Steel vs Iron

[Capt. Fargus]

To steel or not to steel. I been pondering that over a beer and a smoke a lot lately 

Iron sword has about 45 uses. Steel sword got 30 uses but 3 pts more beef. Does make it worth the lower available use?

So far as I been playing through this I’ve been leaning towards no. 

What say you all the pros?

[eclipse]

Steel is also heavier, which means that people who might've doubled with an Iron weapon may not do so with a Steel one.  I'd say it's down to context.  Sometimes you need that extra MT, most of the time you don't.

[X-Naut]

Use it where the extra power saves you a use, particularly turning a 2HKO into a 3HKO.

If you're talking lances or axes then using Steel more often can improve weapon rank, since they have a yield of 2 WEXP per hit rather than 1. The sword and bow don't get this unfortunately, being relegated to rarer, more niche weapons.

[Capt. Fargus]

3 minutes ago, X-Naut said:

If you're talking lances or axes then using Steel more often can improve weapon rank, since they have a yield of 2 WEXP per hit rather than 1. The sword and bow don't get this unfortunately, being relegated to rarer, more niche weapons.

Hmmm... That I didn’t know. Hopefully it aint too late in my current game to try and start usin em more

 

[Shadow Mir]

Like was stated earlier, steel weapons are also heavier than iron weapons, which means more AS loss depending on the unit. For example, Lyn, who has 5 constitution, loses 5 AS with a steel sword, whereas Florina, who has only 4, loses 9(!!!) with a steel lance. In general, with the exception of particularly heavyset units, you're better off using iron.

2 hours ago, X-Naut said:

Use it where the extra power saves you a use, particularly turning a 2HKO into a 3HKO.

If you're talking lances or axes then using Steel more often can improve weapon rank, since they have a yield of 2 WEXP per hit rather than 1. The sword and bow don't get this unfortunately, being relegated to rarer, more niche weapons.

To be fair, weapon rank isn't that big a concern in this game, unlike was the case in certain FE games, where trying to get secondary weapons obtained upon promotion to a respectable rank was GLACIAL.

[Dark Holy Elf]

You should have both and use whichever one the situation calls for. Sometimes iron will be better, sometimes steel will be better. Even if iron is better more often, that doesn't mean steel isn't worth carrying around.

Typically, iron is better if it lets you double and steel does not, or if steel would get you doubled, or if both are killing in the same number of hits (because it's more accurate). And steel is none of the above are true (which is common when fighting slow, tanky enemies like armours for instance).

[whase]

Due to the loss of attack speed and, often even more important, avoid while using steel weapons, I personally believe iron to be far superior. Not to say steel doesn't have its use, but only until silver comes along. By the time silver weapons become a thing, iron will remain the main weapon, and dump the steel and make silver your secondary weapon.

The real question is, silver or iron? Silver weapons break way too fast, especially if you keep your team small. I still use iron as a main weapon well into the end game.

[Capt. Fargus]

21 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Like was stated earlier, steel weapons are also heavier than iron weapons, which means more AS loss depending on the unit. For example, Lyn, who has 5 constitution, loses 5 AS with a steel sword, whereas Florina, who has only 4, loses 9(!!!) with a steel lance. In general, with the exception of particularly heavyset units, you're better off using iron.

To be fair, weapon rank isn't that big a concern in this game, unlike was the case in certain FE games, where trying to get secondary weapons obtained upon promotion to a respectable rank was GLACIAL.

I got Fiora at lv 14 at ch 20 in my current game. Sounds like she’d be way better off with iron

[Shadow Mir]

11 minutes ago, Capt. Fargus said:

I got Fiora at lv 14 at ch 20 in my current game. Sounds like she’d be way better off with iron

Yeah, pegasus knights in general are best off with iron weapons. Killer weapons are also a great option for them; they have steel level might, but are lighter.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Killer and Silver both powercreep Steel utterly, but there's a good chunk of the game before you can buy them, typically.

For pegasus knights, make sure you have a Slim Lance on hand as well. It's pretty much "more iron than iron" (i.e. lighter, weaker, more accurate), but only pegasus knights have low enough Con for the weight difference between Slim and Iron to matter. (That said, in Binding Blade you should have Slim Lance as an option on any pure lance user, because of accuracy.)

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

Killer and Silver both powercreep Steel utterly, but there's a good chunk of the game before you can buy them, typically.

For pegasus knights, make sure you have a Slim Lance on hand as well. It's pretty much "more iron than iron" (i.e. lighter, weaker, more accurate), but only pegasus knights have low enough Con for the weight difference between Slim and Iron to matter. (That said, in Binding Blade you should have Slim Lance as an option on any pure lance user, because of accuracy.)

That's a fair point. Especially since your first chance to buy killer weapons is in a secret shop, with only two more chances afterwards, one on which is right before the end of the game (the other is in the chapter where you get Pent and Louise; it's guarded by Vaida on Hector mode).

[Atlos]

I guess it depends on the constitution of the person using it, and if they can still reliably double with it