{ "schemaVersion": 20, "license": { "name": "CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" }, "count": 16, "weapons": [ { "id": "armour-piercing", "name": "Armour Piercing", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "any", "kind": "property", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine", "action-cost" ], "definition": "A property of a weapon or round that reduces, ignores, or penetrates the target's armour, so the weapon keeps more of its effect against an armoured target than an ordinary weapon does", "aliases": [ "armor piercing", "armour penetration", "armor penetration", "AP rounds" ], "media": [ "board-card", "video" ], "mechanics": [ "combat-results-tables", "damage-types", "hit-points" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Chainmail", "year": 1971, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)", "limits": [ "magazine", "action-cost" ], "note": "Missile fire kills fewer figures the heavier the target's armour class, but arquebusiers kill any figure they hit regardless of its armour, rolling to hit by range alone. They fire as heavy crossbowmen do, every other turn, reloading in between.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Rick Priestley (Games Workshop)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "A wounded model in armour rolls a saving throw, 6 for flak armour to 4 for carapace, adjusted by the modifier of the weapon fired. The bolt gun's -1 makes the save harder and some weapons make it impossible, while the needler's +1 lets even an unarmoured model save on a 6. A model shoots once a turn.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Fallout", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Interplay Productions", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine", "action-cost" ], "note": "Armour subtracts its Damage Threshold from each hit and then its Damage Resistance percentage from the rest. The manual's 10mm AP round is less affected by armour than a normal round but does less damage after armour, and a gun cannot be loaded with a mix of armour-piercing and hollow-point rounds.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Helldivers 2", "year": 2024, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Arrowhead Game Studios (Sony Interactive Entertainment)", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "Each weapon's armour penetration value from 0 to 10 meets each enemy's armour value; Arrowhead's Johan Pilestedt wrote that a higher value deals full damage, an equal one half, and a lower one ricochets. The AR-23 Liberator penetrates light armour, and the Railgun is one of the few support weapons that pierce any armour.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Chainmail", "year": 1971, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "confidence": "low", "note": "Chainmail's arquebus is the earliest documented use cited: missile fire is resolved on tables that kill fewer armoured figures, but arquebusiers kill any figure they hit regardless of its armour classification. The wording cited is from the 1972 second edition; no copy of the March 1971 first edition is cited, so the rule's presence in 1971 is unconfirmed. Graded per-weapon modifiers to an armour save, as in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (1987), are the later and more common form. Earlier miniatures and board wargames remain unsurveyed, which keeps confidence low. They include tank games such as Avalon Hill's PanzerBlitz (1970), whose counters carry a weapon type, and Tractics (1971), whose month of release against Chainmail's is unconfirmed. The armour rules of Traveller (1977) and GURPS (1986) are later." }, "established": null, "sources": [ { "key": "chainmail-rules-for-medieval-miniatures-2nd-edition-1972", "canonical": false, "title": "Chainmail: Rules for Medieval Miniatures, 2nd edition", "author": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren", "year": 1972, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Guidon Games", "url": "https://archive.org/download/chainmail-2nd-edition/Chainmail%20-%202nd%20Edition_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Missile Fire, p. 8; Gunpowder Weapons, Arquibusiers, p. 10", "note": "The missile fire tables for unarmoured, armoured and fully armoured targets, heavy crossbowmen firing every other turn and reloading, and arquebusiers killing any figure they hit regardless of armour, with the heavy crossbow's rate of fire." }, { "key": "warhammer-40-000-rogue-trader-1987", "canonical": false, "title": "Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader", "author": "Rick Priestley", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Games Workshop", "url": "https://archive.org/download/warhammer-40-k-rogue-trader-rulebook/Warhammer%2040K%20Rogue%20Trader%20-%20Rulebook_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Combat, Shooting; Saving Throws, c. p. 24; Close Combat, saving throws; Equipment, Bolt gun", "note": "One shot per armed model in the shooting phase, armour saves by armour type, weapon modifiers that can make a save impossible, the needler's positive modifier, saves against close-combat wounds made as for shooting, and bolts with armour-piercing tips." }, { "key": "fallout-instruction-manual-vault-dweller-s-survival-guide-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "Fallout instruction manual (Vault Dweller's Survival Guide)", "author": "Interplay Productions", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/f1-manual-en/MANUAL_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Combat, Damage Threshold and Damage Resistance, p. 5-12; Items, 10mm AP and 10mm JHP, c. p. 5-17; Ammo Actions, Loading Weapons; Action Points", "note": "Armour as Armor Class, Damage Threshold and Damage Resistance, the 10mm AP round's penetration and lower damage after armour, no mixing of armour-piercing and hollow-point rounds in one load, and the action-point cost of a shot. The archive.org copy is labelled a 2014 version." }, { "key": "helldivers-2-dev-mostly-reveals-how-the-game-s-most-confusing-mechanic-works-2024", "canonical": false, "title": "Helldivers 2 dev (mostly) reveals how the game's most confusing mechanic works", "author": "Brendan Lowry (Windows Central)", "year": 2024, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://tech.yahoo.com/gaming/articles/helldivers-2-dev-reveals-games-224554520.html", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "Syndicated copy. Armour penetration from 0 to 10 against an armour value, full damage above it, half at it and a ricochet below it, in Johan Pilestedt's words, and the vague in-game labels with values not shown." }, { "key": "how-to-get-armor-penetrating-rounds-helldivers-2-2024", "canonical": false, "title": "How to get armor penetrating rounds - Helldivers 2", "author": "Sam Chandler (Shacknews)", "year": 2024, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.shacknews.com/article/138860/armor-penetrating-helldivers-2", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "Every weapon penetrating light armour, medium and heavy penetration on certain weapons, the Liberator Penetrator's medium rounds, and the Railgun as one of the few support weapons that pierce any armour." }, { "key": "ar-23-liberator", "canonical": false, "title": "AR-23 Liberator", "author": "Helldivers 2 Wiki (wiki.gg)", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "wiki", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": null, "note": "Light armour penetration at most angles and none at an extreme angle, a capacity of 45 with 8 spare magazines, and a 3-second reload." } ], "n_examples": 4, "n_sources": 6, "word_count": 507, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/armour-piercing" }, { "id": "charge-shot", "name": "Charge Shot", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "projectile", "kind": "behaviour", "limits": [ "ammunition", "heat", "charge-time" ], "definition": "Holding the fire button, or drawing a bow, before release fires a stronger shot than a tap does, its power set or stepped by how long the hold lasted, while firing without a hold gives the weapon's ordinary shot", "aliases": [ "charged shot", "Charge Beam", "Wave Cannon", "Mega Buster" ], "media": [ "video" ], "mechanics": [ "equipment-loadouts", "power-ups", "real-time" ], "examples": [ { "title": "R-Type", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Irem", "limits": [ "charge-time" ], "note": "Tapping fire gives rapid pulse shots, and holding it launches a plasma ball, as an arcade review of August 1987 describes it; the 1988 Master System manual says the longer the button is held, the more energy is accumulated and the more destructive power is unleashed.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Mega Man 4", "year": 1991, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Capcom", "limits": [ "charge-time" ], "note": "Holding down the B button energizes the Mega Buster, and the manual advises charging it while running. The Pharaoh Shot, a weapon won from a boss, charges the same way into a fireball held over Mega Man's head until the button is released.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Super Metroid", "year": 1994, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Nintendo R&D1", "limits": [ "charge-time" ], "note": "The Charge item, one of the beam items found in play, lets Samus hold the X button to charge her beam and send out a super-powerful blast; without it, holding the button gives rapid fire.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Halo: Combat Evolved", "year": 2001, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Bungie", "limits": [ "charge-time", "heat", "ammunition" ], "note": "Holding the plasma pistol's trigger may overcharge the weapon, and the bolt is launched when the trigger is released; the pistol then stops working for a time while it dumps waste heat, and the overcharge rapidly depletes a power core that cannot be recharged.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Team Fortress 2", "year": 2007, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Valve", "limits": [ "charge-time", "ammunition" ], "note": "The Sniper's Huntsman bow, added in the May 2009 update, was announced with 18 arrows and a one-second charge for full-power shots, the draw serving as the charge, and with headshots dealing critical damage.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Metroid Dread", "year": 2021, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "MercurySteam", "limits": [ "charge-time" ], "note": "Holding the Y button charges the Charge Beam into shots that deal extra damage, the only shots that open charge doors; later, a spin jump while the beam is fully charged becomes a special charge attack.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "R-Type", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "confidence": "low", "note": "Irem's arcade R-Type (1987) is the earliest documented use cited. Computer + Video Games reviewed the arcade game in its August 1987 issue: tapping the fire button gives a stream of laser bolts, and holding it down launches a plasma ball. The manuals of the 1988 Master System and Commodore 64 versions describe the same rule, the first in terms of energy accumulating while the button is held and the second as firepower building until release; the charged beam is often called the Wave Cannon. Shooting games of 1980 to 1986 remain unsurveyed game by game, and the claim that R-Type's ship was the first with a chargeable shot rests on fan wikis and later recollection, so confidence is low." }, "established": { "title": "R-Type", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "confidence": "low", "note": "R-Type is the best candidate on a thin lineage. Charged main shots are a recognised trait of the series in retrospective coverage, and its sequel's charge shots are reportedly credited with influence on later shooting games, but no source cited traces the platformer form of Mega Man or the Metroid Charge Beam to it." }, "sources": [ { "key": "arcade-action-r-type-1987", "canonical": false, "title": "Arcade Action: R Type", "author": "Clare Edgeley (Computer + Video Games, issue 70)", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/ComputerAndVideoGamesIssue070Aug87/page/n110_w1000.jpg", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Arcade Action, R Type review (August 1987)", "note": "The arcade R-Type from Irem, its fire button giving a constant stream of laser bolts when flicked, and holding it down launching a plasma ball with devastating destructive power." }, { "key": "r-type-instruction-manual-sega-master-system-1988", "canonical": false, "title": "R-Type instruction manual (Sega Master System)", "author": "Sega of America", "year": 1988, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/R-Type_1988_U/R-Type_1988_U_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Taking Control, Button 1, p. 4", "note": "Pressing repeatedly for rapid-fire pulse shots, or holding the button to build energy, with destructive power growing the longer the button is held." }, { "key": "r-type-manual-commodore-64-1988", "canonical": false, "title": "R-Type manual (Commodore 64)", "author": "Electric Dreams", "year": 1988, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/R-Type_1988_Electric_Dreams/R-Type_1988_Electric_Dreams_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Controls", "note": "Holding down fire builds up the strength of firepower until the button or key is released." }, { "key": "mega-man-4-instruction-manual-nes-1992", "canonical": false, "title": "Mega Man 4 instruction manual (NES)", "author": "Capcom", "year": 1992, "year_approx": true, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/mega-man-4-nes-manual/Mega-Man-4-Game-Manual_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Controlling Mega Man; The Winner's Edge", "note": "Holding the B button to energize the Mega Buster, charging it while running, and the Pharaoh Shot's charged fireball released at the enemy." }, { "key": "4-virtual-console-page", "canonical": false, "title": "ロックマン4 新たなる野望!! (Virtual Console page)", "author": "Nintendo", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/vc/vc_rm4/vc_rm4_01.html", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The Famicom release of 6 December 1991, and the Rock Buster powered up to fire a charge shot that takes time before firing and deals heavy damage." }, { "key": "super-metroid-instruction-booklet-1994", "canonical": false, "title": "Super Metroid instruction booklet", "author": "Nintendo", "year": 1994, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/super-metroid-snes-manual/129-super-metroid-super-nintendo-manual-usa_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Controls; Beam Items, p. 22", "note": "Holding the X button for rapid fire or, with the Charge Beam item, to charge the beam into a super-powerful blast." }, { "key": "halo-for-the-pc-manual-2003", "canonical": false, "title": "Halo for the PC manual", "author": "Gearbox Software (Microsoft Game Studios)", "year": 2003, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/HALO_COMBAT_EVOLVED/HALO_COMBAT_EVOLVED_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Plasma Pistol, p. 14", "note": "Holding the trigger may overcharge the plasma pistol, the bolt launches on release, and the weapon then stops while it dumps waste heat." }, { "key": "team-fortress-2-the-sniper-vs-spy-update-day-1-2009", "canonical": false, "title": "Team Fortress 2: The Sniper vs. Spy Update, day 1", "author": "Valve", "year": 2009, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day01_english.htm", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The Huntsman longbow with 18 arrows and a one-second charge for full-power shots, and a headshot meaning an instant crit." }, { "key": "first-team-fortress-2-sniper-unlockable-revealed-2009", "canonical": false, "title": "First Team Fortress 2 Sniper Unlockable Revealed", "author": "Nick Breckon (Shacknews)", "year": 2009, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.shacknews.com/article/58597/first-team-fortress-2-sniper", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "The Huntsman with 18 arrows, a one-second charge for full-power shots, and headshot critical hits." }, { "key": "metroid-dread-charge-beam-location-how-to-open-charge-beam-doors-2021", "canonical": false, "title": "Metroid Dread: Charge Beam Location, How to Open Charge Beam Doors", "author": "PJ O'Reilly (Nintendo Life)", "year": 2021, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.nintendolife.com/guides/metroid-dread-charge-beam-location-how-to-open-charge-beam-doors", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "Charging by holding Y, extra damage against armoured foes, charge doors, and the spin-jump charge attack." } ], "n_examples": 6, "n_sources": 10, "word_count": 545, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/charge-shot" }, { "id": "flamethrower", "name": "Flamethrower", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "area", "kind": "class", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine", "action-cost" ], "definition": "A short-range weapon projects a continuous stream or cone of fire that damages everything in its path and often sets targets burning, at the cost of fuel that runs out quickly", "aliases": [ "Flamer", "Flame Thrower" ], "media": [ "board-card", "video" ], "mechanics": [ "damage-types", "hit-points", "status-effects" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Squad Leader", "year": 1977, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "John Hill (Avalon Hill)", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "A support weapon with a range of 2 hexes that always attacks with 20 firepower factors against every unit in the target hex, ignoring terrain modifiers. Only Assault Engineers and the best leaders may use it, and a fire roll of 9 or more leaves it out of fuel and removed.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Green Beret", "year": 1985, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Konami", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "Certain enemy soldiers drop a three-shot flamethrower that supplements the player's knife, beside a four-shot rocket launcher and a three-pack of grenades.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Fallout", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Interplay Productions", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine", "action-cost" ], "note": "The Flamer, a two-handed Big Guns weapon that \"fires a short spray of extremely hot, flammable liquid\", deals 45 to 90 fire damage at range 5. It loads five units of flamethrower fuel, and an attack costs 6 action points; the manual counts fuel weapons among those that must be reloaded.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Team Fortress 2", "year": 2007, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Valve", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "The Pyro's Flame Thrower reaches about 350 units and sets targets afire for 3 to 10 seconds by how long they stay in the flames. Its 200 fuel needs no reload, and since June 2008 a compression blast spends 20 to push enemies, reflect projectiles and put out burning teammates.", "latest": false }, { "title": "The Last of Us Part II", "year": 2020, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Naughty Dog", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "Abby's flamethrower sets infected on fire, and burning enemies may pause their attacks. Its fuel cannot be crafted and is found as loot, and it runs out quickly, so a guide advises short bursts and a switch of weapons while the target burns.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Squad Leader", "year": 1977, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "confidence": "low", "note": "Squad Leader's flamethrower is the earliest documented use cited of a fire-projecting weapon with a short range, an attack on everything in its target and a fuel limit. Its rules are read in a fourth-edition transcription, and a playtester's article in The General of early 1978 confirms attacks free of dice modifiers and a weapon that dries up on a roll of 9 or more. Antecedents are in Chainmail (rules cited from the 1972 second edition): flaming oil poured from a castle wall sweeps a 2-inch path and kills every figure in it, and a dragon's fire is a truncated cone 9 inches long, breathed three times before the dragon must rest, a creature's breath rather than a carried weapon. Two board wargames are reported antecedents whose flame rules are unconfirmed: Panzer Leader (1974), whose Churchill flame tanks a 1976 reader's letter in The General names, and Starship Troopers (1976), whose troopers carry hand flamers as side arms in a 1977 review. Tractics (1971) and other Second World War miniatures rules remain unsurveyed, which keeps confidence low. Green Beret (1985) is the earliest video use cited." }, "established": null, "sources": [ { "key": "squad-leader-rulebook-1977", "canonical": false, "title": "Squad Leader rulebook", "author": "John Hill (Avalon Hill)", "year": 1977, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": "Rule 22 (Flamethrowers), 22.1-22.9; rule 8.3", "note": "Range 2 hexes, 20 firepower factors with no terrain or point-blank modifiers, operators limited to Assault Engineers and leaders, removal out of fuel on a roll of 9 or more, and fire directed against all occupants of a hex; read in a fourth-edition rules transcription." }, { "key": "squad-leader-first-impressions-an-introduction-to-squad-leader-1978", "canonical": false, "title": "Squad Leader First Impressions: An Introduction to Squad Leader", "author": "Bob Medrow", "year": 1978, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": "The Avalon Hill General, Vol. 14, No. 5 (January-February 1978)", "url": "https://archive.org/download/GeneralMagazineVol14i5/Vol14i5_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "p. 12", "note": "The flamethrower's attacks are not subject to any dice roll modifiers, and on a roll of 9 or more it dries up, so the chance of using it three times is a bit over half." }, { "key": "a-squad-leader-preview-the-building-of-squad-leader-1977", "canonical": false, "title": "A Squad Leader Preview: The Building of Squad Leader", "author": "John Hill", "year": 1977, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": "The Avalon Hill General, Vol. 14, No. 2 (July-August 1977)", "url": "https://archive.org/download/GeneralMagazineVol14i2/Vol14i2_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "p. 31", "note": "The designer's account of relating flamethrowers and demolition charges to the existing fire table rather than giving them a special table." }, { "key": "chainmail-rules-for-medieval-miniatures-2nd-edition-1972", "canonical": false, "title": "Chainmail: Rules for Medieval Miniatures, 2nd edition", "author": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren", "year": 1972, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Guidon Games", "url": "https://archive.org/download/chainmail-2nd-edition/Chainmail%20-%202nd%20Edition_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Sieges, Boiling Oil; Fantasy Supplement, Dragons, p. 31", "note": "Flaming oil