Major update11 Oct 2026

The Arsenal: new weapons, kits and armour

The biggest combat update yet. Every combat skill now has real choices: more weapons, a trait and four abilities of its own for every weapon, armour for every skill, and a training yard to try it all.

What's new at a glance

Eight new weapons: the flail and halberd (Guard), the flintlock pistol and blunderbuss pistol (Precision), the sceptre and runeblade (Arcana), and the censer and prayer bell (Restoration). Every one comes in all seven tiers, bronze to aether, with +1 to +3 upgrades.
Every weapon has a trait: one rule that makes it play differently, written on its tooltip with what it is Good against. If it is not on the tooltip, it does not exist.
Every weapon has a kit: four abilities of its own, learned in its skill at levels 8, 22, 42 and 70 (a Tool, an Engine, an Answer and a Signature), on top of the skill's shared abilities. Eighty-five kit abilities in all.
Armour for every skill: Warhide for Might and Vestments for Restoration join plate, leather and cloth.
Leatherworking, a new artisan skill, with a tanning rack and a leatherworker's bench.
XP follows the weapon: every hit trains the skill of the weapon that made it.
Monster tags: some creatures are bloodless or armoured, and some weapons answer them better than others.
One hotbar per weapon, a short primer the first time you pick up a new kind, and Spellbook tabs per weapon.
The Wickhaven training yard: five trainers, one per combat skill, and a training dummy.

Might

Warhide armour. Every melee weapon's hits train Might.

Sword, trait Counter-edge: your first hit soon after a parry, or after a dodge that slips a blow, hits much harder. Good against duels and bosses that telegraph.

Feint (8): show an opening for a second; the first blow that comes at you is parried and answered.
Crosscut (22): two crossing cuts in a wide arc that leave foes Exposed, so their next hit from anyone lands harder.
Blade Ward (42): hold the blade across your body for 2 seconds; blows from the front lose most of their force and arrows are parried.
Duelist's Flourish (70): dash through your foe with five quick cuts, stronger for every parry you made in the last 10 seconds.

Axe, trait Hew: the last hit of your combo opens a bleed on a foe that is not already bleeding. Good against beasts and people (not the bloodless).

Gash (8): a ripping backhand that opens another bleed on everything in front of you, and hits harder for each bleed already there.
Bloodletting (22): rake everything around you and burst every bleed for extra damage; part of the burst heals you.
Hatchet Toss (42): hurl your axe to interrupt a cast or wind-up and slow the foe; it comes back to your hand a second later.
Reaver's Frenzy (70): for 10 seconds every tick of your bleeds speeds up your attacks.

Mace, trait Crush: ignores part of the foe's armour and the armoured tag; the last hit of your combo staggers. Good against skeletons and the armoured.

Skullcrack (8): a heavy blow that Dazes (slower attacks); a little more damage on the armoured.
Shatter Armour (22): Sundered Armour on everything in front of you: a quarter less armour against the whole party.
Ground Pound (42): pound the ground and knock smaller foes off their feet.
Bonebreaker (70): hold to wind up, release for a blow that ignores all armour; a full wind-up stuns.

Dagger, trait Backstab: much better critical chance from behind. Good against anything a tank is holding.

Shadowstep (8): step through the shadows to just behind a foe; your next hit is a critical hit.
Venom Edge (22): coat the blade so every hit poisons; poison works on the bloodless.
Smoke Bomb (42): halve every foe's interest in you and blind those close by.
Assassinate (70): a killing thrust, four times as strong from behind or on a foe under 30% health; a kill readies it again.

Spear, trait Brace: more damage to a foe rushing or lunging at you, and your thrusts strike the first three foes in line. Good against packs and rushers.

Impale (8): drive the spear through a line of foes and root them.
Set Spear (22): plant the spear; the first foe to come close takes a heavy blow and is stopped.
Vault (42): pole-vault over a foe and sweep everything around you as you land.
Dragon's Reach (70): three thrusts down a long line, each striking everything in it.

Greatsword, trait Sweep: the last hit of your combo staggers foes below your level. Good against crowds.

