| 1 | %% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1296883654059380100 |
| 2 | %% Please do not change or remove either without starting a new thread. |
| 3 | [[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BiggoronComparison6_1214.jpg]]]] |
| 4 | [[caption-width-right:350:[=Left:=] ChainOfDeals + TimedMission = InfinityPlusOneSword. Right: SwordOfPlotAdvancement.]] |
| 5 | |
| 6 | ->''The Heaven Asunder is stupidly powerful. It's not the best sword in the game, that thing takes way too long to get, but it'll do just fine for beating the last dungeon.'' |
| 7 | -->--'''[=LordHippoman=]''', ''A Layman's Guide To Ruin Cabbages: LetsPlay VideoGame/RuneFactory1'', "[[https://lparchive.org/Rune-Factory-A-Fantasy-Harvest-Moon/Update%2043/ Final Preparations]]" |
| 8 | |
| 9 | The Infinity -1 Sword isn't the most powerful weapon in the game, but it's a lot easier to get than the most powerful, and is still decisively more able to lay on the hurt than most other weapons. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | It's not the InfinityPlusOneSword. StatisticallySpeaking, it's not as good. It's not necessarily the SwordOfPlotAdvancement either (although it could be). And yet, you find people using it for most of the game, despite not being the actual "best" weapon available. Perhaps the InfinityPlusOneSword is [[GuideDangIt too hard to get]], and the SwordOfPlotAdvancement doesn't show up until [[EleventhHourSuperpower five minutes before]] the FinalBoss fight. Often, however, the Infinity Minus One is available at any shop for the whole party to use, whereas there is only one of the InfinityPlusOneSword. Or that sword is a BraggingRightsReward, while this sword is useful in ''getting'' that reward. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Compare with the PenultimateWeapon. That's the sword meant to be the best that you'll always end up replacing anyways. With this sword, you normally don't want to replace it, and if you don't do some special quest, you probably can't. This sword is in fact typically the replacement for the PenultimateWeapon (so the ultimate weapon) when the InfinityPlusOneSword is difficult to reach. This sword may be LevelLockedLoot, although if so, the InfinityPlusOneSword will probably be much worse. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Likely to be BoringButPractical, and can often be a DiscOneNuke as well. |
| 16 | ---- |
| 17 | !!Examples: |
| 18 | |
| 19 | * Works with their own pages: |
| 20 | ** ''InfinityMinusOneSword/FinalFantasy'' |
| 21 | |
| 22 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 23 | [[folder:Action-Adventure]] |
| 24 | * ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'': |
| 25 | ** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', you're almost sure to pick up a Long Spear on your first visit to the Nation of Fools (high RandomDrop rate). Its high power and speed will get you through a large part of the game. Later on, the Vampire Killer itself takes on this role -- it's not one of the game's several {{Infinity Plus One Sword}}s and you don't have to go out of your way to get it (just beat ThatOneBoss), but many players stick with it for its ease of use and handy elemental attributes. |
| 26 | ** Abusing a small glitch to double jump early (which normally comes just after Nation of Fools) can get you the Nebula (a homing whip), the most powerful whip that is obtained before Vampire Killer [[note]]For some reason various other whips better than it but worse than Vampire Killer can be obtained ''after'' you get Vampire Killer[[/note]], a powerful weapon that will last until endgame unless you abuse a GoodBadBug to buy the Holy Claymore early. |
| 27 | ** In ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow]]'', there is an enormously powerful weapon called Death's Scythe that can only be found about halfway through the game and only if one is playing Hard Mode. It has more raw attack power than the bonus sword "Claimh Solais" and has the greatest reach in the game, but it's Dark element, which a lot of enemies are resistant to, and its great reach is offset by being slow and unable to hit things at point-blank. The Claimh Solais is Holy element, which nearly every enemy is weak to, has a faster swing, and has a more forgiving hitbox even if it doesn't reach quite as far. |
| 28 | *** Not to mention Death's Scythe is one of two weapons that annihilates ThatOneBoss, [[spoiler:Julius Belmont]], who is neutral to dark and tremendously resistant to holy. The Claimh Solais is hardly more useful than Soma's ''bare fists'' against him. |
| 29 | *** There is also the Balmung if it isn't Hard Mode which only slightly less powerful than the Claimh Solais and is of the Darkness type meaning its effective against that one boss mentioned above. |
| 30 | ** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon'', the prize for clearing the [[BossBonanza Battle Arena]] is the Shining Armor, which confers a whopping +500 to your defense, and +10 to your other attributes. Alternatively, the Dark Armor gives an [[DiminishingReturnsForBalance even better +550]] to defense, but a -10 penalty to other attributes -- but it's dropped by [[UniqueEnemy Lilim]], an obscure but otherwise standard enemy found in the Machine Tower, rather than at the end of a BrutalBonusLevel. |
| 31 | * In ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', the Machine Gun is the first weapon you can get in exchange for the Polar Star, and is still quite useful despite the ease of obtaining it. It does damage at a reliable rate and, at maximum level, you can [[RecoilBoost fire down to use it as a makeshift jetpack]], giving you extra mobility until you get either version of the Booster. |
| 32 | * The Fire Sword in ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain: Blood Omen''. It does high damage, being a FlamingSword. However, it's not a patch on the game's InfinityPlusOneSword, the Soul Reaver (which would later obtain SwordOfPlotAdvancement status in the sequels), which can one-hit kill bosses. However, the Fire Sword is still preferable in most situations, as the Soul Reaver drains the players magic, and prevents them from casting any spells. |
| 33 | * ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': |
| 34 | ** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI The first game]] has the White Sword, which is more powerful than the Wooden Sword obtained at the start of the game but less powerful than the Magical Sword. The White Sword can be obtained before entering any dungeons, while the Magical Sword requires clearing at least half of the game. |
| 35 | ** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', the Tempered Sword can be had fairly early in the Dark World with some minor SequenceBreaking and is what you'll wind up using for the majority of the game's dungeons, as the Golden Sword doesn't become available until shortly before the end. |
| 36 | ** The Master Sword from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' is like this to Biggoron's Sword, which requires an extremely long ChainOfDeals complete with several {{Timed Mission}}s to get. The Master Sword is a SwordOfPlotAdvancement that you obtain through the course of normal play (and a good example of Infinity Minus One Sword overlapping with SwordOfPlotAdvancement). Biggoron's Sword being a two-handed sword that denies usage of a shield also helps, though a quick-fingered player can get around this by simply drawing another item when about to be attacked, then switching back to the sword. |
| 37 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'': The Gilded Sword. You can obtain it roughly halfway into the adventure and there are two more powerful swords after it. However, one of those two, the Great Fairy Sword, requires you to complete 99% of the fourth dungeon, (and like the Biggoron's Sword, prevents you from using your shield [[{{BFS}} because of its massive size]]). The other, the Fierce Deity Mask's sword, can only be obtained [[EleventhHourSuperPower by collecting all the masks]], [[SituationalSword and it only works during boss fights]], of which there is exactly one left by the time you get it. Fortunately, the Gilded Sword itself is pretty awesome with its long range and great strength. |
| 38 | ** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'', the Noble Sword is this, though it's the most powerful sword the first game played can be finished with. (The Master Sword is the InfinityPlusOneSword of these games, and can only be obtained after linking the two games together after finishing one of them, and can only be used in the first one played after it's already beaten.) |
| 39 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' uses this on most everything. |
| 40 | *** You not only have the Goddess Sword (an unpowered Master Sword) but you have your potions, gear, and even shields which can all be upgraded to "master" level by investing tons of time collecting bugs, ore, and goop. |
| 41 | *** The Sacred Shield is the game's Infinity -1 shield, being a step below the unbreakable, block-everything [[InfinityPlusOneSword Hylian Shield]]; but is much easier to get and upgrade than the Hylian Shield. The only real advantage the latter has ([[RuleOfCool aside from looking just plain awesome]]) is that it's completely invulnerable, while the former can take damage but also recover fairly quickly. |
| 42 | ** ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'': |
| 43 | *** The Master Sword is given to you roughly halfway through Legend Mode. It has an attack stat of 300, at a point in the game where most of your other weapons will probably only have around a third of that. Eventually is does get surpassed by other Level 3 weapons, but those all require significantly more time and effort to acquire. Once you have all the Level 3 weapons, you can upgrade the Master Sword and raise its attack power to 500, giving it the highest raw damage in the game[[note]]though due to its lack of skill slots, other weapons can still be situationally better[[/note]] making it both the Infinity Minus One Sword ''and'' the InfinityPlusOneSword. It also helps that it alters Link's moveset to grant him the ability to fire [[SwordBeam energy waves on attacks]] when he's on full health, essentially making most of his attacks hit twice, if not more times if he's undamaged. If an attack already fires a projectile, it fires more. |
| 44 | *** Most characters (including Link with his other weapon types) require an excess amount of grinding to create a [[InfinityPlusOneSword perfect]] weapon. First you've got to get one with both the highest attack power and maximum skill slots, which unfortunately can only be obtained through RandomDrops. Then you've got to find all the skills you want and probably transfer them over from other weapons, which requires you to grind both thousands of kills to unlock the skills and hundreds of thousands of rupees to transfer them over and delete unwanted skills off the perfect weapon. Oh, and did we mention there's over thirty different movesets in this game and you have to do this for every single one? For most players, it just isn't worth the time investment for the marginal improvement, except maybe for their favorite character. So for most characters you're just going to make do with whatever 5 star level 3 weapon you happen to have on hand, even though it's probably not optimal. |
| 45 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': |
| 46 | *** The Master Sword manages to be both a minus one and a [[InfinityPlusOneSword plus one sword]]. Acquiring the Master Sword only requires you to have 13 heart containers. The sword itself only has an attack power of 30 and it runs out of energy after 40 hits, which is decent but unremarkable for a one handed weapon since even the commonly available Royal Broadsword has 36. However, you can always rely on it since it only goes on cooldown rather than breaking permanently. Thus, it functions as the Infinity -1 Sword. However, the sword powers up in the presence of Ganon's Malice, such as when you're inside a Divine Beast or Hyrule Castle, or fighting a corrupted Guardian. In its powered up state, the sword is boosted to 60 power (which is only beaten by a few of the strongest [[{{BFS}} two-handed weapons]]) and an enormous 188 durability, almost five times the base durability, while still letting you use a shield. Thus, it functions as the Infinity +1 Sword, but only in certain situations. The ''Trials of the Sword'' DLC adds three [[NintendoHard challenging]] optional dungeons which will each add ten to the Master Sword's base power upon completion, with the last one also adding the extra durability, causing the Master Sword to permanently enter its powered-up state; thus, it functions as the ''true'' Infinity +1 Sword, with all the struggle that entails. |
| 47 | *** Royal weapons have high base durability and attack strength, enough so as to be extremely powerful in the early and mid game and to remain relevant into the late game. They're outshined by the highest tiers of weaponry, such as the powered-up Master Sword, Royal Guard gear, Ancient Soldier gear, and Savage Lynel weapons, but have the advantage of being much more common and lacking the disadvantages of the others -- the Master Sword is only situationally powered up unless the player goes through the difficult Trial of the Sword, Royal Guard gear is very fragile and only found inside Hyrule Castle, Ancient Soldier gear is bought with Guardian parts and a thousand rupees per piece, and Lynel weapons can only be obtained by fighting the toughest base enemies in the game. Royal weapons, by contrast, can be found in chests or in the hands of weaker enemies throughout the game map. |
| 48 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': The Master Sword retains its attack power, cooldown function, and "in the face of evil" power-boost from ''Breath of the Wild'', but with an added wrinkle in the way it interacts with the game's Fuse mechanic. Weapons can be empowered by Fusing materials (or other weapons) onto them, which are typically lost when the weapon breaks (or destroyed in order to free up the base weapon at the player's discretion); however, Pelison in Tarrey Town can separate a weapon from its Fused component without destroying it. Pelison ''cannot'', however, separate a component from the Master Sword ([[PaintingTheMedium components attached to the Master Sword appear as glowing phantoms when the blade is drawn rather being physically attached]]). With very few weapons in ''Tears of the Kingdom'' having substantial strength without being Fused, the Master Sword's base attack of 30 is already fairly decent even for common battle, but its status as an Infinity ±1 Sword depends on what Fuse material the player is willing to irreversibly sacrifice by Fusing it to the Master Sword. |
| 49 | * ''VideoGame/OnimushaDawnOfDreams'' has these as rewards for completing fifty floors in the Dark Realm, with Infinity Plus One Swords for finishing all 100 floors. The Infinity Minus One Weapons all have the best combo type for the characters, elemental attacks (while the Infinity Plus Ones just have raw power) and have generally great attack power that should do you well enough. |
| 50 | [[/folder]] |
| 51 | |
| 52 | [[folder:Action-Platformer]] |
| 53 | %%* ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'': Peacemaker is obtained halfway through the game and is the same thing as in ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'', where it was ''the'' InfinityPlusOneSword.%%What makes it an example? |
| 54 | * ''VideoGame/KeroBlaster'': The Lazer Uzi is the final upgrade to the Pea Shooter. While it doesn't do quite as much damage as the [[spoiler:Kuro Blaster]] and only fires straight ahead, it's still the strongest of the four base weapons at maximum level, requires less effort to obtain, and can be used in all three modes. |
| 55 | * ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror'': The Smash and UFO abilities; both are among the rarest powers attainable before the end of the game, can solve just about every puzzle possible, and can deal tons of damage. |
| 56 | ** Although considering the UFO ability grants uninhibited mobility, it could be considered the InfinityPlusOneSword, with the Smash ability (Which can be obtained from the Copy Ability room once you unlock it) being the true minus one. It also helps that the UFO ability is so powerful that the creators of the game did not allow Kirby to keep the UFO ability between stages, a restriction not even the Master ability (what is supposed to be the InfinityPlusOneSword) has. The Smash ability is definitely the minus one, though, and it can be easily obtained once you unlock the Copy Ability room. In fact, the UFO ability is the only ability to ever have this restriction in the series. |
| 57 | ** In ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'', Kirby can unlock the Meta Knight Sword as soon as the Colosseum is unlocked. It does way more damage than the standard sword, is extremely agile and fires a SwordBeam when Kirby's health is over 100% (and the game contains a health powerup that gives him an extra life bar, meaning he will always have the beam until he depletes that one). It is only surpassed by the [[spoiler: Morpho Knight Sword, which is only obtained after finishing the post-game levels]]. |
| 58 | * Being the InfinityPlusOneSword or EleventhHourSuperpower in most other games, the Chaos Emeralds and by extension [[SuperMode Super Sonic]] take this role compared to the Super Emeralds/Hyper Sonic in ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles''. The requirements go from 7 Special Stages to 14 overall, and the end result is a faster Super Sonic with a DoubleJump that works in all 8 directions and [[SmartBomb destroys all enemies on the screen]]. The same applies to Super Knuckles. |
| 59 | ** In ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' Super Sonic stands in as the InfinityPlusOneSword this time around. Having maxed out stats and an upgraded boost that sees Sonic flying through stages [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog A-La Shadow's Chaos Control]], the skill is balanced out by having Sonic bleed rings at a purely obscene rate compared to even his most inefficient roles, with the aforementioned boost taking off ten rings per second. The skill also takes up all 300 skill points, meaning you can't equip anything else unless you cheat. Comparatively, the combo of Acceleration-Up, Speed-Up, Serial Homing and maybe Direct Jump, Power Brake or Gauge-Up can be [[BoringButPractical just as good, if not better than Super Sonic in all but the most special of circumstances.]] |
| 60 | ** In ''Videogame/SonicRiders'' there's a sidequest in Mission Mode that involves playing special missions to collect wrecked gears and then playing Junk missions to collect the resources to restore them. The restored gears (Fastest, Accelerator, Powerful and Legendary) feature incredible stats with interesting attributes with drawbacks to balance them(Fastest is quite literally the fastest gear but has a turn radius of near zero, Legendary always gives you a perfect jump from ramps and kickboards but you won't gain air from tricks, ETC) but a lot of the gears that you can buy at the shops such as the Hi-Booster, the Light Gear and the majority of the bikes have solid stats and interesting atributes of their own that can allow them to run circles around the rare gears. Only the Powerful Gear holds up under scrutiny by virtue of being a BoringButPractical JackOfAllStats with the ability to go off-road without any slowdown. |
