What is your best type of weapon, Mine is probably a sword, as it's common and I always have loved sword.

This game does offer quite a wide variety of weapons. Even within the swords, there's both single-handed and two-handed varieties. I sometimes adopt the two-handed, though I do like being able to use a shield. Of course, one of the best weapons is the Zodiac Spear, and all the spears are two-handed.

I have pretty much every best weapon of each catagory. Save for Wyrm Hero Blade and Tournesol (I'm almost there!).

I guess everything has it's pros and cons.

One handed swords tend to be slower, but enables you to equip a shield. While two handed swords are generally faster and stronger but lack the evasion bonusses gained with a shield.

Spears are pretty much the strongest weapons in the game, I think they have about the same combo rate as two handed swords?

Bows get stronger with higher speed stats, so Cat Nip is a must. Sadly they are affected by weather conditions. Guns are slower, ignore weather and defense. So pick a favorite.

Katanas have the highest combo rate I think, and do more damage as your magick stat is higher. Great for casters who still do melee damage. Ninja swords become stronger with speed aswell and also feature high combo rates.

Poles do damage based on the magick defense of opponents, though are generally weaker then spears. But you can take advantage of this if an enemy has high defense but low magick defense.

Daggers are just fast, generally weaker then swords, but have higher combo rates.

There's always a concious choice to be made!

I favor Spears, 1 handed sword + shield and a third weapon as I see fit.

Masamune + Genji Gloves + Penelo = Good Times

Very good summary, Neo Xzhan. You taught me something there --- I'm not a big ranged weapons user, so I had no idea that bows were affected by weather conditions, though it makes sense. Another interesting feature of the game's weapons system.

There was at least one class of weapon you didn't mention though --- the hand-bomb type weapons. Those seemed to be generally oriented towards status effects.

I give Fran all the magic boosts and give her the Masamune (or another powerful Katana.) Because Katana are magic-based weapons, she can do some damage, esp. with the Genji gloves. Then I just make her the damage dealer of the team (since according to the Ultimania guide, she sucks at just about everything).

Also, I *LOVE* the fomalhat. Give that to Balthier, make him my ranger. We're good to go.

Oh I see I left out a couple of weapons:

There's hands bobms/axes/hammers, these weapons are one handed like swords, they generally have a higher attack stat. Their damage is erratic however. This means that it's not predeterment on your characters attributes and the attack damage of the weapon itself. At level 20 for example, you could do up to 3000 damage (which is alot!) but you also can land hits of 20. Personally I never use these weapons, the low damage probability doesn't give you a nice steady damage output.

Staves and Rods are pretty straight forward. Rods improve your Magick stat generally more then Staves do, but they boost your Mist Points. Pick the right one to boost damage with specific elements. (e.g. Glacier Staff boosts Blizzard/ara/aga's damage).

Measures. Ignore defense. But they are by no means actual weapons you should use for combat. They are weapons that you use to be "cruel to be kind". They add status effects like bubble. So if you can't cast Magicks, equip someone with a Measure and have them attack the desired party member. It has saved my life a couple of times.

Maces are also one handed, tend to be slower. They do also damage based upon the enemies Magick defense stat. So again, use these when the enemy has a high defense stat.

I think that about covers it.

sword and axe are the best type of weopon but the zodiac spear has 150 atack power so that is the best weopon in the

The other purpose of measures is that they add a sick bonus to evasion. If you have a character with both Euclid's Sextant and a Demon Shield, your opponent will almost never land a hit (provided they aren't one of the bosses/marks that ignore evasion). I had this setup (plus Lure) on my tank for the Pylraster fight and it was ridiculously easy.

Personally, I like magic so my guys are usually wearing mystic armor to augment their casting stats and either wielding katana or some kind of staff. For boss battles I almost always bring out the ZOMG EPIC weapons though (Zodiac Spear, etc.).

Best weapon has to be the masamune and genji gloves, nothing beats it, zodiac spear can do 9999 dmg. but with the masamune u can get up to 24 000 regularly........
Like I said, nothing beats it

Best weapon has to be the masamune and genji gloves, nothing beats it, zodiac spear can do 9999 dmg. but with the masamune u can get up to 24 000 regularly........
Like I said, nothing beats it

What about the Whale Whisker? I've never personally bothered to assemble it but according to the guides it has a godly base power value. Like katana, poles have a great combo rate. However, they are factored against the enemy's magic resistance instead of defense so... I don't know. I've never tried it, but I wouldn't be surprised if Whale Whisker + Genji Gloves > Masamune + Genji Gloves; at least against enemies with poor magic resistance. Slightly higher evasion bonus to boot. Not a shabby weapon, at any rate.

Whale whisker looks funny though, and that counts for a lot!!!! Im not using a weapon that all my virtual friends would laugh at.
Masamune is a sexy blade, therefore
masamune > whale whisker...............Case Solved

Whale whisker looks funny though, and that counts for a lot!!!! Im not using a weapon that all my virtual friends would laugh at.
Masamune is a sexy blade, therefore
masamune > whale whisker...............Case Solved

Not per se. Whale Whisker also has a good combo rate (better then average).

If your enemy has a high defense stat, you should go with the Whale Whisker, since it does damage based on your enemy's Magick defense stat. Mostly monsters with a high defense stat, have a lower magick defense stat. Also vice versa.

Normally I don't bother too much switching weapons, but on boss fights, hard marks and the like they can make quite a difference.

I am all for the one-handed swords and shields. A good two-handed is great too, but on balance I generally opt for one-handed swords.

What one handed sword would you go for????
I personally opt for the two hander. But I suppose whatever works....

What one handed sword would you go for????
I personally opt for the two hander. But I suppose whatever works....

Well I made Durandal and it's the strongest one handed sword in the game. You could also get a Danjuro or Scorpion Tail if you prefer having one handed weapons.

Do remember that Scorpion Tail falls in the Axe weapon group, there for it's damage is highly erratic. (read earlier post).

yeah im not a big fan of the scorpion tale, i prefer consistancy..........
therefore scorpion tail = not for me......

Im not a big fan of the durandal or stoneblade...... i just dont like one handed swords....but i suppose whatever works for you.
I think Ill stick to my tournesol and masamune.
please take my weapon vote. If someone of your stature votes im sure it'l get the masses swarming.

The Danjuro is *so* not worth the effort. Seriously, it could be the Zodiac Spear +1 or OHK Yiazmat and it still wouldn't be worth it. Even that's not the case, but rather it's just like the Grand Armor. The advantage over the second best is negligible. You know what you need more than a dagger that's better than the Zwill Crossblade? A life. I would only recommend tracking down the Danjuro if you're obsessive-compulsive and even then, not really.

I like my sagittarius, my excalibur and my yagyu darkblade...I just have a certain affinity for them in my heart. :)

Saggitarius is close to my heart aswell, i just cant leave it alone, fran + saggitarius = must have, for me anyway, im also a big fan of the fomalhaut, i dont know why

My fav would be the 1 handed swords...nice,simple,effective and i like the idea of a shield

I'm mostly brought closer to the swords/spears. Good damage. Of course, I've neglected Fran/Balthier's original weapons and stuck them with these barbaric weapons that I love.

I'm probably going to follow up with another file that will make Fran use bows only, and Balthier his guns. Everyone else, use whatever the heck ya want. ;)