In any RPG, sifting through the loot you come across and equipping the right weapons is essential to building up your party. When you’re out slaying monsters, completing quests, and exploring a fantasy world, equipping the right weapon will maximize your character’s ability to dish out damage. This fact is no different in Square Enix’s hit Nintendo Switch JRPG release Octopath Traveler.
With Octopath Traveler being released once more through Xbox Gamepass, it’s important to know what gear to look for as you adventure in Orsterra if you’re jumping in for the first time (or even coming back for round two.)
Characters in Octopath Traveler scale their stats largely with what gear is equipped, so having the right ones can make or break your build. There are also quite a lot: swords, polearms, daggers, axes, bows, staves, and shields - Octopath Traveler has them all.
10 Giant’s Club
Staves, in most RPGs, are tools of the mystic. Mages, wizards, witches, and warlocks often utilize these curious weapons in battle to cast spells, heal allies, or debuff foes. In Octopath Traveler, this much is true, but the Giant’s Club stands to be a bit different.
Boasting a +229 physical attack, the Giant’s Club says goodbye to the idea of magic. It still provides a +112 elemental attack, but the physical damage bonus is the real kicker. On top of that, the extra +86 critical damage is nothing to sleep on.
9 Memorial Axe
Following the theme of heavy-hitting weapons, the Memorial Axe is no j0ke. This weapon, which is granted to the player after the “Zeph and Mercedes” questline, grants the user a +400 physical attack, effectively making them a powerhouse of damage. The added +150 speed also allows the character using the Memorial Axe to have their turn quickly in battle.
A bonus ability grants the Memorial Axe the occasional ability to decrease a targeted enemy’s elemental defense, leaving them open to attack from party members like the intellectual scholar Cyrus, who deals massive elemental damage.
8 Battle-tested Dagger
Rogue characters in RPGs often use daggers, a stealthy option, to deal massive amounts of critical damage to unknowing enemies. The surreptitiousness of a dagger makes it the perfect weapon for an assassin. With the Battle-tested dagger, this much is true.
A +380 physical attack ensures that your rogue character, like the sneaky thief Therion, will hit their criticals and end the life of an unsuspecting foe. The +140 bonus to the evasion stat is also helpful to avoid enemy attacks, which is only heightened with the weapons’ unique ability to occasionally decrease a target’s accuracy.
7 Tradewinds Spear
Some weapons benefit a specific character within your party as if it was made for them. The Tradewinds Spear is an example of such a weapon, clearly being made for the youthful merchant Tressa, who is a top 5 character to build.
With a +150 physical attack and a +380 elemental attack, the Tradewinds Spear is great to throw on to any character who uses both spears and the wind element. Since Tressa uses an ability called Tradewinds, which deals in elemental damage, it only makes sense to see this item on her.
6 Enchanted Sword
Some weapons benefit both the physical and elemental statistics, ultimately providing a balanced tool for any user that has their hands in both pools of damage. The Enchanted Sword is a perfect example of this: with an added +240 physical attack and +220 elemental attack, any characters that use swords, as well as spells, will benefit from using it.
Therion the thief is a good character to equip the Enchanted Sword for, as he benefits from the bonus elemental damage with his Wildfire ability.
5 Transcendent Bow of Shadows
The Transcendent Bow of Shadows, which gives a heaping +306 physical attack and +245 elemental attack, is a solid bow to throw on almost any character. H’aanit, who uses the hunter class, (which heavily utilizes bows,) can be given the Transcendent Bow of Shadows.
Occasionally confusing the target is also an attribute of the Transcendent Bow of Shadows, which is bound to be helpful if targeting multiple enemies at once through H’aanit’s Arrowstorm ability.
4 Death Cleaver
Weapons that have the chance to instill elemental inflictions on enemies can be commonplace in RPGs. The Death Cleaver does just this with its talent in poisoning targets. On top of this, it also grants a +380 physical attack and a +140 critical, which is an absurd amount of damage.
With the high damage output and bonus to critical, the Death Cleaver is bound to kill any enemies in your way; the poison will definitely kill anyone who doesn’t survive your initial onslaught.
3 Heathcote’s Dagger
As an alternative to the aforementioned Battle-tested Dagger, Heathecote’s Dagger trades off the bonus to evasion for a huge chunk of elemental damage. This blade has the power to grant +199 physical attack and a whopping +346 elemental attack, making it great for mages who want just a hair of physical prowess.
Characters like Primrose, when built into a scholar or sorcerer job, benefit greatly from this dagger. With an already high base elemental damage stat, she can use the bonuses from this sword to really mystify the battlefield. The dagger also has a bonus to fire damage, which is nice for characters like Therion.
2 Battle-tested Staff
The higher-end gear in Octopath Traveler is usually labeled “battle-tested,” as it has seen its fair share of conflict. The Battle-tested staff is no different. With a +212 physical attack and a +399 elemental attack bonus, this weapon will pack a punch for any mage with a taste for destruction.
With an additive bonus of slowing down the target, characters like Cyrus benefit heavily from the Battle-tested Staff - slowed enemies make easy pickings for physical damage users, after all.
1 Battle-tested Blade
On the opposing end of the spectrum from the Battle-tested Staff is the Battle-tested Blade. With a +400 physical attack and +150 critical attack bonus, the Battle-tested Blade is no joke. On top of that, the weapon itself instills an augmentation of physical abilities onto the user (something that can otherwise only be accessed as a job skill.)
This blood-thirsty weapon should only be equipped by heavy physical damage users like Olberic to culture the immense power. With massive damage and critical chances, the Battle-tested Blade is the best chance of dishing out tremendous amounts of physical damage in Octopath Traveler.
NEXT: 10 Things We Want In Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent
