Blade & Soul CN has released a new set of level 50 weapon: S2.5 weapon along with elemental legendary accessories in July 2015. A detailed quantitatve analysis on the performance and effect of these new legendary weapons and accessories is presented in this article
Blessed S1 Weapon
Among the level 50 weapons available now, Blessed S1 weapon is probably the best mid-tier weapon, in terms of value for money. It should be the target for most new players to the game. I used this as my baseline simply because i am currently using it now. The stats of the weapon has not changed much after the update.
Attack + 470 | Crit+298 | Defence+ 128 | Pierce + 300
Chance to recover 100% MP
Chance to trigger a buff which increase attack by 250 and crit rate by 10% for 5sec
Smash (X) Skill +50% damage
My Baseline Stats:
Attack =793
Additional Dmg =39
Crit Rate% = 56.29%
Crit Dmg % =245.08%
Pierce = 19.02%
Elemental Attack = 0% (for now)
Obviously, the calculation result might differ slightly depending on your current stats, but the general conclusion from the analysis will still be valid.
I would use 2 characteristic skills for destroyer for damage comparison, namely, Demolition (RB) and Smash (X). Assume that the target has 10% defence (which is the defence for most bosses in BnS). Pierce stats is typically not important in PVE due to the low defence of the boss.
Refer to Damage Calculation Mechanics for level 50 (to be updated soon with new formula) for more info.
My average damage calculation is based on the following equations:
Average dmg= C* Crit dmg + ( 1 – C) * Non-crit dmg
where C = crit rate
Baseline Average Damage (without trigger buff effect):
Baseline Average Damage (with trigger buff effect):
Comparison will be done for the cases with buff and without buff, for various weapons below.
Dark Sky S1 Weapon
The comparison between Dark Sky S1 and Blessed S1 is not exactly new, since it was shown in my previous article (Dark Sky S1 was previously called Shiny S1). Nonetheless, Dark Sky S1 weapon is listed here because many new players would still acquire this as their first weapon at level 50. The analysis will point out the path they should move from Dark Sky S1, to either Blessed S1, S2 or S2.5
Attack + 398 | Crit+298 | Defence+ 128 | Pierce + 110
Chance to recover 70% MP
Chance to trigger a buff which increase attack by 60 and crit rate by 4% for 5sec
Smash (X) Skill +50% damage
With this weapon (without buff), RB and X deal -9% damage relative to the baseline weapon without buff.
When the attack buff is triggered, RB and X deal -28% damage relative to the baseline weapon with buff.
Upgrading to S1 gives higher damage especially when the blessed S1 buff is triggered. The 2 methods for getting from Dark Sky to Blessed S1 are exchanging it with 20 x S1 Liquor (100%) or 125 x S1 Crystals (chance based, if you feel lucky).
Blessed Dark S2 Weapon
Again, Blessed Dark S2 is not new, and it is extremely powerful as compared to S1 weapon.
Attack + 560 | Crit+ 324 | Pierce +138
Pierce + 300 | Hit Rate + 110
Chance to recover 100% MP
Chance to deal damage equal to 2130% of attack
Chance to trigger a buff which increase attack by 510 and crit rate by 30% for 5sec
Demolition (RB) damage +30%
With this weapon, RB and X deal +44% and -16% respectively as compared to the baseline weapon without buff.
With the attack+crit rate buff, RB and X deal +181% and +45% respectively as compared to the baseline weapon with buff.
The atk+crit buff trigger rate is ~2.6% while MP recovery trigger rate is tested to be ~10%.
The non-blessed version, Dark Sky S2 weapon is not a good PVE weapon since the stats are defensive and thus will not be discussed here.
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to obtain this weapon. You will have to buy Blessed Dark S2 directly from others or exchange it with one of the 2 methods: 20 x S2 Liquor (100%) or 135 x S2 Crystals (chance based, if you feel lucky). All options are not cheap.
If you are currently holding the weapon, you might probably be tempted to switch it to the new level 10 S2.5 Comet or Meteor weapons. However, the big question is, is it worth it?
S2.5 Meteor Weapon
The new S2.5 series weapon is introduced to fill the vast gap between S2 and S3 weapons, at least according to Tencent. However, the first weapon of S2.5 was too weak to serve the purpose. Therefore, Meteor and Comet weapons have been boosted shortly after that.
I will specifically list the stats for Lv1, 8, 10, 12 of Meteor Weapons.
Level 1 Meteor Axe
Attack + 475 | Crit+ 370 | Pierce +158
Chance to recover 100% MP
Chance to trigger Meteor buff with crit rate + 2% & crit dmg + 6% for 30s (stackable).
