Which weapon is best: Spur, Calibur or Cutter?

It's really a matter of preference; there is no absolute best piece of equipment. It all comes down to what you want to get out of your equipment. I typically go for balance, so the Calibur series suits me well there, but a LOT of people like the Cutter series for the speed, even though the damage output is a joke.

As far as a gun goes, it's more about utility then raw damage. As such, I go with a shock series. There are a lot of good bombs out there though if you like to kite.

How about Spur? I read the recipe and found that it is kind of between the two. Is it any good?

I don't really like bombs. I will never equip them unless I get another weapon slot.

Thanks for the advice.

There is no such thing as a "best weapon".

The Spur is basically a mix of the Cutter's movement and the Calibur's swing style, with a projectile charge attack instead of the 360-slash. In other words, it has problems because it takes what is arguably the worst part of each weapon. There is no best weapon, but Spur is widely (albeit not unanimously) considered to be weaker than its alternatives.

In terms of Cutter vs. Calibur, it depends on whether or not you want to move a lot while you are slashing. Cutter can sweep through packs and separate enemies one at a time for corner-pounding, but Calibur has better damage and is better suited for defensive positioning and circle-strafing a large pack indefinitely.

I largely prefer the Calibur, but the Cutter has its merits. If anything, you'll try both before you get to T3, so just pick one for now and try the other later.

For guns, once again the answer is similar, but you can't go wrong with an elemental Alchemer (elemental as in NOT Prismatech). I would personally recommend Cryotech for the Freeze utility on Gun Puppies, but Firotech has good damage and Voltech's Shock has its uses.

I prefer the Cutter series for when I need to "pierce" a group and take out healers and such.

Don't waste your time on the Spur, though.

I find Calibur to be superior, especially once you get one with decent Charge Time Reduction and know how to use its charge attack.

You'll be much happier if you stop thinking about "best" and "worst". Items in this game are comparable to skills or spells in other games, so this is like debating Multi vs. Strafe.

The three weapons are quite different, though the rumours are mostly true that the spur is a mix of the two others. The cutter has a 5 swing combo with 2 hits per swing (10 hits in total), and its total damage per swing being decent but its per hit damage being significantly weaker. If your opponent moves too much, or you don't get close enough while attacking, you're likely to miss with the second hit of each swing. It has good forward movement though while attacking.

The Spur, in between, has good forward mobility and about the same power as the calibur as well as a 3 swing combo. A lot of people complain about the Spur because of its forward movement being so great, but I consider it a strength. Mobility in combat is an asset. If you learn to use it, you'll like the weapon. Later on, the Spur becomes the Winmillion (4 star weapon) which has a short range ranged attack, essentially becoming a 6 hit weapon. These ranged attacks however trigger the dodging routines of the enemies who dodge (wolvers, who in tier 3 begin to teleport when shot at, for instance) unless you can slash them with the Winmillion's blade AND hit them with the ranged attack.

The Calibur has a fairly generic attack string, again a 3 swing combo, but unlike the previous two this one has a charge attack worth using. It makes you do a 360 spin attack that knocks enemies away while doing good damage. This is one of the best charge attacks in the game for survival. Later Caliburs become solid weapons, but are in general not distinct besides their charged attack.

Another option is the brandish, which recently got several additions to expand its repertoire. Several of its paths now reach into the 5 star realm, so they're worthy purchases, and it's one of the easiest ways of getting Shadow damage.

Spur for the win. Its awesome. Especially when upgraded to the Winmillion.

As someone who's used the Spur line for a while, I recommend the Calibur series more. Utility of a good charge attack and lack of forward momentum in its' combo means you're in general more in control than Cutter or Spur. If you can manage the Cutter attack combo without plunging head-first into spikes or attacks, by all means go for it: Calibur is a nice all-purpose choice, and what I use currently.

Spur is fun while it lasts, and early on in early t2 range it will provide some nice damage, but the other two are generally better in the long run.

Alright, I'm going to end this argument easily.

You go with the sword that is suited for that particular map/strata/monster.

