Inven Global

With daggers introduced to Lineage Classic through the Pirate Island update, weapons that had previously received little attention are back on players' calculators. One of them is the Elven Dagger. Although its damage stats are low at 4/3, it is made of Mithril, dealing additional damage to undead, and possesses the fast attack speed characteristic of daggers, prompting opinions that it offers great cost efficiency against undead.

Accordingly, we compared the Elven Dagger with undead-specialized weapons: the Crystal Dagger, Rapier, Silver Sword, and Mail Breaker. Finally, we also compared it separately against the Saulabi Longsword, a high-priced one-handed sword and general weapon that lacks additional undead damage. If you are deciding on a weapon to use in undead hunting grounds, refer to the numbers below.

The Elven Dagger is an undead hunting weapon that makes up for its low damage stats with dagger attack speed and Mithril material. Against undead, it comes within a little over 2% of the Silver Sword—the general-purpose undead weapon—for small targets, and overtakes the Silver Sword when both weapons receive +6 or more in bonus damage buffs. However, it is about 8.7% lower than the Rapier, which specializes in small undead, and there is a large gap with the Crystal Dagger, a fellow dagger.

Accuracy is also a variable. Although Mail Breaker has low base firepower, if its hit rate is just 3% to 8% higher, Mail Breaker takes the lead in actual damage output—and the accuracy bonus gap between the two weapons is 8, with values of 10 and 2. Since Mail Breaker itself is a weapon specialized in compensating for environments with low accuracy, it is difficult for the Elven Dagger to catch up to Mail Breaker in situations with many missed attacks. On the other hand, if misses are rare and you can consistently maintain buffs, the Elven Dagger's performance is worth looking forward to.

The Elven Dagger has damage stats of 4/3, the lowest among the compared weapons, but features Melee Accuracy +2 and Mithril material. The four comparison targets are also made of Silver or Oriharukon, meaning all five weapons trigger random bonus damage between 1 and 20 on every attack when striking undead.

We calculated the average total damage dealt to undead over equal time frames under conditions of +6 enhancement, Stage 2 Haste, and using a Sharna Transformation Scroll.

The Elven Dagger ranked 4th against small undead with 454.1 and 3rd against large undead with 442.2. Compared to the general-purpose Silver Sword, the gap is only about 2.2% against small targets, but it is roughly 8.7% lower than the Rapier, which specializes in small undead. Tying with the Rapier against large targets carries little significance since the Rapier is not a weapon for large monsters. Compared to Mail Breaker, which shares the same small-monster base damage, the Elven Dagger achieves higher figures by about 8.1% on small targets and 2.6% on large targets thanks to its attack speed.

Bonus damage obtained from buffs and food acts as a flat value added to every attack just like enhancement, giving weapons with faster attack speeds a larger advantage. Under the premise that comparison weapons receive the exact same buffs, here is a summary of how much bonus damage is needed for the Elven Dagger to pull ahead. Compare this with the buff values you can maintain.

Against small undead, overtaking the Silver Sword starting at +6 bonus damage is realistically achievable, but the required buff amounts for the Rapier against small undead (+24) and the Silver Sword against large undead (+37) are too high to overturn. Against the Crystal Dagger, which is also a dagger, the attack speed is identical, so buffs do not narrow the gap.

· What if Enhancement Levels Are Higher?

Bonus damage from enhancement is also a flat value like buffs, so comparing +9 weapons is equivalent to all weapons receiving +3 bonus damage at +6. At +9 enhancement, the gap with the Silver Sword against small undead narrows to about 0.9%, allowing the Elven Dagger to pull ahead with just +3 in buffs, but overtaking the Rapier (+21) and the Silver Sword against large undead (+34) remains difficult.

· Differences Based on Accuracy

The above figures assume that all attacks hit. Because actual damage is DPS multiplied by hit rate, having a hit rate that is a certain level higher than a comparison weapon can reverse the outcome even if calculated DPS is lower. The tables below break down how much higher your hit rate needs to be compared to the other weapon to overturn performance, categorized under bonus damage buffs of 0, +5, and +10. Both weapons are assumed to receive the same buffs, and a +10% hit rate requirement means that if the other weapon's hit rate is 60%, you need 66% or higher.

Required Hit Rate Difference to Reverse Performance · Mail Breaker

Required Hit Rate Difference to Reverse Performance · Elven Dagger

The tables may look complex, but put simply, if you have +10 bonus damage buffs, the Elven Dagger's Melee Accuracy +2 stat allows it to catch up in DPS to the Rapier against small undead if its attacks hit 3.6% more often.

Note that how much of an actual hit rate difference a weapon's accuracy stat provides varies depending on character level, stat distribution, and monster level in hunting grounds, so there is no fixed answer.

The Saulabi Longsword is a top-tier one-handed sword against normal targets, but because it is made of metal, it lacks bonus undead damage. Its DPS against undead is 320.5 for small targets and 254.2 for large targets, falling far short of even Mail Breaker—the lowest among undead-specialized weapons—which hits 419.9 and 431.0. To make up for this gap with its Melee Accuracy +5, its hit rate would need to be roughly 31% higher on small targets and 70% higher on large targets than Mail Breaker. In undead hunting grounds, using the expensive Saulabi Longsword is not recommended. Of course, players who can afford a Saulabi Longsword likely carry a separate undead weapon anyway, so this should not be an issue.