Using Equipment in Battle
April 4, 2017
15:20
This is a very easy thing to miss: If you enter the Item screen in battle, then hit up at the top of the list, you will be shown the contents of your characters' hands.
You can actually use this mini-menu to change the equipment possessed by your characters mid-battle.  This has HUGE strategic implications - for instance, a character capable of using Knives can use the Mage Masher until a dangerous enemy mage is silenced, then switch to a more powerful weapon to deal damage.  This can make even the weakest of weapons have valuable strategic importance, so make sure you keep them on hand if they have any special effects whatsoever!
The second thing you can do, for some weapons, is "use" them from this menu, the same way you would use an item.  Only certain pieces of equipment allow this.  If they do, however, you essentially cast the spell for free - and infinitely!  Note however that the equipment has to be actually EQUIPPED in order to do this - you can't "use" spells from equipment that you can't actually wield!
Note that some weapons (Several Rods and Light Staves) will be lost if you equip and use them, but the payout is huge - see the Breaking Rods section.