Greatswords

Greatswords don’t start appearing until late in the game, but they are worth the wait. As the most consistently powerful weapons in Final Fantasy XII, these swords are at home in any damage-dealing character’s hands. Greatsword damage is calculated based on your character’s strength, the greatsword’s attack rating, and the enemy’s defense.

Katana

While katana tend to have lower attack ratings than greatswords, they more than hold their own in damage potential thanks to frequent combo attacks. Katana score two or more hits per combat round far more often than any other weapon type, except for ninja swords and poles. To further take advantage of this, equip either the Genji Gloves (which increases the rate of combo attacks) or the Cat-eat Hood (which increases the character’s speed by 50; this more than doubles the amount of turns a character gets, vastly increasing the opportunities for a combo attack to occur). Katana damage is affected by a character’s strength and magick power, the katana’s attack rating, and the opponent’s defense. All katana add 5 to evasion.

Ninja Swords

A less frequently seen partner to katana, ninja swords are even more prone to combo attack than katana, which makese them terrific options for damage dealers. All ninja swords contain the Dark element, so avoid using them against enemies that are immune to Dark (or even worse, absorb it!). Ninja sword damage is calculated based on your character’s strength and speed, the ninja sword’s attack rating, and the enemy’s defense. Note that all ninja swords add 20 to Evasion.