+9 Executioner's Axe: Antimagic or Holy Wrath?

[diviton]

I have a MiBe that's abandoned Trog for TSO. I have a really nice antimagic axe but with only Tomb, Abyss, Pan and Hell left, (Zot:5 is done too) I'm wondering which of these brands is better.

My inclination is to just make this a Holy Wrath weapon and never look back, but I'm open to the idea that I might be wrong about that. Especially since I have other Executioners Axes lying around. One is +5, so with 8 scrolls I might be able to bump that up to +8 or +9 and have a Holy Wrath AND antimagic axe. I'm just wondering if thats worth it in the areas that remain. If Holy Wrath is just always better.

So should I stick with antimagic, go holy wrath, or is it worth it to shoot for having both?

Edit: No char dump as I'm posting from a phone currently.

[Sar]

Antimagic is better vs. a single target, holy wrath is better vs. multiple ones. Reasoning: holy wrath allows to clear hordes of enemies faster, as it does much more damage. Anti-magic stunlocks strong threats with its effect, and prevents them from using their strongest attacks.

[Sandman25]

It depends on monster. HW is obviously better vs monsters with no spells. AM can be better vs low AC monsters with high HP and dangerous spells (Lom Lobon is the best example).

[archaeo]

I think the consensus view has always been that antimagic is the best brand for the most dangerous enemies of the game, as they're all spellcasters.

That said, bless the other axe; I think TSO also gives a few levels of enchant when blessing it? Two axes are better than one!

[diviton]

Cool. Very good to know.

I went ahead and got one of each +9 Executioners Axes of both brands. I'm playing version 15 (been playing since 10-11) and it seems like they made enchant weapon scrolls work always. I read 4 scrolls and each one took it up a level from +5 to +9. Did I just get lucky, or is this a new thing? It seems like this version is a bit easier. (No more permanent corrosion, no more loss of consumables)

Are all Pan and Hell lords weak to HW?

[Sar]

When scrolls of EW got merged the chance to fail got removed as well.

Yes.

[WingedEspeon]

Why are you still playing 0.15? And yes, enchant scrolls always work now.

[diviton]

Its the version on this computer. I just fired it up on a whim. Hadnt played in a while.

And you guys weren't kidding. Lom Lobon absolutely rolled over to antimagic...

[Blobbo]

I'm failing to see the downside of selecting the "both" option.

EDIT: If I had to choose one to enchant up first, as I'm guessing is the intent of the question, I'd probably do HW first since AM seems to work well at draining magic regardless of enchantment level. I could be wrong.

[diviton]

I'm failing to see the downside of selecting the "both" option.

This is what I ended up doing, but if antimagic was definitively better, then I'd have considered using the Holy brand on a ranged weapon.

[Blobbo]

I'm failing to see the downside of selecting the "both" option.

This is what I ended up doing, but if antimagic was definitively better, then I'd have considered using the Holy brand on a ranged weapon.

Ah I see.

[njvack]

This is what I ended up doing, but if antimagic was definitively better, then I'd have considered using the Holy brand on a ranged weapon.

If you had a bunch of skill in bows/xbows (and a good ranged weapon), I would probably have done this.

[diviton]

This is what I ended up doing, but if antimagic was definitively better, then I'd have considered using the Holy brand on a ranged weapon.

If you had a bunch of skill in bows/xbows (and a good ranged weapon), I would probably have done this.

Yeah it would have been ideal, but I hadn't put any xp into either. I had invested in throwing, but no other ranged skill. I had originally intended on making this a 3 runer since it's my first run in almost a year, but after receiving a +8 antimagic executioners axe and later getting a +12 CPA with str+4, I figured why not go for 15. Might even try a Zig.

Otherwise, I might have put a little more into ranged stuff. I could now, I suppose but the Javelins are surprisingly powerful and I'm working on some helpful casting right now instead.

[ololoev]

I'd pour all my ?brandweppon on exec axe to get chaos. Got it once on HO, that was fantastic!