There is a healthy amount of debate on what sword is the clear-cut best of all. The truth is that there is no single sword that is the absolute best for every situation. In this article we’ll compare all of the swords for each of the sword classes.
Please note this is not a ‘which class has the most DPS’ article. It is an article that compares each and every sword, their DPS compared to other swords, and some additional information as to what makes each sword unique.
This article will mainly focus on each sword’s capabilities, mainly their DPS and how each sword’s DPS measures up compared to other swords. Range, true range, projectile speed, and other attributes are a major factor in how swords are used. A weapon’s range affects the ease of use because the farther you can stand from an enemy while still hitting them, the better. This is why some swords with lower damage output than a tiered sword are still popular. For many people, attacking from a longer range buys safety and thus the ability to maneuver and get more hits in.
The sword classes encompass the Warrior, Knight, and Paladin. The differences between these classes are important because it makes different swords or other equipment more practical for one class than it would be for another. Here’s a brief rundown of these classes’ capabilities.
Warrior has an attack cap of 75 and a dexterity cap of 50, making him a very potent class with the sword. His Helm allows him to move and attack faster, further increasing his DPS. Warrior has the most DPS of all sword classes and is second to Knight in terms of natural defense.
Knight has an ATT and DEX cap of 50 each. His DEF cap of 40 is the highest of all classes. His shield does not provide a boost to his weapon damage, but it does provides a good amount of burst damage and can stun enemies. Knight has the lowest DPS among sword classes because he lacks the ability to boost his own weapon DPS, but his shield stun allows him to deal damage in relative safety.
Paladin has an ATT cap of 50 and a DEX cap of 45. His DEF caps at 30, but his ability, the seal, does not provide additional passive defense. The seal provides Paladin with a damaging buff that boosts his damage per shot beyond that of Warrior. With the damaging buff, Paladin’s DPS sits between that of Warrior and Knight. Without damaging, his DPS is lower than that of Knight.
Deriving the formulas from the Character Stats page, we get the following formula for Damage Per Second (DPS), which is a good indication of how good a given weapon and character is versus a certain amount of def on a mob:
Damage Per Second
(((Average Weapon Damage per Shot * (0.5 + ATT/50)) - Enemy DEF) * Number of Shots) * ((1.5 + 6.5*(DEX/75)) * Weapon Rate of Fire (in decimal; 100% RoF should be written as 1.00)) = Damage per Second
Warrior and Paladin have buffs that affect this modifer; these are the formulas with these buffs accounted for:
Damaging
((((Average Weapon Damage per Shot * (0.5 + ATT/50)) * 1.5) - Enemy DEF) * Number of Shots) * ((1.5 + 6.5*(DEX/75)) * Weapon Rate of Fire (in decimal; 100% RoF should be written as 1.00)) = Damage per Second
Berserk
(((Average Weapon Damage per Shot * (0.5 + ATT/50)) - Enemy DEF) * Number of Shots) * (((1.5 + 6.5*(DEX/75)) * 1.5) * Weapon Rate of Fire (in decimal; 100% RoF should be written as 1.00)) = Damage per Second
The DPS of each sword against an enemy with 0 DEF is listed for all the classes (Warrior/Knight/Paladin). In addition, the amount of DPS lost per point of DEF is listed for each of these classes. The DPS loss per point of DEF correlates directly with the amount of shots fired per second with a given weapon. You can multiply this DPS loss per point by the DEF of the enemy in question, then subtract this value from the DPS against 0 DEF provided in order to get the DPS against said enemy.
Many swords have varying amounts of shots and rates of fire that affect at what point of enemy DEF that one sword will start to outdamage another. Any changes to rate of fire will not affect this point, but any changes to weapon damage will. That said, an unbuffed Paladin will be identical to Knight in terms of when one sword starts to outdamage another, but when buffed, the points change dramatically. The enemy DEF needed for one sword to outdamage or fall below another sword will be represented with three numbers (Warrior/Knight and Paladin/Paladin with damaging).