At 5 stack, the buff is changed to attack + 150, crit rate +20% & crit dmg + 30% for 5s, and allow you to recover 10% MP upon crit.
Demolition (RB) damage +10%
First, lets start with level 1 Meteor Weapon, which can be exchanged directly with a Lv10 Blessed S1 weapon, or Lv10 Shiny/Dark Sky S2 weapon without any additional cost. If you have neither of these weapons, you can directly exchange for the weapon from NPC with 54 x Legendary Shard+ 4 x Advanced Silverfrost Evolved Stone.
With this weapon, RB and X deal +11% and -33% respectively as compared to the baseline weapon without buff.
With the final buff (5 stack) buff, RB and X deal +19% and -28% respectively as compared to the baseline weapon with buff.
Take note here that, the final buff can only be achieved if you stacked 5 x buff. A Chinese player (see link in reference) has performed a detailed experiment on the trigger rate for the buff. The trigger rate for 1 layer of buff is 4.6%~5.4%. In other words, it takes ~ 100 hits for you to get the final buff.
If you compare this with the buff trigger rate for S1 (~2%) and S2 (~2.6%), it only takes 50 and 38 hits on average to trigger their respective buffs.
The only consolation for S2.5 weapon is the single layer buff can be trigger with relative ease (approx. 1 every 20 hits) and the buff last for 30s. Therefore, the decision to switch Blessed S1 to Lv1 S2.5 is a difficult one and highly dependent on your preference.
If the battle is long enough, you would probably see more of the 5 x layer buff and enjoy the benefit of S2.5. Also, it depends on how important is the skill boosted by S1 weapon versus the skill boosted by S2.5.
Level 8 Meteor Axe
Attack + 543 | Crit+ 424 | Pierce +182
Chance to recover 100% MP
Chance to trigger Meteor buff with crit rate + 4% & crit dmg + 10% for 30s (stackable).
At 5 stack, the buff is changed to attack + 250, crit rate +20% & crit dmg + 50% for 10s, and allow you to recover 10% MP upon crit.
When the buff expires, reset the CD of all skills.
Demolition (RB) damage +20%
If you have decided to use S2.5, your next aim would be to get it to level 8. However, unlike the typical S-series weapon, failure can occur during upgrading. There are two options to upgrade it, the more expensive way gives 100% success rate (requires cash shop item) for Lv7 and below while the cheap way can fail.
After level 8, even the expensive options does not guarantee 100% success; it merely prevent the weapon from de-lvling in the event of failure. If you go with the cheap option to upgrade after lv8, failure can sometimes make your weapon level decrease by 1.
Therefore, level 8 is the threshold for 100% success upgrading, as long as you are willing to spend on the cash shop item, Weapon Relic (which can also b purchased with bounded points; for Lv8 or below).
With this weapon, RB and X deal +31% and -27% respectively as compared to the baseline weapon without buff.
With the final buff (5 stack) buff, RB and X deal +63% and -9% respectively as compared to the baseline weapon with buff.
Another reason to aim for level 8 would be the new effect CD reset effect, which can be good for certain classes.
Unfortunately, the cost of upgrading S2.5 is extremely high. In our server, it has been estimated that you will need 400+g at least (inclusive of materials, with gold discount from guild and VIP) to increase its level by 1 through the 100% success option, and that’s for < Lv8. The cost is even higher for > lv8 weapons. If you feel lucky, you can always try the cheap options, but the success rate is pretty low.
Level 10 Meteor Axe
Attack + 562 | Crit+ 438 | Pierce +188
Chance to recover 100% MP
Chance to trigger Meteor buff with crit rate + 4% & crit dmg + 10% for 30s (stackable).
At 5 stack, the buff is changed to attack + 250, crit rate +20% & crit dmg + 50% for 10s, and allow you to recover 10% MP upon crit.
When the buff expires, reset the CD of all skills.
Demolition (RB) damage +30%
If you are using Blessed Dark S2, you can exchange it directly with Level 10 Meteor weapon, without any additional cost.
With this weapon, RB and X deal +45% and -25% respectively as compared to the baseline weapon without buff.
With the final buff (5 stack) buff, RB and X deal +80% and -7% respectively as compared to the baseline weapon with buff.
However, this would be a bad trade. The current Blessed Dark S2 weapon is more powerful than Lv10 S2.5, even after the recent boost.
