Weapons

Bow, staff, and spear 3D renders from The Wreckage of Carphin Alpha-2 zone.^[1]

Our approach for weapons within Ashes of Creation is that weapons are not just stat sticks. They have different feels as was demonstrated both in the melee examples with the great sword and the daggers as well as now with the longbow and the short bow. These changes can be pacing, they could be speed, they can be critical rates, they can be critical damage, they can be base damage values, they can be separate effects- like the longbow has a charge up on its basic attack whereas the short bow doesn't. There's more motion in the greatsword than there is necessarily in the daggers. The idea is because each weapon type has an associated weapon tree for progression. We almost want each of these weapon groups to feel distinct in the way they play and because of that it touches a lot of different aspects of a combat for them.^[2] – Steven Sharif

Weapons determine a player's damage output alongside other conditions and stats.^[2]^[3]

Choice of weapon type changes the feel, pacing, speed, and other aspects of combat. Further specialization is achievable within each weapon's skill tree.^[2]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Some ranged or melee abilities require a specific weapon to be equipped. Weapons that are equipped in the character's ranged or offhand slots will be automatically swapped in and out as required by the skill.^[10]^[11]^[12]

Players can select which weapon they wish to use as their primary weapon for basic attacks.^[10]

Some abilities will require that certain pieces of equipment are equipped.That's true for melee abilities like a shield bash requiring a shield to be equipped, or certain ranged abilities requiring a ranged weapon to be equipped as well. It's important to note that as part of the Ashes of Creation paper doll, you have a melee main hand, an offhand slot, and then you have a ranged slot as well, so you don't have to switch between weapons per-se if you execute an ability that requires a ranged weapon, but if you have your melee weapon out it will automatically swap to the range weapon and use the ability and then back to your melee weapon for your basic attack should you choose; and then you can select which weapon you want to have available your melee or your range for the basic attack and you can swap between those two even in combat, but they're they're still equipped.^[10] – Steven Sharif

The developers are considering per-use consumables/buffs that can be applied to weapons that applies certain rider effects to basic weapon attacks.^[13]

Spear and Shield 3D renders. Modelled by Chris Atkins.^[14]

Different weapon types offer different passive skills and proc effects from their weapon skill tree as well as different waterfall stats.^[15]

Axes (One and two handed).^[16]
Bows.^[16]
Clubs.^[17]
Daggers.^[16]
Hammers.^[18]^[19]
Lances.^[20]
Maces (One and two handed).^[16]
Orbs.^[21]^[16]
Polearms/Halberds.^[16]
Scepters.^[22]
Shields.^[16]
Spears (One-handed).^[23]^[24]
Spellbooks.^[21]^[16]
Staves.^[16]
Swords/Rapiers (One and two handed).^[16]^[25]
Wands.^[21]^[26]

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

Crossbows will not be in the MMO.^[27]^[28]
- Previously crossbows were present in Ashes of Creation Apocalypse.^[29]^[30]
Potion launchers will only be able to be used as ship attachments in the MMO.^[31]^[32]
- Previously potion launchers were present in Ashes of Creation Apocalypse.^[30]^[33]

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.^[16]

Gear

Kaelar tier 1 (level 10) early Alpha-1 cloth armor non-cosmetic set 3D renders.^[34]

Gear (weapons and armor) has approximately a 40-50% influence on a player's overall power in the game.^[8]

There are no stat requirements for equipping gear, but there are affiliation and level requirements.^[35]^[36]^[37]

We have level requirements that are going to be applicable for particular types of gears. There's going to be affiliation requirements for certain types of gear as well; but from a stat perspective we decided not to go down that route; and the only reason for that is we don't want to shoehorn people into particular types of builds; and stats relate to those particular types of builds because there's a lot of versatility that exists within our class system. They don't have to play it per-se and that kind of lends itself to a meta. It's like, oh you're a tank where you have to tank constitution and if you don't take constitution you don't get access to this really cool tank breastplate. You know stuff like that. It can feel a little too restrictive when you start to dictate from a stat perspective how a player must build their character.^[35] – Steven Sharif

Specific and necessary crafting materials for higher tier items can only be obtained through the deconstruction of lower-tier items. This is designed to keep lower tier crafted gear relevant through progression and across expansions.^[38]

A big component of gear usefulness or relevancy, as either you're progressing or as expansions come out or whatnot, is that there is a deconstruction method associated with gear; and that deconstruction can provide very specific and necessary crafting materials that can only be achieved through deconstruction of certain types of gears. And then additionally as we consider expansions and additional itemization paths and tiers going forward, all gear is going to remain relevant within the tiers that they exist. So from a progression standpoint, as you achieve access to different types of tiers, those gears are still going to have relevancy within that tier.^[38] – Steven Sharif

List of weapons

This section contains information from Alpha-1 testing. It will be updated when new information is made available.

