Inscription



Inscriptions are a type of salvagable weapon upgrade. They were introduced with the release of the Nightfall campaign and replace some of the inherent weapon modifiers used in the Prophecies and Factions campaign, which are not salvagable.

Acquisitions
There are no crafters or traders for inscriptions. They can only be obtained from loot.

You can salvage an inscription from any drop that has one. The inscription is a guaranteed salvage with Expert Salvage Kits, however, the item has a chance of being destroyed in the process.

Inscriptions have an intrinsic value of 25 gold when sold to a merchant so it is generally worth using an Expert Salvage Kit to salvage the inscription from a cheaper object and selling it separately. An Identification Kit can also be used to reveal the actual value of the inscription which is often higher than the cost of identifying the inscription.

Note: Items from Prophecies and Factions, and from the Realms of the Gods have not been converted to the new system, which means their weapon modifiers cannot be salvaged as inscriptions!

Usage
To attach an inscription to a weapon, first double-click on the inscription (mouse pointer look will change), then click on the item that you want to attach it to.

The target item must be of the designated type given in the description. Furthermore it must have an inscription slot. This slot can either be free (in which case the description reads: "Inscription: None") or taken by an other inscription. In the latter case the old inscription will be overwritten. If you want to keep the old inscription you may salvage it to free the slot, but at the risk of the target item being destroyed.

Note: Items from Prophecies and Factions, and from the Realms of the Gods have not been converted to the new system, which means they never'' come with an inscription slot!

List of Inscriptions
The following is a list of all available inscriptions, sorted by bonus effect:

Skill bonuses
See also Weapon upgrades:
 * Swift Staff Head (HCT spells)
 * Wand Wrapping of Quickening (HSR spells)
 * Wand Wrapping of Memory (HSR spells of item's attribute)

Pop culture references
The following are possible (none of these are confirmed by ArenaNet, so they're all speculation, more or less) references to culture and pop culture, in alphabetical order:

"Soundness of Mind" is a common idiom refering to a healthy mental state. "Strength of Body" is a common idiom refering to a healthy physical state.
 * "Aptitude not Attitude" is likely a reference to a famous quote by Zig Ziglar a famous motivational speaker.
 * "Be Just and Fear Not" may be a reference to Shakespeare's play Henry VIII.
 * "Brawn Over Brains" is a reversal of the common idiom "Brains Over Brawn".
 * "Cast out the Unclean" is likely a reference to a line spoken by Father Merrin in "The Exorcist." It also has a Biblical basis in the Gospel of Matthew.
 * "Dance With Death" is likely a reference to a concept in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.
 * "Don't call it a comeback" is the first phrase in the LL Cool J album title song, "Mama Said Knock You Out". Alternatively, there is also a song by that name by Motion City Soundtrack.
 * "Don't Fear the Reaper" is likely a reference to the Blue Oyster Cult song of the same name.
 * "Don't Think Twice" is likely a reference to Bob Dylan's song, even if the line occurs as well in Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean".
 * "Down but not out" is likely a reference to the song 'Nobody knows you, when you're down and out' - various artists, originally Jimmy Cox (1922).
 * "Faith is My Shield" is a reference to a quote from Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War, --Audio response to a command given to units in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War.
 * "Fear Cuts Deeper" is a reference to a quote from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, "Fear cuts deeper than swords".
 * "Forget Me Not" is a reference to the flower of the same name.
 * "Hail to the King!" is a likely reference to the Bruce Campbell line from Army Of Darkness.
 * "Hale and Hearty" is a common idiom meaning healthy and strong.
 * "I am Sorrow." is likely a reference to Isabeau from Ladyhawke.
 * "I Can See Clearly Now" is a likely reference to the R Kelly, Bob Marley or Johnny Nash song of the same name.
 * "I Have the Power!" is a likely reference to He-Man.
 * "Ignorance is Bliss" is from the proverb by Thomas Gray.
 * "Knowing is Half the Battle" was quoted at the end of every episode of GI Joe.
 * "Leaf on the Wind" is likely a reference to the Firefly movie, Serenity.
 * "Let the Memory Live Again" is likely a reference to the song Memory from Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats.
 * "Life is Pain" is likely a reference to the Princess Bride (or Buddha, take your pick).
 * "Like a Rolling Stone" is likely a reference to Bob Dylan's song of the same name.
 * "Live for Today" may be a reference to a quote by Albert Einstein. “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
 * "Luck of the Draw" is a common idiom indicating success in a competition where the winner is chosen purely by chance.
 * "Man for All Seasons" is probably a reference to the play and movie A Man for All Seasons about the life of Sir Thomas More.
 * "Master of My Domain" and "Serenity Now" are references to the Seinfeld episodes "The Contest" and "The Serenity Now!", respectively.
 * "Measure for Measure" is the title of one of Shakespeare's works.
 * "Might Makes Right" is a cliche derived from the works of Adin Ballou, a prominent 19th century abolitionist.
 * "Not the Face" is probably a reference to the cartoon The Tick. Arthur's battle cry was "Not in the Face" or "Not the Face". It could also be a reference to a line near the end of Blazing Saddles, where the director of the musical in the last fight scene screams out "Not the face!" before being hit - his attacker slugs him in the gut instead. It might also be a reference to the episode"The One with the Bullies" from the TV sitcom Friends.
 * "Nothing to Fear" is likely a stab at Underdog's catch-phrase, "There's no need to fear, Underdog is here!" It could also be a reference to either the Oingo Boingo song "Nothing to Fear", or the Depeche Mode song of the same name. The phrase "Nothing to fear but fear itself" is also a frequent misquote of Franklin D Roosevelt's speech where he said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself".
 * "Only the Strong Survive" could be a reference to the song Only the Strong by Flaw or could also be a reference to the song Blow Me Away by Breaking Benjamin.
 * "Pure of Heart" is a common idiom based off of a quote from Matthew 5:8
 * "Riders On The Storm" is likely a reference to the song by The Doors. There is also a song of the same name by Hammerfall.
 * "Run For Your Life!" may be named after the Beatles song of the same name or possibly the Iron Maiden song Run to the Hills, which includes the line.
 * "Seize the Day", originally a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace ("Carpe diem!" in Odes 1.11) is also the title of a Saul Bellow novella which deals with the idea of living for the moment vs. worrying about the future. It was brought in to modern-day limelight as the 'tag-line' and the most memorable line from the 1989 film, Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams.
 * "Show me the money!" is the 25th most famous cinema quote voted by the American Film Institute, originally from 'Jerry Maguire'. This same reference was also used as one of the cheat codes in the PC game 'StarCraft', which several key members of ArenaNet have worked on.
 * "Sleep Now in the Fire" likely refers to the Rage Against the Machine song of the same name.
 * "Strength and Honor" is a blessing Roman soldiers said to each other before battle commenced and could specifically be referring to the film Gladiator.
 * "Survival Of The Fittest" is a commonly-used metaphor for natural selection.
 * "Swift as the Wind" is a common idiom based off of a quote from the Lotus Sutra.
 * "The Riddle of Steel" is probably a reference to the central theme of the movie Conan the Barbarian. Also could be a reference to the song of the same name by Venom. There is also a roleplaying game by the same name.
 * "Through Thick and Thin" is a common idiom meaning to persevere through good times as well as bad.
 * "To the Pain!" is likely a reference to The Princess Bride.
 * "Too Much Information" is possibly a reference to Duran Duran's song Too Much Information, although frequently a retort to being grossed out at someone's statement.
 * "Vengeance is Mine" is a quote from Deuteronomy 32:35.