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

Template:Melee abilities

Directional attacks

There will be directional attacks (back attacks, flanking attacks, frontal attacks) that deal additional damage depending on the positional context of the attack.^[5]

Rogues will generally have more of these.^[5]

Cleaving

Weapon attack cone in Alpha-1.^[6]

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.^[6] – Steven Sharif

All weapons have a forward attack cone, regardless of being in tab or action mode.^[6]

The cone's arc and distance will vary based on weapon type.^[6]

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.^[6] – Steven Sharif

This is described as a weapon attack not an active skill.^[6]

It was previously stated that cleaving will be a class ability for some classes.^[7]

Mana

Resting and mana regeneration.^[8]

As you know, a classic MMO thing to do is to sit and rest as you get your resources back.^[9] – Steven Sharif

Mana is a universal resource/energy in Ashes of Creation that keeps corresponding stats for mana pool, consumption and regeneration relevant.^[10]^[11]^[12]

All archetypes use mana to varying degrees.^[10]^[11]
- Even pure melee players use mana to manipulate The Essence for their extraordinary abilities.^[13]
There are various ways to mitigate mana consumption, such as gear and set bonuses, tattoos, enchantments, and specs.^[10]
- Sitting increases mana regeneration while out of combat.^[9]^[14]^[8]

Mana management I think, not just for mage players but for really every class, is a relevant resource mechanic that they have to take into consideration when they're utilizing their rotations; and there are going to be abilities that will sap your mana faster than others; and they're going to be situational. Now, with that blanket statement of mana is always relevant, there is also going to be mechanics and/or class energies and abilities that you can spec into to help mitigate that. There's itemization that you can utilize from a set bonus perspective, or certain types of weapons and tattoos that you can acquire. There are certain enchantments that you can acquire that might reduce the cost of mana use, that might increase your amount of regeneration, that might increase your mana total pool. There are even specs that you can build towards if mana management is your issue. So we want to make it a compelling case that you need to think about mana use because you don't just want to go 100% all the time with no downside to that. That's a very boring type of interaction.^[10] – Steven Sharif

Gear slots

Alpha-2 Fighter character sheet UI.^[15]

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.^[16] – Colby Marchi

There are multiple gear slots in Ashes of Creation.^[16]

3 Back slots.^[16]
- 1 Ranged slot.^[17]^[18]^[16]^[19]^[4]
- 1 Cloak/cape slot.^[18]^[19]^[4]
- 1 Backpack slot.^[18]^[4]

3 Belt slots.^[16]
- 1 Mainhand slot equips a player's primary weapon.^[17]^[20]^[21]^[22]^[23]^[4]
- 1 Offhand slot can equip shields, spell focuses, sigils, and dual weapons.^[17]^[24]^[4]
- 1 Potion/Pouch/Scroll slot.^[19]^[25]

8 Armor slots.^[16]^[26]
- 1 Helmet slot.^[16]^[27]
- 1 Shoulder slot.^[16]^[28]
- 1 Chest slot.^[16]^[29]
- 1 Wrist slot.^[16]^[30]
- 1 Glove slot.^[16]^[28]
- 1 Waist slot.^[16]^[28]^[31]
- 1 Leggings slot.^[16]^[28]
- 1 Boot slot.^[16]^[30]
5 Jewelry slots.^[16]
- 2 Accessory slots.^[16]
- 1 Necklace slot.^[16]^[32]
- 2 Ring slots.^[16]^[33]
3 Artisan gear slots.^[34]^[16]^[35]
1 Artisan tool slot is used to equip gathering tools.^[36]
There may be a specific slot for musical instruments, but this has not been finalized yet.^[37]

Previously it was stated there were 16 gear slots.^[26]

Gear is not subject to inventory weight limits.^[38]

Items on back and belt

Players can set the appearance priority for the items they wish to show in their Back and Belt slots.^[19]^[25]^[39]

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.^[17]^[20]^[21]^[23]
- Players may toggle back and forth between using their ranged and melee slot for basic weapon attacks.^[17]