Item	Type	Set	Rarity	Level requirement	Source	Cost
Arcane Tome	Spellbook		Rare	12	Crafted items
Bludgeonbane	Mace		Epic	15	Crafted items
Carphin Shield	Shield		[[]]
Chipped Greataxe	Axe	Chipped	Poor	2	Vendor	25
Chipped Greatsword	Sword	Chipped	Poor	2	Vendor	25
Chipped One-Handed Axe	Axe	Chipped	Poor	2	Vendor	25
Demonic Offering Aegis	Shield		Epic	15	Crafted items
Dented Shield	Shield	Dented	Poor	2	Vendor	25
Dull Greatmace	Mace	Dull	Common	5	Vendor	75
Dull One-Handed Axe	Axe	Dull	Common	5	Vendor	75
Dull One-Handed Mace	Mace	Dull	Common	7	Vendor	50
Eldritch Executioner	Sword	Eldritch	Epic	15	Crafted items
Eldritch Lightguard	Shield	Eldritch	Rare		Crafted items
Equilibrium	Mace		Epic	15	Crafted items
Glacius	Sword		Epic	15	Crafted items
Greatblade	Sword		Common
Greatstaff	Staff		Common
Hammer of Koryn	Hammer		Rare
Headlopper	Halberd		Epic	15	Crafted items
Iron Longsword	Sword	Iron	Common	1	Crafted items, Quest rewards
Iron Wand	Wand	Iron	Common	1	Crafted items, Quest rewards
Lava Forged Defender	Shield	Lava Forged	Rare		Crafted items
Lava Forged One-Handed Sword	Sword	Lava Forged	Rare	12	Quest rewards
Lava Forged Wand	Wand	Lava Forged	Rare	8	Quest rewards
Lorica Vindicta Mace	Mace	Lorica Vindicta	Common
Lorica Vindicta Shield	Shield	Lorica Vindicta	Common
Quill Of The Tundra	Wand		Epic	15	Crafted items
Ranseur Of Malice	Spear		Epic	15	Crafted items
Replica Of Dignitas	Axe		Epic	15	Crafted items
Sharpened Greatsword	Sword	Sharpened	Rare		Crafted items
Sharpened One-Handed Sword	Sword		Uncommon	5	Quest rewards
Silver Guardian	Sword		Rare	10
Spire Of Illusion	Staff		Epic	15	Crafted items
Tome Of The Tundra	Spellbook		Epic	15	Quest rewards
Tower Shield	Shield		Rare
Tundra's Torment	Halberd		Epic	15	Crafted items
Worn Mace	Mace	Worn	Poor	1	Vendor

Weapon progression

In-game achievable sword and polearm 3D renders.^[39]

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.^[40] – Steven Sharif

Weapons have their own progression paths.^[9]^[41]

Each type of weapon has its own skill tree that grants passive skills and proc effects and other status conditions.^[42]^[2]^[4]^[5]^[43]^[6]^[8]^[7]^[9]^[44]^[45]
The weapon use combo system determines special effects that proc based on weapon progression.^[9]^[45]
Ancillary effects proc based on enchantment types.^[45]
Gear enhancements (power stones) can be applied to add elemental or energy types of damage.^[45]
Dual wielded weapons will have its own progression based on weapon type.^[46]
Weapon proficiency (based on length of use of a weapon) is not a planned feature.^[44]

Q: Are weapons balanced towards a proficiency system (i.e. the longer I use a sword, the better my damage will be), or will it be a normal RPG stat system with no long-term scaling?

A: We will not be using a proficiency system as described, but players will have passives available in their skill tree that will increase effectiveness of certain weapons. Becoming a master of swords will be something that is possible, just not in that particular manner.^[44] – Sarah Flanagan

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 kind of 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 kind of 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.^[45] – Steven Sharif

Weapon skill tree

Basic weapon attack livestream teaser.^[47]

Part of the plan with each of these weapons is they'll each have a unique skill tree associated with them to differentiate them, not only in terms of feel, but also in terms of mechanics. And an important thing that we really want to capture in Ashes is the important ability basically so the player can build their character how they want; and that extends beyond just their classkits. So for example, if I'm the ranger I can spec into my shortbow or I can spec into my longbow; and those will be two very different builds for example made specialized or have have a part of its tree that specializes and bleeds that might synergize with specific ranger abilities that the longbow might not necessarily synergize with. Their weapon choice will play into what abilities the archetype is specializing in.^[5] – Tradd Thompson

Weapon skills grant passive skills and proc effects and other status conditions rather than usable skills on a player's action bar.^[15] The more skill points that are allocated to the weapon tree, the greater a player's weapon familiarity. This influences things like the number of attacks, attack speed, and increased chances of proc effects from carrying out basic attacks with that weapon. These procs may offer synergy with the player's active skills.^[42]^[2]^[4]^[5]^[43]^[6]^[8]^[7]^[9]^[44]^[45] This synergy also applies to active skills from other characters.^[48]

The weapon use combo system determines special effects that proc based on weapon progression.^[9]^[45]

Our approach is not going to be providing skills through weapons. It's going to be providing skills through classes.^[42] – Steven Sharif

Players can spec into weapon skills on their weapon skill tree (also referred to as Combat skills^[8], and Combat tree^[7]) based on their preferred weapon types and the grade of the weapon.^[2]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Let's say a dagger has some slashing effects that bleed the target or that cripple the target... Every time you attack you have a chance to proc that effect. That effect then can synergize with what your active skills tree has available to it. So let's say your backstab deals 30 additional damage to a bleeding target. If you attack with your main weapon first and the target gets the bleed proc off and you do your backstab skill then you're synergizing your effects.^[7] – Steven Sharif

Let's say backstab that you can apply to deals damage to the target and it'll have a conditional modifier on that damage if you're behind the target, and it'll have a conditional modifier deal additional 50 damage if the target is under a bleed effect. So you want to synergize essentially your weapon proc conditions with your active skills so that you're timing your certain active skills appropriately with the status conditions that the target has taken.^[8] – Steven Sharif

Weapon progression such as set bonuses may change at what level any proc effects occur.^[43]
These procs may reduce or reset cooldowns on other skills on the player's hotbar.^[49]

