wraith sword vs. standard of the damned
 

wraith sword- lifedrain
standard otD- spell: drain life

I'm not so sure what lifedrain on a weapon does. is basically the drain life spell on the target hit?

I'm also not sure how spell casting items work. do they cast every turn?

on an SC, which of these two is better? I'm thinking the sword, but I don't know.

Re: wraith sword vs. standard of the damned
 

Lifedrain comes in two flavors: major and minor(its minor unless it says major, in general).

So, minor lifedrain lets you recover up to 10 points of tatigue and up to 2 HPs per hit (5 damage max lifedrain, which is doubled for fatigue and halves for HPs).

Major Lifedatin is on a few artifacts and is doubled for fatigue and halves for HPs(no cap).

Wraith Sword uses minor lifedrain.

Standard of the Damned casts the spell Drain Life. It wokrs like major lifedrain, but with its own spell damage. You don't put it on an SC, but on a commander who spams it (since people in melee rarely cast spells, its not as good).

Re: wraith sword vs. standard of the damned
 

Re: wraith sword vs. standard of the damned
 

what if you've already got aoe damaging armor and an aoe damaging intrinsic ability http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

i thought maybe having some life replenishing direct damage might be a better option then. No?

edit: also, would the quickness effect the casting of the spell since it is from an item?

Re: wraith sword vs. standard of the damned
 

Quickness affects the Standard of the Damned, yes.

Not the wraithsword -- that's a secondary effect, IIRC, not an action-consuming spell cast.

Re: wraith sword vs. standard of the damned
 

Most auras tend to not be that good against powerful troops, so a good damaging weapon is ideal.

There is a bug where Quickness from items lets you cast spells from items twice each turn.

Re: wraith sword vs. standard of the damned
 

Which artifacts? Does Sun Slayer have major lifedrain?

-Max

Re: wraith sword vs. standard of the damned
 

As far as I know, the Scepter of Dark Regency is the only major lifedrain item, and it's so useful that it's not appropriate for SCs.

Sun Slayer, on the other hand, has a power called "Area Death" which I haven't experimented with.

Re: wraith sword vs. standard of the damned
 

I don't get that statement. It's so useful that you wouldn't want to waste it on an SC, or it's so useful that it makes SCs that much more ridiculous?

Re: wraith sword vs. standard of the damned
 

It's Death +3, so it's more useful for casting rituals and the like.

Putting it on an SC seems like a waste considering how easy they are to kill.