In this guide you will learn all about the weapons system of Assassin’s Creed: Origins – tiers, leveling and upgrading, bonuses, curses and more!
At any given time you can equip up to two melee weapons and two ranged weapons plus one shield. The quality and types of weapons determines what effects and behavior these weapons will have on your gameplay. All of your swords, axes, bows, shields etc can be upgraded at the various vendors in the big cities (more on that later
WEAPON TYPES
There are 3 tiers of weapons that you can obtain/find in the game. Each type of weapon has a default bonus attached to them always. Based on the rarity of the weapon, up to two more bonuses may be attached to it.
We’ll talk more about bonuses and rarity later. For now, let’s take a look at the list of weapon types available with their default bonus attached to them, regardless of the quality of the item.
MELEE WEAPONS
- Regular Swords – Default Bonus: Critical Hit Rate – balanced weapons for all-around purposes, 1H weapon.
- Sickle Sowrds – Default Bonus: Bleeding on Hit – have a chance to grab and spin your opponent, 1H weapon.
- Dual Swords – Default Bonus: Adrenaline Regeneration – shorter reach, but very fast damage, no shield equipped.
- Heavy Blunts – Default Bonus: Adrenaline on Kill – long reach, slow weapons, heavy hitters, 2H weapon.
- Heavy Blades – Default Bonus: Adrenaline on Hurl – long reach, faster than Blunts, 2H weapon.
- Scepters – Default Bonus: Combo Multiplier – long reach, not very hard-hitting, very fast though, 2H weapon
- Spears – Default Bonus: Critical Hit Damage – long reach, medium damage, 2H weapon
RANGED WEAPONS
- Hunter Bows – Default Bonus: Charging Speed – average speed, hit rating and range – all-round purpose.
- Light Bows – Default Bonus: Precision – fire rapid series of arrows, short range, very deadly.
- Warrior Bows – Default Bonus: Rate of Fire – very deadly form short distance, shoot multiple arrows at a time.
- Predator Bows – Default Bonus: Stealth Damage – sniper type of bow, allowing you to zoom and aim carefully.
WEAPON RARITY
There are three different tiers of weapon rarity available. The higher the tier of the weapon, the harder it would be to find it. This color scheme is valid for all of Bayek’s gear, by the way.
- Common quality – blue items with just the default bonus attached to them
- Rare quality – purple items with 2 bonuses attached to them
- Legendary quality – yellow items with 3 bonuses attached to them
You can upgrade your old weapons at the Blacksmiths in bigger villages and cities. At a constant price of 3000 per Legendary item upgrade you can do that every few levels to make sure your best and favorite weapons are always up to your level and performing at their maximum potential.
Obviously, you can also upgrade rare and common items, but I don’t see the point in that, so I don’t recommend you waste money on it. Some missions will reward you directly with a Legendary weapon for your efforts and if you like the style and bonuses on that one, you can have it at your side until the very end.
WEAPON BONUSES
As stated in the first section of the guide, each weapon can have between one and three different bonuses, based on its rarity. Common weapons have only one bonus – the default for the type of weapon, Rare weapons can have two bonuses and Legendary weapons have three with the third one being a special modifier.
Each bonus has four different levels. The level of the bonuses seems to be random and cannot be upgraded (unless you find a different weapon with a higher level bonuses, heh). The higher the level of that bonus, the bigger improvement it will have on your item. Only the attributes have levels, though. The modifiers are static and cannot be changed.
Below is a full list of all bonuses (attributes) and modifiers available in the game:
ATTRIBUTES
The attributes have 4 levels, picked randomly for each melee, ranged weapon or shield.