The DPS and defense values are calculated with the aid of Pfiffel’s DPS tool. Any DEF values above 150 are improvised based on formula calculations using the numbers that Pfiffel’s DPS tool provides as a baseline.
The assumptions made by this comparison are as follows:
This guide will compare several tiered swords to each untiered sword. Tiered swords have a range of 3.5 tiles and a projectile speed of 10 tiles per second (t/s). These are the highest tiered swords; other tiered swords will be mentioned when they warrant comparison.
Archon Sword
DPS (0 DEF): 4060 / 2028.57 / 2816.76
Skysplitter Sword
DPS (0 DEF): 4191.25 / 2094.17 / 2907.9
Sword of Acclaim
DPS (0 DEF): 4322.5 / 2159.82 / 2999.06
Sword of Splendor
DPS (0 DEF): 4410 / 2203.52 / 3059.74
DPS drop per DEF point (all tiered swords): 8.75 / 5.8333 / 5.4
DPS (0 DEF): 3403.75 / 1700.42 / 2361.24
DPS drop per DEF point: 8.75 / 5.8333 / 5.4
The Crystal Sword has low damage but compensates for it by having a range of 4.5 tiles. The CSword does outdamage the tier 7 Golden Sword, but falls short of tiered swords from the tier 8 Ravenheart Sword on. The only real difference between the CSword and a tiered sword is its projectile lifetime (and thus its range). Because of this, any sword that is tier 8 and above will always outdamage a CSword, regardless of class.
DPS (0 DEF): 5670 / 2832.2 / 3932.5
DPS drop per DEF point: 17.5 / 11.6667 / 10.8
The Demon Blade is a sword that fires two shots with an arc gap of 40 degrees. It has a projectile speed of 13 t/s and the projectiles have a range of 3.38 tiles, but the shot spread reduces its true range to 1.37 tiles. The fact that it fires two shots makes it very powerful, but it also means the DBlade is twice more affected by enemy defense than tiered swords and the CSword. The DBlade falls below the Splendor at 145/108/162 DEF. The absurd power of the DBlade comes down to situations in which you feel safe getting near an enemy within the true range of this sword.
DPS (0 DEF): 3827.25 / 1912.75 / 2656.02
DPS drop per DEF point: 5.25 / 3.5 / 3.24
The Ancient Stone Sword is a sword with a slower rate of fire but has high damage and a range of 4 tiles. Unlike the CSword, the A.S.S.’s slow rate of fire and high damage allow it to gain an advantage over other swords when enemy defense is very high. In addition, the high damage makes it beneficial when the user is persistently affected by the weak debuff. The Stone Sword will always outdamage the CSword and any tiered sword from the Ravenheart down. The A.S.S. will begin to outdamage the Dragonsoul Sword at 30/22/33 DEF; higher tiered swords are better able to resist the DPS gain of the A.S.S. as enemy DEF adds up. The Stone Sword will begin to outdamage the DBlade at 151/113/169 DEF. The Stone Sword is particularly useful on Warrior since his helm buff almost negates the sword’s rate of fire, but other classes can benefit from the additional range over a tiered sword.
DPS (0 DEF): 4652.38 / 2324.29 / 3227.52
DPS drop per DEF point: 11.38 / 7.5833 / 7.02
The Pirate King’s Cutlass is a sword with a shorter range of 3.3 tiles but a 130% rate of fire. It has a projectile speed of 15 t/s and provides a 2 DEF penalty and a +3 SPD bonus. The Cutlass will outdamage the Splendor until 93/70/104 DEF. Compared to the A.S.S, the Cutlass will outdamage it until 135/101/162 DEF. The Cutlass’s shorter range might be a slight hindrance, but its power is a big benefit to those who are comfortable with the short range.