sweeping a 2-inch path and burning wooden structures, and dragon fire as a truncated cone 3 inches wide at its far end with a 9-inch range, breathed three times before the dragon must land." }, { "key": "fallout-vault-dweller-s-survival-guide-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "Fallout: Vault Dweller's Survival Guide", "author": "Interplay Productions", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/fallout-manuals/Fallout%201%20-%20Manual_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Step #2: Select Three Tag Skills, Big Guns; Table 5-1 Action Points, p. 5-3; Reloading", "note": "Flamers under the Big Guns skill, fire damage from flamers, a burst attack at 6 AP, and weapons with fuel needing to be reloaded." }, { "key": "rush-n-attack", "canonical": false, "title": "Rush'n Attack", "author": "Wikipedia", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "wiki", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": null, "note": "The three-shot flamethrower, four-shot RPG and three-pack of grenades taken from defeated soldiers, the Green Beret title in Japan and Europe, and the October 1985 Japanese arcade release." }, { "key": "flamer-fallout", "canonical": false, "title": "Flamer (Fallout)", "author": "Fallout Wiki", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "wiki", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": null, "note": "Damage, range, action-point cost, fuel capacity, two hands, and the item description from the game's data files." }, { "key": "team-fortress-2-the-pyro-update-2008", "canonical": false, "title": "Team Fortress 2: The Pyro Update", "author": "Valve", "year": 2008, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.teamfortress.com/pyro/", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The compression blast on the alt-fire key, which knocks enemies away and redirects enemy projectiles." }, { "key": "flame-thrower", "canonical": false, "title": "Flame Thrower", "author": "Team Fortress Wiki", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "wiki", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": null, "note": "Range, afterburn duration, 200 fuel without reload, the compression blast's cost and its extinguishing of teammates, and its addition in the patch of 19 June 2008." }, { "key": "the-last-of-us-2-how-to-get-flamethrower-2023", "canonical": false, "title": "The Last of Us 2: How to get Flamethrower?", "author": "Gamepressure", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.gamepressure.com/the-last-of-us-part-ii/how-to-get-flamethrower/z6d58e", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "The flamethrower available to Abby, fuel found as loot and not craftable, infected set on fire, burning enemies pausing their attacks, and short bursts to save fuel." } ], "n_examples": 5, "n_sources": 10, "word_count": 544, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/flamethrower" }, { "id": "homing-projectile", "name": "Homing Projectile", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "projectile", "kind": "behaviour", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine", "cooldown" ], "definition": "A projectile that steers itself toward a target after launch, either one locked before firing or one it finds in flight, so the shot can follow a target that moves and an unguided shot would miss", "aliases": [ "homing missile", "homing shot", "seeking weapons", "guided missile", "heat-seeker", "lock-on missile" ], "media": [ "video", "board-card" ], "mechanics": [ "aim-and-recoil", "equipment-loadouts", "lock-on-targeting" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Star Raiders", "year": 1979, "year_approx": true, "medium": "video", "creator": "Atari (Doug Neubauer)", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "Photon torpedoes home in on the tracked object while it is in full lock-on, centred and in range, and otherwise fly straight ahead. The game, not the player, picks the tracked object, and a lock lasts while a counter runs down from 12. Each launch spends 10 units of the ship's energy.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Star Fleet Battles", "year": 1979, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Task Force Games", "limits": [ "cooldown" ], "note": "Drones and plasma torpedoes are seeking weapons, counters on the map that follow their target and hit impulses or turns after launch, while the target may outrun, evade or shoot them; in the later rules cited they can run out of fuel, and a plasma torpedo fires only every two or three turns.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Elite", "year": 1984, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "David Braben and Ian Bell", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "An armed missile locks onto a ship brought into the crosshairs, with a beep and a red indicator, and once fired streaks toward its target; an active E.C.M. system, the player's or an opponent's, destroys missiles in flight. Up to four missiles are fitted.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Halo: Combat Evolved", "year": 2001, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Bungie", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "The needler's projectiles home in on their target without a lock. The manual calls it a magazine-fed automatic weapon whose projectiles penetrate soft targets whatever the angle of impact.", "latest": false }, { "title": "EVE Online", "year": 2003, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "CCP Games", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "Launchers fire purchased missiles at a locked target, and a target faster than the missile, such as an interceptor chased by a cruise missile, outruns it until its flight time ends. Some missiles need no lock, and defender missiles chase incoming missiles.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "FromSoftware", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "Holding the missile button locks the reticle onto several targets in range, the FCS part setting how well the multi-lock works. A vertical launcher holds 12 missiles that track their targets even behind cover and around obstacles.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Star Raiders", "year": 1979, "year_approx": true, "medium": "video", "confidence": "low", "note": "The reverse-engineered code of Atari's Star Raiders, whose ROM is dated 1979, has photon torpedoes home in on a tracked object in full lock-on and fly straight otherwise; the game chooses the target. A draft manual dated 21 June 1979 already describes the photon torpedoes, the attack computer and the tracking computer, and the retail manual, whose release secondary accounts place in 1980, says the computer locks the photons onto the target. Star Fleet Battles, published in 1979, has seeking weapons on the tabletop, but the rules cited are a later edition's, so its 1979 drones are not dated firmly enough to order against Star Raiders. Elite (1984) handed the lock to the player. Earlier mainframe, arcade and wargame missiles, including those of GDW's Mayday (1978), remain unsurveyed, so confidence is low." }, "established": null, "sources": [ { "key": "star-raiders-reverse-engineered-source-code", "canonical": false, "title": "Star Raiders reverse-engineered source code", "author": "Lorenz Wiest", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lwiest/StarRaiders/master/StarRaiders.source.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "ISTRACKING ($86); LOCKONLIFE ($88); ISINLOCKON ($A3); torpedo launch, step 9", "note": "Torpedoes that home in on the tracked object, or fly straight ahead when none is tracked; full lock-on when centred and in range; the lock counting down from 12; 10 energy units spent on each launch." }, { "key": "star-raiders-draft-manual-1979", "canonical": false, "title": "Star Raiders draft manual", "author": "Atari", "year": 1979, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/AtariStarRaidersDraftManual/Atari%20Star%20Raiders%20draft%20manual_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "I. Introduction; VI. Energy Usage, Energy Drain", "note": "A draft dated 21 June 1979 describing photon torpedoes as projectile weapons, the attack computer and tracking computer, and 10 energy units drained for each photon fired." }, { "key": "star-raiders-atari-400-800-manual-1980", "canonical": false, "title": "Star Raiders (Atari 400/800 manual)", "author": "Atari", "year": 1980, "year_approx": true, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/agm_star_raiders/star_raiders_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "IV. Control Keys: C Computer Attack Control, Attack Computer Display; V. Energy Usage", "note": "The computer locking the photons onto the target horizontally, vertically and in range, the best time to fire, and 10 energy units drained for each photon fired." }, { "key": "star-fleet-battles-cadet-training-manual", "canonical": false, "title": "Star Fleet Battles Cadet Training Manual", "author": "Amarillo Design Bureau", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": "(F1.0) Seeking Weapons; glossary", "note": "Seeking weapons as map counters that follow their target and hit impulses or turns after launch, the target's chance to outrun, evade and fire at them, fuel, and the two types, drones and plasma torpedoes. Read as hosted rules text on a rules site." }, { "key": "starfleet-battles-2015", "canonical": false, "title": "Starfleet Battles", "author": "Phil Viverito (These Old Games)", "year": 2015, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.theseoldgames.com/2015/12/starfleet-battles.html", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The game in print since 1979, drones as a supplemental weapon, and the plasma torpedo firing only once every three (or two) turns." }, { "key": "elite-source-code-bbc-micro-cassette-version-tactics-part-1-of-7", "canonical": false, "title": "Elite source code (BBC Micro cassette version): TACTICS (Part 1 of 7)", "author": "Mark Moxon", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://elite.bbcelite.com/cassette/main/subroutine/tactics_part_1_of_7.html", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "Missiles that streak toward their target, destroyed by any active E.C.M., and destroying a ship target on arrival." }, { "key": "elite-source-code-bbc-micro-cassette-version-main-flight-loop-part-11-of-16", "canonical": false, "title": "Elite source code (BBC Micro cassette version): main flight loop, part 11 of 16", "author": "Mark Moxon", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://elite.bbcelite.com/cassette/main/subroutine/main_flight_loop_part_11_of_16.html", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "Missile lock on a ship in the crosshairs with an armed missile, a beep, and a red indicator." }, { "key": "elite-source-code-bbc-micro-cassette-version-t-workspace", "canonical": false, "title": "Elite source code (BBC Micro cassette version): T% workspace", "author": "Mark Moxon", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://elite.bbcelite.com/cassette/main/workspace/t_per_cent.html", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "NOMSL, the number of missiles fitted, from 0 to 4." }, { "key": "halo-for-the-pc-manual-2003", "canonical": false, "title": "Halo for the PC manual", "author": "Gearbox Software (Microsoft Game Studios)", "year": 2003, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/HALO_COMBAT_EVOLVED/HALO_COMBAT_EVOLVED_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Needler, p. 15; Heads-Up Display, Weapon Indicator", "note": "The needler as a magazine-fed automatic weapon whose projectiles home in on their target and penetrate soft targets whatever the angle of impact; the weapon indicator's count of magazines left and rounds in the magazine, stated for ballistic weapons." }, { "key": "armored-core-6-lock-on-explained-hard-lock-vs-soft-lock-2023", "canonical": false, "title": "Armored Core 6 lock on explained - Hard lock vs soft lock", "author": "Syed Hamza Bakht (Gfinity Esports)", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.gfinityesports.com/guides/armored-core-6-lock-on", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "Holding the missile button to lock onto several targets in range, and the FCS part setting the multi-lock's efficiency." }, { "key": "the-best-weapons-in-armored-core-6-2023", "canonical": false, "title": "The best weapons in Armored Core 6", "author": "Jesse Lennox (Digital Trends)", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/armored-core-6-best-weapons/", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "A vertical missile launcher holding 12 missiles that lock onto up to a dozen targets and track them behind cover and around obstacles." }, { "key": "armored-core-6-fires-of-rubicon-bml-g1-po1vtc-04-weapon-stats-and-guide-2023", "canonical": false, "title": "Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon - BML-G1/PO1VTC-04 Weapon Stats and Guide", "author": "Samurai Gamers", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://samurai-gamers.com/armored-core-6-fires-of-rubicon/bml-g1-po1vtc-04-weapon-stats-and-guide/", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The four-cell vertical launcher's 108 total rounds, its vertical trajectory that denies cover, and its multi-lock." }, { "key": "armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-patch-notes-1-07-2-2024", "canonical": false, "title": "ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON - Patch Notes 1.07.2", "author": "Bandai Namco Entertainment", "year": 2024, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://en.bandainamcoent.eu/armored-core/news/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-patch-notes-1072", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "A missile launcher's reload time increased, showing that the game's missile launchers reload between salvos." }, { "key": "eve-online-player-guide-ship-fitting-wayback-capture-2005", "canonical": false, "title": "EVE Online Player Guide: Ship Fitting (Wayback capture)", "author": "CCP Games", "year": 2005, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20050306000013/http://www.eve-online.com:80/guide/en/g08.asp", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "8: Ship Fitting, Launcher Types", "note": "Launchers firing missiles at a target, defender missiles that chase incoming missiles, variants that need no target lock, costly missiles, and an interceptor outrunning a cruise missile until its flight time is over." } ], "n_examples": 6, "n_sources": 14, "word_count": 545, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/homing-projectile" }, { "id": "range-falloff", "name": "Range Falloff", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "any", "kind": "rule", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine", "heat", "action-cost" ], "definition": "A weapon is fully effective out to an optimal range and loses accuracy or damage beyond it, in steps between range bands or along a curve, so the distance to the target sets how well each shot lands", "aliases": [ "Damage Falloff", "Range Bands", "Range Brackets" ], "media": [ "board-card", "tabletop-rpg", "video" ], "mechanics": [ "aim-and-recoil", "combat-results-tables", "target-numbers" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Kriegsspiel", "year": 1824, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Georg von Reisswitz", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "Each face of the fire dice gives an effect at 100, 200, 300 and 400 paces that falls with distance, as 30, 20, 10 and 4 points for closed infantry on one face of the first die; artillery reads a ruler banded for canister, arc and roll shot. A howitzer battery with its ordinary ammunition may fire for only 50 moves.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Chainmail", "year": 1971, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)", "limits": [ "magazine", "action-cost" ], "note": "In the 1972 second-edition text, arquebusiers roll an accuracy die for each man and hit on any roll within 6 inches, on 3 to 6 from 6 to 12 inches and on 5 or 6 from 12 to 18 inches. They fire as heavy crossbowmen do, every other turn, reloading in between.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons", "year": 1974, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson (TSR)", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "Missile hits are scored on the attack matrices as written at long range, with the target's Armor Class shifted by 1 at medium range and by 2 at short range. Arrows and quarrels are bought by the quiver of 20 and the case of 30.", "latest": false }, { "title": "BattleDroids", "year": 1984, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Jordan Weisman (FASA Corporation)", "limits": [ "ammunition", "heat" ], "note": "Each weapon's maximum range is divided into thirds, and short, medium and long range add nothing, 2 and 4 to the base to-hit number of 4. Missile launchers, machine guns and autocannons carry a count of shots, and firing builds heat.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Rick Priestley (Games Workshop)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "Every weapon has its own short, long and maximum range, a bolt pistol's 0-8, 8-16 and 16 inches, and its own to-hit modifier at each; the bolter gains +1 within 12 inches, and pistols are better close and nearly useless far off. A model shoots once in the shooting part of its turn.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Battlefleet Gothic", "year": 1999, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Andy Chambers, Gavin Thorpe and Jervis Johnson (Games Workshop)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "Weapons batteries roll the number of dice the Gunnery table gives for their firepower and the target. A target within 15 cm shifts the roll one column left and one more than 30 cm away one column right, so 10 firepower against a closing capital ship rolls 9, 7 or 5 dice. Ships fire in the shooting phase of their turn.", "latest": false }, { "title": "EVE Online", "year": 2003, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "CCP Games", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "A turret hits at full chance inside its optimal range; beyond it the falloff lowers the chance, to 50% at optimal plus falloff and 6.25% at optimal plus twice falloff. A 2004 patch halved artillery falloff because falloff mattered more in the new system. Projectile turrets reload ammunition.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Destiny 2", "year": 2017, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Bungie", "limits": [ "magazine" ], "note": "The range stat sets where damage falloff begins. An October 2020 update moved it for hand cannons at 100 range from 20 to 25 metres, and to 32 metres for the Aggressive subfamily, and enlarged one subfamily's magazine by 37 percent.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Valorant", "year": 2020, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Riot Games", "limits": [ "magazine" ], "note": "Patch 5.12 (December 2022) gave the Spectre a third damage range, 26 damage to 15 metres, 22 to 30 and 20 beyond, against 26 to 20 metres and 22 beyond before, because it was overperforming at mid to long range.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Kriegsspiel", "year": 1824, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "confidence": "medium", "note": "The earliest documented use cited is Reisswitz's Kriegsspiel (1824), whose fire dice give a separate result for each 100-pace band out to 400 paces, with the figures on every face falling from band to band, as from 30 points at 100 paces to 4 at 400 for closed infantry on one face of the first die; the effects were computed from firing trials. Chainmail (1971, cited from the 1972 second-edition text) is the earliest cited in a recreational miniatures game, with a hit table that narrows across three 6-inch bands. War Games Rules 1000 BC to 500 AD (1969) gives maximum ranges only. Earlier war games of the eighteenth century and Featherstone's rules of the 1960s remain unsurveyed." }, "established": null, "sources": [ { "key": "anleitung-zur-darstellung-militairischer-man-ver-mit-dem-apparat-des-kriegs-spieles-1824", "canonical": false, "title": "Anleitung zur Darstellung militairischer Manöver mit dem Apparat des Kriegs-Spieles", "author": "Georg von Reisswitz", "year": 1824, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/reisswitz-1824/Reisswitz1824_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Einleitung, effects from firing trials; §. 4, range ruler (Fig. 26); §. 5, fire dice; howitzer ammunition, c. §. 