Weapon Rank

What is Weapon Rank?

Weapon Rank determines the lower cap and upper cap of fSTR and fSTR2.

For weapon types other than Hand-to-Hand, Weapon Rank is calculated as:
floor(Weapon Base Damage / 9 )

For Marksmanship and Archery weapons, the value for weapon base damage comes solely from the weapon itself, and does not include additional damage from the ammo slot.

For Hand-to-Hand weapons, Weapon Rank is calculated as:
floor((Weapon Base Damage+3) / 9 ).

Hand-to-Hand damage from unarmed strikes has no weapon rank.

Why is Weapon Rank Important?

To fully appreciate weapon rank, you need to understand how physical damage is calculated. The formulas for this can be quite complex, so please see that page for the full breakdown, or continue reading for the simplified version.

Weapon rank is used to calculate a variable known as fSTR for melee attacks, or fSTR2 for ranged attacks. This variable can be summarised as the damage bonus or penalty received when comparing the attacker's Strength against the defender's Vitality. Specifically, a higher weapon rank raises the upper and lower caps of the fSTR/fSTR2 variable, which in turn raises your base damage from physical attacks.

When comparing whether or not you should upgrade a weapon, it is important to take into account not just the base damage of the weapon and its other stats, but whether it also has a higher weapon rank.

Example

A common question from low-level Monks is whether they should choose Republic Knuckles or Federation Baghnakhs. The knuckles have 1 higher base damage at the cost of 28 more delay, and 2 less Attack, making it a tough choice.

But consider that the knuckles have 6 base damage, which translates to weapon rank floor((6+3)/9) = floor(9/9) = 1. The baghnakhs have 5 base damage, which becomes weapon rank floor((5+3)/9) = floor(8/9) = 0 - since floor means you always round down.

That extra 1 weapon rank puts the Republic Knuckles out in front, despite the slightly slower hits and 2 less attack.

Note that sometimes you will want to choose a weapon with additional stats, despite it having a lower weapon rank. A good example of this would be the Viking Axe for those using Dual Wield Axes due to the huge +10 to Accuracy which is hard to beat when fighting Incredibly Tough monsters in a party.

Additional Notes

Some weapons such as Blau Dolch and Company Sword have their base damage increased when the latent / hidden effect is activated. Due to this damage increase, the value of Weapon Base Damage / 9 is changed, but the weapon rank doesn't reflect this change. The weapon rank is still the same as when the items have their latent / hidden effect inactive.

However, weapons that have their base damage permanently changed by a latent effect, such as Dissector, will always have a weapon rank based on the latent effect base damage, even before the latent effect becomes active.