There are eight weapons in the game that the player can acquire. As the player progresses through the story they will naturally receive all of these weapons. Upgrading weapons are done through obtaining Weapon Orbs and taking them to Watts, the blacksmith. Some weapons can also be upgraded from finding Weapon Orbs inside of chests throughout different areas in the game. Each weapon orb obtained will be highlighted as a single red circle in the weapon's menu. When a weapon reaches level nine the name will turn red. Level nine weapons, including level eight knuckle/axe, can be found as rare drops from certain monsters on the Mana Fortress. Each weapon has been broken down as to what they look like, what they can provide to the player and where they can be found.

In order to receive full credit for all level nine weapons, and unlocking the achievement, the player must find all level nine weapon orbs and upgrade each weapon. See the Mana Sword section for further details as the final upgrade for the sword is not a rare chest drop. For these achievements, the player is not required to have all the characters be level eight, skillfully trained, with each weapon.

There is a way to eliminate traps and increase your odds of receiving a rare drop instead. Using ANALYZE on a chest will cause a red color aura to appear, signifying that it is an item. Each monster typically has a regular drop which usually is a useable item. The rare drop will be either equipment or a weapon orb, depending on the monster. Using this spell is also a great way to find chests if they are out of view. At level 50+ the player will start to receive shadow zeros from treasure chests. This can also decrease odds if the player is not using analyze.


Selecting a treasure chest with Analyze.


Obtaining rare drop. Notice the red aura around the chest after analyze was used.

Most players, when they progress through the game, typically upgrade all their weapons on the weapon orb basis. However, speed runners and some veteran players will keep the spear at level three for the rest of the game. The reason for this is because it has the ability to cause enemies to Space Out or also known as ballooning. When an enemy is ballooned it will literally have a balloon attached to its head and be rendered completely vulnerable.

This is invaluable for getting past annoying areas or making combat much simpler. The player is not obligated to upgrade weapons but having under-leveled weapons does result in low damage output against higher level enemies.

In this case, the Sprite's Spear becomes more of a useful tool. Despite stacking weapons orbs, the player can always upgrade later if they desire. If the player upgrades their weapon, it can not be undone.

This same tactic can also be used with the level 4 and level 6 javelin. Both javelins have the ability to balloon enemies, however, the javelin is not as effective at hitting multiple enemies as the spear is.