Weapons and Armour

Below you'll find a table listing all the weapon types that all the classes in the game can use. Note however, that although most the classes can use a plethora of weapon types, all classes start with the ability to use only one or two weapon types, and the ability to use the remaining weapon types must be learned. To learn how to use another weapon type, visit a weapon master. There's one or two in each major city, and they all teach different things, and occasionally some of the same things. For instance, the Alliance Weapon Master in Darnassus teaches crossbows, fist weapons, polearms, and bows, whereas his colleague in Stormwind teaches one- and two-handed swords, polearms, and fist weapons.

What weapon types you can use when you first start your character, depends on your class and your race. For instance: Night Elf hunters start with daggers and bows, whereas the Dwarves start with daggers and guns, and Orc hunters start with maces and bows. What type of weapon you use make a slight difference in the game, and whether it's one- or two-handed make a difference as well. Not all classes can use two-handed weapons, with the exception of staves, and generally those that can't are considered casters, meaning they don't ever really need, nor should they, engage in melee combat, and as such they don't have a need for two-handed weapons.

Two-handed weapons generally cause more damage than one-handed weapons (of the same quality), but also means that you occupy both character hands, obviously making it impossible to use shields, but there's a great amount of off-hand items in the game, that can greatly enhance your character's abilities. For some quests it's even required that you equip an off-hand item, and as such you need to have a one-handed weapon available to still be able to fight while having the off-hand item equipped.

There's a great amount of weapons in the game, of every type. Most of them look much alike (like the vast amount of two-handed swords), but a few look quite amazing. These are usually the rare ones that can either only be obtained from completing quests, or picked up from slain monsters. Or alternatively bought at the auction for a large sum of money. But nomatter what the weapon looks like, the "stats" of the weapon is what's really important to your enjoyment of the game. Basic stats for a weapon are base damage, damage per second (dps), and speed. Base damage is always a range, like 20 - 50, which means that on each swing, this weapon will cause a base damage of 20 to 50 HP. It's a base value because the actual damage that you cause depends on your skill-level (proficiency) in that weapon type, your strength, agility, buffs, as well as a few other factors. The speed of the weapon is another factor, and the damage per second is a result of the combination of a weapon's damage and the speed of the weapon. The value of 'Speed' when you look on a weapon, isn't actually the attack speed, but the time (in seconds) between each swing of the weapon. Thus, lower speed means faster attacking. A fast weapon with a low base damage can cause the same amount of dps as a slow weapon with a high base damage, but faster weapons means you can get more hits in before you get interrupted by the enemies hitting you. A second rule is, if you can use shields, and have a choice between a one-hander and a two-hander with the same dps (or almost the same), generally it's better to go with the one-hander and use a shield, because the shield increases your armour, as well as reducing the damage you take. Shields can, and usually do, also provide other benefits besides armour and blocking attacks.

Generally, it is recommendable to use weapons with speeds over 3. Especially for characters with the ability to dual-wield (rogues, warriors, and hunters), using two fast weapons is better than using one fast and one slow, even if they both have the same dps rating.

For more on how to choose the right weapon for your class, please see my class guides (still under development).