Weapon classes

Weapons 3D renders. These are depicted in the Threads of Fate cosmetic costume but are not part of that set. Models by Eli Hurst.

Weapon classes (also referred to as weapon types and weapon groups) in Ashes of Creation may deal different types of physical damage.

• Blunt weapons
• Slashing weapons
• Piercing weapons

Weapon types

Spear and Shield 3D renders. 3D model by Chris Atkins.

Different weapon types offer different passive skills and proc effects from their weapon skill tree as well as different waterfall stats.

• Axes (One and two handed).
• Bows.
• Clubs.
• Daggers.
• Hammers.
• Lances.
• Maces (One and two handed).
• Orbs.
• Polearms/Halberds.
• Scepters.
• Shields.
• Spears (One-handed).
• Spellbooks.
• Staves.
• Swords/Rapiers (One and two handed).
• Wands.

The following weapon types are not equippable by players in the MMO.

• Crossbows will not be in the MMO.
  • Previously crossbows were present in Ashes of Creation Apocalypse.
• Potion launchers will only be able to be used as ship attachments in the MMO.
  • Previously potion launchers were present in Ashes of Creation Apocalypse.

Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

There is an even split between melee and ranged weapons.

Ranged weapons

Alpha-2 bows 3D renders.

A character may equip up to two hand weapons and also wear a ranged weapon on their back.

• Characters performing ranged abilities will switch to the ranged weapon, then can switch back to the melee weapon and shield or two-handed melee weapon.
• There will be a setting to determine if the ranged weapon or main/offhand is the primary weapon to use for Q or left-mouse-button basic attacks.
• Rangers do not have a minimum distance requirement for using their ranged weapons. Previously rangers were intended to have a minimum distance requirement.
  • Instead of a minimum range requirement, certain Ranger skills, such as Thundering Shot, currently have variable effects conferred at different ranges.
• Some Ranger skills require a bow to be equipped.

Melee weapons

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

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. – Steven Sharif

Melee weapons and abilities have a maximum range of effect.

• There are two melee weapon slots: One on each side of a character's belt.

Weapon weights

Alpha-2 shield, spear, and mace 3D renders.

Weapon weight refers to how the mass of a weapon affects its performance during combat.

• Light weapons have fewer restrictions on player agency and motion.
• Medium weapons exist on a spectrum between light and heavy weapons.
• Heavy weapons will increasingly lock the player in place during portions of the combat animation.

There is a balance between player motion and agency as we call it and weapon weightedness- that almost locked-in-place rooted position- the heavier the weapon is, the more restrictions you want to place on that player agency to showcase the rooted effect: That weight- that heavyweight aspect; and so what we've done by presenting you guys with both the dual daggers and the two-handed weapon is we've shown the range between that complete player agency: a player agency in the light weapon attacks that's the dual daggers, and the maximum range of of rootedness or weightedness that's present on the two-handed weapon; and that's the spectrum in which our basic melee combat will exist within. So if there are medium weapon groups that exist in-between there, it's going to be somewhere in between that spectrum. – Steven Sharif

Weapon progression

In-game achievable sword and polearm 3D renders.

Power creep is a balance issue... When it comes to gear progression specifically, the idea is to create an open market that is not heavily dependent on soulbound items; and having many item sinks and gold sinks within that economy that allows for the potential degradation and loss of assets within that closed economy; and not introduce items from the market that companies put in from a pay-to-win perspective or from a pay-to-convenience perspective that undermines the economy that players have built. That is a huge mistake that companies have made in the past and that lends to the imbalancing of what designers maybe have actually balanced well. – Steven Sharif

Weapons have their own progression paths.

• Each type of weapon has its own skill tree that grants passive skills and proc effects and other status conditions.
• The weapon combo system determines special effects that proc based on weapon progression.
• Ancillary effects proc based on enchantment types.
• Gear enhancements (power stones) can be applied to add elemental or energy types of damage.
• Dual wielded weapons will have its own progression based on weapon type.
• Weapon proficiency (based on length of use of a weapon) is not a planned feature.

Ashes of Creation is all about providing many progression paths... The reason why we don't like the term endgame is because with the amount of progression that's available with the amount of diversity and player agency that impacts the world... We want the weapon system [to] add an element of that as well... You can determine special effects that proc from currently the combo system; you can determine ancillary effects that proc based on enchantment types; you can power stone weapons to add different either elemental types of damage and/or energy that play rock-paper-scissor with player defenses ... and then you can skill tree out how those effects that are granted ... you can make them better you can branch them off into a different direction. – Steven Sharif

Gear sets

2nd Sword Division non-cosmetic gear set 3D renders. 3D model by Keith Kovach.

Not all armor sets will be the cookie cutter set. They will have the influences from the crafter available in it, if it's a crafted set. – Steven Sharif

Equipping the Titanbark gear set in Alpha-2.

We're going relatively traditional in the gear access points by being driven by level tier that players will have access to. So as you advance in your adventuring class you will begin to unlock the ability to equip gear of a higher level. – Steven Sharif

Gear sets (also known as tier sets) are a part of Ashes of Creation.

• In general, higher tier gear will be from gear sets.

Q: How often will armor be part of an entire armor set with other cosmetically matching pieces versus unique armor pieces that don't match or go along with anything else in the game?

A: There is a balance of both set pieces and non-set pieces and usually you're going to see at higher grades within a tier are going to be more predominantly set driven; and the lower interstitial power levels of the gear for that tier are the potentially bespoke pieces; and obviously those pieces are catered around a number of different interactions, such as ones you get from quests, ones that you get from drops, ones that you can craft, ones that you get from legendary bosses, ones that you get from guild-oriented tasks, or in-game favor and unique currencies. So there's different types of acquisition models and each of them has a spattering of either bespoke pieces or set-oriented pieces; and there are even varying levels of set pieces as well. So you might have a full eight piece set, or a three-piece set, or a five piece set, depending on where it lives within the tier. – Steven Sharif

• Players gain bonuses depending on the number and tier of pieces they have equipped.

• Racial appearance of gear sets is tied to the character model of that race.

• It will be possible to store and swap gear loadouts with a single button press when out of combat.

• Approximately 49 unique gear sets were obtainable in Alpha-1 from crafting, quests, drops and exploration. These were unique sets with different stats, but some may be similar in appearance.

Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

• There are passive abilities that can be chosen to become more adept with certain set types.
• There will be viable non-set builds.

Best in slot weapons

What is considered best-in-slot is based on a character's role and the type of encounter they are facing.

• The goal is to not have overarching best-in-slot items that are meta for all situations.

• Crafted items are best-in-slot in Ashes of Creation. Previously it was stated that crafted items will be on-par with best-in-slot items.

• Instanced content will contain scripted and difficult boss fights that drop gear, but the gear drops will not be best-in-slot. These can only be found in the open world.

See also

• Weapons
• Weapon types
• Weapon weights