47; plate Tab. III, faces of dice I and II", "note": "Effects computed from firing trials and Scharnhorst's data, infantry fire measured in 100-pace steps with die effects at 100 to 400 paces, the artillery ruler's bands, and the 50-move howitzer ammunition; section numbers read from an OCR of the Fraktur text, and the die figures at each range from plate Tab. III in the scan." }, { "key": "war-games-rules-1000-bc-to-500-ad-1969", "canonical": false, "title": "War Games Rules 1000 BC to 500 AD", "author": "Wargames Research Group (Phil Barker, Bob O'Brien, and Ed Smith)", "year": 1969, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/ancient-001_202006/Ancient001_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Missile fire: Ammunition Supply; Ranges", "note": "Maximum ranges by weapon from 3 to 36 inches with no change of effect within them, and ammunition supply not taken into account." }, { "key": "chainmail-2nd-edition-1972", "canonical": false, "title": "Chainmail, 2nd edition", "author": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)", "year": 1972, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/chainmail-2nd-edition/Chainmail%20-%202nd%20Edition_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Missile Fire, Rate of Fire, p. 8; Gunpowder Weapons, Arquebusiers, p. 10", "note": "The arquebusiers' accuracy die and hit table by range, 1-6 to 6 inches, 3-6 to 12 and 5-6 to 18, and their rate of fire as heavy crossbowmen, every other turn." }, { "key": "dungeons-dragons-volume-1-men-magic-1974", "canonical": false, "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, Volume 1: Men & Magic", "author": "Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson", "year": 1974, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/dndbook1/dungeons_and_dragons_book_1_-_men_and_magic_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Attack Matrices I and II, missile note (c. p. 20); equipment list, arrows and quarrels", "note": "Missile hits scored on the matrices at long range with Armor Class decreased by 1 at medium and 2 at short range, and the quiver of 20 arrows and case of 30 quarrels." }, { "key": "battledroids-a-game-of-armored-combat-1984", "canonical": false, "title": "BattleDroids: A Game of Armored Combat", "author": "Jordan Weisman (FASA Corporation)", "year": 1984, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/1604-battledroids-a-game-of-armored-combat-edition-1-1984/1604%20-%20Battledroids%20-%20A%20Game%20of%20Armored%20Combat%20-%20Edition%201%20%281984%29_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Advanced Battledroids: Range; Firing Weapons, Range Modifier and Minimum Range Modifier; Ammunition; Battledroids and Heat", "note": "Maximum range divided into short, medium and long thirds with modifiers of none, +2 and +4 to a base to-hit number of 4, the minimum range modifier, limited ammunition, and heat built by firing." }, { "key": "warhammer-40-000-rogue-trader-1987", "canonical": false, "title": "Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader", "author": "Rick Priestley (Games Workshop)", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/warhammer-40-k-rogue-trader-rulebook/Warhammer%2040K%20Rogue%20Trader%20-%20Rulebook_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Shooting: Range, To Hit Modifiers; Equipment: Bolter", "note": "Short, long and maximum ranges that differ by weapon, per-weapon to-hit modifiers at short and long range, pistols weak at long range, the bolter's +1 within 12 inches, and one shot per model in the shooting part of the turn." }, { "key": "battlefleet-gothic-1999", "canonical": false, "title": "Battlefleet Gothic", "author": "Andy Chambers, Gavin Thorpe and Jervis Johnson", "year": 1999, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Games Workshop", "url": "https://archive.org/download/battlefleet-gothic-rulebook-original-1999/page/n22_w2000.jpg", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "The Shooting Phase: Weapons Battery Rules, Gunnery Modifiers and Gunnery table, pp. 20-21", "note": "Column shifts on the Gunnery table, one left for a target within 15 cm and one right beyond 30 cm, with the Unclean's 7D6 against the Agrippa becoming 9D6 or 5D6." }, { "key": "balance-changes-in-the-next-patch-2004", "canonical": false, "title": "Balance Changes in the next Patch", "author": "Eight (CCP Games)", "year": 2004, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.eveonline.com/article/balance-changes-in-the-next-patch", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "Projectile artillery falloff reduced by half because falloff is much more significant in the new system, and changes to hybrid and artillery optimal range." }, { "key": "eve-online-player-guide-ship-fitting-wayback-capture-2007", "canonical": false, "title": "EVE Online Player Guide: Ship Fitting (Wayback capture)", "author": "CCP Games", "year": 2007, "year_approx": true, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20070107161145/http://www.eve-online.com:80/guide/en/g08.asp", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "8: Ship Fitting, turret types", "note": "Railguns with the longest optimal range and blasters with the shortest, projectile turrets that need reloading, and lasers that use no ammunition but the most capacitor." }, { "key": "turret-mechanics", "canonical": false, "title": "Turret mechanics", "author": "EVE University Wiki", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "wiki", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": "Optimal range and falloff", "note": "Full hit chance inside optimal range, falloff beginning at its end, and the chance reduced to 50% at optimal plus falloff and 6.25% at optimal plus twice falloff." }, { "key": "this-week-at-bungie-10-22-2020-wayback-capture-2020", "canonical": false, "title": "This Week At Bungie, 10/22/2020 (Wayback capture)", "author": "dmg04 (Bungie)", "year": 2020, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20201101063821/https://www.bungie.net/en/News/Article/49676", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Hand Cannons", "note": "The range stat given more impact on minimum damage falloff range, falloff for 100 range starting at 25 metres instead of 20, 32 metres for the Aggressive subfamily, and a magazine scaled up by 37 percent." }, { "key": "valorant-patch-notes-5-12-2022", "canonical": false, "title": "VALORANT Patch Notes 5.12", "author": "Jo-Ellen Aragon (Riot Games)", "year": 2022, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://playvalorant.com/en-us/news/game-updates/valorant-patch-notes-5-12/", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons updates, Spectre", "note": "A third damage range added to the Spectre, with the old and new distances and damage, and Riot's statement that it was overperforming at mid to long ranges." }, { "key": "valorant-patch-notes-7-09-2023", "canonical": false, "title": "VALORANT Patch Notes 7.09", "author": "Jo-Ellen Aragon (Riot Games)", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://playvalorant.com/en-us/news/game-updates/valorant-patch-notes-7-09/", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapon updates, Judge", "note": "The Judge's maximum magazine cut from 7 to 5, showing that the game's guns fire from magazines that must be reloaded." } ], "n_examples": 9, "n_sources": 13, "word_count": 573, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/range-falloff" }, { "id": "reach", "name": "Reach", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "melee", "kind": "property", "limits": [ "unlimited", "action-cost" ], "definition": "A long melee weapon such as a spear, polearm or whip lets its wielder strike a foe beyond the adjacent space or past a front rank, often at the cost of not striking adjacent foes or of slower handling", "aliases": [ "Reach Weapon", "Reach Property" ], "media": [ "board-card", "tabletop-rpg", "video" ], "mechanics": [ "grid-movement", "initiative-order", "interrupts-and-reactions", "zone-of-control" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Chainmail", "year": 1971, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)", "limits": [ "unlimited" ], "note": "In man-to-man combat each weapon has a class, lower for shorter and lighter weapons, and a defender whose weapon is two classes higher strikes first. On a charge, pikes, spears and lances strike first against lower-class weapons, because their length denies the defender the first blow. Cited from the 1972 second edition.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Players Handbook", "year": 1978, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Gary Gygax (TSR)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "The weapons table gives each weapon a length and the space it needs, from about 15 inches for the dagger to 18 feet or more for the awl pike. The combat section says a solid formation with long weapons strikes foes with shorter ones first, and a pole arm or spear set in a rushing foe's path strikes first.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide", "year": 1979, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Gary Gygax (TSR)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "At the end of a charge initiative is not rolled, and the opponent with the longer weapon or reach attacks first. The pike's speed factor of 13 makes it slow to ready and recover, and it is unusable in dungeons or anywhere else without masses of other pikes to support it.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 2nd edition", "year": 1984, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Games Workshop", "limits": [ "unlimited" ], "note": "Because a spear is long, a model directly behind another spear-armed model of its unit may fight from the second rank at -1 to hit and to wound. Pikes fight from up to four ranks, at -1, -2 and -3, and a pike unit pushed back fights in a single rank.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 4th edition", "year": 1992, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Games Workshop", "limits": [ "unlimited" ], "note": "Infantry with spears fight in two ranks, the second thrusting past the first, but only while they do not move. Spearmen who charge fight in a single rank that turn, and spearmen charged while standing their ground fight in two.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Final Fantasy Tactics", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Square", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "Most physical attacks need the attacker next to its target, but spears and stick-type weapons reach two panels in each of the four cardinal directions. The official guide notes that they let a unit attack from a greater distance while avoiding the enemy's counterattack.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd edition", "year": 2000, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Wizards of the Coast", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "The glaive, guisarme, heavy lance, longspear and ranseur have a reach of 10 feet and cannot be used against an adjacent foe. The spiked chain also reaches 10 feet and can still strike adjacent foes.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition", "year": 2014, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Wizards of the Coast", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "The reach property adds 5 feet to the wielder's reach for attacks and for opportunity attacks, and the glaive, halberd, lance, pike and whip carry it. The lance, also a special weapon, attacks a target within 5 feet at disadvantage.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord", "year": 2022, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "TaleWorlds Entertainment", "limits": [ "unlimited" ], "note": "Every melee weapon has a Length. The Western Pike's 299 gives superior reach with poor handling of 40, while the Sledgehammer's 171 gives less reach. Mounted, a polearm can be couched to strike while riding past at speed.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, 2024 edition", "year": 2024, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Wizards of the Coast", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "A creature's reach is 5 feet unless a rule says otherwise, and the Reach property adds 5 feet for attacks and opportunity attacks. The Glaive, Halberd, Lance and Pike are Heavy, Reach and Two-Handed (the Lance not when mounted), and their masteries are Graze, Cleave, Topple and Push.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 2nd edition", "year": 1984, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "confidence": "low", "note": "The definition is striking from further away, not striking first. The earliest documented use cited of that form is the 2nd edition's Combat book (1984), in which spears fight from the second rank and pikes from up to four ranks; the 4th edition (1992) keeps two-rank spears. Antecedents in which length decides the order of blows are Chainmail (cited from its 1972 second edition), whose longer weapons and charging pikes strike first, Greyhawk (1975), which gives the space each weapon needs, Warhammer's 1983 first edition, which gives the longer weapon +1 initiative, and the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules (1978, 1979). War Games Rules 1000 BC to 500 AD (1969) lets regular heavy and medium infantry fight from behind a front-rank figure, by troop type rather than weapon. Ancient wargame rules of 1969 to 1983, where pikes may fight from rear ranks, remain unsurveyed. Final Fantasy Tactics (1997) is the earliest video use cited." }, "established": { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd edition", "year": 2000, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "confidence": "low", "note": "The 3rd edition's System Reference Document made reach a named property of a list of weapons, 10 feet that cannot strike an adjacent foe, and the 5th edition (2014) and 2024 edition keep the property under the same name. The lineage runs inside one game line, and no source cited states that other games took the form from it." }, "sources": [ { "key": "war-games-rules-1000-bc-to-500-ad-1969", "canonical": false, "title": "War Games Rules 1000 BC to 500 AD", "author": "Phil Barker, Bob O'Brien, and Ed Smith", "year": 1969, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Wargames Research Group", "url": "https://archive.org/download/ancient-001_202006/page/n14_w1600.jpg", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Hand-to-Hand Combat: Figures Eligible to Take Part, p. 13", "note": "Regular heavy or medium infantry immediately behind a front-rank figure in contact taking part in hand-to-hand combat, whatever their weapon; February 1969." }, { "key": "chainmail-2nd-edition-1972", "canonical": false, "title": "Chainmail, 2nd edition", "author": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)", "year": 1972, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/chainmail-2nd-edition/Chainmail%20-%202nd%20Edition_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Man-to-Man Combat, pp. 22-23", "note": "Weapon classes rising with length and weight, the first blow to a weapon two classes higher, and the first blow of pikes, spears and lances on a charge because of their length. The scan is the 1972 second edition of the 1971 rules." }, { "key": "dungeons-dragons-supplement-i-greyhawk-1975", "canonical": false, "title": "Dungeons & Dragons Supplement I: Greyhawk", "author": "Gary Gygax and Robert Kuntz (TSR)", "year": 1975, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/tsr02003supplement1greyhawk/tsr02003%20-%20Supplement%201%20-%20Greyhawk_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Damage Done by Weapon Type, p. 15", "note": "Pole arms, the halberd and the two-handed sword needing 4 to 6 feet of space on each side, and the longest pole arms not usable in dungeons as a general rule because of their length." }, { "key": "advanced-dungeons-dragons-players-handbook-1978", "canonical": false, "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Players Handbook", "author": "Gary Gygax", "year": 1978, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "TSR", "url": "https://archive.org/download/advanced-dungeons-dragons-players-handbook/Advanced%20Dungeons%20%26%20Dragons%20-%20Players%20Handbook_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Weapon Types, General Data, and To Hit Adjustments, p. 38; Combat, pp. 105-106", "note": "The length and space-required columns of the weapons table, weapon length affecting the order of attack, long-weapon formations striking first, and set pole arms and spears striking a rushing opponent first." }, { "key": "advanced-dungeons-dragons-dungeon-masters-guide-1979", "canonical": false, "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide", "author": "Gary Gygax", "year": 1979, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "TSR", "url": "https://archive.org/download/dungeon-masters-guide-efreet-cover/Dungeon%20Masters%20Guide%20%28Efreet%20Cover%29_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Combat: Melee at End of Charge, Set Weapons, Strike Blows, Weapon Speed Factor, p. 66", "note": "The longer weapon or reach attacking first at the end of a charge, set weapons, and the pike's speed factor of 13 and its need for massed pikes." }, { "key": "warhammer-vol-1-tabletop-battles-1983", "canonical": false, "title": "Warhammer, Vol 1: Tabletop Battles", "author": "Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell and Richard Priestley", "year": 1983, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/warhammer-fantasy-battles-1st-edition-vol-1-tabletop-battles/Warhammer%20Fantasy%20Battles%201st%20Edition%20Vol%201%20Tabletop%20Battles_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons Differentiation and Other Bonuses", "note": "The longer weapon's +1 initiative and the length categories from hand weapons to pikes over 12 feet; the year is the one the 2nd edition gives for the original Warhammer." }, { "key": "warhammer-fantasy-battle-2nd-edition-book-1-combat-1984", "canonical": false, "title": "Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 2nd edition, Book 1: Combat", "author": "Games Workshop", "year": 1984, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/warhammer-fantasy-battles-2nd-edition-combat/page/n39_w1600.jpg", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons Used on Foot: Spears, p. 40; Pikes, p. 42", "note": "Spears fighting from the second rank at -1 to hit and to wound, pikes from up to four ranks at growing penalties, and pikemen pushed back fighting in a single rank; copyright 1984." }, { "key": "warhammer-fantasy-battle-4th-edition-rulebook-1992", "canonical": false, "title": "Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 4th edition rulebook", "author": "Games Workshop", "year": 1992, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/warhammer-fantasy-battles-4th-edition-rulebook_202602/page/n44_w1600.jpg", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons: Spears, p. 43", "note": "Spear-armed infantry fighting in two ranks while they do not move, a single rank on the charge, and two ranks when charged while standing." }, { "key": "final-fantasy-tactics-official-strategy-guide-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "Final Fantasy Tactics Official Strategy Guide", "author": "Prima Publishing", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/final-fantasy-tactics-official-strategy-guide/Final%20Fantasy%20Tactics%20Official%20Strategy%20Guide_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "The Flow of Battle, Physical Attacks", "note": "Most physical attacks at one panel, spear and stick-type weapons at two panels in the four cardinal directions, and attacking from further away while avoiding the counterattack." }, { "key": "system-reference-document-3-0-equipment-i", "canonical": false, "title": "System Reference Document 3.0, Equipment I", "author": "Wizards of the Coast", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Wizards of the Coast", "url": "http://web.archive.org/web/20030629211207/http://wizards.com:80/d20/files/SRDEquipmentI.rtf", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Weapon Descriptions: Chain, Spiked; Glaive; Guisarme; Lance; Longspear; Ranseur", "note": "Reach of 10 feet and no use against an adjacent foe for the glaive, guisarme, heavy lance, longspear and ranseur, and the spiked chain's reach with use against adjacent foes; Wayback snapshot of 2003." }, { "key": "system-reference-document-3-5-combat-i-2003", "canonical": false, "title": "System Reference Document 3.5, Combat I", "author": "Wizards of the Coast", "year": 2003, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/dnd35srd/CombatI.rtf", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Attack; Reach Weapons", "note": "The 3.5 revision's statement that a typical reach weapon strikes opponents 10 feet away but not adjacent foes, and that reach weapons threaten more squares." }, { "key": "system-reference-document-5-1-2016", "canonical": false, "title": "System Reference Document 5.1", "author": "Wizards of the Coast", "year": 2016, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Wizards of the Coast", "url": "https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/SRD-OGL_V5.1.pdf", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Equipment: Weapon Properties (Reach), Special Weapons (Lance), Martial Melee Weapons table", "note": "Reach adding 5 feet for attacks and opportunity attacks, the reach weapons in the table, and the lance's disadvantage within 5 feet." }, { "key": "mount-blade-ii-bannerlord-guide-polearm-build-2022", "canonical": false, "title": "Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord guide, Polearm build", "author": "Scott Peers (Gamer Guides)", "year": 2022, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://gamerguides.com/mount-and-blade-ii-bannerlord/guide/character-creation/character-builds/polearm", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Weapons tables", "note": "The Length column, the Western Pike at 299 with superior reach and handling 40, the Sledgehammer at 171 with less reach, and couching polearms while riding past." }, { "key": "system-reference-document-5-2-1-2025", "canonical": false, "title": "System Reference Document 5.2.1", "author": "Wizards of the Coast", "year": 2025, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/srd/5.2/SRD_CC_v5.2.1.pdf", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Playing the Game, Reach, p. 15; Equipment, Properties and Mastery Properties, p. 90; Weapons table, p. 91; Rules Glossary, Reach, p. 186", "note": "The 5-foot reach of a creature, the Reach property adding 5 feet for attacks and opportunity attacks, the properties and masteries of the Glaive, Halberd, Lance, Pike and Whip." } ], "n_examples": 10, "n_sources": 14, "word_count": 550, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/reach" }, { "id": "reloading", "name": "Reloading", "status": "verified", "delivery": "any", "kind": "rule", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine", "action-cost" ], "definition": "A weapon holds a limited number of shots in a magazine, cylinder or loaded state and must be refilled when they are spent, which takes time or an action during which it cannot fire", "aliases": [ "Reload" ], "media": [ "board-card", "tabletop-rpg", "video" ], "mechanics": [ "action-points", "inventory-encumbrance", "real-time" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Chainmail", "year": 1971, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)", "limits": [ "magazine", "action-cost" ], "note": "In the 1972 second-edition text, heavy crossbowmen fire every other turn, against every turn for crossbowmen and archers. They may move up to half their normal move and still reload or fire, but beyond half a move no reloading is allowed.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide", "year": 1979, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Gary Gygax (TSR)", "limits": [ "magazine", "action-cost" ], "note": "The conversion rules for Boot Hill gunfighters take each firearm's rate of fire as its shots per round and set the reloading rate equal to segments per round, so that any firearm can be completely reloaded in one round.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Lethal Enforcers", "year": 1992, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Konami", "limits": [ "magazine" ], "note": "The arcade operator's manual has the player reload at any time by pointing the gun off screen and pulling the trigger. Picked-up guns fire six or twelve shots between reloads, while the machine gun's 36 shots and the grenade gun's eight are all they hold, and the Sega CD manual says they cannot be reloaded.", "latest": false }, { "title": "X-COM: UFO Defense", "year": 1994, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Mythos Games and MicroProse", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine", "action-cost" ], "note": "Bought clips are loaded into a weapon held in the hand through the inventory, where moving items costs Time Units. The guide lists each weapon's shots before reloading, 14 for the auto-cannon, and says that after firing the single-shot blaster launcher a soldier can do little else but reload.", "latest": false }, { "title": "GoldenEye 007", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Rare", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "The B Button reloads before the magazine runs out, and an empty magazine reloads automatically. The player's guide gives the KF7 Soviet a 30-round magazine and a 400-round maximum and advises reloading before a fight rather than in it.