EDIT: BOWS HAVE BEEN ADDED AT THE BOTTOM IN A SEPARATE CATEGORY. IF IT'S EASIER I CAN MAKE A WHOLE NEW BLOG POST FOR BOWS AND ARMOR, OR I CAN LEAVE IT IN HERE. LET ME KNOW!
Hey everybody. I've picked up Hexxit in the past few weeks or so and I'm loving it. I played quite a bit of Tekkit Classic a while back, and now I'm noticing something similar between the two modpacks. They both have several mods that offer equipment to do similar jobs, and lots of people aren't sure what's best. So let's talk!
First off is melee weapons. There are LOTS of options out there, ranging from an enchanted vanilla diamond sword to a battlesign. Here are my top picks for the endgame. I don't plan on making comparisons between different stone or wood-tier weapons since those don't really matter that much and some of these weapons are simple and cheap to make.
- Diamond Giant Sword. Pros? It's the strongest of the Giant Swords as far as I can tell. It has 2341 durability versus vanilla diamond's 1562, it's enchantable, and it blocks most damage. It even does more damage than a vanilla sword, about one heart or two HP. Best of all, it's not terribly expensive due to diamonds spawning in higher levels in Hexxit and Enchanting Plus making it incredibly easy to enchant a diamond pick with Fortune III. You can repair it with diamonds in an anvil, with another giant sword in a crafting table, or with plain exp in an enchanting table, although this can get quite expensive if you have enough enchantments on the weapon. This weapon is perfect for attacking skeletons, especially when swimming, as blocking damage also blocks knockback. What are the cons? The ratio of durability to diamonds required to craft is poor compared to the vanilla sword. It requires three times as many diamonds, but doesn't even have double the durability. Per diamond, you get a lot fewer uses out of a giant sword than you do a vanilla version. Vanilla swords allow you to automatically switch to shields from the Asgard shield mod, offering much better capabilities than a giant sword by itself, especially if the shield is gilded and enchanted. You don't even have to have the shield in your hotbar to use it this way, so it can be out of your way. These giant swords are also a much bigger investment at once than any other diamond weapon in the mod pack, so losing one by dying, accidentally dropping/breaking it, or to an Infernal Mob with the Sticky modifier(very dangerous in battle towers as zombies can pick it up) is much more financially devastating.
- Vanilla diamond sword. Pros? It's a lot more financially efficient than the giant sword, it's easy to remember the crafting recipe, and it WORKS WITH EVERYTHING. Because it's vanilla, it's gonna be supported by every mod, and that way, you know there will be few to no issues. The base damage is actually very good, surpassed only by Kreknorite, diamond giant swords, Meteorite, and Fiery swords, not counting any special abilities that some weapons have. It's a one-step recipe as opposed to playing around for a day and a half in Tinker's Construct and then having to hunt through chests to find the right items for modifiers. It can be repaired by anvils, enchantment tables, and crafting two together, and it's absolutely enchantable. It's sleek, sexy, and yet still old school. And sometimes, you just can't afford to make anything requiring more than two diamonds. Perhaps the best thing about it is that it can block and works perfectly in tandem with Asgard Shields. Cons? It doesn't do the most damage, it doesn't last as long as a giant sword, and it's the same old thing you wielded in every other world. It's kind of boring to keep using the same weapon for eternity, and sometimes that's more important than stats. It also can't defend too well WITHOUT a shield, whereas the giant sword is a two-in-one. In my opinion, the diamond sword is the economy class of diamond weapon. Nothing else gives you the level of efficiency of a plain diamond sword, but sometimes you can afford and should spend on something bigger and better. I would not recommend using a plain diamond sword in dungeons or against bosses. It's only useful when highly enchanted and in tandem with a good shield.
