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The Godsword - Buying, Selling and Trading Godswords, Shards, Blades and Hilts The Godsword - Comparing the Godsword to Other RuneScape Weapons

With four different godswords to choose from, the first question that many prospective godsword owners have is an obvious one: “Which is the best?” Of course, the answer is also pretty obvious: “That depends.” J More specifically, it depends on what you want to do with the sword, how you like to play, and how much you can afford to spend. Let’s take a look at some of these issues now and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of the various godsword types.

It’s true that, as I mentioned earlier in this report, the hilt defines the godsword by determining what its special attack is, and some of the special attacks are impressive indeed. But by the same token, I think some people really lose sight of the fact that special attacks are generally a small part of most types of combat. Most of what makes the godsword special is the sword’s basic capabilities: high accuracy, high strength, decent speed for a large weapon and the best prayer bonus of any weapon in the game. The special attack matters, certainly, but for most people it’s really more of an “extra” in a lot of cases than a pivotal factor in choosing a weapon.

For example, many people say that the Bandos godsword’s special attack is “much better” than the Zamorak special attack, and in some cases it is. But remember that you only get one shot with it. Sure you can hit a 50 and reduce your opponent’s defence by that much, but it is just as likely that you hit a 3, or even a 0 (Figure 19). Remember that the special attack bar takes a full 5 minutes to recharge, and that’s a long time when you’re in combat.

The same is true of the Armadyl godsword, probably the most overhyped of the four styles. Yes, it has a very powerful special attack, and I know a lot of people have been spurred to buy one by reading stories of high level players hitting over 60 and sometimes even over 70 with one. But again, these are rare hits. I owned an Armadyl godsword, and yes I hit over 50 with it a few times and over 60 once, but most of the time the hits would be below 40, just because weapon damage is random.

Also, while it can be fun to get huge hits, you have to also consider the cost of the Armadyl hilt. Is hitting a 70 with an Armadyl instead of hitting a 60 with Bandos worth tying up an extra 50 million of cash? If you are killing monsters or goofing around at Castle Wars, probably not. If you’re a serious staker betting millions on each fight, it very well might be. You have to know what your needs are.

If your primary interest in RuneScape is player versus player combat, then you are likely attracted to the godsword because of its “knock out” (“KO”) potential—finishing someone off with a big hit. It is for this reason that the Armadyl godsword has become the most desired of the four types. Its +25% damage special simply provides the best chance of getting a huge hit against an opponent, to win a player kill fight or duel. The fact that you can spec twice without recharging means that two-hitting even a high-level opponent has a low but reasonable chance of success.

The Bandos special attack can also be extremely useful in PvP, but only if you get lucky with a big hit. When two high level players go at each other, having one suffer a drop in Defence level of 40 or 50 points can really end a match, as shown in Figure 20. (Again, though, it could be a 0 like in Figure 19). In some respects, then, the Bandos special may be better than the Armadyl one for dueling. Some people have pointed out that the Bandos effect can be countered using a restore potion, which is true. However, most people don’t carry restore potions around on them, and even if they do, they must waste time drinking that potion while you continue to hit them. And most duels are usually done with potions off anyway.

The Zamorak godsword has value only in certain situations with PvP. In most duels it really isn’t of much use; the only way I have seen to exploit it in the duel arena is in a melee only fight, where you can freeze your opponent, then move over one space and use a halberd on them until the 20 second freeze expires. Few duels are set up to allow this, though, except for “fun” duels.

For PKing, the Zamorak sword can be useful in preventing an opponent from running away, effectively acting like an Entangle spell that lasts even longer. It can also be used defensively to allow you to escape if a fight is not going your way. In most fights, though, the special attack is of limited value.

Where the Zamorak special really shines is in Castle Wars. Whether used on an opponent carrying your flag or on annoying enemies who hold their own flag, the special stops them dead in their tracks—and usually confuses them as well. If you have a Zammy godsword and haven’t played with it yet in CW, you should give it a try.

Finally, there is the Saradomin godsword. Many people have been quick to decide that the Sara special is “useless” in PvP; I can only laugh at the ignorance of these folks. I’ve had very good success using my Sara godsword at the duel arena for a simple reason: as long as you hit at least 1 point of damage per spec, you are guaranteed a minimum of 20 points of healing and 10 points of prayer per duel. Best of all, you get this without needing to waste time potting or eating, and even if potting and eating are turned off!

The Armadyl is the best godsword for dueling and the Saradomin is the worst, right? Let’s see.

I’ll compare the Saradomin and Armadyl godswords in a duel between two level 110 players, each with 90 Hitpoints. Let’s say that they duel with food, pots and prayer off (as is typical) and each of them specs twice, since the two have the same drain.

