Abyssal whip

The Abyssal whip is considered to be one of the best melee weapons in RuneScape along with the Godsword, due to its high accuracy, strength, and speed. It has the same attacking speed as a scimitar, which is one strike per 4 game ticks (about 2.4 seconds), but has higher accuracy and strength. Because of this, it is often called the best weapon; however its special attack is frequently ridiculed because of its inpracticality. The whip is also criticised for its inability to train Strength, except through controlled.

Whips are dropped by level 124 Abyssal demons which require level 85 Slayer to kill. Players require 70 Attack to wield the whip. The whip has a special attack called Energy Drain, which makes the attack more accurate and, if used against a player opponent, transfers 10% of his run energy to the attacking player. It uses up 50% of the special attack bar.

With the right equipment, potions, prayer, and special bonuses (including a Salve amulet (e) used on an undead creature), the whip can hit up to 53 max damage.

It is common for players to lose this item on death, due to its relatively low (cheap) alchemy value compared to other high level equipment, such as the more expensive pieces of Dragon armour. Although some items, such as the Dragon plateskirt have a much lower market value, the whip has a lower alchemy value, which causes the Dragon plateskirt to be valued higher in respect to Items Kept on Death.



Training


It is impossible to use the Aggressive training option while using the whip. Therefore, the only remaining way of training the Strength skill is through the Controlled method. This method is 3 times as slow as the aggressive option and also gives Defence, Hitpoints and Attack experience, making it undesirable for some pures and players wishing to level up quickly. The whip is often criticized for having no option to directly train strength.

A common, albeit very expensive, replacement for the whip is the Saradomin Sword which offers similar bonuses (with an additional prayer and crush bonus), but has the option to train Strength. The Saradomin Sword is two-handed, so it cannot be equipped with a defender or shield. When combined with a Rune defender, the abyssal whip overall has significantly greater bonuses, and the Dragon scimitar has a somewhat lower Slash bonus.

Trivia

 * This weapon unlike other weapons has no strength option on the attack so you can't train strength, except when using the controlled attack style.
 * When fighting certain monsters, a graphical glitch can occur where the clear sections of the whip will blend into the player's background (e.g. When fighting yaks, occasionally the whip's clear sections will appear as green, the same as the ground).
 * With the release of PVP worlds, the whip became a possible drop from another player.
 * An Abyssal minion can give players a fake Abyssal whip, although it "turns to ash" when equipped, effectively destroying it.
 * Abyssal whips were introduced to Runescape with the Slayer skill on 26 January 2005. Whips were sold for around 150 million during that time.
 * The Abyssal whip originally had a different special attack which made it so that when used it either hit the Abyssal whip's maximum hit for the user at the time or it did not hit at all; that was changed to what it is today because it was too powerful. The old special attack used 50% of the special bar at one time.
 * On 12 May 2009, the inventory image of the Abyssal Whip changed from a maroon and black colour combination to a maroon and grey one. ( http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/runescape/images/archive/5/5e/20090512150749!Abyssal_Whip.gif )