SAO Sword Skill & Weapon Breakdowns

by BK Brent

ALL

Sword Skills & Weapon Breakdowns for Sword Art Online Characters

This post contains information about all the various SAO Sword Skills for all the respective weapons in the game.

If you are looking for information on the SAO Chara Magic & Buff skills:

mahou

You can also find more information on each individual character on the Character Guides pages.

Currently, all of the names of the Sword Skills listed on this page were translated from the Japanese version of the game. This will most likely be updated when the English version comes out.

If you do not have a Sword Skill, there will be a red % bar indicating your progress toward unlocking it. This can be increased by landing Square or Triangle attacks with the specific weapon. In the event that a Sword Skill’s requirement is listed as “???”, it is unlocked through story events.

*Since version 1.20, Weapon Proficiency can be gained by landing Sword Skills.

I said this in the General Leveling Guide as well but, For you main weapon, every skill is worth equipping and leveling. For each Sword Skill in your pallet, you get 10% more damage in skill connect combos. Not putting a Sword Skill in your pallet is like saying NO to free damage.

CONTENTS:

~SWORD SKILLS TYPES~

There are various kinds of Sword Skills each denoted by the kind of icon and the respective amount of dots they have.

First, the number of dots on the lower portion of the icon indicates the grade of the sword skill. 1 dot indicates Grade 1 whereas 4 dots indicates Grade 4. The grade of a sword skill affects its cooldown time, damage & the order in which you unlock them.

Next, the kind of icon dictates what type of sword skill it is. There are generally 10 kinds of Sword Skills:

  1. Area of Effect: Covers a wide area which lets you attack multiple enemies with one skill.
  2. Rushing: Closes in on target and usually attacks along a path.
  3. Invulnerability: Allows you to temporarily ignore damage during a portion of the sword skill
  4. Multi-hit Projectile: Fires a number of individual projectiles at a target.
  5. Projectile: A ranged attack that enable you to attack from a distance.
  6. Counter: Absorbs damage to retaliate with a strong counterattack.
  7. Power/Single Strike: This is those “ichigeki” type attacks. This is typically one very strong and fast attack.
  8. Combo: This is a combination of attacks. Can be short or long depending on skill rank.
  9. Guard Break: Special Sword Skills with Guard Break properties on hit.
  10. OSS: Original Sword Skill. Extra special skills that are unique to a certain character.

———————————

~DUAL BLADES~

  • Kirito
  • Rain

Slash Damage.

Has the 3 Highest Damage in the game behind Axe & 2Hand Sword.

Dual Blades’ movelist is based around building up quick Skill Connect Chains into long combo type sword skills. It has tools for covering distance and a solid counter. If you play Rain, you also have access to the strongest projectile Sword Skill in the game.

All of the longer sword skills do in fact have Super Armor which means that you can play Dual Blades with little regard for defense or reading attacks. If you do this, you’ll probably spend a lot of time being dead on  the floor in high difficulty quests. A lot of Dual Blades’ power comes from the lengthy combo skills (Starburst, Skill Explode, Eclipse) which only leaves you with two options for damage output – play it safe and wait for a DOWN or GO IN and be a burden to the team in terms of healing. Thankfully, Cross Specula (counter) has some good DOWN potential which means that you could always be looking for a Counter and go combo into the longer Sword Skills.

Overall, Dual Blades needs a good amount of patience and discipline to be effective. If you want to be that guy who will just use Eclipse and take 75% damage any time, go right ahead. Just expect your healer teammates to sop caring about out after a while.

I would recommend Dual Blades to players who are okay with patiently waiting for their chance to do damage and players that are good at counters.

Its worth noting that each weapon in Dual Blades is treated as an individual weapon and it is desirable to make two identical swords if you want to maximize Dual Blades’ damage output.

