Persona monosword

For the non-persona variant of this weapon, see Monosword.

The persona monosword is a DLC melee weapon added by the Royalty DLC that does a large amount of damage, has a fairly short cooldown, and deals sharp damage, it also boasts one of the highest armor penetration values for melee weapons in the game. It is the persona weapon variant of the monosword.

It has a great advantage against armored targets and cause opponents to bleed out fairly quickly as the persona monosword lops off limbs with fair ease.

Acquisition

Persona monoswords cannot be crafted. Instead, they can be purchased from any combat supplier or war merchant, at Empire faction bases, or obtained as a quest reward.

They can also be found on the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Imperial Citizen	?	?	100%
Stellic Warden	?	Excellent	100%
Knight/Dame	?	Excellent	100%
Praetor	?	Excellent	100%
Baron/Baroness	?	Excellent	100%
Count/Countess	?	Excellent	100%
Duke/Duchess	?	Excellent	100%
Consul	?	Excellent	100%
Stellarch	?	Excellent	100%

Summary

Persona mechanics

Main article: Persona weapon

Persona weapons form a psychic bond with the first wielder that equips them. The weapon must be destroyed for a wielder to bond to another persona weapon. Without the Freewielder trait, the wielder must die for the weapon to be held by another. The bond remains broken if the wielder is resurrected, though they can relink with the weapon. When bonded, persona weapons have no value, both for trade and for the purposes of raid points.

Each individual persona weapon has randomly generated custom name, and a certain combination of traits, listed in #Persona traits.

Persona weapons are also superior to their baseline versions in terms of combat.

Combat

Unlike other ultratech weapons, the monosword has no special mechanics. Instead it simply has excellent stats, coupled with an extraordinarily high AP for its Point and Edge attacks. Namely it has a base AP of 90%, as opposed to the 41% that would be automatically calculated from weapon damage. The AP still scales with quality, but does not scale with the Weak or Strong Melee Damage genes.

Analysis

The persona monosword is the most powerful melee weapon in the game, arguably the best overall, and a complete upgrade to regular monosword. With 90% AP on its main attack, a normal persona monosword will completely pierce any mechanoid's hide, and pretty much ignore power armor up to recon and poor marine.

A normal persona plasmasword is actually stronger for DPS against unarmored targets, thanks to the flame proc. In addition, the fire will often cause attackers to stop attacking. However, the complete lack of AP on the fire attack, lower AP overall, and the fact that many enemies are immune to fire often make the plasmasword a weaker choice. In addition, the fire can be actively harmful when holding a chokepoint, as it allows enemies to run past your colonists.

The persona zeushammer uses blunt damage. As most enemies in the game will have a higher Sharp % armor than Blunt, the hammer could theoretically be better against heavily armored targets. But, as the sword's AP is already so high, it would take cataphract armor or good marine armor for a normal zeushammer to match a normal monosword. This level of armor is only frequently seen in lategame empire raids.
- While the zeushammer's EMP can be useful, it can also be counterproductive. The stun time is very short, but causes the same amount of adaptation against mechs, preventing EMP grenades or other EMP weapons from actually stunning.

It is worth noting that melee in general starts to suffer in the late-game, namely if you're playing on the hardest difficulties. Usually, only 3 combatants can melee an enemy at a time, but dozens of ranged fighters can shoot at a time. Plus, melee combatants are much more likely to get hurt in battle. Don't expect your 20 melee nimble brawler to handle a raid of 200 tribals.

The persona monosword has a special effect on verb (i.e, attack) selection at the highest qualities. The massive increase in effective damage means that, if a melee weapon is desired as a relic, then the persona monosword is easily the strongest choice. See below for details.

Melee verb selection at high quality

Attack table

Feature	Toggle
Attacks

Persona monosword			Handle (Blunt)					Point (Stab)					Edge (Cut)					Human: Left & right fist (Blunt)					HP	Value
Quality	DPS^[1]	AP^[1]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	HP	Value
Awful	11.63	57.6%	9.6	1.6s	14.4%	6	25%	21.6	1.6s	72%	13.5	37.5%	21.6	1.6s	72%	13.5	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 0%	100	1500
Poor	13.08	64.8%	10.8	1.6s	16.2%	6.75	25%	24.3	1.6s	81%	15.19	37.5%	24.3	1.6s	81%	15.19	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 0%	100	2250
Normal	14.53	72%	12	1.6s	18%	7.5	25%	27	1.6s	90%	16.88	37.5%	27	1.6s	90%	16.88	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 0%	100	3000
Good	15.98	79.2%	13.2	1.6s	19.8%	8.25	25%	29.7	1.6s	99%	18.56	37.5%	29.7	1.6s	99%	18.56	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 0%	100	3500
Excellent	17.44	86.4%	14.4	1.6s	21.6%	9	25%	32.4	1.6s	108%	20.25	37.5%	32.4	1.6s	108%	20.25	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 0%	100	4000
Masterwork	24.47	130.5%	17.4	1.6s	26.1%	10.88	0%	39.15	1.6s	130.5%	24.47	50%	39.15	1.6s	130.5%	24.47	50%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 0%	100	5000
Legendary	27.84	148.5%	19.8	1.6s	29.7%	12.38	0%	44.55	1.6s	148.5%	27.84	50%	44.55	1.6s	148.5%	27.84	50%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 0%	100	6000

