AncientsWiki

Melee weapons carry their own enchant lists — some that only work on a sword, some that only work on an axe, and a big shared pool that fits either. They roll from the Wormhole and apply from Enchant Orbs like every other enchant; this page covers what each weapon line does and what's new in Season 2.

Every sword & axe enchant

Some enchants only fit a sword, some only an axe, and a large shared pool fits either — the Slot column says which. A few (Bleed, Monster Hunter, Detonate, Lucky, Hardened) are shared with bows, wands or armour and are listed on those pages too.

Enchant Rarity Max Slot Exactly what it does
Scorch Elite 4 Sword 7% chance to proc on hit. On proc: fire burst for 110% of weapon base damage per level (up to 440% at L4). Also sets target on fire for 2-4s (fire DoT, no iframes).
Frostblade Ultimate 3 Sword 0.78%/level chance to proc on hit. On proc: Slowness I (II at L2+) on the enemy. Lasts 2s + 1s/level after L1 (up to 4s at L3).
Lightning Legendary 4 Sword 7% chance to proc on hit. On proc: lightning bolt smites the enemy for 137.5% of weapon base damage per level (up to 550% at L4). Bypasses iframes.
Lifesteal Legendary 5 Sword Works on every hit (no proc). 1.5% of damage dealt Leeched as Life per level (7.5% at L5). Leech heals over time, up to 1 HP per second from all Leech sources combined.
Swordsman Elite 5 Sword Not a proc: always active. 2% increased damage per level vs enemies holding an axe (10% at L5). Bonus is additive to your hit damage.
Weakness Legendary 6 Axe 5% chance to proc on hit. On proc: victim takes 8.33% more damage per level (50% more at L6) for 4s.
Bleed Ultimate 3 Axe, Bow 12% chance to proc on hit. On proc: bleed 1s per level (up to 3s at L3). Each 1s tick deals 150% of weapon base damage. Doesn't stack. Bypasses iframes; can't proc other enchants.
Axeman Elite 5 Axe Not a proc: always active. 2% increased damage per level vs enemies holding a sword (10% at L5). Bonus is additive to your hit damage.
Bloodlust Legendary 6 Axe Not a proc: always active. 10% increased damage per level vs bleeding targets (60% at L6). Bonus is additive. Pairs with Bleed.
Frenzy Legendary 4 Sword, Axe No proc: builds a damage combo. 3% increased damage per hit per level, stacking each consecutive hit (capped at 100%). Combo resets when you take damage; new target/weapon resets it.
Famine Elite 3 Sword, Axe 2.5% per level to proc (7.5% at L3). On proc: drains 1 hunger and applies Hunger I to the target for 3s.
Trap Legendary 4 Sword, Axe 0.78% base proc chance + 0.39% per level. On proc: enemy cannot move for 1s per level. Max level: 4.
Silence Godly 5 Sword 0.05%/level to proc (0.5% at L5). On proc: blocks target's defensive enchant procs for 2s + 0.4s/level (4s at L5). Cooldown 10s.
Berserk Legendary 5 Axe 1.75%/level to proc (11.25% at L5). On proc: 6.5% increased damage per level (32.5% at L5), added to your damage with other enchants. Lasts 3s; gives you Confusion. Cooldown 5s.
Pummel Ultimate 3 Sword, Axe 12% chance to proc on hit. On proc: hurls 2 nearby blocks per level (6 at L3), each dealing 167.35% of weapon base. Block hits cannot proc other enchants.
Perfect Strike Legendary 5 Sword, Axe 6%/level to proc (30% at L5). On proc: ignores the target's defensive enchants for this hit and procs it triggers same tick. Bypasses only custom defenses (Tank, Armoured, Titan Blood, Last Stand, Tough Skin, etc.), not vanilla armor.
Execute Ultimate 4 Sword, Axe No proc: always active on low life. When the target is on low life (below 50% HP), this hit deals 6% increased damage per level (24% at L4).
Nemesis Elite 2 Sword, Axe +10% damage per level for each enemy you are outnumbered by, and -10% per level for each foe you outnumber. Capped at 30% per level (up to 60% at level 2). Counts the largest single enemy gang within 48 blocks, minus your nearby gang.
Deep Wounds Elite 3 Axe Extends your Bleed duration by 1s per level (+3s at L3). No effect without Bleed on the axe. Bonus is capped at the base Bleed duration (max doubles it).
Lucky Legendary 3 Any armour + Pickaxe, Sword, Axe, Wand, Bow 10% increased proc rate per level for enchants on THIS item (Feed, Shatter, Super Breaker, Shard Discovery, Transfuse, weapon procs, etc.). Caps at level 4 (up to 40% increased). Each piece's Lucky boosts only its own procs. Pickaxes, gear, weapons and bows; Lvl 4 via orb only.
Hardened Ultimate 3 Any armour + Sword, Axe The item lasts longer: 125% more effective durability per level (up to 375% more at L3). Applies per piece.
Electrocution Elite 3 Sword 7% chance to proc on hit. On proc: lightning hits target, then chains to 1 more enemy per extra level (3 enemies total at L3). Each target takes 360% of weapon base damage. Chains within 8 blocks; armour applies.
Molecular Harvester Elite 3 Sword 2.6%/level chance on hit (7.81% at L3) to repair each armour piece by 0.33%/level of its max durability (1% at L3).
Monster Hunter Elite 5 Sword, Axe, Wand, Bow 10% more damage/level (50% more at L5) to shades, wraiths, and Erebus Guards. Does NOT affect bosses, cell guards, or stationary guards.
Dominate Ultimate 3 Sword Flat 3.9% chance on hit, at any level, to weaken your enemy: they deal 12%/level less damage (up to 36%, 50% cap) for 3s.
Enrage Ultimate 3 Sword, Axe Deal more damage the closer to death. Active below 40% HP; grows as HP falls. Up to 20% increased damage/level at near-zero HP (60% at L3).
Solitude Legendary 3 Sword Adds +10% per level (+30% at L3) to Silence's proc chance. Requires Silence on the same sword to do anything.
Fearless Ultimate 3 Sword, Axe Damage scales with range to target. Within 0.5 blocks: +15%/level (+45% at L3). Beyond 3 blocks: -6%/level (-18% at L3). Scales smoothly between. Always active, no proc.
Rejuvenate Ultimate 3 Axe 2.6%/level chance on hit (up to 7.81% at L3). On proc: repair all worn armour by 0.33%/level of max durability (up to 1% at L3).
Poison Uncommon 3 Sword 5.5% chance to poison on hit. Poison deals 296.4% of weapon base damage per second (reduced by armour), for 1s/level (up to 3s at L3).
Cannibalism Uncommon 4 Sword, Axe, Wand 2% + 2%/level to proc. On proc: restore 1 hunger/level (up to 4 at L4) and +1 saturation/level (up to 4 at L4).
Fling Elite 3 Sword 2%/level to proc (6% at L3). On proc: launches the target upward with 0.6 velocity per level (more at higher levels).
Daze Common 3 Sword, Axe 0.78% + 0.39%/level to proc. On proc: jerks the target's view (confusion) for 0.01s per level (0.03s at L3).
Detonate Godly 5 Sword, Axe, Wand, Bow 10% + 5%/level chance, on a kill, to explode the corpse for 25% of its max health to nearby enemies within 3.5 blocks. Mobs killed by the blast can chain-explode. The blast is base damage — it scales with your damage bonuses.
Injury Elite 3 Axe Hitting a player stacks a slow (0.6% per stack per level, up to 5 stacks). Up to 9% slower at L3. Refreshes on hit; fades after 4s, or instantly if they hit you back.
Sunder Godly 5 Axe Hits shred the target's defence: they take 2% + 0.5%/level more damage per stack from everyone, up to 5 stacks (22.5% more at L5). Each hit refreshes the shred; falls off after 5s without a hit.
Judgment Godly 5 Sword On a critical strike, call down a bolt of judgment — AoE lightning dealing +50%/level of the hit (up to 250% at L5) to the target and all enemies within 4 blocks.
Melee Splash Godly 5 Sword, Axe Melee hits splash 10% + 4%/level (up to 30% at L5) of their damage to enemies within 2.5 blocks. Splash hits can't crit and can't re-splash.