The end.

Bakaman said it best, but I'll offer my input anyway.

Spur line: I leveled and upgraded it to Winmillion in about an hour, and used it for awhile after that. I could never really adjust to the style of play you have to use in order for it to be effective. I found the forward momentum on each swing to be, contrary to what most people say, annoying. If you're trying to KO an enemy and don't manage to break their attack, you're smack in the middle of their attack range and will almost definitely get hit. On T3 the ranged attack can also be an annoyance due to the aforementioned teleporting wolvers, especially the Alphas that have the tendency to charge an attack and teleport behind you mid-attack, giving you no chance to get out of the way. All in all it was a bad experience for me.

Calibur line: I love the Calibur line of swords. They deal great damage, have decent speed, and the later versions (CIV and Leviathan Blade) are fantastic late-game weapons, especially for T3 and the Firestorm Citadel. The charge attack for Caliburs is also great for getting some breathing room. As of late I've abandoned them however, due to the Cutter series being so good for Jelly runs. I would recommend this line to anyone that doesn't want to spend time having to learn specialized strategies for the other swords.

Cutter line: GREAT speed and not too shabby damage-wise. Sure, they don't match the DPS of the other two, but both the Hunting Blade path and Vile Striker path have their benefits. I consider the Vile Striker and later Dread Venom Striker to be extremely important support weapons for various runs. The slight chance of poison on strike may seem useless, but when you factor in the fact that each full combo is 10 full hits, that slight chance is much more significant. In most cases you can poison an enemy midway through your second combo. It's almost vital to a Jelly run to ensure that the Royal Jelly can't heal if the battle goes long or your party is bad with poison vials. The Hunting Blade and Wild Hunting Blade are both useful for Wolver dens, and can really help take care of the more annoying non-Alphas. All in all, the Cutter line is very useful, if not for pure DPS.

Spur line... when someone can explain to me how to slash an enemy standing on the spikes with spur and not get hurt, then I'll consider it viable.
No, backing up isn't an option... have you -seen- the spike danger room layout? You -can't- back up there's only one tile of width. Unless you walk around to the side of the spikes near the -center- of the room and all the enemies collected in there by kiting manuevers. I have to stand at the edge of the spikes, and hit the enemy standing on the spikes with my sword, in less time than it takes to charge.

Yeah, maneuverability is great. Being forced to move regardless of the situation... not so great. That's the opposite of maneuverability. 'must move forward' takes choices away just as much as 'must freeze in place' that makes the autogun line so painful.

You go with the sword that is suited for that particular map/strata/monster.

Finally, someone with some common sense.

when someone can explain to me how to slash an enemy standing on the spikes with spur and not get hurt, then I'll consider it viable.

Charge attack. It's there for a reason. :|

EDIT: Although WHY you are using a sword for monsters on spikes confuses me to no end.

Charge attack also happens to be complete garbage, thank you. :|

EDIT: As much as it may shock you to learn this, some people only use swords. Gasp, shock, horror, I know. Honestly, best strategy I know for that situation is just try to hit them out of the spikes when the spikes are down, but even then that's a bit of a stretch.

I don't have time for a charge attack as pathetic as Spur's in a danger room. If I wanted a half-damage range attack i'd switch to my alchemer, when that's possible. Of course, an alchemer is only good for 2/3rds of danger room enemies, since it's either shadow or elemental. I need to -slash- at an enemy that is standing on spikes. Without hurting myself. Because I'm racing around the edge of a spike-filled danger room and need to attack quickly. Also it's probably a wolver or a gremlin, something that's going to dodge a ranged attack anyway.

>All sword users
>No Avenger/Divine Avenger

What is this world coming to?

I have both the vile striker and tempered calibur.. Is it good to keep both? When would you recommend i use which weapon..

Well..... if you consider party play then calibur usually takes the cake. It won't fling mobs out of you party member's reach like the cutter unless all you do is the full 3 swing combo or charge and send attacking mobs into you party members. Spur does have better dps in theory though, of-course that's IF you get a good deal of aspd boost and the mob is frozen in place.

