Ability weight — Five Blades Wiki

Four numbers multiplied

An ability's weight is the product of four factors. None of them cancels out: a cheap ability is cheap on all of them, and the most expensive one in the game is expensive on all of them at once.

weight = trigger × effect × magnitude × target

and magnitude = the ability's number × scaler

triggerwhen the ability fires, and how often

effectwhat it does — hit, heal, poison…

targethow many bodies it reaches, and which ones

scalerthe “per ally”, “per Elf”…

The yardstick is a body: 108

It's the damage an average hero deals in one battle just by attacking, with no ability at all. An ability of 30 is worth a bit more than a quarter of that; one of 108 doubles the hero.

The scale

Build an ability on the left, pick passives on the right. The scale tells you which side weighs more.

Ability

Trigger

Effect

Target

Scaler

Number

24.0weight

=

Passives

0weight

no passive chosen

Pick passives to compare.

Typical abilities, and what they're worth in passives

Real abilities from the game, from cheapest to most expensive, with the basket of passives that weighs the same.

Ability	weight	roughly worth	basket weight
`Crit → Hit → RandomEnemy` flat value · number 6	6.0	less than the cheapest passive	—
`Spawn → Hit → RandomEnemy` flat value · number 6	6.0	less than the cheapest passive	—
`Atk → Hit → RandomEnemy` flat value · number 3	9.0	Focus	9
`Spawn → GainArmor → Self` flat value · number 2	12.0	Ruthless	10
`Death → SummonAlly → Self` flat value · number 0	12.0	Ruthless	10
`ArmorBreaks → Sap → FrontEnemy` flat value · number 2	15.8	Deadeye	15
`AllyDeath → BuffAtkTemporary → Self` flat value · number 2	16.0	Deadeye	15
`Spawn → Heal → LowestHPAlly` flat value · number 10	17.6	Bladesmith	18
`Atk → Burn → RandomEnemy` flat value · number 1	18.0	Bladesmith	18
`Spawn → GiveTemporaryPassiveAbility → RandomSameSpecies` grants Lifesteal	24.0	Taunt	24
`Spawn → Stun → RandomEnemy` flat value · number 0	30.0	Bloodlust	30
`Spawn → Burn → ThreeRandomEnemy` flat value · number 2	33.6	Taunt + Ruthless	34
`Spawn → BuffAtkAndHPTemporary → AllOtherAllies` flat value · number 1	40.0	Evasion + Fortify	40
`Atk → GainArmor → Self` flat value · number 3	54.0	Bloodlust + Taunt	54
`ReceiveDamage → GainSpike → Self` flat value · number 2	60.0	Double Tap	60
`GainRage → BuffStamina → Self` flat value · number 1	60.0	Double Tap	60
`Atk → Poison → AllEnemies` flat value · number 1	69.0	Double Tap + Focus	69
`Atk → GainRage → Self` PerSameSpecies · number 1	84.0	Double Tap + Taunt	84
`ReceiveDamage → GainRage → Self` flat value · number 4	120.0	Double Tap + Stun	120
`GainArmor → GainSpike → Self` flat value · number 4	160.0	Double Tap + Stun + Resurrect	170
`EnemyBurn → BuffStamina → Self` flat value · number 2	240.0	Double Tap + Stun + Resurrect	170

The quick read

A trigger that fires all the time + an effect on every enemy is the most expensive combination in the game. EnemyBurn → BuffStamina → Self weighs 240.0 — Double Tap plus a Stun plus a Resurrect, in a single slot.

Table 1 — trigger

The more often a trigger fires — and the more fight is left after it — the more expensive it is. Spawn = 2 is the reference point: it fires once, at the start.

During battle

Trigger	weight
`AllyHeal`	30
`EnemySap`	24
`EnemyBurn`	20
`EnemyPoison`	20
`EnemySlow`	20
`EnemySilence`	16
`GainRage`	10
`GainArmor`	8
`Hurt`	8
`GainSpike`	8
`GainHealing`	8
`FrontAllyAtk`	7
`Atk`	6
`ApplyBurn`	6
`ApplyPoison`	6
`ApplySap`	6
`ApplySlow`	6
`ApplySilence`	6
`ReceiveDamage`	6
`AllyCrit`	5
`HealSelf`	5
`EnemyDeath`	4
`GainSlow`	3
`GainBurn`	3
`GainPoison`	3
`GainSap`	3
`Spawn`	2
`KillCharacter`	2
`AllyDeath`	2
`Crit`	2
`ArmorBreaks`	1.50
`LowHP`	1.50
`SpeciesAllyDeath`	1
`Death`	1
`Summon`	0.80

Outside battle — permanent bonus

They weigh more because the bonus stays for the rest of the run and doesn't depend on the enemy.

