Bound Weapons

crashen17b14_ESO

So, from time to time, I see discussions about one-handed and spellblade skill lines crop up. There are always plenty of arguments for or against it, and questions about the practicality and logistics of it. For example, whats the point of using a special melee weapon when casting spells? Why not use a staff if you want to cast, and dual blades if you want to melee? But one thing that I think is often overlooked is the absence of Bound Weapons. Sure, we have Bound Armor, but no Bound Weapons.

Conjuring a bound dagger/axe/sword/mace seems like a really natural way to blend spellcasting and melee skills. Each ability could have a stamina or magicka morph, with perhaps two melee attacks, two ranged attacks, and a buff of some sort available. Standard weapon abilities really. But here's the unique gimmick. Light attacks would be melee, but when you fully charged an attack, it instead was ranged. Possibly a fireball or ice blast or lightning bolt or whatever they choose. The catch is that you HAVE to fully charge the heavy attack. No sliding scale like most other attacks. Either you tap it for a light attack, or hold it for a casted attack. Or maybe the heavy attack is channeled with a final pulse at the end like lightning and resto staves.

With that (extremely) rough concept in mind, what are some suggested abilities you all would like to see for a true hybrid Bound Weapon skill line? Also, how would you like to see different types of weapons (axe/dagger/sword/mace) handled? Would you like each of them to be it's own separate item the way they are for regular weapons, or do you think that would be too cluttered? I am leaning towards it being too cluttered, perhaps the different abilities could conjure different weapons. I think the 'off-hand' item would be some sort of special soul-gem or focusing crystal, included in the actual weapon. (Sort of like how 2h weapons take up both slots). Or it could be separate items that determine the elemental damage type. That might be TOO many options for a single weapon skill line (Here is a bound sword, and in my off-hand I have a flame crystal, so my bound sword does fire damage, but you have a bound mace, and the off-hand is an ice crystal).

Hrm. What if rather than adding new axes/swords/whatever, instead they added a new off-hand, that focusing crystal, that converts whatever weapon is in your main hand into a bound weapon, applies some sort of magical effect, and allows you to access the bound weapons skill line. Sort of like the difference between using a shield or an off-hand weapon.

Either way, share with me your completely unrealistic expectations because we all know such a massive undertaking is unlikely to occur, but it's fun to think about nonetheless.

Lynx7386

I'm not sure about having it as a new skill or set of skills, but I do like the idea in general, especially for stamina sorcerors as some form of improvement on melee combat.

Personally, I would change the bound armaments morph into a bound weapons (doesnt even need a name change) ability.

Bound Armaments:
Conjure a weapon from oblivion. While toggled on, you gain minor resolve increasing your physical resistance, and your equipped weapon is replaced with a bound weapon of the same type.

So, if you dual wield, you'll get two bound 1h weapons. If you use 1h/shield, you'll get a bound weapon and shield. If you use a 2h, you'll get a bound 2h. If you use a bow, you'll get a bound bow. Staffs need not apply, being a stamina ability/morph.
When a bound weapon is equipped, your attacks all deal additional physical damage.


ALTERNATIVELY, bound weapons could be a morph option for overload (which is already a toggle that replaces your weapons and gives you a third ability bar). This, I think, might be an even better fit: Instead of going into your typical overload mode where you deal magic damage with lightning from your hands, the stamina morph of the ability would conjure bound weapons that deal additional damage and have other effects, like possibly knocking down/stunning/dazing opponents when you hit them.