Yes, you do get additional effects, such as longer buff duration, recovery 10% MP upon crit and CD reset. However, you also lose the 2130% lightning damage and the much more superior attack+crit buff.
Well, the situation is slightly different if you are willing to upgrade S2.5 weapon further to lv12. Take note that, the item which prevent the weapon from de-lvling after level 8, Advanced Weapon Relic cannot be purchased with bound points (for now).
Level 12 Meteor Axe
Attack + 581 | Crit+ 454 | Pierce +194
Chance to recover 100% MP
Chance to trigger Meteor buff with crit rate + 4% & crit dmg + 12% for 30s (stackable).
At 5 stack, the buff is changed to attack + 250, crit rate +25% & crit dmg + 60% for 13s, and allow you to recover 10% MP upon crit.
When the buff expires, reset the CD of all skills.
Chance to deal 1000% dmg.
Demolition (RB) damage +35%
With this weapon, RB and X deal +54% and -24% respectively as compared to the baseline weapon without buff.
With the final buff (5 stack) buff, RB and X deal +112% and +5% respectively as compared to the baseline weapon with buff.
Without any trigger of buff, Lv12 Meteor weapon indeed deal about +10% more damage versus Lv10 Blessed S2 weapon for RB. However, the superior buff of Blessed S2 would still dwarf S2.5 in terms of burst DPS (+69% more for RB). That being said, the duration for S2.5 buff is much longer, 13sec versus 5sec for Dark S2 buff.
Also, at level 12, Meteor Weapon finally gains a triggered damage effect, 1000%, but then again, its damage is merely half of the lightning damage triggered by Dark S2 Blessed (2130%). The trigger chance comparison for both weapons have not been investigated though.
There were some issues for MP recovery of S2.5 weapons previously, but it has been fixed in recent update. The latest test shows that the Mp recovery is 13~14%, on par with other S-series weapon. In fact, the MP recovery for S2.5 is superior when the final buff is triggered (10% MP gain upon crit).
Finally, i conclude that S2.5 is not superior to Blessed Dark S2, but rather they are almost equal in terms of quality and power. Blessed Dark S2 weapon dishes out higher raw burst damage while Meteor weapon gives higher steady damage over a longer battle with better MP recovery + CD reset.
S2.5 Comet Weapon
Comet Weapon is the other S2.5 weapon for PVE. The performance for Comet weapon is more difficult to be evaluated due to the huge difference in terms of skill effect from class to class.
At level 12, the stats for Comet Axe are:
Attack + 581 | Crit+ 454 | Pierce +194
Chance to recover 100% MP
Chance to trigger Comet buff with crit rate + 4% & crit dmg + 12% for 30s (stackable).
At 5 stack, the buff is changed to attack + 250, crit rate +25% & crit dmg + 60% for 13s, and allow you to recover 10% MP upon crit.
When the buff expires, reset the CD of all skills.
Chance to deal 1000% dmg.
Fury CD is reduced by 50%.
Almost all the stats are similar to Meteor weapon, except for the skill effect. While Meteor weapon gives 35% of damage boost to RB or a short duration skill for all classes, Comet weapon gives some combination of CD reduction or/and 35%~300% of damage boost to a variety of skills.
Destroyer
The choice between Comet and Meteor weapon is largely dependent on your class. For destroyer, both weapons offer different advantages:
Meteor weapon: higher ani-cancel damage, the main constant DPS output for destroyer
Comet weapon: 50% CD reduction for Fury means more frequent burst potential. Fury is the burst damage buff for destroyer.
Between the two, i would prefer the Meteor weapon.
Effects for Other Classes (at Lv12)
Blade Master: Soul Blade (V) -30% CD, +100% damage
Kung Fu Master: Palm Strike (X) -60% CD, +100% damage
Assassin: Poison Wine (4) – 50% CD, + 150% damage
Force Master: Flame Lotus (C) – 50% CD, +250% damage
Summoner: Chestnut Burr (4) – 50% CD, +35% damage
Warlock: Ravage (F) – 30% CD, +300% damage
Lyn Blade Master: Draw (LB) +35% damage.
S2.5 Storm Weapon
This weapon is typically used for PVP only. The buff increases pierce & hit rate instead of critical rate & dmg.
At level 12, the stats for Storm Axe are:
Attack + 581 | Crit+ 454 | Pierce +194
Chance to recover 100% MP
Chance to trigger Storm buff with attack+20, pierce+ 200, hit rate+200 for 30s (stackable).
At 5 stack, the buff is changed to attack + 100, pierce +1000 & hit rate +1000 for 15s.
