When should you forge weapons?

[thorfrog]

When should you forge weapons? What are some strategies used?

[PriestyMan]

when you have dudes to wield them, you should forge them

[DeadlyShoe]

when you have guys to use them effectively more like. Ranged weapons like the Thunder Bow, Fire Bola or Staff of Corrosion are a great way to get some use out of commanders that otherwise just sit there, like Legatus Legionis. Flame/Frost brands turn cavalry commanders into effective spearheads - or even good thugs, if they can self buff.

A lot of weapons are more specialized in use however, or only really useful when used by a supercombatant.

[Doo]

Frost Brand and Fire Brand at Construction 4 are good as they effectively attack a whole "square" of units and not just one unit in the square. They clear mobs of weak units quickly.

There are some anti undead or anti demon options, good if you know you will be facing them, especially vs SC undeads.

Generally if you have a commander who has some innate survivability give them one of the brands and a shield (vine shield is a good one). Stick these guys (or gals) in with the regular troops and they increase the rate of killing. If your concerned about survivability then forge survivability gear, Pendants of Luck or armor. The idea however is to churn out as many of these guys a possible so the cheaper (in gem costs) the better. These guys wont take down an army but protected from too many attacks by being amongst your troops they do a good job of trying. Examples are the Niefelhiem giants (big, beefy and can be blessed), those Tir na Og guys (glamor and awe) or Banes (undead so no encumbrance and come with good armor).

I have not checked if the latest CBM has made whips better.... If not just stay away from them.

Dual wielding and 2-handed weapons are fun but having a shield is often much better.

[Stretch]

when you need to smash something!!!!

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Doo

Frost Brand and Fire Brand at Construction 4 are good as they effectively attack a whole "square" of units and not just one unit in the square. They clear mobs of weak units quickly.

These are incredible weapons, that remain useful until the endgame. That said, the Stone Sword and the Shadow Brand are both significantly better than them. You can sometimes get away with giving these to standard commanders, but usually you want to summon something (Unless you have something really impressive. Glamour goes a long way, as stated, and Niefel Jarls are borderline SCs). Often, this means Banes, and later Bane Lords.

[Finalgenesis]

Do keep in mind that for shadow brand, if antimagic (Or army of lead / Ulm equivalent) is a staple on the opposing side it won't be all that effective since the damage is MR resistible, otherwise their large AoE gives it great killing power against average or weaker MR troops.

Stone sword should ideally be wield by stone beings, like a GoRed gargoyle, otherwise you're liable to turning yourself into stone (big AoE that can hit yourself) if you fail an unlucky MR check, barring that you want really high MR and just pray Murphy don't rape you.

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Finalgenesis

Do keep in mind that for shadow brand, if antimagic (Or army of lead / Ulm equivalent) is a staple on the opposing side it won't be all that effective since the damage is MR resistible, otherwise their large AoE gives it great killing power against average or weaker MR troops.

Stone sword should ideally be wield by stone beings, like a GoRed gargoyle, otherwise you're liable to turning yourself into stone (big AoE that can hit yourself) if you fail an unlucky MR check, barring that you want really high MR and just pray Murphy don't rape you.

Yeah, that is the downside. Still, multiple square AoE is glorious, and the best chaff killing method this side of a fire shield (which might need to be a Banefire shield in some cases) or blood vengeance. Or whatever it is the Seraph has going for it on top of its fire shield.

As for the second point, I agree entirely, outside of terminology issues. Gargoyles do a pretty good job, and are often the best bet. The obvious exception is certain national spells - If you are playing MA Agartha, don't use a Gargoyle. The Marble Oracle is where its at.

Coming back to the fire shield: There is an item called the Charcoal Shield. Anyone with one gets a fire shield attached to them. Not only does it add quite a bit to survivability, it cuts down chaff incredibly quickly. A fun combination (if not incredibly useful in multiplayer) involves a commander with terrible defense, Charcoal Shield, and Blood Vengeance. It stands there, and everything dies when they get near it. Bonus points for using a blind, mute mage with this strategy.

[Soyweiser]

Originally Posted by Knai

Bonus points for using a blind, mute mage with this strategy.

Good way for losing your forged items rather quickly, I might add.

Another good way to get leverage out of fire shields and blood vengeance vs chaff is mistform. Any hits that get through will only do 1 damage.

That is why Dakini are usually that good. Just give them a shield an some mr, and they are good to go.

http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Dakini

[JonBrave]

As a general answer to the OP, and speaking as a newb, I do find that a lot of lower level weapons seem pretty pointless: by the time I put it on a commander it's often worse (or little better) than the "in-built" it's replacing. (Doesn't stop me forging, though, I do it for fun ) Is that about right?