NAME

SKILL DESCRIPTION
 OSS2 Crow Combination Kirito’s OSS. Inspired by Silver Crow. Gale Slicer  > Silver Crow’s Dive Attack.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 OSS4 Skill Explode Kirito’s OSS. Uses the Dual Blades as if they were 2 1H Swords. Sharp Nail > Horizontal Square > Meteor Fall > Radiant Arc > Vorpal Strike.

  • COOLDOWN: 30
 ProjectileOSS Thousand Sword Rain Rain’s OSS. Summons multiple blades around her and sends them at a target.

  • COOLDOWN: 30
 Rushing1 Gale Slicer Rushing attack. Quickly rushes forward attacking any enemies in path.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 AoE1  End Revolver Area of Effect attack. Spins in place with both blades extended.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Power1 Double Circular Single Strike attack. Looks similar to the Guarding Attack in Lost Song. Has short range.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Power2 Cygnus Onslaught Power attack. Crosses both blades on a single point leaving a cool looking X effect on the screen. Tracks target on start-up.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Counter2 Specula Cross  Counter attack. Drops into defensive stance and counters incoming physical attacks with a quick 1-2 strike.

*Only activates upon receiving damage during start-up of attack (Projectiles & magic do not count).

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Combo3  Starburst Stream  Combo attack. Swift 16-hit combo. Total duration is somewhat long.

  • COOLDOWN: 15
 Combo4  The Eclipse  Powerful combo attack. 27-hit combo. Extremely long duration (10 seconds?) Be careful how you use this skill because an enemy can move away halfway through it.

  • COOLDOWN: 30

 ~ 1 HAND SWORD~

  • Yuuki
  • Phillia
  • Leafa
  • Lux
  • Rain
  • Kirito
  • Sumeragi
  • Oberon

Slash Damage.

Has mid range damage.

1Hand Sword has a solid list of skills incorporating AoE, charging attacks, power attacks and swift-but-damaging combo sword skills. The only thing 1Hand Sword is really missing is a Counter skill, an invul/guard point skill and a projectile.

1Hand Sword is surprisingly strong. Its most damaging attacks are Radiant Arc, Vorpal Strike, Nova Ascension and Mother’s Rosario. 1Hand Sword is good at building up quick Skill Connect combos into one of those power skills. There’s a lot of variety in the kinds of chains you can do but I would recommend you to use Radiant Arc as frequently as possible. Radiant Arc puts up mini-Tyr damage in one strike so it is perfect as a swift ender to a combo you started off a small opening in a boss.

Vorpal Strike and Around Arc can also be used mid combo as Quick Escapes if you think you are going to get hit during the next skill in the chain. Vorpal Strike has some startup so you’ll need to factor this in if you decide to use it like this.

1Hand Sword is one of the most fun weapons in the game. The Sword Skills look super stylish and its encourages players to looks for openings in boss attack patterns and rewards them with some good damage.  I would recommend this weapon to players of all skill levels who are interested in just learning the bosses and how to play the game. A lot of the 1Hand Sword fundamentals you learn here can take you a long way in terms of picking up other characters.

NAME

SKILL DESCRIPTION
 OSS4 Mother’s Rosario Yuuki’s OSS. Unleashes 10 strikes focused on a point. Has 3 points of forward movement making it harder to miss than in Lost Song.

  • COOLDOWN: 30
 Rushing1 Rage Spike Rushing attack. Lunges forward skewering enemies with the tip of the sword.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Power1 Slant Quick attack. Steps in and slashes diagonally.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Invul1 Around Arc Invul attack. Dashes perpendicular to the target and then delivers a quick strike. Useful in Skill connect Combos.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Combo2 Meteor Fall Combo attack. Throws the sword up. Jumps up to catch it and slashes down with momentum from the sky. Stylish.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 AoE2 Horizontal Square  Area of Effect attack. 4 quick slashes in rotation around a target with a square emitting from center point.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Combo2  Sharp Nail  Combo attack. 3 Swift scything slashes.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Power2  Radiant Arc  Single strike attack. Flips the sword to a reverse grip and delivers a rising uppercut. Also stylish.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Rushing3  Vorpal Strike  Rushing attack. Launches yourself at the target in an explosive spiral. Covers an incredible amount of distance.

