7 February 2026

How to Build Muscle in Half Sword

By newsgame

Half Sword is like no other game, even outside of the physics-based, medieval combat. One quirk is that players must build muscle for their character over the course of the game. Muscle will help them wield weapons more proficiently and take on bigger foes of higher ranks. This guide will explain muscle and weight, and how to build more muscle in Half Sword.

Half Sword - How to Get & use a Crossbow

How to Use the Crossbow in Half Sword

This guide will show players how to get a crossbow in Half Sword and explain how to use it and reload it.

If you see videos or images of characters built like Hulk, then they have edited the game files or have a mod installed.

What Does Muscle Do In Half Sword?

Having more muscle will increase the character’s weight, which can be seen at the bottom of the screen when choosing armor and weapons. This weight has nothing to do with which armor is worn or the weight of weapons.

A higher weight and more muscles will make the character more durable to attacks, but not immune. More importantly, more muscles mean being able to swing weapons with more power and control. This is especially true of heavier weapons. Punches will also land harder.

NPC opponents also have different ranks, and those of higher ranks are typically better built.

If you feel like you have no control and fall over everything when first playing Half Sword, it’s because you start off incredibly weak.

How To Build Muscle In Half Sword

While leveling up is important for other reasons in Progression Mode, it is not how muscle is put on. By hovering over the weight on your character, it will say, “Burn stamina to grow your muscles“. It’s also worth noting that 88 kg appears to be the maximum weight.

Therefore, simply playing the game and using stamina to hit, run, and jump will slowly build up muscles. However, there are ways to maximize the buildup of muscle. Technically, you could even max out your muscles while still a beggar.

Swing Heavy Weapons After Winning Fights

Fights will level up your weight, but once they have surrendered, you can keep swinging your weapon to train muscle. This is arguably better with heavy, two-handed weapons.

Wear Heavy Armor & Jump

While there’s no gym to hit in Half Sword, you can improvise. Put on some heavy armor and jump with the Spacebar to exert lots of stamina at once. This advice comes straight from a developer and will apparently train your leg muscles.

Set Player & NPC Damage As Low As It Will Go

In the game settings, you can set the damage that NPCs and your character receive to the lowest. You can then find a brawl match and just keep punching one another. There’s almost no fear of death, and neither combatant should surrender, so it’s possible to keep going.

Half Sword: Mechanics The Game Doesn’t Teach You

There isn’t much of a tutorial in Half Sword, so check out the following mechanics that the game doesn’t teach you.

Wear Heavy Armor & Fight As Usual

If you don’t want to go out of your way to farm muscle, that’s fine, just progress through the game usually, and you’ll likely gain weight, especially if you wear heavy armor when it becomes available.

If you die, your new character can start out as the same rank that you reached, but you’ll need to build up muscle again.