Sword
Swords are used any time two or more players swordfight. Swordfights occur in sea battles, when one pirate challenges another to a swordfight, at brawls in inns or on ships, during swordfighting tournaments, or when fighting skellies.
New players start with a foil, but other swords can be purchased at iron mongers. Each sword has a different drop pattern that determines which blocks will be sent to an opponent during a swordfight. All drop patterns have advantages and disadvantages, but some are considered better than others. Players often select swords based on their style of swordfighting. On subscription oceans, some swords are reserved for use by subscribers. On doubloon oceans, any pirate may equip any sword. On all oceans, the backsword is reserved for purchasers of the box set.
Contents
Sword colors
All swords made at iron mongers have colored enamel as two of their ingredients. A sword's two colors change which colors appear in the sword drop pattern (although the two properties are not directly linked). Additionally, if blue, green or purple is chosen as a first color, the sword pattern will also be reversed, or mirrored. Only certain enamel colors are available for swords. The sword palette shows all available color combinations.
Sword decay
All swords except the backsword and stick decay with time. When a player's last sword decays, it is replaced with a stick. Swords can be stored in a sword rack to slow their decay.
Commonly bought swords
While there is a vast majority of swords with different playstyles to choose from, a small group of swords is considered to be much better than the rest as seen in the Swords Tierlist. The most popular and arguably strongest sword is the Falchion - it is a beginner friendly sword that excels at any aspect of the game. The saber can be a good choice for fast players with a bit of luck. Other recommendations include the defensive Scimitar or the sprinkle heavy Skull dagger. The short sword, while less effective than any of the above, is reputed to be a good sword at a comparatively low price.
NPCs in swordfighting
Some NPCs will use swords during shipboard frays which are not available to players. This includes dragoons in Atlantis who use a trident with a five color drop pattern (see table below), Homunculi in Cursed Isles who use a tree with a single color drop pattern, Cultists in Cursed Isles who use a spear which has the same pattern as the Cleaver, and Brynhild Skullsplitter and her viking-leader brethren who use battle axes, which have the same pattern as the backsword. The ghosts in the Haunted Seas use spectral swords, the drop pattern of which contains purple pieces that turn to stone if not cleared before the counter on the blocks reaches zero. Vampirates use a Sanguine Blade that sends special coffin pieces which need to be adjacent to a cascaded combo.
Sword details
| Backsword | Cleaver |  Corsair blade
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| Doubloon cost: N/A | Doubloon cost: 11 | Doubloon cost: N/A | |||
| Decay rate: N/A | Decay rate: 90 days | Decay rate: N/A | |||
| Cutlass | Dadao | Dirk | |||
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| Doubloon cost: 3 | Doubloon cost: 10 | Doubloon cost: 3 | |||
| Decay rate: 60 days | Decay rate: 90 days | Decay rate: 30 days | |||
| Falchion | Foil | Katana | |||
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| Doubloon cost: 11 (9 )
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Doubloon cost: 0 | Doubloon cost: 10 | |||
| Decay rate: 90 days | Decay rate: 30 days | Decay rate: Unknown | |||
| Long sword | Poniard | Rapier | |||
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| Doubloon cost: 6 (7 )
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Doubloon cost: 5 | Doubloon cost: 6 | |||
| Decay rate: 60 days | Decay rate: 60 days | Decay rate: 60 days | |||
| Saber | Scimitar | Short sword | |||
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| Doubloon cost: 10 | Doubloon cost: 11 | Doubloon cost: 3 | |||
| Decay rate: 90 days | Decay rate: 90 days | Decay rate: 30 days | |||
| Skull dagger | Stick | Stiletto | |||
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Not available for purchase. |
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| Doubloon cost: 9 | Doubloon cost: N/A | Doubloon cost: 4 | |||
| Decay rate: 90 days | Decay rate: N/A | Decay rate: 30 days | |||
| Swords unavailable to players | |||||
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| Battle axe | Jian | Spear | |||
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| Spectral Sword | Trident | Sanguine Blade | |||
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| Tree trunk | |||||
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Delivery cost
If a sword contains the color black, it will increase the delivery cost. Some pricier swords will also cost more to deliver if they contain the color purple. This table lists the delivery cost of all purchasable swords.
| Name | Ordinary delivery cost* | One color is black | Both colors are black | One color is purple | Both colors are purple | Purple and black |
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| Cleaver | 11 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| Cutlass | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Dadao | 10 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| Dirk | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Falchion | 10 (9 ) |
12 (11 ) |
14 (13 ) |
11 (10 ) |
12 (11 ) |
13 (12 )
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| Foil | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Katana | 10 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 12 |
| Long sword | 6 (7 ) |
7 (8 ) |
9 (10 ) |
7 (8 ) |
8 (9 ) |
8 (9 )
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| Poniard | 5 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| Rapier | 6 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
| Saber | 7 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Scimitar | 11 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| Short sword | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Skull dagger | 9 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Stiletto | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
* The "ordinary delivery cost" is the minimum number of doubloons that the sword can be delivered for. If a sword does not use any purple or black enamel, then this is what it will cost to deliver. Where the table specifies one color, assume that the other color used is an ordinary (non-black, non-purple) color.
Historical notes
The Saber and Falchion patterns (and doubloon costs) were changed in release 2024-07-25.
Saber before 2024-07-25
Falchion before 2024-07-25
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The falchion strike pattern was changed and skull daggers were changed into scimitars and scimitars were turned into skull daggers in release 2005-02-11.
Various test swords were added to the game starting from July 14, 2010 in order to help test revised drop patterns for the dadao. These swords were available to purchase from the palace shoppe for 1,000 PoE, lasted one day, and could not be wrapped or placed on a sword rack. The swords were withdrawn on August 4, 2010. [1]
Related pages
External links
- Spanish article: Espada
- Mantid's Sword Patterns Compare drop patterns and see how enamel colours affect them
 Swords
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| See also: Swordfighting | Drop pattern | Brawl | |||
