Saradomin sword


 * For the godsword with a Saradomin hilt, see Saradomin godsword.

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 10-20. 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 10-20 however) without the special, and an extra magical attack that can deal 50-160 (or 90-200 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, the Saradomin sword can do a combined damage of up to 790 with the special attack while the Abyssal Whip 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 can only do about 618 damage. 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 need 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.

Take note: The Saradomin Sword has a low high alchemy value so you are likely to lose the sword on death.

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 Rune or Dragon Defender is another alternative. This method is more accurate than the Saradomin Sword by +6 slash attack bonus but lower in strength bonus by +8.

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 godswords' higher damage potential is often wasted when attacking waterfiends when they have only small amounts of health remaining, but the speed of the Saradomin sword eliminates the wasted potential.

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 good attack/defence (or both) bonuses and +5 prayer bonus. In contrast to a whip, a Saradomin Sword would allow a pure to keep his 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.

In Bounty worlds (+1 item) the Saradomin sword is an excellent weapon of choice against player killers who have strong melee armour, because the magical hit from the sword's special attack can cause some additional magic damage on top of the melee damage dealt.

Combat styles


Trivia

 * The Saradomin sword has Saradomin's symbol as a hilt, similar to the Saradomin godsword.
 * The blade of the sword itself seems to resemble a gigantic metallic feather, probably because the Icyene who made it are themselves winged humanoids.
 * In the Brazilian worlds, both the Saradomin sword and the Saradomin godsword used to share the same name. This has been fixed.
 * The Saradomin sword is the fastest two-handed sword in the game. The Zamorakian spear shares the Saradomin sword's speed, but provides slightly higher attack bonuses along with a lower strength bonus.
 * The Saradomin sword also resembles the weapon held by many of the Barbarians near the Barbarian Outpost.
 * The Saradomin sword was the longest two-handed sword in the game, until the new release of Dungeoneering, where all the two-handed swords are the same length as the Saradomin sword.
 * Elite black knights appear to be wielding Saradomin swords, but oddly enough, they are devout worshippers of Zamorak. This is proven when they say "Curses! Zamorak has abandoned me." when their Prayer runs out.
 * The staff of light appears to be a combination of a Saradomin sword and a Saradomin staff; however, this is simply a matter of appearance, you cannot combine the two to create a staff of light.
 * When first released whilst holding the hilt of the sword, the player appears to only hold the blade with one hand, with the other hand behind the hilt. This has been fixed.
 * When slaying Gargoyles a character using the "Smash" option appears to be using the Saradomin Sword instead of a Rock Hammer.
 * The Saradomin sword has the fastest attack speed of all of the 2-handed swords which make this the fastest 2h sword in Runescape. (WELL NO FUCKING SHIT)