| 61 | *** The aformentioned Light Board stands head and shoulder above all the other gears in the first Riders despite being one of the earliest and cheapest gears in the shop. While it boasts only alright stats and heavier-than-normal air consumption rates, it's ability to make trick manuvers easier to execute and ESPECIALLY it's ability to exponentially extend boost/dash pad speed storage means that outside of the DifficultButAwesome Hi-Booster, this is going to be the fastest and most nimble gear in most circumstances. |
| 62 | *** [[VideoGame/CrazyTaxi The Crazy]] board is this compared to the Chaos Emerald gear(Super Sonic) in Sonic Riders as well. It's also a gear that runs on rings, but it runs on roughly half the rings that the Chaos Emerald does. In Zero Gravity, it even uses the same Gear Parts sans an extra ring storage part. |
| 63 | * The Flail Whip in ''Videogame/LaMulana'' qualifies as the InfinityPlusOneSword, but its puzzle is such a profound GuideDangIt that unless you ''are'' using a guide, you're probably never going to get it. (Plus, it can be {{permanently missable|Content}}.) Instead, most players will have the more practical Axe, alongside a bit of software which strengthens it, as their go-to. |
| 64 | * ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'': In invariably almost all games, the [[InfinityPlusOneSword strongest weapon]] is either locked behind CashGate so big multiple playthroughs ([[GoodBadBugs or glitches]]) are needed to get enough money to buy it, or you must complete a sidequest that requires collecting all necessary blueprints. No surprise then people opt for other weapons instead: |
| 65 | ** In ''Videogame/RatchetAndClank2002'' R.Y.N.O., while available on 6th planet, costed 150000 bolts. Therefore most people settled on Tesla Claw, Visibomb Gun and, [[GuideDangIt if they knew about them]], gold weapons. |
| 66 | ** ''Videogame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'' had some weird relations when it comes to weapons. The strongest of them on paper was Zodiac, costing 1500000 bolts (and another 10k a shot), making R.Y.N.O.II, at a price tag of mere ''million'' bolts and available much sooner than Zodiac, ''technically'' Infinity -1 Sword. The true Infinity -1 Arsenal however would be the trio of Bouncer, which was so broken it could clear any room by itself save for flying enemies (obtainable on 8th planet for 100k bolts), Plasma Coil (available one planet later for 150k bolts), which fully upgraded could also clear a room full of enemies, ''including flying enemies'', and Shield Charger (100k bolts and available 3/4ths into the game), which enabled shield that provided invulnerability until it dissipated. |
| 67 | ** ''Videogame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'' had [=RY3NO=] which could not be even bought until NewGamePlus, so there was trio Bouncer - Shield Charger - Plasma Coil again, complemented by Rift Inducer which was an instakill to all medium-sized enemies or smaller. |
| 68 | ** ''Videogame/RatchetDeadlocked'' had Harbinger instead, but Miniturret Launcher, the last weapon made available before the Harbinger, was strong enough to carry you through the rest of the game and costed much less. |
| 69 | ** ''Videogame/RatchetAndClankSizeMatters'': R.Y.N.O was again relegated to NewGamePlus only (and costed so much that it would be impossible to get it anyway), so Laser Tracer was best second option, with falling back to Static Shield occasionally. |
| 70 | [[/folder]] |
| 71 | |
| 72 | [[folder:Action RPG]] |
| 73 | * A curious example of a weapon both fulfilling this trope ''and'' ''Main/InfinityPlusOneSword'' is Sora's Blades from ''[[VideoGame/DotHackR1Games [=.hack//Outbreak=]]]''. To elaborate, while each of the .hack Quadrilogy features their own version of Infinity Plus One Swords obtainable only through post-game dungeons, Outbreak features a ''Anime/DotHackSign'' reference quest in which you rescue Sora (or at least, his apparition) from Skeith's wand, referring to the last SIGN episode. As a reward, you are given the eponymous Sora's Blades. While its raw stats aren't as good as the game's purported Infinity +1 Sword, its status effect Death reduces a target's HP to 10% and triggers randomly on every non-Skill hit. It is so effective that it functions as Outbreak's true Infinity +1 Sword. Even better, it [[OldSaveBonus carries over]] to Quarantine, the last of the Quadrilogy, where it becomes this trope, as even the strongest weapons on Volume 4 cannot match the brokenness of Death effect. |
| 74 | * The [[CarryABigStick Kirkhammer]] in ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' can be obtained after killing a single boss, staggers just about anything in its transformed mode and has a fast one-handed sword as its alternative mode. The three starter weapons could also be considered this since they all can easily carry one through the entire game, depending on your build. |
| 75 | * ''Videogame/DarkSouls'' has the infamous Zweihänder, affectionately referred to as the [[MemeticMutation Bass Cannon]], which, while nowhere near being the most powerful weapons in its class, has very low stat requirements, doesn't weigh a lot, deals reliable damage, can stagger all but the biggest of non-boss enemies (and can reliably perma-stun the likes of Smough/Giant Ornstein) with its heavy attack, and can obtained as soon as you reach the Firelink Shrine (provided you can survive the enemies that spawn their long enough to reach it) making it also a DiskOneNuke. |
| 76 | * ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' features nine "Legendary Armaments," many of which aren't available until the end game (either by location or high stat requirements). A few other weapons are this trope. |
| 77 | ** Moonveil is a katana with Intelligence scaling that most MagicKnight characters will use in preference to the Legendary Sword of Night and Flame. Moonveil only requires Intelligence and Dexterity (which mages want anyway because it makes spells cast faster), while Night and Flame requires a significant investment in Faith (a stat that's useless for sorcerers). They're found at similar points in the game, but Moonveil's much easier stat requirements make it equippable much earlier. |
| 78 | ** The Meteorite Staff is found in the same region as Moonveil. It can't be upgraded, but has S Tier scaling for casting Sorceries. A late game character will be better served by an honest maxed out staff, but it will be dozens of hours before they can come by one. |
| 79 | ** The Blasphemous Greatsword is awarded for slaying a boss about halfway through the game. It's the second-beat Faith scaling weapon in the game, packing a powerful, life-draining skill and a rare passive healing ability. |
| 80 | * In ''VideoGame/FableI'', several powerful weapons can be obtained extremely early. Besides the master weapons, Wellow's Pickhammer and the Cutlass Bluetane (the legendary pickhammer and cleaver respectively) can be obtained before doing a single quest and will serve well for most of the game. Similarly, the legendary longsword, the Harbinger, can be obtained halfway through the game and is the third strongest one handed weapon in the game. While the Sword of Aeons and Avo's Tear are tied for strongest, both can only be obtained after beating Jack of Blades, leaving either only the PlayableEpilogue or expansion left to enjoy them. |
| 81 | ** For two handed weapons, exploiting the Hero Save function makes it possible to obtain the Murren Greathammer, the third highest damage weapon and containing one of the few experience augmentations in the game, before doing the Trader Escort mission. |
| 82 | ** With the addition of DLC content in Fable: Anniversary, the weapons Axel the Axe and Sophia's Sword are now available, though expensive, from the very beginning of the game, and both feature extremely high damage, comparable to end-game legendary weapons like the Katana Hiryu or the Bereaver. |
| 83 | * In ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'', it's often better to get the "Economical" weapon and stigamata recommendations over a battlesuit's best-in-slot. Obtaining these only requires farming AE and SS Imagonons. The problem with the best-in-slot equipment is almost all of them require a gaccha drop. There are some that are farmable, but they can harder to farm than the Economical equipment. Plus, Economical equipment are suitable for multiple battlesuits, whereas best-in-slot gear only really shine with a particular battlesuit. |
| 84 | * ''VideoGame/KartiaTheWordOfFate'' has a number of ultimate items. Unfortunately getting things like the Boink Hammer and Excalibur requires levelling up Phantoms to Level 20 and converting them, or winning your way through the difficult arena battles. As well the mightiest summonable creature and spells requires a unique rune that is GuideDangIt (specifically it required the Japanese guidebook). But much earlier, you can summon Dragons which are the 2nd most powerful creatures in the game and unlike the Fynus, is fairly easy to the runes for them (additionally the Dragon is the longest-ranged creature in the game, while the Fynus are pure melee only). |
| 85 | * ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' has a few of these. |
| 86 | ** [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI First game:]] the Oblivion. And to an extent, the Lionheart thanks to its easy unlock requirements, and stats. It is possibly the best Keyblade before [[InfinityPlusOneSword Ultima Weapon]], at least, outside of [[UpdatedRerelease Final Mix]]. |
| 87 | *** If you want to make a short trip to the library in the same world, you might even end up preferring Divine Rose over Oblivion. |
| 88 | *** If you're interested in maximizing your magic power, Lady Luck is available from Wonderland, after the first battle against Riku in Hollow Bastion. It has the strongest magic stats, barring the Diamond Dust won from an optional SuperBoss. The magic strength matches the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Ultima Weapon]], making it helpful for quickly plowing through Olympus Coliseum rounds, general farming with enhanced AreaOfEffect magic, or for helping to maximize your ManaMeter in magic-focused builds (Via choosing the Dream Staff at game's tutorial stage). |
| 89 | ** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'': [[note]]Ultima Weapon and Fenrir are both [[InfinityPlusOneSword plus-ones]] due to the difficulty in unlocking either.[[/note]] |
| 90 | *** The Decisive Pumpkin is favored by experienced players for the boost it adds to your finisher's damage. It's actually even more damaging than the Ultima Weapon, lacking only in magic strength, and can be one of best weapons for shredding the health bars of {{Superboss}}es. |
| 91 | *** If you use the DualWielding [[SuperMode Drive Forms]] then Oathkeeper is this as well since it makes up for its lack of stats by extending the time you can stay in a form. Once you obtain the Oathkeeper it WILL be in the offhand slot of your Drive Form of choice, despite its lack of raw stats. It pairs well with the easily obtainable Oblivion to help you recover your drive gauge during an [=MP=] recharge. |
| 92 | *** The Final Mix version added another in the form of Two Become One. While it has ''slightly'' less physical power than Oblivion and Decisive Pumpkin, some players may nonetheless prefer it due to its balanced stats, having both solid strength and magic. |
| 93 | ** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'': The Nano Gear is acquired by clearing San Fransokyo, meaning the player's guaranteed to have it entering endgame. It offers balanced stats and a Formchange that uses nanomachines to rapidly transform between every other previous Keyblade's Formchange, as well as other benefits like an all-directions block that are otherwise only available on the Ultima Weapon and postgame Keyblades. |
| 94 | ** Each of the three protagonists has their own minus-one in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', that has stats tailored to their personal strengths. [[SquishyWizard Aqua]] gets Brightcrest, which significantly boosts her magic. [[FragileSpeedster Ven]] gets Lost Memory, which has balanced strength and magic. And [[MightyGlacier Terra]] gets two of them; either Chaos Ripper, which has incredibly high strength stats but actually ''reduces'' magic, or Ends of the Earth, which is still strength-focused, but has no magic penalty. Aqua only gets Brightcrest in the Final Episode, though: in her storyline, this role falls to Stormfall or Pixie Petal, the former having balanced stats but the latter boosting her magic higher. |
| 95 | ** ''Re:coded'' has the Zero/One, won for defeating the ClimaxBoss a hour or so before the FinalBoss. It has good abilities attached for boosting magic and strength, while the reward for beating the Final Boss has solely defense-oriented abilities and Keyblades that outperform Zero/One are acquired in the difficult optional system sectors. |
| 96 | ** If you're not one to go out of your way in the slightest, you'll likely be using Counterpoint for the entire final level of ''Dream Drop Distance''. If you're reasonably skilled enough and willing to spend about ten minutes gathering the remaining A ranks for each dive segment, however, the Divewing outperforms it in magic and crit rates. It's relatively worth the effort, considering obtaining any better weapon would require hours of special portal grinding or Flick Rushing[[spoiler:, and/or struggling against superbosses that only show up after you've already finished the game]]. |
| 97 | * ''VideoGame/OverlordII'' has The Reaper, which is an axe that absorbs health every time it connects an attack. In case The Apocalyptor is too expensive for you and you want to save up the finite Dark Crystals for other stuff (armor or Minion upgrades), it'll do perfectly unless you want to be a full-on Sauron clone. |
| 98 | * A few times in ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'', it ends up being a [[PowerUpLetdown disadvantage]] to use the final Weapon Orb for certain weapons due to the lack of weapon bonuses. The Gigas Axe ends up being stronger than the Doom Axe across the board due to the five point strength boost. The Doom Bow and the Shuriken both end up doing more damage than the Garuda Buster and the Ninja's Trump due to their high critical hit rates. |
| 99 | * ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'' has the Eternal Sphere/Aeterna. Provided you [[GuideDangIt know how to get it]], it's the sword Claude will spend half the game equipped with and statistically superior ones only appear in the BonusDungeon. In fact, it's so powerful, it's arguably the InfinityPlusOneSword for certain playstyles. |
| 100 | ** The other protaganist, Rena's, ultimate weapon is supposedly the synthesisable Emprezia, and it does have the highest physical power of any of her weapons. However, her role as the WhiteMagicianGirl means she'll get much more use out of her [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement knuckles of plot advancement]] the Fallen Hope Knuckles/Knuckles of Hope which give the same magic power bonus as the Emprezia (the highest she can get from any weapon), a boost to her defense stat, and ''halves the cost of all of her spells''. Since the Emprezia can be created fairly soon after arriving on Nede, while the Knuckles of Hope are obtained in a plot event near the end of the main-game, it creates the unusual situation of the infinity+1 weapon being used as a placeholder for the infinity-1 weapon. |
| 101 | ** [[LadyOfBlackMagic Celine's]] Silver Moon rod has a magic stat only slightly lower than the Dragon's Tusk, and periodically restores her MP. The player also doesn't have to worry about her customization skill since one can simply be stolen from her during a Private Action in Armlock. |
| 102 | ** Dias's Crimson Diablos has a lower attack stat on paper than the Cromlea Sword he gets from the battle arena in Fun City. [[GuideDangIt The game doesn't mention]] that the Crimson Diablos gives a free Atlas Ring effect, doubling Dias's attack power. |
| 103 | ** Leon's Ancient Wisdom tome is only slightly weaker than his ultimate tome, periodically restores some of his MP, ''and'' halves the cost of all of his spells, making it the weapon of choice for many players even in the BonusDungeon. |
| 104 | * In the original ''VideoGame/RuneFactory'', most players stick with the Chaos Blade, the second-most powerful one-handed sword. The Rune Blade has better overall stats, but the Chaos Blade takes a lower Forging Skill score to make and has a raft of nifty status effects to boot (including HP Absorb, Paralysis and 30% crit rate). It's also far faster and easier to use than any two-handed sword, war hammer, or battle axe of similar crafting level (and has a wider attack range than any non-sword). And all that is assuming they haven't finished the main quest with the Heaven Asunder before they're even able to forge the Chaos Blade. |
| 105 | * ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' has a weapon called "Laser Weapon", which can be purchased any number of times, and which any character can equip. Interestingly enough, these are only a little weaker than the character's ultimate weapons, and require significantly less work. Also, since any characters can use them, they are often buffed using the in-game item-synthesis to make a beat-down stick to swap between characters. They also deal standard damage, while some characters' final weapons deal elemental damage, making them more useful while in areas with enemies who have resistance or immunity to elemental effects. |
| 106 | * ''VideoGame/XenobladeChonicles1'' |
| 107 | ** [[TheHero Shulk]] has the Replica Monado variants. All of them have different stats compared to the [[PenultimateWeapon base Monado Replica]] Shulk automatically gets after losing the Monado. Rudra (less damage variation), Agni (best block rate, more defenses, larger damage variation), Abyss (higest attack, more crit chance, but very large damage variation), Dogma (highest crit chance, but lacks defenses and block rate and loses a gem slot), and Saga (highest defenses and higher block rate, but lowest attack, lower crit chance, and one less gem slot). By the time the player gains access to the quests for them, they will likely have most of the items needed to craft Rudra and Agni without doing any post game grinding. These all pale in comparison to Shulks InfinityPlusOneSword [[spoiler:Monado III]] (maxed out attack, no damage variation, ''75% crit chance''), but he can only aquire it during the final phase of the FinalBoss and can only take it into NewGamePlus. |
| 108 | ** Reyn has the Daedalus, found in one of the chests on [[spoiler:the second visit to Prison Island]]. |
| 109 | ** Sharla has the Satelitte Shot, which is acquired during the sizable questline where she earns her fifth skill tree. |
| 110 | ** Dunban has the Lazard, a weapon acquired in a chest during the [[spoiler:second visit to Prison Island]]. |
| 111 | ** Melia has the Meteor Staff acquired after completing her fifth skill tree quest. |
