Leafiara (prime)/Mechanical Musings/Choosing Your Ideal Weapon Script

(Please note: This guide is still in progress. Duskbringer Weapons, Parasite Weapons, Sprite Weapons, and Valence Weapons are still coming. Sigil Staves might or might not be. I also intend to include something like a "Flip the Script" section that will address the question of why bother with any of this at all.)

Animalistic Spirit

(For details on this weapon script, see its wiki page.)

Why decide on an Animalistic Spirit Weapon?

• Animalistic Spirit has unsurpassed variety of flavor messaging, featuring dozens of animal groupings each with their own unique flare messaging, a dozen damage types that also append their own unique flare messaging to the animal grouping, and further granular customization to individualize on the item level so that even two weapons with the same animal and damage type will still look different in as many as four ways.
• Animalistic Spirit is one of only two scripts to offer grapple crits off the shelf, which have a very high chance of knocking creatures down when they hit.
• Animalistic Spirit offers a wide variety of fluff verbs, all of which incorporate the customizations mentioned above.
• Its non-linear, a la carte upgrade path allows paying to unlock the perks you want and avoiding the perks you don't.
• The unlockable Revenge Flare reactive when parrying (for melee weapons and runestaves) or evading (for brawling and ranged weapons) is unique among weapon scripts in its ability to contribute to combat even during moments when you're not inputting commands.
• The unlockable Wild Backlash ability offers DS and TD debuffs that are unique among weapon scripts. While both have value, TD debuffs are especially rare in the context of how many options exist for them in the entire game.
• While the full details are beyond the scope of this guide for now, these also have synergy with Animalistic Spirit Armor and/or Animalistic Spirit Headdresses.
• You personally consider it appealing to have an animal spirit launch from your weapon to attack your foes.

Why decide against an Animalistic Spirit Weapon?

• Completing the bonding process takes longer than Energy Weapons and significantly longer than Parasite or Sprite Weapons.
• Grapple crits are the only Animalistic Spirit damage type offered off the shelf. This damage type has virtually no chance of killing a creature in and of itself and the value of its knockdowns is negated if your hunting style involves opening combat by reliably and manually knocking down creatures. As mentioned, the damage type can be changed, but most damage types you would change to could have been purchased off the shelf with a different weapon script to save on bloodscrip.
• Handing down an Animalistic weapon to a different character (yours or someone else's) and getting full benefits out of it basically requires the new owner to go through the bonding process twice--once to essentially unbond it from the previous owner, bringing it back to neutral status, then again to bond it to themselves. Things like sharing it between multiple characters on a premium account or letting friends borrow it without being penalized on DS and TD are entirely out of the question.
• You prefer the unique benefits or flavor of other weapon scripts.

Briar

(For details on this weapon script, see its wiki page.)

Why decide on Briar flares?

• Briar flares have their own unique, extensive loresong.
• Briar flaring claidhmores, katanas, and naginatas are offered off the shelf, which is very unusual.
• The two-minute-long AS boost from tier 3 is easy to maintain nearly indefinitely for AS-based melee weapons. Players can and do treat tier 3 briar weapons as essentially an extra +25 of enchantments (alongside their grapple and poison flares) since the AS boost has no cooldown, nor is it luck-based like other scripts' flare perks.
• This is one of only two scripts to offer grapple crits off the shelf, which have a very high chance of knocking creatures down when they hit. These grapple crits additionally poison the foe to cause damage over time and, at least at tier 3, have an increased damage ceiling that allows them to occasionally deal up to 175 damage instead of the typical grapple maximum of 55. (Note: 175 is the most I've seen, anyway.)
• While the full details are beyond the scope of this guide for now, these also have synergy with Briar Accessories.
• You personally consider it appealing to have a weapon bonded with vengeful vines that feed on the blood of you and your foes.

Why decide against Briar flares?

