Weapon Durability · Game Mechanic Compendium

Definition

Weapon durability is a weapon rule: each weapon wears with use and, after a number of uses or hits, breaks, weakens or must be repaired. It is coded any because swords, bows, guns and tools wear alike. Crafting’s repair is the operation that restores a worn item; durability is the wear rule that makes repair necessary, and a game may have no repair at all. Ammunition is a spent stock rather than wear. Durability lost on dying is a death penalty that draws on this rule.

How it works

A hidden or shown value falls with each use, and the player switches weapons before it runs out. Makai Toushi SaGa shows each item’s remaining uses, and Fire Emblem counts uses per weapon, The Blazing Blade’s guide giving Killer weapons only 20. Diablo’s manual has weapons and armour wear down until destroyed, a gold silhouette of the worn item turning red just before it goes. A Minecraft sword spends one use per hit, wooden tools lasting 59 uses and diamond 1,561. In Tears of the Kingdom a stick breaks within a few hits and a forged broadsword after 40 or more. Wear may weaken a weapon first: Far Cry 2’s guns rust and jam more often until they may explode or break apart.

Variations

Counted uses (Makai Toushi SaGa; Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light; Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade): each weapon has a fixed number of uses and vanishes or breaks when they run out; in Fire Emblem a staff restores a damaged one.
Wear with repair (Diablo, Minecraft): the item wears until destroyed unless taken to a smith or an anvil first.
Malfunction (Far Cry 2): wear raises the chance of jamming before the weapon fails, and shops sell fresh copies.
Breakage without repair (Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom): weapons cannot be repaired, though fusing lengthens a weapon’s life for a time.
Breakage on a roll (Chainmail): no wear accumulates, but a parry against a much heavier weapon may break the defender’s.

Limits

The examples differ in what spends durability, what follows, and what restores it. Attacks spend it in SaGa, Fire Emblem and Zelda, and Minecraft also counts blocks broken. At zero the weapon is lost in SaGa, Fire Emblem, Minecraft, Diablo and Zelda, while Far Cry 2 adds jamming first. A Hammerne staff restores it in Fire Emblem, a smith in Diablo and an anvil in Minecraft; Zelda offers no repair and Far Cry 2 a new gun. Den of Geek calls the system controversial in Breath of the Wild.

History and provenance

Chainmail (1971) broke weapons on a parry without any wear, and RuneQuest’s weapons are reported to lose points to heavy blows they parry, which is damage rather than wear. The earliest cumulative form cited is Makai Toushi SaGa (December 1989), whose counted uses a guide of March 1990 documents. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light followed in April 1990. Computer role-playing games of the 1980s remain largely unsurveyed. Diablo (1996) paired wear with repair, Far Cry 2 (2008) turned it into malfunction, and Minecraft’s tools wore from its 2010 Indev builds. Breath of the Wild (2017) made breakage without repair widely argued over, and Tears of the Kingdom (2023) kept it.

Notable examples

Notable examples, in chronological order. Notes describe how the weapon works in each game; the limits are what restricts its use there; the latest reference is a widely played game from 2020 or later.
Game	Year	Medium	Limits	How the weapon works
Chainmail Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)	1971	Board & card	Durability	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.
Makai Toushi SaGa Square	1989	Video	Durability	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.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light Intelligent Systems (Nintendo)	1990	Video	Durability	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.
Diablo Blizzard North	1996	Video	Durability	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.
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade Intelligent Systems (Nintendo)	2003	Video	Durability	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.
Far Cry 2 Ubisoft Montreal	2008	Video	Durability	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.
Minecraft Mojang (Markus Persson)	2011	Video	Durability	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.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Nintendo	2017	Video	Durability	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.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Latest Nintendo	2023	Video	Durability	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.

Provenance

Earliest documented use: Makai Toushi SaGa (1989), video. Confidence: low. 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.

Sources

Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games). (1972). Chainmail, 2nd edition. Rulebook Man-to-Man Combat, parry and weapon breaking, c. p. 22. Accessed 2026-10-28. 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.
ASCII Corporation. (1990). Makai Toushi SaGa strategy guide (ASCII Mook). Book Items (アイテム), p. 8; colophon, publication date 1 March 1990. Accessed 2026-10-28. 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.
Famitsu. (2023). 『魔界塔士サ・ガ』が発売された日 (Today in history). Article Accessed 2026-10-28. In Japanese. The release date of 15 December 1989 and equipment such as swords and axes carrying limits on their number of uses.
Famitsu. (2023). 初代『ファイアーエムブレム』が発売された日 (Today in history). Article Accessed 2026-10-28. 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.
Nintendo. (1990). Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi instruction manual. Rulebook Tips after the item list: arena (闘技場). Accessed 2026-10-28. 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.
Fire Emblem Wiki. Durability. Wiki 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.
Blizzard Entertainment. (1996). Diablo manual. Rulebook Items, Durability, pp. 35-36. Accessed 2026-10-28. Weapons and armour wearing down until they break, the gold and red silhouettes of worn equipment, and repair by the Warrior or a blacksmith.
Nintendo of America. (2003). Fire Emblem Player's Guide. Book Weapons and items lists (Uses column), Hammerne; Bonus Tips: A Quick Repair Job. Accessed 2026-10-28. 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.
Ubisoft. (2008). Far Cry 2 manual (Xbox 360). Rulebook Weapons, Changing Weapons. Accessed 2026-10-28. Wear on every weapon shown by rust and corrosion, poor weapons jamming more often, and clearing a jam with the reload button.
David Knight. (2008). Far Cry 2: Prima Official Game Guide. Prima Games. Book Basics: Weapon Degradation. Accessed 2026-10-28. 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.
Minecraft Wiki. Item durability. Wiki Uses spent per hit and per block, maximum durability by material, destruction at zero, Unbreaking, and durability's addition in Indev in early 2010.
Tomas Franzese (Inverse). (2021). Breath of the Wild's most divisive feature could make or break the sequel. Article Accessed 2026-10-27. 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.
Matthew Byrd (Den of Geek). (2023). Tears of the Kingdom's Weapon Durability System Is Much Better and Still Annoying. Article Accessed 2026-10-27. 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.

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