Final Fantasy II/Weapons

Sortable table of contents:

Swords
Starting equipment of Firion, Leila, Leon and Scott.

Bows/Slingshots
Starting equipment of Maria.

Note that the animation of the "bow" is wrong and unnatural in both the Origins and Dawn of Soul versions (but it's correct in the NES one), as it can be seen by comparison with this video (from about 00:30 to 00:40). The game animation is more appropriate for slingshots, instead.

Axes
Starting equipment of Guy and Leon.

Staves
Starting equipment of Minwu.

Spears
Starting equipment of Gordon and Ricard.

Knives
Starting equipment of Leila.

Shields
Starting equipment of Firion, Gordon and Ricard.

No typo: elemental shields protect from the opposite element.

The Sleep Blade
The Sleep Blade is the weapon that can be most easily missed.

This sword can be found in the Palamecian Dreadnought, and since your mission is to destroy it, that stage/dungeon cannot be revisited. The chest is on the same floor where Princess Hilda is held captive, and your attention may be diverted by this fact. Moreover, the chest is beyond a cell grate that cannot be opened, and you might simply be tempted to give up trying.

In order to get to the Sleep Blade chest, there's a secret passage through the wall in the upper-left part of the cell: just walk through it.

All these "protections" suggest that it can be a very valuable item. If you equip the Sleep Blade to a character with high weapon skill with swords, this weapon will put to sleep any hit enemy, including several bosses. A sleeping enemy will not attack nor cast spells, thus making your fight much easier.

Other weapons
The Dark slingshot inflict blindness to the target, i.e. it reduces its hit rate. It is the best slingshot at this point of the game, but you'll soon find a Flame slingshot, that is quite more powerful.
 * In the Dreadnought: the Dark slingshot

The Gaia Sword has quite high attack power, but no special abilities. It can be found on "floor two", that is the mouth, of the Leviathan. Sell it and keep using the Sleep Blade.
 * In the Leviathan: the Gaia Sword


 * In the Cyclone: the Ripper dagger and the Defender sword

The Ripper deals extra damage whenever it hits an enemy, while the Defender sword increases considerably the Evasion of the wielder.