| 112 | ** Riki has Kongamato obtained in a hidden chest during the [[spoiler:second visit to Prison Island]]. |
| 113 | ** Seven has the War Blades, acquired by completing a quest given to you on the way to defeat the boss in [[spoiler:Mechonis Core]]. |
| 114 | * ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'': |
| 115 | ** The Silver Sword, Armor and Shield in ''VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen'', which are all the second most-powerful of their kind. You can gather the whole set by the halfway point of the game, and while you'll find more powerful versions of each in the last stretch of the final dungeon, you once again can't even ''scratch'' the FinalBoss without equipping the whole set. |
| 116 | ** The Violent Light sword in ''VideoGame/YsIVMaskOfTheSun''. It's not even found until near the end of the game, well after obtaining the SwordOfPlotAdvancement, which is required for the FinalBoss. And nearly all the [[UselessUsefulSpell gimmick sword magics]] suck anyways. |
| 117 | [[/folder]] |
| 118 | |
| 119 | [[folder:Card Battle]] |
| 120 | * ''VideoGame/KanColle'': |
| 121 | ** While there are better air-to-air planes than the Reppuu, those are only available as Event or Ranking Rewards and thus are [[TemporaryOnlineContent unavailable]] to newer players. |
| 122 | ** Nagato and Mutsu may not be as tough or powerful as Yamato or Musashi, but they are slightly more common and resource-efficient. |
| 123 | ** These in turn have an Infinity Minus Two in the Kongou sisters, who are not too much weaker but easier to get. |
| 124 | [[/folder]] |
| 125 | |
| 126 | [[folder:Fighting Games]] |
| 127 | * Many ultimate weapons in the ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Calibur]]'' series come with crippling drawbacks such as health drain, so other options are often more useful in normal situations. Makes sense seeing as the main ultimate weapon in the series happens to be MadeOfEvil. |
| 128 | [[/folder]] |
| 129 | |
| 130 | [[folder:First Person Shooter]] |
| 131 | * The M16 in ''VideoGame/BloodIITheChosen''. Once you get it, you won't really be using anything else, except maybe the flare gun for the Zealots, Gideon and Ishmael's original body, the Chain Gun for bosses, Napalm for Goddamn Bats and maybe the Sniper Rifle for avoiding direct confrontation. Everything else is either rendered obsolete by it, useless entirely, or just there for novelty purposes, like impersonating the [[Film/{{Phantasm}} Tall Man]]. |
| 132 | * Because of the way that RandomDrops work in the ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' series, it can take hours if not days to see a legendary weapon drop, especially in the sequels--favorites like the [[BottomlessMagazines Infinity]] or [[SniperRifle Cobra]] can take ''ages'' to appear because of the way the game reads drop rates. Conversely, it's a lot more reasonable and practical to do a few side missions and keep an eye out for any with a blue or purple reward icon--those usually indicate some sort of unique named item which, while not being as absurdly powerful as a legendary item, are ''much'' easier to get and still have some sort of very handy ability, such as how Moxxi's weapons tend to [[LifeDrain heal you when damaging enemies]]. |
| 133 | * ''Franchise/{{Metro}}'': |
| 134 | ** ''VideoGame/Metro2033'' has two: The Tikhar, to which it serves as a DiscOneNuke due to its nature as a pneumatic weapon: if the meter hits to the maximum amount, it can insta-KO any enemy. While it serves as a cheaper alternative to the more expensive ones including the Hellbreath and Abzats, the InfinityPlusOneSword weapons of the game, the Tikhar requires constant pumping all the time to reach its potential of being a heavy-hitter; the Helsing bolt gun, while it can one-shot enemies if pumped to the max, also suffers from the same problem as the Tikhar as it requires to be constantly pumped all the time. Both the Tikhar and Helsing can be found in the early stages of the game, specifically in the Lost Tunnels and in the Dead City levels, respectively. |
| 135 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroExodus'' has the Gatling, where you can get it during mid-game in the Yamantau chapter. Like its predecessor in ''VideoGame/MetroLastLight'', it is a powerhouse in mowing multiple enemies thanks to its high rate of fire and damage. However, it has its own downsides, as it has virtually no upgradeable parts except for the quadrant-type magazine attachment and it is also extremely poor in accuracy at further distances, making it a complete slouch over the more superior upgraded alternatives like the Kalash, Bulldog and even the Bastard gun, who all specialize in high accuracy and damage. It also has 75 rounds instead of the usual 500 that its predecessor version has and burns through ammo A LOT. You also have to pump the weapon constantly if the meter hits red as it will be rendered useless if not pumped again. |
| 136 | * The ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' series has the trio of 9x39mm weapons. A silenced sniper rifle (VSS Vintorez), a silenced assault rifle (AS Val), and an assault rifle with an attached grenade launcher ([=OTs=]-14), each of them hits like a truck. The ammo they use is heavy and hard to find in large amounts before the endgame, but the weapons hit so hard that small amounts of ammunition are all you really need. The [[InfinityPlusOneSword Gauss Rifle]] still wins for sheer damage output, but by the time you get it, you're probably already stocked up with 9x39 weapons. |
| 137 | ** In ''Call of Pripyat'' you can just simply get the AK-74 or the AN-94 (which you can get within the first half an hour of the game from some random corpse or a zombie), upgrade it to maximum, and then it will easily rival most NATO rifles and even sniper rifles (if you attach a scope to it), making it a do-everything gun, while still using a very common ammunition. Basically, having an upgraded AK, enough ammo and maybe a backup shotgun is more than enough to beat the game. |
| 138 | ** The Armsel in ''Call of Pripyat'' is one of the most powerful general-purpose bullet-spitters in the whole game. It's unstoppable with the right mods (particularly [[MoreDakka the full-auto]] upgrade) and anything that isn't a Chimera, a Pseudogiant, or a goon in an Exoskeleton will die quickly before it, and shotgun shells are dirt cheap. The only issue is the strenuous reload. How do you get one? You can either get one in the first area by doing some artifact-hunting for a couple hours and buying one from Nimble, or get one in the second area by [[AssholeVictim shooting the Bandit leader Jack in the face]] and swiping his. |
| 139 | * Many of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'''s stock weapons are, in fact, the best ones. Some unlockables are more useful than the stock weaponry, but obtaining them either requires unlocking achievements, trading them between other players, crafting them, or getting a lucky random drop. This means that many of the stock weapons are the Infinity -1 sword for their respective class. For example, take the Scout: he rarely uses his Bat by default- the Scattergun does far more damage at close range. The Atomizer gives the scout the opportunity to triple jump while wielding any weapon (costing 10 hp each time) at the cost of dealing less damage, which rarely, if ever, matters. The Sandman reduces the scouts health by 15 but gives him the opportunity to launch a ball that can stun foes- unlocking it requires the player to get several Scout achievements. |
| 140 | [[/folder]] |
| 141 | |
| 142 | [[folder:Hack-and-Slash]] |
| 143 | * There are a lot more powerful swords available in ''VideoGame/Diablo1997'' than Griswold's Edge - but those are all random drops, whereas Griswold's Edge is guaranteed if you get the right quest, and it does do decent damage and knock back enemies. In addition, its additional damage is fire damage, which is the only energy type that's of any use in the final level. |
| 144 | ** Regular magic weapons in Diablo carry over into new game +, while unique weapons do not. |
| 145 | [[/folder]] |
| 146 | |
| 147 | [[folder:Horror]] |
| 148 | * The Chicago Typewriter of ''VideoGame/DeadRisingChopTillYouDrop'' is easier to get than the Mega Buster, and can take out any boss you can use it on with less than a clip's worth of ammo. |
| 149 | * In ''VideoGame/MiniDayZ'', the Fire Axe is considered this. Its high damage along with decent crit damage/block chance makes it an above average choice for melee combat, but its true usefulness is [[UtilityWeapon being able to chop down trees for wood]], allowing you to build fences for a homemade base as well as start bonfires for warmth. They’re a somewhat rare find in fire stations, though bandits sometimes carry one as well, and it’s far easier to find than the [[InfinityPlusOneSword sword]]. |
| 150 | * In the ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' series, the shotgun tends to fit nicely into this role. While not as powerful as the magnum or grenade launcher, and definitely no rocket launcher, it tends to be obtained fairly early in the game and with minimal fuss, with high enough damage output and plentiful enough ammo to become your staple weapon and allow you to take on hunters, lickers, and the Nemesis. |
| 151 | ** The Infinite Rocket Launcher in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''. Costs the same as the Chicago Typewriter, useless up close due to it being explosive, and a worse firing rate than the other two secret weapons. But at the same time, all you need to do to get it is beat the game once. Assignment Ada and the Mercenaries minigames are required if you want to get the other two guns and that will take up at least ''some'' time, and it sure makes all those bosses you fought before much easier to kill. Many of the standard guns can also become this. After upgrading them full you get an exclusive upgrade that gives the Striker a magazine of ''100 rounds'' for example. Another good example is the Red9, which gains a very high firepower, together with a stock making it steady and as it's available early on, you will probably have upgraded it fully once you reach the end. As it's a handgun you will never have to worry about ammo either. |
| 152 | *** Infinite rocket launchers from the prior games are shoulder-fired and won't let you aim them up or down, meaning you can't really use them as your only weapon because they aren't able to hit small, quick enemies like crows and dogs. The launcher from the 2002 [=REmake=], however, fires off the hip and lets you aim up or down as you please, making it an InfinityPlusOneSword instead. |
| 153 | ** You will find many ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' players using an infinite rocket launcher rather than a rifle, which is even less useful, because if you miss (and if you're on chapter 3-3, you will), you either have to wait for the weapon to re-scope or blind-fire it. Also, many people use the SIG 556, an assault rifle with lower firepower but a higher capacity than the AK-74 (but the capacity becomes moot when you unlock infinite ammo), and the "Lightning Hawk", which is the weakest magnum, is middle in capacity, but has the highest reload speed (again, a moot point when you have infinite ammo). Both of these guns have to do with recoil, which is not measured by the game. The M3 is the Infinity Minus One Sword of shotguns: it ''technically'' has lower firepower than the Hydra (M3 has 900, but the Hydra has 550 for each of the three barrels it fires), but has the benefit of not blocking your field of vision when you aim it with Chris. |
| 154 | *** Give the best magnum to the computer controlled character, because they will never miss. Keep the lesser magnums for yourself because they reload faster and have less recoil. |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | [[folder:MMORPG]] |
| 158 | * In ''VideoGame/EveOnline'', Tech 2 weapons are these. At first glance they seem to be the top weapons in the game and require that players train a whole upper tier of skills to use effectively, but they are not the best damage dealers when compared to rare officer-modified Tech 1 weapons. The top level officer weapons are quite a bit more devastating, but they are [[AwesomeButImpractical extremely rare]] to find and thus cripplingly expensive to buy from other players in the game. The Tech 2 weapons also have the advantage of being able to use Tech 2 specialty ammunition that can boost range, weapon accuracy, and damage. |
| 159 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has a few weapons that can be considered the Infinity -1 weapon: |
| 160 | ** The first is, if available, are high-end crafted weapons. While it still requires someone to craft them, they tend to be readily available on the market board as long as the weapon is somewhat recent. |
| 161 | ** The second are weapons obtained by doing the normal difficulty raids for 7 weeks. The last boss of a given raid tier drops a token that can only be obtained once per week. 7 are needed, plus some other tokens, to obtain the weapon. The restriction is removed and the amount of tokens needed are dropped when the next raid tier comes out. |
| 162 | ** The last are weapons dropped by the "Extreme" difficulty of the Trial instances, at least for Trials that were unlocked in the current content. While obtaining the weapons are harder than the other two, it's definitely much easier than obtaining the high-end raid tier weapons which are considered best-in-slot. |
| 163 | * In ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', the [[http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/Frozen_seal_spine frozen seal spine]] is significantly stronger than other weapons that you can get at level eight, easily obtainable, heals and restores MP every turn, and can be dual-wielded. Only Seal Clubbers can take advantage, but it's more beneficial to them than even to other classes. |
| 164 | * ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}} has the ''The Godsword, a level 75 two-handed sword which can be fitted with one of four different hilts, each one giving the weapon a different special attack. It is the highest levelled non-degrading melee weapon in the game, and is widely used in player-killing because of its array of special attacks. |
| 165 | ** There's also the level 70 Abyssal Whip, which was for many years the most effective weapon in the entire game for a large variety of popular tasks, until Dungeoneering introduced the aforementioned Chaotic weaponry. One advantage of the abyssal whip is that it is tradeable, unlike Chaotic weaponry, and costs far less than many other tradeable weapons of similar level, not to mention it does not degrade unlike stronger weapons. That being said, the Abyssal whip is still one of the more effective options for those without the Dungeoneering requirements for Chaotic weapons, or a big enough wallet to afford the up-front or upkeep costs of level 90 weapons. |
| 166 | * Quel'Delar in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft: Wrath of the Lich King''. It was the best level 80 weapon you could get without ever going to a raid or the arena (and better than weapons from the lesser raids), and as a bonus comes in different versions for different characters. |
| 167 | ** Basically any weapon weapon drop in raids where one could also find material for comparable legendary weapons - while the material for legendary weapons was limited and it took weeks if not months to complete just *one* item, one only needed a single final boss kill and some luck to get a slightly worse weapon (the exception being the legendaries in TBC that actually were little more than exceedingly rare boss drops). |
| 168 | [[/folder]] |
| 169 | |
| 170 | [[folder:Puzzle]] |
| 171 | * ''VideoGame/SmallTownMurders'': The combos. Note that certain order levels require you to make a certain number of these combos to pass. |
| 172 | ** Paper plane + Paper plane clears vertically, horizontally and diagonally adjacent tiles and launches 3 paper planes. |
| 173 | ** Paper plane + Rocket/Bomb will launch a plane which will act as a rocket or a bomb where it lands. |
| 174 | ** Rocket + Rocket will launch rockets vertically and horizontally regardless of the directions the rockets point at. |
| 175 | ** Rocket + Bomb combo launches 3 rockets vertically and horizontally on each side. |
| 176 | ** Bomb + Bomb creates a bigger explosion than just one bomb. |
| 177 | ** Disco Ball + Plane/Rocket/Bomb will convert all the items of one color to planes/rockets/bombs and activate them. |
| 178 | ** And the ultimate of all combos: Disco Ball + Disco Ball affects the entire board, clearing items and doing 1 point of damage to obstacles (it's ineffective against red ropes, however). |
| 179 | [[/folder]] |
| 180 | |
| 181 | [[folder:Racing]] |
| 182 | * In [[VideoGame/ChoroQ ChoroQ HG 4]], the best engine that you can get without the postgame is the [[spoiler:Devil's Engine]], made by combining the [[spoiler:Devil Wings and the Black Piston]], only behind the [[spoiler:Angel Engine]]. With this engine, one can easily beat any other race in the game. It can even be obtained without combining parts by [[spoiler:losing Otto's grand prix twice]] as a gift from Norahike. |
| 183 | * ''VideoGame/DriverSanFrancisco'' has the Ford GT, a car with overall very good stats that is available in the store from the start and costs 150,000 WP. Slightly steep for the early game, but still fairly attainable with a bit of side-questing. By contrast, the best cars in the game, the [=McLaren=] F1 and Zonda Roadster Cinque, cost 750,000 WP and 1,000,000 WP respectively and are unlocked very late. (Though it's worth noting that [[DownplayedTrope buying cars is of somewhat limited usefulness to begin with]], since they can only be used for Activities and Dares, and not story missions or leaderboard challenges.) |
| 184 | [[/folder]] |
| 185 | |
| 186 | [[folder:Role Playing Games - Western]] |
| 187 | * Danu's Light in ''VideoGame/{{Albion}}'' is one of the most versatile weapons in the game. Deals a decent amount of damage, boosts melee attack skill and speed (both of them are vital for melee fighters), it even gives defense bonus and can be used to [[HealingShiv heal the entire party]]. Oh. There's also comes in four copies. All of which can be bought from the same blacksmith. While there are at least two swords out that that are way more destructive, one of them is two-handed and the other is cursed, and comes with ridiculously huge penalties. |
| 188 | * The [[KillItWithFire Pyrotechnic Axe]] from ''VideoGame/{{Arcanum}}'' for any Tech-oriented melee character. It can be crafted in the first major city with minimal effort if your character is trained in Smithing (or you recruit Magnus), deals a ton of bonus fire damage and doesn't suffer from weapon degradation when attacking rock monsters (which come up a lot in the game). |
| 189 | * ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'': |
| 190 | ** Lilarcor is a bit like this: You get it early, it's +3 and has some useful special abilities [[EmpathicWeapon (and it's sentient)]] usually you keep it around for most of the game (since Carsomyr is paladin-only and the demon sword has nasty side-effects). |
