The most versatile and plentiful weapons in the game, one-handed weapons have one distinct advantage over other classes: they allow the use of a shield. This feature greatly enhances survivability, especially when coupled with the Gauntlets accessory.
Swords
Swords are perhaps the most basic one-handed weapon, offering a solid mix of speed, consistency, and power. Your character’s strength, the sword’s attack rating, and the enemy’s defense affect a sword’s damage potential. All swords except for the Stoneblade add 5 to Evasion.
Mythril Sword
Mythril Blade
broadsword
Longsword
Iron Sword
Zwill Blade
Ancient Sword
Lohengrin
Flametongue
Demonsbane
Icebrand
Platinum Sword
Blood Sword
Bastard Sword
Diamond Sword
Runeblade
Deathbringer
Stoneblade
Durandal
karkata
Simha
Great Trango
Daggers
Daggers gain speed over swords at the expense of attack power. Several daggers also have useful additional effects. A dagger’s damage is determined by your character’s strength and speed compared against the enemy’s defense.
Dagger
Mage Masher
Assassin’s Dagger
Chopper
Main Gauche
Gladius
Avenger
Orichalcum Dirk
Platinum Dagger
Zwill crossblade
Shikari Nagasa
Mina
Axes & Hammers
The axe and hammer class offers huge attack power with a twist: the damage variance is far less consistent than compared to other weapons. Although a sword may consistently strike a foe for 400-500 HP, an axe or hammer may strike that same foe for 800 HP… or 30 HP! For this class of weapons, the weapon damage is determined by the following: your character’s strength and vitality, the weapon’s attack rating, and the enemy’s defense. All axes add 6 to Evasion, while all hammers add 2 to Evasion. Axes also attack slightly faster than hammers.
Handaxe
Iron Hammer
Broadaxe
War Hammer
Slasher
Sledgehammer
Hammerhead
Francisca
Morning Star
Greataxe
Golden Axe
Scorpion Tail
Vrscika
Maces
The damage a mace inflicts is based on the weapon’s attack power, the magick power of the user, and the enemy’s defense. That said, a support character geared entirely for magick power rather than strength or other stats will make good use of a mace. The ability to use a shield also enhances the survivability of those characters. All maces add 4 to Evasion.
Mace
Bronze Mace
Bhuj
Miter
Thorned MAce
Chaos Mace
Doom Mace
Zeus Mace
Grand Mace
Bone of Byblos
Bonebreaker
Measures
These peculiar weapons function much like guns in that damage is calculated based solely on the weapon’s attack power, completely ignoring the target’s defense. They differ greatly, however, in that the target is often inflicted with beneficial status effects like Protect or Shell!
As the attack rating for measures is generally low, they tend to function as a buffing tool. You can target your own party members with low-damage hits that serve to strengthen your party without the use of MP. All measures add 35 to Evasion while still allowing the use of a shield, making those who use measures hard targets indeed. Measures are more useful for those characters who are only used as support and unlikely to ever actually engage the enemy. If MP management is a concern, use measures to buff your party, and then swap them out for more conventional weaponry.
Gilt Measure
Arc Scale
Multiscale
Cross Scale
Caliper
Euclid’s Sextant
