A character gets an S-Rank Bonus when they get an S in a weapon level. Apart from allowing the character use an S level weapon, S-Rank Bonuses give characters a bonus of +5 to their hit rate and their critical rate. Most characters are only able to acheive an S-Rank in one weapon level (i.e. if Seth gets S-Rank in Lances, he then can only get up to A-Rank in Swords). The exceptions to this limit is Lyon, who can acheive S-Rank in both Dark Magic and Staves, and Athos; who starts out with S ranks in every category by default.