- Diamond spear from Better Dungeons. WHAT?!?! A spear? Surely that's a silly weapon, swords are simpler! Well, not so much. Here are the pros. It's got reach. That's it. It has more reach than any other melee weapon, and that gives a HUGE advantage in a fight. It does less damage, it can't block because it has a crappy special, but not much can hit you before you hit it. Even with ranged mobs, it's still useful because you don't have to run as far to hit them. With Sharpness V, you'll be able to one-shot spiders and below sometimes, and combine that with Fire Aspect I or II and you might be able to do the same to anything with 20 HP. One of the best parts is that it's cheap to make, only needing a diamond, some wood, and an iron ingot! I'm not sure about the durability on the spear, but it's high enough to last you for a while, and if worst comes to worst, you can always have a backup weapon or two. Infernal mobs and battle towers drop enough weapons to keep you supplied without ever going mining, and backpacks make it easy to store and sort extra equipment. Here are the cons. I'm fairly sure that the durability is lower in comparison to swords, and that means more repairing, which can get VERY expensive depending on how enchanted your spear is, and you will have increased need to carry a spare. It's also a two-step recipe and needs three types of material, so it's a lot more unlikely that you'll be able to make one on the run using convenient materials. The spear isn't really high damage, and sometimes mobs WILL overwhelm you and reach doesn't matter anymore. In those situations, a sword and shield are FAR superior to the spear, although there's no rule that says you can't have both. But the spear alone will get you killed in such situations. You also can't block with it, leaving you open to ranged attacks and high damage attacks. Furthermore, if you accidentally right click, you'll do itty bitty damage and that's gonna hurt you. The low down? The Spear is a wonderful everyday defense weapon and it's great in the open, but in a battle tower you want something with more oomph, and for boss battles, well, it's debatable. I haven't rated any of the other weapons for PVP capabilities, but I'd say the spear would be at the top of my list, especially with knockback on it, because that just makes it plain godly. Don't put knockback on it for use against mobs though, skeletons will hurt you bad.
- Meteorite Sword from Falling Meteors. Pros? It comes with Magnetization, meaning any loot you get will go straight to you. It's not perfect but it will save you a lot of effort and might save stuff from lava or big falls. Magnetization doesn't work on anything but Meteorite gear, and since the armor is rather crappy and you have to take it off to drop anything or avoid picking anything up, it's probably better to have it on a sword. There is another way to pick things up magnetically, the Coin of Fortune, but it's rather expensive and takes up yet another precious inventory slot. The stats of the sword itself are actually surprisingly good. It hits harder than diamond! It typically does 8 HP, one more than vanilla diamond, so it's certainly not short in that department. Meteorite chips take a little time and patience to find at first, but after your second or third meteor you'll be equipped to find as much of this stuff as you could ever want or need, and you certainly won't be using it on armor. On a side note, meteorite hoes are incredibly useful, so you might use up a few on one of those. And of course, you can use this sword with Asgard Shields. Cons? Meteorite doesn't have very good durability so you will need to replace or repair this often. It's also a little difficult to find your first few meteors, and at first you will spend some of the chips on instruments from the mod. Due to the durability issue, I'd say that this sword is to be used in two ways. Firstly, as an unenchanted, everyday sword. You go caving with it, you walk around at night to kill Endermen with it, yada yada. If you break it, no biggie, make another one for dirt cheap. The best thing is you can make this great sword when you're starting out if you're lucky enough, and keep making new ones whenever you need to. The other use that I see is as a looting sword, especially in the Nether. The magnet enchant makes it perfect for this, especially since you'd probably want to have Kreknorite armor in the Nether instead of Meteorite. Slap a Looting III enchantment on the sword and bring a different one for the mobs you're not hunting. Make you could add an Afterlife enchantment to get Spawn eggs or Decapitation(you need a book, I think) and collect some heads! Just don't take it to a battle tower, that's what diamond swords and giant swords are for.
