Iron Edge
| Iron Edge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Weapon |
| Type | Sword |
| Level | 3 |
| Damage | 12-25 |
| Crit Chance | 2% |
| Stats | Speed (−2); Defense (+1); Weight (+3) |
| Location | The Mines (Floor 40-59) |
The Iron Edge is the first sword in the Mines that feels like a piece of iron rather than a letter opener. Boxes and barrels on the frost floors give it up, and so do the occasional monsters down there, and a top hit of 25 is more than anything Marlon sells at that stage of a save. Two points of swing speed pay for it, which is the moment many farmers discover that damage is not the only number that matters. Three points of weight come with it, so struck monsters are thrown back, and a point of defence takes the edge off whatever hits back. It is the honest middle of the Mines: stronger than the shop swords, slower than is comfortable, and good enough to reach the lava.
Location
Floors forty-one to fifty-nine are the Iron Edge's home. Breaking crates and barrels is the usual way, and the special monsters that occasionally appear down there drop it too, so a thorough sweep of a few icy floors will normally produce one.
It keeps appearing a little deeper as well, so a farmer working through the sixties and seventies may well find a spare. The Iron Edge does not stack in the bag, which makes a second one a nuisance rather than a bonus; Marlon buys them over the counter.
A farm that picked remixed mine rewards at the start can also get one from the chest on floor sixty, in place of the Crystal Dagger that chest normally holds.
Those floors are the frozen stretch of the Mines, with Dust Sprites, Frost Bats and Frost Jellies throughout and Ghosts from about the fifty-first level. Diamonds begin appearing on the fiftieth floor as well, so the trip pays for itself even if the sword does not drop.
Stats
A range of 12 to 25 is unusually wide. Some swings barely scratch a Frost Jelly and the next one halves it, so progress through a floor comes in bursts rather than steadily.
The speed penalty is the part players complain about. Two points slower means a visible pause after each swing, and the Mines' frost section is exactly where that hurts, because Dust Sprites arrive in clusters and surround anyone who cannot clear them quickly.
Weight is the compensation. Three points of knockback throw a monster clear of the farmer, which turns the pause into something survivable rather than fatal. Against a single Frost Bat it is almost pleasant; against six Dust Sprites it is the only reason the sword works at all.
The point of defence is small but constant, shaving a little off every hit taken. On a sword that forces the farmer to stand and wait between swings, that is more valuable than it looks on paper.
Notes
Emerald is the gem this weapon was waiting for. Each forge adds two or three points of weapon speed, so one gem brings the Iron Edge back to a normal rhythm and two make it quicker than the swords it replaced. Level three keeps the innate enchantments available as well, since those only attach at level ten or below.
The Forest Sword is the alternative found on overlapping floors. It hits for 8 to 18 and adds two points of speed instead of losing two, so the choice between them is a clean illustration of the trade: the Iron Edge for monsters that need to die in one hit, the Forest Sword for floors that need crossing quickly.
By the time the lava floors arrive, the Iron Edge is finished. Yeti Tooth and the Obsidian Edge both wait in the eighties and nineties, and either outclasses it in every column.
All Swords
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
| Name | Image | Type | Level | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bone Sword | 
|
Sword | 5 | 20-30 |
| Claymore | 
|
Sword | 5 | 20-32 |
| Cutlass | 
|
Sword | 3 | 9-17 |
| Dark Sword | 
|
Sword | 9 | 30-45 |
| Dragontooth Cutlass | 
|
Sword | 13 | 75-90 |
| Dwarf Sword | 
|
Sword | 13 | 65-75 |
| Forest Sword | 
|
Sword | 3 | 8-18 |
| Galaxy Sword | 
|
Sword | 13 | 60-80 |
| Haley's Iron | 
|
Sword | 6 | 30-45 |
| Holy Blade | 
|
Sword | 7 | 20-27 |
| Infinity Blade | 
|
Sword | 17 | 80-100 |
| Insect Head | 
|
Sword | 6 | 20-30 |
| Iron Edge | 
|
Sword | 3 | 12-25 |
| Lava Katana | 
|
Sword | 10 | 55-64 |
| Leah's Whittler | 
|
Sword | 6 | 30-45 |
| Meowmere | 
|
Sword | 4 | 20-20 |
| Neptune's Glaive | 
|
Sword | 5 | 18-35 |
| Obsidian Edge | 
|
Sword | 6 | 30-45 |
| Ossified Blade | 
|
Sword | 6 | 26-42 |
| Pirate's Sword | 
|
Sword | 2 | 8-14 |
| Rapier | 
|
Sword | 4 | 15-25 |
| Rusty Sword | 
|
Sword | 1 | 2-5 |
| Silver Saber | 
|
Sword | 2 | 8-15 |
| Steel Falchion | 
|
Sword | 8 | 28-46 |
| Steel Smallsword | 
|
Sword | 1 | 4-8 |
| Tempered Broadsword | 
|
Sword | 7 | 29-44 |
| Templar's Blade | 
|
Sword | 5 | 22-29 |
| Wooden Blade | 
|
Sword | 1 | 3-7 |
| Yeti Tooth | 
|
Sword | 7 | 26-42 |