The weapon comes with 1 level decorations, 912 attack level, flame damage, and 15% affinity. The weapon’s fire element is limited at 310 and can cause 70+ damage. The sword can be forged using x2 Teostra Horn+, x8 Azure Rathalos Scale, x3 Azure Rathalos Tail, x1 Rathalos Ruby, and x56000 Coins. You can build this weapon from the Red Wing. The Bow was a poor exclusion, as i believe that it vastly outpaces all counterparts in the proper build for sheer damage uptime. This does not make it the best weapon by any means, but numbers are likely to support that a bow will outdamage any other weapon in a greater variety of situations, and elemental bows are significantly better than.

For almost all character builds, knowing the best weapons in Skyrim for each type is going to be worthwhile. Some are available early on, too, through side quests or otherwise, which can be a massive help for playthroughs on harder difficulties, or for those with a burning desire to power through to Skyrim's late-game content.

Skyrim best weapons explained

Whether you're looking to tackle some of the more bizarre Daedric quests, or power-level your Smithing to craft Dragonbone and Daedric weapons, the weapon rankings below should be of some use to you, but before you dive in there are a couple of quick things to bear in mind about how we've structured it all:

• If you're looking to craft or enchant your weapons, be sure to check out our detailed guide to power-levelling Smithing and Enchanting skills to hit that level cap and craft the best weapons in the game as quickly as possible.
• An 'N/A' for Perk means you need to boost your Smithing past 100 with Alchemy to improve it beyond Flawless - specifically, you need to max your Smithing level to 100 and then use potions of Fortify Smithing to boost it beyond that, at which point the weapons in question, which don't benefit from any of the Smithing skill Perks, can then be improved beyond Flawless quality.
• The weapon sections below, excluding the Bows and Crossbows, are in order of lowest to highest damage and weight - so daggers first, with their low damage and low weight, moving ending with the heaviest and highest-damage Warhammers.
• For bows, higher weight means faster arrow travel speed, and normally a slower nocking speed.
• For one- and two-handed weapons, a higher weight means a slower swing speed, so for the most damage-per-second you'll want a combination of high base damage and low weight.
• If a weapon is listed as not enchantable, that will generally mean it's not disenchantable, either.
• We'll give a little extra context for our rankings in each section, but bear in mind we're considered damage-per-second here, too, so in many cases weight is just as important as raw damage!
• Unique items are marked with an asterisk * and we've briefly explained how to get them in that section's notes. Standard items like Daedric weapons, meanwhile, can always be found through either random loot or crafting.
• Stalhrim weapons' Frost Damage bonus is actually more powerful than it looks - the 'Chaos Damage' enchantment, which has a 50% chance of dealing 25 fire, frost, and shock damage simultaneously, is also boosted, making it an extremely potent choice for skilled enchanters.

The best Bows and Crossbows in Skyrim

A couple quick things to note about the bows and crossbows below:

• The Enhanced Dwarven Crossbow is part of the Dawnguard questline, and can only be obtained if you side with the Dawnguard over the Vampires. This specific type of crossbow is available to craft or buy after finding the schematic in one of the sis 'Ancient Technology' quests.
• Crossbows, whilst generally more powerful than bows in terms of damage, take a fair bit longer to fire each shot. They can also be equipped with exploding bolts of various damage types, too, which stack with any enchantments on the crossbow itself.
• Zephyr is found in the Dwemer ruin Arkngthamz during the Dawnguard quest 'Lost to the Ages'.
• The Nightingale Bow is found in the Inner Sanctum after you've defeated Arch-Curate Vythur in the Dawnguard quest 'Touching the Sky'.
• Note that with bows, there is generally a tradeoff between rate of fire and damage, and the choice depends on your playstyle. For stealth characters, higher damage bows like the Dragonbone, Daedric, and Nightingale bows are preferred, as they give you a greater chance of taking characters out in one hit from stealth and remaining undetected. For archers who expect to get in the mix a little more, attack speed is preferred, with bows like Zephyr and Auriel's bow, to help you maximise the stagger effect of your Perks, and deal sustainied damage as quickly as possible in extended combat.
• In the table, 'DPS' refers to the damage-per-second of the bow, taking into account both the bow's total speed to fully nock and fire and arrow, and it's base damage.