- Kreknorite Sword from Falling Meteors. Pros? Comes with Fire Aspect! Like Meteorite, it's fairly cheap to make, assuming you are a little farther in the mod and you can catch the meteor right after it falls to collect maximum Kreknorite. It does about 8 HP on hit and then fire damage after, so you'll have little trouble dispatching mobs. It's also got the highest durability of the Meteor swords, although it's still not near diamond. Oh, and it works with Shields! Yahoo! Cons? You can set yourself on fire, so be careful or wear something with fire protection. It's also quite a bit more difficult to get your hands on Kreknorite than Meteorite, but it's still not too hard, and you'll get a lot at a time, especially with a good pick. However, Kreknorite is in much more demand than Meteorite, because the armor is great. The durability isn't bad, but it's still lower than diamond so you'll need to repair or replace, and you can't do that at an anvil. If you want to use this sword, don't add any looting enchantments because that will drive up the repair price. Just put sharpness V and knockback(for battle towers only!) and maybe Unbreaking or Soul Tether if you're a scaredy cat.
- Frezarite Sword. Pros? Unique enchantment that freezes enemies in place. That's it, really. It's enchantable and you can use shields with it, but the real point to this weapon is stunlocking a single powerful enemy. Iron golems, bosses, the Harbinger, an Infernal Mob, Blazes, you get the picture. Cons? Lower damage than anything else up here but the spear. It only does 6, blegh. That's made worse by the awful durability, which means you probably shouldn't enchant it, because then... you'd have to repair it all the time. Frezarite armor is in high demand because it's perfect for the water and it has terrible durability, so you won't want to spend Frezarite on swords too often. The tools minus the axe are great too, but again with low durability. The low down? This sword can be really strong against a single enemy, so save it for bosses and sword pedestals. It does look pretty cool. Just make sure to leave it on display and not in your inventory.
- Ender Sword. Pros? It's pretty much a diamond sword that lets you teleport, and it's purple. It looks really nice, is what I'm saying here. Cons? It's not craftable, you can't repair it in an anvil as far as I know, and it's rather rare. It's kind of a novelty item for the most part, but it can get you out of a tight spot. Just be careful not to kill yourself with the teleport.
- Scythe/Glaive from Harken Scythe. If you're planning on using these for combat first, soul/blood collecting second, make em from diamond and only give them combat enchantments. If you're using them to collect, you can make scythes from Livingmetal and Glaives from Biomass, unless you don't have any, in which case, duh, diamond, or iron if you're on a tight budget. Now that's out of the way, here are the pros. They have a charge attack and they look seriously badass. That's really it. The charge attack is good because it does worthwhile damage, about twelve without enchantments, and you can hold it for forever. And you get souls/blood for killing things with it! Use it while the zombie is closing on you and bam, you CAN one-shot him with enchantments. Cons? You have to charge all the way to use the charge attack, you can't block, and scythes and glaives are a lot more expensive than swords. They are probably the worst weapon on this list for fighting skeletons, and I would recommend actually avoiding them. All in all, these are meant for collecting, not combat, but they can be used in limited fashion. Never use these on bosses unless it's on the last few hits and you're trying to collect.
- Manyullyn Weapons from Tinker's Construct. Pros? They're incredibly fun and challenging to acquire and make, and you feel pretty cool holding one of these bad boys. You also don't have to use full Manyullyn on the tool, perhaps you'd rather just use it on the handle, which can be much cheaper than using it for the head. Manyullyn cannot be made into armor so there isn't much demand for it there, however it is in demand for literally everything else. A full Manyullyn tool has 3000 DURABILITY HOLY POTATOES. That's almost twice that of a diamond sword, and if you stick an Emerald and some moss on it, it will have 4500 durability that regenerates. That's incredible. Then you can add sharpness or reinforced(Tinker's equivalent to Unbreaking) or Fire Aspect or whatever. Any vanilla enchantment you can put on swords can go on Tinker's swords, pretty much. With the maximum five slots(although four is still great, Nether stars are really hard to get, I know) you can have Moss Regen, Emerald for 1.5x durability, Quartz for Sharpness, and Blaze Powder or Obsidian plate for Fire Aspect or Reinforced. You could have a totally different loadout (is the Emerald really necessary? Not really, no) but that's one I'd consider. No matter what weapon you choose, Manyullyn is insanely powerful. So what are the cons for this material? The work. It's hard as hell to get Manyullyn. It's not too bad if you're making a longsword, but if you want a Manyullyn Cleaver, prepare yourself for some pain. The other cons are that you can't enchant it or repair it with an enchanting table, only with Manyullyn Ingots at a Tool Station/Tool Forge, and it will take several to do so. You will also need a smelter, and you'll have to hit the nether too. Then you have to decide what weapon you want, and NONE OF THEM work with Asgard shields. The low down? Manyullyn offers THE BEST durability, THE SECOND, THIRD, OR BEST attack(depending on your weapon of choice), and it is just friggin amazing. If you have Manyullyn, make a tool from it immediately and modify it carefully and it will last you for a lifetime.