When the buff expires, reset the CD of all skills.
Deal 100% leech damage upon crit.
Fury Swipe (LB) damage + 25%.
The weapon is generally not used for PVE and thus, quantitative damage output comparison will not be performed for this weapon.
Elemental Accessories
***** The test server just updated today. The stats of elemental accessories will be adjusted. The immunity buff for snow jade palace & black dragon prison are removed and not required anymore. This part of the article will be updated next week.
The new set of accessories grant a specific elemental damage increase, but the crit damage is slightly lower. Lets look at the overall damage output to see if the lower crit dmg matters.
Again, i will use the same baseline stats for subsequent analysis. Most of the trigger effect for the elemental accessories will only appear at level 4. Only necklace, earring and ring grant elemental attack increase.
Bracelet
This should be the 1st accessory to be changed if you are planning to clear Black Dragon Prison. You will need to upgrade it to level 2 to get the buff to resist the damage reflect of the bosses.
Changing Lv2 old Bracelet to the new Lv2 Elemental Bracelet would only grant < 2% damage increase.
However, if you upgrade the bracelet to Lv4, you will gain the crit dmg increase effect.
Lv4 – 7 : After resisting dmg, the next hit deal 70% more crit dmg.
Lv8 – 11 : After resisting dmg, the next 2 hit deal 70% more crit dmg.
Lv12 : After resisting dmg, the next 3 hit deal 70% more crit dmg.
Ring
This is the 2nd or 3rd piece of accessory you should be getting. For example, changing a Lv4 Shiny Ring to the New Lv1 Elemental Ring gives +8% damage to skill with the boosted element and -2% dmg to skills of other elements.
The decrease in crit dmg is very minor as compared to the large increase of skill damage of the corresponding element.
If you have the old Blessed Ring at level 5 and above, you can exchange for the new Elemental Accessory of the corresponding level, with the addition of Lv1 elemental accessory.
Lv4 – 7: Generate a shield, resist the subsequent 1 attack
Lv8 – 11: Generate a shield, resist the subsequent 2 attack
Lv12: Generate a shield, resist the subsequent 3 attack
Interestingly, this effect can combo with the bracelet effect such that you can get additional 70% crit dmg in subsequent hits.
Earring
I am currently using Lv4 old Blessed Earring, which i am planning to get to lv5 and exchange for the new elemental earring. By that exchange, i would deal +12% dmg with skills of the corresponding element and -2% with skills of other elements.
Again, you can see that the increase in damage far outweighs the minor drop in crit dmg.
Lv4/5/6/7: Recover 10000/11000/12000/13000 HP upon successful counter
Lv8/9/10/11/12: Recover 15000/15500/16000/16500/20000 HP upon successful counter. Chance to induce buff with + 5/6/7/8/10 atk & -3%/3%/4%/4%/5% boss AOE dmg for 5sec.
Necklace
After getting Earring and Ring, you can consider getting the necklace for further damage boost.
Changing Lv2 old necklace to Lv1 new necklace gives +4% dmg to skills with the corresponding element and -1% dmg to skills of other elements.
Lv4/5/6/7/8: When you are attacked, there is a chance to apply a buff with +9%/11%/13%/15%/17% HP recovery stats (max 5 stack) Lv9/10/11/12: When you are attacked, there is a chance to + 21%/22%/23%/25% HP recovery stats for 3sec. When you are hit by crit dmg, there is a chance to + 20%/22%/23%/25% Hp recovery stats for 3sec. Max 5 stack.
Belt
Belt only offers defensive stats and should be changed last (if you already have the old belt). Similar to the old belt, Lv2 & above offers protection from the debuff in Snow Jade Palace.
Lv4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12: When you are attacked, there is a chance to apply a buff with +1000/1100/1300/1600/2500/2600/2700/2800/3000 battle recovery for 25sec.
The Hp recovery effect from the new belt is actually pretty good.
The upgrade mechanics for Elemental Accessories is the same as S2.5. Before Lv8, you can choose to go for the cheap option (high failure rate) or 100% success rate options, which requires Jade Relic ( cash shop, can be purchased with bound points). Beyond Lv8, you will need Advanced Jade Relic to ensure that the level of the accessory is retained in the event of failure.
If you are really rich, upon collecting 2 or 5 parts of Lv12 Elemental Accessories you will get the following bonus:
2 parts: HP recovery +7%
5 parts: HP + 12200, -7% boss AOE dmg.
Source: http://www.freedomplays.com/blade-soul-level-50-weapon-accessory-choice-v3/3/
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