| 191 | ** The silver vorpal sword also sees a lot of use: the enchantment level is sub-par, but it's good enough for anything except bosses and the chance for an insta-kill isn't to be sneezed at. You only get it in chapter six, however, so whether it is a InfinityPlusOneSword or Infinity Minus One Sword depends on how much of the game you did back in chapter two. In ''Throne of Bhaal'' it is a definite Infinity Minus One Sword, however, since you start the game with it and it has a chance to instantly kill any non-boss enemy. |
| 192 | * In the [=iPhone=] game ''Battleheart'', you can get this by upgrading a weapon to the max for a Tier 7. (Well, that would actually be a Infinity Minus Two Sword as you can get Tier 8s from the arena) The Infinity Plus One Sword is unlocked by doing extremely well in the arena. |
| 193 | * Greatswords in ''VideoGame/BetrayalAtKrondor''. Third best sword in the game and best purchasable sword. Available in the town closest to the starting point, although not in the direction you're told to go. Fairly expensive, but doable -- equipping both your swordsmen requires doing every sidequest and killing every enemy in the starting area, which is less than a half of the 1st chapter (out of 9).[[note]]The game is a WideOpenSandbox with few restrictions, and 1st chapter allows to roam over a dozen areas. But the chapter objectives only require to cross 3 of them.[[/note]] |
| 194 | * ''VideoGame/{{Drakensang}}'': There are a number of powerful weapons that are readily available mid-to-late in the games, most of which are only marginally less powerful than the best ones. |
| 195 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' |
| 196 | ** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'': |
| 197 | *** Goldbrand, a golden katana which deals fire damage, is given at the completion of Boethiah's [[GuideDangIt hard-to-find]] Daedric quest. It can be further upgraded into [[InfinityPlusOneSword Eltonbrand]], but that ''absolutely'' [[GuideDangIt requires reading a guide]]). |
| 198 | *** Chrysamere, "the Paladin's Blade," is the best two-handed blade in the game. It deals massive damage and is also enchanted to cast several protective spells on the user. |
| 199 | *** ''Tribunal'' adds the twin blades [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement True Flame]] and Hopes Fire. They were given by the Dwemer as wedding gifts to Nerevar and Almalexia thousands of years ago. True Flame is a FlamingSword while Hopes Fire is the lightning equivalent. |
| 200 | *** Auriel's Bow is the most powerful bow in the game, and curiously, comes unenchanted, allowing the player to enchant it how he/she sees fit. |
| 201 | *** "Skull Crusher" is the best two-handed blunt weapon in the game, dealing out massive amounts of damage, and is enchanted with a Feather spell which reduces its carry-weight to nothing. |
| 202 | *** The "Wings of the Queen of Bats" is the game's best Axe, but is curiously not available in the game itself and requires console commands to acquire. It deals massive damage and is also enchanted to drain the health of enemies it strikes. Several mods have been created adding the Axe to the game proper. |
| 203 | *** The Black Hands Dagger is simply an enchanted Daedric dagger acquired through the Morag Tong questline, but is enchanted with a ''powerful'' Absorb Health spell on strike. (10-25 points of damage per second over 30 seconds.) This combination means it can deal the most damage in a single blow of any weapon in the game while transferring part of the damage back to the user as restored health. |
| 204 | *** There are numerous other still-powerful weapons available as well. Umbra -- provided you can find and kill the Orc who wields it, Magebane -- a glass claymore which lies within the Urshilaku burial and can be taken with just a telekinesis or levitate spell, and the Scourge mace, which lies in one of the main quest destinations and only needs a powerful unlock scroll and bit of stealth skill to get. Alternatively, once you've leveled enough, you can simply kill monsters in shrines or in the Grazelands until you find a Daedric sword, or you can train your Conjuration skill so you can summon Daedric swords all the time. |
| 205 | *** The Dwemer Jinksword can purchased from the Fighter's Guild in Balmora after completing the initiation quest [[DiscOneNuke less than thirty minutes into the game]]. Who needs to do 100+ damage when you can just paralyze your foe, switch to the bound dagger (also for sale in Balmora), and just [[DeathOfAThousandCuts wail on them until they die?]] |
| 206 | *** If you're after paralyzation effects, you might as well get the Daedric Crescent, which has the same enchantment, packs a wallop, and looks much more cool. You do have to kill the guy who wields it to get it, though. |
| 207 | *** The shack in the corner of the Dren Plantation, where lurks a guy with a Daedric Daikatana, the most powerful unenchanted weapon in the game... right from the beginning of the game, requiring no quests, and only enough levelling (or skill) to shank the guy. Actually enchanting one of these can take it up to GameBreaker status. |
| 208 | ** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'': |
| 209 | *** '''Armor:''' |
| 210 | *** Dragonplate Armor. Daedric Armor is strictly better, but the materials to make it include Ebony Ingots (expensive unless you know where to look) and Daedra Hearts (rare). Much easier to get Dragonplate, since it uses those Dragon Bones and Dragon Scales you've been saving up all game. Also, there's a point at which the extra armor points for daedric don't matter because damage reduction is capped at 667 AR, which isn't too hard to get. |
| 211 | *** For efficiency's sake, there is a perk which greatly boosts the effectiveness of Dwarven armor to just under that of Daedric, and the smithing perk for Dwarven gear is one of the first in the tree. The only issue then are the weapons. |
| 212 | *** In fact with [[GameBreaker enough skill, perks, and Fortify Smithing bonuses from potions and enchantments,]] pretty much any armor set can hit the 80% damage reduction cap, which coupled with perks that reduce encumbrance for your preferred armor type, make it so that you can wear whatever armor you want with only cosmetic differences. |
| 213 | *** Until you max out your smithing and enchanting skills, the Shrouded Armor / Thieves' Guild armor are this for stealthy light armor users, and you can get them very early into the Dark Brotherhood or Thieves' Guild quest lines respectively. |
| 214 | *** '''Weapons:''' |
| 215 | *** Skyforge Steel will serve you well for the majority of the game, and you can get a Skyforge Steel Sword for free in the second town (and purchase Skyforge Steel versions of whatever weapon you prefer for a reasonable price). |
| 216 | *** The Ebony Blade is this for anyone who uses greatswords and isn't too strong in Enchanting. While its damage is relatively subpar (nothing skill and smithing can't fix), it's the lightest greatsword of the game and comes with a nifty Life Drain enchantment that can be enhanced and is ''infinite'' [[note]]Save for another weapon, all weapon enchantments are limited in time and must be recharged[[/note]]. Obtaining it will take you 15 minutes tops (a bit longer if [[spoiler: Balgruuf is no longer jarl]]) and it's in a familiar place (Dragonsreach) the only prerequisites being a level 20 character and the innkeeper of Whiterun must be still alive. |
| 217 | *** Bound weapons (summoned, ethereal daedric blades and bows) aren't quite top-tier, but they're weightless, can't be stolen, lost, or disarmed, never need to be recharged, and level the Conjuration skill. Their cost (both in gold to learn the spell and magicka to cast it) is very reasonable and they can be bought or found quite early in the game. Many characters will never use anything else, and for convenience, they can't be beat. |
| 218 | *** With the enchanting and alchemy fortification going back and forth... any weapon/armor can become like this and may even reach InfinityPlusOneSword status if kept at it enough times. |
| 219 | *** If you have the Dawnguard DLC, Crossbows are extremely easy to get (either by joining the Dawnguard and doing one really easy sidequest, or just straight up killing a Dawnguard member) and even the basic crossbow has stats that are superior to every other bow except named ones and the Dragonbone Bow (the strongest bow in the game). If you further follow up with the quest, the Enhanced Dwarven Crossbow is basically the [[InfinityPlusOneSword infinity plus one bow]] in the game in terms of raw damage, and it's ''four tiers stronger than the basic Crossbow''. |
| 220 | * ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': |
| 221 | ** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'': |
| 222 | *** The hunting rifle and its unique version, Ol' Painless, qualify. Solid, dependable, capable of ludicrous accuracy, common drops for repair and some of the most common ammo in the wasteland. Sure, it's no Alien Blaster or Gatling laser, but the enemy is just as dead. |
| 223 | *** If you have an Average or better Science skill, the Scoped .44 Magnum can be found in the Chryslus Building near the main quest's first subway station, although its ammo is less common. The quest to obtain the unique Blackhawk version can also be done rather early. |
| 224 | *** For melee characters, the Shishkebab (a homemade FlamingSword) can be [[DiscOneNuke created within the first few levels]]. The schematics are available for purchase at one of the traveling caravans for a reasonable price or as a quest reward for an easy early side quest that's not hard to stumble onto, and the ingredients aren't terribly difficult to find either. It starts out superior to the baseball bats and pool cues you're likely to be using at the time, and with the proper perks and upgrades it continues to be useful through the entire game. The only melee weapon [[InfinityPlusOneSword that out-damages it]] is a unique variant of the [[ChainsawGood Ripper]] called [[PunnyName Jack]], which can only be found in a cave infested with [[DemonicSpiders deathclaws]] in an out-of-the-way corner where it's [[GuideDangIt unlikely to be discovered by chance]]. But Jack degrades quickly and can only be repaired by cannibalizing the incredibly rare standard Ripper for parts or [[CastFromMoney spending hard-earned caps at a merchant]], rendering it AwesomeButImpractical; even those who prefer it are well-advised to keep a Shishkebab around as a backup in case it breaks down in the middle of a long quest. |
| 225 | *** The Combat Armor is the apparel equivalent of this. Unlike the previous two games where you obtain it after the Leather and Metal Armors, in ''3'' you can find it randomly generated at Craterside Supply—''[[DiscOneNuke the first store in the game]]''—after only a couple visits. Once you get to Rivet City, you can find Combat Armors in bulk quantities for repairing, as well dozens on the backs of dead Talon Company mercenaries. Even when you do finally gain the ability to use PoweredArmor, most of the varieties you find offer negligible increases in resistance and are much heavier, with drops in movement speed and inventory that aren't worth it. Without the [=DLCs=], chances are you'll end up beating the game in it. |
| 226 | *** Not only that, but if you complete the side quest involving Reilly's Rangers with all 3 members still intact, you get to choose between either the Ranger Battle Armor or a special [[GatlingGood minigun]]. Most players end up taking the Ranger Armor because it's essentially the best non-Power Armor in the game due to it raising many defensive stats for the player and they can easily pickpocket the special minigun from one of the [=NPCs=] in their headquarters. Furthermore, unlike the Power Armor, the Ranger Armor can easily be repaired by the more common Combat Armor, at least until they get training to wear Power Armor. |
| 227 | *** The Victory Sniper Rifle, while significantly weaker than the Gauss Rifle from ''Operation Anchorage'', has the same effect of knocking down the enemy upon a CriticalHit. |
| 228 | *** Speaking of which, the ''Operation Anchorage'' Gauss Rifle. While its long firing and reload time makes it worse in close combat and its reliance on merchants and alien epoxy to repair it are major drawbacks its very high base damage and super-high CriticalHit (which it always gets with the Finesse Perk) is very useful against the unfairly tough DLC enemies such as Swampfolk, Super Mutant Overlords, Feral Ghoul Revers, and Albino Radscorpions as the high damage and Knockdown effect means less shots to kill them. |
| 229 | *** There is also Metal Blaster from ''The Pit'' [=DLC=]. You can get it for collecting half of steel ingots in steelyard, which is rather easy. The weapon is essentially laser shotgun with rather small spread of shot and while not ultra-poweful in regular circumstances, with sneak critical each of nine beams gets separate damage bonus from it, therefore with sneak critical it can oneshot almost everything. |
| 230 | ** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas:'' |
| 231 | *** The ''Dead Money'' DLC has the holorifle, the third most damaging energy weapon in the game behind the [[{{BFG}} Gauss Rifle]] and its unique variant, [[ShoutOut the]] [[Website/SomethingAwful YCS/186]]. The holorifle can load four shots (the gauss rifle and YCS are single-shot), only uses one unit of ammo per shot (compared to five and four), can be modded so that it almost never needs repairs, and it's dropped into your inventory as soon as you begin the DLC. |
| 232 | *** For sniper fans in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' the Anti-Materiel Rifle is the ''ne plus ultra'' of sniping. Accurate, hits like the fist of God and can set things on fire with the right ammo. However, it's fragile, only available at later levels, expensive to buy and fire, and the strength requirements are hard to meet. The Gobi Campaign Scout Rifle, while slightly less damaging, uses inexpensive, easily-available .308 ammo, is actually usable in VATS, more durable, less restrictive in terms of required stats and skills, 3 times lighter ''and'' [[DiscOneNuke available at about level 8 or so if you know what you're doing]]. |
| 233 | *** Likewise for the COS Silenced Sniper Rifle from ''Old World Blues'', which can be easily picked up just outside the location "Little Yangzte", it even spawns some mooks for target practice. |
| 234 | *** The Ratslayer is essentially a unique Varmint Rifle with all of the modifications installed (extended magazine, scope, silencer). What makes it stand out from its more powerful counterparts that you will eventually come across later on is its obscenely high critical hit chance multiplier of x5. This means that you will be able to score multiple critical hits at a particular target even with a low Luck stat. Combined with Sneak Attack Critical hits, the Finesse and Better Criticals perks, and [optionally] the Built To Destroy trait, you will be able to one-shot kill anything below Deathclaw level. Also, with the Jury Rigging perk, you can simply repair it with any two-handed non-automatic ballistic gun such as the aforementioned Varmint Rifle. Add to the fact that it uses the rather common 5.56mm ammo and chances are this will be your most used sniper rifle throughout the game. The thing is, the gun itself is located in a cave full of [[GoddamnedBats Goddamned Rats]] and somewhat leaking of radiation, which can be rather troublesome for low to mid-level players. |
| 235 | *** Maria, Benny's [[BlingBlingBang unique]] Browning Hi-Power, can be acquired at the halfway point in the main quest (which can be very fast, depending on how quickly you get to New Vegas). It fires 9mm ammo, which is extremely common especially at the beginning of the game, making it likely that you'll have a small stockpile of rounds (and non-unique versions of the extremely common 9mm pistol to repair it with) by the time you find it. It has excellent damage for a handgun, a high rate of fire, good accuracy for most gunfights, and high durability. Once you get Maria, you can spend a good portion of the game never needing another sidearm, and the commonality and cheapness of the ammo and replacement parts allows for it to be used as a primary weapon in some battles. Game mods that increase the damage of weapons to realistic levels and make even a common 9mm deadly will turn Maria into a powerhouse. |
| 236 | *** The .44 Magnum is an excellent high damage pistol in the mid-late game, although quite a bit weaker than the hunting revolver which uses .45-70 govt ammo. However, the magnum has many advantages over the hunting revolver: it comes with 6 chambers where the hunting revolver requires an upgrade to go from 5 chambers to 6, the magnum is much more durable and won't wear out as quickly (and has an upgrade to increase its durability even more while the hunting revolver does not get one), magnum rounds are much more common to find or buy, the magnum can be kept hidden on your person when you go into a casino while bigger guns including the hunting revolver cannot be hidden, and finally the .44 magnum takes far fewer action points in V.A.T.S. to fire. |
| 237 | *** The Assault Carbine also qualifies. Despite being outclassed by some of the other automatic firearms in the game, one major reason for this weapon's entry here is the abundance of 5mm ammo and their cheap price at 1 bottlecap for each ammo bought (this only applies to the regular version, as its hollow point, armor-piercing, and surplus versions cost a few more caps per ammo). |
| 238 | *** A few number of vendors such as the Great Khan armorer and Quartermaster Bardon remain popular among players for their very reliable source of ammunition as they carry them by the boatload, [[GameplayAndStorySegregation and, despite what Bardon says about limitations of supplies, restock them indefinitely every three passing days.]] |
| 239 | *** Get to Outer Vegas and venture into Fiend territory. These raiders carry a good variety of decent equipment and killing them provides an easy source of bottlecaps to farm from their corpses, especially if you have the Jury Rigging perk. Unlike the ones in Vault 3, the Fiends outside the vault always respawn after every three passing days. Sell their equipment to a vendor such as the Vendortron at Gun Runners HQ and watch as you eventually become rich in caps. [[MoneyForNothing Rinse, wash, then repeat and you never have to worry about getting poor again]]. |
| 240 | *** The Blade of the West in ''Lonesome Road'' is a literal Infinity Minus One Sword, being a slightly weaker but faster version of the Blade of the East, which can only be obtained from a unique enemy after the main game's PointOfNoReturn. |
| 241 | *** And lastly, you can find a near-broken Fat Man carried by a dead super mutant master in a Nopah Cave, southeast of Chance's Map. What makes this better is the mutant respawns every few days and dies on one shot from almost anything making this an easier way to grind for Fat Mans to sell. |
| 242 | ** ''VideoGame/Fallout4:'' |
