So is Excalibur good or bad?

[Rontemon]

So many Youtubers put Excalibur really low on the tier list but there is highly rated guide that uses Excalibur on 32 heat.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2365803806&searchtext=builds

[Cyiel]

The problem is not the rating, the problem is the fact that people "need" to do some ratings or comparaison to begin with. Like they need to do "the right choice", "to play optimaly", "to play meta", "to like what other like/play". It's dumb. Who cares about what is good or bad if you have fun with it ? Look many players prefer Chiron aspect for bow but me i nearly only play with Hera.

[Your mommy]

i, personally, love it, but keep in mind that heat 7 is the highest i've ever done, so that opinion could change

but for now, it is my go-to aspect, i like those heavy hits

[harken23]

It's hard for a bit to get the swing timing down, bkz they happen at different speeds and do different damage. There are some good Hammer upgrades for it to, like "gain 2 HP when your attack hits, but you're -60%HP" one.

[Fey Dragonette]

Depends on what you want it for?

Speedrunning? terrible imo
Fun using it? depends on the player

[Fourlamas]

Not a fan of Excalibur, I get the slow but hard hitting weapon thing but I prefer to go fast so I just stick to the first sword aspect. Im sure you can still make it work on 32 heat or maybe even higher I personally never tried it there tho.

[avil]

Any slow weapons are bad for speed runs.
But otherwise that's a weapon that you actually can do 32 heat with, so it's powerful. That's one of the guns that you build to actually face tank bosses and it's would be a good strategy.

[Szudof]

It's the first weapon I've done 32 heat with after failing with Beowulf and Eris. Did not use any guide though. I personally like it quite a bit, you can hit like a truck when you get used to the slow swinging, also you're one tanky boi

[Pheonix Fontaine]

Excalibur is good for survivability, but the best defense is offense.

I suspect the rating comes from it's long windup animations and focus on survivability, rather than dps. Ultimately, you don't need defense if the enemies are dead. Yeah, in a tierlist, that's gotta be down the list, but that doesn't make it by any means weak.

There's also a heavy detractor from it's particle slow ability. When you slow many projectiles, they don't just get dodged as normal, they become landmines for the player, something else to track and potentially make mistakes on. In concept, cool, but it's the same reason butterfly balls are troublesome for newer players. It's not the immediate threat, but the persistent threat that's a problem.

[SirH]

It's slow, sure, but the overwhelming power can have you one-shotting most things and chunking everything else. My highest heat for swords is in the 20s, and excalibur is what i use. It's definitely not a speedrunning or super consistent weapon, but it's not bottom tier. There are just some some weapons that have no defining edge you can build around that i'd say are lower.

[Doogles]

I've never played that level of heat, but I have been very successful with Excalibur.

[Tim]

Keep in mind that tier lists consider the climb from 0 to 20 heat alongside the 32 heat clear. The guide you posted is a fun idea for a build, buuut I probably wouldn't use it if I was trying to win first-and-foremost.

The power of any given weapon aspect is relative. You can make a great build out of any weapon, but how likely is it to come together? Does the aspect rely on hammers or hard-to-find duo boons to succeed? Does the aspect force you into close-range (making it more dangerous)? If so, does the damage output keep up?

The slow chunky hits on Excalibur don't help against armored foes or bosses—you don't deal hitstun or knockback, and you're spending a lotta time vulnerable waiting for damage to connect. The range of the damage-reducing aura seems good, but the most problematic enemies in Hades move all the time, so it's only useful against the sort of enemies you could easily dodge through and backstab to kill quicker.

The sword has pretty crummy hammers, and I'd argue Cursed Slash is awful on higher heat unless your playstyle is "facetank all normal enemy attacks and perfect-clear bosses"... Its slow speed makes it hard to build Calls... It gets fewer on-hit effects from boons...

Compare that to Eris Rail. You put the Zeus attack boon on that thing and pretty much any build you make will flourish. Zeus has amazing duo-boons up the wazoo, but he's great if you go deep on him, too. Most of the Rail hammers are strong and major upgrades to the build. All that, AND you get an easy-to-activate, GLOBAL 75% boost to damage. That includes casts, calls, Doom, Hangover... Basically, this is a weapon that has a high starting power and amazing synergy with boons and hammers across multiple builds. Excalibur barely has synergy within its own moveset when you're knocking enemies out of your aura all the time and dash-attacking to catch up.

If you want an aspect for survival, try Hestia and start with the Poseidon keepsake. You deal beefy damage from crazy range and you knock foes back, too. Don't need damage reduction if you aren't close to anybody. Map reload to a shoulder button and it doesn't require much dexterity or thought to play.

[Spirit]

I beat 35 heat with all enemy powers maxed with the Excalibur. The damage reduction is super helpful. Not even trying any higher