Weapons

Saber, one of PSO's many weapons

Weapons are basic equipment that are used to inflict damage or status effects on the various monsters of Ragol.

All weapon damage is determined by the wielder's ATP stat, regardless of the weapon's type. In lieu of technique being affected by ATP, many technique-type weapons also provide a boost to MST to improve the power of techniques that way (e.g. wands), a direct increase to the power of specific techniques (e.g. Club of Laconium), or both. In order to equip a weapon, a character must meet its stat requirement, needing a certain amount of either ATP, ATA or MST.

Weapon types

There are 19 types of weapons in Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst, split into 3 categories of weapons: melee, ranged, and technique. In general, Hunters can equip all the melee weapons, Rangers can equip all the ranged weapons, and Forces can equip all the technique weapons, but many weapon types can be equipped by other classes, and certain weapons can only be equipped by specific classes (such as HUcast or RAmarl).

For weapon types that can be equipped by multiple classes, "off-classes" (e.g. Hunters and Handguns) can generally equip lower tier weaponry, while higher rare-tier weaponry is more often restricted to the class for which the weapon type is designed. For example, despite basic handguns being equippable by all classes, Heaven Striker, a powerful rare handgun, can only be equipped by Rangers.

List of Weapon Types
Category	Type	Classes
Melee
	Sabers	HU	RA	FO
	Swords	HU	RA	FO
	Daggers	HU	RA	FO
	Partisans	HU	RA	FO
	Slicers	HU	RA	FO
	Double Sabers	HU	RA	FO
	Claws	HU	RA	FO
	Katanas	HU	RA	FO
	Twin Swords	HU	RA	FO
	Fists	HU	RA	FO
Ranged	Handguns	HU	RA	FO
	Rifles	HU	RA	FO
	Mechguns	HU	RA	FO
	Shots	HU	RA	FO
	Launchers	HU	RA	FO
Technique	Canes	HU	RA	FO
	Rods	HU	RA	FO
	Wands	HU	RA	FO
	Cards	HU	RA	FO

Weapon types in italics indicate a weapon type that cannot be purchased on Pioneer 2, and may only be found on rare weapons.

ES weapons

Main article: ES weapons

ES weapons (often referred to as "S-Rank weapons" or simply "S-Ranks") are a special category of weapon which encompasses all weapon types in addition to a few extras (such as ES Needle, based on Spread Needle). For ES weapons of basic weapon types, they have the visual of a basic weapon with a brown photon. Unlike regular weapons, they have the following unique properties:

• Cannot have any attributes
• May be given a custom 8-character name (A-Z only, entered at the time the weapon is received)
• Can have a custom special applied, which will not be reduced regardless of weapon type

ES weapons are obtained upon a character's completion of Challenge Mode with an S-Rank rating, with the choice of ES weapon types offered depending on the episode cleared.

TypeM weapons

Main article: TypeM weapons

TypeM weapons are another special category of weapon introduced in Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst. They have the visual of a basic weapon with a white photon, but many TypeM weapons have animations that differ from what is expected of them.

Their animation set and visual model can be inferred from their naming convention of "TypeXX/Yyyyy," where "XX" is the first two letters of the weapon type for the animations used, and "Yyyyy" is the full name of the weapon type for the model used. For example, the weapon TypeDS/Rod uses a double saber (TypeDS/Rod) animation with a rod (TypeDS/Rod) model.

Eleven special TypeM weapons have been made available on Ephinea through events, all of which come with a predetermined amount of Hit % and special attack:

Weapon	Special(s)	Hit %
TypeSW/J-Sword	Spirit	30
TypeSW/Slicer	Blizzard	30
TypeSL/Slicer	Charge	25
TypeDS/Rod	Devil's	30
TypeDS/Wand	Arrest	30
TypeKN/Claw	Berserk	50
TypeRI/Rifle	Hell	40
TypeGU/Hand	Hell, Charge, Berserk, Spirit	40
TypeGU/Mechgun	Hell, Charge, Berserk, Spirit	35
TypeME/Mechgun	Charge, Berserk, Spirit	40
TypeSH/Shot	Charge, Berserk, Spirit	40

In addition, a TypeDS/D.Saber with an Arrest special and 30 Hit % was released in a previous event, but was quickly removed from distribution, making it the rarest of the TypeM weapons.