| 243 | *** [[MeaningfulName Spray N' Pray]], a unique submachine gun that deals an extra 15 points of explosive damage in an area of effect. It can be purchased relatively cheaply (under 3000 caps) from a wandering merchant and comes with most of the really useful upgrades already, like a fast-reload drum magazine, high-powered receiver for maximum damage, and a [[HollywoodSilencer suppressor]], allowing for ''triple'' damage if both are maxed out. As it's both an automatic weapon and an explosive weapon it gains damage boosts from both perks. Its only real disadvantages are its lack of accuracy at long range and the rate at which it burns through ammunition (it only takes a few seconds fire to burn through a full 100 round ammo drum). |
| 244 | *** Several mundane weapons can be very damaging if you fully upgrade them at workbenches and take a few levels in the relevant perks. For example, the Laser Rifle, Combat Shotgun and .44 Pistol can all do over 150 damage at maximum power. For context, 150 is the base damage of the Missile Launcher. Level locking of skills and perks prevents a DiscOneNuke scenario. |
| 245 | *** The Laser Musket you get in the first town you enter at the start of the game can eventually be upgraded to do over 300 damage per shot, and it runs on basic fusion cells. It's perfectly serviceable as either a rifle, a sniper rifle, or a shotgun/blunderbuss, though the long reload isn't for everyone. |
| 246 | *** At first, the Righteous Authority is really nothing special - it's just a laser rifle with a unique mod, right? Not quite. That mod, combined with a high luck build, easily pushes the laser rifle into relevance past the level 30, until you can get some of the later science mods. It's available basically from the start of the game, as, while the side quest might be a bit out of your level range, you're escorted by a man in power armor. You also encounter so much ammunition for the laser rifle on that side quest that you'll probably never want for ammo again. |
| 247 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'': |
| 248 | ** The grade seven Spectre Master Gear guns you can get on a first-time playthrough of ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', as compared to the grade ten varieties that become available at around 50th level. |
| 249 | ** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has the Mattock rifle, available if you bought the Firepower Pack DLC. Unlike the InfinityPlusOneSword of the assault rifle class, [[MoreDakka the Revenant,]] the Mattock is available right from the beginning of the game for the Soldier class and doesn't need the accuracy upgrade (acquired even later than the Revenant itself, which you get around the half-way point) to be effective. The Mattock is also available to all classes if they take Assault Rifle training as their bonus on the Collector Ship, whereas the Revenant is only available to the Soldier class.[[note]]Soldiers get the Revenant on the same mission and start with Assault Rifles from the beginning of the game.[[/note]] |
| 250 | * In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' the Silver Sword of Gith definitely qualifies for CoolSword, OddlyShapedSword, and SwordOfPlotAdvancement. But it's entirely possible to forge and enchant weapons on your own that have it beat on damage output. Two factors are to blame: A, the weapon has no type, so your weapon skills feats have no effect on it whatsoever. B, the Sword is incomplete (there are still chunks missing). It is far deadlier when it reappears in ''Mask of the Betrayer'', though still crippled by having no type. |
| 251 | * ''VideoGame/PlanetAlcatraz'' has the Kain Machine gun. While it's not as powerful as the Achtung, ammo for it are plentiful, and its lower strength requirement means that all team members can potentially use it. |
| 252 | * Shandor's Darkstaff in ''VideoGame/{{Sonny}} 2''. It can be acquired as a random drop from the boss of the third area, meaning it comes before the annoying fourth area and the very difficult fifth area. It gives tremendously large boosts to Speed, Instinct, and Vitality all at once - so large that any one of the boosts it provides are often more than the rest of your equipment at the time combined. And if Sonny is running a Strength-based setup, you can simply give the Darkstaff to [[CombatMedic Veradux]], who will make tremendously good use of it. It's such an amazingly useful equip that most guides for the [[LowLevelRun Legend achievement]] recommend repeatedly reloading before the boss until he drops it. |
| 253 | [[/folder]] |
| 254 | |
| 255 | [[folder:Role Playing Games – Eastern]] |
| 256 | * The Bloodsword in ''VideoGame/{{Boktai}} 2'' is a very powerful sword that you can get early in the game, but it drains your HP with every swing. However this trait is coded the same way as positive traits that weapons can inherit. By intentionally forging a Bloodsword poorly, you can lose the HP loss trait. Then all you need to do is reforge it... |
| 257 | ** ''Boktai 3'' has the La Vie En Rose. It levels up with you and steadily gains power as you do, has a devastating 5 hit combo, never breaks or blunts (very few swords in the game don't), and can be obtained ''practically at the very start of the game''. The only thing keeping this from being an InfinityPlusOneSword is that, when compared to other weapons at its (current) level, it is comparably weak. |
| 258 | * ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'' has the Blade of Fallen Memes, a prohibitively expensive sword for sale in the very first town. If you somehow manage to grind up enough karma to buy it, you’ll find that it outclasses everything else up until you unlock the [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement [=PasSWORD=]]]. (Funnily enough, the [=PasSWORD=] itself also fits here, since you’ll need to upgrade it later). |
| 259 | * ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': |
| 260 | ** People who use the NewGamePlus feature know to always keep a [=BraveSword=] in the inventory for Frog. The Masamune doesn't carry over and doesn't get really powerful until after an endgame sidequest, so the [=BraveSword=] becomes his most reliable weapon by default. |
| 261 | ** Ditto for the Spectral Swallow in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', for the same reasons. |
| 262 | ** In the DS version, the Dinoblade is added, and it's better than the [=BraveSword=], and you get it in the Lost Sanctum. |
| 263 | ** Ditto Lucca's weapons. Due to a case of AwesomeButImpractical, most people will end up using her second best weapon - the Shockwave, compared to her ultimate weapon Wondershot. This is because Wondershot does randomly generated damaged suggested to be taken from playtime, so Shockwave ends up more consistent and thus, more used. (As with Frog, Lucca gets a better weapon in the Lost Sanctum - Turboshot.) |
| 264 | * ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'': |
| 265 | ** The legendary set of equipment (for example, the Zenithian equipment from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'', ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' and ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'') often fills this role. |
| 266 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI'': |
| 267 | *** The Flame Sword is less powerful than the Erdrick's Sword, but it still has a +28 boost to your attack and has a special action when used as an item. |
| 268 | *** The Magic Armor is less sturdy than the Erdrick's Armor, but it has the same +24 boost as the Full Plate, you gain Healing Factor of one Hit Point regained every four steps and reduces HURT and HURTMORE spells by 1/3. |
| 269 | ** The Metal King set of equipment is typically the strongest equipment in the games they are in, but are often relegated to difficult sidequests, long chains of alchemy, or bought with large amounts of casino tokens. The legendary equipment, which is often only slightly weaker and sometimes have unique traits the Metal King set lacks, is usually given out by the plot. Furthermore, said legendary equipment is usually unique to the main character, whereas several characters can typically use Metal King equipment, so oftentimes is is better to keep the hero in their legendary equipment and give the strongest equipment to the next best character instead. |
| 270 | * The Magicant Bat in ''Videogame/EarthBound1994'', because the best weapon, the [[RareRandomDrop all too rare]] [[InfinityPlusOneSword Gutsy Bat]], can only be obtained past the PointOfNoReturn. And the only way to return from that PointOfNoReturn is to use a glitch in the [[NoExportForYou GBA port]]. |
| 271 | * ''VideoGame/FearAndHunger'': With a massive +80 boost to Attack, the two-handed Claymore is a useful weapon to get you past the EarlyGameHell. However, the most obvious ways of acquiring one require you to commit an act most moral players would balk at; either killing Ser Seymour (who ventured into the dungeons in a noble attempt to destroy the evil emitting from it), or selling a child to [[ChildEater Pocketcat]], and it's outclassed by late-game weapons that deal more damage and are less cumbersome to use. |
| 272 | * In the ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' series: |
| 273 | ** The Kikuichimonji in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1'' is found as a (not quite) {{Random Drop|s}} from enemies in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, so the sufficiently patient player can get multiple copies. It's also classed as a "light blade", meaning the only person in your party who CAN'T wield it is the resident WhiteMage Mia. Since Ivan can't wield the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Gaia Blade]], the Kikuichimonji is a strong contender for his best weapon (it beats out the Swift Sword in raw damage, but the Swift Sword's unleash has a chance to triple damage for the most powerful attack in the game and it also gives a slight boost to his Jupiter Psynergy attacks). |
| 274 | ** ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'' has several flavors of not-quite-ultimate weapon. |
| 275 | *** Excalibur and its evil twin, the Darksword, can serve as this for Isaac and Felix. Overall they're less powerful than the Sol Blade [[note]] the Darksword actually has higher base attack, but a weaker unleash, while Excalibur's unleash can potentially outdamage the Sol Blade's but only has a 60% chance of tripling damage compared to the Sol Blade's 100%, making it less reliable in the long run[[/note]], but you can't get that until halfway through TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, while the forged weapons can be obtained almost immediately after completing Jupiter Lighthouse if the player knows what they're doing. They are also the ultimate weapons for Garet and Piers, who can't use the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Sol Blade]]. |
| 276 | *** The Tisiphone Edge is the game's strongest light blade, and can double or even triple damage with its unleash. It's a rare drop in one of the bonus dungeons, and is the strongest weapon usable by Ivan and Jenna. |
| 277 | *** The Nebula Wand is the Infinity -1 staff for Mia. She is not meant to cause damage, so a water-elemental unleash that also restores her PP will serve her better than any of the alternatives. |
| 278 | *** The Gaia Blade is the previous game's InfinityPlusOneSword and is what Isaac is certain to be packing when he rejoins the party late in the game. It's still very powerful, synergizes well with Isaac's Venus alignment due to being directly boosted by the wielder's Venus power, and can only be safely replaced with the absolute strongest weapons in the game. |
| 279 | ** In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'': |
| 280 | *** The Levatine and the Darksword are the better weapons for Tyrell in practice than this game's incarnation of Excalibur due to the changes in the unleash system. The Levatine has several reliable unleashes that either multiply damage, pierce defense, or both, while the Darksword's unmatched raw attack power scales very well with the Samurai/Ronin class' Quick Strike Psynergy, which scales off of physical attack and also multiplies damage. |
| 281 | *** The Verdant Sword is much easier to obtain than the Tisiphone Edge, and when equipped on Karis in her base class line its power can potentially be doubled because it's powered up by the user's Jupiter power. |
| 282 | *** Rief will get more use out of the Clotho's Distaff than any other end-game weapon since every attack will have a chance to restore his PP and he's not meant to cause physical damage. |
| 283 | *** Despite being only the third strongest light blade, the Masamune may serve Amiti better than the others due to the already powerful Rising Dragon unleash running off his high Mercury power and being capable of affecting multiple targets. The only superior option is obtained in the bonus dungeon after the final boss has been defeated. |
| 284 | *** The Gaia Blade once again serves in this capacity. Matthew finds it about three quarters through the game, and it's gotten an attack buff since Isaac's era; once again, it stands well above anything you will reasonably have at that point, and can only be safely replaced by the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Sol Blade]]. |
| 285 | * The Seraphic Weapons in ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy''. They're only useful for the element they correspond to, and mostly only for fights where you can exploit elemental weaknesses, but they're comparatively easier to obtain and upgrade than the Infinity Plus One Swords such as the Dark Opus or Xeno weapons. |
| 286 | * If you farm Ashas (The tentacled shell enemies) in the Moth Forest in ''VideoGame/JadeCocoon'', they'll eventually drop a Nightglow sword. It has a high chance of [[StatusEffects poisoning an enemy]], which drains 1/10 of a monster's max hit points per turn, reduces their attack and defense, ''and'' can even be inflicted on bosses (Provided they don't use poison themselves, then they're immune). Although it's weak, you'll use it for the rest of the game since you can just land a blow or two as Levant to poison the enemy, then whip out one of your [[{{Mon}} mons]] to do the rest. ''And you can get this sword less than half-way through the game...'' |
| 287 | * ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'': |
| 288 | ** The dragoon armors are unusual in that they're acquired considerably later in the game than the [[ArmorOfInvincibility best armor]]: the Armor of Legend and Legend Casque. The dragoon armors negate damage of the wearer's element, have decent all around defenses, and aren't particularly expensive. The Armor of Legend and Legend Casque have over twice as much defense as the next best armor and offer a 50% chance for either magic or physical attacks against the wearer to miss completely. However, each only has defense for physical or magic (Armor and Casque respectively) and provides no defense to the other, also each costs ten thousand gold in a game where most enemies drop a couple hundred at best. In the time it takes to farm the sixty thousand gold needed for just the main party, players will likely have considerably out-leveled the final boss. |
| 289 | ** When it comes to attacks, each character (except Rose and Kongol) has an Addition that deals impressive damage while also giving a reasonable amount of Spirit Points[[note]]Crush Dance for Dart, Hammer Spin for Meru, Rod Typhoon for Lavitz/Albert, and 5 Ring Shattering for Haschel[[/note]]. While weaker than their final Additions, said Additions are great for fighting bosses while leveling up the others on random encounters. |
| 290 | ** Statistically, Dart's strongest sword in the entire game is the Soul Eater, which can be acquired as early as near the end of Disc 3 if you beat an OptionalBoss in a BonusDungeon. However, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin it drains part of his HP in every turn]] which can only be negated if you equip him with a healing ring, but doing so will make Dart more of a GlassCannon. The best option would be the Claymore, which can be bought in the earlier stages of TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon in Disc 4. |
| 291 | ** Miranda's Detonate Arrow would be great against RandomEncounters and {{Flunky Boss}}es, if only you could have had it anytime besides the PreFinalBoss. Granted the TrueFinalBoss is a FlunkyBoss in his first form, but since this is the FinalBattle it's more practical to just stick with her Arrow of Force since it fills half of the SP Bar in every attack. |
| 292 | * Zircon equipment in the ''VideoGame/{{Lufia}}'' games is typically only available in the last town in the game. The merchant who sells them in ''VideoGame/LufiaIIRiseOfTheSinistrals'' even states that the equipment they sell is the strongest sold anywhere. |
| 293 | ** Funnily enough, the Zircon Sword in ''VideoGame/LufiaAndTheFortressOfDoom'' can only be obtained ''after'' you've already gotten the stronger SwordOfPlotAdvancement. [[spoiler:You end up losing said SwordOfPlotAdvancement just before TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.]] |
| 294 | ** The true Infinity-1 Sword of ''VideoGame/LufiaTheLegendReturns'', the Alumina Sword, can be obtained [[DiscOneNuke ridiculously early in the game]] as a RareRandomDrop. |
| 295 | ** ''VideoGame/LufiaTheRuinsOfLore'' has the Zircon equipment become available about halfway through the game, though you'll almost certainly not have enough money to buy even one piece...that is, unless you've exploited one of the game's two money-making GoodBadBugs. |
| 296 | * ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'' has the Golden Hammer. It's technically not quite as good as the maxed out Challenge Hammer (160 vs 165 extra attack power respectively), but it's far, far more practical to use due to one minor catch... To max out the Golden Hammer, you just need to be holding a lot of money. To max out the Challenge Hammer? You need to beat ALL the Expert Challenges. Which is NintendoHard to the nth degree and damn near impossible in some cases. Oh, and to get the Golden Hammer? You merely have to complete SOME Expert Challenges, which means that using the Challenge one in comparison to it means doing about 30-50 MORE challenges than are needed to get the Golden Hammer! |
| 297 | * ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'': The basic Ore-made weapons fall into this category, possessing decent damage against all monster types and several gem sockets to help customize your Armor Skills with. They also have the distinction of being quite easy to make and upgrade, since almost all the items needed to smith said weapons can be found via mining. That said, they will end up replaced with stronger weapons later on, but experienced players will find themselves hanging on to them well into G-Rank. |
| 298 | * ''VideoGame/NocturneRebirth'' has the Roshule Sword for Reviel and the Wind Spirit spear for Luna, which are their best non-sorcerous weapons. The former is obtained via the story while the latter is obtained by beating [[spoiler:Shylphiel]] at level 32 or lower. Unlike most examples, these two weapons are BoringButPractical compared to the {{Infinity Plus One Sword}}s, which drain the wielders' HP. |
