Magic Weapons (or Sutras in the item screen.) are special pieces of equipment that can increase the wearer’s stats or grant special abilities. Each character can equip two of them. They can also grow and increase in effectiveness, which can make a huge difference in combat. However, not all MWs are worth the player’s time. Some are only useful in specific niches, some require too much exp to be really effective, and even some are just plainly useless. Therefore, I hope this small guide can help any English players in deciding which MWs they want to use and not waste time on the less effective ones.

The info for this guide is based on various game guides in Chinese community, which I have then adopted through my own experience and testing to suit this Steam version. Here’s the link to the sources:


https://chiuinan.github.io/game/game/intro/ch/c11/swd3/
http://swd3.ffsky.cn/steal.htm

I’ll also touch on how to get the achievement too in case anyone’s wondering.

Oh, and since English isn't my native language. Please bear with me if the wording seems off. ^^;

Edit: 8/24 spelling and grammar errors (proofread by ChatGPT)

There are 2 key points to remember:

1. The only way to increase MWs’ exp is by killing enemies. Each small fry gives 3; each boss fight gives 20.
   Using the MWs doesn’t grant any additional exp in this Steam version. This is very different from the original 1999 PC version, in which each active use would grant additional 5 exp.
   Also, since the strength of the enemy doesn’t matter. killing a level 2 slime grants the same exp as killing a level 58 FengHuang. Therefore, for faster exp gain, you can use “Hearth figure” to travel back to earlier location to kill weaker enemies.
   
   
2. There’s no need to farm exp for resistance-increasing type of MWs. They are 100% effective at 0 growth.
   This again is very different from the original 1999 PC version, in which the MWs slowly reach to their full effectiveness through slow exp farming. It’s a nice quality-of-life change, but it also make farming exp for this type of MWs useless unless you are aiming for the achievement.

There’re 25 MWs in this game. Based on my personal experiences, I divided them into 5 tiers:

• S: Game Changer.
  
• A: Can be obtained early and is very effective throughout almost the entire game.
  
• B: Can be effective once obtained or is super useful for fighting the top 3 bosses.
  
• C: Can only be effective in certain situations or its effectiveness can be compensated with other gear
  
• D: Ineffective throughout almost the entire game or can only be obtained too late in the game

Please note that my play style relies heavily on physical attack rather than skills or spells. Therefore, my list has a clear bias toward the MWs that benefit my style. It might not reflect how you experience it in your playthrough. Nonetheless, I still hope the list can be helpful.

Additionally, you will find that I rate almost all resistance-increasing MW low. This is because none of them are useful against common enemies since you normally would have very little trouble dealing with them. Only when fighting the top 3 bosses - Satan(final boss), ChiYou (hidden boss) and Bull Demon King (hidden boss) - can high resistance really shine.

Here's the full tier LIst


The following sections will introduce each one in chronological order and explain why I've rated them in that manner

Simple, effective, and can be obtained early. It’s one of the best MWs in the game. It syncs really well with the “Martial Bracelet”’s Combo and turn the character into a DPS beast. It also syncs well with the “Vampire Ring”, which increase health recovery.


Details:
(1) Talk to B
(2) Click C and chose VI VI VI, Acquire the key

------------------------------
(3) Go to Venice, Jessica's house. Open the cellar and find the MW.

---

This is one of the crucial MWs against the Bull Demon King, as his normal attack can deal massive fire damage.

---

Probably the most useless MW in the game due to (1) Not every spell can be copied. (2) None of the copiable spells are stronger than the characters’ own

---

Simple, effective, and can be obtained early – It’s also one of the best MWs in the game. It not only syncs really well with the “Saturn Thorn Ring” for massive DPS boost, but also syncs really well with Sword of Sealing.

Sword of Sealing, being the second strongest weapon in the game, require massive amount of exp to raise its proficiency. Weapon proficiency is raised by the number of times the character performs attacks. This is where the Combo command shines. Even if the first slash is enough to kill the enemy, the combo will still execute the second attack. Not only that, more attacks accelerate the buildup of the ultimate gauge, allowing Septem to use his first ult more often and gain more proficiency exp. Not only that, the damage of Septem’s first ultimate is mostly based on the weapon’s proficiency bonus rather than its base attack value. As Sword of Sealing has the highest proficiency bonus in the game, its total damage can easily surpass later ultimates (up until the last ult)! In fact, by equippimg Septem with Sword of Sealing + Saturn Thorn Ring + Martial Bracelet, his massive damage can pretty much carry the entire team all the way to the endgame.