Grind

Each weapon has its own "grind" value, named for the usage of the common tool items Monogrinder, Digrinder, and Trigrinder. Each point of grind on a weapon adds an additional two points to its ATP. All weapons have a maximum amount they can be ground, while some weapons cannot be ground at all. A weapon's current grind is shown next to its name with a plus sign in front of it (e.g. Saber +3).

Monogrinders, Digrinders, and Trigrinders will add +1, +2, and +3 grind, respectively.

Attributes

Main article: Weapon attributes

Every weapon in Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst can come with up to three of five different attributes assigned to them: Native, A.Beast, Machine, Dark, or Hit. The first four increase your weapon ATP when attacking enemies of said type, while Hit % increases the character's ATA by an amount equal to the "percentage" listed (rather than being a 20% ATA increase, 20 Hit % is actually a flat bonus of 20 ATA). Hit is not shown on the weapon's attribute page by default, and is only visible if it is present on the weapon currently equipped or being equipped.

Special attacks

Weapons in Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst can have "special attacks," which allow them to make an attack that will apply different effects depending on the special. These effects can include elemental damage, status effects, and more. Special attacks must hit a target before having a chance to apply its effect, and the special attack action has the lowest accuracy modifier of the three attack types, so high ATA is typically required to use them effectively.

Specials are randomly assigned to common weapons, but are predetermined on all rare weapons; in both cases, this can include a weapon not having a special at all, which will result in the special attack icon on the action palette being greyed out and unusable. Certain rare weapons have specials that cannot be found on any other weapon. Non-rare weapons with specials must be tekked before their special attacks will have an effect on enemies.

Anguish mode reduces the potency of special attack effects in the following ways:

• Enemies have higher EDK and ESP
• Enemies will be frozen, paralyzed, and confused for shorter periods of time
• Enemies are less susceptible to HP cutting special attacks

Special reduction

Special reduction is a mechanic whereby certain weapon types will have the percent chance of their special attack activating, or the effectiveness of the special attack reduced, in order to compensate for their ability to target multiple enemies or to strike an enemy more than one time per attack. Which kind of reduction is applied depends on the special attack being used.

Weapon Type	Reduced By
Swords	1/2
Daggers	1/2
Partisans	1/2
Slicers	2/3
Mechguns	2/3
Shots	1/3

See also: List of weapons with reduced specials

Weapons which are listed on the above page suffer reduction when using any type of special attack, with the exception of elemental damage (e.g. Burning) and sacrificial damage increases (e.g. Berserk).

As an example of special activation chance reduction, a reduced Sword-type weapon with the Hell special will only have a 46.5% chance of killing an enemy instantly (provided the attack hits), rather than the Hell special's base percent chance of activation of 93%.

As an example of special effectiveness reduction, a reduced Mechgun-type weapon with the Gush special will drain only 5.61% of an enemy's HP per hit, as all three hits of a mechgun attack landing will result in a total of 17% of an enemy's HP being drained for that attack (provided every hit connects).

Note: Both of these examples are provided without factoring in other parts of the respective special equations, and are not meant to be taken as exact--only to demonstrate the reduction mechanic.

Types of specials

Fire damage

Heat, Fire, Flame, and Burning weapons will all deal fire damage to their targets.

Damage = (Power) * (100 - (Enemy EFR)) * 0.01

Rarity	Special Name	Power
1★	Heat	(Lv. - 1)/4 +40
2★	Fire	(Lv. - 1)/3 +60
3★	Flame	(Lv. - 1)/2 +80
4★	Burning	(Lv. - 1) +100

Freezing

Ice, Frost, Freeze, and Blizzard weapons all have a chance to freeze their targets. Epsilon, Zu, Pazuzu, Dorphon, Dorphon Eclair, Girtablulu, and all bosses cannot be frozen. Players with a Cure/Freeze are also immune to being frozen.

Androids receive a 30% boost to the activation rate of all freezing specials on Ultimate difficulty. This value can be added directly to the values in the Power column (for example, Frost would have a power of 78%). V501 and V502 give an additional 50% boost to the activation rate of freezing specials; these stack with the android boost, but not with each other.

Base Freeze Chance = ((Power) - (ESP)) * (Special Reduction)
Freeze Chance = min((Base Freeze Chance), (Difficulty Cap)) * (Unit Boost)

The Difficulty Cap is 40%.