• Frequent health drain has anti-synergy with Ensorcell flares, which will grant increased AS less often than normal since they'll be busy restoring health instead.
• Grapple crits are the only briar damage type, but the value of grapple knockdowns is negated if your hunting style involves opening combat by reliably and manually knocking down creatures. Below tier 3, this damage type also has virtually no chance of killing a creature in and of itself. (At tier 3, the grapple criticals are still unlikely to kill on their own, but the sheer health damage enough can climb high enough that that can kill.)
• Taking a briar weapon out of a container causes a rank 1 injury to that hand. That on its own doesn't hinder combat, but does make it easier for creatures to stack that hand up to a bleeder or stack up injuries in multiple locations to prevent casting. Alternatively, healing off the wound at the start of hunts adds minor RT and tedium to your routine.
• Tapping a briar weapon before putting it away to avoid injuries adds minor RT and tedium to your routine.
• The benefits of tier 1 and tier 2 are minimal, yet expensive at respectively 55,000 and 105,000 bloodscrip. A minute-long boost of +5 AS or +10 AS, respectively, is very little payoff given the time it takes the weapon (and accompanying accessories, if applicable) to have siphoned 50 or 75 health.
• The benefits of tier 3 are immense, yet also immensely expensive at 355,000 bloodscrip.
• You prefer the unique benefits or flavor of other weapon scripts.

Energy Weapon

(For... a non-zero level of details on this weapon script, see its wiki page. ...and then also see its saved posts page.)

Why decide on an Energy Weapon?

• Aside from Twin Weapons, which are exclusive to Two Weapon Combat builds, Energy Weapons are the only weapon script that offers a selection of damage types off the shelf: fire, ice, impact (earth), or lightning damage. The lightning crit table is noticeably more lethal in and of itself than off the shelf damage types offered by other scripts.
• Energy Weapons as a whole are cost-effective, efficient, minimalistic, and powerful. (The "minimalistic" part could also be seen as a drawback; see below.) Even when using the flares at their default strength (neither the Drained Flares nor Surged Flares features), a tier 0 or tier 1 lightning-based Energy Weapon is the most universally applicable sheer power you could get in a weapon script for, respectively, a 10,000 or 15,000 bloodscrip price point. ...at least, not counting Twin Weapons.
• The Surged Flares feature unlocked at tier 1 pushes the power ceiling of Energy Weapon flares above other script flares, albeit with the tradeoff that it needs to be used strategically. (You'd also need to make use of the Drained Flares feature afterward to have Surged Flares ready to go later.)
• The Unleashing feature unlocked at tier 2 offers a way to get several minutes of AS and CS boost, albeit with the tradeoff that it needs to be used strategically. (Same setup as Surged Flares, requiring using Drained Flares to recharge at times as well.) While AS and CS both have value, CS boosting is among the most rare benefits through all means in the entire game.
• You personally consider it appealing to have a basically "gimmick-free" weapon without mechanical obstacles like limitations on weapon types or flavor obstacles like sentient beings bound to an object.

Why decide against an Energy Weapon?

• Energy Weapons trade style away for substance, having very little to offer on flavor other than minor customizations of two colors for the flares. Even what flavor they do have points at just how mechanical they are since their activations involve levers, switches, and energy stores built into the weapon.
• Swapping between Drained Flares and either Surged Flares or Unleashing can be considered strategic, as mentioned above, but could also be considered cumbersome. If you know your tendencies well enough to believe you'd never use Surged Flares nor Unleashing, then Greater Elemental Flares would usually be preferable to going beyond tier 1. Greater Elemental Flares would be at least comparable to ("better" or "worse" is difficult to quantify) a tier 2 or tier 3 Energy Weapon on a sheer power basis, but would be less expensive and adds to existing weapons for access to perks that upgrading an off-the-shelf Energy Weapon wouldn't (as easily) have. There are corner cases, nonetheless, but for more on that, see the Greater Elemental Flares drawbacks section.
• You prefer the unique benefits or flavor of other weapon scripts.

