Final Fantasy XII - Resource - Weapons

Weapon Master List

Below is a list of all the weapons in Final Fantasy XII. All of them? Yes, all of them. And they're broken up by weapon class because blogspot couldn't handle the size of the complete image. A few notes on the graph: Name, and Attack are pretty self-explanitory. Cost is the cost of the weapon in a normal shop, if it can be purchased there, or the Bazaar, if it can only be purchased from the Bazaar. License tells you what License you need to equip the weapon, and how much that License costs. Attributes details any additional effects the weapon has on enemies or the user, or if it is an elemental weapon. The Bazaar Info tells you what items you must sell for the item to appear in the Bazaar, what name it will be under when it appears, and how much it will cost, if the value is different from the Cost field. A word of warning that I will repeat in the Resources - Bazaar post: The Bazaar has a glitch. It can work for you, or against you. If you sell three Rat Pelts, the Bazaar records that you have done so. But if you buy a weapon from the Bazaar that needed two Rat Pelts, all three of the Rat Pelts are erased from the Bazaar's logs. So only sell the exact amount of Loot needed for the item to appear. However, what this also means is that if you can make two items appear at the same time, they will draw on the same two Rat Pelts. For instance, Item A requires two Rat Pelts and two Pebbles, Item B requires two Rat Pelts and two Bone Fragments. Sell the two Pebbles, and the Two Bone Fragments first. Then sell the two Rat Pelts to complete both items, for half the Loot cost. I will go over this again in the Bazaar Post. Location tells you what enemies the item can be Stolen or Dropped from, where it can be found as Treasure, and what cities will sell it in stores. However, not all weapons are available at all times. Store frequently upgrade and change their stock as you progress through the story, so check various shops often. However, Bazaar items are the same everywhere. Finally under Notes are any addtional pieces of information, such as Evasion values on weapons that don't have a common class Evasion value, and other information.

Swords

Swords are one handed weapons that deal consistent damage. You can equip a shield with them, and you should at all times to get the most out of the weapon style. However, Swords do not combo very frequently, and have a moderate attack speed. But they are a safe choice, especially early in the game before you can use Poles, Greatswords, Spears, or Katanas.

Katanas

Katanas are big on combo hits. They also have a decent attack speed. However, damage wise they fall behind Greatswords. The Masamune, however, is an excellent late game weapon, especially when combined with the Genji Gloves.

Greatswords

Greatswords are easily the best weapon class in the game. They grant decent to good Evasion, they do amazing damage, and they attack at a decent speed. Some of the easier to acquire Greatswords are stronger than the final weapons of other types, and the best Greatsword is the second best weapon in the game damage wise.

Daggers

Daggers are quick, but do less than impressive damage. Their main use is inflicting status effects, which almost all of them do. However, the Main Gaunche should be mentioned, because it gives a stunning amount of Evasion, and you can equip a shield with it, making for a very difficult to hit character. Many people speculate that the Evasion value is actually an error on SE's part, and I agree, it's very out of the ordinary.

Ninja Swords

Ninja swords, like Katanas, have a high combo rate. However they are not as powerful as Katanas, and unfortunately they're all Dark-Element. Many enemies, especially late in the game, resist or absorb Dark-Element damage, so they must be used with caution. Interestingly, while small, they take up both hands, so they're further hampered because you cannot wear a shield with them.

Measures

Now here's an odd one. The purpose of Measures is for you to attack your party members and inflict positive status effects on them. It is, as it sounds, a terrible idea. Easily, these are the most useless weapons in the game. At least you can wear a shield with them.

Maces

Maces are one-handed and should be paired with a shield. Maces are sadly eclipsed by Greatswords and Axes in terms of damage, but they're decent to give to mages, because their magic power will help the damage. Other than that they fail to be very remarkable at all.

Axes and Hammers

Axes and Hammers should be paired with a shield. They're wild cards. At times they'll do more damage than any other weapon you can equip, and other times they'll do next to nothing. Early in the game you seem to come out ahead, but later in the game it's harder to live with the variation.

Rods

Rods are pretty underwhelming in the melee, but they grant welcome bonuses to Magic Power and MP, so if a situation arises where you're going to have a dedicated mage who doesn't need to do any attacking, they're not half bad.

Staves

Another mage weapon, they improve the damage of various elemental spells. Paired up with specific situations, you could probably find a few uses for them throughout the game, but I would never recommend them as a main weapon choice.

Poles

Poles are interesting weapons. They don't do quite the raw damage that other weapons will in the same areas, but they have a decent combo rate, and offer an impressive boost to Evasion. Before Greatswords become available, they're a good choice for any character.

Spears

Spears have the honor of the strongest weapon in the game. Aside from the Zodiac Spear though, they're always a few steps behind Greatswords. Like Swords, they're a decent and reliable choice, and they do good damage, but they don't blow the field away like Greatswords.

Bows

Bows are the standard ranged weapon option. They end up a tad stronger than Crossbows, but they're slower than Crossbows. Their ammo focuses more on elements than status effects.

Crossbows

Crossbows are a great ranged option. They're quick firing, and their bolts offer a range of status effects to inflict on the enemy. Their damage falls a little behind bows by the end of the game, but they do critical a bit more frequently.

Guns

Guns are interesting. They ignore defense, so don't let the low Attack rating fool you, but some enemies are particularly resistant to them, namely Flans. Their ammo has a number of useful status effects though, and against High-Defense enemies, they can really shine.

Hand-Bombs

If Measures are the worst weapons in the game, Hand-Bombs are the second worst. Like Axes, their damage varies wildly, but they never do particularly stunning damage to begin with. They're quite slow, and there's really nothing they do that another weapon can't do. And nothing is more annoying than watching an explosion do 30 damage.

Weapon Proficiency

Below is a list of the various weapon classes, and which characters are most proficient in them. This data was adapted from the amazing Weapon Analysis FAQ written by Arthellinus over at Gamefaqs, though I have taken measures to make these graphs and posts a bit more spoiler free than his guide. However, if at all interested, you should go take a look at it here.

The thing to remember about proficiency is that it actually doesn't matter all that much. In the most extreme situations it's a difference of perhaps 450 damage. In most cases, you might see a difference of 30-40 damage per hit averaged over a few hundred hits. Use the characters and weapons that make the game enjoyable for you. But, for those that want to know, check the image below.

Also, for those interested to know which characters make the best Mages, the Mace Proficiency also works as a ranking for how good a character is at magic.