>https://elanthipedia.play.net/Weapon:Foil_(crafted)

Haralun foil (thrusting blade, pasabas, or rapier, all same template) at 30 stone. You can see the stats here:

https://elanthipedia.play.net/Squanto%27s_rare_metal_weapons#Small_Edged_Weapons

I believe it has enough slice to perform ambush slash, and can backstab, or ambush stun, as well. I'm not in-game right now so I might be wrong about ambush slash. Sorry, been a while.

There have been some equivalents released from the paid events recently, but they did not noticeably outperform the above in a comparison. Certainly not enough to warrant 20$. And I bought a couple.

Paid event small edge stabbers also have a habit of using the gladius/baselard type; this weapon has higher impact than slice, despite nominally appraising the same, and has too little slice to ambush slash.

Small edge weapons suffer from low volume templates, and the density cap. Unless or until a GM is willing to remove the backstab weight limit, is willing to break density caps, or releases a new stab-based weapon with a higher volume template, the best you can do is a 30 stone harulan thrusting blade.

The Gladius, windsteel blade, and other such items weren't any better. But they weren't any worse, if you want to spend the money.

How dare you tell people I'm correct! I have a reputation to sustain.

Joking aside, I wanted to add this to my original post but forgot:

Light edge offers an accuracy increase over medium edge. Medium edge offers a damage increase.

You can increase your accuracy in several ways, such as debilitating enemies, ambushing them, aiming for easier to hit body parts, or just gaining more ranks. So people dismiss the LE backstab tool because it's comparatively easy to increase accuracy, but very difficult to increase damage output.

Plus the LE templates double down on the problem I mentioned with ME templates; there just isn't enough volume of metal going into an LE to pump it up with super-dense mixes or modify anything.

>Just to be clear he asked what the best weapon to backstab with is.

True. I simply forgot about it. The parazonium pattern was only available at 1 paid event so far, and I don't know if anyone even bought one.

>>True. I simply forgot about it. The parazonium pattern was only available at 1 paid event so far, and I don't know if anyone even bought one.

A few people bought them, but I think mostly for personal use because of the rather large price tag and marginal stat difference between the thrusting blade pattern. I didn't really see anyone grab them to resell.

The reason I mention it is I would bet that we see the pattern reappear at paid events in the future.

If nouns could be switched with alterations I would have been more inclined to buy one for personal use. The name was really off-putting for me for some reason.

>>So to me, that's the best. I'm not interested in silly quest or fest options that are ridiculously out of reach for the common person, and I'd never bother recommending it. But the commissary stiletto and kertig/Tyrium thrusting blade is tops imo.

While it's fine to have this opinion and consider a kertig/tyrium thrusting blade "the best for you" the man asked what "the best" was. The parazoinum has better stats than the thrusting blade, can slash/stun/stab and is considered a "LE" even though it's 30 stones. It is hands down the best thief weapon you can get.

So this is what I have:

>look sab
Impressed into the metal is the image of a hammer and anvil surrounded by bold letters spelling out the name, "Mendasity".

A sabre is a medium edged melee-ranged weapon.
A sabre trains the small edged skill.
The sabre is ill suited, but usable, for backstabbing.

You wonder if it could do:
great puncture damage
low slice damage
poor impact damage
dismal fire damage with affinity for random attacks
no cold damage
no electric damage

The sabre is dismally designed for improving the force of your attacks.

You guess that the sabre is fairly balanced and is inadequately suited to gaining extra attack power from your strength.

You are certain that the sabre is marginally vulnerable to damage, and is in pristine condition.

The sabre is made with metal.

>> that Caramon or Squanto or someone owns, and has used once.

Squanto actually uses his weapons.

Just saying.

To stay on topic, I use a tyrium thrusting blade. Before I wound up with a lot of tyrium to play with, I was perfectly content with a glaes thrusting blade.

>>They're available at a one-off run and the people who own them aren't selling them. So if you really want to be argumentative about this, and honest to god I don't understand why you're picking this windmill to tilt at or this hill to die on, you're wrong.

Most (all maybe? I didn't check) other offered at previous quests have made reappearances later, there's no reason to think this one won't either. I think it's a difficult but not impossible goal to obtain one. I agree mentioning one off limited weapons (all of us skipped over the mirror ME weapons cause who knows where those are these days) is reasonable, but I would bet you haven't seen the last of those instructions.