Fighting Knives

(For... a non-zero level of details on this weapon script, see its wiki page. ...and then also see its saved posts page.)

Why decide on Fighting Knives?

• Fighting Knives' fluff verbs not only work as verbs, but introduce their own entire minigame of roshambo-like knife fights with other Fighting Knife owners.
• Fighting Knives offer a variety of colorful, randomly selected flare messages that can depict your character getting gleams in their eyes, seizing on opportunities to land an additional strike, and more. Knockout flares are the only other other weapon script that operates on this kind of level by painting a verbal picture that highlights your character instead of your character's weapon.
• In the specific niche of the dagger market, nothing approaches the cost-effectiveness of a T1 Fighting Knife, which historically has one offering per Duskruin in which you can buy a +25 Fighting Knife that also has elemental flares for 3,500 bloodscrip. That's about three times as efficient on cost as the next closest competitor, a T1 Valence Weapon dagger (5,000 bloodscrip, but only one set of flares), and about six times as efficient as anything beyond that (the typical 10,000 bloodscrip for one set of flares).
• You personally consider it appealing to stab, stab some more, slash, and slash some more. Or you just plain like daggers!

Why decide against Fighting Knives?

• As mentioned, only daggers can be Fighting Knives--and daggers are a very niche weapon type. They can excel at ambushing, but the better a character is at ambushing, the less useful flares are likely to be.
• You prefer the unique benefits or flavor of other weapon scripts.

Greater Elemental Flares

(For details on this weapon script, see its wiki page.)

Why decide on Greater Elemental Flares?

• Greater Elemental Flares pack a mechanically strong punch of double elemental flares and yet are the least expensive script to add to an existing weapon, being priced at only 40,000 bloodscrip (if the weapon already has basic elemental flares) or 55,000 bloodscrip (if it doesn't, in which case you're actually adding as many as three flares per attack compared to a vanilla weapon). That's a fraction of the typical 250,000 cost for the large majority of scripts, even the 125,000-per-weapon cost for Twin Weapons, or even the 100,000 cost for Knockout.
• While it's a fairly minor benefit, Greater Elemental Flares add 150 gear difficulty. Most competing options add 200 gear difficulty.
• You personally consider it appealing to wield raw elemental force. (The fluff verbs are few in number, but what exists does well to portray a weapon infused with elemental power.)

Why decide against Greater Elemental Flares?

• Greater Elemental Flares require that the ability slot ("flare slot") be filled with elemental flares, thus shutting out any plans that involve flares including (but not limited to) acuity, death, dispel, mana, mind wrack, or terror.
• This is as cost-effective as it gets at the very specific 40,000 bloodscrip mark, but the low end can win out on efficiency per bloodscrip spent and the top end can, of course, win out on power.
• You prefer the unique benefits or flavor of other weapon scripts.

Iasha Weapon

(For details on this weapon script, see its wiki page. ...however, please note that the description of "holy fire" flares from this legacy script has no relation to the modern holy fire flares from the cleric sanctification service.)

Why decide on an Iasha Weapon?

• For clerics and paladins, off the shelf Iasha Weapons are among the cheapest flaring scripts around, priced at 4,000 bloodscrip to 7,000 bloodscrip for a +25 weapon instead of the more typical 10,000 bloodscrip for a +20 weapon. (For professions other than clerics or paladins, there's an additional 5,000 bloodscrip surcharge to buy a certificate that allows them to use the Iasha weapon's flares and fluff verbs.)
• Iasha flares feature a variety of randomly selected messages that depict creatures burning with theatrical flair.
• Iasha weapons have their own unique loresong.
• Iasha weapons only have 70 gear difficulty, which is very little. Since they're white ora and can't be anything else, 50 of that difficulty is also essentially cancelled out for the purpose of cleric sanctification (but not other services).
• You personally consider it appealing to light creatures ablaze with divine flames.

Why decide against an Iasha Weapon?

