Weapon Forging: Why should you ever not use iron weapons?

[The DanMan]

So, the title is pretty self-explanatory.

Weapon forging was tweaked due to infinite weapon durability. You have to have two of a weapon and a certain gem (depending on weapon type) to forge. Forged weapons get more powerful by a set amount. Not too broken on paper, right?

Except you can visit other people's My Castles and see their resources. As such, you can just hop by a My Castle and grab the gems you need. And this is where the balance issues come in.

Iron weapons cost 1000 gold, steel weapons cost 2000, and silver weapons cost 4000.

An iron sword +1 costs 2000 gold and one gem, with one less might than a steel sword but attack speed penalties. An iron sword +2 effectively costs 4000 gold and 4 gems (as you need two iron sword +1's and two gems to forge), and has better accuracy than a silver sword, 3 base crit, and doesn't decrease strength/skill by 2 upon use, all at the expense of one or two points of strength. Which would you rather do: spend 4000 hard-fought gold on a silver weapon that's going to be pretty situational, or spend the same amount on 4 iron weapons and five minutes hitting up a My Castle or two to get the required gems?

So, really, as long as you stay on top of it, there doesn't seem to be any reason to use anything else but iron outside of a few very specific situations. The Royal Bros can just lug around their personal weapons and everybody else can use forged iron weapons. I kind of hope there's some hitch to this I haven't heard about, because this seems like the biggest balance issue in the game. The idea of weapon disadvantages/penalties falls really flat in the face of this (at least as far as steel and silver weapons are concerned).

[Nukemind]

One Reason I would use something else and it's sad: I like watching the battles, and a Silvee/Steel Axe/Sword looks far better. I plan on forging and naming an Axe for Camilla and a Lance for Honika simply because they don't get awesome derp weapons... But I'll probably make two- a good looking OHKO Silver and a more efficient, capable of doubling Iron. Probably an Axe and a Naginata. Wish the clubs looked better.

[nick0807]

This will be hard to do on a norh play through. Also it is a lot more time consuming than it sounds. (I did it on Japanese revelations)

[PuffPuff]

I will.

For Iron, Thunder, Ram Spirit as I'd rather not face any penalties when facing online players/in game. But...if you take the time in the Weapons DLC episode the Hero and Killer weapons are the best in the game if they get +6 forges.

[Shadow Mir]

So, the title is pretty self-explanatory.

Weapon forging was tweaked due to infinite weapon durability. You have to have two of a weapon and a certain gem (depending on weapon type) to forge. Forged weapons get more powerful by a set amount. Not too broken on paper, right?

Except you can visit other people's My Castles and see their resources. As such, you can just hop by a My Castle and grab the gems you need. And this is where the balance issues come in.

Iron weapons cost 1000 gold, steel weapons cost 2000, and silver weapons cost 4000.

An iron sword +1 costs 2000 gold and one gem, with one less might than a steel sword but attack speed penalties. An iron sword +2 effectively costs 4000 gold and 4 gems (as you need two iron sword +1's and two gems to forge), and has better accuracy than a silver sword, 3 base crit, and doesn't decrease strength/skill by 2 upon use, all at the expense of one or two points of strength. Which would you rather do: spend 4000 hard-fought gold on a silver weapon that's going to be pretty situational, or spend the same amount on 4 iron weapons and five minutes hitting up a My Castle or two to get the required gems?

So, really, as long as you stay on top of it, there doesn't seem to be any reason to use anything else but iron outside of a few very specific situations. The Royal Bros can just lug around their personal weapons and everybody else can use forged iron weapons. I kind of hope there's some hitch to this I haven't heard about, because this seems like the biggest balance issue in the game. The idea of weapon disadvantages/penalties falls really flat in the face of this (at least as far as steel and silver weapons are concerned).

Maybe because it's a lot more of a drain on time and resources than you make it out to be?

[The DanMan]

Maybe because it's a lot more of a drain on time and resources than you make it out to be?

This will be hard to do on a norh play through. Also it is a lot more time consuming than it sounds. (I did it on Japanese revelations)

Yeah, it takes some time overall (a few minutes hitting up a My Castle per forge); which is kind of why I think this works best on the Nohr route.

You're going to be focusing mostly on a small team of units used through out most of the game. You're going to be getting units that you won't use with weapons and stuff that you don't need. Unless it's a special weapon (hunting knife, armorslayer, javelin), I don't see why you wouldn't want to just sell it or (if it's iron) forge it away?