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality.}

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the wielder if the weapon is wielded by some other than a baseline human.
↑ Chance for attack to be selected, assuming the weapon is wielded by a baseline human. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder

Persona traits

Persona weapons have individual traits to reflect their individual personalities. Each weapon will have one or two traits. Some traits are good, some are bad, some are just different. Traits affect the weapon's market value, so a weapon with a negative trait will be cheaper. The traits are:

Trait name	Description	Effects	Value	Exclusivity	Commonality
Psychic hypersensitizer	This weapon amplifies the wielder's psychic sensitivity by 40%. This only applies while the weapon is held.	+40% Psychic Sensitivity	0	Other Psychic Sensitivity Modifiers	0.75
Psychic sensitizer	This weapon amplifies the wielder's psychic sensitivity by 20%. This only applies while the weapon is held.	+20% Psychic Sensitivity	0	Other Psychic Sensitivity Modifiers	0.75
Psychic quiet	This weapon suppresses the wielder's psychic sensitivity by 15%. This only applies while the weapon is held.	−15% Psychic Sensitivity	0	Other Psychic Sensitivity Modifiers	0.75
Psychic fog	This weapon suppresses the wielder's psychic sensitivity by 30%. This only applies while the weapon is held.	−30% Psychic Sensitivity	0	Other Psychic Sensitivity Modifiers	0.75
Kind thoughts	This weapon's persona is kind and supportive. It whispers kind thoughts to whoever it is bonded with, increasing their mood.	+6 <NAME>'s kind thoughts mood^{[When equipped?]}	+500	Other Bonded Thought Traits Freewielder	1
Calm thoughts	This weapon's persona is relaxed and steady. It whispers calming thoughts to whoever it is bonded with, increasing their mood.	+3 <NAME>'s calm thoughts mood^{[When equipped?]}	+300	Other Bonded Thought Traits Freewielder	1
Mad muttering	This weapon's persona is neurotic and unstable. It mutters mad thoughts to whoever it is bonded with, reducing their mood.	−3 <NAME>'s muttering mood^{[When equipped?]}	-500	Other Bonded Thought Traits Freewielder	1
Mad wailing	This weapon's persona is highly disturbed and won't shut up about it. It wails mad notions to whoever it is bonded with, suppressing their mood.	−6 <NAME>'s wailing mood^{[When equipped?]}	-1000	Other Bonded Thought Traits Freewielder	1
Kill-focused	This weapon's persona focuses on deaths. If the weapon kills someone, the wielder will instantly gain 20% psyfocus.	Instantly gain +20% psyfocus on killing another pawn, including humans, animals, and mechanoids.	+500	Kill Thought Traits	1
Kill-happy	This weapon's persona loves to kill. If this weapon kills someone, its joy will transmit psychically to the wielder, making them happier for a few days.	+6 <NAME>'s kill happiness mood for 3 days after killing a pawn.^[Details]	+500	Other Kill Thought Traits	1
Kill-sorrow	This weapon's persona hates killing. If this weapon kills someone, its sorrow will transmit psychically to the wielder, reducing their mood for a few days.	−3 <NAME>'s kill sorrow mood for 3 days after killing a pawn.^[Details]	-500	Other Kill Thought Traits	1
Kill thirst	This weapon's persona find purpose in bloodshed. If it does not kill for 20 days, it will become angry and psychically complain to whoever is bonded to it.	−3 <NAME>'s kill thirst mood after 20 days without killing a pawn.^[Details]	-700	Kill Thought Traits Traits Freewielder	1
Psy-meditative	This weapon's persona is naturally meditative and helps its wielder focus in psychic meditation. The wielder gains an extra 10% psyfocus per day of meditation, as long as the weapon is held.	+10% psyfocus gain rate	+500	None	1
Painless	This weapon's persona has some method of psychically disabling pain. The one holding the weapon will feel no pain of any kind.	Psychic Painlessness: Pain is disabled by the psychic influence of a wielded weapon. 0x Pain multiplier	+400	None	1
Fast mover	This weapon's persona has a sense of motion. It confers this onto the wielder, making them move 15% faster as long as the weapon is held.	Psychic Speed: Movement is sped up by the psychic influence of a wielded weapon. +15% Moving	+600	None	1
Hunger pangs	This weapon's persona loves food, and transmits that onto whoever bonds with it. The bonded person's hunger rate will be 50% higher.	Psychic Hunger: Hunger is increased by the psychic influence of a bonded weapon. +50% Hunger Rate Factor	-600	None	1
Neural cooling	This weapon's persona has the ability to help dissipate the wielder's neural heat. The wielder's neural heat dissipation is improved by 0.15 per second.	Assisted neural cooling: Neural heat dissipation is improved by the psychic influence of a bonded weapon. +0.15/s Neural Heat Recovery Rate	+500	None	1
Freewielder	This weapon's persona does not form bonds in the normal way. Anyone can pick it up and use it.	Does not bond	0		1
Jealous	This weapon's persona becomes angry when the bonded individual uses another weapon, thus reducing their mood.	−15 <NAME>'s jealousy mood when a weapon other than the bonded weapon is equipped.	-600	Freewielder	1

Version history

Royalty DLC release - Addedas Linked monosword.
1.1.2647 - Linked monoswords renamed to persona monoswords and no longer damaged relations with the Empire without the necessary titles. Previously, a title of Knight or Dame was required.
1.2.2719 - Persona monosword damage reduced from 29 to 27.

Weapons