Weapons, shields and the Prisoner's Machete

This page groups the arsenal by how each family plays, with the picks friendliest for new players.

Prisoner's Machete: added in 1.0.4.2

The 29 October Hallowed Dungeon update adds the Prisoner's Machete and an accompanying moveset. It can be equipped in two hands. Try the supplied moveset before editing it, then use the move editor to adapt attacks to your spacing and preferred inputs.

The launch roster of 34 weapons is a historical count, not the complete current catalogue after this addition. A machete's name also does not supply a damage multiplier or tell you that a one-handed animation will work unchanged with a two-handed grip. Compare the actual move, grip and reach in your loadout instead of importing a numeric tier rating.

In the full game, the new weapon, Prisoner skin, Prisoner's Mask and Dungeon arena are permanent additions. In the demo, the Machete and its moveset are the extra rotating selection. The four existing demo movesets remain, with this rotation adding a fifth; it is not a replacement for one of them. Demo equipment remains locked, and skins and mods remain unavailable.

If a demo video shows an arena or moveset you can no longer choose, check the current rotation before treating it as an unlock problem. The developer says Dungeon cycles out at a later update, without announcing a fixed calendar expiry.

Official Hallowed Dungeon update.

Quick answers

How many weapons are in Gladio Mori?

The 1.0 launch roster had 34 weapons plus three shields and bare fists. The Hallowed Dungeon update adds the Prisoner’s Machete with its own moveset; use that addition alongside the launch weapon families below.

Are there weapon damage stats?

No. There are no damage numbers to compare — what decides a hit is geometry and physics: edge alignment, reach, speed and where the weapon lands on the body. That is why this page groups weapons by how they play instead of ranking them by a stat.

How do you pick up a weapon in Gladio Mori?

There is no pickup button: a weapon enters your grip when your hand makes contact with its handle. Map a fist strike (hammer fist) to an easy input, then strike with that hand right on the weapon — the community's working method maps Action 15 to the right stick.

What is the best weapon for a beginner?

A polearm: spear, halberd or guandao. Reach lets you threaten before you are threatened, and thrusts line up simply. Blunt weapons are the most forgiving on timing because stagger does not need a perfect edge angle; katana is the standard duelist default.

Do shields count as a weapon slot?

Three shields pair with your primary weapon rather than replacing it. They answer defense while your main hand answers damage, which is why mace-and-shield is the friendliest blunt setup.

The weapon families

Polearms and long reach

The safest weapons to learn the game with. Spears, halberds, naginatas and guandaos threaten from outside most opponents' range, and their thrust attacks are simple to line up.

• Spear — the purest reach weapon. Thrusts stab; keep moving and re-space after every attack.
• Halberd — reach plus chop. Heavier swings, harder to spam, rewards timing.
• Naginata — cutting polearm; good sweep angles for legs and arms.
• Guandao — added in the July 2026 update; a broad blade on a long shaft that punishes wide swings.

Swords and duelist blades

The middle range, where most fights actually happen.

• Gladius — short, fast, made for stabbing into the gaps. The namesake weapon is still one of the best teachers of range discipline.
• Katana — the classic duelist pick and the most common basic moveset in community tutorials; cutting angles on the arms and neck are its bread and butter.
• Longswords and the Zweihander — more reach and heavier cuts than the katana, at the cost of recovery speed; the Zweihander is the greatsword end of the family, with its own achievement asking for 20 kills.
• Short blades (sica and friends) — get inside and stay there; bleeding cuts at close range are their whole game.

Blunt weapons

Blunt damage cracks bones and staggers — the stagger lets you chain pressure without needing a perfect edge angle, which makes these the most forgiving weapons for new players.

• Mace & Shield — added alongside the kanabo in Early Access; a shield answers defense while the mace answers armor.
• Kanabo — a two-handed club that removes any doubt about whether a swing connected.
• Lucerne Hammer and other war hammers — picks and hammers that concentrate force; community players rate the Lucerne Hammer among the strongest picks for its stagger pressure. The mallet and pollaxe round out the family in the achievement list.
• Dane axe — the heavy axe option; slow, wide and terrifying when it lands.

Exotics and multi-part weapons

Twinblades, exotic one-offs and the community's favourite meme weapons live here — high skill floor, high highlight potential.

Shields and unarmed

Three shield options pair with your primary weapon, and unarmed (Pugilist) is a real playstyle, not a joke: fast punches with zero reach require you to fight entirely on footwork. It is genuinely harder to win with, but it teaches defensive timing faster than anything else. Patch 1.0.3.4 (October 1) reverses that September change: hammer fist is on Action 9, plus Action 2 in block stance. See the input sequence before rebuilding your setup around an older video.

How to pick

The current picks, by goal

"Best" in Gladio Mori is a moveset question as much as a weapon question — with no damage numbers, weapons are ranked by what their moveset reliably does. Our read (1.0.3.x):

• Strongest all-round pressure: Lucerne Hammer. Community players rate it among the strongest picks — its stagger chains keep the initiative without edge-perfect cuts.
• Best reach for learning: the polearm line (spear → halberd → guandao). Thrusts line up simply, and you fight outside most ranges.
• Best duelist default: katana. The most common moveset in tutorials; arms and neck on cut angles are its game.
• Most forgiving timing: blunt (mace, kanabo). Stagger does the work even when your angle is imperfect.
• The real "best moveset": your own build. Every weapon accepts a full replacement moveset — a bad weapon with a great moveset beats the reverse (move editor).
• Before copying an older video: patch 1.0.3.4 moved Pugilist's hammer fist to Action 9 (plus Action 2 in block stance) — current bindings on the controls page.

Re-test a moveset after the hotfix

For Pugilist, check the normal Action 9 hammer fist first, then the block-stance Action 2 version. Keep the same opponent and distance while comparing them, so a miss caused by reach does not look like a dead bind. The patch changes the moveset inputs; it does not publish new damage, reach or recovery values.

For Pollaxe, the September 17 patch adds a separate moveset and fixes the blade popping out of what it is cutting. Choose the matching moveset rather than assuming an older shared animation is still the default. Start with one attack and its recovery before combining several custom attacks.

Practice recommendation: select one weapon, test a thrust and a swing separately, then add movement. If you switch both weapon and custom moveset together, you cannot tell which change caused a missed strike. Carry a setup you can repeat into multiplayer.

Sources: 1.0.3.4 and 1.0.2.1 Pollaxe changes. Patch status checked October 4, 2026.