Weapon	Damage	Weight	DPS	Upgrade with	Effect	Enchantable
Enhanced Dwarven Crossbow	22	21	N/A	Dwarven Metal Ingot, Dwarven Smithing	Ignores 50% of armor	Yes
Dragonbone Bow	20	20	15	Dragon Bone, Dragon Armor	None	Yes
Auriel's Bow*	13	11	13	Refined Moonstone, Elven Smithing	20 Sun Damage, tripled if target is Undead. Can use Sunhallowed and Bloodcursed Arrows	No
Zephyr*	12	10	12	Dwarven Metal Ingot, Dwarven Smithing	Fires 30% faster than a standard bow	No
Daedric Bow	19	18	9.5	Ebony Ingot, Daedric Smithing	None	Yes
Nightingale Bow*	19	18	9.5	Ebony Ingot, N/A	30 Frost Damage, 15 Shock Damage	No

The best Daggers in Skyrim

Daggers have the highest attack speed and lowest base damage of all weapons in Skyrim, but that doesn't mean they should be ignored. In fact, for all One-Handed skill users, they can be essential:

• Dual-wielding means that the swing-speed of the fastest weapon is applied to both. So, for duel-wielders, equipping one of the below daggers like Mehrune's Razor, which has a tiny weight of just 3, will apply that same weight to a massive Daedric Mace when put in the other hand.
• Blade of Woe is acquired from either pickpocketing or killing Astrid of the Dark Brotherhood, or completeing the Dark Brotherhood quest 'With Friends like These'. If you pickpocket it from her before completing that quest, you can in fact obtain two copies of the weapon.
• Mehrunes Razor is a reward for completing the quest 'Pieces of the Past', if you opt to kill Silus Vesuius.

Weapon	Damage	Weight	Upgrade with ingot, Perk	Effect	Enchantable
Dragonbone Dagger	12	6.5	Dragon Bone, Dragon Armor	None	Yes
Blade of Woe*	12	7	Any, Steel Smithing	Absorb 10 health	No
Mehrune's Razor*	11	3	Ebony Ingot, N/A	1.98% chance to instantly kill, infinite charges	No
Daedric Dagger	11	6	Ebony Ingot, Daedric Smithing	None	Yes
Stalhrim Dagger	10	4.5	Stalhrim, Ebony Smithing	Frost Damage enchantments 25% stronger	Yes

The best Swords in Skyrim

Swords are, as you'd expect, the most popular weapons in Skyrim thanks to their versatility and balance of both speed and damage. They're the fastest non-dagger one-handed weapons, but have lower damage than their mace and war axe counterparts.

• Windshear, firstly, benefits from appears to be a bug, whereby every attack with it will stagger your opponent - even dragons - rendering them completely unable to attack or reatreat as long as you continue to strike them with the right timing. It is only possible to obtain during the Dark Brotherhood quest 'Hail Sithis' on board The Katariah, where it's lodged, Excalibur-like, right at the very top of the ship's prow.
• Miraak's Sword is obtained by killing Miraak in the Dragonborn quest 'At the Summit of Apocrypha'.
• Chillrend can be found during the quest 'The Pursuit', inside the tunnels under Riftweald Manor in Riften, and can also be obtained by breaking into Riftwead Manor and accessing the tunnels from inside, after doing a spot of roof-hopping to get inside. Chillrend is levelled, too, meaning you get the stats we've detailed below at level 46 and over.
• Nightingale Blade is acquired as a reward for completing the Thieves Guild quest 'Hard Answers', and is also levelled, with the maximum stats we detail below gained if you're at level 46 or above.

Weapon	Damage	Weight	Upgrade with	Effect	Enchantable
Windshear*	11	10	Steel Ingot, Steel Smithing	Staggers opponent with every hit; 39% chance to paralyze opponent with block-bash	No
Miraak's Sword*	16	3	Ebony Ingot, Daedra Heart, Dwarven Smithing	Absorb 15 Stamina	No
Chillrend*	15	16	Refined Malachite, Glass Smithing	30 Frost Damage, Chance to paralyze for 2 seconds	No
Dragonbone Sword	15	19	Dragon Bone, Dragon Armor	None	Yes
Nightingale Blade*	14	15	Ebony Ingot, N/A	Absorb 25 Health and Stamina	No

The best War Axes in Skyrim

There aren't too many exciting options for those who prefer to bear a one-handed axe in Skyrim, but there are still one or two things to note:

• The Dawnguard Rune Axe is rated first because the 110 damage to undead can in fact be locked in by tempering the axe at a grindstone. It can also be improved with only the Steel Smithing Perk unlocked, making it an exceptional early-game choice. In certain situations, it's one of the best one-handed weapons you can get your hands on.
• The Rune Axe is acquired by completing the Dawnguard quest 'Lost Relic'.

