Swords

Overview

A one-handed weapon with average delay and damage ratings, swords are the primary weapons of the Paladin, meleeing Red Mage, and Blue Mage Jobs. Swords could be said to "bridge the gap" between the low-damage low-delay dagger class, and the higher-damage higher-delay axe class.

As far as stat-boosts go, the Sword class once again displays a good "average", with everything from melee stats like accuracy, attack, and Additional Effect damage, to defensive bonuses, such as added parrying skill. Oftentimes, swords make excellent off-hand weapons for any job subbing Ninja with the Dual Wield trait, as the previously mentioned bonuses will increase the damage and accuracy of their main hand weapon.

Sword weaponskills vary just as much as the weapons in the class do. Some are elemental (such as Shining Blade), some are physical (such as Fast Blade), and one is even purely spiritual damage, dealing unresistable damage through almost every defense, based on the user's current HP (Spirits Within).

It is important to note that "Bladed" swords are almost always slashing damage, while "Rapier" type swords (the swords with thin, needle-like blades) are almost always piercing damage. It is important to keep this in mind, because some mobs are resistant or weak against certain damage types - flying mobs, for example, will take increased damage from a Rapier-type sword, while skeletons will take much less damage when attacked with the Rapier-type sword. Also note that while Bilbo/Tuck-type swords have a similar image to Rapier-types, they are considered slashing damage (These can be distinguished from Rapiers by the ability of Black Mages to equip them). Although melee damage from these swords is piercing type damage, weaponskills will still be slashing type damage.