What is the best damage type against undead?

I am putting together a sword just for undead and was wanting to find out what hilt would be best for it.
I know that certain monster types take more damage from different things and need someone smarter than me to help.
I have searched alot of places and asked all the people that I know and nobody has a good answer so if anyone out there might know the answer to this please help me.
And if anyone is still wondering about the skelletons being undead the answer is yes I have tested a sheild vs undead and a sheild vs skels and took the exact same damage for an hour.
Thanks for any help that you can give me

Maybe a sword hilt of undead like + 16% Dmg vs undead

That would be a pommel and I have one that is +20% vs undead I need to find out what hilt to use but thanks for your input.

With Undead i have noticed earth dmg does better dmg but havent found an icy hilt to try cold so it might be worth a try

Sword Pommel of Deathbane.

Really smiting magic is the best against the undead. Balth aura, symbol of wrath, shield of judgement, judge's insight, etc.

Holy dmg duh

Wow did you even read this thread?
I really hope that you didn't read it and then still reply with that brillant statement
But if your have a holy damage hilt for a sword I would be more then happy to buy it from you

Fire damage kills them too pretty well :/

Yup, holy dmg are 2x to undeads than normal.

But there's no sword mod to make your sword dmg hoy, is there? He's asking about modding his sword. Not about which skills to use.

I've been doing a great deal of testing on the effects of various damage types (inclusive only of those applicable to melee & bow) vs. different MOBs. I'll publish my results when it's complete; or near enough & I've got all my slayers.

Here's a sample though, since I have done testing on most undead. Base means average damage vs. this MOB, X% is % of base; S=slash, P=piercing, L=lightning, I=ice, F=fire, E=earth & B=blunt. Testing was done with max damage of 10 axes(1 unaltered, 4 modded elemental & 1 piercing), max 10 hammer and Wild Blow for each hit, skill in axe&hammer 12, strength 0-1(unvaried for any given MOB):

Zombie Warlock - All were base(19) damage; these are fleshy undead.

Skeleton ranger(named version had similar numbers) - S:base(16), P:69%, LIFE:base, B:138%

Hellhound - SPLI:base(10), F:280%, EB: base

Grasping Ghoul - SP:base(11), LIFE:146%, B:base

Skeleton Mezmer - S:base(18), P:72%, LIFE:base, B:144%

Skeletal Sorcerer - S:base(23), P:70%, LIFE:base, B:139%

Wraith - SP:base(10), LIFE:190%, B:base

Skeletal monk - S:base(24), P:71%, LIFE:base, B:138%

Fog Nightmare - SP:base(7), LIFE:200%, B:base

That's all for now, and I'm not entirely sure if ghouls & nightmares are considered undead class; I'll find out later when I've completed MOB types and finish up with the numbers for how the various bonuses(slaying, custom, X>50) and penalties(DP/bonus) interact. From previous testing that I'm not going to bother to quote ATM, skeleton slay and deathbane are the same vs. skeletons; though if I run across a spare skel with a % that =s my deathbane on a melee I'll doublecheck that.

But the semi-final analysis to the OP's question: there is no 1 type of elemental damage that does extra damage universally to undead; tho there are exceptions and skeletons of all types are resistant to piercing and vulnerable to blunt.

holy dmg is the best dmg against undead by far

How useful to know; I'm sure he'll head right out and get that holy sword hilt.

if u have it, bring jusdge's insight: 20% penetration and all attacks u deal do holy dmamge.

Hello all:
Daegul that is a really interesting study you are doing and I would really like to see it when you are finished.
Sa Demon , dansamy , Ray and of course Daegul thank you for your efforts at having a possitive discussion and trying to help answer the question that I was asking.
For all the rest of you
Seriously why not go ahead and read the thread not just the title before you start dripping your puddles of wisdom all over the place?
I have so far tried all of the elemental hilts except for ebon and have seen no damage difference but my tests haven't been nearly as in depth as what it appears Daegul is doing.
If anyone else has any further suggestion for this please let me know.
I will also be paying 100k for any of you that can get me a holy sword hilt end sarcasm

I will leave you with a thought from Mark Twain. " It is far better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt"

ok i haven't bothered to look this up in the skill listing as i am at work, but check the monk skills, theres a skill that will add holy damage to attacks +20% armor penitration, this works well, but yes holy damage hands down, i don't seem to ever see much differances with elemental damage.

I do run my solo monk from Bergen to Toa for farming runs, and as in the other posts, soj, bal's, sow, etc all these are the most effective against undead, as for the pommels and such as deathbane and vs undead, i still don't see much of a differance in the effectivness of the weapon addons, i know for sure one of them is straight up garbage, the other does ok, i'll have to sk a guildie about that.

side note: I believe the uw, and fow, monsters are not considered "undead".

:::End Transmission:::

Daegul, yes please post your information when you are completed. That is most enlightening.

I can confirm that against hellhounds fire damage is MUCH more effective. Funny with a name like HELLhounds that fire would be the most effective damage...

Looking at those numbers, most monsters take normal damage or additional damage from elemental, and hellhounds take extreme damage from fire, so I'd go with a Fiery hilt.

Hammers blunt dmg works on undead, and holy dmg...ohh boy, that does a tonne of dmg. so pack judge insight.

my ranger goes into FoW with barrage and judge insight, works nicely.

From Daegul's post, fire damage almost universaly does increased damage to undead. In no cases did it do decreased damage. So fire would be the way to go IMO.

In my experience, fire seems to do very well. I love using inferno againt hellhounds. I've seen damage numbers near 280!

So go for that fire mod!

Dwig