Cobrall Utility Blade? That's not a knife. This... Now this is a knife.

Well, it's 2023, and it's time to face the new market reality: TNT is hyping up a plot, and weapon prices are up across the board as a result. Or, at least, they were. Thankfully, TNT threw us a few lifelines in the most recent Advent Calendar, with this being the most obviously relevant to the average single-player battler.

Most of you will care most about that juicy constant 15-icon attack. Compare this to Turned Tooth, which averages around 15.3 icons, but has about a 1/3 chance to do only 13 icons. It doesn't matter in every scenario, but there are a few damage calculations where the guaranteed 15 icons makes the difference between always KOing an opponent and sometimes leaving them standing. For example, if you have 55-84 strength against Jetsam Ace, Lens Flare plus two Turned Tooth gives you about a 1/9 chance to leave the Ace at 1 HP! This item can fill a similar niche to Lightning in a Bottle in that regard, while still being useful in longer battles. No, it's not better than Void Blade in this regard, because 16 is more than 15, but right now this item is a fraction of Void Blade's price, so I'm not docking it any points for that.

Honestly, I could end the review there: cheap weapon plus good attack equals great score. And it's true, this weapon would probably warrant at least a 9 if we stopped right there. But we don't have to.

Some of you may be wondering just how good that 75% Earth block is. Good news: it's good, and it's even better once you consider it's good without you having to train your pet's defence stat, all because it blocks a percentage!

Think about it this way: you outright beat the 500m+ Seasonal Attack Pea (to say nothing about the garden variety Attack Pea) while still packing a good attack that doesn't leave you as far behind if you whiff on the defense as something like Pirate Captains Hat might. That's right: we have an Advent Calendar weapon that has a genuine niche against some of Neopia's most terrifying weapons!

"Sure, macosten," I can hear most of you thinking, "like I'm going to find myself up against a Pea-tier weapon." But don't forget, in the last plot, "Kaia" (the Darkest Faerie in disguise) used a Grapes of Wrath, and Malum used a Sword of Malum... so it's not totally inconceivable that you really do find yourself staring down a tough challenger with a beefy weapon that does some significant earth damage. You can trust this trusty knife to block 75% of it, even if your pet has 1 single defence point. You'll block 75% of that incoming earth even if your opponent does some insane amount of damage per icon, like Giant Hungry Malevolent Chomby on Mighty.

Even after all that, there's another reason to be happy about this weapon's release: this thing's existence puts downward pressure on Turned Tooth's price, which itself makes Turned Tooth a little better in an indirect way.

Bottom line, this thing's the real deal. If you got one from the Advent Calendar and aren't sure if it's worth using, chances are it is. If you've got two Void Blades then I wouldn't sell either of them, but this knife is still definitely better than that Ridiculously Heavy Battle Hammer I know some of you are still rocking in your 8th slot because you don't think you have anything better, so it may still be worth keeping yours equipped if you've got a slot to spare.

Rated on February 2, 2023