Leafiara (prime)/Fun Facts Friday/Door 3
Today we'll be discussing Ironwright flares, probably one of the least understood scripts in the game--and I sure don't understand everything about them myself, as you'll find out, but I can tell you things the wiki can't.
Still, let's start with the basics. The wiki says this:
https://gswiki.play.net/Ironwright
Ironwright's script gives holy flares when an item is blessed (no matter the profession) as well as a selection of two or three other flares (for example, acid/impact/web/airbolt). The other flares are activated by casting a related spell at the weapon after it has been blessed (e.g. Hurl Boulder for impact). The flares last until the bless wears off. This flare occupies the script slot, not the flare slot.
Their most recent appearance at Duskruin in June 2018, where they cost 175,000 bloodscrip, also notes:
https://gswiki.play.net/Duskruin_Arena/June_2018_prize_list
The bearer of this contract is entitled to have their weapon converted to an Ironwright holy weapon with two flares. Some weapons may not be eligible. Flares choices are fire, cold, electrical, impact, acid, void, plasma, disintegrate, disruption, unbalance, web, and airbolt.
Added to weapons that can accept scripts. Cannot work with other scripts (ex. fusion) and item must be blessable. Airbolt is a special flare that's pretty unique to this script. So is web, but it's kind of like the spell in terms of the effects. You can choose 2 for this service. The popular combo from previous offerings has been web and fire.
Let all that soak in for a moment...
So the popular combo was web and fire. As a spell, Web is well known to have synergy with fire effects--if you burn a webbed enemy, then the web catches on fire too and does additional damage.
Considering all of that, and the fact that the script cost 175,000 bloodscrip in June (and 200,000 in Duskruins before June!) while greater elemental flares only cost 40,000 bloodscrip, I assumed that Ironwright is able to double flare just like them and the explanation of the much higher cost is because it's also blessable.
Well, as it turns out... nope, Ironwright can only flare one at a time; you rotate which one it is by casting a spell of the appropriate crit type. So if you just want a blessable flaring weapon, you might as well buy a parasite or sprite for only 10k bloodscrip--and they actually will double flare, with holy water and their script flares.
Now, before we move on, I always wondered:
What if you put Ironwright on a sanctified weapon? I asked that on the officials and was told that it won't work on a weapon made of a metal that isn't naturally sanctified, but will work on a metal that is.
While I can't confirm the former, I can confirm the latter--since I added Ironwright to a 7x white ora weapon at CCF last May for something like 33 million silvers.
In addition to wrongly thinking that it would double flare, I was hoping for two other things from my purchase:
1 - On an ordinary blessable weapon, Ironwright flares last as long as the blessing does. So, since a sanctified weapon is always "blessed," I figured the flare would last forever.
2 - The wiki says that Ironwright takes up the script slot and not the flare slot, so I figured that on a sanctified metal--but only on a sanctified metal, because I think a normal weapon needs to remain blessable for Ironwright to work--I could add something in the flare slot and have a double flaring weapon.
My first reason turned out to be invalid. Rather than having the flare always active, instead you actually see "a faint aura of holy light" when looking at the weapon, as if it were blessed even though it's sanctified. Likewise, after enough strikes you'll see a "returns to normal" message as if the blessing is wearing off.
This can actually make it really hard for a paladin or cleric to notice when the Ironwright flares wear off since the weapon is still hitting the undead regardless, whereas with a normal blessable weapon you'd know immediately from the weapon having no effect.
My second reason... might be valid, but I actually don't know yet. I won a spin for common flares at CCF and added fire to my Ironwright weapon, but rather than having a fire + plasma/web weapon now, I have a fire/plasma/web weapon.
Which is fascinating in and of itself, because now I wonder what happens if I buy an uncommon flare cert at DR one day and add disintegrate to it... would it then have four rotating abilities? Maybe one day I'll find out.
So at least two and possibly all three of the reasons I wanted Ironwright were letdowns. It doesn't double flare, it doesn't last forever on a sanctified weapon, and I'm not sure yet if it's possible to add a B slot flare.
What gives, then? Is Ironwright just a needlessly overpriced script?
Well, hop on and buckle up, because either:
- A - I have the secret explanation.
- B - It's going to stay mechanically the same next time but be cranked up in price.
- C - While it wasn't previously an overpriced script, it's about to have been one since we're getting it nerfed now.
- D - Nothing's changing at all and this is just how the script works.
Any profession can successfully swing an Ironwright weapon made of a sanctified metal against the undead while the "bless" is active.
Any profession can activate the "bless" if they know a spell of the appropriate crit type. From what I can tell, the length depends on spell ranks, though I haven't done any extensive testing.
In other words, putting Ironwright on a sanctified metal is kind of like adding permabless except that instead of taking up Slot B (with holy water flares), it takes up Slot D (and possibly also slot B, but I'm not sure) and has an upkeep cost of casting an appropriate spell at it again every so often.
Oh, and also the blessing on a sanctified metal Ironwright seems to be way shorter than an ordinary blessing. I think I counted something like 200 swings coming from 159 cleric base ranks (of a cast of 302, since 304 isn't needed). So that's another minor downside.
...but, again, small price when you could also be a wizard and 906 your weapon, etc.