Weapon	Damage	Weight	Upgrade with	Effect	Enchantable
Dawnguard Rune Axe*	11	13	Steel Ingot, Steel Smithing	10+n damage to undead, where n = number of undead killed since sunrise	No
Dragonbone War Axe	16	21	Dragon Bone, Dragon Armor	None	Yes
Ebony War Axe	15	17	Ebony Ingot, Ebony Smithing	None	Yes
Daedric War Axe	15	18	Ebony Ingot, Daedric Smithing	None	Yes
Stalhrim War Axe	15	16	Stalhrim, Ebony Smithing	Frost Damage enchantments 25% stronger	Yes

The best Maces in Skyrim

• The Mace of Molag Bal is acquired from the Daedric quest 'The House of Horrors'.
• Molag Bal is only 1 damage lower than Dragonbone Mace but is much lighter, meaning a higher overall DPS - but this can be overcome with strong enchantments to the Dragonbone Mace.
• Same with Stalhrim, this time with the bonus enchantment damage making it a stronger choice overall.

Weapon	Damage	Weight	Upgrade with	Effect	Enchantable
Mace of Molag Bal*	16	18	Ebony Ingot, N/A	25 Magicka and Stamina damage, Soul Trap for 3 seconds	No
Stalhrim Mace	16	18	Stalhrim, Ebony Smithing	Frost Damage enchantments 25% stronger	Yes
Dragonbone Mace	17	24	Dragon Bone, Dragon Armor	None	Yes
Ebony Mace	16	19	Ebony Ingot, Ebony Smithing	None	Yes
Daedric Mace	16	20	Ebony Ingot, Daedric Smithing	None	Yes

The best Greatswords in Skyrim

Greatswords operate as the fastest, but lowest base damage weapons of the two-handed class. There are few unique ones of note, although the Bloodskal Blade provides an intriguing option.

• The Bloodska Blade is located next to Gratian Caerellius' corpse in Bloodskal Barrow, during the Dragonborn quest 'The Final Descent'.

Weapon	Damage	Weight	Upgrade with	Effect	Enchantable
Stalhrim Greatsword	23	21	Stalhrim, Ebony Smithing	Frost Damage enchantments 25% stronger	Yes
Dragonbone Greatsword	25	27	Dragon Bone, Dragon Armor	None	Yes
Daedric Greatsword	24	23	Ebony Ingot, Ebony Smithing	None	Yes
Bloodskal Blade*	21	16	Silver Ingot, N/A	Ranged blast of energy with power attacks that deals 30 damage	No
Ebony Greatsword	22	22	Ebony Ingot, Ebony Smithing	None	Yes

The best Battleaxes in Skyrim

The middle tier of heavy weapons, the battleaxe class also plays home to one of the best weapons in the game, Wuuthrad.

• Wuuthrad is obtained during the Companions mission 'Glory of the Dead' - note that you'll need to place it in the hands of a statue of Ysgramor during the quest, but can be immediately removed after doing so.
• The HEadsman's Axe can be acquired from two people, Ahtar from Solitude, and the Imperial Headsman in the opening prisoner sequence. It can only be obtained from Ahtar, by their gaining him as a follwer and taking it from him for free, pickpocketing it from him, or killing him and looting his corpse.

Weapon	Damage	Weight	Upgrade with	Effect	Enchantable
Wuuthrad*	25	25	N/A	1.2x Damage vs. Dark Elves, Wood Elves, High Elves, Falmer, and Orcs	Yes
Stalhrim Battleaxe	24	25	Stalhrim, Ebony Smithing	Frost Damage enchantments 25% stronger	Yes
Dragonbone Battleaxe	26	30	Dragon Bone, Dragon Armor	None	Yes
Daedric Battleaxe	25	27	Ebony Ingot, Daedric Smithing	None	Yes
Headsman's Axe*	17	11	Unupgradeable	None	Yes

From visual upgrades, to console mods and levelling skills.

