Levelable Weapons
Banes World features a custom Item Level System that allows certain weapons and shields to gain experience, level up, and become more powerful over time. Unlike regular loot, these items grow with you — the more you fight, the stronger they become.
How It Works
Levelable weapons and shields gain experience as you fight while wearing them. Every time you deal damage to a creature, any levelable items you have equipped earn XP based on the target's stats. When enough XP accumulates, the item levels up and earns Skill Points (SP) that you can spend to improve its attributes.
Each levelable item has a Max Level that determines how far it can grow. All levelable weapons and shields start with a Max Level of 20. To increase the max level beyond 20, you'll need to obtain Level-Up Scrolls from the Ancient Blacksmith boss in Madon (see below). The absolute maximum is Level 200 — a long-term goal that requires dedicated farming but results in an extraordinarily powerful item.
Level-Up Rewards
Each time an item levels up, it earns 5 Skill Points. Every 10th level (level 10, 20, 30, etc.) the item earns double points (10 SP) as a bonus. This means over the course of leveling, your item accumulates a healthy pool of SP to customize however you want.
Checking Your Item
Single-click any levelable weapon or shield and select Item Level Info from the context menu. This opens the Item Experience Gump which shows:
- Max Level — the maximum level this item can reach.
- Experience — the item's current XP total.
- To Next Level — how much more XP is needed to reach the next level.
- Points (SP) — your available Skill Points to spend on upgrades.
Spending Skill Points
The Item Experience Gump has six attribute categories on the left side. Click any category to see the available upgrades on the right. Each upgrade shows its SP cost and its current value / maximum value.
Click the button next to any attribute to increase it by 1 point, spending the listed SP cost. Attributes that have reached their maximum will show in green and cannot be upgraded further.
Attribute Categories
| Category | What It Covers | Applies To |
|---|---|---|
| Melee Attributes | Attack and defense bonuses like Damage Increase, Hit Chance Increase, Defense Chance Increase, Weapon Speed | Weapons & Shields |
| Magic Attributes | Spell Damage Increase, Faster Casting, Faster Cast Recovery, Lower Mana Cost, Lower Reagent Cost, Mana Regeneration | Weapons & Shields |
| Character Stats | Bonus Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Hit Point/Stamina/Mana Increase | Weapons & Shields |
| Resistances | Physical, Fire, Cold, Poison, Energy resistance bonuses | Shields only |
| Weapon Hits | Hit effects like Hit Lightning, Hit Fireball, Hit Life Leech, Hit Mana Leech, Hit Lower Attack/Defense | Weapons only |
| Misc. Attributes | Durability, Luck, Reflect Physical Damage, Self Repair, Night Sight, and other utility bonuses | Weapons & Shields |
Building Your Item
There are no wrong choices, but having a plan helps you make the most of your SP. Some popular approaches:
- Pure damage — focus Damage Increase, Hit Chance Increase, and Weapon Speed for maximum DPS.
- Leeching — invest in Hit Life Leech, Hit Mana Leech, and Hit Stamina Leech for self-sustaining combat.
- Hybrid — balance offensive stats with defensive bonuses like Defense Chance Increase and resistances (on shields).
- Caster weapon — prioritize Spell Damage Increase, Faster Casting, Lower Mana Cost, and Mana Regeneration.
You can spend your points one at a time as you earn them, or save up and invest in bulk — it's entirely up to you.
Getting Levelable Items
The UO Store
Levelable weapons and shields are available for purchase in the UO Store using BW (Banes World Bucks). Access the store by typing [store or clicking the UO Store button at the top of your screen. You must be in a safe location (inn or house) to open the store.
See the Banes World Bucks page for details on earning BW through achievements, daily quests, and donations.
Level-Up Scrolls
Since all levelable items start at a Max Level of 20, Level-Up Scrolls are essential for unlocking their full potential. These scrolls increase an item's maximum level cap, and you can keep stacking them all the way up to the absolute cap of 200. Each scroll comes in a different value (+5, +10, +15, or +20 max levels) with higher values being rarer.
Getting from 20 to 200 takes commitment — that's 180 levels' worth of scrolls — but the SP payoff is massive. A fully maxed Level 200 weapon will have accumulated over 1,000 Skill Points to spend on attributes.
Level-Up Scrolls drop from Ragnar the Ancient Blacksmith — a champion boss located in Madon, north of Unblovia. Follow the road north to find him.
About the fight:
- Ragnar is a tough melee boss with 1600–2200 HP, high resists, lethal poison immunity, and auto-dispel. He uses Mortal Strike, Bleed Attack, and Armor Ignore weapon abilities.
- He is bard immune — no provoking or peacemaking.
- Upon death, Ragnar distributes 5 Level-Up Scrolls among all players who participated in the fight (dealt or received damage within the last 30 seconds).
- The scroll values are weighted by rarity: +5 is most common (~30%), +10 is uncommon (~30%), +15 is rare (~30%), and +20 is very rare (~10%).
- Ragnar also showers gold across the area on death — 500 to 1,000 gold per pile with fire and explosion visual effects.
Weapon Reset Deed
Made a mistake with your SP allocation? The Weapon Reset Deed strips all attribute upgrades from a levelable weapon and refunds all earned SP, giving you a clean slate to rebuild. The item keeps its level and max level — only the attribute investments are reset.
The deed sets the weapon back to its base state with 40 Damage Increase and 50 durability, then calculates the exact number of SP you earned across all your levels (accounting for the double-point bonus every 10th level) and returns them as available points. This deed is available in the UO Store.
NOTE: You will lose any added deeds you put on the weapon such as 1H deeds or self repair. Take this into consideration before you reset your weapon.
Training Your Items
In the Field
The most effective way to level items is simply to fight. Tougher creatures with higher stats yield more XP. Any levelable weapon or shield you have equipped will gain experience whenever you deal damage.
House Training Elemental
If you own a house and have placed a Training Elemental or if not, you can visit the training room. while fighting the Training Elemental your equipped items will also gain a small amount of experience while training on it. The rate is significantly reduced compared to field combat, but it adds up over time during AFK training sessions.
Items that have already reached their max level will not gain unnecessary experience from the training elemental.
Tips
- Every weapon starts at Max Level 20 — that's just the beginning. Farm Ragnar for Level-Up Scrolls to push toward the 200 cap. The difference between a level 20 and level 200 weapon is enormous.
- Farm Ragnar regularly. At +5 to +20 per scroll, it takes many kills to reach 200. Group up with other players to make the fights faster and share the scrolls.
- Save your SP for what matters. Spreading points thin across every category sounds appealing but usually results in a mediocre item. Pick 3–4 key attributes and max them.
- Shields benefit from Resistances. Don't overlook the Resistances category on shields — stacking elemental resists on a levelable shield can free up armor slots for other gear.
- Artifact items cost double. If you're on a budget with your SP, a non-artifact levelable weapon will stretch your points twice as far.
Quick Reference
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| SP per level | 5 SP (10 SP every 10th level) |
| Starting Max Level | 20 (all weapons and shields) |
| Absolute Max Level | 200 (via Level-Up Scrolls) |
| Where to buy | UO Store ([store) for BW
|
| Level-Up Scrolls | Ragnar the Ancient Blacksmith, Madon (north of Unblovia) |
| Reset item | Weapon Reset Deed |
| Item types | Weapons and Shields only |
| View item stats | Single-click → Item Level Info |