Weapons

Weapons in Icesus do more than swing. The kind of weapon, what it's made from, and how well it's made all change how it feels in combat. This page is the overview; deeper topics have their own pages.

Lighter and smaller weapons are faster, but heavier and larger weapons hit harder. Larger races tend to use larger weapons — the biggest can swing greatswords one-handed. Balance is usually the key. A common pattern is one weapon for offense and a shield for defense, or two offensive weapons if you can take the hits.

Weapon families

Every weapon belongs to one of three families.

Bludgeoning

Easiest to learn, dependable damage. Forgiving for new fighters and crushing in the hands of one who's trained the family.

• Hammers — the easiest of all to use, especially mauls. Common, cheap, and good for low-level players as well as veterans.
• Maces — solid one-handed weapon for a beginner. Few magical maces exist, so many fighters move to mauls later.
• Flails — hard to use and harder to find a good one. Bad at defence.
• Staves — great for parrying. Defensive, low damage, fairly common.
• Shields — mainly defensive but can bash. Low damage; works with the shield rush maneuver.

Slashing

Harder to wield well, devastating once mastered. The favourite of trained warriors.

• Swords — excellent for both offence and defence. Easy to find, easy to use, and very strong in skilled hands.
• Axes — harder to use than swords, less suitable for parrying, but they hit hard. Not many great ones exist; the best ones are very good.
• Whips — a slashing weapon with its own niche. Specialised use.

Piercing

Middle ground. Good for setting up bleeds and reaching through gaps in armour.

• Spears — the most common and worthwhile piercing weapon. Cheap to start; the best ones are expensive and rare. Excellent for centaurs.
• Polearms — heavy reach weapons.
• Daggers and shortswords — small, fast, low damage. Nice for a weakling, beginner, or assassin. Very common.

The weapon family also decides which hit styles your combat style produces — the actual swings (slash, thrust, pound, etc.) that drive the combat messages. See Combat styles for the full mapping.

Weapon Skills

Use a weapon well, and you need three layers of skill:

• melee — the basics of swinging at things
• The family skill — slashing weapons, piercing weapons, or bludgeoning weapons
• The specific weapon skill — swords, axes, maces, spears, etc.

All three matter. A character with no melee and no family skill will struggle even with a fine weapon. Most combat guilds teach the relevant skills as you level — see Guilds and your guild's training rooms.

Materials and Quality

Weapons are made of materials ranging from wood and bone up through bronze, steel, and rare alloys. The material plus the smith's craft (its quality) decides how well the weapon cuts and how reliably it does so. A well-made steel sword beats a sloppy mithril one most days. Rare-material weapons (mithril, adamantium, titanium and their peers) drop in the world rather than being forged from raw stock by player smiths.

Heavier materials hit harder but cost more combat points to swing. Lighter materials swing fast.

See Materials and Weapon types for the full list.

Hands and wielding

When you wield a weapon it goes into your primary hand by default. A second weapon goes to the secondary hand and swings less often. Some races have more than two arms; some have none. Type eq to see what you're wearing and wielding.

Empty primary hand = bare-fisted strikes. Fine for monks, weak for everyone else.

Two-handed grip is stronger (fewer fumbles), and lets smaller characters manage larger weapons more cleanly. Wield in two hands explicitly with wield <item> in right hand,left hand.

Wear and Repair

Weapons take damage from hard hits and certain spells, and lose quality over time. A worn weapon performs worse than a fresh one. Repairs are handled by:

• City smiths (NPCs) — common materials, small fee, always open. Enough for most everyday gear.
• Player smiths — Pro Smiths from the Artisan guild offer repair, reforge, refit, sharpen, finalize, and engrave. Often at better quality than NPCs. Ask on the wanted channel.
• Province workshops — heavy work and rare-material repair. The bigger the province workshop, the more it can take on. Mithril, adamantium and other rare materials usually need a piece of the original to mend.

Full details at Equipment damage. See also Markets and Sales.

Glow

Magical weapons glow. The glow tells you a weapon is enchanted, but doesn't reveal what without identification. See Glowing equipment.

See Also

• Weapon types — full list of weapon subtypes
• Materials — what weapons are made from
• Combat — combat overview
• Combat styles — how style picks the hit
• Combat points — attack/defence/casting split
• Glowing equipment
• Ranged weapons — bows, slings, crossbows
• Equipment damage — wear and repair
• Bows