| 299 | * ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'': Nearly every [=NPC=] carries a special inventory of items which can either be bought by Tressa or stolen by Therion: the former only requires scrounging up the money, while the latter has a percentage chance that can be reset by saving and reloading. The "Forbidden" gear can be acquired this way in the towns where characters' second and third chapters take place, which carry penalties but possess massive strength. The Forbidden Bow's penalty of increased enemy encounter rates, however, is actually a benefit, making it CursedWithAwesome. Stealing and purchasing can also be used to easily acquire multiple early copies of the Soul Knife, a knife with an Elemental Attack stat far higher than any staff available until very late in the game. |
| 300 | * ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'': |
| 301 | ** The Guild Masters can tell you about the "Legendary Arms" as well as vague hints to their locations. While these equipments have various ways to obtain them (some are hidden in optional dungeons, some are carried by [=NPCs=], some are obtained from a sidequest), most of them can be reasonably obtained around the time you start tackling the final chapters. There are stronger equipments in the game, but the arms' good stats and effects ensure they'll be useful for a long while. |
| 302 | ** The Divine Weapons. They're first found as Rusty weapons, but talking to a blacksmith in a late-game town can restore them to their original strength. Obtaining them also unlocks skills for the Armsmaster secret job. You probably already have one or two rusty weapons by the time you came across the blacksmith, and the rest can be obtained around the time you start tackling the final chapters. There are stronger weapons, but the catch is that the Armsmaster require these weapons equipped to use its skills. So it's a toss-up whether to sacrifice Armsmaster skills for stats or vice versa. |
| 303 | * ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' has a few since the actual best guns in the game takes ''a lot'' of time and effort to acquire, specifically collecting 300 junks ''each'' for ''ten'' of them. |
| 304 | ** The M8000 dropped by the T-Rex boss. It has solid power and stats (save for range) with the first of two dual-move skill available for the first playthrough. |
| 305 | ** Torres' Beretta [=M92FS=], though in a way that overlaps with [[InfinityPlusOneSword the inverse trope]]. It's the only weapon in the game that can reach the maximum 10 slots and is acquired only halfway through the game. But because of this it also has mid-tier stats, so [[MagikarpPower modifying its stats with tools and boosters would take time]]. |
| 306 | ** The guns found on the higher levels of the [[BrutalBonusLevel Chrysler Building]] on NewGamePlus have notably lower stats compared to the "junk" guns, but most of the Chrysler guns have the same amount of max slots as the "junk" guns, and definitely have significantly better stats than the [[CrutchCharacter weapons found in the later stages of the normal playthrough]]. |
| 307 | * In the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series: |
| 308 | ** In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', the "plus one" weapons are obtained by weapon-fusing very high level (the lowest one is 70 if you're playing as the female protagonist and 73 if you're playing as the male) Personas, many of which require maxed out [[LevelUpAtIntimacy5 Social Links]] to create and are often complicated 5 or 6-way fusions. There are a few special weapons that, while nowhere near as powerful, are much easier to obtain. There's also a Persona that fits the "minus one" description. |
| 309 | *** The Gae Bolg is obtained by weapon fusing Cu Chulainn, a Lv 40 Persona that doesn't require any Social Links to be completed. It has 260 ATK, far more than anything obtainable at that point. Its only weakness is dealing Wind element damage, making it useless against enemies immune to Wind. |
| 310 | *** Mjolnir, Laevatein and Balmung are obtained by weapon fusing Thor, Surt and Siegfried respectively. While all three ''do'' require maxed Social Links, they're among the easier links to max out and all are obtainable at a comparatively low level. All weapons have 300 power, putting them on the level of most endgame ones. Mjolnir and Laevatein have the same issue as the Gae Bolg, dealing elemental damage, but overall they're still very good weapons for the time they're available. |
| 311 | *** On the higher end, Deus Xiphos is only slightly weaker than the ultimate sword, Lucifer's Blade (both have 450 power, Lucifer's Blade gives +10 to all stats while Deus Xiphos only give +10 to Magic). It requires weapon fusing Michael, a Lv 75 Judgement Persona who doesn't require a special fusion or any maxed Social Links, while Lucifer's Blade requires, well, Lucifer, who's a complicated fusion of multiple high-tier Personas in the low to mid 80's, including one that requires the Star Social Link to be maxed out. |
| 312 | *** Thanatos is the game's designated Infinity -1 Persona. It's not as powerful as some of the monstrous endgame heavy hitters, but it is the second Persona you see onscreen after your initial Persona, it is unlocked automatically through your bond with a very important MrExposition, and it's strong enough to carry you through most of the final dungeon with a little support. |
| 313 | ** In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', the protagonist's Ultimate Persona Izanagi-no-Okami can only be fused on NewGamePlus when the protagonist is at least level 91 and can't be stored in the Persona Compendium. For a more practical option for endgame combat, you can turn to good old Trumpeter. Fusing one with Mind Charge is mandatory to complete the Empress Social Link, and for a little extra effort you can have a Persona that is immune to all damage except Almighty, can launch Mind Charged Megidolaons at all of your enemies, can debuff all of your enemies' stats, and restores a little of your health and SP after each battle, all as early as level 67. This Persona can easily carry you clean through the last three dungeons of the game. |
| 314 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona5'': |
| 315 | *** There are several weapons only available on Christmas Eve from the Airsoft Shop, shortly before the party enters the PointOfNoReturn leading to the final battle. They may not be as powerful as weapons created by itemizing Personas, but they can be purchased en masse as opposed to only one itemization per in-game day, and do not require the player to have fused the prerequisite Persona. Of special note are the protagonist's Misericorde (in the original game) and Punish Dagger (in ''Royal''); since he needs to itemize his Ultimate Persona to get his InfinityPlusOneSword and said Persona is only available in NewGamePlus, they are the strongest melee weapons available to him on his first playthrough. |
| 316 | *** In the UpdatedRerelease ''Royal,'' the Lucifer Persona is this compared to [[spoiler:Satanael]], who can only be fused in New Game+. Lucifer is still a beast by himself though: immune to physical and gun attacks, resistant to four different elements, drains Curse, naturally learns skills to cover his Bless weakness and has a trait which cuts the cost of magic attacks by 75%. He is the most powerful Persona one can fuse during their first playthrough. |
| 317 | *** Satan can be considered the Infinity -2 Sword to Lucifer himself. Compared to Lucifer, Satan only resists Gun and repels a couple elements, and his trait only reduces the cost of Ice attacks. On the other hand, fusing Lucifer not only requires maxing out the Star confidant (which requires max knowledge), but Justice and Moon as well, since the ultimate Personas of those Arcanas are needed to fuse him, with one being required just to get the other, as well as many other high-level Personas, making his fusion rather expensive and complicated. Satan, by contrast, has no weaknesses, still has plenty of powerful skills, can be summoned by regular fusion, and is unlocked by completing the plot-mandated Judgement confidant. |
| 318 | * Every main series ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' game has these. In addition to the [[InfinityPlusOneSword base-stat-680 "boxart legendaries"]] that every game features, which can often only be caught in the post-game, every generation also introduces a "legendary trio" of Pokémon, all with a base stat total of 580, not quite as powerful as other legendaries, but easily outstripping all but a handful of fully-evolved Pokémon, and which can be caught at a much earlier stage in the game. |
| 319 | ** Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow]]'', as well as [[VideoGameRemake remakes]] ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]''. |
| 320 | ** Entei, Raikou, and Suicine in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal]]'', as well as remakes ''[=HeartGold=]'' and ''[=SoulSilver=]''. |
| 321 | ** Regirock, Regice, and Registeel in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald]]''. |
| 322 | ** Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum]]''. |
| 323 | ** Terrakion, Virizion, and Cobalion in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite''. (Tornadus and Thundurus have the same base stat total, but cannot be found as early). |
| 324 | ** There are also the starter Pokémon, as in the first Pokémon you get at the beginning of the games. Not only do you get them without much effort but they are also very unlikely to ever leave your party. The reason that a player would be hard-pressed to ditch the starter Pokémon is because such Pokémon have respectable stats and also gain access to powerful moves exclusive to them later on in the game. It is not unheard of people beating the games with their starter and a band of low-level HM slaves. |
| 325 | ** Then there are the various MagikarpPower mons. With a stat total often in the mid-500's, evolve in the 20's or with another way that can be exploited to get them easier, they are a staple of many teams and remain useful even when the legendaries come into play. |
| 326 | ** Finally, there are Pseudo-Legendaries - Extremely powerful Pokémon with three-stage evolutionary lines, a base stat total of 600, and (usually) are Dragon-typed or otherwise fierce looking that evolve at high levels. Most, if not all of them are also MagikarpPower mons, with extremely weak base stages (often with almost nonexistent learnsets and TM options) that evolve very late into their secondary stages. |
| 327 | *** The first evolutionary line, Dratini, Dragonair and Dragonite, were the first and only Dragon-types in ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue''. However, unlike later Pseudo-Legendaries, Dragonite was cute and whimsical in appearance rather than fearsome. Among its fellow Pseudo-Legendaries, it was once a JackOfAllStats with all-around good stats with slightly higher physical attacking power, but PowerCreep made it into more of a MightyGlacier. |
| 328 | *** ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' introduced Larvitar, Pupitar, and Tyranitar, set the trend of Pseudo-Legendaries being vicious-looking in their final stages - which is rather strange considering the general trend for Second Gen Pokémon was being cute. It starts off as a Rock/Ground type, but Tyranitar, an {{Expy}} of Franchise/{{Godzilla}}, is a Rock/Dark type, and focuses around [[MightyGlacier taking hits from faster enemies and ripping through enemies in return.]] |
| 329 | *** ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' introduced ''two'' lines - the first is the Bagon, Shelgon and Salamence line. Basically a CompositeCharacter of the Dragonite and Tyranitar lines, it has Dragonite's typing with Tyranitar's fierce nature, and sacrifices the former's defenses for greater speed. |
| 330 | *** The other Third Gen Pseudo-Legendary line, Beldum, Metang, and Metagross, is the odd one out of the Pseudo-Legendaries. A Steel/Psychic-type line, Metagross resembles a SpiderTank. It's also the first Pseudo-Legendary line without a dual weakness to any type. Much like Tyranitar, it relies more on [[SuperToughness its defenses]] to let it hold up in a fight. |
| 331 | *** ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' introduced one of the most infamous Pseudo-Legendaries: the Gible, Gabite and Garchomp line. These Dragon/Ground-types were based on the concept of a LandShark. [[LightningBruiser Its outrageously high offenses and speed, as well as surprisingly good defenses and great offensive typing]] led to it swiftly being KickedUpstairs to the unofficial [[GameBreaker Uber tier]]. In addition, it has the swiftest evolution rate of all the Pseudo-Legendaries, with Gible evolving to Gabite at ''level 24'' instead of in the 30s like the others, and Gible being a decent fighter itself suffers less from the MagikarpPower of some other Pseudos like Dratini or Goomy. |
| 332 | *** Perhaps to compliment Tyranitar's affiliation with Godzilla, ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' introduced Deino, Zweilous and Hydreigon. Hydreigon, a Dark/Dragon-type, is obviously based on Godzilla's ArchEnemy, King Ghidorah. Unlike most Pseudo-Legendaries, it excels at Special Attack rather than physical (though its physical Attack is nothing to take lightly). Its great movepool allows it high versatility (it can learn offensive moves from all types but the Grass-type) to perform well at taking out a variety of foes. |
| 333 | *** ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' introduces a rather strange Pseudo-Legendary, in the form of Goomy, Sliggoo, and Goodra. These unusual Dragon-types are {{Blob Monster}}s, but, fitting for their basis, learn plenty of Water-type moves, can heal off status effects in the rain, and only fully evolve in an area that's raining. What's even more unusual is that the line's highest stat is [[StoneWall Special Defense]]- most Psuedo-Legendaries have an offensive stat as their highest. They're also very friendly and cute (Goomy in particular is quite popular), ending a trend of fearsome psuedo-legendaries. |
| 334 | *** ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' introduces the Jangmo-o line, Fighting/Dragon critters that use weaponized scales to battle. The final form, Kommo-o, has [[JackOfAllStats fairly well-rounded stats]], with Defense being its highest and a slightly higher Attack. |
| 335 | *** With ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' comes the debut of the Dreepy line, a series of Dragon/Ghost-types based on the prehistoric reptile ''Diplocaulus'' combined with a stealth bomber. Dragapult, Dreepy's final evolution, has [[FragileSpeedster the highest Speed of all pseudo-legendaries, high attack stats, and relatively low defenses]], giving it great use as a sweeper. Design-wise, the line occupies a space somewhere between Goodra and Hydreigon, being cute, bizarre-looking, and a little intimidating. |
| 336 | *** ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'' gives the Dragon/Ice Frigidax line. Its final evolution, Baxcalibur, boasts a monstrous 145 Attack, outclassing every other pseudolegendary in raw power. Its signature move, Glaive Rush, deals massive damage but gives your opponent's Pokemon perfect accuracy and double damage on the next turn (even if Baxcalibur's target was knocked out), which combined with Baxcalibur's middling defensive stats and fragile Ice typing makes it a bit of a GlassCannon. Its design is essentially a Spinosaur crossed with Godzilla, and it falls on the more monstrous side of the pseudolegendaries. |
| 337 | ** In addition, ''Sun and Moon'' also introduce Wishiwashi, a small, non-legendary Water-Type critter with an absurdly low 175 BST... that, starting at level 20, [[MechanicallyUnusualClass mimics]] evolution by automatically transforming into its much stronger School Forme upon entering the field. At 620, School Forme Wishiwashi has a higher BST than the aforementoined Pseudo-Legendaries, and in fact it is stronger than any of Alola's ''actual'' Legendary Pokémon except the two cover Legendaries. |
| 338 | ** And as far as ''moves'' go, people tend to gravitate towards attacks with a base power between 75 and 95, even though nearly every type in the game[[note]]Dark is the exception[[/note]] has at least one easily obtainable move whose power is well beyond 100. The reason for passing over such moves is because moves with power stronger than 95 tend to have serious drawbacks, most commonly [[ChargedAttack requiring a turn of doing nothing]], [[CastFromHitPoints losing HP proportional to damage done]], having low accuracy, [[PowerStrainBlackout fainting the user]], or having a limit of 5[[note]]8 with PP Ups[[/note]] uses per battle. |
| 339 | ** Generation IV gave love to some relatively powerless pokemon through the medium of evolutions, quickly boosting them up to have base stat totals ranging from 510-545, which is on par with most starters and feature useful movesets the only downside being the aversion-based methods of obtaining said pokemon that vary from generation to generation, ranging from trade with an item you find in-world, or racking up points in the challenging post game battle arena. Notable examples include: Roserade - the evolution to Roselia, which hits like a freight train with its absurd Special Attack despite its lack of physical defenses; Electivire, Electabuzz's evolved form, the single strongest non-legendary or Mega Evolved [[ShockAndAwe Electric]]-type Pokémon when it comes both to base stat total and second strongest in attack; Magmortar, which evolves from Magmar, and can decimate its enemies with its amazing Special Attack; and finally, Togekiss, Togetic's evolution, whose nice defenses, brutal Special Attack, decent Speed and large moveset make it one of the best Pokémon around even despite its horrible physical Attack stat. |
| 340 | ** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' has either Dracovish or Dracozolt as this, due to them possessing incredibly powerful moves known as Bolt Beak/Fiscious Rend which can have at least 255 Base Power after STAB (But with Hustle or Strong Jaw that gets boosted to 332 BP) if they go first. That is enough power to one shot most Pokemon that don't resist or are immune to Water/Electric attacks. In Competitive Play, Dracovish ended up being a massive GameBreaker. |
| 341 | ** ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'': |
| 342 | *** Hisuian Goodra gets the [[SecretArt signature move]] Shelter, which increases defense and [[ThatOneAttack makes you obscure]] which gives you an evasion buff. In addition, it's also a Dragon/Steel type with better physical bulk then before, making it a very strong tank that is only weak to Fighting and Ground moves. |
| 343 | *** Garchomp is mostly the same as it is in previous games in the franchise, meaning it's one of the best Pokemon in the game, but [[{{Nerf}} it no longer has Earthquake and doesn't get High Horsepower to make up for it]], meaning its best physical Ground type move is Bulldoze. On the positive side, Dragon Claw now has a higher chance to get a critical hit. |
| 344 | *** While not a pseudo-legendary, Ursaluna can end up counting as this. It possesses one of the highest physical attack stats in the entire game, very strong moves including Headlong Rush which is like Close Combat but for the Ground type, it also has exceptional HP, great physical defense and good special defense, making it one of the most bulky Pokemon you can find. In addition, it's also rather hard to evolve, as you need to fight a Mat Block, which only has two ways of being obtained, one of which being a rather tedious quest-line, and it can only evolve at night on a full moon, which can take a while. |
