Of course these are not druid only weapons. I speak of these weapons mostly concerning druids but this guide may be used for any other class or race interested in them. KNUCKLES
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SCAD is an acronym for skill critical addional damage. You will see this mentioned often. SCAD is one of the biggest perks for using knuckles. Something druids would be in dire need of and which bludgeons, or as I like to call hammers, cannot supply.
CON (constitution) Every CON is 5 HP
Ruinhorn's Twisted Knuckles
These up MND, HP, and SCAD. Great for toying with at lower levels. As can be seen they give excellent HP. Great until you land that Carus pair you've been eying. Remember not to use knucks until you have maxed resistances. I'm sure it's possible to tank Ruinhorn around these levels, these knucks are a need.
Biskra's Knuckles of Intense Trembling
These up MND, HP Recovery, and SCAD.
Doom Cheras' Quirk of Fates
These up MND, Skill Crit, and SCAD. This makes them the best set damage wise just as Xenovia's Symbol is the best dps wand. This weapon is perfect for those in very high HP S1 armor with poor dps. These are the only carus pair not to up HP/CON but they are the only pair of knuckles period to up skill crit. I would love to use such a set but I'm in need of more HP as well.
Lord Werinuman's Death Pains
These up CON, MND, and SCAD but come with static skill crit chance which makes them one of the two better balanced pairs. I use these personally since I sport The 66 everlasting set. They are great for the HP while still giving me some skill crit. The SCAD is a big need in S1 gear. If you could possibly get a hold of the Erunil Tower crit ball then skipping this set may be a good idea.
Plugger's or Robo's Knuckles of Control
These up MND, HP, and SCAD. This makes them the second of the two best balanced pairs. These add more HP overall than does the Death Pains but they lack the skill critical stat. The HP difference is 14 per reinforcement as these up 44 HP and the Death Pains up 6 CON which is 30 HP. By +10 these will be 140 HP higher, with slightly higher base damage, a bit more resistance, but no skill critical chance. Still a good set for Mirona or Schutils users since those armor sets have good skill crit. If you could possibly get a hold of the Erunil Tower crit ball then perhaps you should consider skipping this set. Still a good choice though since it does give SCAD up.
Tyrant's Knuckles of Soul Reposing
These up CON, MND, and HP. These are the best HP wise as can be seen for they are the only pair to increase both CON and HP. The best to wear while tanking and perfect if you fight in a full FOC Mirona armor set. This is on the opposite end of the knuckle spectrum where they are HP heavy and DPS light. Should be paired with High DPS low HP gears. However that is not a rule, you can pair your gears and armor how you like This set with an Erunil Tower crit ball is a great match up.
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Extras
L.79 Erunil Tower Knucks
The main stat may be different depending on your luck. MND, CON, STR, INT, and DEX are your options. To get the uncursed form takes much luck as chances are extremely low to switch it over. If uncursing fails your weapon will break. ET is a long and rough raid, obtaining these may take much time. The CON and STR sets would be good for druids, It's believed that they up "8 [STAT]/48 HP/6 SCAD." These sets would be better than the other knucks on the HP end of the spectrum if you were even considering them because not only do the ET knucks add more the most HP but they also add SCAD. The ET knucks still lack any sort of skill crit however they are still very good knucks dps-wise. Arguably the best knuckles in game just at the cursed stage.
L.65 Theme Battle Reward Knuckles of the Infinite
Best for those few druids who do not plan to level out of this bracket in the near future(otherwise they should grab themselves a shield). These knuckles are perfect for this level; they up resistance only but come along with good HP. A better option than the hammer and shield combo mainly because of the slower cost, time spent getting it, and HP. The SCAD is slightly less and the skill crit is .49% less.
Comparison/Continued Break Down
From the combo would come more crit as mentioned above and more SCAD. More SCAD you say? Yes INT adds one scad point per 5 INT. The combo has 42 SCAD however the shield has 21 INT which boosts the total gained SCAD to 46. Not a huge gain, since the dps stats are so similar between the combo and the knucks, the knucks win for the extra HP gained. Something needed on those squishy 65ers.
Analysis of these sections coming soon. Help in finding better screenshots is very much appreciated.
AXES
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One of the two pve weapons for grinding your druid. Axes come with physical crit chance and the dex stat. Druid wise for pve a high hp weapon is not needed. Only moderate hp is needed for pve grinding which is 5k plus. Cry of Will, the fascination set, and an axe come together well to make you excellent dps for any raid or grind party. Soon you'll be out dps'ing your sin rivals
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Ruinhorn's Twisted Axe
The perfect weapon for grinding your cute baby druid. It ups HP something you are undoubtedly low in at this moment. Also supplies physical crit to aid you in knocking down those mobs
Biskra's Trench Axe
A good set as well. It does not come with HP increase but it does have higher base HP and comes with CON. If you don't pan on taking the rare weapon you chose over +10 either Biskra or RH are great choices. The large HP dif comes in after many reinforcements of the RH set.
Doom Cheras' Bloody Wound
Ups both crit rates and DEX. Lowest base damage of the carus axes and it also doesn't up CON. Skip it. We don't need skill crit for grind anyway
Lord Werinumen's Summon of Blood
A nice choice, the DEX and CON increase as well as the physical crit. Comes with static skill crit but we don't need that
Robo/Plugger's Axe of Control
Increase DEX, HP, and physical crit. These also have higher base damage than the LW set. This is the set any druid should shoot for for grinding purposes.
Tyrant's Axe of Soul Reposing
Tyrant weapons are always HP or MP heavy but lower in dps. It is no different here, the soul reposing axe increases CON, DEX, and HP; it leaves physical crit out of its list. We don't need super HP for grind, we have high defense and can do well with moderate HP. Focus on dps for pve weapon choice and get your HP from your armor.
For pvp this is a good choice. It is more damage than the sword but less than the bludgeon. The HPs are higher than the bludgeon and equal to the sword.
Edited by Syre, 30 July 2011 - 10:46 PM.