Inven Global

As the Scarecrow Baru event kicks off, interest is hot over whether it is worth aiming for permanent Scarecrow weapons. The threshold for exchanging for a permanent weapon is +8 enhancement, which requires an average of 5.76 million Adena to reach. Since that amount is enough to purchase standard +8 or +9 weapons, it is worth examining whether the performance justifies the cost.

To test this, we ran auto-hunting directly in the Land of the Abandoned (hereafter referred to as Land of Abandoned) to compare hunting efficiency across weapons. Since the monsters in Land of Abandoned are undead, weapon material advantages must be considered, so we also included the Mail Breaker—which carries bonus undead damage—in our comparison group.

The test was conducted with a Level 42 Knight. The buffs maintained during hunting were as follows:

The three weapons compared were the +6 Damascus Sword (hereafter +6 Damascus), +8 Pumpkin Longsword (hereafter +8 Pumpkin), and +6 Mail Breaker (hereafter +6 Mail Breaker). Each weapon was used for approximately 20 minutes of hunting in ATS, with EXP gain recorded every 5 minutes. Because +6 Damascus hunted for 10 seconds longer than the other two weapons, efficiency comparisons were calculated based on EXP gained per minute.

The 20-minute hunting results are as follows. Figures vs. +6 Damascus are based on EXP gain per minute.

Even when broken down into 5-minute intervals, the ranking of the three weapons never changed. In every interval, +6 Mail Breaker ranked highest, followed by +8 Pumpkin, and +6 Damascus ranked lowest.

+8 Pumpkin showed ~19% higher hunting efficiency than +6 Damascus, a general-purpose weapon without bonus damage against undead. Considering the expected cost of crafting +8 Pumpkin, comparing it against +9 Damascus or +9 Japanese Sword would be more appropriate. However, lacking those weapons, we tested with +6 Damascus instead and used that data as the basis for our calculations.

For the Damascus Sword, the DPS difference between +6 and +9 is about 26% for small targets and 25% for large targets, with weapon accuracy widening the gap slightly further. However, this applies when there is zero bonus damage. In practice, as bonus damage from STR stats, character level, and various buffs accumulates, the proportion of overall firepower contributed by enhancement decreases, narrowing the gap accordingly.

The sum of melee damage buffs used in the test was +6, while a Level 42 Knight with 25 STR (including STR buff) is known to gain around 10 bonus damage from level and stats. Combined, this yields a bonus damage level of 15 to 16, under which the difference between +6 Damascus and +9 Damascus is close to ~11%.

Under the same conditions, +8 Pumpkin performed ~19% better than +6 Damascus. If +9 Damascus is assumed to lead +6 Damascus by ~11%, +8 Pumpkin can be projected to deliver around 7% higher hunting efficiency than +9 Damascus.

Although +6 Mail Breaker is far below +8 Pumpkin in both enhancement level and price, its high accuracy bonus combined with bonus damage against undead makes it the top choice for low-level players in Land of the Abandoned ATS. Indeed, in a past test comparing +6 weapons when the Saury Longsword was distributed via an event, Mail Breaker comfortably outperformed the Saury Longsword in hunting speed for a Level 30s Knight.

Once again, the outcome favored +6 Mail Breaker. Even +8 Pumpkin, which sits two enhancement levels higher, could not surpass +6 Mail Breaker. The EXP gain per minute for +6 Mail Breaker was ~15% higher than +8 Pumpkin, meaning +8 Pumpkin was ~13% less efficient relative to +6 Mail Breaker. In Land of the Abandoned where undead predominate, a two-stage advantage in enhancement was not enough to overcome the material advantage.

Of course, there are variables. One of the key strengths of Mail Breaker is its high accuracy bonus, but as a character levels up and gains sufficient base accuracy, the impact of that bonus diminishes. In such cases, Mail Breaker's performance could potentially fall behind +8 Pumpkin.

However, that does not mean +8 Pumpkin surpasses material bonus damage. At levels where the accuracy bonus becomes less critical, alternative options like the Rapier exist without needing high-priced weapons like the Crystal Dagger. Had the comparison involved +8 or +9 Mail Breakers or +8 or +9 Rapiers instead of +6 Mail Breaker, the gap likely would have widened even further.

To summarize the test results, +8 Pumpkin is clearly stronger than +6 Damascus as a general-purpose weapon and mathematically can outperform +9 Damascus. However, in the undead hunting ground of Land of the Abandoned, it failed to catch up to +6 Mail Breaker with its bonus damage against undead. A more precise comparison would require weapons like +9 Damascus, +9 Mail Breaker, or +9 Rapier, which we unfortunately could not test directly due to lack of ownership.

Apart from the test, player consensus is that switching to +8 Pumpkin is questionable if one is already using weapons like +9 Damascus or +9 Crossbow. While the average expected cost of a +8 Pumpkin weapon exceeds 5 million Adena, prices for weapons like +9 Japanese Sword have dropped below 4 million Adena on some servers, raising concerns that the investment cost is excessive relative to the performance difference.

It must also be taken into account that Pumpkin weapons trigger magic spells, similar to the Thunder Sword or Moonlight Bow. Higher enhancement levels increase spell trigger probability, yielding significantly greater gains in weapon efficiency as enhancement ascends. Many suggest that players who already own a +9 weapon should avoid entering the event altogether if they intend to stop at +8, and instead aim for +9 or higher if they decide to try.

On the other hand, some argue that even a +8 Pumpkin weapon delivers solid performance. Given that event weapons can trade at relatively low player-to-player market prices, acquiring a +8 Pumpkin weapon through trade to settle down rather than pushing risky enhancements is seen as a reasonable choice.

However, investment is ultimately a personal choice. Due to the RNG nature of enhancement, heavy losses are possible, so overextending is strongly discouraged.