| 345 | ** ''Scarlet/Violet'' have a trick up their sleeves: go west from Mezagosa, beat the Cortondo gym (bug, simple enough), then head for the hills. In the caves by the windmills, you'll find Gible and Bagon at about levels 14-17, either around or just below your team after getting the first badge. Normally endgame Pokemon, these two can be found within a few hours of starting, and eventually evolve into the pseudo-legendaries Garchomp and Salamence. |
| 346 | * Getting the best weapon for Vyse in ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' is a fool's errand, as the next best, and significantly easier to obtain, weapon for him hits the damage cap anyway. |
| 347 | * ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'': |
| 348 | ** The {{Kusanagi}} Blade, Last Fencer, One World, and various other weapons from ''VideoGame/{{Tales of Symphonia}}'' gotten through various sidequests. They're more powerful than the weapons you get from the storyline, however the Devil's Arm have the potential to become the InfinityPlusOneSword. |
| 349 | ** When looking at sheer strength, the Eternal Sword from ''VideoGame/TalesOfEternia'' is actually the best weapon. But to get it you have to beat Cless (and possibly Arche) in the arena, which can be difficult if you don't know what you're doing or stacked up on Reverse Dolls. So some just settle for weapons that work like the Eternal Sword, like the Mystic Sword and Gaia Clever. Or the easy to get Last Fencer which is the true InfinityPlusOneSword in every aspect ''but'' sheer power... |
| 350 | ** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', the Catalyst Weapons have the potential to become the game's {{Infinity Plus One Sword}}s, but to unlock their power you have to beat the {{Superboss}}, who is so overpowered that the game is perfectly justified in not even letting you go into that battle without the bonuses of a NewGamePlus. Thus, if you ''have'' the {{Infinity Plus One Sword}}s, you don't ''need'' the {{Infinity Plus One Sword}}s. Most people prefer the weapons won from the Coliseum, or better yet, the weapons that unlock your characters' second-order [[LimitBreak Mystic Artes]]. |
| 351 | *** To add insult to injury about the Catalyst Weapons, you can't fight ThatOneBoss to unlock them as {{Infinity Plus One Sword}}s until you've completed a horribly irritating puzzle in the final dungeon and seen the cutscene right before the final boss. While the coliseum prize weapons and the ones you can forge in Din's Shop may be statistically inferior, you can get them pretty much as soon as you unlock the coliseum (depending on your mastery of the battle system or what your NewGamePlus bonuses are) or get your GlobalAirship working, both of which happen reasonably early in the game. |
| 352 | *** By exploiting GoodBadBugs, you can also get the Vorpal Sword the first time you're free to wander the world map. You're intended to not get the Vorpal Sword until late in the [[ThreeActStructure Second Act]] ([[{{Sidequest}} if you get it at all]]), so it outclasses just about every other sword you'll get until then (but has the disadvantage of being water-elemental). If you get it (and don't feel guilty about cheating or making the game too easy), it'll be your go-to weapon for Luke or Guy for most of the game. |
| 353 | ** ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' has the Material Blade for Lloyd. It's only outclassed by a few other weapons in the game, all endgame weapons. It's the SwordOfPlotAdvancement, so you don't have to work particularly hard to get it either, and it's balanced in slash and stab. Its best feature though is allowing Lloyd access to his [[LimitBreak Mystice Arte]] [[ShockwaveStomp Divine Justice]]... [[GuideDangIt Not that you'd necessarily know that]]. Still, it's easier to get than the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Kusanagi]] and [[MagikarpPower his Fell Arm]], the former of which is {{Permanently Missable|Content}}, the latter needs you to grind by [[MagikarpPower killing enemies only with it equipped]], and both are acquired from beating an extremely hard OptionalBoss. |
| 354 | ** ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'' gives us one of Emil's early forge weapons, the Echo Tracer. While it's not substantially stronger than other weapons even at the time you get it, and quickly becomes beaten by even store-bought weapons in sheer power, one of its abilities is Accelerate, which reduces attack lag. The sheer speed of this weapon makes infinite combos possible, and even without them, this speed makes it far more useful than the brute force of the later weapons. The only other weapon in the game that has Accelerate is the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Nether Traitor]], so most players will be using the Echo Tracer for a long, long time. |
| 355 | *** Also from the same game is Marta's War Chariot. This can be acquired right around the same time as the Echo Tracer, and has the effect of randomly casting Fire Ball every time Marta attacks. Note that Marta's standard combo on the ground can be up to ''nine hits'', the fireballs come out immediately from wherever she is straight to the enemy and with no cost whatsoever, based on her magic stat (which, considering she's the WhiteMagicianGirl, means they will be ''very strong''), and there's nothing stopping Marta from getting multiple fireball casts in one combo. Comically, this means that the best way to deal damage with Marta (before you get [[GameBreaker Speed Cast 3]], anyway) is to have her swing at empty air. There are two other weapons with similar instant-cast effects, but the Energy Arc requires a [[TooAwesomeToUse Philosopher's Stone]] to make, while the Millstone is found in a chest in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. Another possible Infinity-1 Weapon for Marta is the Trick Bind, since the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Kismet]] is [[RandomDrop so hard to get]]; it has the second highest magic attack power of her weapons, and its Concentrate 2 trait makes it harder for enemies to interrupt her spells. |
| 356 | * ''VideoGame/TrailsOfColdSteel IV:'' The ultimate weapon for each character is made from Black Zemurian Ore shards, which are rare and only found in the late game. They only do 55 more points of damage than the best weapons you can buy, which isn't a big difference in the late game, and by then you'll probably have more than enough cash and materials to buy penultimate weapons for everyone in the party. |
| 357 | * The Alba [[AMechByAnyOtherName ATAC]] from ''VideoGame/VanguardBandits'' is a decent machine that you'll have from the start of the game. It will get outclassed later, but even then it remains a nice suit to give to some of your other pilots. |
| 358 | [[/folder]] |
| 359 | |
| 360 | [[folder:Roguelikes]] |
| 361 | * ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery'' has quite a few. Probably the straightest example, however, is the Rune-Covered Trident, a guaranteed artifact given as a reward for a particular side quest. It has excellent damage stats, slays demons and undead, grants several useful intrinsics, and gives a hefty boost to Dexterity. The only downside is that characters not born under the Raven star sign get it at level 36, by which point it might not be so impressive. Raven-born characters, however, get it at ''level 16''. |
| 362 | * ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonRescueTeam'' gives us Bullet Seed, possibly the most broken attack [[DiscOneNuke in the early- to mid-stages of the game]]. It gives the user 2-5 hits of a standard Grass-type attack in a row while working at a distance in a straight line, making most boss fights an absolute joke, even though most of the game's bosses resist or double-resist Grass-type attacks. And it’s obtainable pretty much as soon as you start getting TM’s, roughly around the time of the fourth dungeon from shops and rescue rewards (it's available as of the sixth dungeon onward as a random drop, which is still pretty early). And that’s even if you don’t use Wonder Mail to just generate it as a custom rescue reward, which you can do right after the completion of the second dungeon. While there are better attacks available late-game or to certain evolution lines, Bullet Seed is prolific, easily obtainable, and exceptionally powerful while being available to many of the game's starter and partner Pokémon. |
| 363 | * ''VideoGame/NetHack'''s strongest artifacts, such as the undead- and demon-slaying silver saber Grayswandir and the handy-in-hell long sword Frost Brand, can only be found by expending a wish, or a once-in-a-blue-moon random drop. On other hand, Excalibur can be obtained as early as level 5 by knights and lawful valkyries and will carry you though to the endgame. It is, however, a bit of a [[CrutchCharacter Crutch Artifact]], in that its damage is less than impressive in late-game, and wielding it draws monsters to you like moths to a flame. |
| 364 | * The Serpentine in ''VideoGame/SunlessSea'' is a unique engine that provides decent speed, some good stat boosts and has a very good fuel mileage for its engine power. It's not quite as fast the most expensive engine you can purchase and doesn't hold a candle to [[InfinityPlusOneSword The Fulgent Impeller]], but obtaining The Serpentine doesn't require you to finish a sidequest that spans as long as an Ambition. The only downside is that the final step in the sidequest to unlock the Serpentine is a LuckBasedMission that you only get one shot at ''per captain'', but once you successfully unlock it, it can be passed down in a will with a little creative thinking. |
| 365 | * The Agravain-class Juggernaut in ''VideoGame/SunlessSkies'' can be obtained the moment you hit Albion (the game's second location) and is a very good JackOfAllTrades locomotive that will carry a player through the mid-to late game. It's not ''as'' good a combat vessel as the Medea, as good an explorer as the Moloch or as good a trading vessel as the Altani, but it does all three roles decently without requiring twice the price-tag or to dive into the game's hardest region early on. |
| 366 | * In ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'', the Burst Laser mk-II is one of the two starting weapons of the Kestrel ship that you start the game with. It fires three lasers and uses up 2 power slots, making it a reliable weapon for damage for most of the game. More powerful weapons exist, but have longer charge times and/or use up as many as 4 power slots, making them easier to knock offline, and lack the damage-to-required-power ratio of the Burst mk-II, so it is rarely ever a bad idea to keep the Burst mk-II on the Kestrel, or to buy it at a shop if you're using a different ship if you are able to afford the weapon. |
| 367 | [[/folder]] |
| 368 | |
| 369 | [[folder:Simulation]] |
| 370 | * ''VideoGame/EndlessSky'': The Wanderers are considered a tier-2 civilisation, which puts them below the Quarg and the Pug (and especially the Drak), and about on par with the Korath. However, unlike all of those other species, they are actually willing to sell their technology (albeit not cheaply). Their Sunbeams are not the equal of Quarg Skylances, and they certainly don't have anything comparable to Pug Gridfire turrets, but they are far above tier-1 human Heavy Laser Turrets -- and getting those tier-3 weapons means fighting the tier-3 civilisations and earning their perpetual enmity, whereas getting access to Wanderer tech just requires a Jump Drive and a short side quest to get translation gear. Furthermore, tier 3 outfits have to be painstakingly collected one by one from defeated ships, and there are only ever 9 Gridfire turrets in existence, whereas Wanderer outfits can be purchased in bulk. A single ship with Skylance Turrets can't measure up to fifty or a hundred ships equipped with Sunbeam Turrets. |
| 371 | * ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'''s level-9 guns. These guns are often something you can buy in any quantity from the faction that uses them[[note]]or get as [[RandomDrops combat drops]] if that faction [[AllianceMeter hates you]][[/note]], whereas the level-10 guns can only be obtained by finding and looting far-flung {{Derelict Graveyard}}s or fighting [[TheDreaded Nomads]], and furthermore can only be mounted on the three [[LevelLockedLoot highest-level ships]]. |
| 372 | * The Large Frigate in ''VideoGame/SidMeiersPirates'' While the Ship of the Line is considered the best ship in the game, capable of holding more guns and men than just about any other vessel while still being incredibly fast in the right wind conditions, it's also excessively rare. It's possible to play multiple games without ever seeing one. The Large Frigate has inferior stats, but is still powerful in its own right, and one can easily be gained just by finding and taking down Henry Morgan. |
| 373 | * In ''VideoGame/StardewValley'', the Galaxy weapons (Sword, Dagger, and Hammer) have the best attack power in the game, but require the player to collect a very rare mineral called a Prismatic Shard and take it to a certain location in the Desert. The Lava Katana, on the other hand, can be obtained from Marlon's shop after reaching the bottom of the mine. While it doesn't have the raw Attack power of a Galaxy weapon, it does offer helpful boosts to Defense and Critical Hit Rate that the others lack, making it useful against the tougher enemies in the Skull Cavern. |
| 374 | * The ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' series has the Typhoon Missile. It is an [[RecursiveAmmo eight-warhead tracking missile]] that deals 240 megajoules of damage total, with each warhead dealing 30 megajoules to stack up the damage. To put things in perspective, there are no ships below the class of corvettes that can mount shields at 200MJ or higher, with the only exceptions being the Argon Eclipse and some models of the Teladi Falcon, especially the Sentinel version ([[SuperToughness it is the only non-capital ship in the games that can fit 400MJ of shielding, or two 200MJ shields]]). [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill This means that fighters are going to get easily vaporized by the incoming swarms of these mildly overpowered missiles]]. Even better, the Typhoon combines a really high damage output with exceptional range and rather average speed, making it a JackOfAllStats among missiles. While the Typhoon is restricted in its usability to be only carried by capital ships, capships themselves that aren't of Kha'ak and Terran/[=ATF=] design make really good use of the missile by inflicting MacrossMissileMassacre against enemy fighters, especially if it comes from a [[BiggerIsBetter Teladi capship]]. Despite it being a really effective anti-fighter weapon, its high damage output per warhead also makes it quite effective against enemy capital ships as well, [[SpamAttack when launched in bulk]]. Not only is the missile an economical weapon in most combat situations, its factories can be purchased at any available shipyard that is not in Terran territory. The Typhoon does have its limitations, however; first, the below average speed of 195 m/s makes it annoyingly useless against the even more vexatious [[FragileSpeedster scout]] [[GoddamnedBats craft]], who are just too fast to keep a bead on, and second, it does not have the ability to re-acquire new hostile targets after its original one was destroyed, so be mindful of launching your missiles. |
| 375 | [[/folder]] |
| 376 | |
| 377 | [[folder:Strategy]] |
| 378 | * ''VideoGame/CompanyOfHeroes'''s recognized [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity Plus One units]] are the Wehrmacht King Tiger and the Panzer Elite Jagdpanther; however, because both are irreplaceable doctrinal units, most Axis players are content to churn out ordinary Panther tanks, which are still the best buildable tanks in the game, for the simple reason that they are typically replaceable and that teching up to their level generally comes sooner than spending all the Command Points needed for the ultra-heavy tanks/[=TDs=]. |
| 379 | * ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'' has Cosmic Blade (especially its Legendary variation) as its Infinty-1 sword, outclassed by only [[InfinityPlusOneSword Yoshitsuna]], which is abnormally difficult to get and requires lots of level grinding. Not that you're going to get Cosmic Blade at a whim, but that's still incomparably easier (and requires ''several times'' lesser level, -- that in a game, where "levels" mean "''thousands'' of levels"). |
| 380 | ** Also you can't actually lay your hands on [[InfinityPlusOneSword Yoshitsuna]] anyway without having a Legendary Cosmic Blade leveled to its maximum. |
| 381 | ** That only speaking about ''swords'' in reference to the page's title. Nearly the same applies to most weapon classes in the game. |
| 382 | ** In terms of Disgaea units that you can unlock, a number of them absolutely dominate in the postgame, but if you're just trying to clear the story, then your best unit is Laharl and your best healer is Flonne, one you start with the the other adds to your party after chapter 3. You can go through the process of powering up a Warrior, or a Cleric, or any number of other units, but why do that when you practically start with the two best units for the main game? |
| 383 | * ''VideoGame/XComTerrorFromTheDeep'' has Gauss weapons become this until you engineer Sonic Weapons. Sonic weapons are accurate, but have no auto-fire, and, while they make great snipers, are useless in closer quarters combat, which is where the Gauss excels due to its relatively high speed and power. |
| 384 | ** The best personal weapons in each category, the Heavy Gauss and the Sonic Cannon, fall into this category as well. The Heavy Gauss does 15 more damage than the Gauss Rifle, but is less accurate and sacrifices auto-fire while greatly increasing weight. Compounding those problems is the fact that, despite the damage increase, the Heavy Gauss is still less powerful than the Sonic Blasta-Rifle. The Sonic Cannon, on the other hand, is the second most powerful weapon in the game, with 130 points of damage[[labelnote:*]]the most powerful weapon, the Disruptor Pulse Launcher, does 200 damage, but is explosive rather than a single shot[[/labelnote]] and a bit more accurate than the Sonic Blasta-Rifle. However, it takes 50% of a unit's time units to fire a snap shot, and 80% to fire an aimed shot, meaning you'll get at most two shots from it, and only if you do literally nothing else. The Sonic Blasta-Rifle is less powerful and slightly less accurate, but because it lacks significant drawbacks, is the best weapon for 90% of the game. |
| 385 | ** The [[VideoGame/XCOMUFODefense first game]] has the humble [[EnergyWeapon Laser Rifle]]. Easily obtainable within the first month, cheap, accurate, with respectable stopping power, and it has ''infinite ammo'', a godsend in holding back the dreaded [[ArbitraryHeadcountLimit 80-item limit]]. As an added bonus, it's a required stop upon the research tree to Laser Cannons, which are the Infinity Minus One Sword for your ships (and pocketbook). |
