Weapon Groups

There are 13 different groups of weapons in Exiled Kingdoms, and the group of the weapon you're wielding makes a difference in a few important ways. As your weapon is the single most important item you wear and use, its choice should be optimized as best as it can be by the player. While some characteristics (like type of elemental damage) are obvious and easily swapped around, some others are subtle. They include:

• Handedness: Weapons can be one-handed (Light and Hand weapons, and Wands) or two-handed (e.g. Greataxes, Bows, Staves). If using a one-handed weapon, you can also equip a Shield (or sometimes an Orb) in the other hand. If using a two-handed weapon, you can hold an item in that shield slot, but it will not be considered "equipped" (there will be a big red "X" across it) and its stats will not apply to your character unless you switch to a one-handed weapon. Using two-handed weapons is more or less a choice to sacrifice some defense for some extra offense.
  
  
• Class access: Classes vary in the restrictions on what weapons they can use. In general: Warriors can use almost anything, Rogues can use light weapons (and bows) but not heavy ones, Clerics can generally use only blunt weapons (e.g. hammers, mauls) but not slashing ones (swords, axes), and Mages can pretty much only use Wands and Staves, plus Daggers (until and unless they learn Arcane Blade). This is true of Armor as well, of course. Every Weapon or piece of Armor is tagged, in-game and on this wiki, with which classes can use it.
  
  
• Type: These 13 groups of weapons each have one (and only one) of four* "Weapon Types". A weapon group (such as Shortswords) is either Light, Hand, Ranged, or 2-Handed. This determines which traits affect your damage when wielding the weapon. It may also be affected by some Skills, which sometimes give you abilities when using a particular type of weapon but not others (e.g. Infantry Training only works when using Hand weapons, not Light or other types). The game shows which type the weapon is on the description, but if there isn't one, it's a Hand weapon.
  
  
• Speed (and Critical rate): Each group of weapons has a default Weapon Speed that applies to all or nearly-all items in that group. For example, all Hammers have a weapon speed of 11, or "11 attacks in 10 seconds" if attacking continuously. The same applies for the critical-hit rate that a weapon offers, as it is usually the same within a weapon group. When facing heavily-armored enemies, for a given DPS that their character has using that weapon, a player would generally prefer to hit less often (lower speed) but for more damage per hit, and a higher critical-hit rate, as that will result in more damage dealt to that armored enemy per second.
  
  

(*) Arguably, Off Hand weapons make up a fifth type, as they replace the defensive capability of a Shield or Orb with some extra offensive capability. They are best used to add fire damage when facing Trolls, or to add Stun or Slow effects. But they take up the Shield slot and some add armor, so they are more a booster of your weapon than a distinct choice of weapon style.

Types Comparison

Weapon Group	Type	Class Usage	Hands	Speed	Crit %
Axe	Hand	W, R	1	10	7%
Bow	Ranged	W, R	2	11*	5%
Dagger	Light	All, or R	1	13	7%
Greataxe	2-Handed	W	2	9	5%
Greatsword	2-Handed	W	2	9	4%
Hammer	Light	W, C, some R	1	11	6%
Longsword	Hand	W, R, some C	1	10	6%
Mace	Hand	W, C	1	9	5%
Maul	2-Handed	W, C	2	8	3%
Off Hand	Off-Hand	R, some W	1	10	0%
Shortsword	Light	W, R	1	12	6%
Staff	Ranged	M	2	9	5%
Wand	Ranged	M	1	11	6%

Numbers given are the most typical for the category; there are usually exceptions (likewise for class access). See the weapon-group pages for a full listing.

(*) Bow speed is much more highly variable than the others. Some are a 10, a few are 15, and one (the Jester's Bow) is the fastest weapon in the game with a speed of 18. Your preferences will depend on what skills or traits you're using to enhance the bow's performance, your play style, and how tough the enemies are that you're facing.