  • COOLDOWN: 15
 Combo4  Nova Ascension  Combo attack. 10-hit combo. The duration is rather lengthy so be sure to use this carefully.

  • COOLDOWN: 30

 ~2 HAND SWORD~

  • Kirito
  • Yuuki
  • Strea
  • Agil

Slash Damage.

The strongest weapon class in the game.

2Hand Sword has an amazing list of Sword Skills. It has power, charging attacks, AoE, quick attacks for combos and a very good counter. 2Hand Sword is deceptively fast and is a real joy to play because its list of Sword Skills work so well as a whole. On top of this, 2Hand Sword has Super Armor on almost all of its Sword Skills. This means that its easy to play and easy to deal crazy damage with since you’ll hardly ever get hit out of a Skill Connect combo.

Since 2Hand Sword is riddles with super armor, its possible to do a full Skill Connect chain every single time with little regard for what the boss is doing. In that sense, its a lot like Dual Blades except majority of 2H’s skills are actually useful and powerful.

Since 2Hand Sword is pretty much all Super Armor, its very easy to pick up bad habits by using this weapon. Since its possible to do a full Skill Connect combo every time, you stop caring about reading the bosses attacks and you don’t really care if you get hit. When you start doing high difficulty quests. You’ll start dying more frequently because you would have learned how to cheese with 2Hand Sword instead of actually learning how to play the game.

Naturally, its possible to play a clean 2Hand Sword where you make use of the counter Sword Skill every time you think you are going to get hit. This is the true way to play 2Hand Sword and if you can play it like this, there’s no other better weapon in the game.

I would recommend this weapon to people who don’t really like reading bosses attacks or people who just want to do as much damage as possible.

NAME

SKILL DESCRIPTION
 Rushing1 Avalanche Rushing attack. Charges in, attacking enemies in path.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Combo1 Eruption Combo attack. Quick 2-hit combo. Rather powerful.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 AoE1 Cyclone Area of Effect attack. Spins in a circle damaging anything within circumference.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Power2 Around Single strike attack. Steps forward and delivers a single spinning slash.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Break2 Break Time Guard Break attack. Spins forward and attacks with the flat side of the sword breaking the guard of the target.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Counter2   Hollow Silhouette Counter attack. Drops into a defensive stance and counters incoming attacks with a vicious jumping slash.

*Only activates upon receiving damage during start-up of attack (Projectiles & magic do not count).

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Combo2  Demolition Wield  Combo attack. Steps in with 3 heavy overhead slashes.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Combo3  Furious Destroyer  Combo attack. Swings the sword horizontally to deliver 6 powerful slashes.

  • COOLDOWN: 15
 Power4  Ray Brandish  Power attack. Hits the ground to bring fourth a powerful shockwave that devastates enemies within range.

  • COOLDOWN: 30

 ~DAGGER~

  • Silica
  • Phillia
  • Lux
  • Sinon
  • Sachi
  • Argo
  • Alicia Rue

Slash Damage.

The weakest close range weapon in the game.

In all honesty, I think dagger has the best list of Sword Skills. It has multiple charging attacks, a projectile, a counter, AoE and a few power skills. The only real thing – and perhaps the most important thing – that Dagger is missing is damage output. As the weakest weapon in the game you have to brace yourself for doing almost unnoticeable damage compared to the stronger weapons in the game.

A lot of Dagger’s sword skills are swift and allow you to build up sizable Skill Connect combos relatively quickly. Lightning Ripper, Paralyze Bite and Axel Raid are its strongest attacks so you should focus on using those when you have a long enough skill connect combo and the situation allows it.

Its possible to start a Skill Connect combo from range with the projectile Sword Skill and then use Rapid Bite to cover distance and combo into others skills. This kind of playstyle is recommended since Dagger lacks moves with Super Armor.