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Gears of War", "year": 2006, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Epic Games", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "The right bumper reloads, assuming the player has ammunition, and a second, timed press attempts an active reload. Success reloads faster, a perfect press much faster with a small damage boost, and a failure takes longer than an ordinary reload.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition", "year": 2014, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Wizards of the Coast", "limits": [ "ammunition", "action-cost" ], "note": "The loading property, carried by the crossbows and the blowgun, lets a weapon fire only one piece of ammunition per action, bonus action or reaction, whatever the number of attacks its user can normally make, because of the time it takes to load.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Valorant", "year": 2020, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Riot Games", "limits": [ "magazine" ], "note": "In patch 7.09 (October 2023) Riot cut the Judge's maximum magazine from 7 to 5, stating that it hoped to create more opportunities for enemies to catch a person reloading their Judge.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Chainmail", "year": 1971, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "confidence": "medium", "note": "The earliest documented use cited is Chainmail, whose second-edition text (1972, its colophon dating the first edition to 1971) makes heavy crossbowmen fire every other turn and forbids reloading after more than half a move. The 1971 first edition's wording is not cited. An antecedent is Little Wars (1913), whose guns fire up to four shots a move and may not move and fire in the same move: a rate of fire with no loaded state to refill. Featherstone's wargame rules of the 1960s and Tractics (1971) remain unsurveyed, so the title is the earliest cited rather than a defended origin." }, "established": null, "sources": [ { "key": "little-wars-1913", "canonical": false, "title": "Little Wars", "author": "H. G. Wells", "year": 1913, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/littlewarsgamefo00well/littlewarsgamefo00well_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Modern Beginnings, pp. 21-23; The Rules, rule (4), pp. 44-45", "note": "Guns that either move or fire in a move but not both and fire up to four shots a move, an antecedent rate of fire with no reload." }, { "key": "chainmail-2nd-edition-1972", "canonical": false, "title": "Chainmail, 2nd edition", "author": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)", "year": 1972, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/chainmail-2nd-edition/Chainmail%20-%202nd%20Edition_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Missile Fire, Rate of Fire, pp. 7-8", "note": "Crossbowmen and archers firing every turn, heavy crossbowmen every other turn, reloading allowed up to half a move and forbidden beyond it, and the colophon dating the first edition to 1971." }, { "key": "advanced-dungeons-dragons-dungeon-masters-guide-1979", "canonical": false, "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide", "author": "Gary Gygax (TSR)", "year": 1979, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/dungeon-masters-guide-efreet-cover/Dungeon%20Masters%20Guide%20%28Efreet%20Cover%29_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Sixguns & Sorcery, Rate Of Firearms, pp. 112-113", "note": "Boot Hill rates of fire used as shots per round and the reloading rate under which any firearm is completely reloaded in one round." }, { "key": "lethal-enforcers-operators-and-service-manual-arcade-1992", "canonical": false, "title": "Lethal Enforcers operators and service manual (arcade)", "author": "Konami", "year": 1992, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/lethal_enforcers_ptm/Lethal%20Enforcers_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Game Description, How to Play", "note": "The 1992 copyright, reloading at any time by pointing the gun off screen and pulling the trigger, the shots each picked-up gun fires without reload, and the machine gun's 36 and grenade gun's eight shots only." }, { "key": "lethal-enforcers-instruction-manual-sega-cd-1993", "canonical": false, "title": "Lethal Enforcers instruction manual (Sega CD)", "author": "Konami", "year": 1993, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/SEGACDManuals/Lethal%20Enforcers%20%28USA%29_text.pdf", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "How to play, Gun operation, p. 9; Scum Stomping Equipment, p. 10", "note": "Reloading by aiming away from the screen and pulling the trigger, the C button reload on the control pad, the rounds held by picked-up guns, and the machine gun and grenade gun that cannot be reloaded." }, { "key": "x-com-ufo-defense-game-manual-1994", "canonical": false, "title": "X-COM UFO Defense (game manual)", "author": "MicroProse", "year": 1994, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/X-Com_UFO_Defense/X-Com_UFO_Defense_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "3.1 The Equip Squad Screen, p. 82; Equip Soldier Screen, Time Units", "note": "Loading ammunition into a held, unloaded weapon of the right type, and moving weapons and equipment costing Time Units." }, { "key": "x-com-ufo-defense-the-official-strategy-guide-1995", "canonical": false, "title": "X-COM UFO Defense: The Official Strategy Guide", "author": "David Ellis", "year": 1995, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": "Prima Publishing", "url": "https://archive.org/download/x-com-ufo-defensethe-official-strategy-guide-1995/X-com-UfoDefensetheOfficialStrategyGuide-1995_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons statistics key; Auto-Cannon and Rocket Launcher, p. 108; Blaster Launcher, p. 116", "note": "Shots as the number fired before reloading, the auto-cannon's 14, the rocket launcher's reload after every shot, and the blaster launcher after which a soldier can do little else but reload." }, { "key": "goldeneye-007-instruction-booklet-n64-us-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "GoldenEye 007 instruction booklet (N64, US)", "author": "Nintendo of America and Rare", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/Nintendo64Manuals_201812/007%20-%20GoldenEye%20%28USA%29_text.pdf", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Controller", "note": "The B Button assigned to reload and activate." }, { "key": "nintendo-player-s-guide-goldeneye-007-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "Nintendo Player's Guide: GoldenEye 007", "author": "Nintendo of America", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/stream/Nintendo_Players_Guide_N64_007_GoldenEye/Nintendo_Players_Guide_N64_007_GoldenEye_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Controls: Activate; Techniques: Fill It Up!; Arsenal: KF7 Soviet", "note": "Manual reloading with the B Button before the magazine runs out, the automatic reload of an empty magazine, the advice to reload before a fight, and the KF7's 30-round magazine and 400-round maximum." }, { "key": "gears-of-war-manual-2006", "canonical": false, "title": "Gears of War manual", "author": "Epic Games and Microsoft Game Studios", "year": 2006, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://nuangel.net/pcdownloads/xboxmanuals/GOW_MNL_EN-US.pdf", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "HUD, pp. 10-11; Active Reload, p. 19", "note": "The ammunition counter and active reload indicator, reloading with the right bumper assuming ammunition, and the success, perfect and failure outcomes of an active reload." }, { "key": "system-reference-document-5-1-2016", "canonical": false, "title": "System Reference Document 5.1", "author": "Wizards of the Coast", "year": 2016, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Wizards of the Coast", "url": "https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/SRD-OGL_V5.1.pdf", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Equipment, Weapons, Weapon Properties: Ammunition, Loading", "note": "The ammunition property, one piece spent per attack, and the loading property limiting a weapon to one piece of ammunition per action, bonus action or reaction; the crossbows and blowgun carrying it." }, { "key": "valorant-patch-notes-7-09-2023", "canonical": false, "title": "VALORANT Patch Notes 7.09", "author": "Jo-Ellen Aragon (Riot Games)", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://playvalorant.com/en-us/news/game-updates/valorant-patch-notes-7-09/", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapon updates, Judge", "note": "The Judge's maximum magazine cut from 7 to 5, with Riot's stated aim of more chances to catch a player reloading." } ], "n_examples": 8, "n_sources": 12, "word_count": 548, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/reloading" }, { "id": "remote-detonation", "name": "Remote Detonation", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "placed", "kind": "behaviour", "limits": [ "unlimited", "ammunition", "action-cost" ], "definition": "An explosive charge is placed, thrown or stuck at a spot and left there, then set off by its user with a second input or action at a moment of their choosing, rather than by a fuse or by a target that touches it", "aliases": [ "Remote Explosive", "Remote Bomb", "Command Detonation" ], "media": [ "board-card", "video" ], "mechanics": [ "area-control", "inventory-encumbrance" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Starship Troopers (board game)", "year": 1976, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Randall Reed (Avalon Hill)", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "A 1977 review likens the Mobile Infantry's Delayed Action, Remote charge to a Claymore set off by a nearby trooper instead of blowing automatically, so it can be used selectively. The Arachnid player's hidden HE Demo charges are blown at his discretion when a Terran unit enters their hex, and each charge is spent once used.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Squad Leader", "year": 1977, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "John Hill (Avalon Hill)", "limits": [ "ammunition", "action-cost" ], "note": "An Assault Engineer squad, or a leader with a -2 or -3 modifier, places a Demolition Charge on an adjacent hex in the Movement Phase and must survive Defensive Fire there. The charge then explodes at any time in the following Advancing Fire Phase at the owner's option, as a 30-factor attack, and is removed.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Bomberman", "year": 1985, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Hudson Soft", "limits": [ "unlimited" ], "note": "One button lays a bomb, at first one at a time, and bomb panels raise the number. The other button is used once Bomberman picks up the remote controlling explosion panel; secondary accounts report that bombs then wait for that button instead of exploding after a few seconds.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Duke Nukem 3D", "year": 1996, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "3D Realms", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "Pipe bombs are thrown, or rolled silently while crouching, and set off with a detonator. Pressing 6 after each throw readies another bomb without detonating the first, so a series can be laid as traps, and a contemporary walkthrough describes bombs left on lifts and set off as an opponent rides them.", "latest": false }, { "title": "GoldenEye 007", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Rare", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "Remote Mines are a versatile device that clings to most surfaces and can be set off by remote control. They sit beside Timed Mines with a five-second fuse, motion-sensing Proximity Mines that cannot tell friend from foe, and plastique with a timer setting.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II", "year": 2022, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Infinity Ward", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "C4 is lethal equipment, a large explosive that sticks to surfaces and can be detonated remotely, which the guide cited ties to the equipment being depleted. Claymores and Proximity Mines, set off by enemies, are separate equipment.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Starship Troopers (board game)", "year": 1976, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "confidence": "low", "note": "Avalon Hill's Starship Troopers, which debuted at Origins II in the summer of 1976, is the earliest documented use cited. A review in The General of March-April 1977 describes its Delayed Action, Remote charge as detonated by a nearby trooper rather than blowing automatically, and the Arachnid HE Demo as blown at the owner's discretion when an enemy enters its hex. The rulebook itself is uncited, so the trigger rests on the review's wording. Squad Leader (1977) follows with a Demolition Charge placed in the Movement Phase and set off at the owner's option in the next Advancing Fire Phase, read in a fourth-edition transcription. In one Panzer Leader (1974) situation engineers prepare a bridge over four turns and may roll to blow it once enemy units come within five hexes, per a 1975 rules answer in The General; it is a charge against terrain rather than units, an antecedent. Earlier tactical wargames and miniatures rules remain unsurveyed, which keeps confidence low. The earliest video use cited is Bomberman (1985), whose US manual of 1987 names a remote controlling explosion panel; the 1983 computer Bomber Man remains unsurveyed." }, "established": null, "sources": [ { "key": "digressive-examination-1977", "canonical": false, "title": "Digressive Examination", "author": "Phil Kosnett", "year": 1977, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": "The Avalon Hill General, Vol. 13, No. 6 (March-April 1977)", "url": "https://archive.org/download/GeneralMagazineVol13i6/Vol13i6_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "pp. 3-8: Terran units, Delayed Action, Remote (p. 4); Arachnid units, HE Demo (p. 5)", "note": "A review of Starship Troopers bought at Origins II. The Delayed Action, Remote charge detonated by a nearby trooper instead of blowing automatically and used selectively, unlike the proximity charge; the HE Demo emplaced unseen and blown at the Bug player's discretion when a Terran unit enters its hex; an unexploded charge a wasted weapon." }, { "key": "squad-leader-rulebook-1977", "canonical": false, "title": "Squad Leader rulebook", "author": "John Hill (Avalon Hill)", "year": 1977, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": "Game Set I, rule 23 (Demolition Charges), 23.1-23.8", "note": "Placement by Assault Engineers or -2 and -3 leaders from an adjacent hex in the Movement Phase, survival of Defensive Fire, explosion at any time in the Advancing Fire Phase at the owner's option, the 30-factor attack, and malfunction on a 12; read in a fourth-edition rules transcription." }, { "key": "squad-leader-first-impressions-an-introduction-to-squad-leader-1978", "canonical": false, "title": "Squad Leader First Impressions: An Introduction to Squad Leader", "author": "Bob Medrow", "year": 1978, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": "The Avalon Hill General, Vol. 14, No. 5 (January-February 1978)", "url": "https://archive.org/download/GeneralMagazineVol14i5/Vol14i5_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "p. 12", "note": "The demolition charge's large attack value and its weakness, that the user must move adjacent to the intended target." }, { "key": "bomberman-operation-manual-nes-us-1987", "canonical": false, "title": "Bomberman operation manual (NES, US)", "author": "Hudson Soft USA", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/NESManuals/Bomberman%20%28USA%29_text.pdf", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "The Story & Controller, Control Functions; Operation of the Game, Bombs and Power-up Panels", "note": "The button used once the remote controlling explosion panel is picked up, the button that lays a bomb, one bomb at a time at first, and bomb panels raising the number set at once." }, { "key": "duke-nukem-3d-shareware-walkthrough-dukewalk-txt", "canonical": false, "title": "Duke Nukem 3D shareware walkthrough (DUKEWALK.TXT)", "author": "Alex M.", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://bbsfiles1.retropc.se/524/DUKEWALK.TXT", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "Rolling pipe bombs silently while crouching, the 6 key to drop a series without detonating, bombs left on lifts and detonated, and tossing one through a teleporter before detonating it." }, { "key": "goldeneye-007-instruction-booklet-n64-us-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "GoldenEye 007 instruction booklet (N64, US)", "author": "Nintendo of America and Rare", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/goldeneye-007-n-64/Goldeneye%20007%20%28N64%29_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Bond Arsenal, Weapons and Items, p. 22", "note": "Remote Mines that cling to most surfaces and are set off by remote control, Timed Mines with a five-second fuse, motion-sensing Proximity Mines, and plastique with a timer setting." }, { "key": "all-equipment-in-modern-warfare-2-lethals-and-tacticals-explained-2022", "canonical": false, "title": "All equipment in Modern Warfare 2, lethals and tacticals explained", "author": "Luca Di Marzo (Charlie INTEL)", "year": 2022, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.charlieintel.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2/all-equipment-in-modern-warfare-2-lethals-tacticals-explained-198966/", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "C4 as a large explosive that sticks to surfaces and can be detonated remotely when the equipment is depleted, and the proximity-triggered Claymore and Proximity Mine." } ], "n_examples": 6, "n_sources": 7, "word_count": 552, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/remote-detonation" }, { "id": "returning-throw", "name": "Returning Throw", "status": "verified", "delivery": "thrown", "kind": "behaviour", "limits": [ "unlimited", "ammunition", "action-cost" ], "definition": "A thrown weapon comes back to the thrower after it strikes or reaches the end of its flight, often hitting targets on the way back, so it can be thrown again without being fetched or lost", "aliases": [ "Returning Weapon", "Boomerang Weapon", "Weapon Recall" ], "media": [ "tabletop-rpg", "video" ], "mechanics": [ "equipment-loadouts", "status-effects" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons", "year": 1974, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson (TSR)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "Among the magic weapons of Monsters & Treasure, the War Hammer +3 has a throwing range of 6 inches with return. Only a dwarf gets the double range and the automatic return; any other user throws it as a +1 or +2 hammer, and it does not fly back to them.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide", "year": 1979, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Gary Gygax (TSR)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "The Hammer +3, Dwarven Thrower reaches its full bonus only for a dwarven fighter who speaks its command word. It then has a 6-inch range and returns to its wielder's hand, and when hurled it does double damage, triple against giants, ogres, trolls and ettins.", "latest": false }, { "title": "The Legend of Zelda", "year": 1986, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Nintendo", "limits": [ "unlimited" ], "note": "The boomerang, used with the B button, damages weak enemies and stops most others in their tracks when it hits, and the magical boomerang flies further than the wooden one. Neither the manual nor Nintendo's 1987 player's guide cited describes its flight back to Link, which secondary accounts report.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Castlevania", "year": 1986, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Konami", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "The boomerang, a cross-shaped subweapon, is in the US manual's words a powerful attack weapon that comes back to the player's hand; Nintendo's 1987 player's guide adds that it turns around after a certain distance. Subweapon shots come from hearts, a small heart giving one shot and a large heart five.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Super Mario 3D Land", "year": 2011, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Nintendo", "limits": [ "unlimited" ], "note": "The Boomerang Flower turns Mario into Boomerang Mario, who tosses a boomerang to defeat enemies and grab hard-to-reach coins. Reportedly only one boomerang can be out at a time, and it must return or vanish before another is thrown.", "latest": false }, { "title": "God of War", "year": 2018, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Santa Monica Studio", "limits": [ "unlimited" ], "note": "Triangle recalls the Leviathan Axe while it is in flight, stuck in an enemy or stuck in the world. It returns on a curve that steers through enemies so that it hits them on the way back, and a late-game pommel widens that seeking to 180 degrees.", "latest": false }, { "title": "God of War Ragnarök", "year": 2022, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Santa Monica Studio", "limits": [ "unlimited" ], "note": "R1 throws the Leviathan Axe and R2 throws it with force to freeze weaker enemies, and skills add a frost explosion on impact. While Kratos is bare-handed, Returning Whirlwind and Returning Storm recall the axe into a spinning or a leaping attack.