Weapon

Melee Dragons, armed with Fist Hammer and Blade

Players have two weapon slots. Each one can hold any one of the nine different weapon classes.

The Secret World combat gear and skills are designed to be dependent on each other, and even to be dependent on tactical combat situations. The bonuses of passive Abilities, Weapon Effects and States of active abilities, Gear Runes Glyphs and Talismans, can all be stacked to provide greater advantage.

Each weapon your character has equipped allows your character access to that weapon's abilities. These abilities are unlocked with AP.

Each weapon has skill ranks which allow the player to use weapons and talismans of higher quality levels. These skills are unlocked with SP.

Weapon

Ranged weapons attack the Filth at a distance: Assault Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun

Magic weapons attack and control with the life of the body (Blood Magic), the power of Chaos itself and Fire and Ice magic (Elementalism).

Melee weapons get in close to deal damage and hinder and push back the enemy, face to face, with Blade, Hammer and Fist and Claw weapon attacks.

In the end game, Secret Worlders customize their gear to fulfill a role, with less regard to weapon type and more to the capabilities of individual weapons and other gear. However, individual weapon types are designed to fulfill these role types easily:

Melee

+ Fists - Damage and Healing - Fist weapons allow both furious destructive power and healing potential
= Blades - Damage and Survivability - Wielded in styles and techniques from across the ages, blades are melee weapons strong in both attack and defense.
= Hammers - Damage and Survivability - The heavy-hitting blunt weapon of choice in the Secret World, hammers apply great force at close range.

Ranged

^ Pistols - Damage and Support - Dual pistols are medium-ranged magical firearms with a wide variety of unique tricks.
^ Shotguns - Damage and Support - The shotgun is a medium-range weapon that provides great utility for engaging multiple enemies.
+ Assault Rife - Damage and Healing - Assault rifles are high-powered ranged weapons with an occult twist, offering strong support options

Magic

^ Elementalism - Damage and Support - As much a fringe science as magic, elementalism manipulates and exploits elemental forces to punishing effect.
+ Blood Magic - Damage and Healing - Blood magic is the realm of sickness and prevention, both ancient and modern - but always hungry.
= Chaos Magic - Damage and Survivability - Chaos is a volatile magic that can turn the fortune of the battlefield and create weapons out of thought.

Weapon Effects

In short: States are debuffs on the enemy. Sub-types are the scope of attack targeting: Strikes comprise most of the single-target attacks. Bursts are most of the single-target attacks with multiple hits. Focus attacks must be sustained to do (increasing) damage over time. Frenzy attacks hit targets within an area (Area of Effect, or AoE). Blast is usually a cone-shaped area of damage. Chain attacks spread to do damage to other targets nearby.

States

See State

The most effective States are: Tied for first, Impaired, because it enables the most damage. The trouble with Impairment is that later in the game, it will become useless against some enemies; they actually become stronger if you use it! Tied for first, because of this defect and because defense is inevitably a preferable stance to offense in some circumstances, is the defensive State of Weakened. Third is Afflicted, because it applies extra damage directly, and last is Hindered, because it is only useful at range, is defensive not offensive, and because it ALSO can cause enemies to become stronger when inflicted on them.

Complimentary weapons

Of the 36 possible pairs of weapons, only ten can inflict all four States. Complimentary pairs include: one from Group A plus one from Group B, or Group C plus Group D.

Group A

• Assault Rifle - Afflicted, Hindered
• Elementalism - Afflicted, Hindered

Group B

• Chaos Magic - Impaired, Weakened
• Hammer - Impaired, Weakened

Group C

• Blade - Afflicted, Impaired
• Blood Magic - Afflicted, Impaired
• Fist - Afflicted, Impaired

Group D

• Pistol - Hindered, Weakened
• Shotgun - Hindered, Weakened

Pistol was, and may still be, the only source of the "Corrupted" effect, which reduces the effectiveness of heals heal, barrier and leech effects. A boss enemy which appears multiple times in Blue Mountain, and multiple enemies in Transylvania, are particularly difficult to vanquish without this effect. Skills: Dirty Tricks and Marked. Players who wish to pursue other lines may have to team with a Pistol user in Blue Mountain or skip the boss until they can pick up the Pistol skills in Transylvania when they have more room for those skills.

Weapon Combinations

The thirty-six potential weapon combinations are:

1. Assault Rifle and Blade
2. Assault Rifle and Blood Magic
3. Assault Rifle and Chaos Magic
4. Assault Rifle and Elementalism
5. Assault Rifle and Fist
6. Assault Rifle and Hammer
7. Assault Rifle and Pistol
8. Assault Rifle and Shotgun
9. Blade and Blood Magic
10. Blade and Chaos Magic
11. Blade and Elementalism
12. Blade and Fist
13. Blade and Hammer
14. Blade and Pistol
15. Blade and Shotgunc
16. Blood Magic and Chaos Magic
17. Blood Magic and Elementalism
18. Blood Magic and Fist
19. Blood Magic and Hammer
20. Blood Magic and Pistol
21. Blood Magic and Shotgun
22. Chaos Magic and Elementalism
23. Chaos Magic and Fist
24. Chaos Magic and Hammer
25. Chaos Magic and Pistol
26. Chaos Magic and Shotgun
27. Elementalism and Fist
28. Elementalism and Hammer
29. Elementalism and Pistol
30. Elementalism and Shotgun
31. Fist and Hammer
32. Fist and Pistol
33. Fist and Shotgun
34. Hammer and Pistol
35. Hammer and Shotgun
36. Pistol and Shotgun