Saradomin godsword

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''Not to be confused with Saradomin sword. For the Lucky version, see Lucky Saradomin godsword.'' The Saradomin Godsword is one of the four Godswords that was fought over during the God Wars. Like all Godswords, it requires 75 Attack to wield. It is created by adding the Saradomin hilt to a completed godsword blade. This weapon is rather rare as players must have level 70 Agility to enter the Saradomin Encampment in the God Wars Dungeon in order to defeat Commander Zilyana, the boss monster that drops the Saradomin hilt. This Godsword is one of the least seen.

The Saradomin Godsword has a Special attack called Healing Blade. When used, half (1/2, rounded down) of the damage dealt by the sword is restored to the player's life points, and 1/4 of the damage is restored to the player's Prayer. It also increases damage by 10%, making it also viable for PKing. This drains 50% of the special attack bar (or a 45% drain if the player uses a Ring of Vigour). Please note that  the sword's special attack must hit to have the effect, and  the special attack does NOT increase accuracy, but only increases the hit by 10%. There is a minimum restoration of 100 life points and 50 Prayer points, even with a hit of 1. For example, hits between 1 and 201 damage have the same healing effect, but hits of 202 or more will increase the amount of restoration.

Although the sword must hit for its special attack to have an effect, the special can have its full effect even if the sword's hit is not capable of damaging an opponent. For example, the sword cannot cause damage to Harpie Bug Swarms: the sword is two-handed, so the player cannot hold a bug lantern. Without the lantern being held, Harpie Bug Swarms are immune to damage. However, the special attack will still heal and restore prayer at the damage the sword would have caused. This is known to occur with Harpie Bug Swarms, Vyrewatchs (which cannot be damaged by the sword since it is not silver nor made from blisterwood), Turoths and Kurasks (which cannot be harmed by any weapon but leaf-bladed sword/spear and broad bolts/arrows).

Similarly, if a hit of the sword would have caused more damage against an opponent than the opponent can take (due to low life points), the special attack will still heal and restore prayer at the damage the sword would have caused. For example, a level 5 Goblin has only 50 life points. A sword hit that would have hit it with 400 damage will only inflict 50, but the special will still heal 200 life points and 100 prayer points.

Recommended uses
The Saradomin Godsword has many uses. Its main advantage is that it restores prayer as well as life points, without compromising any attack or strength bonuses that other weapons would sacrifice.

The Godsword has a prayer bonus of +8, making it a good weapon to use while fighting monsters that require prayer to kill. Although all of the Godswords have +8 prayer bonus, the Saradomin Godsword can restore prayer using its special attack, thus making it last longer.

The main uses of the sword are shown below.

Slayer
This sword is useful for training Slayer. Using its special attack can save the player plenty of food over time. The Saradomin Godsword's special attack is arguably superior to the ability of a full Guthan's set, because it only takes up one inventory space instead of four and doesn't degrade. Furthermore, the special attack is far more consistent in its healing effects, and restores prayer as well.

Despite these advantages, the Godsword only heals life points on a 1:2 ratio, comparing to the Guthan's set bonus of 1:1 healing. This means that a hit of 200 life points will heal 100 life points whilst using the Saradomin godsword, while 200 life points would be healed if using the Guthan's set. Another disadvantage with the Saradomin Godsword's healing effect is that it is limited by the special attack bar. If started at 100%, it means the minimum health restore would be 200 life points; in order to heal again, a wait of 2–3 minutes is needed for the special attack bar to restore. With the effect of full Guthan's, more than 200 life points will be healed in a time span of 2–3 minutes. Although, it should also be recognised that for players with higher prayer, the use of the Saradomin godsword special in conjunction with Soul Split will yield 90% of damage done to constitution rather than the usual 1/2, yielding a much higher potential gain for the Saradomin godsword

However, Guthan's set cannot be used on a task such as Aberrant spectres, because a nose peg/slayer helm is required; this is where the Saradomin Godsword becomes useful. Guthan's also requires using the relatively weak Guthan's warspear for many hits to regain enough health, whereas the Saradomin Godsword has guaranteed healing in two hits. The special energy bar regenerates at rate of 10% every 30 seconds, requiring 5 minutes to regenerate from empty to full.

