Originally posted by Rhapsody:

Arbalest packs so much damage that, if you're heading out to some earlier biomes with it, it doesn't really matter what you load on it. It's good to have some options in case the player finds themselves wanting black metal or carapace for something else. Also depends on the user's skill level.

Yeah, I guess that does make sense. Though, speaking as a person who cannot be bothered to farm things sometimes: "I hit it with knife, I hit it with knife, I hit it with knife" :v