Melee weapons

Low-level shield, one-handed mace, and two-handed staff 3D renders from Alpha-2.^[1]

You can see by the quality of these types of weapons: these are relatively lower level. These are some of the earliest types of weapons and or gear that you can acquire within Ashes of Creation.^[1] – Steven Sharif

Melee weapons and abilities have a maximum range of effect.^[2]^[3]

There are two melee weapon slots: One on each side of a character's belt.^[4]

List of melee weapons

Melee abilities

- None -

Cleaving

Weapon attack cone in Alpha-1.^[5]

As I attack I am hitting multiple numbers of these opponents; and that's important because all weapons, regardless of whether you are in reticle mode or tab-targeting mode will be able to have a action-based type weapon attack. Not active skill, but weapon attack.^[5] – Steven Sharif

All weapons have a forward attack cone, regardless of being in tab or action mode.^[5]

The cone's arc and distance will vary based on weapon type.^[5]

Polearms for example will have a much wider arc and much further out. Daggers will have a more fine-tuned arc, so you have to be more precise in that regard.^[5] – Steven Sharif

This is described as a weapon attack not an active skill.^[5]

It was previously stated that cleaving will be a class ability for some classes.^[6]

Gear slots

Alpha-2 Fighter character sheet UI.^[7]

We wanted to create something that would handle a couple of different roles, with obviously your equipment slots for what we call a "paper doll", which is that display of your character. Eventually it won't just be a image of your character, we hope to have the 3D character and be able to rotate around, look at what you're wearing. And then we wanted to support a couple of different features here, with some base stats; the equipment, which will show what equipment you have available to quick swap, so you don't have to have your inventory and the screen open; detailed stats for those people who want to get into all of the details; and then of course gear sets. So this is going to be able to swap to your sets of gear quickly; and being able to save different loadouts.^[8] – Colby Marchi

There are multiple gear slots in Ashes of Creation.^[8]

3 Back slots.^[8]
- 1 Ranged slot.^[9]^[10]^[8]^[11]^[4]
- 1 Cloak/cape slot.^[10]^[11]^[4]
- 1 Backpack slot.^[10]^[4]

3 Belt slots.^[8]
- 1 Mainhand slot equips a player's primary weapon.^[9]^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]^[4]
- 1 Offhand slot can equip shields, spell focuses, sigils, and dual weapons.^[9]^[16]^[4]
- 1 Potion/Pouch/Scroll slot.^[11]^[17]

8 Armor slots.^[8]^[18]
- 1 Helmet slot.^[8]^[19]
- 1 Shoulder slot.^[8]^[20]
- 1 Chest slot.^[8]^[21]
- 1 Wrist slot.^[8]^[22]
- 1 Glove slot.^[8]^[20]
- 1 Waist slot.^[8]^[20]^[23]
- 1 Leggings slot.^[8]^[20]
- 1 Boot slot.^[8]^[22]
5 Jewelry slots.^[8]
- 2 Accessory slots.^[8]
- 1 Necklace slot.^[8]^[24]
- 2 Ring slots.^[8]^[25]
3 Artisan gear slots.^[26]^[8]^[27]
1 Artisan tool slot is used to equip gathering tools.^[28]
There may be a specific slot for musical instruments, but this has not been finalized yet.^[29]

Previously it was stated there were 16 gear slots.^[18]

Gear is not subject to inventory weight limits.^[30]

Items on back and belt

Players can set the appearance priority for the items they wish to show in their Back and Belt slots.^[11]^[17]^[31]

Only one item can show at a time, and that is determined by player choice.^[4]

Some ranged or melee abilities require a specific weapon to be equipped. Weapons that are equipped in the character's ranged or offhand slots will automatically swap in and out as required by the skill.^[9]^[12]^[13]^[15]
- Players may toggle back and forth between using their ranged and melee slot for basic weapon attacks.^[9]