Dragon Quest 11 Best Weapon Type for Each Character

This Dragon Quest 11 Best Weapon Type Guide will teach you everything you need to know about the pros and cons for all the different weapon types for each character in Dragon Quest 11 so you can plan where to best focus your skill points.

If you’re playing Dragon Quest 11, you know that it’s best to decide which weapons you want to use on each character because you have to lock in skill points in order to power them up, and it’s better to focus on one weapon type than to spread the points around.

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So, you’re probably going to want to type to figure out which weapons you want to be using ahead of time. This Dragon Quest 11 Best Weapon Type Guide will help.

Hero – Dragon Quest 11 Best Weapon Type Guide

The Hero in Dragon Quest 11 gets three weapon styles to choose from when it comes to Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type options. He can use Swords or Greatswords, but in terms of Swords he can opt to either dual wield or not.

Generally Greatswords are considered to be the better DPS option for most of the game, but Swords can certainly hold their own, especially on normal difficulty. Once swords get access to Falcon Slash, Dual Wield and Gigaslash, they begin to catch up to Greatswords and stay about 90% as powerful for the rest of the game.

Sword and Shield

Sword and Shield tends to be a caster build until late game. You focus on Kazap and healing skills.

Pros

• High Defense
• Can Parry and Block many attacks
• Hero can focus on spellcasting
• Can equip Erdwin’s Shield for additional MP regen

Cons

• 60-70% as much damage as Greatswords
• Stuck with Flame Slash for a long time

Dual Wield

Dual Wield is very strong and certainly viable, although you won’t unlock Dual Wielding until near the end of act 1.

Pros

• Gigaslash hits all enemies
• Surpasses Greatswords at a few points in the game i.e. when you first get 2x Falcon Blades
• Damage is comparable to Greatswords

Cons

• Stuck with Sword and Shield for most of the first act
• Damage starts out much worse than Greatswords and gets closer, but never quite catches up
• No single target skills compare to Unbridled Blade on Greatswords until you unlock Sword Dance (extremely late game)

Greatswords

There are very few cons to Greatswords. They’re generally considered to be the Hero’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type. They start out powerful and remain powerful throughout the entire game. The only real downside is they get their most damaging skills early, and you’ll be watching those 2 skills for the entire 60+ hours of the game with few exception.

Pros

• Maximum damage
• Powerful Greatswords are often available early (i.e. Platinum Powersword from Puerto Valor Casino)
• Unbridled Blade outdamages all single-target Sword skills and is acquired early on

Cons

• Lacks variety. You’ll use Unbridled Blade and Helichopter every fight for the entire game.

Erik – Dragon Quest 11 Best Weapon Type Guide

Erik’s weapon options in terms of Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type are between Swords, Daggers, and Boomerangs.

Generally, Daggers are considered to be Erik’s best option. No matter what, you’re going to want to invest points into Daggers in order to pick up the Dual Wield skill. You’re also going to want to put points into his Guile tree to unlock the Divide skill. That takes up Erik’s skill points for most of the game.

His dagger-based status effect finishes are his most damaging skills and they’re easy to set up, especially if you’re using Dagger Sylvando or Axe Hendrik. Swords do less damage overall, but are less situational.

Daggers

Daggers hit about 90-95% as hard as swords for standard attacks, but their skills are much more useful. They can apply sleep and poison, and once status effects are applied, they can unleash a finishing attack that does extreme damage.

If you’re using Sylvando or Hendrik in your party, they can apply status effects that Erik can take advantage of, allowing him to use finishing attacks every turn.

Pros

• Persecutter and Victimiser do insane amounts of damage from start to finish
• Unlocks the Dual Wield skill
• Daggers often come with on-hit effects
• Highest damage potential
• Required for Dually Deadly

Cons

• Combo finishers require setup
• Normal attacks are about 5% weaker than with swords

Swords

Swords hit a little bit harder than Daggers for standard attacks, but their abilities are significantly weaker and less useful until you acquire Fatal Flash, which you get extremely late. Even then, Persecutter/Victimiser will outdamage Fatal Flash.

Still, you have to put a lot of points into Swords late-game even if you’re using Daggers, because Swords are needed to unlock Dually Deadly. Swords are mostly for using Fatal Flash if you have Divide up but the enemy has no status effect applied.

Pros

• Normal attacks are stronger than with Daggers
• Fatal Flash does good damage without setup
• Required for Dually Deadly

Cons

• Fatal Flash is acquired extremely late
• Most sword skills are weak and situational at best

Boomerangs

Boomerangs are really good for clearing crowds of trash mobs. Unfortunately, Erik’s skills require a lot of point investment overall and there’s not much room leftover to put into Boomerangs until extremely late game.

