Crossbows and Polearms

Lynx7386

Polearms and crossbows, currently the two most requested weapon types to be added to the game (with unarmed nipping at their heels, I'm sure). Personally I love both weapon types, I like the idea of a heavier melee or ranged weapon more akin to a portable siege implement than current small arms. I have always loved polearms and similar weapon styles - they embody force and power, but do so in a very graceful manner. Aesthetically, I find pole weapon combat more pleasing to the eye than anything you'd see with a traditional sword/shield or heavy weapon (two-hander) setup, and I've never been overly fond of dual wielding. I fell in love with crossbows in skyrim/dawnguard and have been a fan of the weapon over traditional bows ever since.

In historical combat, both of these weapons were used for a few key reasons. Polearms were cheap, readily available, and could be created from almost any common farming implement a peasant may have access to. They were the common man's weapon. Hollywood has tried to convince us that there were always legions of soldiers wielding shining swords in battle, but that's about as far from the truth as you can get. Swords were always an officer's weapon, they were expensive and difficult to make - and in actual combat a sword would hardly stand a chance against a weapon with greater reach.

Crossbows, similarly, were used because they were easy to use. It took years of training for someone to become proficient with a shortbow or longbow, and these weapons required expert craftsmanship and care. A crossbow, on the other hand - while a little more complex to create - could be reloaded and fired by anyone with five minutes of instruction. In the hands of an untrained soldier, a crossbow was far more accurate and deadly than a bow, and it could be used in the thick of combat more easily. The downside, of course, was slower reload speed and shorter effective range when compared to a standard bow design.

In support of both of these weapons being added to Elder Scrolls Online, I'm going to preface this with a look at the current weapon types in the game - what they provide, and what they lack, and what could be focused on by new weapon types in order to ensure that they mesh well with what we currently have access to.





We'll split up the current 6 weapons into two sets: Melee and ranged, with the 2hander, dual wield, and onehanded + shield in the melee group, and the bow, restoration staff, and destruction staff in the ranged group.

For the melee group, this is what each currently provides to the user/game environment:

Two Handed: Base 7 meter attack range, slow attack speed
-Heavy Single-target burst damage through uppercut/reverse slash
-Light splash damage through reverse slice/forceful
-Light AOE damage through cleave
-Melee/spell synergy through arcane fighter

Sword and Shield: Base 5 meter attack range, fast attack speed
-Tanking/taunting through puncturing strike
-Heavy defense through passives and abilities

Dual Wield: Base 5 meter attack range, medium attack speed
-Combat Utility (heals, debuffs, snares) through several abilities
-Relatively high sustained damage on single targets, but low burst damage
-Light AoE damage through whirlwind/shrouded daggers, stronger when executing
-Some range via hidden blade/flying blade/shrouded daggers

And for the ranged group, this is what each provides:

Bow:
-Light to moderate ranged AOE damage
-Heavy AoE control through snares and immobilizes
-Heavy single target control through stuns, knockbacks, and interrupts
-Low Sustained but moderately high burst damage against single targets

Destruction Staff:
-High AoE damage through impulse and wall of elements
-Relatively high single target burst damage through force shock/clipping
-Damage utility through weakness to elements and destructive touch

Restoration Staff:
-Heavy resource regeneration through heavy attacks
-Heavy survivability and support through heals
-Moderate buffing for self and allies through force siphon/blessing of protection


What melee weapon sets currently do not cover:
-High AoE Damage
-AoE Control
-Resource Regeneration

What ranged weapon sets currently do not cover:
-Tanking/Taunting
-Defense/Mitigation
-Execute-style abilities




So when looking to add two new weapon types to the game - the polearm and the crossbow - these are the aspects we need to focus on, and they fit the two weapon types relatively well. For the polearm, AoE damage and control is perfect, as these weapons were designed for wide, sweeping attacks and are extremely effective for fending off multiple attackers.
The ranged aspects are a little harder to work in with the crossbow - it makes plenty of sense that a crossbow would have execute-style effects, but tanking and taunting, or damage mitigation? They dont fit in very well at first glance. Ranged tanking, however, is something a lot of players love in other MMO's, and it's something lacking in ESO at present, so I think we can make it work out.

Now, on to some suggestions (and these are only baseline suggestions to get ideas going for the players and developers) for each weapon type. We'll start with the polearm skill line, and what I think the tree should (roughly) look like.

Lynx7386

The Polearm Skill LIne

This skill line, as stated above, needs to focus on three main factors:
-Area damage on par with what the Destruction staff and Bow offer
-Area control on par with what the bow offers
-Resource regeneration for a melee combatant on par with what the restoration staff offers

Each weapon skill tree has 5 abilities and 5 passives to take into account, we'll start with active abilities.



