History Main / EvolvingWeapon

** Another InuYasha villain had a weapon that gained demonic power after killing 1000 humans and 1000 demons.

* The Muramasa in some ''{{Castlevania}}'' games will gain attack power as you kill enemies. Something about the sword being cursed and having to drink blood.
** The Muramasa puts Alucard in permanent "Dark Metamorphosis" mode; meaning that he recovers health by touching the blood of enemies. The more blood he absorbs, the stronger the sword gets. As such, killing a skeleton won't do anything, but killing a merman will.

* Weapons in ''[[FrontMission GunHazard]]'' work like this. So do the verniers. And the armor plates. ''And'' the Wanzers themselves (Wanzers and armor actually gain EXP by being hit).

* ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana''

* Fusion and Lumina from ''BraveFencerMusashi''. Each of them gradually gains strength whenever Musashi uses them to attack, and this is separate from his own strength stat. Fusion is also of the second type, as noted below.

* The Sealed J-Sword in ''PhantasyStarOnline''. Normally a semi-decent weapon that inflicts serious status ailments on you, with enough kills with it equipped, and it will evolve into one of the most powerful weapons in the game.
* Dak'kon's zerth blade from ''PlanescapeTorment'', which levels up at the same time he does, being a weapon made of karach, a material of pure chaos that mirrors the mind of its owner. It's referred to in dialogue as something that could become powerful enough to destroy the multiverse itself if fueled by enough will and determination, and while you never see it do anything quite that impressive, it can end up a pretty neat weapon if Dak'kon is in your party right up until the end game. It also can become weaker if you deliberately plunge Dak'kon into doubt and emotional disarray, or become even more powerful by strengthening his belief in the Unbroken Circle, the philosophy he follows.

* Rayne's Carpatian Dragons in ''{{BloodRayne 2}}'' ''are'' of vampiric nature, and level up through use, to an extent. Simply firing them improves their power and blood capacity, and they also acquire more powerful modes after defeating powerful vampires/dhampirs, even if they aren't used through the entire battle.

* A borderline example, but the "Dream Sword" weapon in KingdomHearts (which can only be obtained outside the "Station" via Game Shark) has an attack power relative to Sora's level divided by 10. If Sora is at level 10 or 20, the Dream Sword's ATK is 1 or 2. But if Sora is at level 100, the swords has an ATK of 10, making it the most powerful weapon in the entire game.

* In the ''BraveStory'' video game, the main character's [[CoolSword Traveler's Sword]] evolves and takes on new forms whenever he collects certain magical gems (after passing a test of strength and character).
* Items from {{Disgaea}} are a borderline case. They can level up and improve, but only if the player ventures into Item World and subdues the inhabitants inside.

* ''MagicKnightRayearth'' showcases this trope in its first season, in the form of the three main characters' Escudo weapons.

* The ''Dawnguard'' expansion for ''Videogame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' adds the Dawnguard Rune Axe, which inflicts bonus damage proportional to the number of undead it has been used to kill since the last sunrise.
* Enemies in ''VagrantStory'' have specific types and affinites, and weapons and armor become more effective based on the types of enemies they're used against. Kill lots of dragons with a spear, and it'll gain dragon points that make it more effective against dragons in general. Kill lots of fire-type enemies and it'll become a water type weapon.
* In ''{{Drakengard}}'' and its sequel, all weapons can level up. As they level up, all their stats go up (except weight) but their appearance changes and they also explain the history of the weapon with each level up. They can only be leveled up four times and visual change only occurs in the first Drakengard.

* ''SecretOfMana''

* Ichigo's [[EmpathicWeapon zanpakuto]] Zangetsu keeps evolving since the ''Deicide'' arc. When he learns his ultimate attack, the form of his Bankai changed. Then, when Ichigo got his power back, Zangetsu's appearance changed completely in both, his Shikai and Bankai form. And in the current arc, when Ichigo knows the origin of his zanpakuto and gained his own asauchi, he got Zangetsu's true form, [[spoiler:a pair of a short sword and a long sword.]]

* ''SuperRobotWarsAdvance'' has the protagonists' machines, ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ'' has the Gunleon, and in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsL'', the Rushbird gains new attacks and abilities as the game progresses.

* ''SuperRobotWarsAdvance'' has the protagonists' machines, SuperRobotWarsZ has the Gunleon, and in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsL'', the Rushbird gains new attacks and abilities as the game progresses.

* In ''HalfLife 2'' and episode 1, there is a point where the Gravity Gun gets a temporary upgrade and has the ability to lift much larger objects and pick up the combine soldiers to fling them as projectile weapons! This upgrade happens in the end of ''Half Life 2'' and in the beginning of episode 1 where it's only for one area and then it downgrades.

* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', the demoman has a sword that he can use to decapitate enemies. Each head gives the demoman extra health and boosts his speed -- at least, until he dies.

* InuYasha's sword, Tessaiga, explicitly has the ability to get stronger by killing things and gaining related abilities. [[hottip:*:It has to be a strong opponent though. After mastering the Backlash Wave, all of the Tessaiga upgrades were based on this, one way or another.]]