It's not quite as widely applicable as I made it out to be know that I think about (generals with Wary Fighter can use steel weapons without fear, Steel Shurikens give speed +2), but I still fail to see any reason why you would actually want to buy steel or silver weapons. Focusing on iron weapons seems to be the most cost effective strategy; if you stay on top of things, I don't see how it isn't effective.

[Shadow Mir]

Yeah, it takes some time overall (a few minutes hitting up a My Castle per forge); which is kind of why I think this works best on the Nohr route.

You're going to be focusing mostly on a small team of units used through out most of the game. You're going to be getting units that you won't use with weapons and stuff that you don't need. Unless it's a special weapon (hunting knife, armorslayer, javelin), I don't see why you wouldn't want to just sell it or (if it's iron) forge it away?

It's not quite as widely applicable as I made it out to be know that I think about (generals with Wary Fighter can use steel weapons without fear, Steel Shurikens give speed +2), but I still fail to see any reason why you would actually want to buy steel or silver weapons. Focusing on iron weapons seems to be the most cost effective strategy; if you stay on top of things, I don't see how it isn't effective.

Which can only be done once a day, for one, and second, I still think it's wasting time and resources that I could put to better use doing something like - oh, I dunno - beating the game.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Elieson]

I guess if you absolutely never ever have a situational advantage to utilize a Silver weapon, then your Iron strategy works fine.

[NekoKnight]

Collecting resources is trivially easy so I wouldn't factor that into 'is forging worth it'. The attack speed penalty of steel can be a difference between doubling and not doubling (major damage factor) and the stat drops of silver will quickly make a unit useless if used repeatedly. You will also get more iron weapons just by playing than you would steel or silver so they're naturally easier to forge.

[MCProductions]

I've pulled a strategy like this in my conquest run so far, and it's so flipping tedious that I immediately stopped after forging weapons for Elise, Camilla, and Corrin.

Tho, I imagine I'm going to grind the weapons DLC when it comes out to make the most OP Killing Edge possible.

[The DanMan]

Which can only be done once a day, for one, and second, I still think it's wasting time and resources that I could put to better use doing something like - oh, I dunno - beating the game.

I don't expect to be jumping an entire weapon tier in one sitting.

Collecting resources is trivially easy so I wouldn't factor that into 'is forging worth it'. The attack speed penalty of steel can be a difference between doubling and not doubling (major damage factor) and the stat drops of silver will quickly make a unit useless if used repeatedly. You will also get more iron weapons just by playing than you would steel or silver so they're naturally easier to forge.

In general, I feel like the weapon forging and skill buying features in My Castle weren't quite meant for online, due to how exploitable they are (one of the most popular My Castles is a "bum rush the throne because everybody's defenseless" one that has units with a bunch of reclassed skills; I'd wager quite a few Corrin's are running around with Swordfaire in the early game right now).

I've pulled a strategy like this in my conquest run so far, and it's so flipping tedious that I immediately stopped after forging weapons for Elise, Camilla, and Corrin.

Tho, I imagine I'm going to grind the weapons DLC when it comes out to make the most OP Killing Edge possible.

To me, it's not that tedious at all; I'd say that the intensity of the Nohr chapters coupled with the more relaxing nature of My Castle has made it almost cathartic and part of the routine.

Beat chapter->get My Room bonus->check the arena->talk to units out and about->stay on top of forging, is basically how things go for me.

Edited February 22, 2016 by The DanMan

[NekoKnight]

In general, I feel like the weapon forging and skill buying features in My Castle weren't quite meant for online, due to how exploitable they are (one of the most popular My Castles is a "bum rush the throne because everybody's defenseless" one that has units with a bunch of reclassed skills; I'd wager quite a few Corrin's are running around with Swordfaire in the early game right now).

I'd agree with you on purchasing skills and I don't do that while playing the main campaign (there is a reason why skills are unlocked at higher levels) but for resource collection, I'm going to argue that getting them online is an intended part of the typical experience. Most accessories require a ton of resources, more than you could possibly collect on your own and the ability to trade your gemstones for other kinds is such an unfair exchange rate( 5:1 iirc), that I'm convinced that's just there as a "when you can't go online but you still want to play" option.

[Shadow Mir]

I don't expect to be jumping an entire weapon tier in one sitting.

I was more talking about the whole thing about going to other players' My Castles, which, might I add, isn't an option for everyone.

[nflchamp]

The penalties placed on the higher tier weapons is there to make iron weapons your main choice. Steel and silver weapons have their advantages but are supposed to be relegated to situational usage. Given that, iron weapons are the obvious choice to forge often. But when you really need that extra umph you'll probably regret not forging something stronger.

Edited February 22, 2016 by nflchamp