TGDB.net - Game news, cheats, solutions, walkthroughs, trainers, saved games and much more!

Weapon Skill- Skill Chain FAQ
For FFXI
Last Updated 5/16/2004
by Kletian999

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
I: Version History
II: Purpose
III: Disclaimer
IV: Copyright Information
V: Introduction to Weapon Skills - Limit Breaks
VI: Newbie Q & A:
VII: Introduction to Skillchains - Renkei
VIII: The Limit Break Attributes
IX: Renkeis
X: Weapon Skill (Limit Break) List
X-2: Unlocking the Quested Techniques
XI: Conclusion
XII: Thanks to
T: Contact Info -Kletian999

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I: Version History
Current Version
0.85 4/22/2004 Another Nice Update, took longer than I wanted
Confimation and correction on lots of techs, G Sword, Scythe, Sword, Spear
More thanks and special thanks
More experimenting with Starlight/Moonlight
"Elemental Limit Breaks can be resisted?"
Some reorganization was in order
New site with hosting permission
Beginning Weapon/monster Affinity Chart
Even Newer Limit Breaks have been implemented, accepting any new information

0.80 4/21/2004 Huge Update
Spirits Within, Star Light, and other TP based techs updated
lots of work on Katana, G Katana, Axe, Spear, Ranged updates/corrections
TP Gain chart/assumptions changed.
Comments added for each Weapon family
Removed bad info on "critical=extra hit" from some weaponskills
New Newb question
Lots of "thank you"s added.

0.75 4/4/2004
Got a lot of nice info from people at Killing Ifrit on GAxe and Scythe WS
Cleaned up TP chart some
Admitted my guesses on G Katana WS are way off, will seek help correcting them
New newb Question
New site permission

0.71 4/1/2004
Lots of little things, corrected some mistakes in past update.
Lots of experimenting with Star Light
Introduction of "Too much TP" theory
Revised some opinions.
Information on Weapons vs. Monster families
New Newbie question
Better link to Skill cap charts.
TP info for wands, hammers, katanas
New Host, finally learned how to submit to Killing Ifrit

0.7 3/19/2004 Huge update
Found quest info for ALL final weapon skills, gave them their own section
Corrected lots of weaponskills, thanks to StarvingArtist videos
More sites with hosting permission
Miscellanious rewriting/rephrasing

0.611 3/13/2004
More corrections to TP gain chart
New site with hosting permission
Updated Hexastrike

0.61 3/11/2004
Corrected/added to TP gain chart
Added mention of Double/Triple Attack on Weaponskills
Changed opinions on White mages weapon recommendation
Small adjustments to WS effect descriptions
Added a new site with hosting permissions

0.6 (First published) 3/9/2004
Complete Skillchain information up to Lvl 250 techniques
Complete list of skills up to lvl 250, but not complete effect descriptions.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
II: Purpose
Information on Weapon skills and skill chains is either scattered or not
present. My mission is to bring all the knowledge I can find into one place
then fill in the gaps to make a definitive FFXI resource.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
III: Disclaimer
I am no expert on this game. 90% of the information I know about Weapon Skills
and Skill Chaining originally came from other people, either through message
boards, charts, sites, or FAQs. This FAQ will never reach a complete state
without the participation of some dedicated people who have reached the higher
levels and are willing to test out the information that has come to my
attention. Either that or someone with inside knowledge of the game dynamics
would help (/emote winks). Furthermore, this is my first FAQ, so bear with
me and give helpful suggestion on formatting and content.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV: Copyright Information

Even Editors of Anthologies get copyrights.
1: I promise to credit information derived from the work of others, in return
I ask that no one derive a work from this without giving me credit.
2: This is intended as a Free Resource to the FFXI community, it should never
be bought, sold, traded, or given as an incentive for a business transaction.
3: I wrote this for GameFAQs.com, I am willing to let other sites use it, but
they must get my written permission first. Furthermore, I plan to update this
guide on GameFAQs first are foremost.
4: Any posting of this work in a public medium must not be changed in any way.
It's my name on this work and only I determine what is written under my name.

I can be contacted at Kletian999@hotmail.com. As this account has an
aggressive spam filter, Please write Renkei FAQ in the subject. If you don't
here any response from me in two weeks, assume I missed your message and send
it again.

This FAQ is Copyright 2003-2004 Tom Dubeck- Kletian999

All trademarks and copyrights mentioned in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.

Current Sites with posting permission:
1: www.GameFAQs.com
2: DLH.net
3: www.Neoseeker.com
4: faqs.ign.com
5: www.order-of-judgement.com
6: ffxi.killvoid.com aka www.KillingIfrit.com
7: www.rpgdreamers.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
V: Introduction to Weapon Skills - Limit Breaks

As SquareEnix is not your typical MMORPG maker, they decided to give melee
classes something to do besides autoattack and mash on Ability macros during
battles. This game features special attacks officially called Weapon Skills,
but I prefer to call them Limit Breaks as Weapon Skills resemble Limit Breaks
from FF6-10 greatly, and it prevents confusion with the term Weapon Skill
Level, which is how proficient your character is with a certain "type" of
weapon. Limit Breaks can be used whenever a Character's TP level reaches 100%
or more (up to 300%). TP goes up 2% every time you get hit and you get a
varying amount of TP directly dependant upon weapon delay.
Higher delay=more TP gain per hit. TP gain can be in fractions, thus causing
a weapon like Scythe to get 12, 13, 12 etc. Since the TP gain method wasn't as
set as I thought it was, take these figures as ballparks.