---

Simple, effective, and obtainable early – it's also one of the best MWs in the game. As previously mentioned, it syncs really well with the 'Saturn Thorn Ring'. In fact, when used alongside proper elemental resistance gear, it's possible for Septem to solo the top three bosses all by himself.

---

There's only one occasion where this MW is useful: fighting the Cyan Witch. The Cyan Witch wields powerful water magic that might eliminate the entire party if she casts it consecutively. This MW allows at least one of the party members to survive. However, after this fight, there's no reason to ever equip it again.

If there’s one MW that can break the game, this is it. For some reason, the devs allow players to steal the most valuable attribute-enhancement item in the game, the Magical Soaring oil, repeatedly from random encounters. This item increases agility by 5 and it absolutely break the game. Agility affect how fast the action bar fills up. Normally, all characters only reach around 50-60 agility at max level (lv 60). Even with equipment, it can only be pushed to around 80-90. But the Magical Soaring oil allow the players to push it over 200! The result is that in random encounter you can clear out enemies before they even have a chance to move; You move 2 or even 3 times before bosses act; You make fighting against 3 top bosses, which are supposed to be tough struggles, significantly easier - sometimes even a cake walk! While one could argue that there’re other ways to break the game, like the Merchant Selda and fusion exploits, spending time on theft might not be all that worth it. But those methods aren’t obvious and player likely can only learn about them after consulting guides. However, Burglar Mask openly invites players to break the game. Atar can be encountered at the exact location where the player obtains the mask! This game, particularly this Steam version, isn't difficult to begin with, but with this mask, no battle would even come close to being a challenge. Therefore, I would recommend that if anyone wants the game to be a little more challenging, they should not steal oils from Atar – or maybe only do so sparingly.

Apart from the Magical Soaring oil, the “Theft” ability also provides many benefits throughout the game. Numerous excellent recovery item, even the best ones, can be stolen from enemies. Such as Saturn Peach (recover 100% of the party’s HP ) or Heaven Lotus Seed (Recover from near death and restore 100% of health, spiritual power and vitality ). I have provided a list of stealable items at the bottom of this guide.

---

To be honest, this is the MW that I don’t know how to properly rate. The main reason is that, as I mentioned, I rely heavily on physical attack, so my party has little need for spiritual power restoration. Consequently, I didn’t notice any practical use of this pot throughout my playthrough. Another reason is that the pot only restores spiritual power when the character is hit by an enemy’s spell. However, the spells of the top 3 bosses hit so hard that it is best to keep resistance as high as possible rather than allow them to damage the character for its restoration effect. Not to mention using items for restoration is safer and easier (this pot require 5000 exp to max out, the highest in the game). I therefore find little use of this pot.

---

The Assassination Catalogue isn’t weak by any means. I once experimented with it in the end game, maxed out its growth, and found that Kama can throw the weakest weapon, the broadsword (70 silver coins), and deal around 350 damage, which is higher than her normal attack. (Strangely, throwing the Loong Deep, the third strongest weapon in the game, didn’t significantly increase the damage dealt) Therefore, it has potential. But it suffers from one fatal flaw - It requires a massive investment to be effective. Most of the time, equipping with Saturn Thorn Ring allow the character’s attack surpass whatever weapon they’re slinging. This is likely why no veteran players in Chinese community tested out its attack formula, and how it deal damage is still shrouded in mystery. (I once raised Nicole’s strength to 360 and maximized this MW, and one throw of the broadsword caused 1500+ damage. However, giving it to Li Jing, who has 450 strength, only resulted in 500 damage. What in the world?)

Additionally, there are already throwable items such as “Sol Chakram” (which deals a fixed damage of 850, but cost 1000 silver coins each). Throwable items also has no delay in combat. Making this MW mostly redundant.

None of the top 3 bosses can deliver earth attacks. Even those who do during random encounters aren't threatening enough to justify using this MW.

---

None of the top 3 bosses can deliver wind attacks. Even those who do during random encounters aren't threatening enough to justify using this MW.

---

None of the top 3 bosses can deliver light attacks. Even those who do during random encounters aren't threatening enough to justify using this MW.

---

Instantly killing enemies sounds appealing, but there’re two major flaws with this MW. (1) It only works on common enemies. (2) it required a significant amount of exp to grow. This MW demands a lot of time to farm, yet it can’t help you in a boss fight, making it not particularly useful.