Ability 1: Sweeping Strike
Range: 10 meters
Deals heavy damage to all opponents in a cone in front of you.

Morph 1: Toppling strike
New Effect: Knocks down all targets hit for 2 seconds.

Morph 2: Cleaving Sweep
New Effect: Reduces armor for all targets hit by 40% for 4 seconds.

This ability satisfies two roles, depending on the morph you go with. It's either a primary source of area damage and area control, or it's a primary source of area damage with an attached debuff to increase the damage of further attacks.


Ability 2: Spinning Strike
Range: 7 meters
Deals moderate damage to all nearby enemies.

Morph 1: Fend
New Effect: Knocks back all nearby enemies 10 meters and immobilizes them for 1 second.

Morph 2: Vortex
New Effect: Draws enemies up to 12 meters away towards you before dealing damage.

This ability is a point blank aoe, rather than a cone aoe, making it easier to use in the thick of battle - it requires less positioning. As a drawback, it does less damage, and may have a higher cost. With the first morph, you have a more defensive option that pushes enemies away from you and roots them for a brief duration, giving you some breathing room. The second morph does the exact opposite, drawing enemies that might be out of the attack's range closer so that they get hit by the damage, far more useful for a support DPS trying to gather errant mobs for the group to AoE down.


Ability 3: Javelin
Range: 28 meters
Throw your weapon at the target, dealing low damage and knocking the target down for 1 second.

Morph 1: Harpoon
New Effect: Activate the ability a second time to pull the enemy back to you, stunning the target for an additional 1 second.

Morph 2: Follow Up
New Effect: Activate the ability a second time to charge to your opponent, dealing additional damage.

This is the one extreme-range ability of the class, matching the range of a typical ranged weapon (or flying blade). It doubles, through morphs, as either a fiery-grip style pull, or as a charge-style ability to close distance. The morphs allow the player to customize his or her playstyle by choosing to either move towards the enemy, or pull the enemy to them in order to single it out from possible allies.


Ability 4: Lance
Range: 7 meters
Stab your target, dealing moderate damage. Damage increases up to 300% on low health targets.

Morph 1: Gore
New Effect: Causes heavy bleed damage over 10 seconds. This damage is increased against targets with low health.

Morph 2: Decapitate
New Effect: Deals reduced damage, but hits all nearby enemies within 7 meters.

This is your run of the mill execute, just like reverse slash or whirlwind. One morph does extra damage to single targets, while the other morph turns it into an AoE execute more akin to whirlwind, better for dealing with larger groups of enemies.


Ability 5: Deflection
For 20 seconds you gain reduced blocking cost and increased blocking mitigation while a polearm is equipped.

Morph 1: Warding
New Effect: Also increases spell resistance and, while blocking, you reflect negative single-target spells back at their casters.

Morph 2: Retaliation
New Effect: Also increases armor and, while blocking, you return moderate damage to melee attackers.

This ability provides defense to the player, and allows the polearm to serve in an off-tanking role much like the two-handed line is capable of doing at the moment through brawler. With the first morph, you gain additional defense against casters, while the second morph gives additional defense and returns damage against melee attackers.




Now comes the passives, where the other aspects listed before will come into play.

Passive 1: Second Wind
Heavy attacks with polearm weapons restore 5/10% stamina.
This passive does essentially what the restoration staff does for ranged/magicka based builds - it gives you a way to sustain your resource pool.

Passive 2: Leverage
Increases critical strike damage by 5/10% while a polearm is equipped.
Essentially akin to the heavy weapons passive for two handed, or the twin blade and blunt passive for dual wield, this provides an additional damage bonus while using the weapon type.

Passive 3: Efficiency
Reduces the stamina cost of polearm weapon abilities by 10/20%.
The equivalent to similar reduced feat cost passives in the other stamina based trees.

Passive 4: Blades to Plowshares
Increases out-of-combat health, magicka, and stamina regeneration by 15/30%.
Another resource mechanic, this one only works when not in combat however. It fits with the historical theme that most polearms were farming implements converted into weapons, and could be converted back to tools when war was done.

Passive 5: Formation Fighting
Increases weapon damage, spell resistance, and armor by 1/2% for each ally within 15 meters that is also using a polearm weapon, up to a maximum of +10%.
Stemming from the idea that polearms are best used in phalanx formations, this provides a damage and defense bonus as long as others are using the same weapon type nearby.




Overall, this setup allows the polearm skill line to amply cover AoE damage and control in melee, as an alternative to the destruction staff or bow. At the same time, the skill line can be used for light to moderate tanking, and would probably work very well for tanking groups of weak enemies. Of the melee weapons, it would likely be the most sustainable due to restoring a large percentage of stamina with heavy attacks, however it would likely be the least useful weapon type against single targets such as bosses, with only an execute, a weak ranged throw, and basic light/heavy attacks available.