Trigger	weight
`BuyOthers`	36
`Roll`	36
`SellOthers`	27
`UseFood`	18
`BuyOthersOfSameSpecies`	15
`Merge`	15
`GainKey`	12
`BuySelf`	10
`SellOthersOfSameSpecies`	9
`SellSelf`	9

While — always on

Condition	weight
`whileWieldingMelee`	1.60
`whileAdjacentToSameSpecies`	1.50
`whileWieldingHeal`	1.40
`whileWieldingRanged`	1.30

Table 2 — effect

The weight is what one unit of the effect is worth, measured in damage from a Hit. The ability's number is the real amount — it does not grow with the hero's attack — so one Burn (which keeps ticking every 2 s until the fight ends) is worth three Hits, and one Heal is worth less than one Hit because overhealing is lost. Six effects ignore the ability's number — their weight is fixed. GiveTemporaryPassiveAbility is priced by the passive it grants: (trigger ÷ Spawn) × the passive's weight × target.

Effect	weight	uses the number?
`SummonAlly`	12	no
`Stun`	15	no
`Dispel`	4	no
`BuffAtkAndHP`	5	yes
`BuffAtkAndHPTemporary`	5	yes
`BuffAtk`	4	yes
`BuffAtkTemporary`	4	yes
`BuffStamina`	6	yes
`Burn`	3	yes
`Poison`	2.50	yes
`GainSpike`	5	yes
`GainHealing`	2	yes
`GainRage`	5	yes
`Sap`	5	yes
`Silence`	10	yes
`Slow`	5	yes
`BuffMaxHP`	2	yes
`BuffMaxHPTemporary`	2	yes
`Hit`	0.50	yes
`GainArmor`	3	yes
`Heal`	0.80	yes
`GivePassiveAbility`	1	no
`GiveTemporaryPassiveAbility`	passive	picks the passive
`GainGold`	0.70	yes
`BuffSellValue`	0.01	yes
`GainCritChance`	0.16	yes
`GainCritChanceTemporary`	0.16	yes
`SummonAllyDouble`	24	no

Tables 3 and 4 — target and scaler

The target table is a count of effective bodies. Self = 1 body = 1.00; a half-team subgroup reaches ~2.8 bodies, the whole team minus yourself reaches 4.00 and the full enemy team, 4.60. Excluding yourself costs −0.6 rather than −1.0, because you aren't always inside the group — which is why only the group family went up in the last pass: single-body targets didn't change.

The scaler is how many units the count yields on average: PerAlly is 4.0 because a full team has five bodies, most of them alive. None (and its old synonym AbsoluteValue) is the number with no count, worth 1.0 — the anchor. Until Sep 26, 2026 the table had a second column because every scaler also multiplied by a share of the hero's attack; that is gone, and the number on the card is the number the ability delivers.