The reason I'm somewhat passionate about this is because of just how much bad information is out there about "top" items. Armor is WAY worse than weapons in that regard, but the guy asked for what was the best and telling someone "Oh this is the best you'll get" when it's not just spreads more bad information. Really a comprehensive list is the best way to answer this question

"The Best Backstabber"
1) Upgrade from Store Bought - Steel telek ( https://elanthipedia.play.net/Weapon:Poignard_(crafted) ) if you like light weight or Steel Sabre ( https://elanthipedia.play.net/Weapon:Baselard_(crafted) ) if you want something heavier
2) Upgrade from Steel - Haralun Thrusting Blade ( https://elanthipedia.play.net/Weapon:Foil_(crafted) )
3) Upgrade from Haralun - Tyrium Thrusting Blade ( see above ) or the Windsteel thrusting blade from Corn Maze ( https://elanthipedia.play.net/Weapon:Windsteel_thrusting_blade_with_whorling_whirlwinds_along_the_blade ) These are the same stats and about equal in cost.
4) Upgrade from Tyrium - Tyrium parazoinum ( https://elanthipedia.play.net/Squanto%27s_rare_metal_weapons )
5) Upgrade from parazonium - This is where things get fuzzy, it's possible that a Mirror Shiv / Knife ( https://elanthipedia.play.net/Weapon:T%27Kashi_mirror_shiv ) on someone with really high stats will outperform the parazonium. Also worth mentioning in this category is a Dragon bone Shiv (of which I think there are one or two) because it was supposed to be awesome when enchanting came out.

For #1 and #2, they're reasonably easy to find and should run you less than 2000 platinum. #3 (moving to Tyrium) runs about 10k-15k platinum and will be harder to find outside of Hollow's Eve or some other pay event. For #4 and #5, they're much harder to find, but not impossible. In the last year I've bought and sold a Dragon bone shiv, and purchased a mirror knife for personal use as well. I'd price category 4 and 5 items around 50k-75k platinum each.

Is this more than what the OP asked for? Sure, but this game is already so insanely large that knowledge about it disappears all the time. The idea of someone searching through the forums and seeing a post saying "oh a haralun thrusting blade is the best thief weapon" is bad enough. When it's from someone like Elec who is very knowledgeable, has years of experience and who's opinion is generally taken as fact I consider it damaging and feel the need to speak up about it.

>>One comment - the mirror weapons are a bit underwhelming at high ranks/stats, especially the shiv. All the balance/suitability in the world can't compete with high damage stats, which the shiv in particular lacks. This is with 100 in stats and about 1000 in various weapon skills. It's still a great weapon, but would not be my top choice for killing speed.

I agree, (65 str / 100 agi) on the mirror knife isn't super great compared to the tyrium thrusting blade, I included it because a few people I've spoken to hunting stuff like moths and above really prize the balance.

It's amazing defensively though. Parry feels OP while using it.

>>A tyrium gladius might do it at higher stats as it seems to have slightly more puncture than the thrusting blade. Even then, it won't be a huge difference.

The problem with the gladius template (as a few other people have brought up) is the inability to ambush slash with it. The little extra slice you gain on the thrusting blade template is just enough to hit the cutoff

They both app the same at 30 stones, but the gladius template caps one level higher than the thrusting blade and is more suited to strength.

So a tyrium gladius should be more damaging than a thrusting blade.

Looks like it's got more puncture, less impact. The slice is probably 'high' inside the fair range so I'd guess it could be used for ambush slash.

It's even better than the 1000$ parazonium or whatever it was. That's probably the actual 'best' thief weapon

>>It's also an LE weapon, so will also have any advantages associated with that. I know there were plans to give LE edge over ME, but not sure what that translates to in practice.

If I recall correctly (its been awhile since I looked at it), LEs have a significantly higher damage multiplier than MEs for backstab. I am unsure if there are benefits for other maneuvers.

In practice I'm not sure if it actually closes the gap.

-Armifer
"Perinthia's astronomers are faced with a difficult choice. Either they must admit that all their calculations were wrong ... or else they must reveal that the order of the gods is reflected exactly in the city of monsters." - Italo Calvino

I'd love to believe Armifer, but I'm inclined to believe that he's mis-remembering, or the numbers are just way off. I've been stabbing for years with the highest tiers of weapons available short of auction items. I've never noticed anything more than an accuracy buff using light edge over medium. If there IS a damage multiplier, it's certainly not enough of to come remotely close to medium edge. That result holds true for as long as I've played a thief.

Monster Elec

You hear the distant echo of a savage Horde snarling in barbaric disapproval of your deeds.