TP Gain chart
Hand to Hand 4-7 (depends on weapon and whether you have Martial Arts)
Katana 5
Dagger: 5, 5.5
Sword: 6
Club (Wand) 6.5
Club (Hammer) 8.5
Axe: 6.5, 7
Boomerang 8 TP
Staff 9.5
Spear 10, 12
Great Katana 10, 11(becomes 12 with TP Store), 12
Great Sword 11, 12.5
Bow 12
Crossbow 12
Gun 12?
Great Axe 12.5
Scythe 12, 12.5

TP goes down 10% for every 10 seconds of being in healing posture
(what I call a "hit" of healing). The best metaphor for TP is anger, however
if you leave the area or change your equipped weapon, you TP goes down to
zero (I trust this is to prevent abuses like charging up your weapon on fodder
to fight difficult monsters in a different zone). Using a Limit Break will
consume all your TP unless you are a Samurai using Meikyo Shisui. Samurai's
TP store passive trait seems to give 10% more TP for all actions (even get 3 TP
once every 10 hits).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VI: Newb Q & A:

Note: Newb- Newbie, someone who doesn't know better but will learn in time.
Noob(n00b)- Moron, deliberately annoying, confrontational, never learns.

Q: If I buy/use a new weapon, does my Weapon Skill Level go back to zero?
A: No, Weapon Skill Level is based on the "type" of the weapon used (i.e. 1
handed sword, scythe, club), not the actual weapon itself. One should get
their weapon upgraded often so that you are keeping up with the enemies, I
recommend you keep the Minimum Level Requirement of your weapon no further
than 5 levels under your current level, at least until you get the hang of
purchasing weapons.

Q: Are Rapiers, Scimitars, and Long Swords different types of weapons?
A: No, they all count as 1 handed swords; if you are a sword user, feel free
to switch between those sub-categories to find your favorite balance of Damage
vs. Delay (higher numbers=slower attack), Equip-ability (Scimitars are
equipped by fewer classes than the other two) and appearance. This is also
true for Daggers, Knives, and Kukris (all Dagger type weapons); Knuckles and
Claws (Hand to Hand type); Hammers, Clubs, and Wands (all Clubs), and other
subtle variations in weapons.

Q: What are the types of weapons?
A: The types of weapons are 1 Handed Axe/Picks (Axe), Bow, 1 handed blunt
weapons (Clubs), Dagger, 2 Handed Axe (Great Axe), 2 Handed Katana (Great
Katana), 2 Handed Sword (Great Sword), Guns and Crossbows (Marksmen), Claws
Knuckles, etc (Hand to Hand), 1 Handed Katana (Katana), Scythe, Spears and
Lances (Polearm), Staff, and 1 Handed Sword (Sword). Boomerangs and other
throwing weapons also have skill levels but no limit breaks.


Q: What weapon type should I use? I am a
A: Well, it depends on your current job, subjob, planned future job, job level,
and personal style. The most general advice is to use a weapon type you can
equip and that your job is compatible with and meets your desire for
damage/delay (do you like hitting hard or often?). Feel free to experiment, as
learning a new weapon is easy, and is explained in the next question.
For a chart on Class-Weapon Compatibility and per level skill caps check :

http://www.ausystem.org/~aushacho/gbox/ff/skill-e.html

It will also tell you what Job level you can expect to learn your next Limit
Break. A rule of thumb is that caps start around 5 and rise about 3 skill
levels per job level, (Thus, level 10 technique at level 3, 100 techniques at
33, 200 techniques at 66) provided you are using a weapon of some proficency.
The difference widens greatly later in the game, but for the first 20 levels
or so there is not much difference between A to C Weapon proficency.

One last thing, some types of Monsters (Skeletons for instance) are resistant
to attacks by Piercing Weapons (Daggers, Spears, Bow/Marksmen), but weak to
Blunt Weapons (Clubs, Hand to Hand). Also Flying enemies are weak to
Piercing, but I'm still measuring if Blunt does less. Likewise, I'm unsure if
Slicing weapons like Swords and Axes are enemy neutral, or have their own set
of weaknesses. Check a later question for more info. Having the same weapon as
a lot of other people can make shopping easier, but you might be a more
interesting character with cool skillchain potential if you choose a variety
of weapons.

Quick recommendations:
Warrior- almost anything, but Axe and Great Axe are your best bet
Monk- Hand to Hand, might try Poles for fun
Thief- Swords or Hand to Hand (with monk subjob) to start, then Dagger 30+
White Mage- Hammers (Club) for melee damage, wands/staves give MP and stats.
Black Mage- Wand or Staff, but focus on stat bonuses over actual fighting
Red Mage- Swords, maybe a debuff dagger
Paladin- Swords, Clubs, Greatswords
Dark Knight- Scythe, Greatsword
Beastmaster- Axe
Bard- Sword or Dagger for Melee, Monster Signa (Staff) for Charisma boost
Ranger- Dagger, Axes, or anything that boosts ranged pow/acc
Summoner- Club or Staff, but focus on stat bonuses over actual fighting
Ninja- 1 handed Katana, stat boosting weapons