Want more help with Skyrim? Find out how to join every guild and faction, how to earn Gold fast, learning about XP and levelling to 100, max Crafting skills, max Warrior skills, max Thief skills and max Mage skills, how to get married, where to buy a house, how to start Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn DLC expansions. If you're on PC, we have a list of console commands and cheats, and you can learn about the remastered version and how to install mods with our Skyrim guide. Finally, with Switch owners, we have Skyrim amiibo support explained to help unlock special Zelda-themed items.

The best Warhammers in Skyrim

The heaviest of heavy weapons, warhammers are the slowest to swing but deal the greatest amount of damage per hit.

• Volendrung is one of the Daedric artifacts, obtained for completing the Daedric quest 'The Cursed Tribe'.
• The Longhammer is acquired from the cave Liar's Retreat, southwest of Solitude. It's located next to the body of Rahd, it's former owner.

Mhw Weapon Popularity

Weapon	Damage	Weight	Upgrade with	Effect	Enchantable
The Longhammer*	21	18	Orichalcum Ingot, Orcish Smithing	Swings 30% faster than a regular warhammer	Yes
Volendrung*	25	26	Ebony Ingot, N/A	Absorb 50 Stamina	No
Stalhrim Warhammer	26	29	Stalhrim, Ebony Smithing	Frost Damage enchantments 25% stronger	Yes
Dragonbone Warhammer	28	33	Dragon Bone, Dragon Smithing	None	Yes
Daedric Warhammer	27	31	Ebony Ingot, Daedric Smithing	None	Yes

• Damage Type
• Sharpness
• Elemental Value

Damage Type

When attacks strike a monster, two types of damage are dealt: Physical (Raw) damage, and Elemental damage (but only if the weapon has an Elemental attribute).

Some weapons have an abnormal status attribute instead of an Elemental attribute. These weapons will Physical damage and apply Status damage.

Physical damage includes Severing-type damage, Blunt-type damage, and Projectile-type damage. Elemental damage includes Fire, Water, Thunder, Ice, and Dragon. There are also other sources of damage such as Fixed damage and Status damage. All damage types are dealt independent of each other.

Severing

Severing (sometimes known as Cutting) damage is the primary damage type for the following weapons:

The following attacks also deal Severing damage:

• Hunting Horn's Handle Poke
• Bow's Melee Attack deals Severing damage
• Some Kinsects deal Severing damage
• Slicing shot from Bowguns

Tails can only be cut by Severing damage. This happens when sufficient Severing damage has been accumulated on the tail, which then severs it.

Blunt

Blunt damage is the primary damage type for the following weapons:

The following attacks also deal Blunt damage:

• Sword & Shield's shield-oriented attacks
  • Sword/Shield Combo
  • Shield Attack
  • Shield Bash
  • Hard Bash
  • Falling Bash
• Lance's Shield Attack
• Kinsects with Blunt attribute

Blunt weapons deal Exhaust status when they hit a monster. If they hit a monster's head, they deal Stun damage.

Projectile

Projectile damage is the primary damage type for the following weapons:

Gunlance's Shelling attacks deal Fixed damage instead of Projectile damage.

Elemental

Elemental Attributes:

• Fire
• Water
• Thunder
• Ice
• Dragon

Blademaster weapons can have an Elemental attribute, a Status attribute, or neither. Some Dual Blades have two Elemental/Status attributes, one for each blade.

The Bow may have an Elemental attribute. The Bowguns do not have natural Elemental attributes, but they can load Elemental shots that effectively functions as dealing Elemental damage when it hits a monster.

Elemental damage is mainly affected by the weapon's Elemental value and the monster's Elemental Hitzone. Abnormal Status damage is not affected by the monster's Physical or Elemental Hitzone values. Blademaster weapons have a 1-in-3 chance per hit to apply Abnormal Status damage, while Gunner weapons always apply Abnormal Status damage.

If a monster has no weakness to a specific element on their Hitzone, then no Elemental damage is dealt. The Physical damage done by the weapon is not affected, as Elemental and Physical damage are calculated separately.

Status Attacks

Abnormal Status attributes:

• Poison
• Paralysis
• Sleep
• Blast

Blademaster weapons can have an Abnormal Status attribute instead of an Elemental attribute. Bows cannot have a natural Status attribute, but may equip Status Coatings to make fired arrows apply Status damage. Equipping Status Coatings will disable the Bow's Elemental attribute temporarily. The Bowguns do not have natural Abnormal Status attributes, but can load Status shots that apply Abnormal Status damage.

