late-game weapon choice

[starless]

I am playing a Melee/Spellcasting merfolk and my plan was to switch to TSO late-game and go for the Hell and some Pan levels.
But I came across a nifty demon trident of speed and I am not sure if I should stick with it or convert to TSO and have it blessed.

If I choose the former route, what other god would you recommend for clearing Tomb and Hell?

And in general, is SPEED ot HOLY WRATH the better choice for a late-game weapon?

From what I've read HOLY gives you approx 75% more damage per hit, but speed allows you to attack twice, so in the long run, provided that both weapons have the same "to hit" and "to damage" properties, SPEED should be better?

[danr]

I think it depends. If the monsters have high AC, that reduces your damage on each attack with a weapon of speed. But I don't know how big a chunk of damage typically gets reduced by monster AC.

Does a demon trident become a regular trident if you bless it? Or a Trishula?

According to this, a Demon Trident becomes a regular trident, but I suspect this may be outdated.

[galehar]

It depends. Speed brand doesn't always translate to 100% more damage. For 2 handed weapons with high weapon skill, your base speed is already 7. The speed brand divides the base speed by 2 but rounds up. So going from speed 7 to 4 is a 75% increase, not 100%. Also, AC counts twice, but so does the slaying bonuses and berserk/might bonuses. I think holy wrath have a high variability but I'm not sure if that really matters.
Anyway, in most cases, speed is the best brand.

[starless]

Good to know. Thanks.

I haven't decided yet what to do, perhaps I will stick to the SPEED weapon for a change this time.