Do i lose the bonuses from weapon upgrades when i swap weapons?

[Bartowski]

Just unlocked the Bat weapon, and while i don't like it, no materia slots, i want its ability so i plan on maxing it. I am just wondering, are all these points im putting into each weapon wasted once i get a new one?

[Xengre]

You lose any stat/bonus it gives except the skill (if you mastered learning the skill, check menu to verify if learned).

Think of the weapons as different build and stat skews you can easily swap between and can save materia configurations to an extent, too.

For example, the default Buster Sword is a neutral balanced weapon with extra HP, good attack and good magic. Hardedge has poor magic attack but great physical attack for Cloud's basic skills like Triple Slash or Braver. Mithril Saber or whatever it was called is basically a hard magic attack focused weapon, instead. Honestly, those three are generally the best especially Buster Sword/Mithril for Cloud. Some of the other weapons will have some unique effects, too, like surviving fatal dmg once (say you have issues surviving Bahamut's limit break), etc..

[Bartowski]

hmm alright thanks. I didn't consider continuing using the buster sword once i got the 2nd sword from the shop. Can you keep upgrading it? like do new nodes keep appearing the higher level you get?

[Koby]

If you swap back n forth between all the weapons throughout your play, you should be able to max out all of them by end game. The game is really set up to allow you to freely switch between them and make them all have their use case for certain setups/scenarios.

[Bartowski]

That is really cool, thanks for telling me that!

[Xengre]

Originally posted by Bartowski:

hmm alright thanks. I didn't consider continuing using the buster sword once i got the 2nd sword from the shop. Can you keep upgrading it? like do new nodes keep appearing the higher level you get?

Yup, and as Koby said.

Eventually, all weapons also get 8 slots btw so you will eventually not be slot limited as a primary factor of weapon choice. Accessories always max at 4 in this episode though, iirc.

[Sealbreaker]

Because each weapon has its own point pool and the weapons do not share the weapon points they receive, you can allocate the points per weapon as you wish without any worries.

And... you can even reset the points at Chadley if you're not happy with the distribution or want to try an alternative. So if you miss a trait/skill/effect, just reset the points and reset them again.

For the skills you learn through the weapons, it's as has already been written. Once mastered, you can use them with any other weapon, even if you reset the points.

In the End, you can max out every weapon and every weapon can get the same maximum of materia slots.

Thing is: every weapon gets its own stats. so, depending on your playstile, the choice of your active weapon can be different. The last Weapon you get, is not the "strongest". But it is well balances. If You Focus on HP/Physical Damage, the Buster Sword will be your weapon of choice at the end :)
If you full-focus on physical, it will be the Hardedge.
If you want to use Cloud more for magical purpose, Mythril Sabre will be your choice.
Shall Cloud be more tanky, then it will be the Iron Blade.

And if you want to be as felxible as possible, Twin Stinger will be your choice - it is the most-well-balanced weapon, when it comes down to stats.

[Xengre]

Originally posted by Sealbreaker:

And if you want to be as felxible as possible, Twin Stinger will be your choice - it is the most-well-balanced weapon, when it comes down to stats.

Some clarification about this statement.

Twin Stinger is the final weapon Cloud gets in a playthrough. It comes with, initially, better rounded attack + magic attack (73 for both) and most importantly more materia slots than his other weapons (until weapon level 6).

However, once you are basically in Hard Mode Buster Sword pulls ahead with significantly better base stats (91 for both, and quite a bit of HP). Plus, at weapon level 6 all weapons have 8 slots with 4 linked pairs.

Twin Stinger's Reprieve skill is also not a very useful skill outside Weiss/Bahamut and only if you are struggling (even then there is definitely a real argument they're bad even then) and is more of a convenience perk that most people probably will not use.

In essence, you're mostly likely going to do the following:

Star with Buster Sword. Mainly use it until later. -> When you get a new weapon learn its skill ASAP then swap to your preferred weapon. -> When you get Hardedge & Mithril Saber you will use them depending on what style you will approach with (note Mithril Saber is by far the better as magic is overpowered when you learn to use it properly in the game and also why Aerith is by far the strongest character) -> At end of first playthrough on normal you will probably grab Twin Stinger and use it for the materia slots and balanced stats. -> Hard mode NG+ you will finish getting weapon level 6 and never touch anything but Buster Sword / Mithril Saber again most likely for Cloud.

Aerith's weapons are pretty straightforward because she is the one character with a clear best weapon bar none, Mithril Rod.

Tifa has a lot of options like speed focus (faster ATB generation for skill / combo spam) with good mixed stats, very heavy physical dmg, caster build, etc. She is like Cloud and highly flexible.

Barrett's has several options, too, but if I'm being honest you will probably want him to go with Big Bertha or EKG Cannon as they give him balanced stats so he can use offensive skills (as they're actually decent when necessary, especially since he usually isn't magic focused like as him and Tifa have the worst magic stats no matter what, but still viable) but you also want his magic attack to not be ignored as he is the second best case user of Pray materia (esp hard mode with MP limitations from no item/no mp recovery on bench, and yes he will also use Chakra for himself as well). Big Bertha has a lot more health and Trade-off skill while EKG has more magic attack for Pray which further synergizes with the HP recovery boosting accessory as a support healer / tank, especially when Aerith isn't available.