Kingdom Hearts weapons

This is a list of weapons that appear in Kingdom Hearts and the Final Mix version. They are listed in the order of their earliest availability. Each party member uses their own type, Keyblades for Sora, rods and mallets for Donald, and shields for Goofy, with others simply using their personal item.

Mechanics
Weapons possess their own base attributes, and add them to the attributes of the wielder. Keyblades are typically gained by locking a world's Keyhole, but can also be found under other circumstances, such as completing certain objectives. The latter also occurs for Donald and Goofy's weapons, but on the other hand can also often be bought with Munny at Huey, Dewey, and Louie's shop.

All weapons by default grant the wielder either Strength or Magic Points, with most weapons either focusing on one or the other. Other factors are their ability to deal critical hits, critical hit damage, recoil, and size of the weapon. The Strength attribute in Kingdom Hearts caps at 55 for almost all enemies, and though it can be raised up to 99, no additional damage will be dealt past 55. This means that eventually neither Strength nor critical hit bonus becomes relevant upon reaching that point. Note that MP should not be neglected either, as magic power is dependent on the character's maximum level of MP.

Recoil is a hidden stat that affects how much recoil you take upon hitting something you cannot damage, such as the stomach of a Large Body. Weapons with higher recoil will recover a split second faster than those with low recoil, but this total difference is entirely negligible.

Sora's weapons
Sora's Keyblades are the sole weapons to possess a critical hit rate (other than two of Donald's). Almost all of them have a default 20% critical hit chance, with some increasing that by half or doubling it up to 40%, with exceptions such as the Metal Chocobo with a mere 2% and the Wishing Star at 100%. Critical hits only occur upon finishers, and each critical hit imparts the crit bonus as an extra Strength damage bonus upon your current total. This means that at a certain level they add either nothing or a negligible amount. Not all weapons add a critical hit bonus, but a critical hit still adds extra knockback, and an increased chance to stun or stagger enemies.

The weapons gained in Dive to the Heart are unique in that they are only temporary, but greatly affect Sora's starting attributes and the abilities gained while leveling. Equipping the Dream Rod will increase Sora's total Ability Points and MP, at the cost of Strength and maximum item slots. Dream Sword affects Strength, at the cost of Defense, whereas the Dream Shield grants the most item slots and Defense, at the cost of little else. The Rod and Shield can also be gained later for use by Donald and Goofy.

Stat changes in Final Mix are listed in parentheses.

Donald's weapons
Donald's rods, staves, and mallets are typically divided between either Strength or MP, with mallets focusing on the former, and rods and staves upon the latter. Strength often comes at the cost of MP, even going so far as to lower it, whereas MP often comes at the cost of Strength. As such, the choice is normally between either of the two depending on the player's combat needs for Donald. Meteor Strike and Violetta are the only weapons that possess critical hit bonuses, with +4 for the former, and a whopping +9 for the latter (+7 in the Final Mix version).

Goofy's weapons
Goofy's shields focus on either offense or defense, with usually little regard for MP. Shields range in size from bucklers, normal, and greatshields, with the small types typically being stronger if compared to a large variant when they are sold for the same price. Larger shields offer Goofy more surface area with which he can block enemy attacks, including the deflection and return of projectiles, giving him more survivability.

Other characters
Other available party members in Kingdom Hearts possess their own unique weapons, which cannot be removed or exchanged for another. They also do not grant any notable stat bonuses, thus forcing them to rely on their own base attributes. Beast, Ariel, and Jack Skellington are unique in that they rely on melee attacks to defeat the Heartless, with only Beast's Claws being listed as a weapon in his inventory.