Age of Conan Weapon Types

The MMORPG Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures puts you in control of a warrior in the universe created by Robert E. Howard and other writers over the past century. It's known for flashy sorcery, brutal combat and very deadly outcomes for both. Naturally, the game decided to put a lot of emphasis on the combat aspect, allowing you to engage in real-time combat with your weapon of choice. Weapons are divided into several types: one-handed edged, two-handed edged, one-handed blunt, two-handed blunt, and ranged. Different classes can use different weapons, and it's dependent on the situation. In Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, you have to think strategically about your weapon choices.

One-handed edged weapons are shorter things like knives, daggers, and short swords. These are useful for getting in close to an enemy and stabbing/slashing them behind the reach of a longer weapon like a sword. Most rogue classes tend to favor one-handed edged weapons just for the purposes of stealth. They're also lighter, than but just as deadly as some of the larger weapons. Some feats allow you to throw knives to act as ranged weapons.

Two-handed edged weapons are mainly larger swords and axes. Two-handed broadswords, the longsword, war-axes and other instruments of death fall into this category. They're useful for obviously straightforward killing, and are used by the soldier classes, especially on the battlefield. They're harder to hide, so generally aren't available to rogue or thief-like characters. Axes are heavier than swords, so your character will need a high strength stat to work with. Really, it take strength to wield any weapon for any length of time, but often your opponent may have a shield between you and them, so it'll take longer. After all, no one wants a sword through the chest, so they'll fight that much harder to defend. Another downside to swords is that they're expensive in-game, because they take a lot of metal and metalworking skills to produce anything of really good quality. There are bronze weapons, but these aren't very good. Spears also fall into this category, though you could also place them into the blunt weapons category.

One-handed blunt weapons are smaller bludgeoning instruments like maces, flails, morning-stars and clubs. These are simple weapons, not really requiring a lot of effort to make or maintain them. They're useful for inflicting non-lethal damage (yes, believe it or not, sometimes you don't want to kill your opponent) and for defense. They're used by priests and rogues. Very rarely will you see a soldier with this class of weapon.

Two-handed blunt weapons are pretty much just staves and polearms. These are used by soldiers, and they have a slightly longer reach than a sword. The disadvantage is obviously that they're a lot slower than a sword, so if the enemy gets inside your guard, prepare to respawn.

Ranged weapons are everything else that's used from a distance, like longbows, crossbows and thrown weapons. You use these by aiming at the target with your mouse when the game goes into an over-the-shoulder view.

Ben is an avid Age of Conan gamer and frequently writes about AoC strategy guides and tips. Visit his website at http://www.aocriches.com to dominate your server today.

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