Pros

• Helpful for clearing groups
• Good for hitting metal enemies

Cons

• Weakest weapon type
• Very situational
• Low accuracy
• High armor enemies often take 1 damage

Veronica – Dragon Quest 11 Best Weapon Type Guide

Veronica’s weapon choice is between Heavy Wands and Whips. When it comes to picking the Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type for Veronica, there’s not too much of a choice to be had here.

Veronica is your main spellcaster, and Heavy Wands increase her Magical Might by a huge amount. Whips allow her to apply situationally useful status effects, but do a little damage thanks to her low strength and weaken her magic power tremendously by taking away the power that would be added by equipping a Heavy Wand.

Heavy Wands

Heavy Wands add a lot to Veronica’s Magical Might stat and give her a fair number of MP restoring abilities. Since Veronica should be focused on spellcasting, this makes Heavy Wands ideal for her.

Pros

• Lots of Magical Might
• Skills to increase MP

Cons

• Unique abilities are not very useful

Whips

Whips do greater physical attack damage than spells and hit groups, which could be useful if you were trying to conserve MP. However, Veronica doesn’t generally have issues with MP. Whips are generally not considered to be Veronica’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type.

Pros

• Hits groups
• Better normal attack damage than Heavy Wands
• Abilities can apply status effects
• Can dispel enemy buffs
• Twin Dragon Lash does decent damage

Cons

• Normal attack damage is much weaker than spells
• Twin Dragon Lash doesn’t compare to Boom type spells
• Status effects are not that useful overall

Serena – Dragon Quest 11 Best Weapon Type Guide

For Serena’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type, her options are Spears or Wands.

Early game, Spears are considered to be her best option, because Serena can easily heal anyone to full regardless of her Magical Mending. Later, when health pools are higher and enemies do more damage, it’s best to build her for Wands. Jade is a much more capable spear-user, and Serena’s Wand skills complement her spells better.

When it comes to Serena’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type, you’re going to want to use Wands.

Wands

Wands increase Magical Mending, which makes Serena a better healer overall, and she can dual wield them for double the bonus. Since Serena is a healer, Wands are going to be her Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type.

Pros

• Dramatically increase Magical Mending, especially when Dual Wielding
• Gains a variety of useful skills, especially Divine Restitution and Snap, Crackle, Poof
• Divine Restitution does decent damage and scales off of Magical Mending

Cons

• Physical attack power is extremely low
• Doesn’t boost Magical Might

Spears

Spears are great for Serena in the early game when she doesn’t need any additional healing power and a high attack power spear can let her keep up with other party members in terms of damage. In the later part of the game, an attack with a spear is just as weak, if not weaker, than her other damage options (like Swoosh spells), making it non-viable as her Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type.

Pros

• Decent normal attack damage
• Thunder Thrust is useful for defeating metal slimes

Cons

• Damage drops off significantly after Act 1
• Can’t compete with Jade
• Doesn’t add any Magical Mending or MP
• Best spear skills are unavailable (e.g. Multithrust)

Sylvando – Dragon Quest 11 Best Weapon Type Guide

Sylvando gets a fair amount of variety in terms of his weapon choices, although no weapon skills are unique to him. He gets Swords, Daggers, and Whips.

In terms of Sylvando’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type, Daggers are generally considered to be the best. This is mostly because Sylvando can use dagger skills to apply the status effects and Erik can take advantage of them to use finishers more often.

However, most people think it’s important to focus on Sylvando’s Showmanship abilities first, because he’s best used as a support character.

Sword and Shield

Sylvando gets the same sword skills as everyone else, but he doesn’t get access to Falcon Blade, the only sword skill really worth using. Alright for normal attacks on a single target, but not much else. Definitely not Sylvando’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type.

Pros

• Swords have higher attack power than daggers and whips
• Metal Slash can help with metal slime hunting
• Can equip a shield for extra defense

Cons

• Skills aren’t very powerful and don’t have good secondary effects
• Doesn’t gain any significant power increases through skill nodes

Dagger and Shield

Sylvando gets most of the same skills Erik does, including Nastier Knives, which increases his ability to inflict status effects. If you’re using Sylvando on the same team as Erik, you can output insane damage by heaving Sylvando set up Erik’s finishers.

Pros

• High chance to apply status effects
• Sudden Death is Sylvando’s most powerful weapon ability
• Synergizes well with Erik

Cons

• Damage is not very high
• Doesn’t get many damage boosting nodes

Whips

Whips are available only to Sylvando and Veronica, but the likelihood you’ll use Whips on Veronica is extremely low, so it feels somewhat unique to Sylvando. Still, Sylvando gets a worse skill tree for Whips than Veronica does.