Its also worth noting that Reckless Tusk (The counter) is the hardest counter to land in the game and being able to land it mid Skill Connect combo instantly nets you the title of “Dagger God”.

Taking all of Daggers skills and its low damage output into account, it fells like a Professional’s weapon. It doesn’t focus on damage but it requires finesse and clean play to be used successfully. It is also the number one pick for Shibari Play*. I would recommend this weapon to advanced players who don’t really care about damage but find enjoyment in fast weapons and clean play.

*Shibari Play is the act of setting limiting rules on yourself in a game to make it more fun. This is typically done by players who have already done everything in the game and want to make it fun again.

NAME

SKILL DESCRIPTION
 Rushing1 Rapid Bite Charging attack. Dashes in and performs one close range slash.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Power1 Venom Bite Single Strike attack. Performs a very close range impale with the dagger. Low chance Poison

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Projectile1 Quick Throw Projectile attack. Throws the dagger at the target. Don’t worry; you get your dagger back.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Combo2 Fade Edge Combo attack. 4 quick scything slashes.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 AoE2 Mirage Fang Area of Effect attack. 6 horizontal  zig-zag slashes followed by an upward finish.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Power2 Paralyze Bite Single Strike attack. Pounces on the target to perform a close range impale with the dagger. Very short range. Low chance Paralysis.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Counter2  Reckless Tusk Counter attack. Flips the dagger to a reverse grip and dashes in and then counters incoming attacks with a reverse thrust. Because the counter will only activate on the latter portion of the attack, this is really difficult to time.

*Only activates upon receiving damage during the attack (Projectiles & magic do not count).

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Combo3  Axel Raid  Combo attack. Unleashes a flurry of close range combination attacks.

  • COOLDOWN: 15
 Combo4  Lightning Ripper  Combo attack. Flips the dagger to a reverse grip to let loose an insane spinning attack over an area damaging enemies multiple times. Like Shiki from Kara no Kyoukai.

  • COOLDOWN: 30

 ~RAPIER~

  • Asuna
  • Leafa
  • Sachi
  • Rain
  • Sumeragi
  • Persona Vabel

Thrust Damage.

2nd Weakest close range weapon in the game.

Rapier is one of the most interesting weapons in the game. Its skillset focuses on invulnerability and dancing around the battlefield without getting hit. Its weak in terms of damage but it has many tools such as a projectile, AoE and if you play Asuna, a counter.

The projectile is deceptively short range but it does allow you to start Skill Connect combos from mid range. From here you can close the distance with Stinger and combo into a power sword skill like Shooting Star or Star Splash. after this you can continue the combo alternating between combo filler and moves with invulnerability.

Rapier is the only weapon in the game that offers 3 (Lotus Vengeance, And Leap, Fake Step) invincible skills. It may not seem like a lot on paper but having those skills in your pocket make you be able to perform Skill Connect combos without getting hit if you are able to read a boss’ attacks and react accordingly.

I would recommend Rapier to players who don’t really care about damage but find great enjoyment in reading boss’ attacks and dancing around the battlefield.

NAME

SKILL DESCRIPTION
 CounterOSS Lotus Vengeance Asuna’s OSS. Inspired by Black Lotus. Drops into a defensive stance and counters incoming attacks with a spinning thrust.

*Only activates upon receiving damage during start-up of attack (Projectiles & magic do not count).

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 OSS4 Mother’s Rosario Asuna’s OSS & identical to Yuuki’s. Unleashes 10 strikes focused on a point. Has 3 points of forward movement making it harder to miss than in Lost Song.

  • COOLDOWN: 30
 Rushing1 Stinger Rushing attack. Dash forward and thrusts the rapier at a point, damaging enemies in path.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Combo1 And Leap Combo attack. 2 Quick thrusts followed by a large spinning leap to the left.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Invul1 Fake Step Invul attack. Takes a halfstep back to dodge attacks and then steps forward with two swift horizontal swipes. The start-up has some invulnerability.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Combo2 Quadruple Pain Combo attack. 4 short range cascading thrusts.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Projectile2  Sonic Impulse Projectile attack. Propels a diagonal shockwave at the target.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 AoE2  Pierce Territory Area of Effect attack. Thrusts the rapier upward generating a barrier around the user that damages enemies within its vicinity.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Power3  Shooting Star  Power attack. Thrusts the rapier at a point, making a small explosion on impact.