Lynx7386

The Crossbow Skill Line

This skill line, as stated above, needs to focus on three main factors:
-Ranged tanking potential
-High Defense
-Execute/single target damage capability

Starting off with the active abilities - note that, compared to the bow/staff base range of 28 meters, the crossbow has a maximum base range of 20 meters, both for abilities as well as basic light/heavy attacks.



Ability 1: Snapshot
Range: 20 meters
A fast, moderate damage attack.

Morph 1: Puncturing Shot
New Effect: Reduces target's armor by 40% for 10 seconds.

Morph 2: Distracting Shot
New Effect: Deals additional damage and taunts the target, forcing it to attack you for 15 seconds.

This is either your basic damaging shot, or a taunt when morphed. For those crossbow users that do not wish to tank an enemy, the alternate morph reduces enemy armor, increasing damage output.


Ability 2: Crippling Shot
Range: 20 meters
A low-damage attack that weakens the target, reducing it's weapon and spell damage by 15% for 10 seconds.

Morph 1: Mangling Shot
New Effect: Further reduces the target's weapon and spell damage to -30% for 10 seconds.

Morph 2: Grapeshot
New Effect: Hits all enemies in a cone in front of you, reducing their weapon and spell damage by 10% for 10 seconds. Deals reduced damage.

Essentially a ranged equivalent to low slash for sword and board users, this weakens enemy damage output, increasing the crossbowman's survivability if tanking, or helping the group out when filling a damage role.


Ability 3: Silencing Shot
Range: 20 meters
A moderate-damage attack that interrupts spellcasting and sets the caster off balance for 3 seconds.

Morph 1: Explosive Bolt
New Effect: Explodes on impact, disorienting and damaging all enemies near the target for 3 seconds.

Morph 2: Headshot
New Effect: Deals up to 300% additional damage against low-health targets.

This fills a dual purpose - first as an interrupt/control effect for dealing with casters when ranged tanking, and second as an execute style ability through the headshot morph.


Ability 4: Stockstrike
Range: 5 meters
Smash the enemy with the stock of your crossbow, knocking the target down for 3 seconds and inflicting moderate damage.

Morph 1: Bayonet
New Effect: Deals increased damage and causes the target to bleed over 10 seconds.

Morph 2: Point Blank
Range: 7 meters
New Effect: Shoot the target instead of striking with your crossbow, knocking the target back 7 meters.

Useful to the ranged tanks when enemies get close, you can either deal heavy damage and stun the target, or you can knock them back away from you, depending on the morph.


Ability 5: Flare
Range: 20 meters
Fire a burning flare at the targeted area. Reveals hidden and invisible enemies in the area and reduces the damage you take from all attacks while within the lit area by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds.

Morph 1: Incendiary Round[/u]
New Effect: Deals fire damage over the duration to enemies within the area.

Morph 2: Bright Flare
New Effect: Has increased radius, lasts longer, and further reduces the damage you take while in the lit area.

This is the big defensive ability for the ranged crossbow tank. Not only do you reveal stealthed and invisible enemies in the area, but you take less damage as long as you remain in that area, so you can shoot this at a spot and then stand on it to gain a damage mitigation boost. With the first morph it can also serve as an AoE damage attack by burning enemies over the duration, or with the second morph you get a larger area, longer duration, and extra mitigation.




Now for the passives:

Passive 1: Suppressive Fire
Heavy crossbow attacks reduce the target's movement speed by 10/20% for 5 seconds.

Passive 2: Ambush
Increases damage with crossbow attacks while stealthed or invisible by 5/10%.

Passive 3: Rapid Reload
Reduces the stamina cost of crossbow abilities by 10/20%.

Passive 4: Heavy Bolts
Increases critical strike damage with crossbow attacks by 5/10%.

Passive 5: Hit and Run
Killing a target increases stamina regeneration by 15/30% for 10 seconds.



This set of abilities allows the crossbow line to serve as either a single-target burst damage ranged weapon, or as a ranged tanking tool with defensive benefits and a taunt. Ultimately, it's best use would be as a secondary weapon to any tank, stacking the effects with the sword and shield line.

Lynx7386

Comments are welcome, if you've got the attention span to actually read what was posted above

Mr.Turtlesworth

zen zens pls

Artemiisia

as I like the idea of new weapons and skill lines, they will sadly come with new balance issues and either op/underpower

remember the more skill lines there is in the game, it will become even that harder to balance things for ZoS.


Onces that said, luv the work and thought out you have done with it, one thing I would say about crossbows, is that they should just be the same as archer in my opinion

The polearm would be fun and great to use.

I would think for the thief skill line, it would be fun to have trowing knifes as a skill line, but then again, we have the balance issues that will come with it.

ZOS_SandraS

Greetings everyone, 

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