User:Regendo/Guide to Weapon Combinations
Not all weapon upgrades are available on each weapon combination. Especially for casters, the choice between a staff, a wand and focus, or a martial weapon and a focus can be very important. I found that the existing information on Inscription, List of weapon upgrades, and other articles involved too much scrolling and cross-referencing to really help me understand the available choices and trade-offs beyond the well-known meta sets.
This article primarily focuses on Nightfall and Eye of the North-style inscribable weapons, as these are easiest to replicate. Notable exceptions of green or collector items will be listed further below.
Standard Weapon Upgrades[edit]
Choice of either a staff, or a one-handed and an off-hand weapon. One-handed martial weapons other than sword and spear are of course equally valid unless you need a specific +33% condition duration prefix or slaying suffix; those aren't available on all weapons.[1] Two-handed martial weapons (hammer, scythe, bow) aren't listed - if you need these for a build, you won't be considering other options - but have the same upgrades available as one-handed martial weapons.
| Staff | One-Handed Weapon | Off-Hand Weapon | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wand | Sword/Spear | Focus | Shield | |
| Inherent Bonus | ||||
| Energy +10 | Energy +12 (req. 9) | Armor Rating 16 (req. 9) | ||
| Halves recharge (all spells, 20% chance) | Energy +8 (req. not met) | Armor Rating 8 (req. not met) | ||
| Prefix | ||||
| Halved casting time (item's attribute, 20% chance) | Doubled adrenaline gain (10% chance) | |||
| Halved casting time (all spells, 10% chance) | <Element> damage type | |||
| Armor +5[2] | +33% outgoing <condition> duration[1] | |||
| Health +30 | +20% armor penetration (20% chance) | |||
| Energy +5 | Vampiric (+3/-1) | |||
| Zealous (+1/-1) | ||||
| Inscription | ||||
| Halved casting time (all spells, 10% chance) | Halved casting time (all spells, 10% chance) | Halved casting time (all spells, 10% chance) | Halved skill recharge (item's attribute, 20% chance) | |
| Halved casting time (item's attribute, 20% chance) | Halved casting time (item's attribute, 20% chance) | Halved skill recharge (all spells, 10% chance) | Halved skill recharge (all spells, 10% chance) | |
| Energy +5 (enchanted/above 50%) | Energy +5 (enchanted/above 50%) | Energy +5 | +1 Skill attribute (item's attribute, 20%) | +1 Skill attribute (item's attribute, 20%) |
| Energy +7 (hexed/below 50%) | Energy +7 (hexed/below 50%) | -20% incoming <condition> duration[3] | -20% incoming <condition> duration[3] | |
| Energy +15 (-1 Regeneration) | Energy +15 (-1 Regeneration) | |||
| Damage +15% (various conditions)[4][5] | Damage +15% (various conditions)[4][5] | Damage +15% (various conditions)[4][5] | Armor +5 (various conditions)[6] | |
| Damage +20% (hexed/below 50%)[4] | Damage +20% (hexed/below 50%)[4] | Damage +20% (hexed/below 50%)[4] | Armor +10 (hexed/below 50%) | |
| Damage +15% (Armor -10 while attacking)[4] | Damage +15% (Armor -10 while attacking)[4] | Damage +15% (Armor -10 while attacking)[4] | Armor +5 (Health -20) | |
| Damage +15% (Energy -5)[4] | Damage +15% (Energy -5)[4] | Damage +15% (Energy -5)[4] | Armor +5 (Energy -5) | |
| Armor +10 (vs. specific damage type) | Armor +10 (vs. specific damage type) | |||
| Armor +5 (vs. physical/elemental) | ||||
| Received physical damage -2 (enchanted/stance) | Received physical damage -2 (enchanted/stance) | |||
| Received physical damage -3 (hexed) | Received physical damage -3 (hexed) | |||
| Received physical damage -5 (20% chance) | Received physical damage -5 (20% chance) | |||
| Suffix | ||||
| +1 Skill attribute (specific attribute, 20%) | Halved recharge (all spells, 10% chance) | Halved casting time (all spells, 10% chance) | ||
| +1 Skill attribute (item's attribute, 20%) | Halved recharge (item's attribute, 20% chance) | +1 Skill attribute (item's attribute, 20%) | Halved casting time (item's attribute, 20% chance) | |
| +20% Enchantment duration | +20% Enchantment duration | |||
| Health +30 | Health +30 | Health +30 | Health +30 | |
| Health +45 (enchanted/stance) | Health +45 (enchanted/stance) | Health +45 (enchanted/stance) | ||
| Health +60 (hexed) | Health +60 (hexed) | Health +60 (hexed) | ||
| Armor +5[2] | Armor +5[2] | |||
| Armor +7 (vs. physical/elemental)[2] | Armor +7 (vs. physical/elemental)[2] | |||
| Damage +20% (vs. specific foes)[4][7] | Damage +20% (vs. specific foes)[4][7][8] | |||
- ^ ab Not available for Blind, Burning, Cracked Armor, or Diseased. Available conditions vary by weapon; only spear offers all possible upgrades. See List of weapon upgrades#Prefix bonuses for more detail.
- ^ abcde Bonus armor from prefixes, suffixes, inherent weapon bonuses, and most skills doesn't stack beyond +25. See armor calculation.
- ^ ab Not available for Burning and Cracked Armor.
- ^ abcdefghijklmn Only affects base damage from weapon attacks.
- ^ abc While above 50%, enchanted, in a stance, or against hexed foes.
- ^ While above 50%, enchanted, attacking, or casting.
- ^ ab Only against specific creature types. See of slaying.
- ^ Not available for spears, scythes, daggers.
Unique weapons[edit]
See also Category:Unreplicable unique items and Category:Unreplicable non-unique items.
- Jonathan Blunt sells weapons with an inherent of Charrslaying suffix, even for weapon types that don't usually get these suffixes.
- Decade weapons provide a unique bonus during festivals, which is roughly half the year.
- Anniversary weapons, especially Anniversary Shield "Curtain", allow you to meet attribute requirements for unusual weapons.
High-Armor Off-Hands[edit]
Keep in mind that if you use other skills that provide a total armor bonus of +25 or more, you will not receive bonus armor from these special item bonuses. This limit doesn't apply to inscriptions. If you are already using skills (other "I Am Unstoppable!") to reach this limit, just use normal shields and foci with +Armor inscriptions.
- Jonathan Blunt sells foci and shields with a fixed +10 armor vs. Charr replacing the inscription slot.
- The Ascalon Aegis provides up to +26 armor (against elemental damage from Charr) at only 4 Tactics.
- The Aegis of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh has a unique +10 armor vs. Demons bonus. There are alternate versions for the other shield attributes.
- Some foci exist as a hybrid between the focus's high energy and the shield's high armor rating.
- Chimeric Prism (Prophecies pre-order) is especially useful on rangers and warriors.
- "Earth Scroll" from Martel Bastions. Only use this if you really need the 6 energy: even without meeting its attribute requirement, a regular shield with the appropriate elemental inscription will still provide more armor.
- "Protective Icon" from Paige Osbourne gives more armor against Charr than even the normal Charrslayer foci.
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Chimeric Prism Energy +5 Energy +3 (Requires 8 Divine Favor) Armor +8 (Requires 8 Divine Favor) Armor +16 (Requires 8 Strength) Armor +10 (Requires 8 Expertise) Other attributes omitted
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Earth Scroll Energy +6 (Requires 6 Earth Magic) Armor +10 (vs. elemental damage)
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Protective Icon Energy +6 (Requires 5 Protection Prayers) Armor +15 (vs. Charr) Health +5
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