For Blademaster weapons, each time an attack lands, the attack has a 1-in-3 chance of applyingAbnormal Status damage. For Gunner weapons, a successful hit will always apply Abnormal Status damage.

Applying Abnormal Status damage to a monster does not instantly activate it's effect. Instead, monsters have an innate tolerance to Status Ailments. To trigger a Status Ailment, enough Status damage must be dealt to a monster to overcome its tolerance threshold. Once a monster is affilicted with the Ailment, the accumulated Status damage is reset to 0 and additional Status damage cannot be dealt until the monster recovers. The only exception to this is Poison.

After the monster recovers, its tolerance threshold for the Ailment increases. This means it takes more Status damage must be accumulated before being able to inflict the monster with the same Ailment.

For all Ailments (except Blast), the accumulated Status damage disappears gradually due to the monster's tolerances. Overcoming this gradual decay is necessary to successfully trigger a Status Ailment on a monster.

Icon	Status	Effect(s)
Poison	Slowly drain the monster's health
Paralysis	Temporarily immobilizes the monster and makes it take a bit more damage
Sleep	Put the monster to sleep
Stun	Stun/KO the monster, which topples and immobilizes it
Exhausted	Drain the monster's stamina, making it tired
Blast	Triggers an explosion on a specific monster part, which deals damage

Factors for Damage Calculation

The following factors influence damage calculations:

BM = Blademaster

Factor	BM (Physical)	BM (Elemental)	Bowgun (Physical)	Bowgun (Elemental)
Attack Value	O	O	O	O
Motion Value	O	O
Sharpness	O	O
Weapon Adjustment	O	O	O	O
Sharpness Adjustment	O
Critical Hit	O	O
Monster Hitzone	O	O	O	O
Elemental Value	O	O
Projectile Adjustment	O
Critical Distance	O
Rapid Fire Adjustment	O	O

Attack Value

The Attack value of the Hunter is calculated from the Hunter's equipped weapon, offensive boosts (e.g. being in DB's Archdemon Mode or having a HH attack buff), equipped skills, items, and Food skills. When damage is calculated, only True values are used, and the Displayed Attack value is adjusted down by the Display Multiplier.

Motion Values

All weapon attacks have a Motion Value (MV), which determines what proportion of the Attack value is used in damage calculations. For example, a weaker move with 40 MV uses applies 40% of the Attack Value in calculating damage, while a stronger move with 80 MV applies 80% of the Attack Value in calculating damage.

In general, slow weapons make up for their slower attacks with larger MVs, and fast weapons make up for their faster attacks with smaller MVs.

Sharpness

Sharpness describes how sharp a weapon is. Sharper weapons deal more damage and are less likely to bounce when hitting tough body parts.

Weapon Sharpness is split into discrete colors (see below). Different colors provide different multipliers to the damage dealt by the player.

Sharpness	Icon	Physical	Elemental
Red	x0.50	x0.25
Orange	x0.75	x0.50
Yellow	x1.00	x0.75
Green	x1.05	x1.00
Blue	x1.20	x1.0625
White	x1.32	x1.125

In addition to lower damage, weaker Sharpness colors causes some weapons to lose functionality. For example, at Orange Sharpness, the Gunlance's shells will deal less damage, the Switch Axe may bounce while in Sword mode, and the Dual Blades will not complete its full Blade Dance animation. At Red Sharpness, the Gunlance cannot shell.

Sharpness Gauge and Consumption

Each weapon can only make a specific amount of hits in a specific sharpness color before it dulls and and the sharpness color is lowered. Sharpness is consumed when a player lands an attack, but some shield attacks from the SnS and Lance do not deplete Sharpness.

Although most attacks deplete Sharpness by one per hit, some weapons have attacks that deplete Sharpness faster:

Attack	Sharpness Cost
Normal Attacks Landing	1
Normal Attacks Bounced	2
Guarding with GS or CB*, small knockback	1**
Guarding with GS or CB*, medium knockback	2**
Guarding with GS or CB*, large knockback	10**
Gunlance Shell, Normal	2
Gunlance Shell, Long	2
Gunlance Shell, Spread	3
Gunlance's Wyvern Fire	10
Gunlance's Burst Fire	Shell Count x Shell Cost

*Charge Blade with Elemental Boost doesn't lose Sharpness when guarding.** Doesn't lose sharpness when blocking roars, wind pressure, or tremors.

Sharpness can be restored by sharpening the weapon with a Whetstone.