- Adrenaline on Hurt: Upon receiving damage, Bayek gains # Adrenaline Points. (10 | 15 | 20 | 25)
- Adrenaline on Kill: When Bayek kills an enemy, he gains # Adrenaline Points. (20 | 30 | 40 50)
- Adrenaline on Parry: When Bayek parries an attack, he gains # Adrenaline Points. (20 | 30 | 40 | 50)
- Adrenaline Regeneration: While holding this weapon, Bayek regenerates # Adrenaline Points per second. (1 | 2 | 3 | 4)
- Bleeding on Hit: Attacks have a # % chance to inflict Bleeding (10 | 20 | 30 | 40)
- Charging Speed: Bow Charge Duration is reduced by # %. (10 | 20 | 30 | 40)
- Combo Multiplier: With each consecutive hit, damage is multiplied by # % (110 | 115 | 120 | 125)
- Critical Hit Damage: Bayek’s Critical Hits inflict # % more damage: (180 | 220 | 260 | 300)
- Critical Hit Rate: When Bayek attacks, he has # % chance to inflict Critical Damage (20 | 30 | 40 | 50)
- Damage Absorption Rate: Bayek has a # % chance to absorb 30% of the incoming damage (20 | 30 | 40 | 50)
- Damage Absorption Value: Bayek has a 10 % chance to absorb # % of the incoming damage (50 | 65 | 80 | 95)
- Fire Resistance: Fire Damage is reduced by # % (20 | 30 | 40 | 50)
- Melee Resistance: Melee Damage is reduced by # % (20 | 30 | 40 | 50)
- Precision: Arrow Dispersion is reduced by # % (10 | 20 | 30 | 40)
- Ranged Resistance: Ranged Damage is reduced by # % (20 | 30 | 40 | 50)
- Rate of Fire: Bow’s Rate of Fire is increased by # % (20 | 30 | 40 | 50)
- Stealth Damage: While undetected, shots inflict # % more damage (115 | 130 | 145 | 160)
MODIFIERS
The Modifiers are only available for Legendary Weapons and don’t have levels – their bonuses are always the same:
- Bleeding on Block: Blocking attacks have a 20% chance to inflict Bleeding on the attacker
- Cursed: Bayek gains 200% damage output but his health is capped at 33%
- Elevation Multiplier: Shots taken from 3 meters higher than the target deal double damage
- Extra Arrow: Bayek can load two extra arrows
- Health for Critical: While below 20% health, all attacks do critical damage
- Health on Hit: Bayek recovers 1% of his health each time he hits an enemy
- Health on Kill: Bayek recovers 15% of his health each time he kills an enemy
- Health on Parry: After a successful parry, Bayek recovers 50% of the incoming damage
- Instant Charging: Charged Heavy Attacks are instant
- On Fire: Attacks have a chance to set enemies on fire
- Poison on Block: Blocking attacks have a 20% chance to inflict Poison on the attacker
- Poison on Hit: Attacks have a 20% chance to poison enemies
- Ranged Hit Multiplier: Shots taken at more than 20 meters from the target deal double damage
- Sleep on Block: Blocking attacks have a 10% chance to inflict Sleep on the attacker
- Sleep on Hit: Attacks have a 10% chance to put enemies to sleep
CHOOSING THE BEST WEAPONS FOR YOU
Despite the fact that most weapons will list vastly different damage output if you compare them at the same item level, the average actual damage dealt per second during combat is pretty much the same. This is because each weapon has different perks like speed and range.
If you are more of a traditionalist when it comes to melee weapons, the regular swords are your best choice. You cannot go wrong with a sword and a shield in this game. Let’s not forget that if you unlock your second melee and ranged slots, you will be able to swap quickly with the press of a button between let’s say long-ranged and short-ranged weapons.
If you like to “swing like a king” (reference to Game of Thrones and King Robert Baratheon’s Warhammer), then a heavy blade or heavy blunt is your best pick. Keep in mind that these weapons require two hands and you will not be able to use your shield, but will compensate the loss of defense with an extremely hard-hitting attacks and longer range.
In terms of bows, you can have the “shotgun” (warrior’s bow) at your disposal when fighting in enemy camps and forts, for example, but switch to a predator’s bow when hunting the wild life outside of the villages. My personal recommendation is the Hunter Bow, though. Especially if you don’t want to invest into the second Bow slot.
As I mentioned earlier, once you find the perfect Legendary weapon, you can stick to it. Upgrading it every 3-4 levels will keep your performance on par with your enemies and you will not “starve to death”, because you are spending all of it on upgrades each level.
Another option for weapons and gear you no longer have use for is to Dismantle or sell the items. Dismantle will grand you some crafting materials, which may be used to upgrade any of your 6 static gear slots at the bottom of the Gear Tab. Selling an item will fill your pockets with gold, so you can get the next upgrade to your favorite item.
If you own Assassin’s Creed: Origins Gold Edition, you also receive several Legendary weapons and outfits. The Regular Sword is especially good and can serve you all the way up to the last few missions, where you will get a better weapon for sure. I’ll stop here before I reveal any story spoilers.
HOW TO GET LEGENDARY ITEMS IN ASSASSIN’S CREED: ORIGINS
There are no paths or ways to get you a constant flow of Legendary weapons. There are no known ways to farm for them. Certain activities and missions, however, can grand you the items you desire and the bonuses you are desperately looking for.
- Killing Phylakes – killing these bounty hunters is not an easy task, but is the best way to get your legendary items. These NPCs start appearing in random spots on the map after a certain point in your main story progression.
- Papyrus Puzzles – Solving these will always grant you a nice item. Almost as reliable way of getting Legendary Weapons as killing the bounty hunters (Phylakes).
- Side Missions – some of the side quests in the game will always give you a Legendary Item as a reward upon completing it. Some quests also have a chance to grant you a Legendary gear piece.
- Purchasing Loot Boxes – I don’t want to talk about the InGame store, so in this category I will only speak of the special blue trader” that follows you in all big cities. For 3000 you can get a box containing either a Rare or a Legendary Weapon. it’s up to you if you want to gamble away your money.
That’s it… for now. If you have any questions, want to add something to the guide that I may have missed or simply want to share your thoughts, jump down to the comments section and make the best use of it :)