** Also, all of the Ultimate weapons in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' are upgraded twice, once by finding a relatively easy key item to find, and again by finding a very difficult to obtain key item. They upgrade from Useless weapons which completely stop experience gain, to swords with an ability which also stops experience gain, finally to a weapon which breaks damage limit for both the character ''and'' Yuna's associated Aeon (summon) for them for no particular reason, increases experience gain and has several other abilities depending on the character (One MP cost for Lulu, Counterattack for Tidus etc.)
*** In addition, the final form of each ultimate weapon has a hidden ability, which increases the attack power of the wielding character depending on a certain condition (it depends on the character).

** Probably because the weapons are just as effective on ''anyone'', Witch or not. They just got [[GundamJack hijacked by her enemy after she made the first few.]]

* Varric from ''DragonAgeII'' can never equip any other weapon than his beloved AutomaticCrossbow [[ICallItVera Bianca]]. Fortunately it levels up with him so it never becomes obsolete. Even better, any rune attached to Bianca also becomes stronger.

Alternatively, there is a second way this works. Instead of the power gain being permanent, sometimes it is only temporary. Maybe it unlocks some of the weapon's hidden abilities, or there might have been something special about what was just killed. Subtrope of EmpathicWeapon.

* In ''FinalFantasyX'', the sword Wakka gives to Tidus upgrades automatically when the party visits the Farplane, and Wakka is seen talking to the sword's former owner.
** Also, all of the Ultimate weapons in ''FinalFantasyX'' are upgraded twice, once by finding a relatively easy key item to find, and again by finding a very difficult to obtain key item. They upgrade from Useless weapons which completely stop experience gain, to swords with an ability which also stops experience gain, finally to a weapon which breaks damage limit for both the character ''and'' Yuna's associated Aeon (summon) for them for no particular reason, increases experience gain and has several other abilities depending on the character (One MP cost for Lulu, Counterattack for Tidus etc.)

** The Atma Sword in ''FinalFantasyVI'' has an attack power that is a function of the HitPoints of the character wielding it. As they get stronger, so does the sword.
** Vincent's Death Penalty gun in ''FinalFantasyVII'' does more damage with each enemy it kills. Kill about 65 thousand or so, and it'll [[GoodBadBug glitch out and kill anything in one hit]].

* The Chicken Knife in ''FinalFantasyV'' gains an attack point for every time the party has fled a battle. It can easily become the strongest weapon in the game.

** At least one weapon has good reason for this. It's blade is encased in stone, and as you kill enemies with it, it levels up like everything else. It does this by breaking some of the stone off.

** The manga explains this as the weapon feeding off of its user's pain and suffering, which its current user in the manga goes out and gets plenty of -- though one of the more Genre-Savvy members of the Quriky Miniboss Squad (who were all not-so-coincidentally all bosses from the same game) decides to render it all moot by shooting the man in the hands with a Frickin Laser Beam so that he can't hold the Muramasa (what good is an Infinity Plus One Sword if you can't actually SWING it, after all).

* Enserric, the vampiric sword in {{Neverwinter Nights}} expansion Hordes of the Underdark, gains the ability to drain it's wielder's health to give itself a temporary boost.
* The Marker in ''{{Qix}}++'' can be upgraded in four features using points earned in the stages. It's appearance changes the more upgrades you get. Unfortunately, it's only good in the section you're playing. Start a new section, and you're back to the crappy Marker you started with.

* DoubleSubverted with the Keyblade form the ''KingdomHearts'' series, while the weapon doesn't grow itself, you can attach various keychains (or gears in days) to it in order to alter it's form and properties such as strength and magic bonuses in (almost) all the games, extra abilities in II, days and Birth by Sleep, attack patterns in Days and Clock gauges in Re:coded. The double subversion in this example, is that the keychains used to modify the keyblade are essentially memories of people and locations used to modify the [[EmpathicWeapon keyblade's form]], the keyblade itself doesn't change, only it's form.
* {{Legacy of Kain}}: Soul Reaver 2 has the named Soul Reaver - remnants of powerful magic sword, fused with protagonist. It becomes stronger when Raziel hits with it. It becomes ''much'' stronger, when it consumes a soul of killed enemy. It starts to eat wielder's life when become overpowered. And it slowly returns to normal state, when combat is over.
** This trooper remembers that named sword was at least in first part of the game and possibly other games of the series, but cannot remember if it has similiar properties there.

* The player's default weapon in ''VideoGAme/BinaryDomain'' is a an assault rifle. In early stages, it performs about as well as a standard assault rifle should against MechaMooks. By the endgame, a fully upgraded assault rifle is practically a light machinegun tearing through hordes of mooks.
* The new Plusefire Ezreal skin in ''VideoGame/LeagueofLegends''.

* In both of the ''VideoGame/DarkCloud'' games, weapons are leveled up by killing monsters with them. Many weapons can also literally evolve if you got their stats high enough.

* In ''The Shivering Isles'', an ''{{Oblivion}}'' expansion pack, there Dawnfang/Duskfang sword transforms between the two forms every dawn and dusk - but if you've killed 12 enemies with it during the preceeding period, it instead becomes the 'Dawnfang Superior' or 'Duskfang Superior', with additional, life-stealing powers.

* In The Shivering Isles, an [[ElderScrolls Oblivion]] expansion pack, the Dawnfang/Duskfang sword becomes the 'Dawnfang Superior' or 'Duskfang Superior', with additional, life-stealing powers if you've killed 12 enemies with it.

* In the third {{Resistance}} game, all the weapons upgrade with use. Said game is also made by the creators of the RatchetAndClank series.