Get a 2* alchemer for guns, or if you prefer a vanilla pea-shooter then just get a blaster.

In order:

@Senshi

Spur line... when someone can explain to me how to slash an enemy standing on the spikes with spur and not get hurt, then I'll consider it viable.
No, backing up isn't an option... have you -seen- the spike danger room layout? You -can't- back up there's only one tile of width. Unless you walk around to the side of the spikes near the -center- of the room and all the enemies collected in there by kiting manuevers. I have to stand at the edge of the spikes, and hit the enemy standing on the spikes with my sword, in less time than it takes to charge.

Yeah, maneuverability is great. Being forced to move regardless of the situation... not so great. That's the opposite of maneuverability. 'must move forward' takes choices away just as much as 'must freeze in place' that makes the autogun line so painful.

Enemies gathering on the spikes can be slashed at as you pass by while continuing your forward movement by just aiming into the spikes slightly. You slash forward, hit the enemy, but do not step onto the spikes enough to get hurt. Then you move against the wall again and continue on your marry way. Or you aim backward and wait for them to approach you (because they will). Or you do the charge attack as mentioned, because if they're close enough to slash they're close enough to be hit by your swing AND the shot (and if you swing and hit them, they won't dodge). But as mentioned, if you're in this situation, why aren't you using a gun or a bomb that will easily and safely hit the monster?

Also, I consider autoguns to be the troikas of the gun line. Wide area damage that keeps you stuck in place for a while. Keeping that in mind I can use my fiery pepperbox rather well in arenas.

@SimularMine
Charge attack also happens to be complete garbage, thank you. :|

EDIT: As much as it may shock you to learn this, some people only use swords. Gasp, shock, horror, I know. Honestly, best strategy I know for that situation is just try to hit them out of the spikes when the spikes are down, but even then that's a bit of a stretch.

The charge attack is useless in most cases, agreed. But if you can manage to hit with the slash (like in a "back against the wall, enemy's right in front of me, wish I could slash and not step onto the spikes" kind of moment) it is actually pretty strong. You end up doing about twice the damage of a normal swing.

And poor decision making doesn't excuse people from bad situations. The inability to hit enemies at range is a given when you choose swords only. Stop complaining and take your medicine like a man (or stubbly, over muscular woman).

@Senshi again
I don't have time for a charge attack as pathetic as Spur's in a danger room. If I wanted a half-damage range attack i'd switch to my alchemer, when that's possible. Of course, an alchemer is only good for 2/3rds of danger room enemies, since it's either shadow or elemental. I need to -slash- at an enemy that is standing on spikes. Without hurting myself. Because I'm racing around the edge of a spike-filled danger room and need to attack quickly. Also it's probably a wolver or a gremlin, something that's going to dodge a ranged attack anyway.

As mentioned, the Spur's charge attack is halfway decent when you can hit with the slash part of the attack. If it's something that's going to dodge a ranged attack, then slashing with a winmillion (not at it or into the spikes) is going to make it get out of the way (if you couldn't slash it) and make you safer, or put it into a better position to kill it along your path. That said, I'll agree that there's the right tool for the job, and the Spur line is not the absolute best in that one situation. In the other danger room configuration though it works really well. You can make circuits around the thornbush center without breaking stride just by slashing in the direction you're going and taking out the few straglers who are moving toward where you were. And outside of danger rooms, the Spur lets you abort an attack sequence by aiming off perpendicular to the target (like when facing a retrode who's "firin' mah lazar!" at you) and usually get out of harm's way.

There are other guns besides alchemers too: Antigua guns (which I kind of consider garbage), the Magnus guns (Iron Slug, normal damage AoE), Autoguns (though you hate them, so forget that their charge could pull enemies out of position and do big damage to them, as well as allow your team to hack at safely), and simply ol' Blasters (a Valiance is actually very powerful). But I've only encountered three enemy types in danger rooms: Wolvers, slimes, and gremlins. Two of them resist element, two of them are weak to shadow with the other being neutral. I think this makes your choice clear.

