Weapon (equipment)

The Broadsword, a common sword.

A weapon (ぶき or 武器, Buki?) is the piece of equipment a unit will use in battle, either primarily or secondarily. Whenever the standard Attack command is used, the unit will attack the target with their equipped weapon. Sometimes a weapon can be used in the attack, though not actually used to attack. An example would be mages using their equipped rods and staves to cast magic. Another example could be whenever a character uses the weapon to initiate a powerful attack.

Some job classes, such as the Red Mage, Blue Mage, and Gladiator, can use a variety of weapon types, while the Mime class often does not use weapons at all, rather relying on its own special skills.

Forced equipped weapons

Although in most games weapons are optional to be equipped, some force characters to have equipped weapons:

• Final Fantasy VII
• Final Fantasy VIII
• Final Fantasy IX
• Final Fantasy X
• Final Fantasy X-2 to some extent; all dresspheres have assigned weapons that cannot be changed and do not affect a character's performance in battle
• Final Fantasy XIII
• Final Fantasy XIII-2
• Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
• Final Fantasy XIV, due to the nature of the Armory System, characters must have a weapon or tool equipped at all times.
• Final Fantasy XV
• Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
• Final Fantasy Adventure
• Final Fantasy Type-0

Common weapon types

• Axes and Hammers - used by the Berserker, Viking and Warrior classes.
• Bells - commonly used by Geomancers as weapons.
• Bombs - explosives used by various characters in several games.
• Books - weapon of choice of Scholars and the like.
• Bows and Crossbows - ranged weapons equipped by Rangers, Hunters, and Archers.
  • Arrows - ammunition for bows and crossbows. In some games they are expended every time the bow is used.
• Cannons - ranged weapons used by Cannoneers.
• Cards and Dice - the weapons favored by Gamblers.
• Daggers - common weapons for Thieves.
• Double-bladed weapons - Double ended blades used by various classes.
• Guns - ranged firearms used by Corsairs and Gunners.
• Gunblades - swords with elements of guns, which were prominently used by Squall Leonhart and Seifer Almasy in Final Fantasy VIII, and Lightning in Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2.
• Instruments - musical instruments such as Flutes and Harps commonly used by Bards.
• Knuckles - for hand-to-hand combat with the Monk class.
• Lances/Spears - used by the Dragoon class.
• Maces - variable bludgeons used by advanced mage classes such as Sages.
• Nunchaku - alternative weapon to fists for Monks.
• Poles - long sticks used by both melee and magic classes in various games.
• Rackets - used as optional weapons by Dagger and Eiko Carol in Final Fantasy IX, as well as the Selkie tribe in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.
• Rods - used mostly by Black Mages.
• Scythes - wielded by the Dark Knight class in Final Fantasy XI and Reaper job in Final Fantasy XIV, as well as Sice from Final Fantasy Type-0.
• Staves - used mostly by White Mages.
• Sword - the most common weapon, and has as many branches as classes that can equip them. Greatswords, Sabers, and Rapiers are a few of those. They are mostly used by Warriors and Paladins.
  • Dark Swords/Fell Swords - a type of sword unique to the Dark Knights.
  • Holy Swords - Holy blades commonly associated with the Paladin job class.
  • Knight Swords - a type of heavy sword used mostly by Knights.
  • Katana - single-edged swords used by the Samurai and Ninja classes.
• Throwing weapons - generally Thrown by the Ninja class. These include Boomerangs, Chakrams, Shuriken and in some games Scrolls.
• Unarmed - weapons that involve fighting without any traditional weapons such as swords or spears.
• Whips - weapon of choice of Beastmasters and Quistis Trepe from Final Fantasy VIII. Rydia is also commonly associated with whips as well.