Nonetheless, there are still 2 occasions when it became quite handy. (1) Dealing with end game’s random encounters. Common enemies in the end game area have lots of HP (1500-3500), and instant-kills can make dealing with them a lot easier. (2) Killing off Wining Buddha’s clonee. Wining Budha’s clone have massive HP, (around 8000), but they are classified as common enemies, so “Decompose” works on them. Although Nicole’s critical attack, which instant kill a common enemy, works too. Once again, this MW isn’t necessary.

---

This is a strange MW that the amount of damage depends on how fast the player press space bar or clicks. However, unless the player’s arm is made of steel, I doubt anyone would want to use this MW. Fortunately, using auto clicker or auto keyboard command can make it a lot easier. Just that each hit only deal 5 damage when maxed out. Even with an auto clicker, it still won’t deal much damage in just 5 seconds.

---

This one works exactly the same as the Martial Bracelet, just with slightly higher vitality consumption. When combined with Star One’s Eye, you can turn another character into a DPS beast. Just that we acquire this one a bit late.

---

This one works exactly the same as the Saturn Thorn Ring. When combined with Premier’s Gut, you can turn another character into a DPS beast. Just that we acquire this one a bit late.

---

This one works exactly the same as the Burglar Mask, just with slightly higher vitality consumption and lower Growth exp requirement. However, by the time the player obtains this sack, the Burglar Mask often has already grown considerably, rendering this one redundant. But if the player hasn't used the Burglar Mask, it can serve as a great substitute since it requires far less exp to grow.

This MW can also be traded with Wind Count to let Kama learn a special ultimate. However, this ultimate isn’t all that powerful (2500 wind damage). Not to mention that the player won’t be able to achieve MW mastery. It's not worth the trade

---

To be fair, debuff Immunity is quite nice. However there are 2 major flaws with this MW. (1) It arrives too late. By the time the player obtains it, the character can already counter debuff with either skills or recovery items. (2) It requires too much exp to gain immunity against the more troublesome debuff.

There’re some occasions that it is useful. For example, Slyph on Mount Li can cast paralyze spells, and the Bull Demon King can cast debuff spells that cause "sealed" to all characters. But these occasions are few and far between. Moreover, if the characters have high agility through stealing Magical Soaring Oil, using recovery items or skills is far more convenient than farming exp for this MW




List of negative Status or Debuff:

---

All three top bosses, Satan, ChiYou, and Bull Demon King, have high-damage dark spells. It's always a good idea to maximize dark resistance as much as possible when facing these three

By the time the player reaches this area, they probably have either stolen or acquired enough money to buy whatever items they need for restoration, which renders this MW redundant.

---

None of the top 3 bosses can deliver water attacks. Even those who do during random encounters aren't threatening enough to justify using this MW.

The Quest for it to show up:

1. Talk to ladies at the west side of the Chang an west market to get the information there’s a hidden treasure.
   
2. Check the upper border of the arena at east side of the Chang an west market to get the first note
   
3. Check the right stone lantern outside of Duke DongPing’s Mansion to get the second note
   
4. Check the left stone lion of Bai Lian Yi’s resident to get the final note
   
5. The MW will now show up at the gate of Duke DongPing’s Mansion

The ladies at the the west market
The arena
The stone lantern
The stone lion
The orb shows up
Note: The player can still visit the Mansion after Septem’s death. No need to worry if you didn’t get it the first time you visit the mansion.

---

Increasing evasion doesn't sound bad, but this MW has one fatal flaw – it decreases agility. Agility is arguably the most important attribute in combat as it affects how quickly the action bar fills up. High enough agility can even allow characters to act 2-3 times before enemies get a chance to move. The slight increase in evasion doesn't worth the price of slowing the character down.

---

The same as Earthflame Jade.

---

Two of the top three bosses frequently cast powerful electric magic (Satan and Chiyou), and this hammer is the best equipment to resist them.

This MW can also be traded with Rain Master to let Li Jing learn a special ultimate. However, this ultimate isn't particularly powerful (2500 water damage). Not to mention the player won't be able to achieve the MW mastery achievement. It's not worth trading for.

---

The shield command isn't bad, but it arrives way too late. The player is just 1-2 boss fights away from reaching the ending, and I doubt anyone will be willing to defeat another 300 enemies to make this MW effective.

