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The three settings nobody shows you

Each class definition in the ROM, five bytes at $1EE890, ends with a byte the disassembly calls prowess. Its low four bits pick a critical-hit setting, the next two a double-attack chance, the top two a counter chance. Double and counter are simple: four steps, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8 and 1/4.

The critical setting is where it gets strange. There are eight settings, and instead of running from weak to strong they alternate: the strong critical (+50% damage) and the weak one (+25%) take turns as the odds improve.

Twenty-nine classes sit on setting 3, a weak critical one time in sixteen. For them a +1 weapon is a real upgrade: setting 4 is a strong critical one time in eight, worth about 4.6% more damage on average. The Baron, the Red Baron and the Ninja are already on setting 4. For them +1 lands on setting 5: the same one in eight, but the weak critical. About 3% less damage, from a weapon whose name promises the opposite.

Four weapons carry that +1: the Critical Sword, the Rune Axe, the Robin Arrow and the Nazca Cannon. Two of them can be held by the classes they hurt. The community disassembly treats the ordering as a slip by the developers and offers a build option that sorts the table. On a cartridge it is simply how the game works.

How a hit is resolved

The attack routine at $ABBE and its neighbours run in a fixed order, and the order explains most of what follows.

• Dodge. One chance in 32. One in 8 if the target flies or hovers, unless the attacker is an archer-type, in which case it stays at one in 32.
• Damage. Attacker's ATT minus target's DEF, never less than 1. Land effect then keeps 230/256 of it at "15%" and 205/256 at "30%". An archer, sniper, ranger, bow knight or brass gunner shooting at something airborne adds a quarter.
• Critical. Rolled from the attacker's setting. A strong critical adds half the damage, a weak one a quarter. Master Monks and the Robot also have a separate one in sixteen chance of their special attack animation, which forces a critical.
• Double attack and counter. Rolled after the hit, from the attacker's and the target's settings. A counter also needs the attacker to be inside the defender's weapon range, which is why spears that reach two squares answer archers and lances do not.

Because the archer bonus is applied before the critical, the two multiply: a Sniper's strong critical on a Wyvern is the base damage times 1.25 times 1.5.

Weapons with something extra

The Gisarme

Its equip effect sets the critical to setting 6, a strong critical one time in four. Then the critical routine checks, by item number, whether the attacker holds a Gisarme, and if so replaces the critical with the cut-off: the target dies. The only test is whether the target is immune to Desoul. There is no resistance roll, so an enemy with "major" resistance to status spells dies as easily as a Gizmo. Of the 103 enemy types in the ROM, 23 are immune: the undead, the chess pieces, golems, and nearly every boss. On those the Gisarme is still a +42 sword with the best critical in the game.

The Ninja Katana, and its bug

"Double attack +1" takes the Ninja from 1/16 to 1/8. The routine that writes the new value back is meant to keep the other two settings and replace only the double-attack bits. It keeps the critical bits and nothing else, so the counter setting is zeroed: while he holds the Ninja Katana, a Ninja counters one time in 32 where he should counter one time in 8. The extra double attacks are worth more than the lost counters, so it is still the second-best weapon he can hold. It is the only item in the game with this effect, so nobody else is affected.

The Counter Sword

"Counter +1" works as written. On a Hero or a Red Baron, who start at 1/8, it gives 1/4, the highest counter rate an ally can have. On a Baron or a Bird Battler it gives 1/8.

Staves and a ring that pay every turn

The Holy Staff, the Mystery Staff and the Life Ring have an equip effect that the effect table maps to an empty routine. Their real behaviour is written into the end-of-turn code, again by item number: the Holy Staff restores 3 HP to its holder each turn, the Mystery Staff 2 MP, the Life Ring 5 HP.

