General

Vouching for stonetooth cause I have one and the attack speed increase is really good if you can get the inner ability and hit speed cap. Plus, who doesn't want to hold zabimaru? xP

The Empress 2h won't have any DEX after Tempest. I got an overaverage one for 100mil, pretty cheap.
If I find that one guy that sells GM 2h service, I'll get at least 8 GM scrolls. I might hammer it and scroll it max too.
I'm only doing 1 aee though, for caution reasons.

@FlameChocobo: Well I don't know about you but I don't find many buccs to party with and tend to do a lot of my bossing solo. I still haven't managed to get the +1 atk speed inner ability (and given that all your inner abilities get reset it would likely mean missing out on %boss which means it may or may not be any better) and decent SI means losing out on %str now that it can't be glitched either. So in my experience I rarely reach max speed even with a ST and so the extra speed is very very useful.

Remember in order to reach max speed with any of the other endgame swords you would need 2 of those options (not counting the Bucc mule) which means potentially sacrificing %boss AND % str which IMO isn't that great a tradeoff. The 140 weapon can be better because of the mountains of extra attack and the extra 30% boss but I would rather have my ST than any of the other options.

[quote=Cthulhusama]No they don't. Even a ST can only hit max speed if you have decent SI, regular SI, or the +1 atk speed inner ability. Any other 2H sword (other than some low lvl ones) would need either regular SI or both decent SI and the +1 atk speed buff.

Since decent SI isn't glitchable anymore and the inner ability is hard to get.... yeah. The 140 ones are better cuz of the big difference (32-35 more base atk and an extra +30 atk from the full set) and the extra %boss. Any other 2H isn't really as good unless you are in a party with a Bucc.[/quote]

Like I said. They hit max Speed if you have those weapon speed enhancements (best being the Attack Speed inner ability, and partying with a class that has Wind Booster.) The only ones that can't are Slow-8 and Slower-9 unless you're playing an Aran.

That's why the weapons with higher attack power IMO are better. Faster weapons will have the advantage, but at the end of the day they'll have the disadvantage because of how strong the other weapon is (End Game Pole Arms are faster than Spears, but because of Nexon's dumb decision, they're weaker, therefore, they'll lose out on DPM case and point.)

[quote=FlameChocobo]PFFFT! Even a Van Leon 2h Sword is better than Ribgol in terms of DPM since they both reach Max Speed.

I'd stick with the Lionheart weapon.[/quote]

No they don't. Even a ST can only hit max speed if you have decent SI, regular SI, or the +1 atk speed inner ability. Any other 2H sword (other than some low lvl ones) would need either regular SI or both decent SI and the +1 atk speed buff.

Since decent SI isn't glitchable anymore and the inner ability is hard to get.... yeah. The 140 ones are better cuz of the big difference (32-35 more base atk and an extra +30 atk from the full set) and the extra %boss. Any other 2H isn't really as good unless you are in a party with a Bucc.

PFFFT! Even a Van Leon 2h Sword is better than Ribgol in terms of DPM since they both reach Max Speed.

I'd stick with the Lionheart weapon.

I would also have to say that ST's have that elusive swag that Empress's don't have.
Choose Empress though, that extra 30 base attack is well worth the speed and dex requirment.

[quote=kidd978]I'd say empress would get u much further than the st.. And u can't say this sword doesn't make u look sexy [/quote]

I would disagree about the sexiness factor of the swords. My ST is the sexiest sword ever.