Weapons Guide#
ℹ️This page covers the combat identity of the five weapon specializations, not stat tables for individual weapons — every weapon in this game is unique, and patches keep adjusting skill speeds and modifier effects, so hard-coded numbers would expire. In-game values always win.
The Five Specializations at a Glance#
The official product page and gameplay demos have listed the same five since reveal.
| Specialization | Combat Style | Key Trait | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sword & Shield | Balanced offense/defense | One blade plus one shield; blocking and parrying both feel natural | Players who want to train parry and steady defense together |
| Battle Staff | Long-range control | Long reach; ideal for punishing recovery windows for single big payouts | Players who like to “make space, then strike” |
| Daggers | Dual-wield speed | Wins on cut speed, not weight; fastest offense | Players who like high-frequency output and close-range weaving |
| Two-Handed | Heavy high damage | Heavy moves, big single-hit payoff; skill speed was buffed post-launch | Players chasing one-hit value |
| Longsword | Single-blade all-rounder | One long blade; rhythm sits between daggers and two-handers | Players who want one weapon to cover most situations |
Specializations are not classes, and your choice doesn’t lock anything. Each weapon type has its own skill tree, and the explicit design goal is for players to mix across trees into a personal style. So you never need to “pick the right class” — just pick a weapon that feels good right now.
Every Weapon Exists Exactly Once in the World#
This is the game’s most unconventional equipment rule, and the one you most need to understand early.
The Rule Itself#
- Each weapon in the game world has exactly one instance;
- No random affixes — there is no “same sword but better stats” drop;
- No duplicates — you will never farm a second identical sword.
What It Means in Practice#
| Your Habit | What Happens Here |
|---|---|
| Swap whenever something better drops | The swapped-away one is gone forever — but you also never need to “farm another” |
| Chase perfect affixes | There is no affix system; farming for one is meaningless |
| Hoard rare weapons | There are no rarity tiers; a weapon’s power depends on how far you’ve upgraded it |
So the center of gravity in this weapon system is choice and investment, not acquisition loops. Picking up a new weapon means “one more option,” not “one more replaceable consumable.”
Reach and Speed: Two Real Criteria for Picking a Specialization#
Criterion One: How Do You Get Your Stagger?#
- If your parry timing is solid, Sword & Shield or Longsword offers the best fault tolerance, because their offense-defense switching is cheap and you can punish immediately after a parry;
- If you’d rather not parry and hunt recovery windows with dodges, the Battle Staff’s long reach fits better;
- If you want the stagger gauge to fill faster, the Daggers’ high-frequency hits usually win.
Criterion Two: How Much “Whiff Cost” Can You Absorb?#
Two-handers have the highest single-hit payoff but the heaviest moves and slowest recovery. Swing at the wrong moment and you’ve handed out a free hit. Daggers are the opposite: low payoff per hit, but low cost per mistake too.
There are no levels to grind back — so “cost of a miss” is the metric to optimize for when choosing a weapon, not the damage number on the stat panel.
Weapons Also Carry a “Modifier” Layer#
Beyond upgrade level, weapons carry a layer of modifiers (options) — think of them as an effect layer attached to the weapon, things like lowering an opponent’s armor.
This layer is independent of upgrade level, so two weapons of the same specialization can feel completely different because of their modifiers. Post-launch patches specifically fixed several modifiers that failed to apply or didn’t apply at all, including one with a duration miscalculated as “negative one second.” If a modifier feels “listed but not working,” first confirm you’re on a recent patch.
Skills Mount on Weapons, Not Characters#
This one decision drives the long-term cost of weapon choice.
- Skills are mounted onto weapons using Relic Energy;
- Therefore what a weapon can output is capped by the Relic Energy you can supply;
- So maintaining two weapons at once means maintaining two skill sets.
Three Practical Rules That Follow#
- Commit to one weapon early. A finished main weapon beats two half-finished ones every time;
- Pick the second weapon to patch a gap. If your main is short-range daggers, a long-reach staff covers the opponents you “can’t touch up close”;
- Don’t hot-swap weapons for novelty. Swapping itself costs time and drags your pacing.
ℹ️Players have reported that a cache of ready-made Relic Energy at an early fast-travel camp was removed in a later patch, making this resource line fully dependent on killing enemies and field pickup. If you’re following an early guide, be aware this changed.
The Blacksmith: The Game’s Only Linear Growth#
Since you can never loot “a stronger version of the same weapon,” upgrading is the only vertical growth path.
| Step | Detail |
|---|---|
| Where | The blacksmith on the map |
| What it costs | Collectible currency and upgrade materials |
| Where materials come from | World chests, abandoned camps, field collectibles, shard shrines on the map, and more |
| The result | Higher weapon level, so it still holds up against late-game enemies |
| Note | Material payouts were raised several times after launch, and each chapter gained new sources |
Practical advice: upgrade only the weapon you are actually using. Materials are finite, and spreading them leaves every weapon stuck at an awkward level.
What Post-Launch Patches Have Changed#
Weapon feel has been a patch priority since launch. Publicly documented changes include:
- Two-handed: skill animation and activation speeds were raised, followed by a fix for “a second skill used right after a two-handed skill doesn’t trigger”;
- Daggers: fixed a bug where skills couldn’t come off cooldown;
- Longsword: corrected two UI icons that were cropped incorrectly;
- Skill ranges: adjusted across the board;
- Skill upgrade speed: sped up in response to player feedback.
The common thread is “make attacks feel responsive.” So if a specialization feels clunky, check your patch version first — what you’re feeling may no longer match launch-era reviews.