Weapons that cast

Twenty weapons and five rings cast a spell from the Use command, for no MP. Two rules apply. You can only use a weapon your class could equip, so a Valkyrie in a Wizard's bag does nothing. And you do not have to equip it, so a Paladin can fight with the Mist Javelin and cast Attack from a Valkyrie he is only carrying. Every casting weapon is breakable: each use has one chance in four of cracking it, a cracked item is destroyed by its next use, and the repair man will fix a cracked one for a fee.

Two weapons for nobody

The Iron Ball (+44, cursed, Blaze 3) and the Taros Sword (+32, reach of two, Bolt 2) are dropped by Cameela and Taros. Their class list is empty. Since Use is limited to classes that can equip, nobody can cast from them either. They sell for a good price.

Cursed weapons, with the sums done

Seven weapons and two rings are cursed, and one of the seven is the Iron Ball that nobody can hold. They have the highest attack in their families, and five of them take something on top: five points of defence, ten of agility or two of movement. What the curse itself does is in two places in the code.

• At the start of any action, attack, spell or item, a cursed character has one chance in four of being "cursed and stunned". The turn is lost.
• After landing a hit that does not kill, there is one chance in two of recoil: the attacker loses an eighth of the damage dealt, plus one.

A quarter of all turns gone means a cursed weapon delivers three quarters of what its attack suggests. Take the Gladiator. With B as his attack without a weapon minus the target's defence, the Evil Axe averages (B+50) × 0.76 and the Rune Axe (B+42) × 1.06. The Evil Axe is behind at every value of B. Against the plain Great Axe from the shop it is ahead only while B is under 38. The same holds in every family: the Evil Knuckles lose to the Giant Knuckles, the Evil Shot to the Grand Cannon, the Evil Lance to the Mist Javelin, the Dark Sword to anything mithril. And the recoil and the stat penalties are not even in those numbers.

The cursed rings are a different case. The Black Ring and the Evil Ring add +10 and +15 attack to classes that do not attack, and what you want from them is the free Blaze 2 and Bolt 2. Carry them, and do not wear them.

The best weapon for each class

The tables below rank weapons by average damage per attack:

B is the character's attack without a weapon minus the target's defence. Late in the game a fighter's B against ordinary enemies is around 30, and 60 is a strong character on a soft target. Dodge and land effect are left out because they are the same for every weapon, and so is the second hit's chance of finding the target already dead. Counters, range, free spells and stat bonuses are not in the number. The notes cover them. Unpromoted classes are not ranked, because before promotion the shop weapons differ in attack and nothing else.

Hero

Bowie has a sword nobody else can hold, and it is the right answer: the Force Sword is +46 with no strings attached. The Levanter is four points behind and casts Blaze 3 for free, with a one in four chance of cracking each time. The Counter Sword takes his counter rate from 1/8 to 1/4, which the table below does not price in. The Critical Sword passes the Battle Sword once B goes over 33 and never gets near the top three.

Paladin and Pegasus Knight

The Mist Javelin is the highest attack in the family, reaches two squares, and has no drawback. The Holy Lance gives up three points for +5 DEF and a small free heal. The Halberd casts Bolt 1. The Valkyrie is the weakest of the four mithril lances, but it casts Attack on an ally up to three squares away, and you do not have to equip it to use it: carry one in the bag. The Evil Lance loses a quarter of your turns and two squares of movement on a class whose whole point is movement.

Gladiator

The one class where the answer is unambiguous. The Rune Axe has the highest attack of any axe that is not cursed, and its +1 moves the Gladiator from 125% at 1/16 to 150% at 1/8. The Ground Axe is three points behind and adds a square of movement, which on a class that moves five matters more than it sounds.

Baron

Here the Rune Axe backfires. A Baron already crits at 150% one time in eight, and the +1 turns that into 125% one time in eight. Its three extra points of attack keep it a hair ahead of the Ground Axe while B is under 60 and behind it above that, and the Ground Axe also gives +1 MOV, so the Ground Axe wins. A Baron can hold swords as well: the Counter Sword has the same +39 and doubles the counter rate to 1/8.