Classes of weapons

Weapons 3D renders. These are depicted in the Threads of Fate cosmetic costume but are not part of that set. Models by Eli Hurst.^[50]

Weapon classes (also referred to as weapon types and weapon groups) in Ashes of Creation.^[6]

Blunt weapons
Slashing weapons
Piercing weapons

Basic attacks

Alpha-2 Wand basic weapon attack.^[51]

Basic attacks are triggered for the equipped weapon by pressing Q or left-clicking the mouse (these buttons can be re-bound by the player).^[43]

Players can select which weapon they wish to use as their primary weapon for basic attacks.^[10]^[11]^[12]
Different weapon types have different basic attacks.^[52]^[53]
Weapons with projectile attacks are capable of blind firing without having a target.^[54]
- If the player is in action camera mode and their reticle is over a target, they will be able to soft lock onto that target, causing projectiles to home to targets who are within the correct range/angle.^[54]

When you have your weapon and you utilize a basic attack, you can blind fire that weapon, if it has a projectile associated with it, without having to have a target. In addition, if your reticle in action camera mode is over a target, you will have a soft target lock and projectiles will home to that target if within the right angle of direction.^[54] – Steven Sharif

Sequences of basic attacks trigger the combat animation montage based on the weapon type.^[43]
- Using a skill other than a basic attack will in general reset the weapon use combo system.^[49]
The developers are considering per-use consumables/buffs that apply certain rider effects to basic weapon attacks.^[13]

Skill	Icon	Rank 1	Rank 2	Rank 3
Longbow basic attack		A slower, powerful, longer range basic ranged attack. Tapping the basic attack button will shoot normally. Holding the basic attack button will charge the shot (and root the player) to cause added damage.^[55]^[52]^[53]
Shortbow basic attack		A fast, low power, short range basic ranged attack. Holding down the basic attack button will repeatedly fire.^[52]^[53]

Weapon use combo system

Alpha-2 Mage demonstrating a Frostbolt, Lightning Strike, and Wand weapon attack combo.^[56]

This is a single Target projectile attack that applies two stacks of Chilled to the enemy; and then after that hit him with a few wand attacks. Now you'll see that you've gotten a Frozen status effect on him and then he timed that really well there... in that very last frame you'll see that he hit him with a lightning effect... So that's a good way to get your burst damage if you're rotating your spells and your elements the correct way.^[56] – Keenan Reimer

Work-in-progress Alpha-2 basic weapon attack combos.^[57]

The ability for for a spell Caster or just any player with their archetype having the option to weave in-between those rotations and those spells and to create successful combinations within their kit that you amplify the DPS or the status conditions or the control effects, or whatever it is your is your end goal. Having a rotation that emphasizes your ability to succeed or fail in those combos I think is compelling from a gameplay perspective.^[58] – Steven Sharif

A weapon use combo system (also referred to as Weapon attack combo, Weapon combo, Combo system^[9], and Weapon use ability^[59]) is utilized instead of a traditional auto-attack ability in Ashes of Creation.^[4]^[9]^[60]

The combo system consists of a sequence of combat animations based on the weapon type, referred to as a combat animation montage.^[43]
- Combos are triggered by performing basic weapon attacks (default Q or left-mouse-click).^[49]

Let's say for example you're using a two-handed warhammer or something and you have a number of weapon combos that play animation style based on how many combos deep you go into an attack with that warhammer. So the first is going to be like a forward swing. Second is going to be a back swing. The third is going to be swing down and the fourth is going to be some twirl that you do; and that's what we call the combo animation montage.^[43] – Steven Sharif

This system plays heavily into the weapon skill trees, which are planned for Alpha-2 and beyond.^[61]

The way that the weapon skill tree works is that at different stages of that combat montage you have available procs that can occur. The first swing might be a small stagger that decreases your opponent's accuracy by 15, that could be a proc that you could that you could spec into that decrease in accuracy- might be a status condition called stagger or bewildered or whatever- and that might exist for three or four seconds. Your second option from a skill tree perspective might be on the swing back. You have some type of tapering slow effect that lasts over three seconds- some type of tapering snare; and then the third step strike down might be some potential one second stun status modifier; and each of these you can spec into additional points to increase the chance that these proc.^[43] – Steven Sharif

Depending on class skill choice these effects will have synergy effects with the combat montage.^[43]

Depending on what your class skill choice has been those are going to have synergy effects with the weapon skill tree. So my skill called spin-to-win might do 30 additional damage on a staggered target. So I see when my proc occurs with the stagger effect on my first swing, like for me as a player I might be only interested in landing that first swing, so every now and then I'm gonna swing once and then I'm gonna use a skill and then I'm gonna come back and swing again because that'll play my first swing montage, because it's been interrupted. So I won't move to the second one because I'm really just wanna hit that stagger effect. So that's going to be how my rotation lines up. However I might have some skill that on a stun target it might be an immediate cast and it's like some power you push or power hit; and that does- it knocks back a stun target. So if the target's stunned when this skill plays, it has an added effect of knock down and now they're gonna get knocked down for an additional two seconds. Now I might spec into that and as a result I want to finish through: swing, swing, and then knock down. So I get my chance at stunning that target with that weapon skill.^[43] – Steven Sharif

Weapon progression such as set bonuses may change at what level any proc effects occur and therefore enable different combo rotations.^[43]

You may have items or set bonuses that change at what level those proc occurs. So I may have a full set of battle armor that changes all third hit combo procs to second hit requirements and now I have a chance not only on my second hit to land that tapering slow but I also have a chance to land my one second stun proc because I have the full set that changes my weapon progression. So that's the way itemization works with your weapon skill tree, is you can enhance when those weapon skill trees become available in your combat montage and that can be a relevant factor in how your skill rotations come to play; and mixes with your weapon attacks.

