Weapons

Weapons are the many equippable armaments that define each playable class and job. Changing your weapon also changes your class or job. The many types of weapons include tools used by crafting and gathering classes as well.

Different weapons deal different types of damage, although that is generally irrelevant in gameplay.

Weapons can be one-handed or two-handed. One-handed weapons for Disciples of War or Magic allow a shield to be equipped in the off hand slot. The vast majority of weapon types are two-handed, with only gladiator / paladin bring the primary user of one-handed weapons.

Rarity is as follows: ABasic → DAetherial → BGreen → CBlue → ERelic. Rarity does not indicate anything about an item's power, merely how it is obtained. For gear power, see Item Level.

See also: Leveling Gear Guide and Endgame Gear Guide

Disciples of War

Weapon	Size	Used by
Swords	1 handed	Gladiators and Paladins
Greataxes	2 handed	Marauders and Warriors
Greatswords	2 handed	Dark Knights
Gunblades	2 handed	Gunbreakers
Polearms	2 handed	Lancers and Dragoons
War Scythes	2 handed	Reapers
Fist Weapons	2 handed	Pugilists and Monks
Katanas	2 handed	Samurai
Daggers	2 handed	Rogues and Ninjas
Dual Blades	2 handed	Vipers
Bows	2 handed	Archers and Bards
Firearms	2 handed	Machinists
Throwing Weapons	2 handed	Dancers

Disciples of Magic

Weapon	Size	Used by
Scepters	1 handed*	Thaumaturges and Black Mages
Staves	2 handed	Thaumaturges and Black Mages
Books	2 handed	Arcanists and Summoners
Books	2 handed	Scholars
Rapiers	2 handed	Red Mages
Brushes	2 handed	Pictomancers
Wands	1 handed*	Conjurers and White Mages
Canes	2 handed	Conjurers and White Mages
Star Globes	2 handed	Astrologians
Nouliths	2 handed	Sages

*Only present at lower levels. Past level 50, all weapons for these classes/jobs are two-handed.

Limited Jobs

Weapon	Size	Used by
Canes	2 handed	Blue Mages

Lore

It is said a civilization can be defined by the wars fought to found it. It is also said that no war can be won without proper weapons. It is thus that we must look to these tools of unmaking to learn of how mankind was able to rise from the dark and create the foundations upon which it now thrives.

Animal No Longer

Man would be no different than wolf or bear were he unable to take up in his hands Hydaelyn’s bounty and bend it unto his will. In this sense, Nature served our primitive ancestors well, providing stones to hurl and boughs to brandish—objects that would prove to be the origins of modern weaponry. From these humble beginnings did instruments of war slowly evolve—rocks were sharpened into crude knives to cut branches, branches whittled into bows and spears, spears fitted with the knives used to carve them to create picks and hatchets, hatchets used to fell timber for catapults and battering rams. With the proper tools in hand, mankind’s only limit was his own ingenuity.

From Stone to Metal

Shortly before the dawn of the Second Astral Era, mankind was awakened to the secrets of metalcraft, and weapons began to take on entirely different shapes. The first metal weapons, however, were not only difficult to create, but quick to dull and bend. As such, ownership was limited to a select few, and usage predominantly ceremonial. It was not until the discovery of bronze—a durable alloy of copper and lead—that bladed weapons began to gradually replace those of stone.

This image of a cyclops’s cudgel may provide a glimpse at the type of simple weaponry prevalent during the First Astral Era. Its base has been coarsely lathed to a manageable thickness and knots left on its head to deal added damage.

There are myriad examples of ancient crafting techniques still employed in the modern day. One of the most basic—chiseling stone with a substance of equal or greater hardness—is necessary when creating weapons of giantsgall: a material so dense and unyielding, most metals will not even scratch it.

The Second Astral Era also saw mankind’s emergence as manipulators of magic. As his ability to channel aether improved, the elements could now be focused for controlled use. The heat of a forge could be intensified to levels heretofore unattainable. Ore unaltered by flames fueled with wood melted like ice when placed in a mage’s inferno—ore such as iron. Yet, despite these advancements, a lack of raw materials severely restrained production, and metal blades would remain a luxury reserved for the privileged—namely the church—until well into the era that followed.

Science and Sorcery

With the Third Astral Era came the rise of the Allagan Empire, and it was but a matter of centuries before the nation had conquered most of the Three Great Continents, as well as portions of the New World. However, their true prize was not the land and its resources, nor the people and their labor, but the boundless knowledge of a thousand civilizations—knowledge that could be applied, adapted, and improved upon. It was through conquest abroad that the Allagans could further strengthen their cultural core. Using the lore of those they defeated, imperial scholars devised a means of imbuing inorganic materials such as stone or metal with powerful magicks, not only strengthening the materials, but providing them with the inherent latent attributes of the elements applied. This breakthrough would eventually lead to the rise of aetherochemistry—a new scientific field that inspired the creation of myriad wonders far beyond the capacity of Nature's limited reach. Indestructible metals, impossibly thin fibers, and chimerical creations were no longer the stuff of faerie tales.

And thus did the Allagans maintain their dominion over much of Hydaelyn for more than a thousand summers. Yet, for all their accomplishments, there remained one feat they could not master—the ebb and flow of astral and umbral—and it was their inability to forestall the coming calamity that would eventually spell their downfall, and see the secrets of their creations lost forever.

By the Third Astral Era, the enchanting of weapons had become common practice. The intricate webbing of geometric patterns serves to guide ether along the blade, enhancing keenness.

The Dimension Blade is an example of Allagan ingenuity, blending science and sorcery for the purpose of clean, efficient destruction. Within the weapon's data banks are stored the commands for casting controlled bursts of dimensional magicks, which cause localized spatial displacement capable of rending substances of any hardness.

According to Allagan documentation, this sharply angled sword is made of orichalcum—an ultra-hard metal seemingly nonexistent on Hydaelyn outside samples discovered in Azys Lia. As with most imperial blades, serpentine patterning has been employed to improve etherial conductivity.

The Dark Cuts

As one might expect, an age in which learning is shunned does not lend itself to advancement, and so it was that the Fourth Astral Era came and went with little in the way of innovation regarding weaponry..or much else, for that matter. It was not until the Fifth Astral Era that mankind began rediscovering the knowledge that had slipped through their fingers when the Allagan Empire fell. Yet ultimately, the period is best defined by its original concepts—the most impactive being the voidmagicks of Mhach. By summoning powerful beings from the void and binding them into service by means of arcane blood pacts, the Mhachi were able to wrest from their captives the forbidden knowledge of a dying world. The knowledge would eventually see the nation prosper by providing its armies with the means to swiftly and efficiently vanquish their enemies.

The blade of a blood sword is carved from aether-deprived crystals originating in the void. When brought to this plane by a voidsent host, the crystal inherently seeks to restore its aetherial balance by drawing upon Hydaelyn’s abundant energies.

A Call to Order

Quite possibly the most significant advancement in weaponcraft came in the Sixth Astral Era with the pioneering of crystal-based synthesis. The ability to replicate the extreme heat of a forge or the acidic properties of a rare dissolvent simply by releasing the concentrated energy of an aetherial crystal made crafting accessible to the masses and once again opened the door for innovation in weapon design. Guilds were flooded with fledgling Disciples of the Hand, all seeking to learn how they, too, might forge the next legendary bow or blade.

Compact crystal forge allows individual Disciples of the Hand the capacity to tackle complex tasks formerly reserved for private facilities. No longer are massive distillation towers necessary to extract the essential oils from lotus, nor guild foundries necessary to temper mythril.

References

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