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[Saladman]

I'm getting back in to DF after a break, and from playing previous versions I had an idea that axes were the best weapon, followed by hammers, but I'm seeing now that swords come recommended again, and picks are good, and even spears.  Is there a current, tested ranking of weapons?  I haven't found one in the first few pages of the forums, but I know I saw such things for earlier versions.  Or are they just more balanced against each other than previously?

Also, I got too used to crossbowdwarfs being bugged and haven't yet geared any up, it sounds like I'm missing out by not doing that, correct?

[MonkeyHead]

If you have iron or the ability to make steel or the bronzes, go with sharp weapons - axes cut stuff off, spears penetrate organs. swords can do both reasonably well. if you only have copper and silver, go with blunt weapons - hammers or maces. supporting any melee troops with marksdwarves is a good idea.

[VerdantSF]

I find that a mix of weapons (though same weapon for each squad) works best.  They're all pretty good in their own way . 

[Saladman]

Thanks.  I checked the wiki only after posting; it says silver hammers are still best against armored humanoids, and axes best against unarmored.  But I'm still curious about people's play experience.  It sounds like either weapons are better balanced against each other overall, or perhaps I fixated on "best" too much to begin with.

[itg]

I equipped a few dwarves with silver scourges recently with very good results. Whips are quite good, too.

[Number4]

As others said: there is no singular "best". The weapons have specific uses, a spear might be bad against a bronze colossus but can stab fleshy organs quite well. If your materials are suboptimal go for maces and hammers because those suffer the least from bad weapon materials. Mix weapons and you'll always have one that is "super effective", like in pokemon.

Ah and whips and scourges are overpowerded laser swords at the moment, honest dwarves should avoid them till they get fixed.

[Crustypeanut]

I've been defending my fort with two squads of crossbowdwarves armed with nothing more than a crossbow, and almost no armor.  I have only a couple of traps.  So far i've survived against sieges with 2 armies at once filled with 2-3 squads each.  I don't let them get to my dwarves, and they butcher them

[VerdantSF]

I've been defending my fort with two squads of crossbowdwarves armed with nothing more than a crossbow, and almost no armor.  I have only a couple of traps.  So far i've survived against sieges with 2 armies at once filled with 2-3 squads each.  I don't let them get to my dwarves, and they butcher them

 
Awesome=D!  How many total marksdwarves do you have (since a lot of people have squads with less members than the max)?  What type of bolts do you use?

[Nil Eyeglazed]

Swords are more popular based on IT's weapon tests, where they bested axes.   Don't know about spears myself.

I've been using axes out of habit-- it doesn't matter if they're not the best, it doesn't matter even if they're the worst: they're good enough.  That's what nice about slashing weapons.  No matter the opponent, slashing weapons will eventually kill it.  (I wouldn't go up against horrors from the deep with blunts, myself.)

[Shook]

I've found axes to be very good against your typical invader, since my axedorfs are lasting longer than all other readily available weapons. In an 8 dorf squad equipped with almost equal parts of axes, spears, swords, maces and hammers, only the axedorfs have survived with no losses. Spears came in second, since there's still one living spearmaster, but all the others have succumbed to Fortress Defense mod.

This goes well with the usual notion of axes being awesome against humanoids, but the spears would probably prevail against larger beings.

[Lagslayer]

Picks are super effective against everything. Steel is better than candy because it has a high velocity multiplier. Just have something to counteract the long patrol duty/draft thoughts if your military dwarves aren't master in another weapon skill.

[thegoatgod_pan]

I love daggers and picks, generally get a lot of those first and use them in my new recruit gang. Daggers are better at armor penetration then spears and attack quickly (i think), while picks dismember anything and everything.

[Corneria]

Swords and axes have pretty equal overall standings against most combatants. Axes are a better at dismembering most targets, swords have the advantage of a decent stab. Against large opponents (megabeasts, some titans, etc.) spears generally do the best due to their great penetration allowing them to hit softer organs and such when said creatures are too large to dismember.  Exceptions include the bronze colossus, who has no soft squishy targets.

[czolus]

Picks.  My 30-strong mining corps (All Legendary +5) has only ever lost 3 people across ~10 sieges (and many more ambushes).  You have struck Goblinite, praise the Miners!