Weapon skill choices and rotations will vary based on whether the player is more focused on PvP or PvE.^[43]

Right now some people might just say, "I don't care at all about my weapon attacks. I'm not going to invest a lot of points into that. And if I do, it's going to be primarily PvE focused where I'm more comfortable using just swinging my weapon, and I may not use them as much in PvP. I'm just going to be focused on skill rotations." That's okay, but the reason for those skill montages- back to your question- is they have a very relevant role in when certain procs come online from a weapons skill tree perspective.^[43] – Steven Sharif

Using a skill/ability other than a basic attack will in general reset the combo.^[49]
- The developers are considering specific abilities might be able to be used without resetting the combo system.^[49]

It acts similar in the sense of the core loop of what an auto attack is so to speak; where typically your other skills have a cooldown period, they have a rotation or whatever: Our combo system is a repeatable skill effect that you can continually attack with but it's a little bit more involved than what a traditional auto attack is; and it has components from a from an advancement standpoint when it comes to the types of procs that your weapon can have during that combo system... It's not going to have the quick time event that you guys saw early on in PAX and gave great feedback on, but it is going to have development with regards to the power of the weapon the type of weapon you're using, the additional proc effects that you can skill into: Those types of things are going to make it a little bit more complex of a system capture.^[9] – Steven Sharif

Weapon weights

Alpha-2 shield, spear, and mace 3D renders.^[62]

Weapon weight refers to how the mass of a weapon affects its performance during combat.^[63]

Light weapons have fewer restrictions on player agency and motion.^[64]
Medium weapons exist on a spectrum between light and heavy weapons.^[64]
Heavy weapons will increasingly lock the player in place during portions of the combat animation.^[64]

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 kind of aspect; and so what we've done by presenting you guys with both the dual daggers and the two-handed weapon is we've kind of 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.^[64] – Steven Sharif

Weapon targeting

Ranger hybrid combat in Alpha-2.^[65]

Our desire has always and continues to be how we can create a mixture of tab target abilities and skill-shot oriented positional, directional-based ability usage and make something cohesive in that design. And I think that what we're achieving with that regard may not fully feel like an action-oriented game, but we've always intended to be more hybrid-oriented, leaning towards tab target. So you're going to see a mixture of abilities that require the targets and that don't; and then you're going to have an option as the player's perspective to utilize an action camera mode, which utilizes a soft target lock feature and our reticle.^[66] – Steven Sharif

Hybrid combat refers to the choice between tab and action combat in Ashes of Creation.^[66]^[67]^[68]^[69]^[70]^[71] A toggle button (default Z, but can be re-bound to another key) allows the player to switch between action and tab combat modes.^[66]^[72]^[73]^[74]^[75]

The action mode camera is tied to the to the player's reticle (crosshair).^[66]^[76]^[77]
- There will likely be a hotkey that when held down will allow free camera movement in action mode.^[77]
- In future the user will have the ability to choose from different reticle appearances.^[78]

Targeted skills require either a soft or hard locked target.^[66]^[76]
- Soft locking is when the reticle moves over a valid target while in action mode. The targeting plate will appear slightly grayed out to indicate that this is a soft-lock target. If the reticle moves away from the target or the target moves away from the reticle, the target is lost.^[76]
- Hard locking is when the player uses right-mouse on a soft-locked target in action mode, or when the player selects a valid target in tab mode. The targeting plate will not be grayed-out to indicate that a hard-lock target is selected. Unlike soft locking, if the target moves out of the reticle, the target is not lost. Tab will still cycle between hard-locked targets in action mode based on proximity priority.^[10]^[76]

Templated skills allow "blind firing" without a target while in action mode. If an entity moves into the path of the attack they can be struck.^[66]^[79]^[80]^[76]

Q: What the benefits are for tab versus action. I feel like a lot of people feel like tab is just easier so why would I use action?

A: If you're in a massive brawl, the ability to pick and choose targets that are far in the back line that might might be more advantageous towards tab target users because they're able to click, but the reaction time to acquire a target for a cursor versus acquiring a target for a reticle is much faster and less cumbersome because it doesn't require as many actions on behalf of the user.^[81] – Steven Sharif

Templated and targeted versions of skills will have different characteristics.^[82]^[72]^[83]^[84]^[85]

Skill progressions, skill point allocation is determined by the player. The player will be able to choose either more tab-target oriented skills or more action-based skills and customize their playable experience to what accommodates their preference. From a balancing standpoint for us developers, we need to make sure that certain abilities house certain functions so that there's a balance between skill shots and tab-target abilities.^[84] – Steven Sharif

Targeted skills will be greyed out if the target is not within a valid range but templated skills will generally require the player to assess the correct range for the skill.^[86]

Different ranks of the same skill can change the skill from tab to action or vice-versa.^[87]
- Variables will change based on which version of a skill is chosen.^[85]
  - Damage.^[85]
  - Charge up time.^[85]
  - Accuracy.^[82]
  - Evasion.^[82]
  - Crowd control.^[82]^[85]
  - Cooldown.^[88]
  - Energy consumption.^[88]
  - Cost to spec.^[88]
  - Attack range will likely remain the same; as it is driven by the weapon or skill itself.^[89]