So what Manyullyn weapon is best? It all comes down to cost, attack, and special abilities. First up is bottom tier.
- Broadsword. Vanilla as it gets, you can block with it, hits 8 HP on pure swords with no mods. Rather cheap.
- Longsword. Same attack, same cost, but you can do some amazing parkour by jumping and using the right click charge move. Out of the bottom tier, this is my favorite.
- Rapier. Base attack of four hp, and the special is a backpedal of about a block. Nice for creepers and getting away from mobs, but the attack is rather low. Also, quartz has less of an effect on weapons with "piercing properties." So all in all, this is my least favorite, but it still works.
- Scythe. Wait, didn't we already talk about scythes? This one is different. It does six damage with no mods, BUT it attacks in a 3x3 area, and it's nice for farming too. Think Battle Towers. Think dungeons. Think mob spawners. Did I mention you can block? The only way this weapon could be better for battle towers is if it worked with Asgard shields. As an everyday weapon though, it's a little poor and there's a chance of collateral damage, so be very careful.
Now is the second tier. These are a lot more expensive but hey. They're cool.
- Cleaver. This "defensive" sword does 10 BASE DAMAGE, WOW. That's two hitting like half the mobs out there already, and I've done criticals for 16, which is one-hitting spiders. That's pretty scary. You can take that and add sharpness and fire aspect on top and you're starting to get downright horrifying. With max Sharpness I've done from 12 to 15 damage without criticals. It swings a little slow but when you can kill mobs in one hit(with fire damage, of course) it doesn't matter. And you can block. But why? And it drops heads! Holy Jesus!
- Battleaxe. This guy has increased knockback by default as well as the ability to harvest wood in "1x9 towers." The knock back seems like a problem with skeletons and all, but remember that you do 8 damage and you can crit up to at least 13. And then there's the special ability. It's a lunge that gives you hunger, strength, speed, and jump boost for about five seconds. Unlike the longsword, the lunge isn't good for parkour, really, and you could kill yourself with it, but the boosts are worth it and bring your damage up to 11 per hit. And you can do the boost while you're boosted to reset it to five seconds. This weapon really is insanely powerful.
Final thoughts? My favorites are the Longsword, Diamond Sword and Gilded Diamond Shield, and Manyullyn Scythe. And of course, the Giant Diamond Sword. I love all these weapons to death!
Now it's time for bows! There aren't quite as many bows, and it's a lot easier to say which bows are best than with swords. However, there is still a little room for debate. By the way, all bow damage is figured from full charge. It's just easier that way. The draw speed comparisons for the better bows from the More Bows mod is as follows: Frost>Vanilla>Blazing>Legia>Crystal>Golden. Well, here we go!