Unique weapon types

Several characters throughout the series have character unique weapons. Other unique weapon types include:

• Arc mirages - a half-circular bladed weapon favored by Meia from Mobius Final Fantasy; they are classified as "rods" in Final Fantasy Record Keeper.
• Arms - a set of four floating weapons, consisting of an axe, a spear, a sword, and a dagger that accompany Ultimecia in her 3D appearances outside Final Fantasy VIII.
• Blaster edges - projectile weapons used by Rinoa in Final Fantasy VIII. In Final Fantasy Record Keeper, they are classified as "thrown".
• Blitzballs - balls used in battle by Wakka and by Tidus to perform Blitz Ace in Final Fantasy X. Shuyin also uses a blitzball in Terror of Zanarkand. Jecht is also commonly associated with blitzballs due to his old job as a blitzball player. Rikku can use blitzballs in Final Fantasy Record Keeeper.
• Bowswords - reconfigurable weapons that can switch between bow and sword modes used by Serah Farron in Final Fantasy XIII-2. They are based on the concept of the gunblade. Outside of the debut game, bowswords are present in their bow form and classified as such.
• Brushes - artist's tools used by Relm in Final Fantasy VI. In Final Fantasy Record Keeper, they are classified as rods.
• Brooms - Matoya's weapon of choice in Final Fantasy Record Keeper where they are classified as "staffs".
• Cloths - cloths wielded by the female-only Dancer class in Final Fantasy Tactics.
• Cores - Kuja's weapon of choice in his 3D appearances outside Final Fantasy IX.
• Dolls - animated dolls used in battle by Lulu in Final Fantasy X.
• Scales - applied to the Shadow Dragon employed in battle by Golbez in his 3D appearances.
• Dual swords - reconfigurable weapons that can switch between sword/shortsword and spear modes used by Noel Kreiss in Final Fantasy XIII-2. They are based on the concept of the gunblade. In Final Fantasy Record Keeper, they are classified as "swords".
• Emblems - emblems on coats used by Snow to power up his attacks in Final Fantasy XIII. In Final Fantasy Record Keeper, emblems are divided into "fists" and "light armor".
• Extendable batons - retractable metal staves used by Jihl Nabaat in Final Fantasy XIII-2. They are classified as "swords" in games where Nabaat appears as a playable character.
• Hand fans - foldable paper screen used by Leblanc and female goons in Final Fantasy X-2.
• Forks - eating utensils used by Quina in Final Fantasy IX. Outside their game of origin, they are classified as "spears".
• Grenades - thrown explosives mainly used by Turks in Final Fantasy Record Keeper.
• Gun-arms - special weapons designed to be worn as prostheses that Barret equips in place of his missing right hand in Final Fantasy VII. Despite the name, there are also various melee weapons within the category of Gun-Arms.
• Headdresses - razors worn in the mane by Red XIII in Final Fantasy VII.
• Katars - a weapon with an H-shaped horizontal hand grip with the blade sitting above the user's knuckles that is used by Kiros from Final Fantasy VIII. In Final Fantasy Record Keeper, they are classified as "fists".
• Measures - calculating tools used solely in Final Fantasy XII.
• Megaphones - used by Cait Sith in Final Fantasy VII to bark orders to his stuffed moogle. In Final Fantasy Record Keeper, they are classified as "instruments".
• Nightsticks - batons with tasers at their end used by Reno in Final Fantasy VII series.
• Nouliths - a flying array of foci used by the Sage job in Final Fantasy XIV.
• Shields - round protective gear used by Ormi in Final Fantasy X-2 as well as Noctis and Gladiolus in Final Fantasy XV.
• Skybandits - hovering surfboards used by Filo in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings.
• Souls - spirits of captured monsters used by the one-off Morpher class in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.
• Star globes - globe astrometers used by the Astrologian job in Final Fantasy XIV.
• Whipblades - reconfigurable weapons that can switch between whip and sword modes used by Seven in Final Fantasy Type-0. They are based on the concept of the gunblade. Outside their original appearance, they are classified as "whips".
• Wrenches - mechanic tools used by Buddy in Final Fantasy X-2.