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

It may not be possible to be able to fully spec into just action or tab targeted skills. There might be a 75% cap on choosing skills from any one type.^[84]
For the purposes of balance, certain skill types will be either tab or action oriented skills.^[88]
- Hard CCs may be housed in action oriented skills because they are skill shots that are more difficult to land.^[88]^[84]
- Softer CC's would be housed in tab-targeted abilities.^[88]

As an example: Let's say you're playing a ranged class. You could have an action-oriented power shot in your skill tree or you could have a single target power shot that ramps up and does more damage.^[85] – Steven Sharif

Forward attack cone (cleaving)

Weapon attack cone in Alpha-1.^[74]

As I attack I am hitting multiple numbers of these opponents; and that's important because all weapons, regardless of whether you are in reticle mode or tab-targeting mode will be able to have a action-based type weapon attack. Not active skill, but weapon attack.^[74] – Steven Sharif

All weapons have a forward attack cone, regardless of being in tab or action mode.^[74]

The cone's arc and distance will vary based on weapon type.^[74]

Polearms for example will have a much wider arc and much further out. Daggers will have a more fine-tuned arc, so you have to be more precise in that regard.^[74] – Steven Sharif

This is described as a weapon attack not an active skill.^[74]

It was previously stated that cleaving will be a class ability for some classes.^[90]

Class weapons and armor

Weapons and armor are not class locked, but certain classes are more efficient with certain types of weapons or armor.^[91]^[92] Certain abilities require certain items to be equipped.^[93]

Weapons are intended to be somewhat agnostic in the sense that you can find a way for a weapon to be utilized by different classes. Not just the rogue is going to be able to use daggers. Because if you restrict equipment through that, it makes the economy more difficult to have sustainability across the market of items.^[94] – Steven Sharif

Q: We had stated that we were going to allow people to use any class combination, which would be both your archetypes together, being able to use any weapon. Do we see problems that could occur with that, for instance like a bow tank, or an orb tank or things like- will there be some strangeness there, or are there problems that you first are foreseeing in the future?

A: We're giving a lot of flexibility to the crafters in our game. They get to help define the stat block that a particular item, weapon, or gear has; and that stat block can be relevant to any particular class or archetype combination. So in that sense the idea is, no not to see any strangeness there or not to see any elements that would dissuade a person from that customization perspective.^[95] – Steven Sharif

Racial weapons and armor

Armor racial appearances in early Alpha-1.^[96]

Violet light and myself are wearing exactly the same armor set right: Same stats, same everything, but it drops for her it looks one way, it drops for me it looks another way; and... a small part of that is gender, but then the other part of it is race. So because I was a Vaelune in that playthrough my armor was in the Vaelune style; and when she picked it up it was in the elven style because she was an elf. So that kind of gives you an example of sort of the breadth of looks that we're going for and how we kind of try to capture like who you are as as a character and kind of allow you to kind of build your look that way.^[97] – Jeffrey Bard

Dünir and Empyrean racially styled armor concept art by Keith Kovach.^[98]

We have essentially sets that exist across all races; and each race that dons those armor sets is going to have their own racial influence on the presentation of those particular sets. So that's something that's unique in how each of the races get diversified.^[99] – Steven Sharif

Weapons and armor are not race locked, but armor will take on a racial appearance.^[99]^[100]^[101]

The customization of equipment per race is really focused on Armor sets not Weapon props. Weapon props will, from a model standpoint, will translate pretty one-to-one across the races.^[102] – Steven Sharif

Racial appearance of gear is focused on Armor. Weapons will not change in appearance but will scale in size based on race.^[103]^[102]

Let's say for example you have the Eagle set or something, right: The Eagle set has in art, it has a thematic design that's going to include certain attachments to the armor. It's going to include color palette and theme. It's going to have some aspects to it that define it as the Eagle set, right. When a Elf wears the Eagle set or when an Orc wears the Eagle set, you obviously have two different cultures there; and you don't want to stomp out that culture by assigning a de facto 'This is the Eagle set and this is how it looks on everybody.' What we want to have is cultural influences play a role in showing how that set looks.^[102] – Steven Sharif

Racial appearance of gear sets is tied to the character model of that race.^[104]

When you say, what if I'm an Orc but want to look like an Elf and I want my Eagle set to be the Elf representation? Well the issue becomes there that you know Orcs have a different organic model. You know, their body is different than that of the Elf. So, from a scope-creep standpoint, it's one thing to add different influences that represent the cultures that are donning the armor; it's another thing to adapt each influence as a matrix that can be worn pretty much by everything. From a scope perspective, that's a very difficult task for the character artists to kind of tackle. So instead what we've done is, in order to facilitate a variety of cultural representation between the races but allow for the sharing of assets like different armor sets, we give different representations of those armor sets to each race.^[104] – Steven Sharif

Gear slots

Alpha-2 character sheet work-in-progress UI.^[105]

We wanted to create something that would handle a couple of different roles, with obviously your equipment slots for what we call a "paper doll", which is that display of your character. Eventually it won't just be a image of your character, we hope to have the 3D character and be able to rotate around, look at what you're wearing. And then we wanted to support a couple of different features here, with some base stats; the equipment, which will show what equipment you have available to quick swap, so you don't have to have your inventory and the screen open; detailed stats for those people who want to get into all of the details; and then of course gear sets. So this is going to be able to swap to your sets of gear quickly; and being able to save different loadouts.^[105] – Colby Marchi

There are multiple gear slots in Ashes of Creation.^[105]

