:* Stance availability and/or chance
:* Chance to parry
:* Chance to hit
:* [[Special move|Special moves]] available
Swing timer is decreased by 1% for every 10 skill levels. Weapon [[QL]] also affects everything listed except swing timerand chance to parry.
An easy way to gain weapon skill with [[axes]] and [[swords]] ([[longsword]] and [[huge sword]], respectively) is to cut trees down with [[woodcutting]] until 20 skill. This renders even the lowest skill fighter a fairly potent adversary to most common creatures in the Wurm universe, and offers some good [[body]] and woodcutting skill gain to boot.