Rarity	Special Name	Power
1★	Ice	32%
2★	Frost	48%
3★	Freeze	64%
4★	Blizzard	80%

Lightning damage

Shock, Thunder, Storm, and Tempest weapons will all deal lightning damage to their targets. Machine-type monsters, with the exception of Epsilon, Vol Opt, and Vol Opt ver. 2, have an additional chance to be shocked. Players can also be shocked unless they're wearing a Cure/Shock.

Damage = (Power) * (100 - (Enemy ETH)) * 0.01
Shock Chance = (Difficulty Modifier) * (Unit Boost)

Where Unit Boost is 1.5 if the player is equipped with a V501 or V502, and 1.0 otherwise. The Difficulty Modifier is 2.5% in Ultimate and 6.67% in Normal, Hard, and Very Hard.

Enemy lightning attacks on players use a different formula to calculate the shock chance.

Enemy Shock Chance on Player = 75 - (Player ETH)

Rarity	Special Name	Power
1★	Shock	(Lv. - 1)/4 +40
2★	Thunder	(Lv. - 1)/3 +60
3★	Storm	(Lv. - 1)/2 +80
4★	Tempest	(Lv. - 1) +100

Paralysis

Bind, Hold, Seize, and Arrest weapons all have a chance to paralyze their targets. Bosses and Machine-type enemies cannot be paralyzed. Androids, as well as non-androids with a Sacred Cloth or Cure/Paralysis, are also immune to being paralyzed.

Androids receive a 30% boost to the activation rate of all paralysis specials on Ultimate difficulty. This value can be added directly to the values in the Power column below. V501 and V502 give an additional 50% boost to the activation rate of paralysis specials; these stack with the android boost, but not with each other.

Base Paralysis Chance = ((Power) - (Enemy ESP)) * (Special Reduction) * (Unit Boost)

Rarity	Special Name	Power
1★	Bind	32%
2★	Hold	48%
3★	Seize	64%
4★	Arrest	80%

Confusion

Panic, Riot, Havoc, and Chaos weapons all have a chance to confuse their targets. Bosses cannot be confused. Players with a Cure/Confuse are also immune to being confused.

Androids receive a 30% boost to the activation rate of all confusion specials on Ultimate difficulty. This value can be added directly to values in the Power column below. V501 and V502 give an additional 50% boost to the activation rate of confusion specials; these stack with the android boost, but not with each other.

Confuse Chance = ((Power) - (Enemy ESP)) * (Special Reduction) * (Unit Boost)

Rarity	Special Name	Power
1★	Panic	28%
2★	Riot	44%
3★	Havoc	60%
4★	Chaos	76%

Instant kill

Dim, Shadow, Dark, and Hell weapons all have a chance to instantly kill their targets. Bosses are immune to being instantly killed, as are any enemies with an EDK of 93 or higher.

V501 gives a 50% boost to the activation rate of all instant kill specials, and V502 gives a 100% boost to the same activation rate. These do not stack with each other.

Activation Chance = ((Power) - (Enemy EDK)) * (Special Reduction) * (Unit Boost)

Rarity	Special Name	Power
1★	Dim	48%
2★	Shadow	66%
3★	Dark	78%
4★	Hell	93%

HP drain

Draw, Drain, Fill, and Gush weapons all siphon HP from their targets. These specials cannot drain more than 30 HP from their targets on Normal difficulty, 60 on Hard, 90 on Very Hard, or 120 on Ultimate difficulty.

Androids receive a 30% boost to the amount of HP stolen with any of these specials on Ultimate difficulty. This value can be added directly to the values in the Power column.

Base HP Drain = min((Power) * (Enemy HP), (Difficulty Cap))
HP Drained = (Base HP Drain) * (Special Reduction)

Rarity	Special Name	Power
1★	Draw	5%
2★	Drain	9%
3★	Fill	13%
4★	Gush	17%

TP drain

Heart, Mind, Soul, and Geist weapons all siphon TP from their targets. These specials cannot drain more than 25 TP from their targets on Normal difficulty, 50 on Hard, 75 on Very Hard, or 100 on Ultimate difficulty.