  • COOLDOWN: 15
 Combo4  Star Splash  Combo attack. Swift 8-hit combo of cascading thrusts.

  • COOLDOWN: 30

 ~MACE~

  • Asuna
  • Lisbeth
  • Lux
  • Seven
  • Oberon

Blunt Damage.

Mid-range damage & Highest Blunt Damage in the game.

Mace offers an wonderful list of skills. It has quick skills, AoE, a rushing attack, power skills and an awesome Guard Point skill. On top of this, Mace is one of the best weapons at DOWNing/Stunning bosses which is a huge plus because a DOWN = Christmas = Free damage.

When a monster isn’t DOWN, Adamantium Breaker should be used as much as possible – preferably outside of Skill Connect combos or as an Ender so that it can cooldown. When working towards a down, use the faster skills like Rage Blow, Power Strike and Assault Dive. If you feel like you are going to get hit on your next skill, use Forward Bunt. Once Adamantium Breaker nets a DOWN, use your power skills like Spirit Bomber and Valiant Rush. Its worth emphasizing that you should save Adamantium Breaker for the end of the vombo when a boss is getting up to try to knock them back DOWN.

Overall, Mace is surprisingly good. It can turn any character into one hell of a utility character because of its high ability to DOWN bosses. I would recommend this weapon to players who understand how valuable DOWNs are to the team and have the diligence to work towards them.

NAME

SKILL DESCRIPTION
 Combo1 Rage Blow Combo attack. 3 consecutive bashes.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 AoE1 Power Strike  Area of Effect attack. Hits the ground to generate a small explosion damaging enemies in area.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Rushing1 Assault Dive Rushing attack. Leaps forward to deliver one blow. Actual attack is rather small.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Rushing2 Forward Bunt Rushing attack. Steps forward and bunts with the mace. Then performs a single backhand swing. The charging portion of the attack has some Guard Point.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 AoE2 Spirit Bomber Area of Effect attack. Gathers energy in the mace and then strikes the ground, creating a large explosion which damages enemies in vicinity.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Combo2 Riot Smash Combo attack. Furious combo of 6 consecutive bashes.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Projectile2  Break Blast  Projectile attack. Strikes the ground to plant a mine which detonates within a couple of seconds upon completing the skill.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Power3  Adamantium Breaker  Power attack. Smashes the ground to bring fourth a cluster bomb which tears up enemies in the area.

  • COOLDOWN: 15
 Combo4  Valiant Rush  Combo attack. Brings up a thick barrier while stepping in with 5 consecutive heavy swings. The barrier does not provide invul, but it does give Super Armor.

  • COOLDOWN: 30

 ~KNUCKLE~

  • Argo
  • Alicia Rue
  • Agil
  • Lisbeth
  • Silica

Blunt Damage.

Mid-range damage.

Why does this weapon exist? I mean outside of the gags and cuteness it brings to the game. The only real reason why I can see is it existing is to try to get me to look up Silica’s skirt. I mean, I was doing that already, so they didn’t need to make a whole weapon just to give me a bigger incentive to continue doing it(@_@)

All jokes aside, Knuckle’s list of Sword Skills is… not terrible. It has good options for covering ground, a counter and an invulnerability attack. Most of its Sword Skills are extremely close range with short durations meaning that you have to be poised and ready to block when the next skill ends.

Knuckle isn’t all bad though because Silver Headbutt and Beat Upper offer some good DOWN potential. Its also not as weak as it may seem at first. I would recommend this weapon to players who want to look up Silica’s skirt to players who want a swift close range weapon that gives up some damage in favor of quick attacks.

 NAME

 SKILL DESCRIPTION
 OSSpower2 Silver Headbutt  Agil’s OSS. Inspired by Silver Crow. Agil does a Silver Crow like headbutt. The glint on his bald head before the skill activates is fairly funny.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Rushing1  Smash Knuckle  Rushing attack. Dashes in and delivers a straight punch.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Combo1  Gazelle Rush  Combo attack. A combination of 2 roundhouse kicks followed by a finishing upward kick. Dat panty flash makes little BK’s around the world happy.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Counter1  Beat Upper  Counter attack. Drops into a defensive stance and counters incoming attacks with a strong gut punch.

*Only activates upon receiving damage during start-up of attack (Projectiles & magic do not count).

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Invul2  Leopold Blitz  Invul attack. Quickly steps back and retaliates with a swift kick followed by a flying kick that covers a lot of ground. The step back has some invulnerability.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Multiprojectile2  Surge Terror Fist Multi-projectile attack. Gathers strength and then punches forward unleashing multiple balls of energy that travel a short distance.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Power2  Blazing Blow Power attack. Gathers energy and then punches the ground to bring up a single torrent which damages enemies.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Combo3  Turbulence Rush  Combo attack. Rushes in and unleashes a spastic combination of punches and kicks. Finishing pose is somewhat H.

  • COOLDOWN: 15
 Power4  Deadly Blow  Power attack. Gathers all strength into a straight punch which releases cluster bombs of energy upon impact. Short range

  • COOLDOWN: 30

 ~SPEAR~

  • Sinon
  • Sachi
  • Seven
  • Sakuya
  • Klein
  • Strea
  • Oberon

Thrust Damage.

3rd Highest Damage in the game (Not considering Dual Blades).

Spear has a wonderful list of Sword Skills. It can cover distance, do solid damage and attack enemies from afar. It also has both a Counter and a Guard Point Sword Skill which make it have a good amount of safety in terms of long Skill Connect combs. The only thing that Spear lacks is a good form of AoE. Aside from this Spear has almost no Super Armor which means that you have to use it with care.

Fatal Thrust and Vulture stinger have some good DOWN potential meaning that Spear can easily become a multi-purpose weapon as it can both deal damage and work towards a DOWN.

A typical way to play Spear would be to build up Skill Connect combos from afar with Digger Glint and Blast Spear. From here you can close the distance with Forward Spiral and combo its quicker skills like Trippe Thrust and Spin Slash. Now you can slide in a Fatal Thrust as an ender which will allows you to both do solid amounts of damage and get you out of harms way.

When you get a DOWN, move in and start the same combo again. This time, start with the quicker skills and combo into Vulture Stinger. Then when a boss is starting to get up, use Fatal Thrust in at attempt to DOWN it again.

Spear is probably the most versatile weapon in the game. As such, i’d recommend to players who like variety and a single weapon that has answers to a lot of situations.

NAME

SKILL DESCRIPTION
 Combo1 Triple Thrust Combo attack. Steps in and performs 3 consecutive pokes.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 AoE1 Spin Slash Area of Effect attack. Spins the spear overhead once and follows up with a finishing slash.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Power1 Digger Glint Power attack. Thrusts the spear at point creating a mini beam of light. Has shorter range than you would expect.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Rushing2 Forward Spiral Charging attack. Steps in and spins the spear with one hand. The spinning motion has some Guard Point.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Projectile2 Blast Spear Projectile attack. Throws the spear at the target. Range is deceptively short.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Counter2 Spiral Gate Counter attack. Drops into a defensive stance and counters incoming attacks with a spinning thrust.

*Only activates upon receiving damage during start-up of attack (Projectiles & magic do not count).

