MapleStory Classic Weapon Guide

Your weapon in MapleStory Classic World shapes your attack animation, reach, damage calculation, and access to combat skills. This guide covers the 11 weapon families and their main equipment rules, based on information verified before launch.

Weapon Families by Job

Weapons occupy the right-hand equipment slot. Although every class has at least one usable weapon family, most damage skills require a particular type: an incompatible weapon may leave you performing a basic attack or unable to activate the skill.

The 11 families are distributed across four job branches. Swords, axes, and blunt weapons each have one-handed and two-handed versions; those versions do not count as separate families.

Job branch	One-handed options	Two-handed options
Warrior	Sword, axe, blunt weapon	Sword, axe, blunt weapon, spear, polearm
Magician	Wand	Staff
Bowman	None	Bow, crossbow
Thief	Dagger, claw	None

Beginners can use unrestricted basic-tier weapons across these families. However, they lack the specialized damage skills that make those weapons effective for their intended jobs.

Choosing Between One and Two Hands

For swords, axes, and blunt weapons, the choice usually comes down to shield access versus stronger individual hits.

Consideration	One-handed version	Two-handed version
Base attack at a comparable level	Lower	Meaningfully higher
Swing speed	Faster	Slightly slower
Damage from each hit	Lower	Higher
Sustained damage	Generally similar	Generally similar
Shield compatibility	Yes	No

A shield supplies defense and may also offer a modest stat increase. Two-handed equipment gives up that protection in exchange for greater attack power.

Neither option is automatically the best choice. Available gear and your preferred combat style matter, and Beginners often start with a one-handed weapon and an inexpensive shield before acquiring two-handed alternatives.

Other families have a fixed hand requirement. Spears, polearms, staves, bows, and crossbows are always two-handed; wands, daggers, and claws are always one-handed.

Reading Attack Speed

Weapon speed uses a 1–9 rating, with 1 being fastest and 9 being slowest. It controls the frequency of basic attacks and most active combat skills.

The following is a broad comparison rather than a guarantee for every item:

Relative pace	Weapon families
Fastest	Claw, dagger
Middle	Bow, wand
Moderately slow	Sword, axe, blunt weapon, crossbow
Slowest	Staff, spear, polearm

Weapons within a family generally have comparable speed ratings. Some high-end items stand out by attacking faster than their usual counterparts, so check the individual weapon rather than relying only on its category.

How Mastery Affects Damage

Most weapon families gain a relevant mastery skill at the second job advancement. Mastery raises the lower end of your damage range, making hits more consistent rather than simply increasing the strongest possible hit.

These skills only work with their matching weapon. Sword Mastery, for example, provides no benefit while you wield an axe.

• Fighter, Page, and Spearman each specialize in two weapon mastery categories.
• Hunter and Crossbowman develop mastery for their respective ranged weapons.
• Assassin and Bandit develop mastery for their corresponding thief weapons.

Magicians work differently. Spell damage follows a formula using INT and the spell itself, without the same minimum-to-maximum weapon damage range for mastery to narrow. Consequently, neither wands nor staves have a corresponding mastery skill.

Check Requirements Before Equipping

Most weapons demand both an eligible job and minimum stats. Stat requirements generally rise alongside the weapon’s level.

Illustrative requirements include:

Example weapon	Approximate requirement
Level-35 sword	80 STR
Level-50 bow	110 DEX

These are examples, not universal requirements for every weapon at those levels.

Meeting the stat threshold does not override a job restriction. A Magician cannot equip a job-restricted sword, and a Warrior cannot use a job-restricted wand. Unrestricted basic equipment, such as basic wands and white-name swords, provides the cross-branch exception but offers little meaningful damage.

Keep requirement-granting gear in mind when changing equipment. If removing another item drops your stats below the weapon’s threshold, the weapon stays equipped but its bonuses stop applying.

Ammunition and Shield Rules

Bows, crossbows, and claws need ammunition in the off-hand slot to perform properly.

Weapon	Required ammunition	Consumption
Bow	Arrows	Each shot
Crossbow	Bolts	Each shot
Claw	Throwing stars	Each attack

Without equipped ammunition, damage drops substantially and most skills tied to that weapon become unavailable. Ammunition also has tiers corresponding to weapon tiers, with better ammunition adding attack.

One-handed swords, axes, blunt weapons, wands, and daggers allow a shield. Claws are the exception among one-handed weapons: throwing stars occupy the off-hand slot, preventing shield use.

Improving Weapons with Scrolls

Weapons have a limited supply of upgrade slots, usually 5–7. Scrolls spend those slots to add attack, stats, or other improvements.

A failed attempt still uses a slot and grants nothing. That makes scroll selection important, especially when upgrading a valuable weapon with few attempts remaining.

Scrolling is a major route to endgame damage beyond what stat allocation alone can deliver. Treat the remaining slots as a limited resource rather than using every scroll you happen to collect.

Quick Tips

• Match your equipped weapon to your main damage skills.
• Compare speed and attack together; stronger individual hits do not necessarily mean better sustained damage.
• Choose one-handed gear for shield access, unless you use a claw.
• Check job restrictions and stat thresholds before buying an upgrade.
• Keep suitable ammunition equipped for bows, crossbows, and claws.
• Invest in mastery that matches your chosen weapon family.
• Plan scroll attempts carefully: failures still consume upgrade slots.