Weapon level: Difference between revisions

In the original Archanea games, it is a stat which can be increased upon level up. If the unit's stat is greater than or equal to the weapon's level requirement, the unit can use that weapon, provided their class allows it. Weapon level numbers in these games were not standardized as they are today; for example, in most modern games, all silver weapons are leveled at B, but in the original Archanea games, the [[Silver Sword]] was level 9, the [[Silver Lance]] and [[Silver Bow]] were level 7, and the [[Silver Axe]] was level 10.

Modern weapon levels exist as a progressive scale of individual levels denoted by letters, ranging from E to A (or sometimes S); in almost all games the lowest possible weapon level is E, with weapons of this level usable by any unit with access to the matching weapon type. Generally speaking, the higher a weapon's level, the more [[Might|powerful]] it is in exchange for greater [[Weight (weapon)|weight]], [[worth]] and lower [[durability]]. This progression is usually made evident in the naming scheme of weapons; for example, most physical weapon types come in a set of basic Bronze/Iron/Steel/Silver variants, while anima magic types possess a series of increasing prefixes with the exception of the most powerful basic spell (e.g. [[Fire]]/[[Elfire]]/[[Arcfire]]/[[Bolganone]]). Typically, the game's highest level (normally A or S) is reserved for a set of powerful or holy weapons which are often central to the game's plot. Depending on the game, [[personal weapons]] are either separated from the core level system or still have a level while being locked to individual units.

In almost all uses of the system, weapon levels can be increased by gaining [[weapon experience]] (abbreviated as WEx), with the unit's level increasing by one after their weapon experience reaches a certain threshold. In this system, all weapons have an associated WEx value (hidden from the player's view), and when a unit uses that weapon they gain the weapon's amount of WEx every time they successfully use the weapon to strike an enemy or, in the case of most [[staves]], to heal an ally. The exceptions to this system are ''Genealogy of the Holy War'' and {{FE17}}, where weapon levels are almost entirely static and are dictated primarily by a unit's [[class]]. In ''Genealogy'', units who possess [[Holy Blood]] have their weapon levels altered depending on what kind of blood they possess. In ''Engage'', every unit has one weapon type they are innately more proficient with, marked in blue on the weapon proficiency sheet; this weapon's level will be increased by one when the unit is in a class that can use that weapon—for example, [[Paladin]] naturally has A-level in [[lance]]s, but a unit proficient in lances will have S-level lances as a Paladin. A unit can gain additional proficiencies by increasing their [[bond level]] with [[Emblem]]s.