Red Baron

Lemon joins with the Dark Sword equipped, which means he joins cursed. Take it off. His class counters at 1/8 where a Baron counters at 1/16, and the Counter Sword makes that 1/4, the highest counter rate any ally can reach. Everything said about the Baron and the Rune Axe applies to him too.

Ninja

The Gisarme sets the critical rate to one in four, and with this one weapon a critical is not extra damage: the target is cut down on the spot unless it is immune to Desoul. There is no resistance roll. The Ninja Katana doubles the double-attack rate to 1/8 and works on bosses, but it silently resets the Ninja's counter from 1/8 to 1/32 (the bug described above). The Critical Sword is the worst thing you can hand Slade: it weakens his criticals.

Bird Battler

Birdmen share the sword list minus the Hero's exclusives. The Counter Sword is the top non-cursed attack and takes the counter rate to 1/8. The Critical Sword passes the Battle Sword once B goes over 33.

Master Monk

Attack is all that matters here, and the Giant Knuckles have the most of it outside the cursed pair. The Evil Knuckles show +63 on the status screen and deliver less than the Iron Knuckles from the shop once the lost turns are counted. A Master Monk also has a one in sixteen chance of the spinning special attack, which the code treats as a forced critical. That is included in the numbers.

Sniper, Brass Gunner, Bow Knight

The Grand Cannon leads at any attack value you will see in the game. The Nazca Cannon, found in a chest on the Nazca Ship, is the interesting one: ten points under the Grand Cannon but with +1 critical. It passes the Buster Shot once B goes over 54 and the Hyper Cannon over 119. To pass the Grand Cannon it would need B=184, which no character reaches. All three gunner classes add 25% against anything that flies or hovers, and that bonus multiplies with the critical.

Wizard and Sorcerer

A mage's weapon attack is close to irrelevant, so ignore the damage columns and look at the extras. The Mystery Staff gives back 2 MP every turn, which over a long battle is several extra casts. The Freeze Staff casts Freeze 3 for nothing, with the usual one in four chance of cracking. Until the mithril ones turn up, the Guardian Staff from the shop is +5 DEF for 2,380 gold. The Demon Rod takes ten points of agility and a quarter of your turns.

Vicar

Same logic as the mages. The Mystery Staff is the best staff for a healer who casts every turn. The Holy Staff restores 3 HP a turn to its holder and the Goddess Staff casts Aura 2 for free. The Wish Staff, dropped by Cameela, casts Attack.

All weapons and rings

Everything below is read from the item definitions at $16EA6, sixteen bytes each. "Where" lists the first shop that stocks the item, chests and hidden spots, enemy drops, the ally who joins with it, and whether the dwarven smith can forge it. The icons are the game's own, 16 by 24 pixels, read from $1D8004. How the smith picks is in The Mithril RNG.

SDMN swordsman · KNTE knight · WARR warrior · MAGE mage · PRST priest · ACHR archer · BDMN birdman · RNGR ranger · THIF thief · HERO hero · PLDN paladin · PGNT pegasus knight · GLDT gladiator · BRN baron · RDBN red baron · WIZ wizard · SORC sorcerer · VICR vicar · MMNK master monk · SNIP sniper · BRGN brass gunner · BWNT bow knight · BDBT bird battler · NINJ ninja

Swords

Katanas

Knives

Axes

Lances and spears

Arrows and shells

Rods and staves

Knuckles

Weapons nobody can equip

Rings

Method

The item, class and enemy tables were parsed straight from the US ROM; the routines were read in the ShiningForceCentral disassembly, which assembles back to the retail image. The ones quoted are the damage calculation at $ABBE, the critical routine at $AC4E with its table at $ACCA, double and counter at $B00E, the equip effects around $8B22, item breakage at $BBE6 and the end-of-turn effects in the battle loop. Where the disassembly offers "standard build" fixes, this page describes the unpatched game.

The full table, with the class settings, is in sf2-weapons.json.