Falcon Blade

It comes out of crates, which means a patient morning with a pole and some bait can arm you better than any ore you have mined at that stage. It hits harder than what either world evil gives you for the same slot, and you can have it before you have fought anything at all. If you fish at the start of a world as a matter of habit, this is one of the payoffs.

Each connected hit stacks a damage bonus that falls off fast once you stop landing them. In a brawl you stay near the ceiling the whole time. Against a single target with long gaps between safe windows, you keep sliding back down and mostly fight at the base number, so judge it on the fights you actually take rather than the theoretical peak.

The stack lives on the weapon family, not on you. Moving between this, the Cutlass and the Exotic Scimitar keeps it. Pulling out a bow to finish something off throws it away and you start over.