Leaping Cleave (8): leap to a spot and cleave a wide arc as you land.
Momentum (22): basic hits build Momentum; spend it all in a full circle around you.
Blade Wall (42): raise the flat of the blade for 2 seconds and throw part of what it stops back at the striker.
Titan's Swing (70): hold to wind up, release a huge sweep around you that hurls smaller foes back; a full wind-up breaks casts.

Guard

Plate armour. Flail and halberd hits, guarded strikes and shield punches all train Guard, and Guard weapons draw threat.

Shield, trait Bulwark: raise it to block a flat amount and a share of the rest; you can strike with it up. Round, kite and tower shields now carry threat (more for bigger shields).

Shield Bash (6): smash a foe and stun it.
Shield Throw (22): hurl your shield; it ricochets to two more foes and taunts everything it strikes.
Phalanx Cover (42): for 8 seconds party members behind you take less damage from the front, and your shield stays up.
Aegis (70): for 6 seconds your guard covers you all round without draining, and blocks hits on allies close to you.

Flail (new, one-handed), trait Ironchain: every swing strikes everything in a wide arc, draws extra threat and ignores the armoured tag; the last hit of the combo dazes. Flail and shield is the classic tank.

Chain Lash (8): lash the chain out, drag foes toward you and taunt them.
Scourge (22): whirl the flail around you, dazing every foe it strikes with double threat.
Wrapping Chain (42): tether foes so they cannot get far from you for 6 seconds.
Morning Star Storm (70): a 4 second spin that strikes and taunts everything around you every second while you take less damage.

Halberd (new, two-handed), trait Polearm Guard: your guard stops melee like a kite shield (not arrows), with long reach; the sweep at the end of your combo ignores the armoured tag and draws threat. The two-handed tank.

Hook (8): hook foes in a line, drag them in, slow and taunt them.
Sweep the Legs (22): a low sweep that knocks small foes down and makes everything struck notice you.
Pike Wall (42): plant the pike for 4 seconds; melee blows from the front lose most of their force, like a tower shield.
Line in the Sand (70): score a line across your front; every foe that crosses it is slowed and taunted.

Precision

Leather armour. Bows, crossbows and both pistols train Precision.

Shortbow, trait Quickdraw: drawing slows you least. Good against mobile fights.
Longbow, trait Longshot: more damage the farther the arrow flies past 15 m. Good against opening shots and bosses that stand still.

Shortbows and longbows share the bow kit:

Feathered Step (8): skip along your aim; your next shot has no draw slow.
Charged Draw (22): hold to draw up to three times the damage; a full draw pierces foes more than 15 m away.
Arrow Rain (42): a storm of arrows on a distant circle that hits and slows everything under it.
Windrunner (70): for 10 seconds every shot looses two arrows and drawing does not slow you.

Crossbow, trait Punch: bolts ignore part of the foe's armour and the armoured tag. Good against the armoured.

Heavy Bolt (8): a heavy bolt that knocks a small foe back; a little more damage on the armoured.
Brace and Reload (22): kneel behind the stock for more damage and faster shots, but you cannot move.
Trap Bolt (42): the bolt plants a snare that roots the first foe to step on it.
Siege Bolt (70): hold to wind, then loose a bolt that pierces a long line and strips wards, shells and buffs.

Flintlock pistol (new, one-handed), trait Point Blank: one heavy shot, harder up close, that ignores the armoured tag and staggers small foes, then a reload. Good against the armoured and close duels.

Pistol Whip (8): crack foes with the butt to daze them, and your pistol is reloaded.
Double Charge (22): ram in a second charge; your next shot hits much harder and knocks the target back.
Disarming Shot (42): a snap shot that interrupts a cast and weakens the foe's blows.
Deadeye Focus (70): for 2 seconds every shot is a critical hit, flies true and reloads at once.

Blunderbuss pistol (new, one-handed), trait Scattershot: a blast that strikes everything in a short cone, full damage up close, throwing near foes back, then a reload. Good against packs and rushers up close.

Kickback (8): fire a blast and ride the recoil backward out of trouble.
Shrapnel (22): load jagged shot; pellets lodge in foes and your next blast sets them off.
Flash Powder (42): blind everything in a cone and break their casts.
Dragon's Breath (70): a burning cone that sets everything alight and leaves the ground on fire.

