Hand of Light is available after Ashley gains Teleportation
The Hand of Light Heavy Mace, like the Holy Win Great Sword and Rhomphaia Sword, imparts its material type to any weapon without changing the Design, but it is only found in IRON or HAGANE. It can be found at a 13/255 chance to drop (roughly 5.1%), in the The Gallows in the Wine Cellar once Ashley visits the Bazaar of the Bizarre in Undercity East and gains the Teleport ability. The earlier, similar bosses in the same room also have Hand of Light, but they never drop. The Minotaur Lord in the Temple of Kiltia's Chapel of Meschaunce has a Hand of Light and drops it at 8/255 instead, but also drops Sorceror's Reagent at 32/255.
The Hand of Light is high Tier, a Blunt weapon very good against Skeleton type enemies and Crabs. It is a dramatic example of the real-time resizing graphics technology, that is used elsewhere in the game to make weapons arm nearly instantly but without the jarring effect of appearing out of nowhere, and, in reverse, make Phantoms and other enemies disappear upon dying.
Since Hand of Light, like swords' Rhomphaia and Great Swords' Holy Win, combines to (almost) always make the other weapon Design (see Heavy Mace Combinations), it can be seen as separate from normal Progressions. There are exceptions:
- Crossbow: the combination of Hand of Light and Crossbows will make either a Heavy Mace or Crossbow, depending on which blade is in the first position
- Polearm plus Hand of Light will usually make either a Heavy Mace or Polearm, depending on which blade is in the first position. Otherwise, it will make only a Polearm.
- Holy Win plus Hand of Light makes a Hand of Light
- Rhomphaia + Hand of Light will make either a Hand of Light or Rhomphaia, depending on which blade is in the first position
It has the best 'reach', or attack radius among melee weapons in the game, with a rating of seven. Polearms, with five or six attack radius, are second best. Other Heavy Maces, along with Great Axes and Great Swords have four, less impressive but still more than any of the one-hand weapons. Range, especially for melee weapons, does not feature prominently in other games, but in Vagrant Story, almost all attackers either hit and run or in the case of bosses, are extremely large. Long Weapons, and Hand of Light in particular, are able to hit more locations on the large enemies from a single spot, and can be more reliably counted on to be able to attack the ones that run away, before they move out of range.