When it comes to smiting your foes in Code Vein II you have options… granted most of the time you’ll be hitting enemies with light attacks and heavy attacks using whatever weapon(s) you have equipped, but in addition to your weapon’s base attack you can use various Weapon Formae, which we’ll colloquially refer to as “weapon skills”. These weapon skills come in various forms and are customizable - this page will cover how Weapon Formae work in Code Vein II, including how to equip them, how to acquire new Weapon Formae, and how to avoid the pitfalls of Formae Builds.
Page Breakdown¶
(1 of 3) Touch a Mistile and pick the option to “Customize Weapon” to edit the weapon skills on your weapons.
Equipping and Using Weapon Formae¶
Weapon Formae (aka weapon skills) are special abilities that you can use to buff, heal, cast spells or perform special attacks. Most weapons have one or two innate weapon skills and can have up to four weapon skills equipped at once. To change weapon skills, interact with a Mistle and pick the option “Customize Weapon”, then select the desired weapon. You will then get a menu with four weapon skill slots into which various weapon skills can be equipped, and these are mapped to 
+ 
. To use them in combat hold and press the assigned button, but keep in mind that using a weapon skill consumes Ichor.
Weapon Formae come in several types, as follows:
- Combat Formae: Special offensive attacks using the equipped weapon. Uses weapon stats and attributes to determine damage.
- Short/Mid-Range Magic: A special magical attack, damage scales off Mind and Willpower.
- Long-Range Magic: A special magical attack, damage scales off Mind and Willpower.
- Offensive Support: A buff that increases your offensive stats.
- Defensive Support: A buff that increases your defensive stats.
- Other: Usually modifies some other aspect of gameplay - reducing Stamina costs, noise, sprint speed, etc.
In the case of “Combat Formae”, the weapon skill is integral to the weapon equipped, while other Weapon Formae just use the weapon as a vehicle. Some Weapon Formae can only be equipped on certain weapons, while others are universal. Adrenaline, which “Temporarily boosts your attack power” can be put on any weapon, while Piercing Leap can only be equipped to halberd-class weapons.
Each weapon skill and weapon has Formae Build stats - you must keep the value of equipped weapon skills below the Formae Build numbers on the chosen weapon.
Weapon Formae Builds¶
Another potential restriction to equipping Weapon Formae are you “Weapon Formae Build”. A weird name, but basically each weapon has four stats that determine what types of Weapon Formae can be equipped: Reliability, Handling, Conversion and Conductivity. While this is a broad generalization, Combat Formae tend to require Reliability and Handling, Short/Mid-Range Magic requires Reliability and Conversion, Long-Range Magic requires Handling and Conductivity, while Buffs and Other Weapon Formae tend to require Conversion. In other words, if you want a lot of spells, you’ll need a weapon with a lot of Conversion and Conductivity, while for offensive weapon skills you’ll want Reliability and Handling.
Different weapons have different amounts of these four stats, and while you can massage these numbers by transforming weapons, the base weapon is the most determinative factor when it comes to how many points each weapon will have in these four categories of Weapon Formae Builds. That said, most weapons have at least a few points in each category - usually enough to equip at least one or two weapon skills of a specific type.
It should go without saying, but each weapon skill will have different Weapon Formae Build costs, and if the weapon doesn’t have enough points in a category, that weapon skill simply cannot be equipped - no overburden shenanigans here.
(1 of 3) You can find new Weapon Formae by finding them, either in chests, as drops from enemies or by looting golden loot,
Obtaining New Weapon Formae¶
New Weapon Formae can be obtained in various ways - they can be found as treasure (defeat bosses, open chests or pick up large gold pickups) or purchased from [Jadwiga and her Minions]. Weapon Formae can be equipped and removed from weapons freely, but you can only equip Weapon Formae you possess, and if you, say, want the same Weapon Formae in a different weapon, you’ll need a redundant copy of said Weapon Formae or you’ll need to remove it from the weapon it’s already in.
Fortunately you can stretch your Weapon Formae stock a bit by expending resources. Interact with a Mistle and pick the option “Duplicate Weapon Formae” and you can expend Worn Coins to duplicate a Weapon Formae you already possess.
Be sure to check out the Weapon Formae on new weapons as you find them, and equip Weapon Formae on your favorite gear! Just having an attack or defense buff on your favorite weapon can be a good way to enhance combat prowess without having to mess with your playstyle… but you should also test our new Weapon Formae as you find them just in case there’s a Combat Formae or type of Magic you fancy! Gotta spend all that Ichor somewhere, right?
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