Weapon Enhancement

Weapon enhancement

Weapon enhancement begins when a weapon is assembled: each Crafting Component contributes its own Material Crafting Bonus to the finished item. A blade, hilt, handle, bowstave, or bowstring can each favor a different statistic, so the best material depends on both the weapon recipe and the role the weapon is meant to fill.

This page compares the bonuses recorded on representative weapon components and identifies the game release in which SotAwiki last verified each recipe. A version is a verification date, not a guarantee that the value remains unchanged. Check the preview and finished-item tooltips before spending rare materials.

Quick recommendations

Goal	Components to consider	Why
Highest recorded flat damage among the compared metal sword blades	Meteoric Iron blade and, where accepted, a Meteoric Iron Hilt	Meteoric Iron records the largest Weapon Damage value in both representative blade tables. Its blade also carries a defensive bonus.
Physical critical hits	Bronze blade with a Bronze Hilt or Grey Pine Handle	Bronze blades combine Weapon Damage, Weapon Critical Chance, and Weapon Critical Damage. Bronze hilts and Grey Pine handles add more critical chance.
Spell-oriented sword	Constantan blade with a Constantan Hilt	Constantan blades record Spell Critical Chance and Spell Damage in addition to Weapon Damage; the hilt adds Focus.
Defensive melee weapon	White Iron blade or a Hard Maple Handle / Rock Maple Handle	White Iron blades favor avoidance, while the special maple handles record resistance alongside damage or critical damage.
Bow damage	Hard Maple bowstave	The long-bow component records +10% Base Weapon Damage and +10% Damage Resistance. The short-bow record is more modest: +3% Base Weapon Damage and +10% Damage Resistance.
Bow critical chance	Pine or Grey Pine bowstave with a Supple Leather Bow String	Pine favors critical chance; Grey Pine adds avoidance; Supple Leather records the largest Weapon Critical Chance among the standard bowstrings compared below.
Faster attacks or longer range	Cotton Cloth Bow String for speed; Hardened Leather Bow String for range	These bowstrings record +5% Attack Speed and +5% Ranged Weapon Range Bonus, respectively.

These recommendations compare material bonuses only. The strongest finished weapon also depends on the base recipe, component counts, Masterwork and Enchantment results, socketed gems, artifacts, skills, and the rest of the build.

Metal blades and hilts

The same metal does not supply one universal weapon bonus. Blade values scale with the component, and hilts have their own effects. The sword blades below are representative comparisons; axe, mace, polearm, and other component pages should be checked before crafting those weapon families.

Material	Shortsword Blade	Two-handed Sword Blade	Hilt	Last recorded release (short / two-handed / hilt)
Iron	+2 Weapon Damage	+3 Weapon Damage	+0.5 Weapon Damage	R90 / R105 / R90
Copper	+1 Weapon Damage +5% Weapon Critical Chance	+2 Weapon Damage +8% Weapon Critical Chance	+1% Weapon Critical Chance	R90 / R55 / R90
Bronze	+3 Weapon Damage +5% Weapon Critical Chance +5% Weapon Critical Damage	+5 Weapon Damage +8% Weapon Critical Chance +8% Weapon Critical Damage	+3% Weapon Critical Chance	R55 / R55 / R47
Meteoric Iron	+5 Weapon Damage +30% Damage Resistance	+8 Weapon Damage +0.6 Damage Resistance	+1 Weapon Damage	R55 / R55 / R47
Constantan	+3 Weapon Damage +1% Spell Critical Chance +1% Spell Damage	+5 Weapon Damage +2% Spell Critical Chance +2% Spell Damage	+20 Focus	R55 / R55 / R47
White Iron	+2.5% Focus +0.5 Damage Avoidance	+4% Focus +1 Damage Avoidance	+2.5% Focus	R55 / not recorded / R98

The Meteoric Iron records illustrate why old values deserve an in-game check: its shortsword page displays Damage Resistance as +30%, while the two-handed page displays +0.6 without a percent sign. The table preserves those records rather than silently normalizing unlike fields.

Wooden handles

Handles are used by several weapon recipes. Values are per handle.

Material	Recorded bonus	Last recorded release
Pine Handle	+1% Weapon Critical Chance	R41
Maple Handle	+2.5% Base Weapon Damage	R44
Crimson Pine Handle	+20 Focus	R62
Grey Pine Handle	+3% Weapon Critical Chance +0.5% Damage Avoidance	R62
Hard Maple Handle	+4% Base Weapon Damage +5% Damage Resistance	R41
Rock Maple Handle	+7.5% Weapon Critical Damage +0.1 Damage Resistance	R41

Bowstaves

Short- and long-bow components can record different values even when made from the same timber.

Material	Short bowstave	Long bowstave	Last recorded release (short / long)
Pine	+3% Weapon Critical Chance	+5% Weapon Critical Chance	R44 / R44
Maple	+3% Base Weapon Damage	+5% Base Weapon Damage	R44 / R44
Crimson Pine	+15 Focus	+20 Focus	R44 / R44
Grey Pine	+3% Weapon Critical Chance +1% Damage Avoidance	+7.5% Weapon Critical Chance +2 Damage Avoidance	R44 / R44
Hard Maple	+3% Base Weapon Damage +10% Damage Resistance	+10% Base Weapon Damage +10% Damage Resistance	R44 / R44
Rock Maple	+7.5% Weapon Critical Damage +10% Damage Resistance	+10% Weapon Critical Damage +10% Damage Resistance	R44 / R44

Bowstrings

Material	Recorded bonus	Last recorded release
Cotton cloth	+5% Attack Speed	R87
Carapacian	+2.5% Spell Critical Chance	R48
Fustian cloth	+20 Focus	R44
Simple Leather	+2.5% Weapon Critical Chance	R54
Supple Leather	+5% Weapon Critical Chance	R48
Hardened Leather	+5% Ranged Weapon Range Bonus	R105

Special bowstrings, including Elven, Sylvan, and imbued variants, have their own component pages and are not folded into this standard-material table.

After the weapon is crafted

Material selection is only the first enhancement layer.

Masterworking and enchanting

Masterwork and Enchantment can add further properties after crafting. Their available choices and success chances are separate from the inherited component bonuses. Crafted-gear systems have continued to change over time, including exceptional-item changes introduced with Release 89.

Gems and jewels

A weapon can also receive a Gem or Imbued Gem at an Alchemy station. A socketed gem may unlock additional masterwork or enchantment choices associated with its magic school. The former page stated that imbued gems did not provide gem-specific choices as of Release 105; because that behavior has not been reverified here, consult the current gem page and crafting interface before planning around it.

Magical foci and staves

Heartwoods and related components used in magical foci have a different set of bonuses, including Focus, Spell Damage, and reagent-use effects. See Focus Enhancement rather than treating the blade and handle tables as focus tables.

How component bonuses combine

A finished weapon inherits the recorded bonus from each compatible component used in its recipe. If two components modify the same statistic, their contributions are shown together on the finished item. Compare complete recipes rather than judging a weapon by one material name: a Bronze blade paired with a Constantan hilt is a different package from the same blade paired with Bronze or wood.

The tables deliberately report component values as recorded, including whether a percent sign appears. Several records were last checked many releases ago, so calculated totals are most useful for comparing otherwise identical recipes and should be confirmed against current in-game tooltips.

See also

• Material Crafting Bonus
• Armor Enhancement
• Focus Enhancement
• Jewelry Enhancement
• Crafting Component
• Recipe Book