Saradomin sword

The Saradomin sword is a two-handed sword which can be obtained in the God Wars Dungeon. The sword is a possible drop from Commander Zilyana and her bodyguards in the Saradomin area. It requires 70 Attack to wield. Its special attack, Saradomin's Lightning, adds 50-160 extra magic-based melee damage to the standard melee attack and raises the maximum inflicted damage by 10% for the melee hit. Players receive magic experience for using this special, but only for the magical hit. Essentially, the special deals two attacks: the melee attack that the player would normally have hit (with its maximum inflicted damage raised by 10% however) without the special, and an extra magical attack that can deal 50-150 (or 90-190 with ferocious ring) damage. The bonus from a hexcrest or full slayer helm on a slayer task is applied to this magical attack. The special attack drains 100% of the special attack bar. The Saradomin sword's overall stats are the 6th best for a two-handed sword, surpassed by all four godswords and the dragon 2h sword, although the Saradomin sword is notably faster than all of them.

Saradomin swords are very popular for training strength among players because they are faster than godswords, at a cost of strength, and hit as high as an abyssal whip. Even though the Saradomin sword and the abyssal whip have almost identical stats, with a Strength level of 99, an Overload/Extreme strength potion, the Turmoil prayer with a +32% strength bonus, a Slayer helmet on a Slayer task, a Ferocious ring worn inside Kuradal's dungeon, with Bandos armour and a fire cape the Saradomin sword can do a combined damage of up to 790 with the special attack while the Abyssal Whip can only do about 618 damage (Note that the Saradomin sword can only hit 790  with  the special attack, while the Abyssal whip can hit 618 on any hit). However, the whip is one-handed and therefore players can benefit from the use of many types of shields, books, and defenders, as well, so the player needs to determine whether the extra damage is worth the reduced defensive capability. For the regular training grind, the answer is likely yes, because of the extra damage, but for other parts of the game, quests, boss-hunting, PvP, the answer might be different depending on your stats and other equipment.

Dropping monsters

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Use
The Saradomin sword gives the same strength and slash bonus as the abyssal whip, but it offers an additional crush and prayer bonus and the ability to train strength by using an "aggressive" attack style, as opposed to the abyssal whip's "controlled" attack style. The sword also attacks at the same speed as the whip. However, since the whip is a one-handed weapon and can be wielded with a shield or a defender, and due to the far cheaper price of the whip, the whip is the better option unless one wishes to train strength. A cheap option for someone who wishes to train strength is a Dragon Scimitar in conjunction with a Rune or Dragon Defender. This method is more accurate than the Saradomin sword by 4 slash attack bonus but is lower in strength bonus by 11. If The Void Stares Back has been completed Korasi's Sword in conjunction with a Dragon Defender is another alternative. This method is more accurate than the Saradomin Sword by 12 slash attack bonus but lower in strength bonus by 6. The Saradomin sword is often seen as the best strength training weapon in the game. Many people do not agree to this, and even though its a cheaper alternative, the dragon scimitar combined with the dragon defender can also be a great choice.

The sword is also commonly used for slaying waterfiends due to its crush bonus and balance between strength and speed. This balance makes the Saradomin sword more useful for killing waterfiends than godswords; its speed is often more efficient in dealing damage, despite its lesser strength bonus.

The Saradomin sword is often used and seen in Pest Control, due to its usefulness and the crush bonuses that it offers, since the portals are weak to certain attack styles, one of them being crush.

These are more often used than scimitars for higher level strength pures. It's a very practical weapon for a pure because the only worthwhile shield at 1 defence is the god book, which only offers attack/defence (or both) bonuses and +5 prayer bonus. In contrast to a whip, a Saradomin Sword would allow a pure to keep his/her attack at 70, while a whip would give attack experience in addition to unwanted defence experience. The aggressive style of the Saradomin Sword also slightly increases damage.

Trivia

 * The Saradomin Sword's special attack counts as an Ambient sound, and is heard even if the main game sound is muted.
 * If you level melee and magic at the same time using the special attack, the melee congratulations message appears first.
 * Entering the Zamorak portal in Castle Wars with this item equipped causes you to turn into a sheep.