by Sethala
Generally, pierce has a lower "value" than damage, so the option usually won't be between pierce 1 and +1 damage, pierce will have a higher number, to account for it being more situational.And just because I feel like being a completionist tonight...
The only starter item with pierce is the Runemaster's Arcane Bolt, which has pierce 2 for a surge. This is a little interesting, because the Runemaster also starts with an ability that lets them spend a surge and a fatigue for 2 damage. Essentially, you can get 2 damage from a surge in either case, but the flat +damage costs fatigue as well.
Of the ten Act 1 items, four of them have pierce. Three of them - Crossbow, Immolation, and Iron Battleaxe - have a flat Pierce 1. The Iron Battleaxe and Iron Spear both have +1 pierce for one surge. The spear also has +1 damage, so it's generally only useful to use the pierce if you roll two surges (not too uncommon, since it uses the yellow die). The axe has a surge for +2 damage, and rolls the red die, so the pierce will only happen if you roll a surge on both dice, or have an ability that grants a surge.
Moving on to the Act 2 deck, only three of the eight have pierce. The Latari Longbow and Dragontooth Hammer both have pierce 1 as a static ability. The Dragontooth Hammer and Steel Greatsword both have Pierce 2 as a surge ability. The hammer doesn't have any other surge abilities, but it rolls two red dice, so multiple surges is rare. The sword also has a surge for +1 damage, and rolls the red and yellow dice (and allows a reroll of one power die), so you'll see both abilities used together pretty often, but on just one surge the pierce wins out most of the time because it's a higher number.