EoC Question: Gear vs Weaknesses

[NewBee]

I know that Jagex are really pushing the combat triangle and the "weakness" thing following the Evolution of Combat, but it seems to me that at times it's far more important to use the best tier gear rather than target a monster's specific weakness. Obviously, if you can afford it, using the highest-tier gear for a particular weakness is the best option, but this isn't available to everyone.

 

What's the general consensus on the most effective way to kill/train on monsters?

 

For example:

 

Aviansies are weak to Bolts, but rune and dragon crossbows appear to be nowhere near as quick at killing them as using a Polypore Staff. I am regularly out-damaging bots using Dragon Crossbows.

 

Iron Dragons are supposedly weak to Water spells, but take little damage from a tier 60 wand/shield set-up. Range and Melee do comparable, if not more damage.

[X3EN]

A higher tier weapon is always better than one targeting a specific weakness (air/thrown/crush/etc). Moreover, you will have better results using a high-tier weapon of a style a monster should be resistant to than using a low/mid-tier weapon that matches the general weakness (magic/ranged/melee).

[xpx]

It's actually a bit less dependent on weaknesses now and more dependent on tiers. Here are some general rules to follow(general, as in most cases, but not all).

 

Against something much lower in tier, use your best dps method available.

Against something slightly lower than your tier, use the right style, but not necessarily the right type of weapon.

Against something your tier or higher, use the right style and type of weapon whenever possible.

 

The problem with the last rule, however, is that bosses aren't weak to anything specific, thus the last one only applies to you until you can achieve tier 80(highest available in all styles apart from the rare t90s) in all styles, then it just turns into rule 1(given the boss doesn't do anything specific). The tier of enemies can be defined by your accuracy against them, with >90% making up the lowest; 60-80% for medium and <50% for your tier and below.

[100]

Rune crossbows are t50, dragon t60, polypore staff is t75, thats why.

 

Also you are using t60 wand, which doesn't really hit anything to iron dragons.

 

You need atleast t70 wand, or super antifires+staff.

[Quyneax]

I would go with the general rule of +5 levels = +1 strength vs weakness, with the following tiers:

+0 = melee vs arrow weak (melee vs mage)

+1 = melee vs magic weak (melee vs melee)

+2 = slash vs crush weak (wrong melee vs range)

+3 = slash vs slash weak (right melee vs range)

 

So, when fighting a slash-weak ranger, weaknesses are ordered as follows:

Slash > stab/crush > ranged > magic.

Tier 70 slash = tier 75 slash/crush = tier 80 ranged = tier 85 magic.

 

However, I think the actual defence difference is equivalent to less than 5 levels worth of accuracy increase. Maybe it should be +3 or +4 only. There aren't any tiers at 73/76/79/82 though of course, that's why I picked 5.

 

This model is mostly to show the kind of reasoning that allows you to tell which weapon is better.