DPS (0 DEF): 5740 / 2863.78 / 3977.28
DPS drop per DEF point: 35 / 23.3333 / 21.6
The Pixie-Enchanted Sword is similar to the DBlade in that it fires multiple shots with a spread. This sword has the longest range of all swords, at 4.55 tiles. It has a projectile speed of 14 t/s, fires four shots with a 10 degree arc gap, and has a true range of 1.87 tiles. At 0 DEF, this sword will outdamage every other sword, including the DBlade, but its four shot nature makes it twice as affected by enemy DEF compared to the DBlade. The Pixie falls below the DBlade at 5/3/5 DEF. Compared to a Splendor, the Pixie loses its edge at 51/38/57 DEF. In spite of its drawbacks, the Pixie can prove to be useful because of its dense spread of shots and its long range.
DPS (0 DEF): 2657.81 / 1328.54 / 1844.78
DPS drop per DEF point: 2.1875 / 1.4583 / 1.35
The Indomptable is the only sword with the ability to pierce enemies (
Shots hit multiple targets), and it also does the most damage per shot of any sword. It has a projectile speed of 7 t/s, a 25% RoF, and a penalty of 10 DEF for holding the sword. Despite its piercing capabilities and high damage per shot, the Indomptable has very poor DPS against single targets, and it will take either a very high amount of enemy defense, or consistently hitting more than one enemy with each shot, for the sword to start doing more damage than another comparable sword. The Pixie will usually be the first sword it starts to outdamage, since the Pixie is particularly prone to enemy defense. It will take 94/71/106 DEF for the Indomptable to start outdamaging the Pixie. Many players do not find the Indomptable to be particularly useful because of its low DPS compared to other swords, even with its ability to pierce enemies.
DPS (0 DEF): 5022.5 / 2509.89 / 3485.16
DPS drop per DEF point: 8.75 / 5.8333 / 5.4
The Sword of the Colossus is a rare, powerful, and prestigous untiered sword. It has a range of 4.5 tiles, but its shots are affected by an amplitude that makes the shots curve away from the line of aim by a distance of 0.7 tiles before truing up at the end of their range. Because of this, there is a gap in this sword’s range where you will not hit your target if you aimed the sword directly toward it. The Colo Sword will always outdamage a tiered sword because it has an identical rate of fire. However, there are a few swords that do more damage than it against enemies with certain defense values. The Colo Sword will start to outdamage the Pixie at 28/21/31 DEF. The DBlade fares slightly better, outdamaging the Colo Sword until 75/56/83 DEF. There technically is a point where the A.S.S. and Indomptable will begin to outdamage the Colo Sword, but those DEF values are astronomical and there are few (if any) enemies that possess such a high DEF to allow for such an occurrence. The Colo Sword is an exceptionally powerful sword, but the key to mastering it is in learning to deal with the sine wave movement of its projectiles.
DPS (0 DEF): 4129.13 / 2062.96 / 2864.57
DPS drop per DEF point: 0 (
Ignores defense of target)
Oryx’s Greatsword is the only sword that is capable of piercing armor, meaning that it will do the same damage to an enemy regardless of their defense. The main drawback with this sword is that it only has a range of 2.8 tiles. It will outdamage every other sword, even the Colo Sword, at 103/77/115 DEF. It will always outdamage slow-firing swords like the A.S.S. and Indomptable due to its armor piercing nature. It will start to outdamage the Pixie at 47/35/52 DEF and the DBlade at 89/66/99 DEF. The Greatsword’s short range compromises much of its practicality, but its true power lies in its armor piercing capabilities.
DPS Comparison Photos (sourced from Pfiffel’s DPS tool; the black box is Oryx’s Greatsword as the tool lacks this particular sword):
1 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sword |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Range |
4.55 |
4.5 |
4.5 |
4 |
3.5 |
3.5 |
3.38 |
3.3 |
2.8 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sword |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Range |
4.5 |
4.5 |
4 |
3.5 |
3.5 |
3.3 |
2.8 |
1.87 |
1.37 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sword |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
Damage (Per Shot) |
607.5 |
364.5 |
287 |
252 |
247 |
239.5 |
232 |
224.5 |
217 |
214.5 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sword |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Damage (Per Proc) |
607.5 |
364.5 |
328 |
324 |
287 |
252 |
247 |
239.5 |
232 |
224.5 |
Shot Count |
1 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |