Lategame standart melee weapon tiers

[Gram]

A decade ago, to compare melee weapons, I used wizard mode to create a character with endgame gear and stats, gave him the top standard artifact weapons, recorded damage numbers against key foes, and sorted by average damage. I'm playing again for the first time in years, and decided to revisit that post.

I've refined that list in some key ways: by using the geometric rather than arithmetic mean, including damage against evil dragons (by popular request from a decade ago), and adjusting for speed bonuses. I'm also including all artifacts, rather than just the best ones, and splitting the lists into tiers. When choosing between weapons in the same tier, stat bonuses and other powers may well be more important than small differences in calculated damage, but there are clearer separating lines between the tiers.

I've done this test using a ranger; results would be very similar for other hybrid spellcasters. Warriors would lean a bit more towards weapons that are light enough to allow them their maximum 6 blows, while pure spellcasters, when they are forced into melee, would lean a bit more towards weapons with direct +blows bonuses.

I'm not trying to rank weapons for their suitability throughout the whole game. In the early game, which weapons are best may vary heavily depending on your class, stats, the foes you face at your depth, and your vulnerabilities. In the lategame, when characters have maxed stats, high bonuses, and an interest in dealing with the same kinds of deep-dungeon threats, there's some convergence.

Standard artifact weapon tiers for lategame:
1a Legendary: Ringil, Aule, Pain, Eorlingas
1b Heroic: Aglarang, Wrath
2a Superb: Eonwe, Crisdurian, Aiglos, Mundwine, Sting (enchanted)
2b Excellent: Durin, Thunderfist, Ulmo, Haradekket, Sting (unenchanted), Orome, Hurin
3a Very Good: Gurthang, Totila, Olorin, Eowyn, Dagmor, Fundin, Anduril, Lotharang, Erebor
3b Good: Avavir, Taratol, Osondir, Nain, Careth Asdriag, Bloodspike, Barukkheled, Angrist, Til-i-arc
4a Fair: Balli, Orcrist, Glamdring, Nar-i-vagil, Firestar, Forasgil
4b Mediocre: Aranruth, Aeglin, Nimloth, Turmil, Eriril, Belangil, Azaghal
5a Poor: Maedhros, Theoden, Rilia, Elvagil
5b Bad: Gondricam, Dethanc, Narthanc, Nimthanc

Aggravating artifact weapon tiers for lategame:
0a Cataclysmic: Grond
0b Calamitous: Deathwreaker
1a Infamous: Doomcaller
1b Notorious: Zarcuthra
2b Volatile: Calris, Anguirel
3a Baleful: Melkor, Gothmog
6b Fatal: Mormegil

Data and methodology in followup post. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

[Gram]

Here's the data.

The six damage types here are Base, Slay Evil, Slay Undead, Slay Demon, Slay Dragon, and Branded. Undead, demons, and dragons are assumed to be evil so those columns are actually the maximum of damage vs particulary type and vs evil.

The last two numbers are the geometric average and the result of adjusting the geomean to account for any speed bonus.

Weapons with ** after their names have been enchanted above their default (to-hit, to-dam) values; see below.

Name    Bas Evl Und Dmn Drg Brn Avg Adj Brand
Ringil  408 477 546 683 477 546 516 653 Cold
Aule    418 520 623 623 828 623 593 593 Acid
Pain**  563 563 563 563 563 563 563 563
Pain    558 558 558 558 558 558 558 558
Eorling 441 552 552 552 552 441 512 546
Wrath   387 479 755 479 479 571 514 514 Poison
Aglaran 438 438 438 438 438 438 438 511
Eonwe   378 452 526 674 452 526 493 493 Cold
Crisdur 397 481 565 481 565 397 476 476
Aiglos  391 449 623 449 449 507 473 473 Cold
Mundwin 396 494 494 591 494 396 473 473
Sting** 397 428 459 428 428 397 422 464
Ulmo    423 423 423 423 668 423 457 457
Haradek 408 455 503 455 455 408 446 446
Durin   374 374 374 491 609 491 444 444 Fire,Acid
Sting   365 396 427 396 396 365 390 429
Orome   355 355 355 355 355 510 377 427 Fire
Thunder 397 397 397 397 397 578 423 423 Fire,Lightning
Hurin   344 344 344 587 465 465 416 416 Acid
Totila  325 385 385 385 385 446 384 409 Fire
Gurthng 357 357 357 357 602 480 409 409 Poison,Fire
Olorin  327 384 384 555 384 441 407 407 Fire
Eowyn   344 401 572 401 401 344 404 404
Dagmor  389 389 389 389 389 452 399 399 Poison
Fundin  349 406 463 406 406 349 394 394
Anduril 331 382 433 382 382 433 389 389 Fire
Lothrng 388 388 388 388 388 388 388 388
Erebor  357 357 357 449 357 449 385 385 Acid
Taratol 328 328 328 328 573 450 379 379 Lightning
Avavir  325 325 325 325 325 441 342 376 Cold,Fire
Osondir 333 333 470 333 333 470 374 374 Fire
Nain    357 357 357 357 464 357 373 373
CarAsdg 359 359 359 359 452 359 373 373
Blodspk 361 361 361 361 361 440 373 373 Poison
Barukkd 345 386 386 386 386 345 372 372
Angrist 326 370 370 370 370 414 369 369 Acid
Til-i-  310 310 310 402 310 402 338 361 Cold,Fire
Balli   336 336 336 491 336 336 358 358
Glmdrng 315 350 350 384 350 384 355 355 Fire
Orcrist 315 350 350 350 384 384 355 355 Cold
Nar-i-v 338 338 338 338 338 395 347 347 Fire
Firestr 333 333 333 333 333 414 346 346 Fire
Forasgl 334 334 334 334 334 406 345 345 Cold
Aranrut 317 317 317 421 317 317 332 332
Aeglin  321 321 321 321 321 390 332 332 Lightning
Nimloth 288 288 332 288 288 332 302 332 Cold
Turmil  314 314 314 314 314 427 330 330 Cold
Eriril  310 339 339 339 339 310 329 329
Belangl 312 312 312 312 312 395 324 324 Cold
Azaghal 304 304 304 304 436 304 323 323
Maedhrs 315 315 315 315 315 315 315 315
Theoden 294 294 294 294 375 294 306 306
Rilia   292 292 292 292 292 347 301 301 Poison
Elvagil 297 297 297 297 297 297 297 297
Gondric 282 282 282 282 282 282 282 282
Dethanc 273 273 273 273 273 300 277 277 Lightning
Narthnc 273 273 273 273 273 300 277 277 Fire
Nimthnc 273 273 273 273 273 300 277 277 Cold

​Name        Bas  Evl  Und  Dmn  Drg  Brn  Avg  Adj  Brand
Grond       716  1054 2069 2069 2069 716  1298 1298    
Deathwrkr   519  720  1325 720  922  922  820  820  Fire
Doomcaller  453  546  546  639  825  639  597  597  Cold
Zarcuthra   404  484  565  565  726  565  543  543  Fire
Calris**    378  447  447  515  652  378  461  461
Calris      371  437  437  503  636  371  451  451
Anguirel    357  397  397  438  397  438  403  444  Poison
Melkor**    395  395  395  395  395  558  418  418  Poison
Melkor      389  389  389  389  389  548  411  411  Poison
Gothmog     346  346  346  346  615  480  402  402  Fire
Mormegil**  331  331  456  331  581  456  405  270  Poison
Mormegil    170  170  291  170  413  291  236  157  Poison​​

[Gram]

And, lastly, some methodology details.