Guns fire cartridges and must reload after every shot; rolling mid-reload spills the powder and the reload starts over. Stone-shot cartridges are cheap to make anywhere with a knife; metal cartridges (shot from the anvil and thunderpowder from the alchemy table, packed at the fletching bench) hit harder. A powder horn in the off hand saves cartridges the way a quiver saves arrows. Orsa Flintmantle, the gunsmith of Dunmar Hold, sells the lot.

Arcana

Cloth armour, now spell power only. Staves, wands, sceptres and runeblades train Arcana.

Staff, trait Amplify: your area spells cover more ground. Good against packs.

Attunement (8): tune your bolts to fire, frost or storm so they burn, chill or shock.
Ley Line (22): draw a ley line on the ground; your spells hit foes standing on it harder.
Arcane Barrage (36), Meteor (50) and Starfall (78) stay the staff's own spells.

Wand, trait Volley: the last bolt of your combo splits to a second foe. Good against many weak foes.

Magic Missiles (8): three seeking sparks in a fan.
Hex (22): the foe takes more magic damage from everyone.
Mirror Step (42): blink away and leave a mirror image that holds your foes' attention.
Spellstorm (70): for 6 seconds your bolts fly faster and leap from foe to foe.

Sceptre (new, one-handed), trait Detonate: a slow, heavy orb that splashes around its target and sets off burning, chill or shock for a big bonus. Good against combos with staff users and your own damage over time.

Static Field (8): charge the ground so the foes in it are shocked, and shocked again.
Overload (22): your next orb sets off every mark on every foe around where it bursts.
Rune Mine (42): a rune that blasts and shocks the first foe to step on it.
Sunder the Veil (70): tear every burn, chill and shock off every foe around you for heavy damage.

Runeblade (new, one-handed), trait Siphon: magic cuts at sword reach that use your spell power and restore focus with every hit. The battlemage's blade, at home in Warhide or plate.

Blink Strike (8): blink forward, cutting every foe on the way.
Spellcut (22): a wide rune-lit cut that leaves your blade's element on the foes it hits.
Runic Parry (42): a short rune guard that turns what it stops into focus.
Thousand Runes (70): for 6 seconds every swing also looses a rune bolt down your aim.

Restoration

Vestments armour. Tomes, reliquaries, censers and prayer bells train Restoration, even when their bolts hit a foe.

Tome, trait Scripture: your heal pulse heals much more on an ally who is badly hurt. Good for spot healing.

Bookmark (8): mark an ally; your next three pulses also heal them, wherever they land.
Psalm (22): a short channelled heal that grows with every verse.
Rewrite (42): lift an ailment off an ally and write it onto a foe.
Gospel (70): every badly hurt ally near you is healed to full.

Reliquary, trait Lantern: your pulse also heals allies standing near the one it lands on. Good for group healing.

Lantern Sweep, Lamplight Vigil and Beacon of the Reliquary stay its own abilities.
Lantern of the Lost (70, new): for 8 seconds an ally near you who takes a killing blow is left standing and healed instead (once a minute per ally).

Censer (new, one-handed), trait Incense: your pulse lobs a cloud that clings to the ally it lands on, or settles on the ground, and heals everyone inside. Good for area healing in melee groups.

Thurible Swing (8): swing the censer through the foes in front of you and heal yourself a little.
Smoke Screen (22): a cloud of smoke; allies inside take less from arrows and other ranged blows.
Fumigate (42): a bitter cloud that lifts poison and bleeding from allies and dazes foes.
Holy Fog (70): for 10 seconds a large healing fog follows you.

Prayer bell (new, one-handed), trait Toll: your pulse wards the ally against damage instead of healing, and every fourth toll lifts an ailment. Good for damage prevention and raid pulses.

Peal (8): ward every ally around you.
Resonance (22): set a small bell ringing that wards nearby allies every 2 seconds.
Knell (42): lift every ailment from allies around you and break the casts of foes nearby.
Sanctuary Bell (70): for 5 seconds no ally near you can lose more than a fifth of their health to one blow.