There are 2 achievements related to MWs.

• “All Magic Weapons Reserved”: Collected All Magic Weapons
  
• “Magic Weapon Master”: Collected all Magic Weapons and all reach level Max

There has been some confusion regarding how to obtain these achievements, especially in the late game when you can only acquire one out of three MWs in the Shaolin Temple. Additionally, you can trade 2 MWs to NPCs to learn special ultimates for Kama and Li Jing. Through testing, I've confirmed that.

1. You only need to obtain the one magic weapon you choose in the Shaolin Temple. You can ignore the other two.
   
2. You must not give up "Sack of Universe" and "Thunder Count's Hammer" to Wind Count and Rain Master in Duke DongPing's Mansion for the “Magic Weapon Master” achievement.

In other words, there are 25 MWs in the game, but you only need to possess 23 of them to unlock the "All Magic Weapons Reserved" achievement. Maxing out these 23 MWs will unlock the "Magic Weapon Master" achievement.

This method is only available in the end game, just before the final boss. The hidden boss, Bull Demon King, is undoubtedly the strongest opponent in the game. However, it also possesses two features that we can exploit to work towards the MW Master achievement. First, it grants the player the "DOMO Maneuver," a cheat attack item that deals 9999 damage with a single use. Second, the player can fight Bull Demon King repeatedly. The process goes like this:

1. Return to Tadmur and steal from Atar to increase all party members' agility to slightly above 200. (Note: If a character's agility is too high, their action bar might fill up too quickly and cause them to get stuck. Keeping agility slightly above 200 is within a safe range, as long as Kama doesn't cast wind control on them.)
   
2. Defeat Bull Demon King at least once to obtain the DOMO Maneuver. Note that if you draw the wrong stick, you can keep redrawing until you get the right one. You don't have to seek a poem explanation each time you draw.
   
3. Fight Bull Demon King again. Have three party members use DOMO Maneuvers, and have one hit him with a move that deals more than 3 damage. (I recommend using a throwing axe – it's cheap, quick to act, and never misses.)
   
4. Repeat step 3 as many times as needed.

Each fight would end in around 1 minute and each victory give 20 magic weapons exp, You can then farm the exp much more quickly than you normally would.

Tips for beating the bull for the first time:
This game, especially in this Steam version, is generally quite easy. Defeating the Bull Demon King shouldn't be too challenging. However, if you're encountering difficulties, here are some tips that should prove helpful in facing the bull:

• Having high resistance to dark, fire, and poison will provide significant advantages.
  
• DOMO Dolls, especially the Bliss doll, combined with high agility will make the fight into a cake walk
  
• If you don't have DOMO Dolls, rely on physical attacks such as Combo and Septem's last ultimate (Sirius Blink). The bull has high resistance to every type of spell, making physical attacks the most effective approach.
  
• Equipping Septem and Li Jing with +50% attack and combo command magic weapons will provide a substantial DPS boost.
  
• Don't expect Nicole and Kama to deal substantial damage in the fight. Let them support Septem and Li Jing as much as possible and occasionally throwing attack items like Sol Chakram or Xuan Yuan youngling can be more effective than directly engaging in the fight.

Attribute-enhancement items:
Note: How each attribute translates in combat
Strength = Attack
Stamina = Defense
Intelligence = Magic damage
Agility = How fast action bar fill

---

Recovery Items

---

Item for buff:

---

Equipment:

Some players might have noticed that magic weapons are disproportionately concentrated in the later part of the game. After reaching Tian Shan, the game enters the latter portion of its content, yet only 9 out of 23 MWs can be obtained. Some individuals, including myself, speculate that this could be due to massive content cuts the game underwent during its development.

According to an interview with the game's writer, Bao Hong Xiu (source provided below), the original story plan involved Septem returning to Frank after completing his studies in China. However, due to his collected books not being related to Astrology, his superiors abandoned the Chinese classics and tasked Septem with quelling a rebellion. Throughout this process, Septem would encounter a great danger in his dream, and only through Nicole's intervention would he be saved. The ending was intended to have Septem burn to death as a heretic.

This narrative snippet suggests the possibility of another 1-2 chapters in the original drafts that were potentially cut due to time or financial constraints. This might explain the rush ending of the game and the unusual concentration of MWs in the latter part of the game

Sources (Chinese website):
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/24971130
https://kknews.cc/zh-tw/game/kx5j2mb.html