New in Season 2

Nemesis (Sword / Axe: Elite, Wormhole)

An underdog enchant. You deal more damage the more you're outnumbered, and less when you outnumber your foes — built to reward fighting up against a stacked side rather than ganking. Rolls from the Wormhole at Elite rarity.

Sunder (Axe: Godly)

Your hits shred the target's defence, so they take more damage from everyone — not just you. Each stack is 2% + 0.5% per level more damage taken, up to 5 stacks, for 22.5% more at L5. Every hit refreshes the shred, and it falls off after 5 seconds without one. A strong opener to set up focus-fire in PvP and gang fights.

Injury (Axe: Elite)

Hits on a player stack a movement slow0.6% per stack per level, up to 5 stacks, so up to 9% slower at L3. Each hit refreshes the stacks; they fade after 4 seconds without a re-hit, or instantly if the target hits you back.

Rebalances & changes

Berserk

Rebalanced toward bigger, rarer spikes. The proc chance was halved (now ~11% at L5, down from ~22.5%), and the on-proc buff was bumped to 6.5% increased damage per level — up to 32.5% increased damage at L5 when it fires.

Poison

The tooltip now reads "reduced by armour." This is a wording fix only — Poison always was reduced by armour, and its damage is unchanged.

Monster Hunter

Monster Hunter now works on every enemy that is not a player — bosses, cell guards and stationary guards included, not just shades, wraiths and Erebus Guards. It is also increased damage rather than more damage on every weapon, so it sums into your increased-damage pool instead of multiplying on top of it. Melee gains it as a pool source; wands and bows lose it as a separate multiplier.

