. Against opponents with only moderate defence levels, the godsword is superior. In particular, it is a nearly ideal weapon against the giant mole, due to its high “knockout” capability; it’s so good, in fact, that I may have to change my Giant Mole Exterminator’s guide (refer to Figure 23 for an example).

When facing monsters with extremely high defence, though, Veracs still carries the day. It is better than the godsword against mithril dragons, and also against the melee brothers in the Barrows minigame itself. I’ve had good luck against Ahrim (mage) and Karil (ranged) using the godsword, where I find it faster than Veracs, and against Verac himself it is a wash (because he has lower defence than the other brothers.) The very high defence level of Dharok, Guthan and Torag, though, requires the Veracs set effect to break through.

Another factor is that Verac’s flail is one of the few good weapons to have a sizeable Prayer bonus, at +6; while not quite as high as the godsword’s +8, it is close enough that the godsword doesn’t have nearly the huge benefit here that it does when compared to a weapon like the abyssal whip. On the plus side for the godsword is its own special attack, the ability to use it in places where full Veracs can’t be worn (like Castle Wars), and the flexibility of choosing what armor you want to wear, rather than being restricted to specific Veracs armor.

For quite some time, Dharoks has been the undisputed champion of the “big hit” crowd. Its set effect, which is invoked when Dharoks Greataxe is wielded and the three pieces of Dharoks armor are worn, causes the axe to hit for more damage the lower the wielder’s hitpoints fall. Thus, if you allow yourself to get down to 10 or even 5 HP, you can hit for over 50 or even over 60 if the random Dharoks effect kicks in on a good hit.

Naturally, since the godsword’s forte is also hitting high, many people immediately wondered how it would compare to using the Dharoks set. I decided to check this out for myself, but quickly realized that unlike the comparison to the whip or Veracs, this one is not much of a contest: the godsword is better. Both can hit hard (Figure 24), but the godsword offers so many additional advantages that it is clearly superior.

First and foremost, using the godsword is much safer and easier than using Dharoks. You don’t have to run around with 5 or 10 HP hoping that you don’t forget to turn on prayer, or that prayer doesn’t run out, or you don’t get surprised by an evil chicken random. It’s also easier to use the godsword in places like Pest Control, because you don’t have to get your HP down constantly in order to get the high hits.

Second, the godsword is a better weapon in general terms. It is more accurate, slightly faster I believe, and doesn’t require a random set effect to kick in to get high hits. It also has its own special attacks that add to its capabilities, and that very nice +8 Prayer bonus.

Third, the godsword is far more flexible than the Dharoks set. You can use it with any armor, and use it to do major damage even in situations where full Dharoks cannot be worn, such as Castle Wars or when fighting aberrant specters or dust devils. You can wear it with a black mask when doing a slayer assignment for a big +15% bonus, or combine it with Veracs armor for more prayer bonus. With Dharoks you are locked into that set of armor only.

Finally, the godsword does not need to be repaired.

The only thing that Dharoks has going for it over the godsword is that it is significantly cheaper.

The Godsword - Comparison of Hilt and Godsword Types The GodSword - Bottom Line, Should You Get One?