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons", "year": 1974, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "confidence": "medium", "note": "Monsters & Treasure, the second booklet of Dungeons & Dragons, lists a War Hammer +3 with a 6-inch throwing range \"with Return\", and its explanations make the return automatic only in a dwarf's hands. The scan cited is dated 1974 and does not state its printing. Chainmail's fantasy supplement, in its 1972 second edition, names Thor's hammer among magical weapons but gives it no rule for throwing or return; the 1971 first edition remains unsurveyed. Greyhawk (1975) repeats the table line and adds the Cursed Spear of Backbiting, which curves back to strike its thrower. The myth of Thor's hammer is an antecedent outside games. The earliest video uses cited are the boomerangs of The Legend of Zelda and Castlevania, both of 1986." }, "established": null, "sources": [ { "key": "dungeons-dragons-volume-2-monsters-treasure-1974", "canonical": false, "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, Volume 2, Monsters & Treasure", "author": "Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson (Tactical Studies Rules)", "year": 1974, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/monsters-treasure-vol-2-tsr/MonstersTreasureVol2TSR_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Magic Items, Miscellaneous Weapons table, p. 24; Explanations of Magic Items, Miscellaneous Weapons, p. 31", "note": "The War Hammer +3 with throwing range and return, the double range and automatic return only for a dwarf, and other users throwing it without its return." }, { "key": "dungeons-dragons-supplement-i-greyhawk-1975", "canonical": false, "title": "Dungeons & Dragons Supplement I: Greyhawk", "author": "Gary Gygax and Robert Kuntz (TSR)", "year": 1975, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/tsr02003supplement1greyhawk/tsr02003%20-%20Supplement%201%20-%20Greyhawk_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Miscellaneous Weapons table, p. 41; Cursed Spear of Backbiting, p. 48", "note": "The returning War Hammer +3 repeated in the table, and the cursed spear that curves back to strike its thrower." }, { "key": "advanced-dungeons-dragons-dungeon-masters-guide-1979", "canonical": false, "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide", "author": "Gary Gygax", "year": 1979, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "TSR", "url": "https://archive.org/download/dungeon-masters-guide-efreet-cover/Dungeon%20Masters%20Guide%20%28Efreet%20Cover%29_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Miscellaneous Weapons, Hammer +3, Dwarven Thrower, p. 168", "note": "The command word, the dwarven fighter as its only full user, its 6-inch range and return to the wielder's hand, and its double and triple damage when hurled." }, { "key": "the-legend-of-zelda-instruction-manual-nes-1987", "canonical": false, "title": "The Legend of Zelda instruction manual (NES)", "author": "Nintendo", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/LegendOfZeldaTheNESHiResScans/Legend%20of%20Zelda%2C%20The%20-%20Manual%20%28Searchable%29_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Treasure - The Magic and the Mystery, Boomerang, p. 24", "note": "The boomerang damaging weak enemies and stopping most others when thrown on target, and the magical boomerang's longer flight." }, { "key": "castlevania-instruction-manual-nes-us-1987", "canonical": false, "title": "Castlevania instruction manual (NES, US)", "author": "Konami", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/nesclassiceditionmanuals/CLV-P-NABQE_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons chart, Boomerang, Small Heart and Large Heart, p. 11", "note": "The boomerang as a powerful attack weapon that comes back to the hand, and small and large hearts giving one and five extra shots per weapon; a scan of the NES-CV-USA manual in Nintendo's NES Classic Edition manual set." }, { "key": "the-official-nintendo-player-s-guide-1987", "canonical": false, "title": "The Official Nintendo Player's Guide", "author": "Nintendo of America and Tokuma Shoten Publishing", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/The_Official_Nintendo_Players_Guide_1987/The_Official_Nintendo_Players_Guide_1987_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Castlevania, Boomerang, p. 80; The Legend of Zelda, Boomerangs, p. 10", "note": "Castlevania's boomerang flying horizontally and, after a certain distance, turning around and coming back to the player; Zelda's boomerangs stopping enemies from a distance, with no return described." }, { "key": "boomerang-flower", "canonical": false, "title": "Boomerang Flower", "author": "Super Mario Wiki", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "wiki", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": null, "note": "Nintendo's descriptions of Boomerang Mario tossing boomerangs at enemies and hard-to-reach coins, and one boomerang at a time in Super Mario 3D Land." }, { "key": "recalling-the-leviathan-axe-2018", "canonical": false, "title": "Recalling the Leviathan Axe", "author": "Vince Napoli (Game Developer)", "year": 2018, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/recalling-the-leviathan-axe", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "The lead systems designer on the triangle recall from flight, enemy or world, the curved return that steers through enemies, hits on the return as basically mandatory, the 180-degree pommel, and a Marvel character as the inspiration." }, { "key": "leviathan-axe-god-of-war-ragnarok-guide-2022", "canonical": false, "title": "Leviathan Axe, God of War: Ragnarok guide", "author": "Scott Peers, Nathan Garvin and others (Gamer Guides)", "year": 2022, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.gamerguides.com/god-of-war-ragnarok/guide/gear/weapons/leviathan-axe", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Leviathan Axe skills", "note": "The R1 throw, the R2 Freezing Throw and its frost explosion, and the bare-handed Returning Whirlwind and Returning Storm recalls." } ], "n_examples": 7, "n_sources": 9, "word_count": 546, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/returning-throw" }, { "id": "shotgun", "name": "Shotgun", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "hitscan", "kind": "class", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "definition": "A close-range gun that fires a spread of pellets in one shot, so it strikes hard when the target is near and loses force as distance widens the spread and fewer pellets land", "aliases": [], "media": [ "video", "tabletop-rpg" ], "mechanics": [ "aim-and-recoil", "equipment-loadouts" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Traveller", "year": 1977, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Marc W. Miller (Game Designers' Workshop)", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "Book 1 reportedly lists a shotgun whose 18 mm shells hold either six 7 mm bullets or 130 3 mm pellets, fed from a ten-shell tubular magazine under the barrel and fired one shell for each pull of the trigger.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Boot Hill (third edition)", "year": 1990, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Brian Blume and Gary Gygax; third edition by Steve Winter (TSR)", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "The rules call shotguns and scatterguns frighteningly deadly at close range. A hit rolls one die for up to four wounds at short range, fewer at long range and possibly none at extreme range, and a scattergun's long-range blast may also hit anyone within 2 yards of the target. Both guns hold one or two rounds.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Doom", "year": 1993, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "id Software", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "The manual's shotgun delivers \"a heavy punch at close range and a generous pelting from a distance\". In the source code each shell fires seven pellets, each an instant line trace at a random angle dealing 5, 10 or 15 damage, so fewer pellets land as the target moves away.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Doom II", "year": 1994, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "id Software", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "The combat shotgun, a sawn-off double barrel, spends two shells for twenty pellets with twice the shotgun's horizontal spread. The manual warns that its two barrels deliver more firepower but take more time to reload.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Resident Evil", "year": 1996, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Capcom", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "The official guide calls the shotgun the weapon used more than any other and says a zombie dies to one blast only if it is let within grabbing range first. Each box of shells is good for seven blasts, and the guide warns against being caught reloading with a zombie close.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Outlaws", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "LucasArts", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "The manual gives the single-barrel 10-gauge a range of 120 ft. against the rifle's 900 ft., with a much better spread, and has it reloaded after every shot. The sawed-off shotgun reaches 30 ft. with a 20 ft. spread.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Counter-Strike", "year": 1999, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Minh Le and Jess Cliffe", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "Prima's guide to the Xbox version gives the $1,700 pump-action Leone 12 Gauge Super a tight spread, eight shells loaded one at a time, and the $3,000 automatic Leone YG1265 a wide spread that is strong at close quarters and nearly worthless at distance.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Halo: Combat Evolved", "year": 2001, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Bungie", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "Prima's guide gives the M90 shotgun a clip of 12 and 60 rounds carried, extremely powerful at close range and able to damage several enemies further off, but fairly ineffective at long range, \"but that's why you carry two weapons\".", "latest": false }, { "title": "Doom Eternal", "year": 2020, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "id Software (Bethesda Softworks)", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "The Combat Shotgun deals high damage at close range and takes swappable mods, Sticky Bombs that explode among several enemies and a Full Auto mode. The Super Shotgun, a double barrel carrying a Meat Hook fired at enemies, does massive close-range damage, and an upgrade speeds its reload by 33%.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Boot Hill (third edition)", "year": 1990, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "confidence": "low", "note": "The earliest use cited from a firmly dated primary source is the third edition of Boot Hill (TSR, 1990), whose rules roll up to four wounds for a shotgun hit at short range and fewer, or none, at long and extreme range. The shotgun rules of the game's 1975 and 1979 editions are unconfirmed, and Traveller (1977) is a reported earlier tabletop shotgun firing pellet or bullet shells, known from a wiki reading of Book 1 that does not give its range rules. Doom (1993) is the earliest video use cited, from its manual and released source code. Other role-playing games, wargames and video games before 1990 remain unsurveyed." }, "established": { "title": "Doom", "year": 1993, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "confidence": "low", "note": "Doom's shotgun is the earliest video form cited and the one its sequels keep, in Doom II's combat shotgun and Doom Eternal's two shotguns. Bethesda's own history calls the weapon a close-range shooter staple and speaks of the countless games Doom inspired, without crediting the shotgun itself with setting the form. The line to other studios' shotguns, such as Counter-Strike's and Halo's, is widely assumed rather than documented." }, "sources": [ { "key": "boot-hill-third-edition-1990", "canonical": false, "title": "Boot Hill, third edition", "author": "Steve Winter, after Brian Blume and Gary Gygax", "year": 1990, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "TSR", "url": "https://archive.org/download/boot-hill-3rd-ed/Boot%20Hill%203rd%20ed_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Shotguns and Scatterguns, Table 13, pp. 39-40; Table 14: Weapons, p. 41; equipment prices, p. 92", "note": "Shotguns and scatterguns as frighteningly deadly at close range, up to four wounds a blast at short range and none possible at extreme range, the scattergun's extra targets within 2 or 5 yards, the capacity of one or two rounds, and shotgun ammunition sold by the 25 rounds." }, { "key": "doom-instruction-manual-1993", "canonical": false, "title": "Doom instruction manual", "author": "id Software", "year": 1993, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/doom-manual/Doom-Manual_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Firepower and How to Use It, Weapons", "note": "Shotguns delivering a heavy punch at close range and a generous pelting from a distance, and shells as the shotgun's ammunition." }, { "key": "doom-ii-instruction-manual-1994", "canonical": false, "title": "Doom II instruction manual", "author": "id Software", "year": 1994, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/doom-ii-instruction-manual/Doom%20II%20%20Instruction%20Manual_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Firepower and How to Use It, Weapons", "note": "The combat shotgun as a double-barrelled sawn-off with more firepower and a longer reload, sharing the shotgun's key." }, { "key": "doom-source-code-linuxdoom-1-10-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "Doom source code (linuxdoom-1.10)", "author": "id Software", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/id-Software/DOOM/master/linuxdoom-1.10/p_pspr.c", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "p_pspr.c, P_GunShot, A_FireShotgun and A_FireShotgun2", "note": "Seven pellets for one shell and twenty for two, 5, 10 or 15 damage a pellet, the random angle and its doubled width for the combat shotgun, and the instant line attack." }, { "key": "doomorabilia-7-the-o-g-doomstick-2019", "canonical": false, "title": "DOOMorabilia #7: The O.G. DOOMstick", "author": "Parker Wilhelm (Bethesda Softworks)", "year": 2019, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://slayersclub.bethesda.net/en-US/article/doomorabilia-7-the-o-g-doomstick", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The shotgun's presence in the February 1993 alpha, its description as a buckshot-blasting close-range shooter staple, and the countless games Doom inspired." }, { "key": "shotgun", "canonical": false, "title": "Shotgun", "author": "Traveller Wiki", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "wiki", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": null, "note": "The Book 1 shotgun's 18 mm shells of six 7 mm bullets or 130 3 mm pellets, its ten-shell tubular magazine, and its citation of Characters and Combat (1977), pp. 42-43." }, { "key": "traveller-book-1-characters-and-combat-1977", "canonical": false, "title": "Traveller, Book 1: Characters and Combat", "author": "Marc W. Miller (Game Designers' Workshop)", "year": 1977, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": "Weapons, pp. 42-43", "note": "The shotgun's description and ammunition, at the pages the Traveller Wiki cites." }, { "key": "resident-evil-the-official-strategy-guide-1996", "canonical": false, "title": "Resident Evil: The Official Strategy Guide", "author": "Zach Meston", "year": 1996, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": "Dimension Publishing", "url": "https://archive.org/download/resident-evil-the-official-strategy-guide/Resident%20Evil%20-%20The%20Official%20Strategy%20Guide_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "General tips; Weapons, Shotgun; Items, Shells", "note": "The shotgun as the most used weapon, the one-blast kill only at grabbing range, shells good for seven blasts, and the warning against being caught reloading." }, { "key": "outlaws-manual-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "Outlaws manual", "author": "LucasArts", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/outlaws-manual/Outlaws%20-%20Manual_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons and items", "note": "The single-barrel, double-barrel and sawed-off shotguns' ranges of 120, 150 and 30 ft., the sawed-off's 20 ft. spread, and the reload after each single-barrel shot." }, { "key": "counter-strike-prima-s-official-strategy-guide-xbox-2003", "canonical": false, "title": "Counter-Strike: Prima's Official Strategy Guide (Xbox)", "author": "Prima Games", "year": 2003, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/counter-strike-primas-official-xbox-strategy-guide-2004/Counter%20Strike%20%28Prima%27s%20Official%20Xbox%20Strategy%20Guide%20-%202004%29_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons & Equipment, Leone 12 Gauge Super and Leone YG1265 Auto Shotgun", "note": "The two shotguns' prices, capacities, spreads and one-shell-at-a-time loading." }, { "key": "halo-combat-evolved-prima-s-official-strategy-guide-2004", "canonical": false, "title": "Halo: Combat Evolved: Prima's Official Strategy Guide", "author": "Mario De Govia, Brandon Smith and Damien Waples (Prima Games)", "year": 2004, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/halo-combat-evolvedprimas-official-xbox-strategy-guide-2004/Halo-CombatEvolvedprimasOfficialXboxStrategyGuide-2004_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons and Items, M90 Shotgun", "note": "The M90's clip of 12 and 60 rounds, its power at close range and its weakness at long range." }, { "key": "doom-eternal-the-ultimate-weapons-guide-2024", "canonical": false, "title": "Doom Eternal: The Ultimate Weapons Guide", "author": "swazir (GINX TV)", "year": 2024, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.ginx.tv/en/doom-eternal-weapons-guide", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The Combat Shotgun's close-range damage and mods, the Super Shotgun's close-range damage and Meat Hook, and the 33% reload upgrade." }, { "key": "doom-eternal-weapons-guide-2020", "canonical": false, "title": "Doom Eternal: Weapons guide", "author": "Gamepressure", "year": 2020, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.gamepressure.com/doom-eternal/weapons/z1cfd4", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The Combat Shotgun's close-range damage, the Sticky Bomb explosion that may injure several opponents, and the Super Shotgun as a double barrel with a Meat Hook." } ], "n_examples": 9, "n_sources": 13, "word_count": 538, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/shotgun" }, { "id": "sniper-rifle", "name": "Sniper Rifle", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "hitscan", "kind": "class", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine", "charge-time" ], "definition": "A long-range rifle with a zooming scope that deals heavy damage per shot at a slow rate of fire, so a precise hit from far away can kill outright while the weapon is weak at close quarters", "aliases": [ "Scoped Rifle" ], "media": [ "video" ], "mechanics": [ "aim-and-recoil", "hit-location", "line-of-sight" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Outlaws", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "LucasArts", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "The manual's .44 rifle, a sixteen-shot repeater, has a range of 900 ft. against the pistol's 300 ft., and a scope found in play attaches to it and \"allows long distance aiming\", toggled with the rifle's own key. Computer Gaming World's 1997 review has the scoped rifle take down an adversary at 300 yards unseen.", "latest": false }, { "title": "GoldenEye 007", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Rare", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "The manual calls the Sniper Rifle an extreme-range, single-shot rifle that zooms while aiming. Nintendo's guide adds that it is always silenced and has a further macro zoom, an eight-round magazine and a 400-round maximum. N64 Magazine's interviewers called the zoom an office favourite.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Counter-Strike", "year": 1999, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Minh Le and Jess Cliffe", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "Prima's guide to the Xbox version gives the $4,750 Magnum Sniper Rifle a 10-round clip, a scope zoom on alternate fire, and a round that kills in one shot to any region but the limbs and can pass through several enemies; the cheaper Scout loses its scope view each time its bolt is worked.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Halo: Combat Evolved", "year": 2001, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Bungie", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "Prima's guide gives the S2 AM Sniper Rifle a clip of 4 and 64 rounds carried, a scope at 2x and 10x with light amplification, and rounds that pass through several enemies; its small clip makes it ineffective at close quarters.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Team Fortress 2", "year": 2007, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Valve", "limits": [ "ammunition", "charge-time" ], "note": "The Sniper's rifle fires a hitscan shot every 1.5 seconds from 25 rounds with no reload. Scoped, its damage charges from 50 to 150 over about three seconds, and only a scoped shot to the head scores a guaranteed critical hit.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Counter-Strike 2", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Valve", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "The AWP costs $4,750 and deals 115 base damage, enough to kill with one armoured chest hit. It holds five rounds with 30 in reserve, fires about 41 times a minute, and halves its user's movement speed from 200 to 100 while scoped.