Top 5 most useful Relic Weapons in the game as of 2014

[Manux]

Lets start I think the best one right now are those ones:
1) Gjallarhorn
2) Aegis
3) Apocalypse
4) Amanomurakumo
5) Excalibur

I could be wrong...

[Byrth]

You missed Annihilator, Yoichinoyumi, and Mandau and included 3 weapons that aren't worth using.

The list is probably more like this:
1) Annhilator - Strategically invaluable
2) Aegis - Strategically invaluable
3) Yoichinoyumi - Gives SAM a piercing WS that uses ranged pDIF. Can serve the same purpose as Annihilator
4) Mandau - Still the best THF mainhand weapon, but people don't bring THF for damage
5) Gjallarhorn - Atk+4 per Minuet, Refresh+1 per Ballad, Acc+3 per Madrigal and duration+~5%. For buffs (compared to the second best alternative), it's not that worthwhile anymore. For debuffing, it's still the best instrument by quite a bit. That being said, BRD debuffs essentially don't matters against boss mobs now because they all use the TP-animation form of attacking that's not affected by Slow and their only really dangerous attacks are their TP moves.

The top 3 and bottom 2 are really kind of just two tiers of useful relic. The rest of the relics aren't useful at the moment.

[Kensagaku]

Maybe I'm misinterpreting this, but from the July 8th Version Update:

"The effects of slow will now properly work on certain enemies residing in Adoulin areas whose autoattacks are area of effect."

Does that not apply to all of our big bosses now? TP moves aside, if that's true then Elegy is a little more useful. TP moves are still the worst though when you throw a wave of DD at monsters.

[Afania]

You missed Annihilator, Yoichinoyumi, and Mandau and included 3 weapons that aren't worth using.

The list is probably more like this:
1) Annhilator - Strategically invaluable
2) Aegis - Strategically invaluable
3) Yoichinoyumi - Gives SAM a piercing WS that uses ranged pDIF. Can serve the same purpose as Annihilator
4) Mandau - Still the best THF mainhand weapon, but people don't bring THF for damage
5) Gjallarhorn - Atk+4 per Minuet, Refresh+1 per Ballad, Acc+3 per Madrigal and duration+~5%. For buffs (compared to the second best alternative), it's not that worthwhile anymore. For debuffing, it's still the best instrument by quite a bit. That being said, BRD debuffs essentially don't matters against boss mobs now because they all use the TP-animation form of attacking that's not affected by Slow and their only really dangerous attacks are their TP moves.

The top 3 and bottom 2 are really kind of just two tiers of useful relic. The rest of the relics aren't useful at the moment.

If Mandau is on the list shouldn't Ragnarok on the list as well?

[Byrth]

Liberator DRK is superior to Ragnarok DRK and neither are impressive. DRK serves no legitimate role beyond damage (unlike THF), so Ragnarok is >5. If the job ever becomes useful again and Ragnarok is still its best Great Sword, maybe it will be worth bumping it up.

[Manux]

one would think Amanomurakumo would be in the list also?

[Byrth]

Koga beats Amano against all content. Tsuru beats it in Adoulin.

So naw, Amano isn't that good anymore.

[Safiyyah]

4) Mandau - Still the best THF mainhand weapon, but people don't bring THF for damage

For damage, Vajra should beat Mandau the majority of the time.

[evanwimbish]

Gal. Horn sticks well (c elegy, threnody requiem ect ) on end game bosses,I do need a strong Macc set for some NMs.. But embalming earth + g horn slow are a noticible slow effect

[Atomic_Skull]

Liberator DRK is superior to Ragnarok DRK and neither are impressive. DRK serves no legitimate role beyond damage (unlike THF), so Ragnarok is >5. If the job ever becomes useful again and Ragnarok is still its best Great Sword, maybe it will be worth bumping it up.

Ragnarok stopped being DRKs best GS when Caladbolg was released. And it still sucked even then because Caladbolg and Torcleaver (and especially Caladbolg's aftermath) are what made GS actually worth using on DRK.

[Atomic_Skull]

For damage, Vajra should beat Mandau the majority of the time.

Why? Mandau has a better special WS, higher special WS multiplier (40% vs 25%) and higher DPS ( 31.02 vs 29.7) and it builds TP faster due to it's lower delay. Just don't put an Ipetam or Sandung in the offhand slot or it will drag you down. Leisilonu +2 is what you should be using offhand with a Mandau.

[Jeanna]

Rudra's (stacked)should be beating out Mercy Stroke (stacked) even with Mandau.

From what I've seen on spreadsheets, Vajra beats Mandau if you're able to sa/ta your ws's with Rudra's. If you can't AM3 and you're just spamming weaponskills without SA/TA, Mandau might be better.

Someone who can actually math this stuff out can feel free to correct me.

[Atomic_Skull]

Rudra's (stacked)should be beating out Mercy Stroke (stacked) even with Mandau.

From what I've seen on spreadsheets, Vajra beats Mandau if you're able to sa/ta your ws's with Rudra's. If you can't AM3 and you're just spamming weaponskills without SA/TA, Mandau might be better.

Someone who can actually math this stuff out can feel free to correct me.

Even if you were able to SATA every time the timer cools off Mandau will have generated more TP in the same time period and Rudra's TP bonus to fTP is significant. And lvl 99 Mandau has a 40% damage multiplier on MS that makes a 100% TP MS equivalent to a 200% TP Rudra's.

[Safiyyah]

Why? Mandau has a better special WS, higher special WS multiplier (40% vs 25%) and higher DPS ( 31.02 vs 29.7) and it builds TP faster due to it's lower delay. Just don't put an Ipetam or Sandung in the offhand slot or it will drag you down. Leisilonu +2 is what you should be using offhand with a Mandau.

If you can maintain AM3, Vajra is a decent margin ahead, even comparing unstacked WS versus unstacked WS. If you can maintain AM3 AND stack your WS, it's not that close.