Target

Target	weight
`AllAllies`	4.80
`AllEnemies`	4.60
`AllAlliesOfSpecies`	4.20
`AllSameSpecies`	4.20
`AllMeleeAllies`	4.20
`AllRangedAllies`	4.20
`AllOtherAllies`	4.00
`Everyone`	3.80
`AllOthersSameSpecies`	3.60
`AllOtherRangedAllies`	3.60
`AllHealerAllies`	3.60
`ThreeRandomAlly`	2.80
`ThreeRandomEnemy`	2.80
`ThreeRandomSameSpecies`	2.60
`SelfAndAdjacents`	2.60
`AllHurtAllies`	2.50
`OtherThreeRandomSameSpecies`	2.50
`FrontBack`	2.00
`TwoRandomEnemy`	1.90
`SelfAndFront`	1.80
`SelfAndBack`	1.80
`TwoRandomAlly`	1.80
`TwoRandomHurtAlly`	1.80
`TwoRandomAllyOfSpecies`	1.80
`TwoRandomMelee`	1.80
`TwoRandomRange`	1.80
`TwoRandomBurnedEnemy`	1.60
`TwoRandomPoisonedEnemy`	1.60
`TwoRandomSappedEnemy`	1.60
`TwoRandomHealer`	1.60
`TwoRandomSameSpecies`	1.60
`OtherTwoRandomSameSpecies`	1.60
`TwoRandomSilencedEnemy`	1.60
`HighestAtkEnemy`	1.15
`LowestHPAlly`	1.10
`FrontEnemy`	1.05
`Self`	1.00
`Front`	1.00
`CharacterBought`	1.00
`RandomEnemy`	1.00
`TriggeringCharacter`	0.95
`HighestHPAlly`	0.95
`Back`	0.95
`RandomAlly`	0.90
`RandomMelee`	0.90
`RandomRange`	0.90
`RandomHurtAlly`	0.90
`OtherRandomSameSpecies`	0.90
`RandomBurnedEnemy`	0.90
`RandomPoisonedEnemy`	0.90
`RandomSappedEnemy`	0.90
`RandomHealer`	0.90
`RandomSilencedEnemy`	0.90
`RandomTauntAlly`	0.85
`RandomRagedAlly`	0.80
`RandomArmoredAlly`	0.80
`RandomShieldAlly`	0.80
`RandomSameSpecies`	0.80
`RandomAllyOfSpecies`	0.80

Scaler

Scaler	weight
`PerAlly`	4.0
`PerSameSpecies`	2.8
`PerMeleeWielder`	2.4
`PerAdjacentAlly`	2.4
`PerAdjacentSameSpecies`	1.6
`PerRagedAlly`	1.6
`PerArmoredAlly`	1.6
`PerSlowedEnemy`	1.2
`PerDiffSpeciesOnField`	2.0
`PerHurtAlly`	2.0
`PerRangedWielder`	1.6
`PerBurningEnemy`	1.4
`PerPoisonedEnemy`	1.4
`PerCharacterWithFireproof`	1.3
`PerSappedEnemy`	1.2
`PerCharacterWithBlademastery`	1.2
`PerCharacterWithFortify`	1.2
`PerCharacterWithRangeMastery`	1.0
`None`	1.0
`AbsoluteValue`	1.0
`PerCharacterWithFocus`	0.9
`PerHealingWielder`	0.9
`PerSilencedEnemy`	1.1
`PerTreasure`	2.5

Table 5 — passives

A passive has no trigger and no target: it's a fixed number, on the same scale as abilities. Racial passives (Fireproof on Lizard, Antidote on Undead) don't count — everyone of that race has them. Each name links to the full rule in the glossary.

Passive	weight	% of a body	What it does
Double Tap	60	56%	attacks twice
Stun	60	56%	hits reset the target's attack bar
Resurrect	50	46%	revives once with half HP
Bloodlust	30	28%	converts damage into Rage
Scorch	30	28%	hits also Burn
Venomous	30	28%	hits also Poison
Cleave	30	28%	hits splash onto the enemy behind
Reflect	30	28%	returns part of the melee damage taken
Momentum	30	28%	gains more attack bar from Stamina
Lifesteal	30	28%	converts damage into HP
Wither	30	28%	hits also drain attack
Haste	30	28%	opens the battle with an attack
Aegis	24	22%	overhealing becomes armor
Taunt	24	22%	draws single-target attacks
Second Wind	20	19%	+50% attack at half HP
Evasion	20	19%	chance to dodge
Fortify	20	19%	converts damage into armor
Knockback	18	17%	hits push back the target's attack bar
Bladesmith	18	17%	critical hit chance with swords
Bodyguard	18	17%	takes the damage aimed at the ally behind
Amplify	18	17%	receives more healing
Ranger	15	14%	critical hit chance with bows
Freeze	15	14%	hits slow the target
Deadeye	15	14%	shots aim at the weakest enemy
Last Stand	15	14%	survives a lethal hit once
Ruthless	10	9%	critical hits deal more damage
Focus	9	8%	immune to attack bar delays
Fireproof	9	8%	immune to fire
Antidote	9	8%	immune to poison
Barbed	9	8%	spikes deal double damage
Soulbound	9	8%	passes its counters on when it dies
Silencer	30	28%	hits silence before dealing damage
Scurry	30	28%	at half health swaps with the stash
Prospector	20	19%	winning grants a Treasure
Scapegoat	20	19%	takes the negative counters of adjacent allies
Blazescale	30	28%	burns melee attackers back