Mask of Coltzan was my favorite Dual Duty weapon back in the day, but it has fallen out of favor due to the abundance of newer weapons we have today.

Mask of Coltzan deals an attack of 8 Fire icons and offers 6 icons of Dark defense and 5 icons of Earth defense for 19 total icons. It sports a price somewhere around 3M, give or take, putting it in a "no man's land" between popular Hidden Tower weaponry and beginner and intermediate weapon options like Altador Cup Throwing Star and Dr. Sloths Personal Bath Buddy.

First, let's examine Mask of Coltzan's attack. 8 icons is not what it used to be, seeing how 9-icon weapons like Throwing Cutlass can be found under 1,000NP. For a weapon that costs several million Neopoints, Mask of Coltzan is fairly weak in terms of attack, but it makes up for this with mono-Fire icons. Fire icons are difficult to defend against at all levels, and 8 icons is enough to ensure that at least some of Mask of Coltzan's attack will get through against non-Full-blockers, like Frozen Cyodrake Shield.

In terms of defense, Mask of Coltzan offers a strong amount of it, but will it actually come into play? Mask of Coltzan can take a chip out of more expensive weapons like Skarls Hasty Mace, Sword of Thare, and Sword of Skardsen, but it is almost a moot point to mention this since the attacks of these weapons are so much stronger than Mask of Coltzan and will win head-to-head. Against cheaper options, Mask of Coltzan takes a chip off Dr. Sloths Personal Bath Buddy, Brynns Legendary Sword of Wraith Smiting and Ylanas Blaster, but yet again it will lose head-to-head. Mask of Coltzan can at least come out even against Bow of Destiny, but it will fail to block Wand of Reality and Altador Cup Throwing Star.

Another idea to consider is that Hanso Charisma Charm costs much less than Mask of Coltzan, blocks all Dark icons, and deals a stronger attack than the mask. Unless an opponent is sporting both Earth and Dark icons, it is hard to justify the use of Mask of Coltzan.

The ultimate problem with Mask of Coltzan is that it is overpriced. It is too weak to roll with other Hidden Tower weapons like Skarls Hasty Mace and Kelpbeards Trident. At the same time, with a price tag of roughly 3M, it is almost certainly a misallocation of resources to dump so much money into a single weapon when a battler could afford two 13-iconers and a Hanso Charisma Charm for the same price. For this reason and the lack of practical applications of Mask of Coltzan, I would have to say pass it up.

Rated on January 30, 2013