• As of this writing in February 2024, upgrading weapons to tier 3 Iasha hasn't been offered in any setting since the Commencement of Coraesine Forest event in May 2018.
• Iasha weapons make very poor long-term projects due to A) inflexibility at both the low end and high end of pay event-based weapon upgrades and B) increased costs of player services. They can't have additional flares added in the ability slot, which normally has great potential and versatility. (This is the low end of pay event upgrades.) They can't be transmuted into materials other than white ora, which also normally has great potential and versatility. (This is the high end of pay event upgrades.) While they do make cleric sanctification easier, as mentioned, that comes at the cost of requiring glowing ur'veneth potions for every cast of enchantment and inky black potions for every cast of ensorcellment. In short, Iasha weapons are good starter weapons, but lack a pathway to satisfactorily become more than that.
• You prefer the unique benefits or flavor of other weapon scripts. ...is what I've included as a bullet point for every other script on this page, because it's true, but in this case it's worth mentioning that the Daybringer half of Duskbringer weapons have near-identical flavor to Iasha Weapons while lacking any of their mechanical drawbacks. Unless the second, third, and fourth bullet points in the "why decide on an Iasha Weapon?" section strongly appeal to you or you're in the very specific niche of playing a melee cleric or a paladin who you're certain you'll never want to splurge on for gear improvement, looking at the Duskbringer script as an alternative comes highly recommended.

Knockout

(For details on this weapon script, see its wiki page.)

Why decide on Knockout flares?

• Beyond even Fighting Knives, knockout flares portray a very dynamic vision of combat. Varied messaging chosen at random will vividly depict your character doing everything from double feinting to reversing the momentum of a strike to leaping into aerial attacks. Unlike Fighting Knives, knockout flares go beyond with still more nuance by having varied messaging depicting the attacked creatures doing things like collapsing to the ground, stumbling around trying to regain its bearings, or gibbering over the pain of the blow.
• Knockout flares almost always knock the foe prone (possibly even always, but that's harder to test) and can inflict other effects like rooted.
• Knockout flares only hit the head as long as the creature has a head and doesn't already have a rank 3 wound there, which makes them comparatively very lethal. Even when they don't kill, causing rank 2 or rank 3 head wounds severely penalizes a creature's DS for the followup attacks.
• Most weapon scripts cost 250,000 bloodscrip to add to an existing weapon, but knockout flares cost 100,000. In terms of mechanical power alone, even a vanilla +20 weapon with knockout flares added would compare favorably to the same amount of bloodscrip put into buying a different scripted weapon and taking it along its upgrade path; however, adding knockout flares to an existing weapon that already had other work done would push the value proposition to even greater heights.
• While it's a fairly minor benefit, knockout flares add 150 gear difficulty. Most competing options add 200 gear difficulty.
• You personally consider it appealing to relentlessly bash creatures' heads in.

Why decide against Knockout flares?

• Only weapons that do crush damage at least 50% of the time can have knockout flares.
• Randomly chosen flare messaging can be a point against knockout flares if you want absolute precision in your character portrayal.
• Unlike more modern weapon scripts, knockout flares don't have an on-ramp to start small and give them a try before sinking in more currency if you find that you like them. 100,000 bloodscrip is simply the minimum and maximum buy-in cost simultaneously. As with Greater Elemental Flares, knockout flares are very powerful for their specific price point, but lower price points can be more cost-effective and higher price points can be more powerful.
• This script has three fluff verbs while most others have a double digit number of them.
• You prefer the unique benefits or flavor of other weapon scripts.

Realm Flares

(For details on this weapon script, see its wiki page.)

Why decide on Realm flares?

• Realm Flares are the cheapest script available at just 2,000 bloodscrip. If evaluated strictly as an off-the-shelf item and strictly on the efficiency of mechanical improvement per bloodscrip spent, nothing offered at Duskruin other than the dagger-exclusive Fighting Knives that also come with elemental flares.
• Realm Flares can spice up the variety of your hunting if you tend to roam since they'll flare different damage types depending where you are.
• You personally consider it appealing to have an ever-changing set of flares to suit your wanderlust.