Training
Players may use the Godsword to train against monsters. It is a useful weapon, as it will reduce food and prayer usage over time. This is especially useful against higher levelled monsters such as Hellhounds, which can be hard to kill in large numbers without the aid of healing media, such as healing familiars and Guthan's set. It is also very useful because none of the Godswords degrade, and it also saves money compared to other methods, such as using a Unicorn stallion with scrolls, or a Bunyip, as the scrolls, pouches, and summoning potions cost additional coins.

Pickpocketing (Thieving)
Players can save food, and even depend solely on the Saradomin Godsword's special to heal the damage taken while pickpocketing.

Player killing
Players can save food and restore prayer points with the special attack. It can be used in tight situations to save the player from losing prayer points to continue using Protect Item from the Smite or Soul Split prayers when in combat. It can hit high and save the player when low on life points or food.

Using the special attack in conjunction with the Soul Split prayer will result in you being healed by 90% of the dealt damage, and your prayer points being restored by 1/4 the damage, as well as dealing 10% more damage to the opponent and draining their prayer by 1/5 the damage. The combination of healing yourself and restoring your own prayer while dealing heavy damage to the opponent while also draining their prayer points can be quite a powerful combo in PvP situations.

Other areas
Other situations in which the Saradomin Godsword can be useful are some of the following:


 * Pyramid Plunder
 * Phoenix Lair
 * Bork
 * Certain Slayer tasks, notably Waterfiends, Aberrant spectres and Abyssal demons
 * Hunting the Chaos Elemental
 * Hunting the Kalphite Queen
 * Bandos' throne room
 * God Wars Dungeon by healing on the sergeants in between fights with the generals, or using the special to restore prayer when camping on Spiritual mages.
 * Barrows, especially in the tunnels when a player may need health and prayer.
 * TzHaar Fight Caves
 * The Saradomin Godsword is also very popular for the later waves of the Barbarian Assault activity as one can take a lot of damage as an attacker and a healer is not always available. Players may use the special attack to restore some of their life points until a healer can reach them.
 * Tormented Demons, helps by saving prayer potions.
 * Temple Trekking, helps by saving prayer points for most monsters on medium and hard combat events.
 * In the Fight Kiln, it is commonly used by pures and lower-levelled players as a special attack weapon and primary weapon as an alternative to the Enhanced Excalibur.
 * Forinthry Dungeon due to protection prayer being useless, the special attack is usefull to restore health and save prayer potions

Market
In the months following their release in August 2007, Saradomin Godswords were worth 100-150m. However, the price gradually declined, and in September 2008 they were worth only 88m. From then, the long-term trend until around May 2009 was a slow drop down to 50m. Then in June 2009 the price started rising faster (mostly due to coins coming into the game from pvp worlds). Despite periodic declines in price and even some full-out crashes, the long-term price trend from June to December 2009 has been a significant increase. Even more recently, however, the Saradomin Godsword seems to be taking to a downward trend most likely caused by the release of the new chaotic weapons and the dragon defender. The price dropped even more with the release of Nex. Also, due to the Combat Rework, the price has dropped even further. The special attack will be negated, and to compensate it would be replaced by an effect that boosts stats. It is currently at coins.

Trivia

 * The Saradomin Godsword is the only weapon that heals life points in addition to restoring prayer points. Certain other weapons are capable of healing the wielder and others are capable of restoring the wielder's prayer points, but only the Saradomin Godsword is capable of doing both.
 * For a time, there was a bug whereby the Saradomin Godsword's minimum healing was too high. For example, the Godsword healed a minimum of 199 life points and 99 prayer points, instead of 100 and 50 respectively, if used by a player with 93 Strength and a +163 strength bonus. This was fixed in an update.
 * The Saradomin Godword (as well as the Zamorak Godsword) appears to be slightly larger than its Armadyl and Bandos counterparts when wielded.