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Outlaws", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "confidence": "low", "note": "The earliest use cited is Outlaws (1997), whose manual has a scope attach to the rifle for long-distance aiming; the game is often credited with bringing the scope to first-person shooters. A retailer's advertisement in Computer Gaming World's May 1997 issue lists it in stock, months before GoldenEye 007, which Nintendo's press release of 15 August 1997 dates to 28 August. MDK (1997), advertised in the April 1997 issue with a sniper mode that zooms in on the enemy and listed in stock in June, is a near-contemporary whose order against Outlaws is unresolved. The manual does not describe the rifle's damage or rate of fire, and earlier shooters, simulations and tabletop rules remain unsurveyed." }, "established": { "title": "GoldenEye 007", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "confidence": "low", "note": "GoldenEye 007 named the weapon the Sniper Rifle, its manual describes an extreme-range, single-shot rifle with a zoom, and contemporary press singled out the zoom. Later shooters including Counter-Strike and Halo carry a scoped rifle of the same name. No cited source states that they took the form from it." }, "sources": [ { "key": "outlaws-manual-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "Outlaws manual", "author": "LucasArts", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/outlaws-manual/Outlaws%20-%20Manual_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons and items; Controls, weapon keys", "note": "The .44 rifle's 900 ft. range and sixteen shots, the pistol's 300 ft., the reload key, and the scope that attaches to the rifle, allows long-distance aiming and is toggled once found." }, { "key": "a-fistful-of-doom-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "A Fistful of Doom", "author": "Mark Clarkson (Computer Gaming World, no. 156, July 1997)", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_156/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_156_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Reviews, Action: Outlaws", "note": "A review of Outlaws whose tips have the .44 rifle, with a scope, take down an adversary at 300 yards without being seen." }, { "key": "computer-gaming-world-no-154-may-1997-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "Computer Gaming World, no. 154 (May 1997)", "author": "Computer Gaming World", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_154/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_154_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Chips & Bits advertisement, Outlaws listing", "note": "A mail-order listing that gives Outlaws' release date as \"NOW\", placing the game in stock by the May 1997 issue." }, { "key": "computer-gaming-world-no-153-april-1997-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "Computer Gaming World, no. 153 (April 1997)", "author": "Computer Gaming World", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_153/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_153_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "MDK advertisement", "note": "Shiny Entertainment's advertisement for MDK, with a \"sniper mode\" that zooms in on the enemy and a helmet-mounted sniper rifle; the June 1997 issue (no. 155) lists MDK in stock." }, { "key": "goldeneye-007-press-kit-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "GoldenEye 007 press kit", "author": "Nintendo of America (Golin/Harris)", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/goldeneye-007-press-kit/Goldeneye%20007%20Press%20Kit_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Press release, Redmond, 15 August 1997", "note": "The press release dated 15 August 1997 and the game's availability on 28 August 1997." }, { "key": "goldeneye-007-instruction-booklet-n64-us-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "GoldenEye 007 instruction booklet (N64, US)", "author": "Nintendo of America and Rare", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/goldeneye-007-n-64/Goldeneye%20007%20%28N64%29_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "The Bond Arsenal, p. 22", "note": "The Sniper Rifle as an extreme-range, single-shot rifle that needs patience and timing and zooms in and out with the C Buttons while aiming." }, { "key": "the-rare-essentials-n64-magazine-interviews-the-goldeneye-007-team", "canonical": false, "title": "The Rare Essentials: N64 Magazine Interviews the GoldenEye 007 Team", "author": "Rare Gamer", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.raregamer.co.uk/?p=35069", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "A transcript of N64 Magazine's interview, in which the Sniper Rifle's zoom is called a favourite in the magazine's office and Rare describes misting distant scenery to draw further." }, { "key": "nintendo-player-s-guide-goldeneye-007-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "Nintendo Player's Guide: GoldenEye 007", "author": "Nintendo of America", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/stream/Nintendo_Players_Guide_N64_007_GoldenEye/Nintendo_Players_Guide_N64_007_GoldenEye_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Arsenal: Zoom, Silencer, Sniper Rifle; Controls: Activate", "note": "The Sniper Rifle's zoom and macro zoom, its built-in silencer, its eight-round magazine and 400-round maximum, and reloading, automatic when the magazine empties or manual with the B Button." }, { "key": "counter-strike-prima-s-official-strategy-guide-xbox-2003", "canonical": false, "title": "Counter-Strike: Prima's Official Strategy Guide (Xbox)", "author": "Prima Games", "year": 2003, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/counter-strike-primas-official-xbox-strategy-guide-2004/Counter%20Strike%20%28Prima%27s%20Official%20Xbox%20Strategy%20Guide%20-%202004%29_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons & Equipment, Schmidt Scout and Magnum Sniper Rifle", "note": "The Magnum Sniper Rifle's price, clip, zoom, one-shot kills and penetration, and the Scout's interrupted scope view while its bolt is worked." }, { "key": "halo-combat-evolved-prima-s-official-strategy-guide-2004", "canonical": false, "title": "Halo: Combat Evolved: Prima's Official Strategy Guide", "author": "Mario De Govia, Brandon Smith and Damien Waples (Prima Games)", "year": 2004, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/halo-combat-evolvedprimas-official-xbox-strategy-guide-2004/Halo-CombatEvolvedprimasOfficialXboxStrategyGuide-2004_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons and Items, S2 AM Sniper Rifle", "note": "The rifle's clip of 4 and 64 rounds, its 2x and 10x zoom and light amplification, its penetration, and its weakness at close quarters." }, { "key": "sniper-rifle", "canonical": false, "title": "Sniper Rifle", "author": "Official Team Fortress Wiki", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "wiki", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": null, "note": "The 50 to 150 damage charge over three seconds when scoped, headshots as guaranteed critical hits only while scoped, 25 rounds with no reload, the 1.5-second interval, and the hitscan shot." }, { "key": "counter-strike-2-awp-guide-2026", "canonical": false, "title": "Counter Strike 2 AWP Guide", "author": "Sacheen (Gaming Pro Max)", "year": 2026, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://gamingpromax.com/counter-strike-2-awp-guide/", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The AWP's $4,750 price, 115 base damage, five-round magazine and 30 in reserve, 41.24 rounds a minute, movement speed of 200 falling to 100 when scoped, and one-shot kills through armour to the chest." }, { "key": "outlaws-handful-of-missions-remaster-review-2026", "canonical": false, "title": "Outlaws + Handful of Missions: Remaster Review", "author": "Matt Martindale (TheXboxHub)", "year": 2026, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.thexboxhub.com/outlaws-handful-of-missions-remaster-review/", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "Outlaws as credited with introducing the scope to first-person shooters, and its scope, kept as it was in 1997, magnifying only the scope's own view rather than switching to a full-screen zoom." } ], "n_examples": 6, "n_sources": 13, "word_count": 555, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/sniper-rifle" }, { "id": "splash-damage", "name": "Splash Damage", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "area", "kind": "behaviour", "limits": [ "unlimited", "ammunition", "magazine", "cooldown", "action-cost" ], "definition": "An explosive shot, shell or blast damages every target within a radius of where it lands, not only the one it strikes, often less the farther a target is from the centre, so a near miss still harms", "aliases": [ "Splash", "Blast Damage", "Radius Damage", "Area Damage" ], "media": [ "board-card", "video" ], "mechanics": [ "aim-and-recoil", "hit-points", "line-of-sight" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Chainmail", "year": 1971, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren", "limits": [ "cooldown" ], "note": "Catapult fire is placed with a circular plastic disc, 2 inches across for the light catapult and larger for the heavy, and all figures wholly or partially under the hit area are killed. A fully crewed light catapult fires every other turn and a heavy one every third, with each missing crewman adding a turn.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Missile Command", "year": 1980, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Atari", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "The player's anti-ballistic missiles burst in octagonal explosions that grow over several frames to a radius of 13 and then shrink, destroying incoming missiles caught in them. Each silo holds ten missiles.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Rick Priestley (Games Workshop)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "Grenades and other area effect weapons place a card circle marker, from half an inch to 2 inches or more in radius, over a target point the firer can see. The marker may deviate by a D12 direction and D6 inches, and every model wholly or partly under it is rolled for in turn. A model shoots once a turn.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Doom", "year": 1993, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "id Software", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "A rocket's explosion runs a radius attack of 128 that damages every shootable thing the blast can see, by 128 less its distance from the centre, measured as the larger of the horizontal and vertical offsets. The firer is not exempt; the Spider Mastermind and Cyberdemon are.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Worms", "year": 1995, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Team17", "limits": [ "unlimited", "ammunition" ], "note": "The bazooka, unlimited by default and bent by wind and gravity, causes up to 50 points on a direct hit and a large blast wave that wrecks the landscape; a grenade causes up to 50 if it explodes very near its victim. Dynamite causes up to 75, but only one stick is issued, with more in supply crates.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Quake", "year": 1996, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "id Software", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "In the game code id Software released for QuakeWorld, a radius attack deals its damage less half the distance from the blast to each target it can reach, halves it for the attacker, and pushes targets away in proportion to the damage.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Team Fortress 2", "year": 2007, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Valve", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "The Soldier's Rocket Launcher deals 90 base damage, its splash falling to 50% at the blast's edge by community testing. It holds four rockets in its clip with 20 in reserve, and a rocket jump costs the Soldier 27 to 46 health.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Halo Infinite", "year": 2021, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "343 Industries", "limits": [ "ammunition" ], "note": "Frag grenades and the M41 SPNKR rocket launcher damage targets within a damage radius. A February 2023 update cut the frag grenade's radius from 2.7 to 2.5 world units; an August 2022 update made the SPNKR's radius damage enemies more consistently.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Chainmail", "year": 1971, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "confidence": "low", "note": "Chainmail's catapult fire is the earliest documented use cited: a disc of stated diameter is placed at the called range and every figure under it is killed. The wording cited is from the 1972 second edition; no copy of the March 1971 first edition is cited, so the rule's presence in 1971 is unconfirmed. The same book sizes the wizard's fire ball by the large catapult's hit area, so the weapon form precedes the spell there. Jon Peterson reports that the Lake Geneva rules of 1970 from which Chainmail grew already had move-and-fire rules for cannons and catapults; whether they used a hit area is unconfirmed. Leonard Patt's 1970 fantasy rules reportedly gave a wizard's fire ball a burst area, a spell rather than a weapon. Artillery in earlier miniatures rules, including Donald Featherstone's War Games (1962) and Peter Young and J. P. Lawford's Charge! (1967), remains unsurveyed, which keeps confidence low. A transcription of the Squad Leader rules gives off-board artillery a seven-hex blast area; whether the 1977 box carries it is unconfirmed. Missile Command (1980) is the earliest video use cited; earlier artillery games on computers remain unsurveyed." }, "established": null, "sources": [ { "key": "chainmail-rules-for-medieval-miniatures-2nd-edition-1972", "canonical": false, "title": "Chainmail: Rules for Medieval Miniatures, 2nd edition", "author": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren", "year": 1972, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Guidon Games", "url": "https://archive.org/download/chainmail-2nd-edition/Chainmail%20-%202nd%20Edition_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Missile Fire, Catapult Fire, p. 9; Catapult Fire, Rate of Fire, p. 10; Fantasy Supplement, Wizards, p. 28", "note": "The light and heavy catapults' hit-area discs and ranges, every figure wholly or partially under the disc killed, the rate of fire by catapult and crew, and the fire ball's hit area equal to the large catapult's." }, { "key": "the-lgtsa-medieval-miniatures-rules-2012", "canonical": false, "title": "The LGTSA Medieval Miniatures Rules", "author": "Jon Peterson (Playing at the World)", "year": 2012, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-lgtsa-medieval-miniatures-rules.html", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The 1970 Panzerfaust and Domesday Book versions of the rules that grew into Chainmail, and a reprint missing two sentences on the move and fire rules for cannons and catapults." }, { "key": "warhammer-40-000-rogue-trader-1987", "canonical": false, "title": "Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader", "author": "Rick Priestley", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Games Workshop", "url": "https://archive.org/download/warhammer-40-k-rogue-trader-rulebook/Warhammer%2040K%20Rogue%20Trader%20-%20Rulebook_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Combat, Shooting; Area Effect Weapons and Area Effect Deviation, c. p. 24", "note": "One shot per armed model in the shooting phase, area effect markers as card circles placed over a target point, deviation by marker radius, and every model wholly or partly within the marker a target." }, { "key": "squad-leader-rulebook-1977", "canonical": false, "title": "Squad Leader rulebook", "author": "John Hill (Avalon Hill)", "year": 1977, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": "Rule 46.5 (Artillery Fire Mechanics)", "note": "Fire for effect landing with equal effect in its hex and the six adjacent hexes, a seven-hex blast area resolved hex by hex on the Infantry Fire Table; read in a rules transcription whose edition is unconfirmed." }, { "key": "missile-command-disassembly", "canonical": false, "title": "Missile Command disassembly", "author": "6502disassembly.com", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://6502disassembly.com/va-missile-command/", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "Octagonal explosions that expand and shrink over several frames, a maximum radius of 13, collision tests against incoming missiles, ten missiles per silo, and the 1980 Atari copyright." }, { "key": "doom-source-code-linuxdoom-1-10-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "Doom source code (linuxdoom-1.10)", "author": "id Software", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/id-Software/DOOM/master/linuxdoom-1.10/p_map.c", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "p_map.c, PIT_RadiusAttack and P_RadiusAttack; p_enemy.c, A_Explode; info.c, S_EXPLODE1", "note": "The radius attack, its damage less the larger axis offset, the line-of-sight test, the boss exemptions, the 128 passed by the explosion routine, and the rocket's explosion state calling it." }, { "key": "worms-game-manual-pc-us-1995", "canonical": false, "title": "Worms Game Manual (PC, US)", "author": "Team17", "year": 1995, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Team17 / Ocean", "url": "https://archive.org/download/wormsgamemanual/Worms%20Game%20Manual_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "8, Weapons Available: Bazooka, Grenade, Dynamite, Landmines; 9, Gameplay Details", "note": "Damage up to 50 on a direct bazooka hit, the bazooka unlimited by default, grenades near the victim, dynamite's 75, blast wave and single stick with more in supply crates, landscape damage, wind, and the turn clock." }, { "key": "worms-1995-video-game", "canonical": false, "title": "Worms (1995 video game)", "author": "Wikipedia", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "wiki", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": null, "note": "Explosions that deform the terrain into circular cavities, turn time limits, and the game's development as \"Artillery\" from earlier tank games." }, { "key": "quakeworld-game-code-combat-qc-1996", "canonical": false, "title": "QuakeWorld game code (combat.qc)", "author": "id Software", "year": 1996, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/id-Software/Quake/master/qw-qc/combat.qc", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "T_RadiusDamage; T_Damage", "note": "Radius damage less half the distance, halved damage to the attacker, the damage test against obstruction, and knockback in proportion to damage." }, { "key": "rocket-launcher", "canonical": false, "title": "Rocket Launcher", "author": "Team Fortress Wiki", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "wiki", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": null, "note": "Base damage, splash falling to 50% at the edge, clip and reserve, rocket-jump self-damage, and the approximate values from community testing." }, { "key": "february-update-preview-2023", "canonical": false, "title": "February Update Preview", "author": "John Junyszek (Halo Waypoint)", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/february-update-preview", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The frag grenade's damage radius cut from 2.7 to 2.5 world units, and the stated aims of rewarding placement and addressing grenade spam." }, { "key": "halo-infinite-drop-pod-deploys-with-updates-and-fixes-2022", "canonical": false, "title": "Halo Infinite \"Drop Pod\" Deploys with Updates and Fixes", "author": "Seasoned Gaming", "year": 2022, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://seasonedgaming.com/2022/08/09/halo-infinite-drop-pod-deploys-with-updates-and-fixes/", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The M41 SPNKR's damage radius improved to damage enemies more consistently." } ], "n_examples": 8, "n_sources": 12, "word_count": 544, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/splash-damage" }, { "id": "target-size-accuracy", "name": "Target-Size Accuracy", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "any", "kind": "rule", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine", "action-cost" ], "definition": "A weapon's chance to hit, or the share of its damage that lands, depends on the target's size, often measured against the attacker or the weapon, so that small targets are harder to hit well than large ones", "aliases": [ "size modifiers", "target size modifier" ], "media": [ "board-card", "tabletop-rpg", "video" ], "mechanics": [ "equipment-loadouts", "lock-on-targeting", "target-numbers" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons Supplement I: Greyhawk", "year": 1975, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Gary Gygax and Robert Kuntz (TSR)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "An antecedent. Under the optional damage by weapon type, each weapon has one damage range against man-sized opponents and another against larger ones, the dagger 1-4 and 1-3, the sword 1-8 and 1-12, the two-handed sword 1-10 and 3-18. Size changes the damage, not the chance to hit.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 1st edition", "year": 1983, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell and Richard Priestley (Games Workshop)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "Missile troops, who shoot once in the shooting phase, add 1 to the dice when firing at a large target, generally anything over 10 feet tall such as a troll. No modifier is given for a small target.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Rick Priestley (Games Workshop)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "The basic shooting modifiers give +1 to hit a large target, generally over 3 metres high or long, and -1 to hit a small one, under 30 cm, with a further -1 against a fast-moving target for every full 10 inches it moved in its previous turn.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Battlefleet Gothic", "year": 1999, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Andy Chambers, Gavin Thorpe and Jervis Johnson (Games Workshop)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "Weapons batteries roll the dice the Gunnery table gives for their firepower and the target's type and aspect. Escorts, the small ships, stand one column to the right of cruisers and battleships at the same aspect, so 10 firepower rolls 7 dice at a closing capital ship and 5 at a closing escort. Ordnance, small and fast moving, has its own column.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd edition", "year": 2000, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Wizards of the Coast", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "One size scale from Fine (+8) to Colossal (-8) gives the same modifier to a creature's attack rolls and to its Armor Class, Small +1 and Large -1, so the result of an attack depends on the sizes of attacker and target together. The target's size modifier still applies against touch attacks.", "latest": false }, { "title": "EVE Online", "year": 2003, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "CCP Games", "limits": [ "ammunition", "magazine" ], "note": "A turret's hit chance falls as the target's angular velocity outruns the turret's tracking, scaled by signature radius, and from 2004 a target with half the signature needs twice the tracking for the same 50% chance. From 2005, missiles deal less damage to targets smaller than their explosion radius or fast enough to outrun the blast.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous", "year": 2021, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Owlcat Games", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "Size modifies attack rolls and Armor Class as in the tabletop rules. Enlarge Person moves its target to the next larger size category and gives it +2 Strength, -2 Dexterity, and a -1 penalty on attack rolls and AC due to its increased size.