Octo-Spine Set

So today, my guildmate andypearce exclaimed on guild chat that we needed a 2nd Octo-Spine set.
He just realized that the Octo-Spine set is still the best set at level 563. Up to today, everyone was using the Brides set. So I thought the change might be due to the upgraded Potion of Greater Enchant Weapon which provides a level 1500 Enchant Weapon buff. At that level, the weapon statistics is multiplied by 2.5. I then looked at my older blog entry on 1-hit setups, and noticed that the best setup, even at level 400, was not the Argus set (which has no weapon), but the Octo-Spine set. Just how good is that set?

Level 400 (Argus set vs Octo-Spine set)
Using the Argus set, the other items will be : Sphynx Helmet, Sword of Ursa, Octo-Spine Shield, Ring of Arzmil. The total damage will be 6937, with 1243 attack. Using the Octo-Spine set, the other items will be : Crushing Fist Gauntlets, Sphynx Helmet, Dazmorr Amulet, Sword of Ursa, Argus Armor, Ring of Arzmil, Argus Boots. The total damage will be 6978, with only 812 attack. Trading 41 damage for more than 400 attack appears to be good, but perhaps unnecessary, especially with Keen Edge buff and Potion of Black Death. Many players also choose to use the Crushing Fist Ring over the Ring of Arzmil, myself included. This is trading 8 damage for 260 attack. This comparison is regardless of the EW potion, since the weapon used is the same. At level 408, that weapon can be upgraded to the Double Axe of Demrhyle. At level 420, the weapon can be further upgraded to the Master of Magic Spear, giving a final damage of 7153.

Level 440 (Argus set vs Octo-Spine set, rematch)
The same 2 sets, but at this level, new boots with more damage becomes available : Sthenos Slither Boots. The boots offer more attack and damage than the Argus Boots. So using the Octo-Spine set now will give a total damage of 7188, with 977 attack. The attack-damage tradeoffs now become trading of 76 damage for 266 attack. At level, it'll probably be much more compelling to use the Octo-Spine set.

Level 470 (Hunters Edge upgrade)
Both Argus and Octo-Spine sets do not include a ring. The ring was to be either the Ring of Arzmil, or the Crushing Fist Ring as mentioned earlier on. At this level, Hunters Edge becomes available and has better attack and damage than both rings. The Octo-Spine set now gives a total damage of 7232, with 1375 attack.

Level 484 (Brides set vs Octo-Spine set)
This was the main comparison that prompted me to write this entry. At level 484, the Brides set, introduced as a Halloween event last year, has very attractive stats. This set will be used with : Crushing Fist Gauntlets, Sphynx Helmet, Dazmorr Amulet, Hunters Edge, Sthenos Slither Boots, Rune of Roh. It'll have a total damage of 7408, and attack of 1971. The Octo-set also gets an upgrade on the armor, using the Brides Crackling gown, and will have damage of 7302, with 1647 attack.
Here's where it gets interesting. The armor is the same, so enchant armor gives the same bonus. But the weapon is different. Using the Potion of Truth (EW 1000), the Brides set will have 8204 damage with 2349 attack. The Octo-Spine set will have 8292 damage with 1647 attack. The damage-attack trade off is trading 88 damage for 702 attack. With the new Potion of Greater Enchant Weapon (EW 1500), Brides set will have 8602 damage and 2538 attack, while Octo-Spine set will have 8787 damage and 1647 attack.
So if you have enough attack, the Octo-Spine set (from level 350), is still the best set!

Level 540 (Rune of the Minion)
There might be upgrades between 484 and 539, but not for the items that differentiate the 2 sets. The Rune of the Minion provides an upgrade to the Brides set, but not the Octo-Spine set. At this level, if using only the Potion of Truth (EW 1000), the Brides set will have 2 damage more than the Octo-Spine set. But using the Potion of Greater Enchant Weapon (EW 1500), the Octo-Spine set still gives 95 damage more than the Brides set.

Further Upgrades that matter
At level 560, the Octo-Spine set gets an armor upgrade with Armor of Shonia. This armor, though having a higher damage, has a lower attack. At level 563, the Armor of Kithdor adds almost 200 damage more, skewing in favor of the Octo-Spine set even more. At 581, the Rune of Cralze comes into play, but not enough to skew the 200 damage added by the armor. At 594, the Blade of Panethor further enhances the Octo-Spine set. And the ultimate armor damage comes at level 600 with Aging Adventurer Breastplate. At level 609, the Rune of Howbale adds another 11 damage to the Brides set, but that hardly does anything.

Conclusion
So it seems that the Octo-Spine, a level 350 set, is the ultimate set! Well, that might be jumping to conclusion. As new content comes in to play, I am sure there will be new sets that will be better. In fact, the level 600 Adventurer set might just be that, but I don't have all the stats of that set to compare.