Say hello to what is, in my opinion the (current, as of 2021) best weapon in the casual 1P Battledome metagame.

No, that doesn't make it better than Wand of the Dark Faerie, but let me explain.

This is the strongest constant that's currently buyable. Let me reiterate: you can't get any stronger constant attacker for less than the price of a Sword of Skardsen. To be quite honest, if you're just looking to grind drops from the Koi Warrior/Jetsam Ace, you won't need anything more expensive unless you're impatient, because the money you'd spend on something stronger would be better-spent just training your pet's strength.

That 16th guaranteed icon over something like Lightning in a Bottle is relevant in some damage calcs - for example, Void Blade + Jhudoras Potion + Lens Flare at 55 strength does a minimum of 66 damage -- enough to OHKO Koi Warrior or Jetsam Ace on their lowest difficulties - you'd need to be at 85 strength to get a similar guarantee from two Turned Tooth.

Another example: at Level 200 with 350 strength, a pet can guarantee victory against the Giant Space Fungus on Hard using a set with any 100% freezer (like H4000 Helmet or a species option) and two Void Blades (so long as you use An Icicle on the turn the Fungus is frozen) by doing something like the following:

1. Void Blade + Freezer + Warlock's Rage


2. Void Blade * 2 + An Icicle


3. Void Blade *2 + Lens Flare

This is just not something you can do with 15-icon constants alone.

The only possible downside here I can see is that, given its now well-known status as the best buyable constant, it has been slowly creeping up in price since its release earlier this year -- but I'm not so sure it'll become unaffordable anytime soon, given how many were released.

So, what goes well with Void Blade? Well, the aforementioned Jhudoras Potion can help with an occasional damage boost as the most powerful buyable bomb, and a 100% freezer like H4000 Helmet or Freezing Potion only gets better with the rest of your set. If you really want, you can go with a cheap species freezer like Icy Chia Goggles or Entangling Lenny Lasso/Lenny Ray Gun of Freezing.

But still, what can you do if Void Blade is still just a bit too expensive? Turned Tooth is still an excellent option, and Poisonous Mushroom Tea does only 13 icons, but costs very little in comparison.

If you happened to participate in The Wraith Resurgence and have a Sword of Malum and/or Blazing Embers lying around, you should use those over these, as they're still(!) more powerful than Void Blade, even when they deal their minimum damage. Those are no-trade, though, so if you don't have them, then you don't have them.

If Void Blade isn't strong enough for you, the bad news is that everything more powerful is going to cost you millions: Sword of Skardsen and the rest of the Anagram Swords are the next step up in constant damage, with Fan of Swords and Wand of the Dark Faerie behind it. You'd be better off spending that kind of money on a Ghostkerbomb before upgrading your Void Blades, though, for the massive one-turn damage boost it provides.

Finally, let's just talk about that icon spread - maybe I'm biased (of course I am, I'm using Ghostkersword as my profile picture here), but I just like that Dark + Air + Physical aesthetic. I'm not going to comment on how good those icon types may or may not be in 2P -- because I can't think of a 2P league in which Void Blade would be relevant -- but you're probably not buying this for 2P.

Rated on October 24, 2021