Swordsman Archive
Thread: What's the difference between a 2.2 speed curved sword and a 1.8 speed?
well your speed mod is a precentage of the weaponspeed.
so if you are starting out with a 50 swords speed then you get 50 percent of 2.2 which is pretty close to the 1.0 speed.
notice that isn't with specials as specials have their own delay.
powerups are good when leveling up or to save ham but they also increase the decay of the weapon.
I use both ranged and melee powerups (there are different types for each) all the time. At Master of any (eilte) profession, speed becomes less of an issue, so many people move to max damage powerups later on.
It is correct that melee weapon powerups are harder to find, so it is best to stock up when you find them. And it is also true that they reduce your weapon's condition faster and that you go through them reasonably fast.
However, I do not use them just for the boost in speed or damage. A critical reason to consider using them is that you can get reductions to HAM costs on them as well.
So for the PH, prior to Master, you can go use a 32% speed + 16% Health costs powerup and go from 5.4 speed/115 health cost to 4.1 speed/99 health cost. Or with a 32% Health + 16% speed, you can go to 4.7 Speed/87 Health cost. Once you hit Master and speed is less of an issue, change the speed on either to Max Damage, and you boost the power of the weapon.
You can also apply this principle to the 2H Curved Sword or 2H Cleaver, but go for Action costs on those.