Weapon Adjustment

Certain attacks have inherent damage bonuses:

Weapon	Attack Name	Physical Bonus	Elemental Bonus
SnS	Charged Slash	+XXL
Dual Blades	Demon Mode	+M
Dual Blades	When both blade strike at the same time	-L
Great Sword	Charged Slash Lv1	+S
Great Sword	Charged Slash Lv2	+M
Great Sword	Charged Slash Lv3	+XL
Great Sword	Strong Charged Slash Lv1	+XXL
Great Sword	Strong Charged Slash Lv2	+XXL
Great Sword	Strong Charged Slash Lv3	+XXL
Long Sword	White Spirit Gauge	+XS
Long Sword	Yellow Spirit Gauge	+S
Long Sword	Red Spirit Gauge	+M
Lance	Dash Attack	-XXL
Gunlance	Charged Shot (Normal/Long)	+M
Gunlance	Charged Shot (Spread)	+XL
Gunlance	Burst Fire (Normal)	+S
Gunlance	Burst Fire (Spread)	-S
Gunlance	Wyvern Fire (Long)	+M
Switch Axe	Power Phial	+M
Switch Axe	Elemental Phial	+L
Charge Blade	Elemental Phial	+XXL
Charge Blade	Elemental Boost (Axe Mode)	+M
Insect Glaive	Red+White	+M
Insect Glaive	Red+White+Orange	+M
Bow	Power Phial	+XL
Bow	Elemental Phial	+XL
Bow	Melee Attack	-XXL
Bow	Charge Lv 1	-XXL	-L
Bow	Charge Lv 2	- M
Bow	Charge Lv 3	+XL
Bow	Charge Lv 4	+XXL	+M
Bow	Arc Shot	-L	-L
Bowgun	Normal	+L

Sharpness Adjustment

Some moves modify Sharpness, which affects both damage output and the liklihood to bounce.

Weapon	Condition	Sharpness Adjustment
Blademaster weapon	Yellow Sharpness. At the start of weapon swing	-XL
Blademaster weapon	Yellow Sharpness. At the end of weapon swing	-L
All Melee Attack	Have the buff from Demon shot	+S
Sword & Shield	All Attack	+XS
Great Sword	All Charged Attack, Lv 1	+S
Great Sword	All Charged Attack, Lv 2	+M
Great Sword	All Charged Attack, Lv 3	+L
Great Sword	Hit with the middle of the blade	+XS
Long Sword	Max Spirit Gauge	+S
Long Sword	Hit with the middle of the blade	+XS
Lance*	Damage based on Blunt Hitzone	-L
Bow	Melee Attack with Close Range Coating	+ L

* Lance/Hitzone Selection

Critical Hits and Feeble Hits

When an attack makes a Critical Hit, additional damage is dealt. When an attack makes a Feeble Hit, damage is reduced.

Critical Hits occur when a weapon has a positive Affinity value. Positive Affinity refers to the probability of making a Critical Hit on an attack. For example, a weapon with 20% Affinity will have a 20% chance of dealing a Critical Hit on an attack. Higher Affinity values will increase the likelihood of dealing a Critical Hit. A successful Critical Hit applies a +25% bonus to the weapon's Attack Value when calculating damage.

Feeble Hits occur when a weapon has a negative Affinity value. Negative Affinity refers to the probability of making a Feeble Hit on an attack. For example, a weapon with -20% affinity has a 20% chance of dealing a Feeble Hit. Lower negative Affinity Values increase the likelihood of dealing Feeble Hits. A Feeble Hit applies a -25% debuff to the weapon's Attack Value when calculating damage.

The below table briefly illustrates the interaction between Affinity and the probability of making a Critical or Feeble Hit:

Affinity	Probability	Damage Multiplier
60%	60%	x1.25
20%	20%	x1.25
0%	0%	x1.0
-20%	20%	x0.75
-60%	60%	x0.75

Some skills influence Affinity values:

Skill/Food Skill	Effects
Critical Eye 1	+1%

Monster Hitzone

Monsters are comprised of different body parts, and each part has has different weaknesses to Physical damage and Elemental damage. The Physical weakness of a Hitzone does not affect it's Elemental weakness, and vice versa. If a Hitzone is not weak to a specific Element (i.e. a Hitzone value of 0), then no Elemental damage is dealt, but Physical damage is not impacted.