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 1st edition", "year": 1983, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "confidence": "low", "note": "The definition is a size effect on the chance to hit or on the share of damage that lands. The earliest documented use cited is Warhammer's first edition (1983), whose shooting modifiers add 1 against a large target over 10 feet tall. Greyhawk (1975) is an antecedent: its optional weapon damage differs against man-sized and larger opponents, a damage profile by size class rather than a hit penalty, and the sword deals more to the larger target. Earlier naval, armour and skirmish wargames and Traveller's starship rules remain unsurveyed, so the title is the earliest cited rather than a defended origin." }, "established": { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd edition", "year": 2000, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "confidence": "low", "note": "The 3rd edition applies one size scale to both sides of an attack, so the effect depends on the target's size against the attacker's, where the Warhammer rules add a flat modifier for a large or small target. Wrath of the Righteous (2021), built on the Pathfinder rules, applies the same -1 to a Large creature's attacks and AC. The lineage runs within the d20 rules family, and EVE Online's separate signature-against-tracking form has no cited line to later games." }, "sources": [ { "key": "dungeons-dragons-supplement-i-greyhawk-1975", "canonical": false, "title": "Dungeons & Dragons Supplement I: Greyhawk", "author": "Gary Gygax and Robert Kuntz (TSR)", "year": 1975, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/tsr02003supplement1greyhawk/tsr02003%20-%20Supplement%201%20-%20Greyhawk_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Damage Done by Weapon Type, p. 15", "note": "The optional damage ranges for each weapon against man-sized and against larger opponents." }, { "key": "warhammer-vol-1-tabletop-battles-1983", "canonical": false, "title": "Warhammer, Vol 1: Tabletop Battles", "author": "Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell and Richard Priestley", "year": 1983, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/warhammer-fantasy-battles-1st-edition-vol-1-tabletop-battles/page/n15_w1600.jpg", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Shooting, p. 16", "note": "The +1 modifier for firing at a large target over 10 feet tall, beside the other to-hit modifiers; one shot per missile-armed model in the shooting phase." }, { "key": "warhammer-40-000-rogue-trader-1987", "canonical": false, "title": "Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader", "author": "Rick Priestley", "year": 1987, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Games Workshop", "url": "https://archive.org/download/warhammer-40-k-rogue-trader-rulebook/page/n20_w1000.jpg", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Combat: Basic Modifiers, p. 20", "note": "The +1 for a large target over 3 metres, -1 for a small target under 30 cm, and -1 for a fast-moving target per full 10 inches moved." }, { "key": "battlefleet-gothic-1999", "canonical": false, "title": "Battlefleet Gothic", "author": "Andy Chambers, Gavin Thorpe and Jervis Johnson", "year": 1999, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Games Workshop", "url": "https://archive.org/download/battlefleet-gothic-rulebook-original-1999/page/n22_w2000.jpg", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "The Shooting Phase: Weapons Battery Rules, Gunnery table, pp. 20-21; Shooting at Ordnance; Squadrons", "note": "Target columns for defences, capital ships, escorts and ordnance, escorts one column harder than capital ships at the same aspect, ordnance as relatively small and fast moving, and escorts as small ships." }, { "key": "system-reference-document-3-0-combat-basics", "canonical": false, "title": "System Reference Document 3.0, Combat Basics", "author": "Wizards of the Coast", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Wizards of the Coast", "url": "http://web.archive.org/web/20040125235637/http://www.wizards.com/d20/files/SRDCombatBasics.rtf", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Special Terms: Touch Attack; Size Modifiers", "note": "The size table from Fine (+8) to Colossal (-8) as one AC and attack modifier, and the target's size modifier applying against touch attacks; Wayback snapshot of the 3.0 file." }, { "key": "upcoming-balance-changes-2004", "canonical": false, "title": "Upcoming Balance Changes", "author": "Eight (CCP Games)", "year": 2004, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/upcoming-balance-changes", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "The Details of Accuracy", "note": "Signature radius made more significant in the accuracy formula, difficulty set by angular velocity rather than speed, and half the signature needing twice the tracking for the same 50% chance." }, { "key": "the-missile-overhaul-2005", "canonical": false, "title": "The Missile Overhaul", "author": "CCP TomB (CCP Games)", "year": 2005, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/the-missile-overhaul", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Explosion Radius; velocity-factored damage", "note": "Bigger missiles doing less damage to smaller targets through explosion radius scaled by signature radius, and damage reduced when the target can outrun the explosion." }, { "key": "turret-mechanics", "canonical": false, "title": "Turret mechanics", "author": "EVE University Wiki", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Tracking; Hit chance; Wrecking shots", "note": "The current hit-chance formula combining angular velocity, tracking and signature with range, smaller turrets tracking faster, and a battleship hitting a stationary frigate for full damage." }, { "key": "enlarge-person", "canonical": false, "title": "Enlarge Person", "author": "Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous Wiki (Fextralife)", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Spell description", "note": "The next larger size category, +2 Strength, -2 Dexterity and -1 on attack rolls and AC due to increased size in the game." } ], "n_examples": 7, "n_sources": 9, "word_count": 599, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/target-size-accuracy" }, { "id": "two-handed", "name": "Two-Handed", "status": "verified", "delivery": "melee", "kind": "property", "limits": [ "unlimited", "durability", "stamina", "action-cost" ], "definition": "A weapon needs both hands to wield, so its user gives up a shield or second weapon for greater damage, or a one-handed weapon gains damage or new attacks when its user holds it in both hands", "aliases": [ "Two-Handed Weapon", "Two-Handing", "Two-Handed Stance" ], "media": [ "board-card", "tabletop-rpg", "video" ], "mechanics": [ "equipment-loadouts", "initiative-order" ], "examples": [ { "title": "War Games Rules 1000 BC to 500 AD", "year": 1969, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Wargames Research Group (Phil Barker, Bob O'Brien, and Ed Smith)", "limits": [ "unlimited" ], "note": "Figures using a weapon requiring two hands, such as a bow, crossbow, kontos, pike, or long-handled axe or mace, cannot use shields, and their opponents add 1 for fighting shieldless troops. The long axe or mace has the highest weapon factors against super-heavy and heavy cavalry.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons", "year": 1974, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson (TSR)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "Men & Magic lists the Two-Handed Sword beside the pole arm, halberd and pike, each weighing 150 for encumbrance, as much as a shield, without a rule on hands. Supplement I, Greyhawk (1975), gives it 1-10 damage against man-sized foes and 3-18 against larger ones, and 6 feet of space on each side.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Tunnels & Trolls", "year": 1975, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Ken St. Andre", "limits": [ "action-cost", "stamina" ], "note": "The Advanced Weapons Chart gives the bastard sword, or hand-and-a-half, 3 dice and a strength need of 15 used in both hands, and 2 dice and 12 used in one. A wielder below a weapon's strength need tires at 1 strength per conflict turn, the attribute magic-users spend on spells.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Players Handbook", "year": 1978, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Gary Gygax (TSR)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "The two-handed sword, about 6 feet long, does 1-10 damage against man-sized foes and 3-18 against larger ones and needs 6 feet of space. Characters under 100 pounds cannot use it, thieves may not, and the bastard sword is treated as a long sword when used one-handed.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide", "year": 1979, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Gary Gygax (TSR)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "The two-handed sword's speed factor of 10 reflects a lengthy readying time and recovery after its attack, due to its size and weight. On tied initiative the weapon with the lower factor strikes first, and a fighter reacting with it cannot strike a fireball's caster before the spell is cast.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, Basic Set", "year": 1981, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Tom Moldvay (TSR)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "The battle axe, pole arm and two-handed sword are marked as two-handed weapons, the sword and pole arm dealing 1d10. Whenever one is used the attacker cannot use a shield, which may worsen Armor Class, and always loses the initiative.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Diablo", "year": 1996, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Blizzard North", "limits": [ "durability" ], "note": "A two-handed weapon such as a great axe or a bow fills the left-hand slot with a darkened copy of itself. Even the smallest axe needs both hands, precluding a shield, and bows, axes and staves cannot be used with a shield; all weapons wear down with use.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Final Fantasy Tactics", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Square", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "The Two Hands support ability lets a character hold a weapon with both hands, increasing its attack power, beside Two Swords, which lets a character use a weapon in each hand.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd edition", "year": 2000, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Wizards of the Coast", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "A weapon one size category larger than its wielder is two-handed and adds one and a half times the Strength bonus to damage, as does a one-handed weapon used in two hands. The bastard sword is an exotic weapon in one hand and a martial weapon in two.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Diablo II", "year": 2000, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Blizzard North", "limits": [ "durability" ], "note": "Pole arms are always held in two hands; only Barbarians may wield both a shield and a two-handed weapon, and some two-handed swords fit one Barbarian hand. Blizzard lists Shadowfang at 4 to 18 damage in one hand and 16 to 34 in two; weapons wear down with use.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Dark Souls", "year": 2011, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "FromSoftware", "limits": [ "stamina" ], "note": "With any weapon that can be wielded in two hands, the Stance button switches to a two-handed stance whose normal and strong attacks have higher attack power and behave differently. Attacks drain the Stamina Gauge, which refills once the player stops.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition", "year": 2014, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Wizards of the Coast", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "A two-handed weapon such as the greatsword (2d6, heavy) needs two hands to attack. A versatile weapon can be used with one or two hands and lists its two-handed damage in parentheses, so the longsword deals 1d8 or 1d10.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Elden Ring", "year": 2022, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "FromSoftware (Bandai Namco)", "limits": [ "stamina" ], "note": "Holding Triangle and pressing L1 or R1 grips the left or right weapon in both hands, giving up the shield. Press guides report that two-handing multiplies Strength by 1.5, so a weapon can be used below its Strength requirement; stamina pays for attacks, dodges and blocks.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "War Games Rules 1000 BC to 500 AD", "year": 1969, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "confidence": "medium", "note": "The Wargames Research Group's ancient rules, dated February 1969, state that figures using a weapon requiring two hands, among them the pike, kontos and long-handled axe or mace, cannot use shields, and that opponents add 1 against shieldless troops. Chainmail's man-to-man table, cited from the 1972 second edition, and Men & Magic (1974) list a two-handed sword without a rule on hands. The earliest role-playing rules cited are Tunnels & Trolls (1975), whose bastard sword deals more in both hands, and the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1981), which bars the shield. Miniature wargame rules of the 1960s before it remain unsurveyed." }, "established": null, "sources": [ { "key": "war-games-rules-1000-bc-to-500-ad-1969", "canonical": false, "title": "War Games Rules 1000 BC to 500 AD", "author": "Phil Barker, Bob O'Brien, and Ed Smith", "year": 1969, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Wargames Research Group", "url": "https://archive.org/download/ancient-001_202006/Ancient001_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Hand-to-Hand Combat: Weapon Factors, p. 13; Tactical Factors: Use of Shields, p. 14", "note": "Weapons requiring two hands, such as the bow, crossbow, kontos, pike and long-handled axes or maces, barring shields; +1 against shieldless troops; the long axe or mace's weapon factors. Dated February 1969." }, { "key": "chainmail-2nd-edition-1972", "canonical": false, "title": "Chainmail, 2nd edition", "author": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)", "year": 1972, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/chainmail-2nd-edition/page/n42_w1600.jpg", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Appendix B, Man-to-Man Melee Table", "note": "The \"2 Hnd. Swd.\" as weapon class 10 among twelve classes, with no rule on hands or shields." }, { "key": "dungeons-dragons-volume-1-men-magic-1974", "canonical": false, "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, Volume 1, Men & Magic", "author": "Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson (Tactical Studies Rules)", "year": 1974, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/dd-white-box-rules-set/TSR%202002%20-%20V1%20-%20Men%20%26%20Magic_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Basic Equipment and Costs; weight table for encumbrance", "note": "The Two-Handed Sword listed with the pole arm, halberd, lance and pike, and its weight of 150, equal to a shield's." }, { "key": "dungeons-dragons-supplement-i-greyhawk-1975", "canonical": false, "title": "Dungeons & Dragons Supplement I: Greyhawk", "author": "Gary Gygax and Robert Kuntz (TSR)", "year": 1975, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/tsr02003supplement1greyhawk/tsr02003%20-%20Supplement%201%20-%20Greyhawk_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Damage Done by Weapon Type, p. 15", "note": "The two-handed sword's 1-10 and 3-18 damage and its need for 6 feet of space on each side." }, { "key": "tunnels-trolls-first-edition-1975", "canonical": false, "title": "Tunnels & Trolls (first edition)", "author": "Ken St. Andre", "year": 1975, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/tunnels-trolls-1ed-reprint-1975/page/n32_w1600.jpg", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Advanced Weapons Chart: Swords, p. 32", "note": "The bastard sword at 3 dice and strength need 15 in both hands and 2 dice and 12 in one, and tiring at 1 strength per conflict turn below a weapon's need; the scan is the 2013 reprint of the 1975 first edition." }, { "key": "advanced-dungeons-dragons-players-handbook-1978", "canonical": false, "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Players Handbook", "author": "Gary Gygax", "year": 1978, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "TSR", "url": "https://archive.org/download/advanced-dungeons-dragons-players-handbook/Advanced%20Dungeons%20%26%20Dragons%20-%20Players%20Handbook_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Character Classes Table notes, p. 19; Weapons, p. 37; Weapon Types, General Data, and To Hit Adjustments, p. 38", "note": "The weight and height limits on two-handed swords, the thief's exclusion, the two-handed sword's damage, and the bastard sword treated as a long sword when used one-handed." }, { "key": "advanced-dungeons-dragons-dungeon-masters-guide-1979", "canonical": false, "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide", "author": "Gary Gygax", "year": 1979, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "TSR", "url": "https://archive.org/download/dungeon-masters-guide-efreet-cover/Dungeon%20Masters%20Guide%20%28Efreet%20Cover%29_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Combat: Weapon Speed Factor, p. 66; Other Weapon Factor Determinants, p. 67", "note": "The two-handed sword's speed factor of 10, its long readying and recovery, and its failure to beat a fireball's casting." }, { "key": "dungeons-dragons-basic-rulebook-1981", "canonical": false, "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, Basic Rulebook", "author": "Tom Moldvay (TSR)", "year": 1981, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/dn-d-basic-rules-moldvay/DnD_Basic_Rules_Moldvay_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Variable Weapon Damage, p. B27", "note": "The two-handed battle axe, pole arm and two-handed sword, and the rule that their user cannot use a shield and always loses the initiative." }, { "key": "diablo-manual-1996", "canonical": false, "title": "Diablo manual", "author": "Blizzard Entertainment", "year": 1996, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/diablo-manual-e/Diablo%20-%20MANUAL_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Inventory, Left Hand; Items: Axes, Shields, Durability", "note": "The darkened copy of a two-handed weapon in the left-hand slot, axes needing both hands and precluding a shield, two-handed weapons barred from use with a shield, and weapon wear." }, { "key": "final-fantasy-tactics-official-strategy-guide-1997", "canonical": false, "title": "Final Fantasy Tactics Official Strategy Guide", "author": "Prima Publishing", "year": 1997, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/final-fantasy-tactics-official-strategy-guide/Final%20Fantasy%20Tactics%20Official%20Strategy%20Guide_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Support abilities table, Two Hands and Two Swords", "note": "Two Hands holding a weapon with both hands to increase its attack power, and Two Swords using a weapon in each hand." }, { "key": "system-reference-document-3-0-equipment-i", "canonical": false, "title": "System Reference Document 3.0, Equipment I", "author": "Wizards of the Coast", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Wizards of the Coast", "url": "http://web.archive.org/web/20030629211207/http://wizards.com:80/d20/files/SRDEquipmentI.rtf", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Weapon Categories: Tiny, Small, Medium-Size, and Large Weapons; Weapon Descriptions: Sword, Bastard", "note": "Two-handed by size relative to the wielder, one and a half times the Strength bonus for two-handed weapons and for one-handed weapons used two-handed, and the bastard sword; Wayback snapshot of 2003." }, { "key": "diablo-ii-manual-2000", "canonical": false, "title": "Diablo II manual", "author": "Blizzard North", "year": 2000, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/diablo-ii-manual/Diablo%20II%20Manual_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Inventory, Left Arm; Items: Durability; Weapons (Pole arms, Swords); Shields", "note": "The greyed-out copy of a two-handed weapon in the left arm, pole arms always held in two hands, Barbarians wielding some two-handed swords in one hand and alone pairing a shield with a two-handed weapon, and weapon wear." }, { "key": "the-arreat-summit-unique-swords", "canonical": false, "title": "The Arreat Summit: Unique Swords", "author": "Blizzard Entertainment", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/normal/uswords.shtml", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "Shadowfang, a two-handed sword, with one-hand damage of 4 to 18 and two-hand damage of 16 to 34." }, { "key": "dark-souls-the-official-guide-2011", "canonical": false, "title": "Dark Souls: The Official Guide", "author": "Future Press", "year": 2011, "year_approx": true, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/dark-souls-the-official-guide-future-press/Dark%20Souls%20The%20Official%20Guide%20-%20Future%20Press_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Game System: The Game Screen, Stamina Gauge; Normal & Strong Two-handed Attacks", "note": "The Stance button's two-handed stance with higher attack power and different attacks, and the Stamina Gauge drained by attacking." }, { "key": "system-reference-document-5-1-2016", "canonical": false, "title": "System Reference Document 5.1", "author": "Wizards of the Coast", "year": 2016, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Wizards of the Coast", "url": "https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/SRD-OGL_V5.1.pdf", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Equipment: Weapon Properties (Heavy, Two-Handed, Versatile), Martial Melee Weapons table", "note": "The two-handed and versatile properties, the greatsword at 2d6 and the longsword at 1d8 with versatile 1d10." }, { "key": "elden-ring-how-to-two-hand-a-weapon-2024", "canonical": false, "title": "Elden Ring: How to two-hand a weapon", "author": "Sid Natividad and Masoud Kazemi (The Nerd Stash)", "year": 2024, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://thenerdstash.com/elden-ring-how-to-two-hand-a-weapon", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "The inputs on each platform, Strength multiplied by 1.5, use below a weapon's Strength requirement, and the shield given up." }, { "key": "elden-ring-how-to-two-hand-and-dual-wield-power-stance-weapons-2026", "canonical": false, "title": "Elden Ring: How to Two-Hand and Dual-Wield / Power Stance Weapons", "author": "Damien McFerran (Push Square)", "year": 2026, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://pushsquare.com/guides/elden-ring-how-to-two-hand-and-dual-wield-power-stance-weapons", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "Triangle with L1 or R1 to two-hand, more damage, no shield to parry or defend, and blocking with the weapon at a small cost in damage." }, { "key": "elden-ring-introduction-part-1-stats-2023", "canonical": false, "title": "ELDEN RING Introduction Part 1 - Stats", "author": "Bandai Namco Entertainment", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.bandainamcoent.com/news/elden-ring-introduction-part-1-stats", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "Stamina as the resource for attacking, dodging and blocking, and weapons used below their requirements dealing significantly less damage." } ], "n_examples": 13, "n_sources": 18, "word_count": 546, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/two-handed" }, { "id": "weapon-durability", "name": "Weapon Durability", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "any", "kind": "rule", "limits": [ "durability" ], "definition": "Weapons wear with use and, after a number of uses or hits, break, weaken or must be repaired, so a player cycles through weapons or spends on their upkeep", "aliases": [ "Weapon Degradation", "Breakable Weapons" ], "media": [ "board-card", "video" ], "mechanics": [ "equipment-loadouts", "inventory-encumbrance", "item-modification" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Chainmail", "year": 1971, "year_approx": false, "medium": "board-card", "creator": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)", "limits": [ "durability" ], "note": "An antecedent with no wear. In the 1972 second-edition man-to-man rules, a defender who parries a much heavier weapon has his own weapon broken if the attacker's roll equals the original requirement for a kill.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Makai Toushi SaGa", "year": 1989, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Square", "limits": [ "durability" ], "note": "An ASCII strategy guide of March 1990 says most items have a fixed number of uses, the number beside each item being the uses left, and vanish when used up; its screens show a sabre with 30. Famitsu recalls swords and axes with use limits. Released in the West as The Final Fantasy Legend.