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 AoE2  Vulture Stinger  Power attack. Vaults in and stabs the ground with the spear generating an upward torrent that damages enemies.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Combo3  Wild Twister  Combo attack. First does a pretty butch pose. Then proceeds to spins the crap out of that spear finishing with a diagonal slash. (w)

  • COOLDOWN: 15
 Rushing4  Fatal Thrust  Charging attack. Launches yourself at the target with the spearhead piercing through just about anything. Covers a ton of distance.

  • COOLDOWN: 30

 ~KATANA~

  • Sumeragi
  • Sakuya
  • Leafa
  • Yuuki
  • Klein
  • Persona Vabel

Slash Damage.

4th Strongest Weapon in the game.

Katana has an strange list of Sword Skills. It has a strong projectile, swift combo attacks and rushing attacks. But it lacks Super Armor as well as a good outlet for damage. Like Dual Blades, the more damaging Skills are rather lengthy and its easy for a boss to move away halfway through.

Skill Connect combos are difficult to maintain since only Kureyu has Super Armor out of the faster skills. You may power through with Oborotsukiyo but be careful because thats one of the more stronger moves and only has Super Armor on activation. Overall,None of the skills have any stand out DOWN potential so this is probably the most honest weapon in the game because you can’t rely on Gaurd Point/Super Armor/Invul to do damage.

This of course all changes with Sumeragi’s OSS. One Hand Tyr has quick Startup, wide-range, strong damage & super armor. Therefore Sumeragi’s Katana makes all other Katana’s feel incomplete. Leafa’s Katana has an OSS that has mid-range damage and some Super Armor. Which is good, but the fact that it cannot be steered kind of make it a bit annoying at times.

This weapon awards patience and good reads on a boss so its likely that experienced players will find more enjoyment out of this weapon as opposed to beginners and newcomers. Anyone who played HR will be sorely disappointed at the Katana in this game so don’t get your hopes up.

 NAME

 SKILL DESCRIPTION
 OSSpower4  One Hand Tyr  Sumeragi’s OSS. By using his katana with one hand, Sumeragi is able to generate a projection of the War God Tyr to slash in a wide radius. A wonderful OSS.

  • COOLDOWN: 30
 OSScombo3 (蒼刃連斬)

Cyan Blade

  Leafa’s OSS. Inspired by Cyan Pile.  Leafa does a rendition of Cyan Blade. Gathers energy to release 5 heavy combo slashes. Can’t be steered.

  • COOLDOWN: 15
 Power1  (辻風)

Tsujikaze

  Single Strike attack. An upwards strike from the hip.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Combo1 (緋扇)

Hiougi

  Combo attack. Steps forward and delivers 3 swift consecutive slashes.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Rushing1  (紅結)

Kureyu

  Charging attack. Leaps forward and attacks with a rising slash. Looks like a reverse Tsujikaze. Covers a lot of distance.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Power2 (禊椿)

Misogi Tsubaki

  Power attack. Gathers strength into a single slash that generates a small shockwave damaging enemies. Long startup. Has super armor.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Combo2 (窮奇)

Kyuuki

 Combo attack. 6 Swift spinning vertical slashes followed by a finishing rising slash.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Projectile2 (残月)

Zangetsu

 Projectile attack. Slashes the air to propel a crescent shaped horizontal shockwave that damages all caught in its path.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Combo3 (朧月夜)

Oborotsukiyo

 Combo attack. Charges in to perform 4 heavy slashes that damage an area.

  • COOLDOWN: 15
 Combo4 (羅生門)

Rashoumon

  Combo attack. Steps in to do a 14 hit combo. Takes really long @_@

  • COOLDOWN: 30

~AXE~

  • Agil
  • Lisbeth
  • Strea

Slash Damage.

2nd Strongest Weapon in the game.

Axe has a great list of sword skills that make it a surprisingly versatile weapon. It has a good projectile, AoE, power skills and a very good Guard Point sword Skill. It is also able to cover good distance during mid-Skill Connect combo. Around half of the Sword Skills have Super Armor on startup making it relatively easy to maintain Skill Connect combos.