Warhide

New armour for Might: skullhelm (horned warhelm from tier 4), warharness, warkilt, bracers, stompers and a fur mantle, in all seven tiers from leather to aetherhide. Studded hide, fur and bone that grows wilder every tier, with war paint that glows at the top.
It raises melee power, with some critical chance and health, so a fighter who does not tank finally has armour of their own.
Made by Leatherworking from cured leather, a trophy from the beasts that give the hide (bones, boar tusks, wolf fangs, bear claws, ogre tusks, wyrm horns, aether talons) and, for the harness and kilt, a metal bar for the studs.
Shops sell tier 1. Two unique dungeon sets (Hollowden and Snowmane), single pieces from world bosses and rare beasts, and the Russetback set from Russetwood. Some uniques raise a weapon trait by a rank while you wear them.

Vestments

New armour for Restoration: cowl, surplice, cassock, vestment gloves, sandals and stole, in every cloth tier from linen to aetherweave. A long surplice over a cassock with a stole, gilt thread, a halo and drifting motes of light at the top tiers.
It raises healing power, focus and focus regeneration, with a little health.
Made by Tailoring at the sewing table from cloth bolts and a relic dropped by the undead, spirits and cultists: tallow candles, prayer beads, saints' knucklebones, blessed ash, gilded icons, wisplight motes and halo shards. Healers now hunt different foes from fighters.
Shops sell tier 1. Two unique dungeon sets (the Ringer's and the Vigil), single pieces from bosses and rares, and the Barrowlight set from the Hollow Barrow.

Leatherworking and the stations

Leatherworking is a new artisan skill, the twentieth. Cure hides on a tanning rack, then work the leather at a leatherworker's bench into Warhide, leather armour, spaulders, quivers, powder horns, packs and the regional leather sets, and upgrade them to +3.
Both stations stand beside the sewing tables in town. Edda Saddler, the Wickhaven leatherworker, sells hides, leather and tier-1 leather gear, and her quest The Tanner's Trade teaches the craft.
Tailoring keeps the loom and sewing table: weaving, cloth armour, mantles, Vestments and tomes.
At 99: the Leatherworker's Cape of Hard Seasons.

XP follows the weapon

A basic attack trains the skill of the weapon that made it: a flail or halberd trains Guard, a tome or bell trains Restoration, a runeblade trains Arcana.
An ability trains its own skill, so Arcane Spark cast from a tome still trains Arcana.
Bleeds, burns and poisons train the skill of the hit that caused them. Vitality still takes its third of everything.

Guard and threat

Swings made with a shield raised (guarded strikes) and shield punches now train Guard, as do flail and halberd hits, on top of blocking, parries, stances and taunts.
A taunt pays Guard XP when it takes a creature off someone else.
Shields, flails and halberds carry threat, so creatures stay on the one holding them. Bigger shields hold more; all threat bonuses together are capped.

Monster tags

Bloodless creatures (skeletons, revenants, ghosts and spirits, golems, wisps, elementals, slimes, the dry dead) cannot bleed. Poison and everything else still work.
Armoured creatures (crabs and shelled crawlers, golems, knights and soldiers in plate or mail, scarabs and scorpions) shrug off part of every physical blow. Maces, crossbows, flintlock pistols and flails ignore the tag, as does the halberd's finishing sweep; magic is never affected.
A creature's examine text and target frame say which tags it has, and every weapon's primer and Codex page shows how it fares against them.

One hotbar per weapon, and the primer

Each weapon keeps its own hotbar (a flail with a shield is a different bar from a flail alone). Swap weapons and the bar swaps with them.
The first time you take up a weapon, its bar fills itself: its kit first, then the skill's shared abilities. Change it as you like in the Spellbook.
The Spellbook has a tab per skill, then per weapon, then Shared, with each weapon's trait and Good against at the top and locked kit abilities shown with their level.
An ability you unlock while holding something else goes onto the right weapon's bar: "New for your axe: Bloodletting".
The first time you equip a new kind of weapon, a short primer card (never mid-fight) shows its trait, Good against and kit. Try it marks the training dummy or the nearest weak foe; Open Spellbook jumps to that weapon. The first time you use a kit ability, a one-line tip names its role.
The Codex has a new Weapons tab with a page per combat skill.
Settings: Don't show weapon tips turns the primer off.

