Characters in Dragon Age: Origins have access to a wide variety of weapons. While characters may hit an opponent without a weapon, this will do little damage and there is no opportunity to specialise in unarmed combat.
Most weapons receive a bonus to damage based on the character's strength and there are strength requirements for weapons. Some piercing weapons (daggers, bows, etc.) receive a bonus from strength and dexterity. Weapons have a stat called armor penetration, which determines the amount of armor they can ignore. Any character is capable of holding two weapons at a time, but without the dual-wielding talents, they will not be proficient in their use. Additionally, higher quality weapons can be upgraded with runes, which confer offensive benefits such as additional damage or damage types, or grant defensive bonuses to the character. While they have constant effect while equipped on the weapon, they can be swapped in-and-out at the player's choice by Sandal at the party camp.
Battleaxes: Moderate damage, and slowest attack speed for two-handed melee. Has the best criticals, but only average armor penetration (AP).
Greatswords: High damage output, but average AP and critical chance. The fastest two-handed weapon.
Mauls: Lowest damage of the two-handed weapons, but best AP. Also has the best attribute modifier bonus. The attack speed is faster than battleaxes but slower than greatswords.
Weapon
Greatsword
Maul
Battle Axe
Damage
11
9
10
Attribute
100% STR
100% STR
100% STR
Attribute modifier
110%
125%
110%
Armor penetration
3
7
3
Speed modifier
0
0.05
0.1
Critical chance
1.5%
0.5%
3.0%
Base prereq
STR 18
STR 18
STR 18
One-handed melee weapons[]
Daggers: Low damage output with high critical strike. Has the fastest attack speed possible for a one-handed melee weapon. Rivals Maces in terms of AP.
Waraxes: High damage output with low AP, but benefits from the highest attribute modifier boost of one handed melee weapons. Has the same attack speed as a longsword but is faster than a mace.
Longswords: These have high damage potential with high damage variance and low AP value
Maces: These have moderate damage potential with moderate damage variance and high AP value. Has the slowest attack speed.