Skills/Arms Lore
Arms Lore is the knowledge of weapons and armor. Use it on a weapon or a piece of armor to judge how worn it is, how hard it hits or how well it protects, and whether its blade is poisoned.
At a glance
| Skill cap | 100 (Grandmaster) |
|---|---|
| Use | Use the skill, then target a weapon or armor within 2 tiles |
| Main uses | Checking durability, damage, armor rating and poison |
| Stats it trains | Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence |
How to use it
Use Arms Lore from your skills list: What item do you wish to get information about? Then target a weapon or a piece of armor within 2 tiles. It also works on items for sale on a player vendor. If the check fails: You are not certain... Anything else gets This is neither weapon nor armor.
Weapons
For a weapon you learn its condition, its average damage (described for its fighting style, such as slashing or shooting), and whether it has poison on it (It appears to have poison smeared on it.).
| Average damage | What you hear (for a one-handed sword) |
|---|---|
| Below 3 | This weapon might scratch your opponent slightly when you slashed with it at short range. |
| 3 to 5 | This weapon would do minimal damage when you slashed with it at short range. |
| 6 to 10 | This weapon would do some damage when you slashed with it at short range. |
| 11 to 15 | This weapon would probably hurt your opponent a fair amount when you slashed with it at short range. |
| 16 to 20 | This weapon would inflict quite a lot of damage and pain when you slashed with it at short range. |
| 21 to 25 | This weapon would be a superior weapon when you slashed with it at short range. |
| 26 and up | This weapon would be extraordinarily deadly when you slashed with it at short range. |
Armor
For armor you learn its condition and its armor rating.
| Armor rating | What you hear |
|---|---|
| 0 | This armor offers no defense against attackers. |
| 1 to 5 | This armor provides almost no protection. |
| 6 to 10 | This armor provides very little protection. |
| 11 to 15 | This armor offers some protection against blows. |
| 16 to 20 | This armor serves as sturdy protection. |
| 21 to 25 | This armor is a superior defense against attack. |
| 26 to 30 | This armor offers excellent protection. |
| 31 and up | This armor is superbly crafted to provide maximum protection. |
Condition
Weapons and armor both describe how much durability is left:
| What you hear | Durability left |
|---|---|
| It looks like it is about to fall apart. | 0–9% |
| It looks rather flimsy and not at all trustworthy. | 10–19% |
| It looks somewhat badly damaged. | 20–29% |
| It looks rather battered. | 30–39% |
| It looks like it has been well-used. | 40–49% |
| It looks to have suffered some wear and tear. | 50–59% |
| It looks to be in fairly good condition. | 60–69% |
| It looks fairly new, with just a few nicks and scratches. | 70–79% |
| It looks almost new. | 80–89% |
| It looks unused. | 90–99% |
Swamp dragon barding
Use it on a barded Swamp Dragon to see how much damage its barding can still take.
Training Arms Lore
- Every use on a weapon or armor is a chance to gain, from 0 to 100.
- Crafting exceptional armor with Blacksmithy also gives a chance to gain.
- Below 10.0 you gain on every attempt, sometimes several tenths at once. Above that, each attempt has a chance to gain 0.1.
- The harder the attempt is for your skill level, the better your chance to gain. Your chance also drops as you get closer to your Arms Lore cap and to your total skill cap of 700.
- If you've set Arms Lore to go down (the arrow in your skills list), gains elsewhere can lower it to make room under your total cap. Lock skills you want to keep.
- Reaching 100.0 adds Arms Lore to the Skills Mastered count on your achievements.
- Armorers, blacksmiths, weaponsmiths, iron workers, merchants and the blacksmith, merchant and warrior guildmasters will train you for gold: up to a third of their own skill, at most 42.0, for 1 gold per 0.1 points. Ask them (or use their context menu) to train the skill, then drop the gold on them.
Stats: each successful use has about a 2% chance to raise Strength, a smaller chance (under 1%) to raise Dexterity and a smaller chance (under 1%) to raise Intelligence by 1 point. Each stat can rise at most once every 10 minutes, and only if it's set to rise.
Suggested path
| Arms Lore | How to train |
|---|---|
| 0 to about 33 | Buy it from a blacksmith or weaponsmith. |
| 33 to 100 | Keep a weapon in your pack and use the skill on it over and over. |
Tips
- Check gear before you buy it from a player vendor.
- Check your weapon after long fights so it doesn't break mid-battle.