Artisan gear may be able to be equipped in an "undergarment" slot that can be toggled between adventuring gear and artisan gear.^[106]

Previously it was stated there were 16 gear slots.^[107]
- 8 Armor slots
- 5 Jewelry slots
- 2 Weapons slots
- 1 Ranged slot

Items on back and belt

Backpack sockets (slots).^[108]

The idea is to kind of move away from the mundane kind of application of belts in previous MMOs where they don't really have a lot of character so to speak. But in reality you know as an adventurer you come with a lot of tools and things that you have to use out in the wild in order to achieve what you're trying to achieve. So we wanted to kind of represent that on your character and give you something that can actually be tangible for your character and see there. I think it adds a lot of character and flavor to your identity.^[109] – Steven Sharif

Mage character with material components for spell casting attached to its belt.^[110]

A big component of the MMORPG that - half of that you know acronym is RPG role-playing game. And in order to role-play you need to be able to represent kind of what your character is doing in that world and you know part of what animation is doing is creating these sockets on the let's say the belt or the back that you know can plug in certain types of props or items that are created by the character team, like Carson, you know might be a scroll tube, it might be a potion, it might be whatever: Those players will have the ability as we've discussed in the past will have the ability to select what they want to be represented in those sockets and then animation will make sure that jibe well in movement.^[108] – Steven Sharif

Back slots include.^[111]

Weapon.^[112] Previously this was stated as a ranged weapon.^[113]^[111]
Shield.^[113]^[111]
Cloak/Cape.^[112]^[113]^[111]
Accessory (backpack etc).^[112]^[111]

Belt slots (hip slots) include.^[113]^[111]

Melee weapon (2 slots - one on each side).^[111]
Potion, pouch, scroll.^[113]^[114]

Players can set the appearance priority for the items they wish to show.^[113]^[114]^[115] Only one item can show at a time, and that is determined by player choice.^[111]

There'll be a priority system behind that that'll determine... do I show the Bow if the Greatsword is unequipped or do I show the Polearm if the Greatsword is unequipped.^[115] – Jeffrey Bard

Some ranged or melee abilities require a specific weapon to be equipped. Weapons that are equipped in the character's ranged or offhand slots will automatically swap in and out as required by the skill.^[10]^[11]^[12]

Weapons are able to be sheathed.^[111]^[116]
Idle animations will be selectible by players in the character creator.^[117]

Ranged weapons

Pre-alpha Ranger bow modeled by Jon Arellano and concepted by Jeff Delierre.

A character may equip up to two hand weapons and also wear a ranged weapon on their back.^[11]^[12]^[111]

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.^[11]^[12]
There will be a setting to determine if the ranged weapon or main/offhand selection is your primary weapon to use for Q or left-mouse-button basic attacks.^[11]^[12]

Let's say you use Power shot: You click Power shot, you quickly switch over to the ranged weapon, execute the skill, and you're back to your primary focus, which is the the sword and shield; and then for weapon attacks like your Q or your left mouse button, you would have the option to to set which is your focus, the ranged weapon, or the main offhand selection and you can swap back and forth between that as you want.^[11] – Steven Sharif

Rangers are going to have a minimum distance requirement where they are eligible to use their ranged weapons.^[118]

Augments can increase the range of certain skills.^[119]

While melee characters have a max distance proximity where they're eligible to use their sword and melee weapons, Rangers are going to have a minimum distance requirement.^[118] – Steven Sharif

Melee weapons

Low-level shield, one-handed mace, and two-handed staff 3D renders from Alpha-2.^[120]

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.^[120] – Steven Sharif

Melee weapons have a maximum range of effect.^[118]

There are two melee weapon slots: One on each side of a character's belt.^[111]

Dual wielding

Dual daggers 3D render. Modelled by Carson Steil, concept by Jeff Delierre.^[121]

Dual wielding will be permitted for selected one handed weapons.^[122]^[123]

Dual weapons are treated as single items that when equipped will occupy both main and off-hand gear slots.^[122]
There is a limited selection of weapons that can be dual wielded.^[122]
Shields cannot be dual wielded.^[124]^[123]
Great swords probably can't be dual wielded.^[125]

Q: How will animations work while dual wielding weapons of A) a different type, for example an axe and a dagger; or B) different weapon speeds?

A: Dual weapons will have their own animation sets; and... there will be a limited selection of which weapons can be dual weapons. Players will make that selection. They'll create those dual weapons as as bespoke single items that when equipped will occupy both the main and offhand; and then how we handle the attack speeds is we offer animations at a particular speed and then we adjust that with a modifier based on whatever is influencing that: either increase or slow down in speed.^[122] – Steven Sharif

Weapon swapping

Alpha-2 Mage swapping from a Greatsword to a Wand while in combat.^[126]

Weapon swapping is possible while in combat but armor cannot be swapped while in combat.^[127]^[128]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[129]

You may not swap armor when you're in combat, but you may swap your weapons; and there's obviously a few reasons of why this can be important: We're a itemization agnostic class design, so players equip with items that there are most necessary based on the adversary or the challenge that they're facing; and so we want that to be available for players to swap with weapons.^[127] – Steven Sharif

Previously it was stated that swapping weapons (from inventory) into a hand or range slot is not possible in combat.^[128] Prior to this, weapon swapping was said to be subject to a cooldown period (in the range of a few seconds) following any damage taken or done by the player.^[130]^[131]

Guns and gunpowder

The Gilded Galleon pre-order pack cosmetic ship skin.^[132]