Damage-over-time stacking

Ailments no longer pile up without limit:

  • Ignite and Bleed do not stack. A new proc replaces the live one only if it is stronger, refreshing its timer; a weaker re-proc is ignored.
  • Venom stacks up to 3 times on a target. At the cap, a new proc replaces the shortest-remaining stack.

Detonate (Godly)

Detonate works on swords, axes, wands and bows. On a kill it has a 10% + 5% per level chance (35% at L5) to explode the corpse for 25% of its maximum health to everything within 3.5 blocks, and mobs killed by the blast can chain-explode up to 3 deep. The blast is base damage, so it scales with your damage bonuses and can crit.

The Godly melee enchants

Five Godly enchants land on swords and axes, all of them from Mystery Godly Enchant Orbs. Judgment, Melee Splash and Detonate are new to the pool this map — they used to be dungeon drops.

Enchant Weapon What it does
Judgment Sword On a critical strike, call down a bolt of judgment: AoE lightning for +50% of the hit per level (up to 250% at L5) to the target and every enemy within 4 blocks.
Melee Splash Sword & Axe Melee hits splash 10% + 4% per level of their damage (30% at L5) to enemies within 2.5 blocks. Splash hits can't crit and can't re-splash.
Detonate Sword, Axe, Wand & Bow See above.
Silence Sword Chance on hit to cut the target off from their enchants for 2s + 0.4s per level.
Sunder Axe Stacking defence shred; see above.

Judgment, Melee Splash and Detonate all widen with Area of Effect from jewels. Area of Effect increases the area, so the radius grows by the square root of the increase — 20% more area is roughly 9.5% more radius.

Leech: healing from the damage you deal

Every "heal from damage dealt" effect in the game is now Leech, and they all share one budget.

  • Lifesteal (Sword, Legendary) Leeches 1.5% of damage dealt per level7.5% at L5. Its old flat heal components are gone.
  • Leech does not heal you instantly. It banks into a pool that drains into you at up to 1 HP per second, across all your Leech sources combined.
  • Leeching faster than the cap can drain banks up to 6 HP, which keeps trickling in at the capped rate.
  • The bank empties the moment you reach full health, and clears on death.
  • Leech is not reduced against NPCs or bosses any more. The per-second cap replaced every old PvE and boss healing penalty.
  • Enchant procs and damage over time Leech too — Lightning, Scorch, Electrocution, Pummel, Bleed, Poison, Soul Rot, Forge Heat and Thanatos' Decay all count.

Other Leech sources you may already carry: the Orb of Moros implicit, the Olympian weapon trim, the Skipstone wand trim, of Vampirism and of the Bloodletter jewels, and the Wraithheart's Soul Siphon.

Devour has been removed from the game.

Going deeper

Weapon enchants are only half of your combat kit — pair them with Armour Combat Enchants. To pull an enchant back off a weapon, see Removing & Moving Enchants.

Version history

v3.0.0

  • Soul Eater, Detonate, Judgment, Melee Splash, Spell Echo, Chain, Earthquake and Phantom Beam are now Godly enchants and roll from Mystery Godly Enchant Orbs.
  • Detonate blasts now deal their own damage on a sword or axe, as a share of the dead enemy's maximum health.
  • Melee Splash now splashes the intended share of your hit.
  • Monster Hunter now works on every enemy that is not a player, and grants increased damage instead of more damage on every weapon.
  • Healing from dealing damage is now Leech: Lifesteal Leeches 1.5% of damage dealt per level (7.5% at L5), banked and drained at up to 1 HP per second across all your Leech sources, with a 6 HP bank.
  • Leech is no longer reduced against NPCs and bosses — the per-second cap replaced every PvE and boss healing penalty.
  • Devour has been removed from the game.
  • Ignite and Bleed no longer stack; a stronger proc replaces the live one. Venom stacks up to 3 times.
  • Injury's slow is now 0.6% per stack per level, up to 9% at L3.
  • Sunder now shreds 2% + 0.5% per level per stack, for 22.5% more damage taken at L5.
  • Critical strike damage is now worded +X% to Critical Strike Multiplier everywhere.

v2.0.0

  • New enchant Nemesis (Sword / Axe, Elite) — deal more damage the more you're outnumbered.
  • New Godly enchant Sunder (Axe), stacking defence shred, up to 20% more damage taken at L5.
  • New enchant Injury (Axe, Elite), stacking movement slow, up to 30% at L3.
  • Berserk rebalanced — proc chance halved (~11% at L5) with a stronger 6.5%-per-level buff (up to 32.5% increased damage at L5).
  • Detonate extended to swords and axes with chain-explosions; corpse-explosion damage now scales with your bonuses, can crit, and has a new arcane-burst visual.
  • Poison tooltip corrected to "reduced by armour" (no damage change).
Last updated 7d ago