Plain and simple, you should not be using a Crystal Sword as a swapout.
Melee classes gravitate towards damage, dealing it or taking it. If you are playing a Melee class in a group — which is likely because RotMG is a MMO — then your DPS matters even less so.
You aren’t competing with other players to get loot, low soulbound thresholds deny it.
However, you are competing for your own survival. Can’t get loot if your dead.
Acclaim:
247.5 Average Damage
3.5 Tiles Range
Crystal Sword:
195 Average Damage
4.5 Tiles Range
What justifies Melee classes to be tankier than Ranged classes such as the Archer or Wizard?
It’s in the name. Melee, close quarters combat.
What does the Crystal sword give? Additional range.
Granted that one tile isn’t much, but it is about 28.57% more than its tiered counterpart, the Acclaim.
That’s basically running around 28.57% safer.
And if ya still care about the DPS…
The range difference between the underrated Crystal sword and the default Acclaim is the aforementioned 28.57%, whereas the damage difference between the two is about 26.92%.
If ya stretched the Acclaim to the Crystal Sword’s range it’d be doing 192.5 average damage, 2.5 less than Crystal.
This point isn’t very meaningful, but it goes to show that the Crystal Sword out does the Acclaim on the Damage:Range ratio too.
What else has it got going for it?
Rarity. It’s common, at least when compared to other UT swords and the Acclaim if you’re farming for it.
It’s like the Expo for swords, but as if it were actually better than the UBHP most of the time.
Point is, Acclaim should be your swapout when ya need DPS, but when ya need DPS you ought to be using Demon Blade if you got your hands on one.
This scenario is just like the Dagger’s Etherite, Cronus, Spirit, and Foul situation. Except that you’re not a Rogue and don’t benefit tremendously from additional DPS, cause you’re Melee.
Keep your death toll low and your Loot count high.
I hope ya enjoyed this fun little rant. I didn’t mean it as being serious, but I still wanted to get a point across in a humorous manner.
One exception to this rant is the Knight. Like the Rogue, they can situationally ignore damage and are generally the tankiest Melee nonetheless. I’d say Crystal Sword ought to be a swapout for them, but even then it wouldn’t see nearly as much use.
Another thing to note is if you are soloing content, DPS matters much more as you’re the only one dealing it. Doesn’t change the fact that it is still the “less safe” option of course. (And commonsense would suggest that you wouldn’t use a CSword when rushing any dungeon :v)
Stay safe and use a C-
Crystal Sword ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)