Official HoYoverse material says defeating powerful enemies grants items needed to unlock new weapons and skills. The gamescom demo also clearly showed a large sword or greatsword-style weapon and a bow. Exact materials, crafting trees, rarities, upgrade costs, weapon gacha, and launch balance remain unannounced.
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Nodusfall uses weapons as part of a broader character build, but the first demo does not support a complete armory database. The strongest current examples are a large sword used by a frontline tank and a bow used by a ranged damage character. Their mechanics were different enough to show that a weapon entry needs more than a screenshot: character identity, class, resource generation, charged actions, skills, and team role all affect how it plays.
Which weapon types are confirmed?
The demo record supports two clearly described categories.
| Working weapon label | Recorded user | Observed mechanic | Evidence state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greatsword / large sword | Frontline tank demo character | Light and heavy pressure, charged clash-style counter, Divine transformation | Recorded in hands-on reports |
| Bow | Ranged damage demo character | Basic attacks build an arrow gauge; charged shots spend it | Recorded by Inven Global |
| Other melee armaments | Trailer and press footage | Visible, but not safely classifiable by final weapon type | Observed; official names unconfirmed |
Trailers and coverage show additional blades and large fantasy armaments, but official English weapon names and taxonomy are not public. A visual resemblance is not enough to decide whether an object is a sword, greatsword, dual blade, axe, polearm, temporary Divine weapon, or a character-specific summon.
How did the greatsword-style weapon work?
PC Gamer’s tank used a massive sword while remaining more agile than the weapon silhouette suggested. The standout interaction was a clash: charge a strong attack and release it into an incoming monster attack to counter. That produces a timing decision instead of passive blocking.
The same character could trigger a transformation into a towering dual-wielding knight with a different, highly destructive skill set. It is not yet clear whether the transformed weapons count as equipped gear, an Ultimate animation, a Divine ability, or a separate temporary moveset.
No attack values, motion values, stamina costs, guard statistics, counter window, upgrade path, or skill tree are public. “Greatsword” is a descriptive label until the final English UI supplies a name.
How did the bow work?
Inven Global’s bow user filled an arrow gauge with normal attacks and spent that resource on charged shots. That implies a loop of sustained ranged pressure followed by a stronger resource-consuming action. The reporter also described light and heavy attacks, charged inputs, cooldown skills, an Ultimate, and a Divine action in the development build.
This information is useful for understanding identity but not for publishing a rotation. Exact gauge gains, charge levels, optimal distance, projectile behavior, cooldowns, status effects, and damage coefficients can all change.
Can characters change weapons?
GAME Watch reports that characters, weapons, and skills can be changed while pursuing a personalized build. PC Gamer also describes characters as distinct identities rather than blank avatars determined only by the equipped weapon. Those observations suggest equipment flexibility exists inside character boundaries.
The boundaries are unknown. A character may have a restricted weapon family, alternate classes may unlock different weapons, or some weapons may be fixed to specific identities. There is not enough evidence to claim universal weapon swapping.
How do you unlock new weapons?
Official HoYoverse material says that defeating powerful enemies grants items needed to unlock new weapons and new skills. This confirms a play-earned route tied to combat, but it does not say that every weapon comes only from bosses or that each boss has a fixed weapon drop.
PC Gamer’s broader Nodusfall guide describes fighting bosses for resources used to forge weapons and unlock skills. That is useful reported context, but no official recipe screen, material table, forge location, success rate, rarity ladder, or resource requirement has been published in the source set used here. “Unlock” and “forge” may refer to different steps, so this guide keeps the official wording separate from the reporter’s interpretation.
The developers have specifically said characters are not obtained through random draws. They have not published an equivalent statement covering weapons. This means “no character gacha” cannot be rewritten as “no weapon gacha.” Weapon acquisition remains unknown until the economy is documented.
Are there weapon rarities or elements?
No final rarity, element, damage type, affix, set-bonus, refinement, duplicate, durability, or enhancement system is announced. Visual color, trailer effects, or familiar systems from other HoYoverse games cannot establish those mechanics.
Likewise, there is no basis for “legendary,” “five-star,” “best-in-slot,” or tier-list labels. A development demo with four curated characters is not a representative loot pool.
How do weapons fit into a build?
Current reporting points to several connected layers:
- a playable character with unique mechanics and appearance;
- a role or class that shapes party responsibility;
- a weapon with normal, heavy, and charged actions;
- selectable cooldown skills and a major Ultimate or Divine ability;
- resources earned through play and boss encounters.
The useful build question is therefore not only “Which weapon has the largest number?” It is how a character generates resources, survives the target’s pressure, creates team windows, and converts cooldowns into damage or support. Final recommendations require stable values and repeatable tests.
What should a real launch weapon guide include?
Once a public build exists, every entry should record the official name, compatible characters or classes, source, base values, upgrade curve, materials, moveset, resource interactions, skill compatibility, and test build. Comparisons should state encounter, party setup, gear level, and measurement method.
Until then, this page stays a sourced system overview. It will not publish fake drop locations or best-weapon rankings.
What can players safely plan before launch?
Plan around combat preferences, not item names or rarity. The demonstrated greatsword-style kit rewards close-range commitment and timing: its charged attack could meet an incoming strike in a clash. The demonstrated bow kit builds a character resource through basic attacks and spends it on charged shots. Those are meaningful playstyle signals even though final values and labels can change.
If you prefer reading attacks and holding a defensive line, watch the heavy-weapon and tank records. If you prefer maintaining distance while managing a resource cycle, follow ranged kits. Neither observation proves that one weapon owns one role, that every bow shares the same gauge, or that the launch roster will use the demonstrated pair unchanged.
Avoid pre-launch “best weapon” claims based on animation size or a short controlled demo. Damage depends on character rules, skill choice, encounter, upgrades, and build version. Spectacle is not a damage coefficient.
Weapon footage checklist
When new footage appears, first identify whether it is first-party, a named press demo, or unrestricted public gameplay. Record the game build and character, then separate basic attacks, charged actions, cooldown skills, Ultimates, and Divine effects. Note the visible resource, target state, party buffs, and encounter phase. Finally, confirm whether the interface shows an equipment name or only a character archetype.
This prevents a common guide error: assigning a character-specific mechanic to an entire weapon class. The current bow gauge and greatsword clash belong to the demonstrated kits until broader footage proves otherwise.
Sources and evidence notes
- PC Gamer hands-on — tank weapon, clash timing, character identity, transformation, and combat feel.
- Inven Global hands-on — bow gauge, attack inputs, cooldown abilities, and development-build scope.
- GAME Watch report — characters, weapons, and skills as build components.
- Official HoYoverse announcement via COGNOSPHERE — defeating powerful enemies yields items needed to unlock new weapons and skills.
Continue with Nodusfall skills and Divine abilities or see the demo character roles.
Follow the unlock evidence
The progression and unlocks matrix separates the official statement about enemy-earned weapon and skill unlock items from unpublished costs and drop rates. For the reported X/Y and RB input map, see controls.