1. Geometric mean: Taking a normal arithmetic mean gives far too much weight to a single powerful slay or brand, and underrates the value of consistently high damage against all monsters. If I had the ability to use Angband's internal logic to calculate every weapon's exact damage against every foe in monster.txt, the way to combine that data would be via a weighted harmonic mean. A harmonic mean is the right mathematical tool for averaging rates, and a weighted harmonic mean would tell us something like "how many game turns would it take to kill one of each monster in the dungeon." However, because I'm using 6 coarse types reported in the item information (Base, Evil, Evil Undead, Evil Demon, Evil Dragon, and Brand), a harmonic mean can underrate brands and slays. The geometric mean seems to be the right compromise: rewarding special abilities while penalizing 'one-hit wonders.'

2. A caveat about elemental brands: This coarser method for getting damage numbers doesn't naturally reflect how often different brands manage to inflict their branded damage. For instance, in the lategame, weapons branded with acid get branded damage more often than do weapons branded with poison, and throughout the game, double-branded weapons like Thunderfist have more opportunities to land branded damage. Having looked over the result tables, I don't think those differences would change which tier weapons belong in, but I've manually bumped some acid or double-branded weapons higher within their tier in the list to reflect their more reliable branded damage.

3. Enchanting: Plenty of artifact weapons have combat bonuses below (+15,+15) and can therefore be improved via enchantment. I wanted to incorporate that potential. However, enchanting is harder than it used to be: in Angband 4.2, only priests and paladins can spam the Enchant Weapon spell, while other classes must rely on scrolls. So I've drawn the line at +12; due to high failure rates, pushing beyond that may be unrealistic. Only five weapons have a starting to-hit or to-dam number low enough that getting up to +12 is a major change: Pain, Sting, Calris, Melkor, and Mormegil. Of these, only Sting gets enough of a benefit to bump it into a new tier. Sting starts with a modest (+7,+8) bonus, and each successful enchantment is multiplied by its exceptional 7 blows per round, netting an extra 34 damage per turn.

4. Stats and equipment baseline: For this test, the ranger was bumped to character level 50 with all base stats maxed. Exact damage numbers depend on the bonuses from other worn gear, especially strength, dexterity, and direct +damage. To make the test reproducible, rather than outfitting the character with ego items or rings of damage or speed, which are difficult to spawn identical copies of, I equipped a fixed artifact kit: Belthronding, Vilya, Nenya, the Necklace of the Dwarves, the Arkenstone, Bladeturner, Luthien, Anarion, Dor-Lomin, Fingolfin, and Feanor. However, when I adjusted weapons' damage numbers to account for speed bonuses the weapons themselves provide, I used a standard +20 speed baseline, rather than the +28 speed afforded by this overkill artifact testing kit. This helps weight weapon speed bonuses realistically for a standard endgame character rather than facing artifically high diminishing returns.

Edit: I'd be happy to hand people the spreadsheet, which has a bit more info, but I don't think the forum will let me upload it.

[Estie]

That is pretty much the order I remember applying back when I played with standarts. One Q: Isnt Ringil frost branded anymore ?

My simplified evaluation function looks like this:

There are 2 purposes, farming and endboss slaying.

For the former I fully count any damage from elemental brands (not poison) or evil, the logic being that there is a substantial amount of susceptible monsters I can search out and kill.
Aggravation is a deal breaker, dragon damage is of no concern; those have ceased to be a source for items long ago. In fact, they are a tier 2 target for banishment in vaults now.

For endboss slaying, only damage versus evil is relevant and aggravation doesnt matter. More often than not I find a boss weapon while farming and store it till the final fights.

[Gram]

One Q: Isnt Ringil frost branded anymore ?

Oops! I had recorded the correct branded damage for Ringil but hadn't listed its brand type. Found one other error afterwards. Both fixed now. Thanks!

[PowerDiver]

Aggravation is a deal breaker

Aggravation as implemented should have been removed from the game decades ago. Unfortunately you cannot simply edit gamedata files, as it might still end up on randarts.

I would be down with a positive implementation that caused already awake monsters with LOS to 50% ignore ranged attacks and move towards the player instead.

[Nick]

This is essentially what the blackguard Relentless Taunting spell does