In the first example, suppose they each hit a “natural” 50 followed by a “natural” 35. The Armadyl godsword has a +25% bonus, so instead of inflicting 50 and 35 points, its owner will deal 62 and 44 points for a total of 106. The Sara player will be KOed in two hits unless he is able to get his specs in before the Armadyl hits land.

Of course, as all players know, the odds of getting two high hits like that in a row are quite low. So let’s take a more reasonable example of one high hit and one low hit: say a “natural” 10 on the first spec and a 50 on the second. The Armadyl godsword has a +25% bonus, so instead of inflicting 10 and 50 points, he will deal 13 and 63 points for a total of 76. The Sara player will inflict just 60 points, but he’ll be healed by 10 points plus 25 points for a total of 35. If they both were at, 90 HP to start, the Armadyl player would now have 30 HP and the Saradomin player would be at 49. Not so useless after all, is it? J

Now, what happens if we have two low hits? Say, a natural “15” followed by a natural “5”. The Armadyl sword will do a total of 25 damage, while the Saradomin godsword will do 20 damage and heal by 20. The Armadyl player will be at 70 HP and the Saradomin player at 85.

Incidentally, these “real world” examples match my practical experience using the Saradomin godsword at the duel arena. Plus, the stunned comments when people see you healing in a food-off fight are priceless. J

If your interests run more to training combat, hunting dragons or raising Slayer, your needs are very different from those of PKers or duelers, and the value of the different godsword types changes as well—dramatically. Let’s take a look.

While the Armadyl godsword’s main appeal is PvP, it is still useful for killing monsters, because an extra 25% damage is always nice. On the other hand, the difference in usefulness between the Armadyl and the other types of godswords is much less for PvM than PvP, because in most cases the extra damage just means you kill a monster in one less hit. Yes, it’s nice, but it’s not something that really matters a great deal, except for certain special monsters. For example, getting a huge hit can be very handy when fighting the giant mole, due to its annoying tendency to burrow (teleport) after a single hit.

The usefulness of the Bandos godsword in PvM depends on whether or not its effect works on monsters. There is no easy way to check absolutely if the defence reduction actually happens to monsters, and combat involves so much luck that my limited tests have not been sufficient to prove anything to me one way or the other. On the other hand, it seems to me subjectively that it does work; when it hits on big monsters, I have found it to be very helpful (as in Figure 21). Even if there is no stat impact, the extra 10% of damage is nice, though clearly far less valuable than the two 25% specs of the Armadyl.

The Zamorak godsword’s special is fairly useless for PvM. Sure, you can freeze the monster in place, but if you’re meleeing it anyway, what does it matter? You can freeze it and move away to range or melee, but again, usually that is done from a safe spot anyhow. One place where the Zammy sword could be useful is at the Barrows, by allowing you to freeze a brother in place and then move out of melee range. Even so, you can only do this once every 3 minutes or so, which really makes it of limited value.

The real star of the show for PvM is the Saradomin godsword—it is by far the best of the four for this use. It provides the potential to heal from 20 to 50 HP and restore 10 to 25 Prayer points every five minutes, which is immensely useful when doing Slayer assignments and fighting tough monsters. I have found that when using the Sara godsword, I can often kill dozens of monsters, even fairly high level ones like aberrant specters and abyssal demons, using barely any food and only a prayer potion sip every 20 minutes or so (refer back to Figure 9). For PvM players with enough money, the Sara godsword is a “no brainer”.

As useful as it is for routine monster killing, the Saradomin godsword is even more remarkable under certain special circumstances. Consider the Barrows, for example. When fighting in the Barrows your prayer is constantly being drained, so every bit of extra prayer is immensely useful. Consider the case of fighting Dharok and having him close to death but not dead, while you are down to 1 or 2 Prayer points; you can use a Sara godsword spec to get a few more points without wasting a whole prayer pot sip. Another situation is having Ahrim as the last brother at the chest—fighting him without prayer can be painful, but a whole prayer pot dose is usually more than is needed. Being able to quickly grab 5 or 10 Prayer points using the Sara specials can save a lot of prayer potion doses over the long haul, and healing without using up your limited food lets you do more runs without restocking (see Figure 22).

One other factor worth mentioning impacts those who fight in the god wars dungeon. If you wear a weapon or piece of armor corresponding to any of the four gods, its minions won’t be aggressive to you, which can make life a lot easier and safer in the dungeon. Now, there are many types of Saradomin and Zamorak armor, cloaks, robes and weapons in the game, but very few items that will keep the Armadyl and Bandos followers off your back. For this reason, the Armadyl godsword and Bandos godsword can be very useful if you fight in the dungeon from which they originally came.

The Godsword - Buying, Selling and Trading Godswords, Shards, Blades and Hilts The Godsword - Comparing the Godsword to Other RuneScape Weapons