Pros

• Capable of hitting enemy groups
• Can dispel enemy buffs
• Applies status effects

Cons

• Status effect chance is low
• Damage is subpar
• Can’t learn Twin Dragon Lash
• Can’t equip a shield.

Jade – Dragon Quest 11 Best Weapon Type Guide

When it comes to Jade’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type, her choice is between Claws and Spears.

There is a lot of debate surrounding Jade’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type, but Spears are generally considered to be Jade’s best weapon type. While Claws get high crit and HP absorption, attack power for Spears is significantly higher, and Multithrust is a much more powerful move than Hard Claw.

When Multifeet becomes available, things even out a little bit, but Spears still come out on top when it comes to Jade’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type.

Spears

You can’t go wrong with Spears on Jade. Multithrust is the most powerful physical attack move for a long time. Even when Multifeet becomes available, using Multifeet with Spears equipped will still outdamage Multifeet with claws. Spears are Jade’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type.

Pros

• High damage
• Multithrust is very powerful
• Lightning Thrust is great for metal slimes

Cons

• None

Claws

Claws are less powerful than spears by a significant amount, but they’re a lot more fun because seeing crits pop up regularly is pretty cool. Still, even with crit as high as it can go and using Multifeet, which doesn’t become available until late in the game, Spears significantly outdamage Claws.

Pros

• High crit rate
• Absorbs HP
• Decent damage

Cons

• Much lower damage than spears
• Only one good attack (Hard Claw)
• Relies on Multifeet for damage, which isn’t available until late-game and is in a different skill tree

Rab – Dragon Quest 11 Best Weapon Type Guide

Rab has two weapon types available to him. Heavy Wands and Claws. When it comes to Rab’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type, it’s really up to you.

Rab is a jack of all trades. You can choose to boost his Magical Might and Magical Mending with Heavy Wands, but his spells still won’t be as powerful as Serena’s or Veronica’s.

Rab gets a fair amount of unique skills in high Claw path, including his best damaging skill and the ability to absorb MP with Claws, so that’s what I’d recommend as Rab’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type.

Heavy Wands

Heavy Wands should be your go-to pick if you want to use Rab exclusively as a caster. Without Heavy Wands, he’s about 70% as good as Serena or Veronica, but combines their skills into a single character. With Heavy Wands, that jumps up to about 80%.

Pros

• Gains significant Magical Mending and Magical Might (+50)
• Increases MP and MP Regen substantially

Cons

• Abilities are not particularly useful
• Low attack power

Claws

If you want to use Rab as a pure jack-of-all trades character, you can give him claws to help him go toe-to-toe with your physical attackers as well as your mages and maximize his versatility. Since versatility is Rab’s only real specialty, that’s what I’d recommend in terms of his Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type.

Pros

• Moderate damage output
• High crit rate
• Wild Animaul is Rab’s most damaging attack
• Can absorb MP
• Lots of Agility and Dodge bonuses

Cons

• Lower Magical Might and Magical Mending

Hendrik – Dragon Quest 11 Best Weapon Type Guide

Hendrik is the last party member to join your team and when it comes to his Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type, his options are Swords, Axes and Greatswords.

There are pros and cons to all Hendrik’s weapon options, but his best weapon type is generally considered to be Swords or Axes, because they allow him to use a Shield. Swords get his most powerful attack, Gyrfalcon Slash, but Axes can inflict Defense Down and Paralysis, which the team can take advantage of.

When push comes to shove, I’d say that Axes are Hendrik’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type for most of the game and Swords are Hendrik’s Dragon Quest 11 best weapon type in late-game/postgame.

Swords

Pros

• Gyrfalcon Slash is Hendrik’s best single-target move
• Can match Greatsword damage while still using a shield

Cons

• Can’t inflict status effects
• No area of effect damage
• Gyrfalcon Slash isn’t available until extremely late game

Axes

Pros

• Parallax is almost as strong as Gyrfalcon Slash and is available early
• Hatchet Man is useful for damaging Metal Slimes
• Deals great group damage with Axes of Evil
• Can inflict Defense Down
• Can use a shield

Cons

• Single-target damage potential is not as high as Swords or Greatswords

Greatswords

Pros

• Highest damage potential until Gyrfalcon Slash becomes available
• Strong group damage

Cons

• Can’t equip a shield
• Only two useful moves (Unbridled Blade and Helichopter)
• Hero is a much better Greatsword user

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That about covers it for the Dragon Quest 11 Best Weapon Type for Each Character guide. Be sure to check out the Game Guides section for more content like this, and click here for more content related to Dragon Quest 11.