The higher the Hitzone value, the weaker it is. For example, if a monster's head has Hitzone values of 20/50/40 (corresponding to the Severing, Blunt, and Projectile damage types respectively), then Severing-type attacks deal 20% of its damage, Blunt-type attacks deal 50% of its damage, and Projectile-type attacks deal 40% of its damage.

A Hitzone is generally considered vulnerable when its Physical Hitzone value is 45 or higher or when its Elemental Hitzone value is 20 or higher.

Elemental Value

When a weapon with an Elemental attribute lands an attack, the weapon will deal Elemental damage on top of the Physical damage it deals. Player-dealt Elemental damage does not inflict Elemental Blights on monsters.

Unlike Physical damage, Elemental damage is not affected by Motion Values. However, some weapons may confer a bonus to its Elemental damage on specific attack moves. In general, faster hitting weapons are better suited at dealing Elemental damage because they make multiple hits in the same time it takes a slower hitting weapon to make one hit.

Excluding Hunting Horn buffs, Elemental Attack buffs from Skills and Food skills are capped at a sum of +20%.

Elemental Crit Skill Adjustment

Weapon	Elemental Adjustment
Great Sword	+M
Long Sword	+L
Sword & Shield	+XL
Dual Blades	+XL
Hammer	+L
Hunting Horn	+L
Lance	+L
Gunlance	+L
Switch Axe	+L
Charge Blade	+L
Insect Glaive	+L
Light Bowgun	+XL
Heavy Bowgun	+XL
Bow	+XL

Projectile Adjustment

Skill/Food Skill	Affected Projectiles	Adjustment
Normal Up	Normal, Rapid	+S
Pierce Up	Pierce	+S
Spread Up	Spread Ammo	+M
Spread Up	Spread Arrow	+L

Mhw Download Pc

Critical Distance

For Gunner Weapons, Critical Distance (or Critical Range) refers to the distance at which a fired shot deals maximal damage. If the player is in Critical Distance, the aiming reticle will look like this:

Generally, being too close or too far away from the target will put the player outside of Critical Distance. Being too close or too far (i.e. outside of Critical Distance) will reduce the damage done by player Projectiles.

Critical Distance does not affect Affinity or Critical Hits.

Rapid Fire Adjustment

The Light Bowgun is capable of Rapid Fire, where the LBG shoots multiple shots in a single burst at the cost of 1 ammo. Each individual shot fired from Rapid Fire is weaker than a single shot of the same ammo type, but if most Rapid Fire shots land, their combined damage will exceed the damage done by firing just a single shot.

Rapid Fire Type	Adjustment
Lv 1 Normal x5	-M
Lv 2 Normal x3	-M
Lv 2 Normal x4	-L
Lv 1 Pierce x3	-L
Lv 2 Pierce x3	-L
Lv 1 Pellet x3	-M
Lv 2 Pellet x2	-M
Lv 1 Sticky x2	-L
Lv 2 Sticky x3	-L
Lv 1 Sticky x2	-L
Lv 2 Sticky x3	-L
Lv 1 Crag x2	-L
Lv 1 Fire x3	-L
Lv 1 Fire x4	-XL
Lv 1 Water x3	-L
Lv 1 Thunder x3	-L
Lv 1 Ice x3	-L
Lv 1 Dragon x2	-XL
Lv 1 Slicing x2	-S
Lv 2 Slicing x2	-S

Fixed Damage

Fixed damage is dealt directly to the monster and does not have a damage calculation. This means that Fixed damage attacks are not mitigated by the monster's Hitzone values or affected by the player's Attack value.

Some sources of Fixed damage, such as Gunlance shelling and Wyvern Fire, and Bowgun Sticky shot and Crag shot, also deal additional Fire damage. This additional Fire damage will be impacted by damage calculations.

Mhw Weapons Tree

Category	Damage Source	Damage Dealt
Slinger	Stone	1
Slinger	Knife	20
Slinger	Paralysis Knife	5
Slinger	Poison Knife	5
Slinger	Sleeping Knife	5
Item	Small Barrel Bomb	20
Item	Barrel Bomb	80
Item	Barrel Bomb G	150
Gunlance	Shelling
various other items	tbd
Charge Blade	Phial Burst - Counter	3
Charge Blade	Phial Burst - ED	5
Charge Blade	Phial Burst - AED	10
Charge Blade	Phial Burst - SAED	25
Bowgun	tbd