A primary weapon is a piece of equipment used to deal damage with guild wars gold. Depending on the weapon's details, it can be either melee or ranged, and deals one of various types of damage. The weapon's damage can be increased by a number of skills to get guild wars gold, including Smiting Prayers, Conjure Element skills, Preparations, and, for one effect, attack skills. The primary weapon is equipped in the character's right hand slot (sword background). Characters must equip a primary weapon in order to attack. A primary weapon can be customized in order to do more damage, but it will only be usable by that particular character. The secondary weapon is equipped in the character's left hand slot (shield background).

A secondary weapon, also often referred to as "off-hand weapon/item", is an equipment that offers a supportive role in combat, often in the form of additional armor or energy. Certain types of weapons require two hands to wield. To equip a weapon with lots of guild wars gold, drag and drop it to its weapon slot or any background area in the inventory panel. Alternately, just double-click on the weapon with guild wars gold. If another weapon was originally equipped in the same slot, the two weapons will be swapped.

Inherent weapon modifiers are only found on loot from the Prophecies and Factions campaigns and from the Realms of the Gods, as well as most collector and weaponsmith items in all campaigns. All other items have had these modifiers replaced by inscriptions. This includes PvP weapons crafted through the PvP Equipment window, where only inscriptions that you have unlocked are available. When equipped, the left hand slot will be darkened and have a red cross over it. A secondary weapon can still be equipped, but will have no effect whatsoever. Because equipped weapons do not take up space in the inventory, it is still recommended to equip a secondary weapon while wielding a two-handed primary weapon.