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light", "year": 1990, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Intelligent Systems (Nintendo)", "limits": [ "durability" ], "note": "The Japanese manual advises choosing light weapons that are hard to break for fights in the arena. The Fire Emblem Wiki reports that weapons break only at the end of a combat, that enemy weapons never run out, and that the Hammerne staff restores a weapon to full durability.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Diablo", "year": 1996, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Blizzard North", "limits": [ "durability" ], "note": "Weapons and armour wear down over time until they break and are destroyed. A gold silhouette of the worn item appears when it is close to breaking and turns red just before it is destroyed, and repair by the Warrior or a blacksmith restores it.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade", "year": 2003, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Intelligent Systems (Nintendo)", "limits": [ "durability" ], "note": "The player's guide lists uses for every weapon and says Killer weapons have only 20, so several must be bought. The Hammerne staff repairs a damaged but not a broken weapon, and the guide's tips note that an item stolen by an enemy thief and stolen back returns with all its uses.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Far Cry 2", "year": 2008, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Ubisoft Montreal", "limits": [ "durability" ], "note": "Every weapon suffers wear shown by dirt, rust and corrosion, and poor weapons jam more often, a jam being cleared by tapping the reload button. The official guide adds that worn weapons may explode or break apart and that weapons dropped by enemies are always somewhat unreliable, while shops sell fresh ones.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Minecraft", "year": 2011, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Mojang (Markus Persson)", "limits": [ "durability" ], "note": "The Minecraft Wiki reports that a sword spends one use per hit on a mob and two per block broken, that wooden tools last 59 uses and diamond 1,561, and that an item at zero is destroyed. Tool durability dates from the Indev builds of early 2010.", "latest": false }, { "title": "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild", "year": 2017, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Nintendo", "limits": [ "durability" ], "note": "Almost every weapon breaks after a set number of uses and none can be repaired. Inverse reports that on a December 2017 podcast Fujibayashi said players would otherwise avoid enemies that drop weapons, and Aonuma that knowing a weapon will break makes players choose when to use a strong one.", "latest": false }, { "title": "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Nintendo", "limits": [ "durability" ], "note": "Weapons break often, a stick within a few hits and a forged broadsword after 40 or more, and cannot be repaired. Fusing an item to a weapon lengthens its life for a time, but the base item's own durability returns once the fused part is spent; the Master Sword does not break.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Makai Toushi SaGa", "year": 1989, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "confidence": "low", "note": "Scoped to cumulative wear. The earliest use cited is Makai Toushi SaGa, released on 15 December 1989 according to Famitsu, whose weapons carry a count of uses and vanish when it is spent, as an ASCII strategy guide dated 1 March 1990 shows. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light followed on 20 April 1990. Chainmail (1971, in its 1972 text) is an antecedent in which a parry may break a weapon at once without wear. RuneQuest (1978) is reported in summaries of later editions to take points from a weapon that parries a heavy blow, damage dealt by an attack rather than wear with use; its 1978 text is uncited. Computer role-playing games of the 1980s remain largely unsurveyed, so the title is not defended as an origin." }, "established": null, "sources": [ { "key": "chainmail-2nd-edition-1972", "canonical": false, "title": "Chainmail, 2nd edition", "author": "Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)", "year": 1972, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/chainmail-2nd-edition/Chainmail%20-%202nd%20Edition_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Man-to-Man Combat, parry and weapon breaking, c. p. 22", "note": "A roll equal to the original kill requirement breaking the parrying defender's weapon when it is four or more classes lower than the attacker's; the antecedent." }, { "key": "makai-toushi-saga-strategy-guide-ascii-mook-1990", "canonical": false, "title": "Makai Toushi SaGa strategy guide (ASCII Mook)", "author": "ASCII Corporation", "year": 1990, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/sa-ga-final-fantasy-legend-makai-toushi-guide/SaGaFFLegendMakaiToushi_008.jpg", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Items (アイテム), p. 8; colophon, publication date 1 March 1990", "note": "In Japanese. Most items with a fixed number of uses, the number beside an item being the uses left, and the item vanishing when they are spent; screens show a sabre with 30 uses and a psycho dagger with 47." }, { "key": "today-in-history-2023", "canonical": false, "title": "『魔界塔士サ・ガ』が発売された日 (Today in history)", "author": "Famitsu", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.famitsu.com/news/202312/15327619.html", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "In Japanese. The release date of 15 December 1989 and equipment such as swords and axes carrying limits on their number of uses." }, { "key": "today-in-history-2023", "canonical": false, "title": "初代『ファイアーエムブレム』が発売された日 (Today in history)", "author": "Famitsu", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.famitsu.com/news/202304/20299798.html", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "In Japanese. The release date of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, 20 April 1990, which places it after Makai Toushi SaGa." }, { "key": "fire-emblem-ankoku-ry-to-hikari-no-tsurugi-instruction-manual-1990", "canonical": false, "title": "Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi instruction manual", "author": "Nintendo", "year": 1990, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/fire-emblem-ankoku-ryuu-to-hikari-no-tsurugi-hvc-vx-fc-jp-manual-600-dpi/Fire%20Emblem%20-%20Ankoku%20Ryuu%20to%20Hikari%20no%20Tsurugi%20%5BHVC-VX%5D%28FC%29%28JP%29%20-Manual%28600DPI%29_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Tips after the item list: arena (闘技場)", "note": "The advice to choose light weapons that are hard to break (軽くて壊れにくい武器) when fighting in the arena." }, { "key": "durability", "canonical": false, "title": "Durability", "author": "Fire Emblem Wiki", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "wiki", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": null, "note": "Weapons breaking only at the end of combat in the first game, enemy weapons with unlimited durability, the unbreakable Falchion, and the Hammerne staff restoring full durability." }, { "key": "diablo-manual-1996", "canonical": false, "title": "Diablo manual", "author": "Blizzard Entertainment", "year": 1996, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/diablo-manual-e/Diablo%20-%20MANUAL_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Items, Durability, pp. 35-36", "note": "Weapons and armour wearing down until they break, the gold and red silhouettes of worn equipment, and repair by the Warrior or a blacksmith." }, { "key": "fire-emblem-player-s-guide-2003", "canonical": false, "title": "Fire Emblem Player's Guide", "author": "Nintendo of America", "year": 2003, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/FireEmblemGBANintendoPlayersGuide/Fire%20Emblem%20GBA%20(Nintendo%20Player%27s%20Guide)_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons and items lists (Uses column), Hammerne; Bonus Tips: A Quick Repair Job", "note": "The Western release of The Blazing Blade; weapon uses, Killer weapons with only 20, the Hammerne staff repairing a damaged but not a broken weapon, and the stolen-item trick." }, { "key": "far-cry-2-manual-xbox-360-2008", "canonical": false, "title": "Far Cry 2 manual (Xbox 360)", "author": "Ubisoft", "year": 2008, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/far-cry-2_manual_xbox360/Far%20Cry%202_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons, Changing Weapons", "note": "Wear on every weapon shown by rust and corrosion, poor weapons jamming more often, and clearing a jam with the reload button." }, { "key": "far-cry-2-prima-official-game-guide-2008", "canonical": false, "title": "Far Cry 2: Prima Official Game Guide", "author": "David Knight", "year": 2008, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": "Prima Games", "url": "https://archive.org/download/Far_Cry_2_Official_Game_Guide/Far_Cry_2_Official_Game_Guide_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Basics: Weapon Degradation", "note": "Weapons clean when bought, dirt and rust with use, more frequent jams, explosion or breakage at the end, enemy-dropped weapons always somewhat unreliable, and fresh copies at the armories." }, { "key": "item-durability", "canonical": false, "title": "Item durability", "author": "Minecraft Wiki", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "wiki", "publisher": null, "url": null, "accessed": null, "locator": null, "note": "Uses spent per hit and per block, maximum durability by material, destruction at zero, Unbreaking, and durability's addition in Indev in early 2010." }, { "key": "breath-of-the-wild-s-most-divisive-feature-could-make-or-break-the-sequel-2021", "canonical": false, "title": "Breath of the Wild's most divisive feature could make or break the sequel", "author": "Tomas Franzese (Inverse)", "year": 2021, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://inverse.com/gaming/breath-of-the-wild-2-weapon-durability", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "Almost all weapons breaking after a set number of uses without repair, and Fujibayashi's and Aonuma's reasons as given on the Nintendo Power Podcast of December 2017." }, { "key": "tears-of-the-kingdom-s-weapon-durability-system-is-much-better-and-still-annoying-2023", "canonical": false, "title": "Tears of the Kingdom's Weapon Durability System Is Much Better and Still Annoying", "author": "Matthew Byrd (Den of Geek)", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.denofgeek.com/games/tears-of-the-kingdoms-weapon-durability-explained/", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "Frequent breakage, the stick and the forged broadsword, no repair, fusing that lengthens a weapon's life without repairing the base item, the unbreakable Master Sword, and the system called controversial in Breath of the Wild." } ], "n_examples": 9, "n_sources": 13, "word_count": 548, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/weapon-durability" }, { "id": "weapon-proficiency", "name": "Weapon Proficiency", "status": "unverified", "delivery": "any", "kind": "rule", "limits": [ "durability", "action-cost" ], "definition": "A rule that divides a character's weapons into those they are trained in and the rest, or trains each weapon type through use, so a weapon outside their training hits less often, strikes fewer times, or loses its features", "aliases": [ "weapon skills", "weapon ranks", "weapon levels" ], "media": [ "tabletop-rpg", "video" ], "mechanics": [ "equipment-loadouts", "experience-levels", "variable-player-powers" ], "examples": [ { "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Players Handbook", "year": 1978, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Gary Gygax (TSR)", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "Each class starts proficient with a set number of weapons and gains one more every few levels, a cleric two at 1st level and another every four levels. Any other weapon is used at the class's penalty to hit, -2 for fighters, paladins, rangers and assassins, -3 for clerics, thieves and monks, -4 for druids and -5 for magic-users.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Final Fantasy II", "year": 1988, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Square", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "Each character has a level in seven weapon types, from swords and axes to bows and bare hands. The type held at the end of a battle gains points and rises a level at 100, adding hits and accuracy; the manual warns that a stronger axe given to a sword-trained character attacks with few hits and poor accuracy.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd edition", "year": 2000, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "creator": "Wizards of the Coast", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "The Simple Weapon Proficiency feat covers all simple weapons, while Martial and Exotic Weapon Proficiency each add one weapon per feat, an exotic one only from base attack bonus +1. A character using a weapon without proficiency takes a -4 penalty on attack rolls.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade", "year": 2003, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Intelligent Systems (Nintendo)", "limits": [ "durability" ], "note": "Each unit's use of a weapon type is ranked from E to S and rises the more that type is used, and a higher rank opens better gear. Weapon tables give each weapon a required level and a number of uses, and classes keep to their types, Archers and Snipers to bows.", "latest": false }, { "title": "Baldur's Gate 3", "year": 2023, "year_approx": false, "medium": "video", "creator": "Larian Studios", "limits": [ "action-cost" ], "note": "Race, class and some feats grant proficiencies, a High Elf's longswords, shortswords and bows or a Wizard's daggers, quarterstaves and light crossbows. A proficient attack adds the proficiency bonus, +2 at first and one more every four levels, and only a proficient wielder can use a weapon's weapon actions.", "latest": true } ], "provenance": { "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Players Handbook", "year": 1978, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "confidence": "low", "note": "The earliest documented use cited is the Players Handbook (1978), whose Weapon Proficiency section limits each class to a number of weapons, adds more as the character rises in level, and sets a to-hit penalty for any other weapon. RuneQuest, of the same year, gave attack and parry chances with a character's usual weapons, as Steve Perrin's conversion article of September 1978 shows. Chaosium's catalogue dates RuneQuest's release to Origins, 14 to 16 July 1978; the Handbook's foreword is dated 2 June 1978, and its first printing is reported as June by some accounts and August by a collectors' listing, so the order between the two is open. Dungeons & Dragons (1974) is an antecedent that restricts rather than penalises: magic-users may arm themselves with daggers only, and clerics with non-edged magic weapons. Tunnels & Trolls (1975) likewise limits magic-users to daggers and other one-die weapons, and Empire of the Petal Throne (1975) bars priests from edged weapons. Other role-playing games of 1975 to 1977 remain unsurveyed, which keeps confidence low." }, "established": { "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Players Handbook", "year": 1978, "year_approx": false, "medium": "tabletop-rpg", "confidence": "low", "note": "The form of a per-weapon proficiency with a penalty outside it continues through the Dungeons & Dragons line, in the 3rd edition's proficiency feats and -4 penalty and in Baldur's Gate 3's proficiency bonus, which an unproficient attack lacks. The line runs within one game family and its licensed adaptation, so confidence is low; no source cited traces Final Fantasy II's or Fire Emblem's use-trained levels to it." }, "sources": [ { "key": "advanced-dungeons-dragons-players-handbook-1978", "canonical": false, "title": "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Players Handbook", "author": "Gary Gygax", "year": 1978, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "TSR", "url": "https://archive.org/download/advanced-dungeons-dragons-players-handbook/Advanced%20Dungeons%20%26%20Dragons%20-%20Players%20Handbook_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Weapons: Weapon Proficiency, p. 36; Weapon Proficiency Table and notes, p. 37; rate of fire, p. 38; foreword dated 2 June 1978", "note": "The limited number of weapons by class, an added weapon with levels, the non-proficiency penalty for every class (read from the page scan), the cleric's two weapons at 1st level and one more every four levels, and missile rates of fire per melee round." }, { "key": "well-of-daliath-catalogue-runequest-first-and-second-editions", "canonical": false, "title": "Well of Daliath catalogue, RuneQuest first and second editions", "author": "Chaosium", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/publishers/chaosium/chaosium-runequest-12/runequest-1st-2nd-edition", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "RuneQuest's first edition released at Origins, 14 to 16 July 1978, which bears on its order against the Players Handbook." }, { "key": "players-handbook-1st-printing", "canonical": false, "title": "Players Handbook, 1st printing", "author": "Tome of Treasures", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://tomeoftreasures.com/tot_first_edition_home/rules/tsr2010_playershandbook_1pr.htm", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "A collectors' listing that gives the Players Handbook's first printing as August 1978, against the June 1978 given elsewhere." }, { "key": "dungeons-dragons-volume-1-men-magic-1974", "canonical": false, "title": "Dungeons & Dragons, Volume 1, Men & Magic", "author": "Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson", "year": 1974, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Tactical Studies Rules", "url": "https://archive.org/download/dndbook1/dungeons_and_dragons_book_1_-_men_and_magic_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": "Character Types: Fighting-Men, Magic-Users, Clerics", "note": "Fighters able to use all magical weaponry, magic-users armed with daggers only, and clerics with non-edged magic weapons." }, { "key": "d-d-is-a-thing-of-the-past-out-of-the-suitcase-27-1978", "canonical": false, "title": "D&D Is a Thing of the Past (Out of the Suitcase #27)", "author": "Steve Perrin, reproduced by Rick Meints (Chaosium)", "year": 1978, "year_approx": false, "type": "article", "publisher": null, "url": "https://www.chaosium.com/blogout-of-the-suitcase-27-dd-is-a-thing-of-the-past-rediscovering-how-revolutionary-runequest-was-/", "accessed": "2026-10-27", "locator": null, "note": "Perrin's article from Alarums & Excursions 37 (September 1978) converting Dungeons & Dragons characters to RuneQuest, with attack and parry chances given for a character's usual weapons and only the basic chance with an unfamiliar one." }, { "key": "final-fantasy-ii-instruction-manual-famicom-1988", "canonical": false, "title": "Final Fantasy II instruction manual (Famicom)", "author": "Square", "year": 1988, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/final-fantasy-ii-sqf-fy-fc-jp-manual-600-dpi/Final%20Fantasy%20II%20%5BSQF-FY%5D(FC)(JP)%20-Manual(600DPI)_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Battle scene commands, Fight; Status, weapon levels, p. 41; Weapons and proficiency, p. 42", "note": "In Japanese. Seven weapon types, proficiency raising hits and accuracy, a level at 100 points for the weapon held at the end of battle, proficiency kept within a type but not across types, and the axe example." }, { "key": "system-reference-document-3-0-feats", "canonical": false, "title": "System Reference Document 3.0, Feats", "author": "Wizards of the Coast", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": "Wizards of the Coast", "url": "http://web.archive.org/web/20040228063113/http://www.wizards.com/d20/files/srdfeats.rtf", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Feats, Simple Weapon Proficiency; Martial Weapon Proficiency; Exotic Weapon Proficiency", "note": "The -4 attack penalty without proficiency, the simple weapons as one feat, one martial or exotic weapon per feat, the exotic prerequisites, and the War-domain cleric's free proficiency; Wayback snapshot of 2004." }, { "key": "fire-emblem-player-s-guide-2003", "canonical": false, "title": "Fire Emblem Player's Guide", "author": "Nintendo of America", "year": 2003, "year_approx": false, "type": "book", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/FireEmblemGBANintendoPlayersGuide/Fire%20Emblem%20GBA%20(Nintendo%20Player%27s%20Guide)_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Items; Weapon and Support Level; Classes", "note": "The Western release of The Blazing Blade. Weapon levels ranked E to S, raised by use and opening better gear, the uses and level columns of the weapon tables, Archers and Snipers limited to bows, and Heroes adding axes to swords." }, { "key": "proficiency-explained-in-baldur-s-gate-3-2024", "canonical": false, "title": "Proficiency Explained in Baldur's Gate 3", "author": "Gamer Guides", "year": 2024, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://gamerguides.com/baldurs-gate-3/guide/gameplay/getting-started/proficiency-explained-in-baldurs-gate-3", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "The proficiency bonus added only to attacks with proficient weapons, its rise from +2 by one every four levels, and the High Elf's and Wizard's weapon proficiencies." }, { "key": "baldur-s-gate-3-weapons-guide", "canonical": false, "title": "Baldur's Gate 3: Weapons guide", "author": "Gamer Guides", "year": null, "year_approx": false, "type": "website", "publisher": null, "url": "https://gamerguides.com/baldurs-gate-3/guide/equipment/weapons", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": null, "note": "Weapon actions available only to a wielder proficient with the weapon, most of them costing an action and recovering on a short rest." }, { "key": "fire-emblem-ankoku-ry-to-hikari-no-tsurugi-instruction-manual-1990", "canonical": false, "title": "Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi instruction manual", "author": "Nintendo", "year": 1990, "year_approx": false, "type": "rulebook", "publisher": null, "url": "https://archive.org/download/fire-emblem-ankoku-ryuu-to-hikari-no-tsurugi-hvc-vx-fc-jp-manual-600-dpi/Fire%20Emblem%20-%20Ankoku%20Ryuu%20to%20Hikari%20no%20Tsurugi%20%5BHVC-VX%5D%28FC%29%28JP%29%20-Manual%28600DPI%29_djvu.txt", "accessed": "2026-10-28", "locator": "Parameters (パラメーター), skill and weapon level (ぶきレベル, WLV), c. p. 31", "note": "In Japanese. A unit cannot use an item unless its weapon level reaches the level set for that item, and skill rising as a unit grows used to handling weapons and tomes." } ], "n_examples": 5, "n_sources": 11, "word_count": 550, "updated": "2026-10-28", "url": "/weapons/weapon-proficiency" } ] }