- The Crystal Bow from More Bows. This bow is crafted with a normal bow (It has to be fully repaired, I checked), an iron ingot, three string, and two diamonds. It's a little expensive, and also a fairly complicated recipe. It's a lot more unlikely that you'll have all four things you need to make this bow than the Legia Bow, but that's probably not an issue once you get a little later in the game. It's not very far behind Golden in draw speed, and it's quite an improvement on vanilla. In my experience, base damage can be anywhere from 8-13, as opposed to the Vanilla bow's range of 6 or 7-10, although the vanilla bow USUALLY does 8 or more fully charged. The bow also draws quickly enough to be used as a rapid fire weapon. This can be good when fighting a ton of mobs with punch and flame enchanted onto your bow. This bow has good durability, quite a bit more than a vanilla bow, although I don't know the exact number. It can be repaired with another Crystal Bow through crafting or with xp in an enchantment table, and it can be enchanted. In the end, the Crystal Bow is just an upgrade of the vanilla bow, but nothing special, really. It's decent, and it sure looks nice, but it's probably not your best bet.
- The Legia Bow from More Bows. This bow is crafted with two iron bows and some more iron and some string. It's quite expensive in iron, which can be a problem, but it's definitely worth the investment. The Legia Bow consumes one arrow while firing two arrows at once, or even sometimes three. It does quite a bit of damage, anywhere from 11-17. With Power I you can get 19-26, making one-shots very likely on vanilla mobs, and with Power II, you can hit from 23 to 30. Power II will cement your ability to one-shot most mobs for only 4 xp levels. That's incredible, but it is worth it to put power V, flame, and unbreaking on it if you want to fight bosses. The draw speed is fast enough to machine gun mobs with it, making it viable even in closer quarters. The durability on the bow is great, much better than a vanilla bow, and you can repair it with another Legia Bow or levels, although that can get rather expensive if it's heavily enchanted. And if you're wondering, the bow is indeed accurate enough for sniping. One arrow is always fired just like from any other bow. There's no difference at all in the range or speed of flight or anything like that. The low down? As far as I can tell, this is the best bow out there. It's a little expensive and complicated to make, it leaves ugly arrows lying around, and it's not the prettiest bow around, but it's very powerful. Just make sure to not use your full-option (maximum enchantments, if you didn't know) killing machine that you even bothered to rename in an anvil on everyday mobs and in mines. Get a different bow for that because your good one will be REALLY expensive to repair.
- Golden Bow from More Bows. I know, I know. I already said Legia was best. But the Golden Bow is, well, Golden. If you think you're some kind of pimp and you HAVE to use gold, I will admit it does look pretty cool. It fires super fast and does 8-12 damage, so it's strong enough to be useful. Just don't use this bow for much but looks and tool racks in your house.
- Manyullyn Bow from Tinker's Construct. If you were surprised that Manyullyn wasn't on the list until now, it's because all the Tinker's Construct bows lag the game even by having them in my inventory, so I couldn't test them. Maybe it won't lag EVERYBODY'S game, but it sure does mine, so I can't use it. I highly doubt it's enough of an improvement over the Legia to be worth the effort, and it's not compatible with Essence arrows from Better Dungeons, so don't fret over it.
- Ender Bow from More Bows. This bow COULD be better than the Legia. Unfortunately, it SEVERELY lags my game when it's fired, and as such it is not recommended for survival until you've tested it in creative mode to be sure it does not give you lag. I'm fairly sure that Legia is better anyway, and I would say that the Ender Bow is much harder to make, so it's not really worth it except as a novelty.
- Natura Bows. These all suck, really. They look cool but they do, indeed, suck. Some are worse than the vanilla bow, and they're certainly much harder to get. These are novelty items only. Do not use these for serious combat.
Last word? Use the Legia Bow. Make two, a good one and a normal one. Enchant the first with everything you want and only use it for hard fights, and use the second, normal one for everyday stuff. There's plenty of materials and plenty of storage space to have different equipment for different situations, and it's a shame if you don't take advantage.
Well, there will be more comparisons like this to come, but for now this is it. I'll do armor next, and then shields or miscellaneous items like the different hookshots. PLEASE comment any suggestions, opinions, or general thoughts. I didn't include every weapon, some I left out on purpose, some by accident. Let me know if I missed something good!