Lumberjack has Guard point for pretty much the entire duration of the skill which makes it an amazing tool all round. If you ever feel like you’re going to be hit during the next chain in the Skill Connect just pop Lumberjack out and you’ll be safe.

Both Lumberjack and Gravity Impact have some low DOWN potential so you should try to use those moves whenever the situation allows you too.The problem is that Gravity Impact has a long startup and duration so sometimes you have to settle for using it outside of Skill Connect combos.

Brutal Maul also has this weird (wonderful?) thing where it will hit bosses ridiculously far away sometimes. Its nice for trolling your friends but its terrible for continuing Skill Connect combos so you should only typically use that skill when you are above the enemy.

I would recommend Axe to players who love damage and like waiting for for their opportunity to deal damage. Its a weapon that will also satisfy players who don’t mind a slower weapon that has many options.

NAME

SKILL DESCRIPTION
 AoE1 Whirlwind Area of Effect attack. Swings the axe from behind the back to damage a wide area.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Combo1 Violent Spike Combo attack. Pounces on the target to deliver 2 heavy attacks.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Power1 Flat Single strike attack.  Backhand swing generating a small explosion on impact.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Power2 Lumberjack Power attack. Guards all incoming attacks and counters with a single heavy overhead strike. Super good.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Break2 Vertical Blast Guard Break attack. Places the axe under an enemy and brings it upward with force strong enough to shatter their guard.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Combo2 Round Triple Smash Combo attack. 3 consecutive heavy horizontal slashes.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Projectile2  Catapult Tomahawk  Projectile attack. Flings the axe at target. Long start-up. No super armor.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Power3  Brutal Maul  Power attack. Strolls in with bad intentions and then performs 3 vicious full body swings. Looks like Olympic Hammer Throw.

  • COOLDOWN: 15
 Power4  Gravity Impact  Power attack. Strikes the ground to distort the gravity of an area bringing up countless shockwaves which ravage enemies.

  • COOLDOWN: 30

 ~BOW~

  • Sinon
  • Asuna
  • Silica
  • Seven
  • Klein
  • Phillia
  • Sakuya
  • Persona Vabel

Thrust damage.

Technically the weakest weapon in the game.

It goes without saying, but Bow is a long range weapon. This translates to its Sword Skills and the result is that all of them are long range projectiles. There is a good amount of AoE and Power to be found in this list of Sword Skills which make Bow a good weapon at crowd control and secondary damage.

Since Bow is a long range weapon, there is no need to worry about dropping a Skill Connect combo because you are afraid a monster will hit you. The only real fear is if a monster uses a projectile but then you can use the Vault Shot skill to slide out of the way of the attack.

I would recommend Bow to players who don’t like being in the fray of battle and like to survey the battle from afar which still being a part of it.

NAME

SKILL DESCRIPTION
 ProjectileOSS Bullet Order Sinon’s OSS. Summons Sinon’s Hecate II Sniper Rifle to snipe enemies from long range dealing lots of damage.

  • COOLDOWN: 30
 AoE1 Wide Shot Area of Effect attack. Simultaneously shoots 5 arrows in horizontal array.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Multiprojectile1 Hail Bullet Multi-projectile attack. Fires 3 homing arrows that track a target.

  • COOLDOWN: 3
 Projectile2 Retrieve Arrow Projectile attack. Shoots a very long range arrow.  Low chance Bind.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Invul2 Vault Shot Dodging attack. Performs a side-flip and fires 3 arrows while upside down.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 AoE2 Stardust Exa Area of Effect attack. Steps back and fires a rain of arrows above a target.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Target2  Sparkle Shot  Targeting attack. Holding down the button lets you multi-lock targets. Release to fire arrows at all locked on targets in quick succession.

  • COOLDOWN: 10
 Multiprojectile3  Multiple Chaser Multi-projectile attack. Fires a barrage of homing arrows at a target.

  • COOLDOWN: 15
 Projectile4  Strike Nova  Projectile attack. Shoots a powerful beam of light at the target.

  • COOLDOWN: 30

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