The potion launcher idea will be incorporated as part of how cannons operate on ships; and these will be very large potion launchers obviously. The storage of this ammunitions are going to be very important as well... It's not going to be the same potion every time. You can equip the cannon with different types of potions that have different types of effects from a munitions standpoint; and I think that's going to provide a very cool gameplay because as you see the different color of the trail that's coming out of the potion launched, you'll be aware of what your adversary is using and how that affects your ship; and you'll be able to counter based on maneuverability, based on whatever you want to counter that with. I think that's going to present a very interesting dynamic to the attacks with these ships.^[32] – Steven Sharif

Gunpowder (black powder) weapons will not be present in Ashes of Creation.^[133]^[134]

Ships will utilize a larger form of potion launcher in place of canons. These canons will be able to be equipped with different potions that have different effects.^[32]

I previously said there was not going to be gunpowder in Ashes. What there will be is something very similar to gunpowder but has a more arcane nature to it. It's not necessarily going to be explainable through the conventional means of chemistry, metallurgy, and physics and what not, but rather the Essence is the core component of many types of magic, one of which is obviously going to be evocation type magic; and that evocation can have some explosive tendencies.^[133] – Steven Sharif

Weaponry such as Potion launchers, Siege weapons and weapons used in Naval combat are based on the arcane arts.^[32]^[133]^[135]

The elements (evocation magic).^[133]^[135]
The use of radiance and darkness.^[135]

As we said in the past, were not really about that black powder life. Instead it's really going to be focused on the arcane arts: The elements; the use of radiance and darkness; and then those being employed in larger weaponry, such as the type of siege weaponry between ship battles as well as those and sieges. A potion launcher is an example of the arcane energies that can be mastered in order to facilitate these highly destructive alchemical blends that can be created.^[135] – Steven Sharif

Ship weapons

Ship weapons are used for both naval PvP and PvE.^[136]

There will be projectile-based weapons that require leading the target and predicting the movement of the opponent.^[136]

There are faster projectile weapons that have shorter flight times and thus require less prediction, such as harpoons, which impacts a target within within one or two seconds.^[136]

Potion launchers are used in place of canons on ships.^[32] These fire slower projectiles that can take upwards of three to five seconds to impact, depending on the angle of the firing.^[136]

Gear enhancement

Gear enhancements (power stones/runes) can be applied to weapons to add elemental or energy types of damage.^[45]^[137]

Gear enhancements do not increase an item's level requirement.^[138]

We are very likely going to have a rune system and then we'll have the ability to sort of enchant weapons outside of that too... That's not always going to be like a vertical progression... Some of it's going to be giving up something to get something else; so maybe I do less physical damage but more magical damage, that kind of thing.^[137] – Jeffrey Bard

Progression in various PvP systems will unlock enchantment stones that grant temporary PvP-focused benefits to gear (via a socketing system).^[139] Performance is measured over six month PvP seasons.^[140]
- Guild wars.^[139]
- Arenas.^[139]
- Caravan PvP.^[139]

It's not as though you're going to necessarily acquire these once and then you're set for your PvP enchantments, but instead you'll have to continually perform month after month in order to keep having those slotted enchantments.^[139] – Steven Sharif

Enchanting

Enchanting is not an artisan profession in its own right. Scribes create scrolls that can be utilized by different professions to create enchantments relating to that profession.^[141]^[142]

Enchantment scrolls can be sold on the open market.^[141]^[143]

Enchanting does not increase an item's level requirement.^[138]

You don't really push a particular item's level requirement or the identity of that item. You can enhance it, you can add enchantments to it, but it's still the item it is.^[138] – Steven Sharif

Enchanting weapons applies visual effects, such as glows and colors.^[144]

Power creep

The developers intend to limit power creep via item sinks, the lack of gear binding, and the absence of pay-to-win or pay-to-convenience in Ashes of Creation.^[40]

Item rarities

Item rarities in Ashes of Creation.

Legendary items

There is a small RNG chance of looting rare and legendary items or crafting materials from mobs based on the level, status and type of mob. This also applies to harvesting resources with a gathering profession.^[151]

There is a much higher chance that materials and unique recipes are dropped that can be used to craft items of equitable value.^[152]^[153]^[154]
Legendary equipment is only dropped by Legendary world bosses.^[155]
- Legendary equipment will have a roughly 6-12% improvement in base stats, subject to testing and balancing.^[156]

At each stage from Gatherer to Processor to Crafter you are required to have certain prerequisites before those elite types of materials can be essentially gathered, processed, or crafted.^[153] – Steven Sharif

Gatherers must have high quality tools to gather rare resources.^[153]
Processors must have high tier processing buildings on their freehold to produce rare materials.^[153]
Crafters must also satisfy certain prerequisites to craft legendary equipment.^[153]

The amount of effort needed and interdependencies across the different types of players – between raiders and PvPers and crafters and even role players and the taverns and businesses: the processors and gatherers – all of those systems will likely have a component that lends toward creating or crafting that legendary item... We want to stay away from the highly RNGd system, and instead take our multiple progression paths that we are offering the players and put the construction components for achieving these legendary items within them so it encourages communities to work together because it's going to be difficult for just one person by themselves to gather everything. Not to say that they couldn't in an economic sense, by buying those components, that's possible. But achieving them from a time investment standpoint we want it to be considerably less RNG focussed.^[154] – Steven Sharif

Certain legendary items may be limited to one per server at any given time.^[157]^[158]

If the player character leaves the server then the item will become available for acquisition through whatever means it was acquired previously.^[157]

