It has been three weeks since the release of the new ATS hunting ground, the Abandoned Land. While it initially offered slightly better efficiency than other areas despite being crowded, the expansion of the hunting grounds and the dispersal of players have significantly boosted hunting efficiency. The official YouTube channel even released experimental results showing up to 2.5x higher EXP efficiency.

However, the popularity of the Abandoned Land has sparked a debate: which weapon is best for players in the level 30 range, where you can enter but still experience frequent misses? This is a particularly hot topic for Knights, who have a wide variety of weapon choices, with the Rapier and Mail Breaker being the most frequently mentioned.

The Rapier boasts a high base damage of 11 against small monsters and is made of Oriharukon, making it theoretically the most powerful weapon in the Abandoned Land, where all monsters are small and Undead. On the other hand, the Mail Breaker has a lower base damage of 4, but because it is also made of Oriharukon, it benefits from Undead bonus damage. Furthermore, its +10 Melee Accuracy significantly reduces misses at lower levels.

This is the crux of the issue. Proponents of the Rapier argue that its much higher base damage provides superior firepower and that at the mid-30s level, players can compensate for the misses. Conversely, those who favor the Mail Breaker argue that even though the monsters are in the 30s, players still experience significant misses well into the 40s, making accuracy crucial. They contend that for Undead hunting, the bonus damage from enchantments and Undead-specific bonuses matters more than base damage, giving the Mail Breaker the edge because it lands hits more consistently.

There is only one thing left to do: test which weapon actually offers better hunting efficiency. Since the current event allows us to use the 'Cool Tsurugi,' which has the same performance as a common weapon, we included it in our tests, preparing +6 versions of the Mail Breaker, Rapier, and Tsurugi to compare their EXP efficiency.

For reference, while the event also offers a Lightning Sword, we chose the Tsurugi because we determined it was more advantageous for this test. Since the experiment is based on +6 enchantments, the Lightning Sword’s advantage—which scales with higher enchantment levels—is diminished. Additionally, the Tsurugi has a slightly higher base damage and recently received an accuracy buff, making it a more suitable candidate for a comparative experiment.

■ Test Criteria

Test Character: Death Knight server, Level 34 Knight, AC -56

Buffs Used: 1+2 Stage Acceleration, Enchant Weapon, Enchant Might, Sharna Transformation Spellbook, Cool Shaved Ice

Test Method: Six 10-minute sessions per weapon (1 hour total), then calculating the average of each value

※ The 6th data set for the Tsurugi was discarded due to remaining time limits in the Abandoned Land

Before explaining the results, note that on a high-population server like Death Knight, EXP efficiency can fluctuate significantly depending on how crowded the hunting ground is. Therefore, we broke the test into 10-minute intervals rather than measuring the total EXP gained over a single hour.

In short, the results show a 'victory for the Mail Breaker.' At the level 34 Knight spec, misses occur extremely frequently, and a +6 enchantment level is not enough to compensate for the misses caused by the low character level. Consequently, the Mail Breaker showed higher average efficiency than the Rapier.

The Tsurugi did not show much merit in the Abandoned Land's ATS environment. While it has high base damage and accuracy bonuses, the fact that it is made of metal and lacks Undead bonus damage had a significant impact. However, given that it showed damage output comparable to the Rapier even without the Undead bonus, it is expected to perform overwhelmingly better when hunting non-Undead monsters.