Underrated standard artifacts

[Pete Mack]

My current HE Warrior is using Taratol as a primary weapon. It pretty much rocks, in the midgame. I've only got +5 permanent speed from Thror + Trickery, so I need speed pretty often--which Taratol grants. I also only have two wands of Teleport Other, which are protected by the electric immunity. That turns out to be a big deal too. And of course *slay dragon* and lightning brand help a lot. Electricity immunity is rare, and there are a whole lot of fairly high-HP dragons in the midgame, much more than demons and undead. I managed to kill an Ethereal Dragon without rConf, as well as several GCDs. I had been carrying a *thanc as a swap, but it turns out the extra 30 damage against "other monsters" doesn't matter, as electric resistance is sufficiently rare--especially if you can knock down dragons as well.
Current character is CL 32, DL 61, HP 566, damage 311El/386D/235, at speed +5.

[Estie]

I always wished for an opportunity to use Taratol, but cant remember getting one; I always found something like Aglarang before the mace. I would keep Taratol at home "for Pazuzu" but it would fall victim to house cleaning long before Pazuzu´s time; not that it would be a good idea to use anymore anyway since the change where he now does relevant damage other than lightning.

[Pete Mack]

Yeah, I used to use it on Pazuzu back when he literally did zero damage against electric immunity. Taratol takes a bit too long to kill him now that he can defend himself a little against it.
But at a low level, it really helped: damage comparable to a 'thanc for a pre-stat-gain Warrior; electric immunity to preserve the very rare sources of TO, and a Haste activation to make the character competitive up to do 65 (where I found the first real speed object and got above +5.)