Base TP Drain = min((Power) * (Player Max TP), (Difficulty Cap))
TP Drained = (Base TP Drain) * (Special Reduction)

Rarity	Special Name	Power
1★	Heart	3%
2★	Mind	4%
3★	Soul	5%
4★	Geist	6%

EXP steal

Master's, Lord's, and King's weapons all siphon EXP from their targets. These specials cannot steal more than 20 EXP on Normal, 40 EXP on Hard, 60 EXP on Very Hard, and 80 EXP from the target on Ultimate. You cannot siphon more than 100% EXP from an enemy.

Androids receive a 30% boost to the amount of EXP stolen with any of these specials on Ultimate difficulty. This value can be added directly to the values in the Power column below.

Base EXP Steal = min((Power) * (Enemy EXP), (Difficulty Cap))
EXP Stolen = (Base EXP Steal) * (Special Reduction)

The Enemy EXP is the amount of EXP granted for killing the enemy.

Rarity	Special Name	Power
2★	Master's	8%
3★	Lord's	10%
4★	King's	12%

HP cut

Devil's and Demon's weapons have a chance to cut the HP of their targets. The amount of HP cut is based on the target's current HP, not its maximum. If the target has 1 HP, an HP cut special will kill it. These specials have a 50% chance to activate after passing the accuracy check against the target.

Androids receive a penalty to the amount of HP cut on Ultimate difficulty – Devil's will only cut 20% of an enemy's HP and Demon's will only cut 45% of an enemy's HP. The technical reason for this is that the powers of the specials are actually 50% and 25% in the ItemPMT and the client adds the 30% android boost to these values. Therefore the enemy's HP after a Devil's attack from an android in Ultimate is (50+30)% of the enemy's current HP.

Integer truncation occurs after calculating the amount of HP to remove from the enemy.

Rarity	Special Name	HP cut from Enemy
3★	Devil's	50% HP
4★	Demon's	75% HP

Sacrificial damage increase

Charge, Spirit, and Berserk weapons have massively strengthened attacks at the cost of Meseta, TP, and HP, respectively. While a Heavy attack has a multiplier of 1.89x in the damage formula, sacrificial attacks have a multiplier of 3.33x. The charge special of the rare partisan Vjaya is a unique attack with a multiplier of 5.67x.

Spirit will not function if the user has less than 10 TP, and Berserk will not function if the user has 1 HP. Note that this is only a major restriction for Spirit – Berserk will never drain a player's HP below 3, while Spirit will freely drain a player's TP below 10.

There is no special activation calculation for these specials. The special will activate if the player passes the ATA check.

Rarity	Special Name	Sacrifice
2★	Charge	200 Meseta
3★	Spirit	1/5 TP
4★	Berserk	1/4 HP

Divine Punishment

Main article: Divine Punishment

Divine Punishment is a unique special attack that is granted to the rare weapons Heaven Punisher, Mille Marteaux, and Heaven Striker (while a Striker Unit is equipped) when the hundreds digit of the beat time is even. It summons beams of light from the sky to attack enemies.

Distances and angles

All weapons possess two statistics: distances and angles. Simply put, they are the ranges of each weapon and determine the area that a weapon can strike in. They are split into two types, horizontal and vertical.

Horizontal

The horizontal distances and angles are the two variables which determine a weapon's forward reach and sideways reach. A weapon with a larger horizontal distance can reach further (e.g. Mechgun's 85 vs. Handgun's 170), while a weapon with a wider horizontal angle is able to reach enemies further to the side (e.g. Partisan's 40° vs Sword's 45°). A wide horizontal angle also gives many weapons "auto-aim", as the weapon's radius of attack will be very wide, similar to a shot-type weapon.

An example diagram of Sword's and Mechgun's horizontal reach

The diagram to the left showcases an example of two weapons with their horizontal distances and angles. The black line is the weapon's horizontal distance, while the red lines are the constraints set by the horizontal angles. As can be seen, Sword has a rather wide area of attack, but does not reach very far. On the contrary, Mechgun reaches much further but can only aim at enemies almost directly in the line of sight.

An example diagram showing how the vertical distances and angles interact

Vertical

The vertical distance refers to the vertical boundary at which a weapon can strike, while a vertical angle dictates the slope a projectile may take. An example of a large vertical angle is Heaven Striker's special attack, which can attack enemies directly above it. Note that launcher and card shots do not have large vertical angles, their shots simply have infinite vertical range.

The diagram on the right shows an example of the vertical distances and angles. The black lines show the vertical boundary, but the vertical angle determines (as indicated by the red line) the maximum slope of the projectile.