The Firangi is the fifth Tier of the Sword line; it is part of a regular Progression only as an ingredient, where Short Sword with Firangi creates Shamshir. Short Sword is an Abdicator that will not create a Firangi with a Rapier, nor any other Sword. Moreover, Firangi can only be made by Devolving it from other swords, or by Morphing it from other Blade types, usually Daggers.Its own Progression is stunted, though, as It is dropped at the standard low rate of 8/255 as early as Sanctum, and at the standard high rate of 26/255 as late as Town Center South.
Firangi does not drop until Underdark Fishmarket in Undercity West, at 8/255, from a Zombie Knight that spawns in the same room as the Giant Crab boss, after it is killed.
Most of the early Short Swords drop from Ashley's encounters with the Undead, both victims and tools of the Death Magic of Lea Monde known by Ivalice's people, somewhat erroneously, as the Dark.
All of the Swords are Edged (apart from Rapier); it drops with just about every Hilt, and only the Knuckle Guard is significantly lower in Edged than other damage types. Considerations of Gems are far more important. Class, Affinity and Type are all divided by four hundred and then multiplied by total Strength to determine Damage. For example, Swept Hilt has zero Blunt, six Edged, and two Piercing, for up to 1.5% times total Strength, compared with 3.75% for Minor Elemental gems such as Sylphid Topaz, and the same for Minor Nemesis gems such as Iocus.
IRON Spathas will not be able to be combined with BRONZE Rapier into a HAGANE Short Sword until later when the more advanced Workshop is found, but they drop at the low rate of 8/255 from enemies in the Wine Cellar, Catacombs and Sanctum. One Zombie Fighter that appears in Smokebarrel Stair in the Wine Cellar after Ashley visits Room of Cheap Red Wine drops a Bronze Spatha at 16/255. Another appears on a Zombie Fighter in Room of Rotten Grapes much later, after Ashley kills the Lich in Undercity East. The combination between Rapier, a third Tier Sword, and Spatha, a first Tier, is an irregular one, with Spatha taking the place of Scimitar, the second Tier. This makes Spatha a Volunteer of the Usurper type.
It is not possible to integrate the Starting Weapons other than the SILVER Scramasax "Soul Kiss" Dagger into any combinations with Damascus until the New Game Plus, when the Godhands workshop is accessed.
Combinations[]
Firangi is a good place in the Sword progression to branch out into a second or more lines of swords, even to the extent of making two of the three main blades into swords. This can be to preserve Affinities that on a blade that is inconvenient to deal with early on, in particular the Starting Weapon Swords that do not combine regularly. Many of the Starting Weapons are usable only to devolve higher-Tier weapons. Or it may be because one hand weapons with shields give unparalleled survivability, and staying alive is the very most basic part of strategies ranging from the steady (patiently acquiring every advantage) to the speedy (rush through with only the easiest to obtain resources).
Progressing in the Sword Design[]
- Starting a fresh new weapon at Firangi and going from there:
A Short Sword is able to combine ideally with the Firangi in the chest in Forest River in Snowfly Forest into a Shamshir, with another Firangi into a Falchion and so on. Firangis are also useful for combining with the third starting weapon, the [[Rapier]. There is a 16/255 5% drop of a Firangi in Underdark Fishmarket in Undercity West, after the Crab boss there is killed. Later, there is a 26/255 10% drop for Firangi from the Exequator Crimson Blade in Rue Aliano. Firangi cannot be made from Short Sword; Firangi first drops randomly at Underdark Fishmarket in Undercity West.
Rapier progression[]
Since the earlier Rapier is the only Pierce Type Sword, and Bat, Silver Wolf and Hellhound enemies are all weaker to Pierce than the other Types of damage, then Rapier is well designated a Beast / Dragon weapon. This is ideal, as Dragons are almost uniformly weakest to Pierce. However, this means that the Rapier or its descendants would one day have to merge with the Dagger or Polearm Design line, to keep Pierce Type damage.
Although the Rapier can be improved very early, the second improvement does not come until much later. This is one of very few and weak reasons for making a Mismatch to change this Sword into another Design. If this course, which is not recommended, be taken, and since Polearms are somewhat rare, perhaps a combination of a Sabre Mace Heavy Mace with Rapier to get a Glaive. A low-Tier result. Heavy Maces are common and have very few tiers.
Progression is a superior combination. Combining Spatha with Rapier to make a Short Sword is an irregular recipe, as the tiers are non-consecutive, 1st and 3rd tier. IRON Spathas will not be able to be combined with BRONZE Rapier into a HAGANE Short Sword until later when the more advanced Workshop is found, but they drop at the low rate of 8/255 from enemies in the Wine Cellar, Catacombs and Sanctum. Spatha takes the place of Scimitar, the second Tier. This makes Spatha a Volunteer of the Usurper type.
Drops[]
SILVER Weapons are in the vast majority Daggers. There are only two Silver Swords, making them quite rare indeed, and even, considerably rarer than Silver Staves; one is a SILVER Firangi dropped in Bandit's Hollow. The other is a Silver Falchion found in Gharmes Walk, the Evil Dummy room. It would take a lot of playthroughs to make a Silver Wakizashi out of these, though: the two combine to make a Shamshir, so on a second playthough this could be combined with a second Falchion to get a Shotel, third playthrough Shotel + Falchion = Khora, + Khora = Khopesh, + Khopesh = Wakizashi. Neither are there cheap combinations (such as Dagger + Dagger) that make a Shamshir. Thorough examination of the possibilities for the other SILVER weapons and their respective progressions would be required in order to not simply be "borrowing from Peter to repay Paul", ie, using up costly resources that would be as or more valuable elsewhere.