Really, there's only three groups in danger rooms? I guess I can't think of an exception, all the other similar fights I can recall with other monsters were arena levels. I thought there was more variety, but if not, I suppose it makes sense to carry shadow driver a lot more than I have been. Still have to consider the strata's theme and graveyard potential though, that's why I have cryo driver. Of course, weapon slots can solve this, but, I haven't made that investment yet. It's a lot of CE for something that wears out. I have considered a Magnus, but I'm not 5* complete yet and avoiding all the shiny new toys (even though Brandish was my favorite 2* sword and now has a 5* line... bah! Later. Later.First 5* set already has a Leviathan.). And I don't hate autogun lines... I just prefer alchemers. Autoguns have a lot of advantages to go with that rather painful disadvantage and I carried one for a while, but eventually decided to invest my upgrades into alchemer instead, even though it meant upgrading two guns.

Anyway, it's a very good answer in general, on how some of spur line's problems can be worked around or even turned around to be an advantage using the charge and/or winmillion spark to scare things off the spikes is pretty clever. I'm still more likely to go for a dread venom striker when I have time to build a fast sword, but I appreciate the candid discussion of tactics.

The dread venom striker has much the same problem as the winmillion, minus the dodging factor. Though the first swing is free of movement, each subsequent one drags you off into the spikes. But given that the damage output is lower per swing, you're encouraged to use more swings.

So I think my final stance in this thread would be the answer "best at what?"

For single hit power, the cutters rank lowest while spurs and caliburs are more or less even. Cutters are particularly weak if you only hit with one of the two swings per attack.

If you're hitting and running, maneuverability matters most, so I would place the spur and cutter above the calibur, even though the calibur has a good charge attack for hit and runs (you need to charge first, being the drawback). You can turn to swing at your opponent once or twice and use remaining swings to drive yourself to safety in a quick burst, then run away (particularly so with the cutter which can block cancel after 4 swings and run almost instantly).

For raw damage output, the cutter line's speed and winmillion's upgrade to multi-hit swings make them superior to the calibur in extended combat (at an equivalent star value). Though prior to the upgrade to winmillion, the calibur is on par with the spur line for the most part, and with the addition of a 5 star layer the calibur can claim top damage over the spurs again. In all honesty, with the addition of poison from a dread venom striker, there's no way a calibur could compete (unless they're both striking the same poisoned target).

With the Cutter line I can shield-cancel if I need or want to hold still, and can charge forward if I want to keep moving. That's what I call real maneuverability :) Although I may miss the scattering of enemies far and wide with calibur's charge attack, dealing a few thousand damage at a whack.... still, when I can afford it, I want a few more toys in my arsenal so that I can use what I think is best for a given stratum and my playstyle. Or just what's fun maybe. :)

Charge attack also happens to be complete garbage, thank you. :|

Yet it hits enemies on spikes when the Spur's normal slash can't reach, or at the very least causes them to dodge. It isn't complete garbage—you just don't want to admit it can be useful. It's the status effect thread all over again...

EDIT: As much as it may shock you to learn this, some people only use swords. Gasp, shock, horror, I know.

Also, if you purposely restrict your ability, you've already forfeited your right to complain that your ability is restricted. If you're going to play with only swords, accept the fact that you won't be able to hit enemies on spikes without SOME risk. Swords aren't guns or bombs, they're SWORDS. A Spur can only do what a Spur can do; if you're only going to play with that sword, you can't complain that it doesn't reach as far as an Alchemizer or that it isn't as powerful as an Avenger and as fast and mobile as a Cutter.

Your choice. Deal with it.

Anyone who thinks using charged attacks in danger rooms is almost ever a good idea needs their head examined or hasn't been to tier 3. But the point about using another weapon to hit the enemies on spikes is fair (and the centre is not out of bounds, it's a perfectly valid place to stand, at least briefly). So you only use swords, that doesn't mean you only use a spur type. If you bring, say, a spur and a cutter that's your problem but otherwise you should have a means of safely hitting enemies on dangerous terrain. Your second weapon is meant to complement your first.