Why decide against Realm flares?

• It's easy to illustrate the value proposition of Realm Flares compared to other pay event offerings with rhetorical questions like "is a tier 3 Energy Weapon really 62.5 times as powerful as a Realm Flaring weapon?" or even "is a tier 1 Daybringer really five times as powerful as a Realm Flaring weapon?" However, that's a double-edged sword that could simply be turned around: "is a Realm Flaring weapon really more than 50 times as powerful as a lightning flaring weapon you could find in a box that's worth 35,000 silver?" The answer to the first two questions is no. The answer to the last question is that the Realm Flaring Weapon is actually mechanically weaker because lightning is simply that much more powerful than most damage types.
• Realm Flaring weapons make very poor long-term projects due to the inflexibility of being unable to add additional flares in the ability slot, which normally has great potential and versatility. They are good starter weapons at a reasonable starter price--and they're at least fancier, albeit not stronger, than the aforementioned random treasure system lightning flaring weapon--but lack the ability to satisfactorily become anything better in the future.
• While the variable flares are designed to be good on average, they'll almost never be the best. (Occasional exceptions exist like hunting a troll warcamp in Icemule or Solhaven, where Realm Flares deal fire damage.) Realm Flares act like jacks of all trades and masters of none.
• You prefer the unique benefits or flavor of other weapon scripts.

Twin Weapons

(For details on this weapon script, see its wiki page.)

Why decide on Twin Weapons?

• As a script that requires two weapons, the pricing is adjusted somewhat correspondingly. This is difficult to quantify with exact precision, but suffice it to say that the off-the-shelf, tier 1, and tier 2 pricing would probably be justified at 25-40% more than it is. (Tier 3 is literally a different story since it didn't exist for the first two years that Twin Weapons existed. Flare strength caps at tier 2, so tier 3 was created more as a means for people who really liked their weapons to go even further beyond.) The High End Scrip Shop certificate to add the Twin Weapon script is also nominally the same 250,000 price as adding other scripts, but it could be argued that it's half the price in practice since it adds the script to both weapons at once.
• Aside from Energy Weapons, Twin Weapons are the only weapon script that offer a selection of damage types off the shelf: fire, ice, impact (earth), or lightning damage. The lightning crit table is noticeably more lethal in and of itself than off the shelf damage types offered by other scripts.
• Even at a maximum chance of 7%, double strikes are a very powerful perk compared to virtually all other scripts and are unique among them. (That is, unique unless we delve into the realm of coraesine relics, which cost 1,000,000 bloodscrip--more than four times the cost of two tier 3 Twin Weapons (235,000) and exactly eight times the cost of a tier 3 main hand Twin Weapon with a tier 0 offhand Twin Weapon (125,000), which still has the maximum double strike chance.)
• Twin Weapons are among the relatively few weapon scripts that have scaling difficulty depending on the tier, starting at 50, moving to 100 at tier 2, and then 150 at tier 3. Even the 150 mark for being fully unlocked is below most scripts, which are 200 difficulty.
• Twin Weapons offer different perks depending on which hand the weapon is in, how unlocked the individual weapon is, and how unlocked both weapons it is. Behind only Animalistic Spirit Weapons in flexibility, here you can pay for the perks you want and avoid the perks you don't.
• You personally consider it appealing to have weapons that are designed to be paired as inseparable twins by the creator or to have extra strikes at times.

Why decide against Twin Weapons?

• The alternative of using one script in the main hand and a different script in the offhand, while generally being more expensive, can provide more versatility and/or power. That does, of course, depend on exactly which scripts. Still, the overarching point is that Twin Weapons are very efficient at what they do, but their efficiency comes with the narrow scope of sheer force without utility nor much in the way of flavor.
• You prefer the unique benefits or flavor of other weapon scripts.