Heretic Wand vs Doom Pistol

[Doominator2]

If you had to defend your self against <insert whatever you want here> and you had only the choice of the Heretic Wand and the Doom Pistol, which one would you choose?

[Gez]

The wand. Magic may startle my foe, and also it has a powered-up mode.

[HavoX]

My vote's on the Elven Wand too, since it has a faster firing rate compared to the Beretta M9.

[printz]

The pistol, because I live in a world full of real ammo.

[Memfis]

I think both suck but the wand is slightly cooler. It's prettier because of that yellow crystal, it leaves neat little sparks when you're shooting, and the sound of it is more pleasant.

[geo]

Pistol because I understand the technology behind it. Bullet goes in bullet comes out. What's up with the wand. How does that work?

[Aaron Blain]

I find it interesting that shooting imps and demons with the pistol irritates me but shooting afrits and golems with the elfwand is quite pleasurable. I can't put my finger on what the difference is in game dynamics.

[Job]

Macblain said:

I find it interesting that shooting imps and demons with the pistol irritates me but shooting afrits and golems with the elfwand is quite pleasurable. I can't put my finger on what the difference is in game dynamics.

The wand definitely gives the impression of better stopping power. The firing sound is also more satisfying.

[Mechadon]

I'd say the Wand feels more satisfying to me as a weapon. I've honestly never really liked the Pistol because it feels so puny and unwieldy (though then again, I think that's the point). Plus you can upgrade the Wand with the Tome of Power which is pretty cool.

[SFoZ911]

The Wand of course. Not only it's slightly stronger than the Pistol, it looks better and it's more fun to use honestly. The Pistol simply sucks.

[Sargon of Akkad]

Pistol. Look at Printz's reason.

[Job]

Another simple metric is DPS. Anyone have that information on hand?

[Gez]

Wiki statistics for unpowered elven wand:
Damage 7-14 per shot, 190.9 shots per minute. So using an average of 10.5 damage per shot, that gives you 2 004.45 damage per minute, so divide by 60 and you get 33.4075 dps.

Wiki statistics for pistol:
Damage 5-15 per shot, 150 shots per minute. Same computation gives you 10 damage average per shot, 1500 damage per minute, 25 dps.

Conclusion: even unpowered, the gold wand deals more damage per second than the pistol.


Now for the powered-up wand, you get two projectiles, with five hitscans shot in between the two projectiles. If a target is hit by both projectiles, it's also hit by all give hitscans. So let's see how much damage you can do assuming all shots connect:
Hitscan damage: 1-8. Average 4.5. Projectile damage 1-8. Also average 4.5. Total damage: 7-56, average 31.5. Rate of fire is 210 shots per minute, so 6615 damage per minute, so 110.25 dps.

[Arctangent]

Though it's worth remembering that DPS is a rather useless cross-game metric, since the targets can have wildly different health and damage mitigation.

[Michael92]

It's more pleasant to use Elven Wand, to the point that in some occasions I still use it in later maps. Pistol is used only to conserve ammo while having no chaingun yet... or when I haven't any other weapon.

[Voros]

Nothing beats your trusty sidearm. That, and what geo said.

[Tristan]

Wand

[Cupboard]

always the wand. It is a good weapon to use in multiplayer modes as well: when you have to shoot a flag carrier or an opponent you know to be weak.

[Avoozl]

I thought it was a staff. Anyways the wand/staff is more aesthetically pleasing.

[Xyzzу]

I choose the wand. With the help of a tome of power, it stays useful throughout!

[Spocks_Beard]

The Wand, cause it doesn't suck as a last defense weapon. Even your fists are more helpful that the pistol.

[SaladBadger]

I'll join the wand crew, as it really is a nicer feeling weapon overall. The pistol, with a slightly meatier firing sound and a similar ROF, probably actually wouldn't feel so bad

[MTF Sergeant]

I might take the wand, because it can be used as a proper melee weapon and a ranged one.

[Doomkid]

Printz/geo nailed it, I can fire and reload a pistol but I'm not so sure my wand handling skills are as good as Corvus'..!

[savagegrant]

The wand because if you run out of ammo you can simply go Gandalf on their arses with it. :D

[MTF Sergeant]

What if I put the wand inside the pistol and then fire it on someone's ass? I think it's a great idea!

[BigDickBzzrak]

AbhinandAnilDoomguy said:

What if I put the wand inside the pistol and then fire it on someone's ass? I think it's a great idea!

What if I put someone inside the wand and then fire him on the pistol's ass? I think it's and even greater idea!

[Doominator2]

Wtf is happening???

[Avoozl]

So looking through the wiki for Heretic it would appear that there is both a wand and a staff, for the longest time I always thought that they were the same weapon being used from either side.

[Urban Space Cowboy]

antares031 said:

Why can't I choose Daedolon's Sapphire Wand from Hexen... :(

You can and I agree. Infinite zaps for the win!