Anyone who can't use charge attacks in a Danger Room isn't very good at the game.

I have to use them 100% of the time and I don't die because of it.

>Anyone who can't use charge attacks in a Danger Room isn't very good at the game.

>I have to use them 100% of the time and I don't die because of it.

+1
Caliburs charged attack for a hit & run in danger rooms saves a ton

I use my faust all the time in danger rooms to great effect. Sometimes it's the only way to deal with healers, cursing them at the back of the throng of enemies.

your fighting style.

Okay, it may occasionally be a good idea with the weapons with the best charge attacks, but saying the spur's charge attack is the answer to anything is a joke.

Pinto, can you be any more close-minded? :|

In Beta, I got ahold of a spur and liked it. Hitting live, its one of the first weapons I picked up. To be honest, I love it and it works great if you've got good aim, -especially- in T3 as Winmillion. What I prefer to use it on, is Gremlins in T3. The speed lets you get your knock down in quick, assuming you don't start -as- the attack is happening. The forward momentum lets you close the distance well and the wind effect on each hit has a nice wide arc. Its a weird sword, but I enjoy it. I'd really like to see a 5* version, and a less buggy / more useful charge attack. But even with not using the charge attack much, I still feel its pretty acceptable.

I'm saying that the Spur's charged attack is useless as a Winmillion user. It's slow, the strongest component of the attack can only hit if you're backed into a corner (which is a situation where you need to shield and particularly to push with your shield, not stay open long enough to charge and execute the charged attack, absolutely not something you can get away with attempting in T3) and the range on the projectile component is pathetic. I love the sword but there is absolutely no defending its charged attack.

I'm also speaking as a high ping player. Maybe charged attacks are viable if your actions on screen are actually what's happening on the server, I wouldn't know.

The charge attack works on approaching foes as well, but agreeably there aren't many uses for it. I make no excuses for the overall use of the spur line's charge attack.

The Spur is pretty good even though I never got it. It has the mix of the cutter's speed and the calibur's attack. (it is a balanced weapon)
But, I recommend the calibur because of its charge attack, it is fast and strong. I have experienced it. (I now have tempered calibur.)

Hey. Rexerr. I think you are new to the forum. Next time, before you search "calibur" and posting in it, check the date of the last post.

Spur is pretty good, however, when playing this game, you will want to think towards what you want by the end of the game(not syaing that the game ever ends or anything). Because of the spur's lack of a 5* upgrade, once you upgrade to Winmillion, you will have to start on a new sword.

As for cutter and calibur, Calibur will upgrade into Leviathan or CiV both of which are preferable general use swords. Cutter will upgrade into a Dread Venom Striker or Wild Hunting Blade, Wild Hunting Blade is generally used against Wolvers, however, piercing swords such as Final Flourish and Barabarous Thorn Blade will outperform it at its only purpose. As for Dread Venom Striker, it is outdamaged by Both Leviathan and CiV, plus, it also lacks the ability to interrupt enemy attacks with its combo and its main if not only use is against JK. So unless you plan on doing JK runs all day erryday, then I would suggest either a Leviathan or a CiV. Leviathan is preferable as it does more damage to all enemies than the CiV as CiV is only effective against undeads and will deal less damage towards everything else when compared to Leviathan.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

Most 5* swordies will tell you to build 3 swords, an Elemental sword, a Shadow sword and a Piercing sword.

TL;DR

Go Calibur if you want a general use sword

Brandish lines are also viable swords as they upgrade into Elemental and Shadow swords. CAUTION: Don't make a cautery sword unless you like to get made fun of. Flourish/Snarble barb lines are, if I'm not mistaken, the only 2* piercing swords. You will probably want to get one of those.

"But, I recommend the calibur because of its charge attack, it is fast and strong and will get you kicked out of any party."

Ok, this thread is made about 9 months ago when I knew very little about special damage so there is really no point bumping it up. I am putting it to Graveyard.