| 386 | * In ''VideoGame/TheXCOMFiles'' it's Thunderstorm interceptor with tritanium cannon. The best fighter that needs no [[{{Unobtanium}} elerium]]. Enough speed to catch all UFO types, but two. Enough hit points, agility and firepower to fight biggest [=UFOs=] -- battleships -- one-on-one and survive (more often than not). And best of all, you can get it before your enemies start getting serious. [[note]]The game starts in December 1996, [=UFOs=] start attacking in January 1999, the technologies can be researched as early as spring of 1997, although mid-1998 is more sane.[[/note]] Still, it cannot help against infiltrations or enemies that don't use flying craft. |
| 387 | * In ''VideoGame/XCOM2'', [[PlasmaCannon plasma weapons]] represented the undisputed apex of XCOM's weapons technology, but then the ''War of the Chosen'' expansion came along and with it the three eponymous Chosen, dangerous bosses that wield unique and extremely powerful weapons. These weapons can be taken from them upon their final defeat, and they remain just as unique and powerful in the hands of your operatives, thus relegating plasma weaponry to ISMO status instead. |
| 388 | * ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'''s relic units - most prominently found in the ''Dark Crusade'' and ''Soulstorm'' expansions - are immensely powerful units at the very top of the TechTree that can only be built under specific conditions, and you can only ever have one at a time. Some like the Baneblade superheavy tank have almost as much firepower as the rest of your army combined, with the durability to match, while others rely on special abilities over raw damage output instead. However, unless you're playing on [[EasierThanEasy Easy]] or your opponent is exceptionally inept, no relic unit is powerful enough to win a battle on its own. They ''will'' turn the tide of battle if your enemy doesn't have a relic themselves and you send in yours to support the rest of your troops, but without this support they will die quickly in the crossfire. |
| 389 | * ''Franchise/FireEmblem'': |
| 390 | ** Most of the time, the Silver weapons for their high attack power and the Killer weapons for their critical rate are the preferred choices to bring through the whole game for boss killing purposes. They are usable by almost every character in the game as long as they have the sufficient weapon ranks to use them, and can be purchased in some mid-late game stages. In a series where your Infinity Plus Ones are generally tailor made to fight the BigBad, these weapons are really useful. The Javelin and Hand Axe also tend to see use for a very long time, as they allow melee characters to fight and counter at range (and as your character grows faster than the enemies, they actually tend to get ''more'' effective as the game goes on). |
| 391 | ** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' and its remake ''Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'': |
| 392 | *** The Royal Sword. It's exclusive to Alm, but it's the most powerful sword he's going to get on his route, it has a 20% boost to crit rate that is only matched by a few weapons, and it even gives Alm a little HP recovery. It's even stronger in ''Shadows of Valentia''; it gives Alm access to the Double Lion skill, which turns the Royal Sword into a brave weapon (an ability only shared with the Killer Bow, the hard-to-get Ladyblade, and the DLC Trainee's Lance and Wayward Lance), and the Scendscale skill, which gives him three range and is only shared with the Falchion. The Royal Sword will carry Alm clear through to the final battle with Duma, and can even see use in ''Shadows of Valentia'''s post-game due to Double Lion. |
| 393 | ** In practice, the Beloved Zofia also acts like this. It serves as Celica's personal weapon and can first be forged at about the same time Alm gets the Royal Sword (midway through Act 3), with approximately the same stats. It serves as a fine weapon for Celica, and is the best for her to use unless you can find a spare Ladyblade or two. |
| 394 | ** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', we have: |
| 395 | *** Sigurd's Silver Sword. He gets it at the end of the ''prologue'', turning a character who was already the game's DiscOneNuke into a godlike unit that can smash almost anything that faces him. Since you can repair weapons for a relatively low fee in this game, he can tear up the rest of the 1st generation chapters with it. ButWaitTheresMore The sword picks up the [[CriticalHit Critical skill]] after racking up 50 kills, which becomes [[EvolvingWeapon increasingly potent]] for the next 50 kills after that. On a character who has mounts, and is needed to seize a castle, Sigurd is more than expected to be exposed to a lot of combat. This sword can then be passed down to his son Seliph in the 2nd generation. Bottom line: that Silver Sword may not be one of the Holy Weapons, but for practical purposes it's damn close. |
| 396 | *** Finn's Brave Lance. He gets it near the beginning of Chapter 2 and instantly starts kicking ass with it. Although Finn leaves at the end of Chapter 3, the Brave Lance can be sold and bought by Erinys, who doesn't leave. She can also pass it down to her daughter Fee, and, like the Silver Sword, it's easy to rack up the necessary 50 kills to grant it the Critical skill. And if you leave it with Finn, he will still have it when he returns in Chapter 7. |
| 397 | *** Lex's Brave Axe. Though obtaining it is a GuideDangIt moment, it's found right near the end of Chapter 1. This turns Lex from a mounted wall to a mounted dealer of death. The Axe is effectively exclusive to Lex, as only two other first generation units can use axes, and neither can do so before promotion. Even better, if it was obtained in the first generation, it can be recovered from a boss early in the second and given to one of Lex's nephews. |
| 398 | *** Ayra's Brave Sword. She can get it right in the beginning of Chapter 3. Combined with her Astra skill, Ayra becomes one of the most powerful characters in the game. The sword isn't exclusive to her and Sigurd can make great use of it, too. The sword can also be passed down, most notably to Seliph through Sigurd, or to Ayra's daughter Larcei, who both join right in the beginning of the second generation. |
| 399 | ** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'' we have a few more: |
| 400 | *** Osian's signature axe, Vouge. Picture a throwing axe with high attack power, as much crit as a killer weapon, REALLY accurate, a whopping 60 uses, used by a unit that already gets an insane number of critical hits by himself, including an ability that ensures guaranteed critical during counterattacks. You get this amazing axe in chapter 1, for a unit that you get a large portion of the game to train and make uber who started off with amazing stats even by ''Thracia'''s standards. If the game in general weren't so [[NintendoHard notoriously difficult]], it'd be a bonafide GameBreaker. |
| 401 | *** The Brave weapons have the ability to perform 2 attacks at once, and have good hit rates alongside relatively low weapon ranks. They are weaker than the Master weapons (which have the same ability to perform 2 attacks at once, including a bonus of 1-2 range attack except for the Master Sword), except lighter, more accurate, much more limited in quantity in exchange of triple amount of the usage, much easier to get, and better availability. |
| 402 | *** The Brave Lance is the signature weapon of Finn, who returns from ''Genealogy'', a powerful character who joins in Chapter 1 and is only absent during the Manster Prison Break. It is by far the best out of the three since it gives an additional +10 Luck which works well with his Prayer ability. The only downside for this weapon is the fact that it is unusable indoors, and most of the late game chapters are indoor chapters. That being said, you have no reason not to use it throughout the earlier chapters to help you in capturing and killing some of the tougher opponents in the game. |
| 403 | *** The Brave Axe is a D Rank Axe, which means it is usable by almost every character who can use Axes. You get it in Chapter 1, by visiting a specific village with Havan. Havan is basically Osian, with the ability to attack first during enemy phase, better chance to critical hit outside the enemy phase, and SLIGHTLY worse stats. |
| 404 | *** The Brave Sword is acquired during chapter 4x and is a rank C sword. This weapon is helpful during the Manster Prison Break, and, with the right character, is a deadly weapon that can be a massive help for capturing. |
| 405 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'': |
| 406 | *** You can get a few of the legendary weapons much earlier, unlike in ''The Blazing Blade''. Most notable is Durandal, which is obtained in Chapter 8x and can be wielded by anyone with an S rank in swords. Be careful though, as it only has 20 uses, and it cannot run out of uses if you want to access the true ending. |
| 407 | *** The Killer weapons. They have the best accuracy of their weapon type, high might, high crit, are lighter than silver weapons, and can be used sooner. The only downside is their low durability, but if you have money to spare, you can buy them in bulk. They're the best weapons in the game after the legendaries and are invaluable in the second half of the game. |
| 408 | ** Most players of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' will let Eliwood and Lyn continue using their early-game unique weapons (Rapier and Mani Katti, respectively) even after they each get legendary weapons (Durandal and Sol Katti) to replace them. This is because neither of them have the constitution to use their legendary weapon without massive speed penalties, so unless you absolutely need the legendary weapons' [[spoiler: anti-dragon]] properties, it's often better to use their normal weapons so they can still double-attack (or at least, avoid ''being'' double-attacked by the enemy). Hector doesn't have the same problem (Armads fits his constitution perfectly), but his Wolf Beil's combined anti-armor and anti-cavalry properties are still incredibly useful no matter where you are in the game. Even then, the Rapier and Mani Katti have the same anti-armor and anti-cavalry abilities as the Wolf Beil, as well as decent critical hit rates for non-Killer weapons, so they're still very useful at any point in the game. |
| 409 | ** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', you can buy a Beast Killer knife for [[CrutchCharacter Sothe]] as early as chapter 1-4. While this immediately comes in handy on that same chapter (which is filled with beast laguz, and the Beast Killer does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin), you'll quickly find that the beast-killing is just a bonus. It has a Might of 9, which is a lot for a knife weapon (only three of them have a Might over 10), and a Crit of 20 (only the rare Killer weapons offer more than that, and as there is no Killer knife, well...). Its only weakness is its low Hit%, which doesn't matter for Sothe who is virtually guaranteed to hit everything anyway. Considering that you don't get the second-best knife until the endgame, and don't get the best unless [[GuideDangIt you know what you're doing]] (and on a chapter very close to Endgame anyway), odds are that the Beast Killer will be Sothe's best weapon for a long, long time. |
| 410 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'': |
| 411 | *** The Falchion isn't exactly the most powerful of swords, but it's still an adequate weapon on the field for Chrom; it's available from the start of the game, it does extra damage against dragon enemies, and most importantly, it ''never breaks''. [[spoiler:Lucina's]] Parallel Falchion fits the trope even better, as it has a Might of 12 (one point greater than the Silver Sword), a Hit Rate of 80%, and a 5% crit boost plus the same dragon-smiting abilities and unbreakable nature as the Falchion and the ability to use it like an item for an effective 20 HP recovery. The only requirement to get it is to complete Chapter 13 to gain access to the character who has it. |
| 412 | *** Frederick's starting Silver Lance also counts ([[CrutchCharacter especially on higher difficulties where he is effectively the only thing standing between you and total annihilation]]), as you don't get access to more Silver weaponry until at least halfway through the game. |
| 413 | ** The [[EvolvingWeapon first upgrade]] for the Yato in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates''. It's acquired roughly at the halfway point of each route, and gives the Yato a slight power boost as well as granting small stat bonuses as long as Corrin has it in their inventory. There's another upgrade for it, but it can only be gotten in the very final chapter of each route. As long as Corrin stays in a sword-wielding class, the Noble/Grim/Alpha Yato will likely be their go-to weapon for a good chunk of the game. |
| 414 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' has the base form of the Sword of the Creator, which will serve you very well until it automatically upgrades into the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Sublime Creator Sword]] midway through Chapter 10. |
| 415 | [[/folder]] |
| 416 | |
| 417 | [[folder:Third Person Shooters]] |
| 418 | * In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'', the three best weapons are the assault rifles - the Kalashnikov, [=MP5=], and M4 Carbine. However, the handgun Desert Eagle is arguably superior with decent power, a decent rate of fire when {{Dual Wield|ing}}ed (an ability exclusive to the second game), and it has great accuracy. With proper use of bullet time and good aim, the player can headshot most Mooks with it and kill them with one hit. As well, the Desert Eagle, like most shotguns and handguns, is quite common in the first 66% of the game or so while the three assault rifle weapons are rare. Not to mention they ''are'' assault rifles, and thus you use up a lot of ammo fast. |
| 419 | * ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'' has around twenty weapons available of varying degrees of power and availability. Until you find then unlock better weapons and gear (at which point you may use them in the earlier portions of a NewGamePlus), your arsenal is severely limited and you won't have access to the really destructive tech. However, you ''will'' have access to the Path Blaster from the start of the game--Optimus even begins with one. While it's not as capable of mass destruction as the Glass Gas Gun or the Riot Cannon, it's a fast, fairly powerful, reasonably accurate, decently supplied medium-range magnum-like weapon that will drop any standard Decepticon trooper in two shots (or just one if you [[BoomHeadshot blow their heads off instead]]). You can also purchase an upgrade that randomly inserts a high-powered explosive charge somewhere in your current magazine, which causes a gigantic explosion if it hits anything. The Path Blaster can handle pretty much any situation the game might throw at you up until you acquire and upgrade the Riot Cannon, which happens far later in the game. |
| 420 | [[/folder]] |
| 421 | |
| 422 | [[folder:Vehicular Combat]] |
| 423 | * In the ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' games, while there are GameBreaker [[CoolPlane superfighters]] with powerful weapons like the [[EnergyWeapon Tactical Laser System]] of the Falken and Morgan or [[MacrossMissileMassacre ADMM]] of the Nosferatu, most of these are {{Infinity Plus One Sword}}s with the difficulty of acquisition that implies. Most players therefore settle for more easily available planes like the F-22 or Su-37. |
| 424 | ** One can even go farther back than that, unlike ''Air Force Delta'' stats tend not to count so much in ''Ace Combat'', indeed you really only want to focus on Mobility and Attack (use less mini-missiles) unless the level specifically calls for a lot of hopping back and forth between locations. It is actually easier to take out enemies with a slower but far more maneuverable plane in the pure dogfight levels. You basically make yourself into a floating turret and blast everyone that overshoots. Any plane before the superplanes but after the Tiger II/Crusader/A5 can generally be this. All about playstyle. You might even be able to consider the [=F2/MIG31=] the infinity minus one sword if you are crazygood with rockets. |
| 425 | * For many players of the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' series (and by extension the native ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' tabletop wargame), the top tier of weapons consists of the [[LightningGun Clan ER-PPC]], [[MagneticWeapons Gauss rifle]], and the [[{{BFG}} Autocannon-20]]. All of these weapons are massively powerful, but come with major drawbacks such as high heat generation, immense weight, vulnerable components (particularly their ammo stowage), rarity limiting availability, and especially cost. Players who still want some punch without having to make such sacrifices tend to pick equipment out of the second tier of weapons, which consist of things like standard [=PPCs=], large lasers, and Autocannon-10 variants. These weapons lack the apocalyptic firepower of their top tier counterparts, but they weigh less, don't heat up as much, carry more ammo, and are generally cheaper and more readily available. Most importantly, the majority of these second-tier weapons meet or exceed the all-important 10-point damage threshold, which is exactly the amount of damage needed to remove all the armor from a 'Mech's head in a single hit, as well as possibly kill the pilot. |
| 426 | [[/folder]] |
| 427 | |
| 428 | [[folder:Non-Video Game Examples]] |
| 429 | * In tellings of Myth/ArthurianLegend where {{Excalibur}} and the Sword in the Stone are treated as distinct from one another, the latter will be played as this trope: in spite of its own mystical properties, it would eventually break in combat and be replaced by Excalibur, Arthur's ultimate sword. |
| 430 | * In the ''Literature/ApprenticeAdept'' series, [[GreatBigBookOfEverything the Book of Magic]] is this to the series' Plus One, the [[AmplifierArtifact Platinum]] [[MorphWeapon Flute]]. It lacks the Flute's StoryBreakerPower, but is far easier to use. Two non-humans, a troll and a golem [[note]]Technically, Sheen, the RidiculouslyHumanRobot[[/note]] were able to use the Book to cast Adept-level spells. |
| 431 | * ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'': Humans enhanced with the [[SuperSerum Danner formula]] are not as strong or tough as Superman or Captain Marvel, and they don't have {{flight}} or EyeBeams or the ability to call lightning. But they're still strong enough to throw cars, tough enough to ignore small-arms fire, highly resistant to poison, they have a decent HealingFactor that even extends their lifespan, and most importantly, the formula can be mass produced. The ingredients aren't even particularly expensive. When Paul discusses the possibility of greatly expanding the Justice League, his suggested approach is to get police officers and soldiers and Danner them up, then equip them with other mass-producible tech like cold guns. This is actually the approach used [[spoiler:not by the Justice League, but by the Accala, who have been administering the formula to their children for decades, until almost the whole tribe is enhanced -- hundreds of them -- and they are able to force all of South America to the negotiation table]]. |
| 432 | [[/folder]] |
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