The new-player path

New arrivals get a set of tier-1 Warhide from Corin's arms chest with their first weapon.
At the end of chapter 1 Warden Isolde offers one full kit per skill, each with matching armour: a sword and the last of the Warhide; a shortbow, arrows and leathers; an apprentice staff and cloth; a novice tome, a focus and linen Vestments; or a bronze flail, round shield and bronze plate. Each names the trainer who teaches the rest.
The Wickhaven training yard, just up the Lamp Road from the quay, has five trainers and training dummies that swing slowly, never fall and pay no XP: the place to practise blocks and rotations.
Might, Gunnhild Stoutarm (Edge and Blood): bleed a penned boar with a battleaxe, watch a bloodless skeleton refuse the bleed, then break it with a mace.
Guard, Sergeant Aldous Crane (Hold the Yard): block the dummy's swings with a flail and round shield, land guarded strikes, and Provoke the yard goblin off Ned the bread man.
Precision, Wren Hatchley (Past Fifteen Paces): hit a target from past 15 m with a longbow, then stagger a charging boar up close with a flintlock.
Arcana, Magister Ottoline Quaile (Spark and Fuse): set a slime burning with a staff, then detonate it with a sceptre's orb.
Restoration, Sister Elowen Liddell (Bind and Bell): heal the wounded guard with a tome, then ward him with a prayer bell before the dummy's swing lands. She sends you on to Sister Aldeth's Healer's Oath.
Each trainer lends you the weapons (you keep them) and the trial pays enough XP to unlock that weapon's second ability.

What happens to existing characters

Nothing is lost. Every item, level and quest stays where it was.
Healers' worn cloth becomes Vestments, once. If your Restoration is at least your Arcana, each base cloth piece you are wearing is swapped for the Vestment of the same tier and quality in the same slot (robe to surplice, hood to cowl, skirt to cassock, gloves to vestment gloves, shoes to sandals, mantle to stole), as long as your Restoration is high enough to wear it. Your satchel and bank are never touched. Mages keep their cloth.
Cloth now raises spell power only. Cloth uniques, regional cloth sets, dungeon cloth and the enchanted robes keep the stats they had.
Tailoring and Leatherworking. Leatherworking starts at level 1 for everyone. Your Tailoring level and XP are untouched. Making leather armour, Warhide, quivers, powder horns and packs, and curing hides, now trains Leatherworking at the new stations; Tailoring keeps cloth, Vestments and tomes. Leather gear you own is still worn on Precision, as before.
Hotbars. Your current bar is kept as the bar of the weapon you are holding. Other weapons build their own bar the first time you take them up. You get a one-time card explaining weapon bars, and no primer for weapons you have already used.
XP. A tome's or reliquary's bolt on a foe now trains Restoration instead of Arcana, and guarded strikes and shield punches train Guard instead of Might.

Sound

Wind and other background sounds are much quieter by default.
The Audio settings tab now has Master volume, Ambient volume and Mute all. Ambient volume controls the wind, birds, waves and town bustle, which the Music and Effects sliders never touched.
Footsteps no longer keep playing while you're in the air.

Balance

Greatswords hit lighter: a greatsword now lands about a quarter harder than a one-handed weapon, so sword and board stays worthwhile.
Battleaxes hit a little lighter on each blow, with the rest of their strength in the bleeds Hew and the axe kit open. Hew's bleed lasts 1.5 seconds, Gash opens one bleed, and Bloodletting rakes hard but bursts each bleed for a modest amount. Against bloodless foes an axe loses about 12% of its damage.
Maces hit slightly harder, and Skullcrack does a little more (+10%) to armoured foes.
Armoured foes shrug off 15% of blows from blades.
Staves and wands deal 45% more damage, and the new sceptre and runeblade are tuned to match.
The skill's shared shots hit lighter from longbows, crossbows and pistols, which out-damaged the shortbow with them. Heavy Bolt does a little more (+10%) to armoured foes.
Guard XP: the Guard abilities you already had give the same Guard XP per use as before. The new flail, halberd and shield kit abilities train Guard through the blows they land, block and taunt, not per use. Flail and halberd swings, shield punches and guarded strikes train Guard a little slower per hit than other weapons train their skill, because blocking trains Guard too.
Abilities scale with their own skill: Arcane Spark cast with a tome in hand scales with Arcana.
Leatherworking recipes give 50% more XP than the same recipes gave Tailoring.
Cloth armour now raises spell power only; healing power moved to Vestments.

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