There are absolutely legendary items and they're not items that are attained easily nor are they granted out in a volume. There might even be items that are single items that will exist on the server at any given time.^[158]

A legendary weapon is easily distinguished by its visual appearance.^[154]

It will be a very ornate and detailed weapon, more so than any other weapon or piece of equipment in the game. It will also include some awesome looking effects that won't too gaudy, you know they won't be too bright and shiny so that it doesn't look good, but they will be subtle and people will notice it and know wow that guy has this weapon.^[154] – Steven Sharif

Legendary items are not intended to be temporary.^[159]

A notable exception to this is Royal mounts.^[160]

The fact there is only one of them... or very very few of them depending on what it is. I think that in and of itself is a balance component right and you need to make sure that the players who are striving for those legendary things and who are devoting the time energy, resources in order to achieve them are accurately rewarded... We do not intend on having legendary items that are temporary.^[159] – Steven Sharif

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

Discovery of legendary items will unlock further chapters of the Lore.^[161]

Gear sets

Equipping the Titanbark gear set in Alpha-2.^[162]

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.^[36] – Steven Sharif

Empyrean tier 2 (level 20) early Alpha-1 leather armor non-cosmetic set 3D renders.^[163]

Gear sets (also known as tier sets) are a part of Ashes of Creation.^[36]^[37]

Different tiers of gear are accessible based on a character's level.^[36]^[37]
Players gain bonuses depending on the number of pieces of the set they have equipped.^[36]^[37]
- An overarching set effect is granted to wearers of exclusively one type of armor, for example: all cloth, or all plate.^[164]
- Certain set bonuses may trade off core gear stats.^[165]
- There may be set bonuses that members of certain communities will obtain based on gear set type.^[37]
There are passive abilities that can be chosen to become more adept with certain set types.^[37]
There will be viable non-set builds.^[165]
Racial appearance of gear sets is tied to the character model of that race.^[104]
It may be possible to store and swap gear sets with a single button press when out of combat.^[166]

Approximately 49 unique gear sets are obtainable in Alpha-1 from crafting, quests, drops and exploration.^[167]

These are unique sets with different stats, but some may be similar in appearance.^[167]

Best in slot weapons

Crafted items are best-in-slot in Ashes of Creation.^[168] Previously it was stated that crafted items will be on-par with best-in-slot items.^[169]
What is considered best-in-slot is based on a character's role and the type of monster they are facing.^[170]
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.^[171]

Gear appearance

Alpha-1 female plate armor 3D render.^[172]

We want to be realistic with the application of particular types of armor, such as plate armor. In this regard for the different sexes there's a fine line that has to be drawn between accentuating the form of the sex as well as making it somewhat realistic and actually applicable to the environment.^[172] – Steven Sharif

Gear is intended to be realistic in appearance.^[173]^[174]

There will not be "oversized" weapons.^[175]
Armor will not be overly sexual in appearance.^[174]
I'm more of the mind that it wouldn't really serve a purpose to have bikini plate armor, just in like reality, if you're going to have armor, it should be protective. I think from a fashion statement is enjoyable for some people, but it's a kind of an immersive issue.^[173] – Steven Sharif
- Some armor and costumes will be more revealing than others, but there will not be nudity in the game.^[176]
There might be sliders, but there are not gonna be naked sliders.^[176] – Steven Sharif

Armor will take on a racial appearance.^[102] Weapons will scale in size based on race.^[103]

Each race is getting its custom geo pieces, which then will share thematic components such as color palette, attachments, design filigree. Those types of things will get shared across the geo but generally you're going to see unique races with unique geo.^[177] – Steven Sharif

Cosmetics can be used by all races but there may be slight variations to make them work with the body builds of each race.^[178]

Players can change gear colors using dyes.^[179]^[180]

Helmet display can be toggled on and off.^[181]

Hair will likely be masked if helmet display is toggled on.^[182]

Particle effects are used to denote the importance and rarity of some weapons.^[183]

Crafters are able to influence what their crafted items will look like.^[184]^[185]

Weapons are able to be sheathed.^[111]^[116]

Appearance slots/Transmogs

Gear will have appearance slots (Transmutation/Transmog/cosmetic slots) that are used to copy the appearance of an item (in some cases).^[186]^[37]

There are rules when applying cosmetics to specific items, unlike costumes, which don't have level restrictions.^[187]
Cosmetic slots can be toggled on or off on their character by the player.^[188]
A "default player appearance" may be automatically applied during sieges or other large scale battles to improve client-side performance.^[189]^[190]

Cosmetics, whether purchased from the shop or earned in game, are an important component of MMORPGS I personally enjoy; and there's a lot of collectors out there who spend a great deal of time either in-game achieving these things or spend money purchasing them from the cosmetic only marketplace; and we don't want to demean or reduce that achievement or that expenditure. So it's going to be situational where the default appearance will be applied and can be activated.^[189] – Steven Sharif

Kickstarter weapon skins

Kickstarter backers will receive a unique weapon skin.^[191]

Usable on all types of weapons.
Include subtle and tasteful glow/particle effects.

Summoned weapons

Classes with a Summoner secondary may grant augmented skills that summon weapons. These summoned weapons are not able to be equipped.^[192]
- The word "equip" only applies to items. There are currently no plans to include summoning items into a player's inventory or character slots. It may however be possible to change the appearance and damage type/data of a weapon through the use of a spell.^[193]
- There are summoned weapons that appear as a spell VFX to damage opponents for a period of time.^[194] These will not be able to be wielded, since weilding implies an item in a character equipment slot.^[195]