Thoughts on Light Attack Weaving Amid ESO's Exciting 2026 Roadmap

Warhawke_80

Hey everyone,

With all the fantastic announcements from the recent ESO 2026 reveal—like the new Seasons model, Tamriel Tomes battle pass, class identity refreshes, returning Night Market, and overland difficulty options—it's clear ZOS is committed to evolving the game in meaningful ways. This feels like a perfect moment to politely revisit light attack (LA) weaving, a mechanic that's been a staple but one I've always hoped could be refined for broader accessibility and fun.

For context, LA weaving originated as a form of animation canceling—an unintended exploit where players clip light attacks into skills to bypass recovery animations, boosting DPS significantly. While it's now a core meta technique, it turns smooth, immersive combat into a precise, twitchy rhythm that disrupts fluid animations and demands sub-second timing.


I love ESO's action combat (even more than Destiny 2's gunplay in some ways), but weaving often feels like a chore rather than an engaging flow.

More importantly, it creates barriers for players with physical challenges. Folks with arthritis, tendinitis, or other hand/musculoskeletal issues have shared how the rapid inputs exacerbate pain or make it outright unfeasible, limiting their DPS and group viability. Addons and controller aids help some, but not everyone.

The good news? Perfect weaving isn't required for most content. Many players clear all trials, dungeons, and arenas with solid but imperfect rotations—top parses are really just a hyper-competitive niche, not the norm, I mean just Imagine if ZOS leaned into the 2026 class updates to make high DPS more achievable through smart design: better baseline skill synergies, optional weaving bonuses.

I'd love to hear your thoughts—devs, do you see this fitting into the combat refresh? Players with/without weaves, how does it impact your fun? Let's discuss constructively!

Thanks for reading,


.

Desiato

I love LA weaving in ESO combat. Contrary to your description, I think it is incredibly fluid.

It was never considered an exploit by ZOS, it just wasn't intended because ZOS originally envisioned us running out of resources if we tried. The notion of players executing abilities on cooldown for the entire duration of fights somehow didn't occur to ZOS. Before light attack weaves were optimal, medium attack weaves were!

It makes use of an intentional system: the animation priority/preemption system. Every decent game has this to varying degrees. Players are constantly "animation cancelling" every time they move their characters around the world.

So it is completely intentional that animations can be preempted. The pace of combat is not dictated by the speed of the animations but rather the cooldowns or what players call the gcd.

But this is all a dead horse. Far from considering LA weaving an exploit, ZOS embraced it as emergent.

Please stop trying to eliminate it from the game. It should be enough the entire game is being fatecarverized.

Marto

I haven't been able to play it yet, I've just seen videos. But the 2H visual refresh seems to modify the animation of the next light attack you perform after a skill, in order to make it flow more naturally.

That's... actually kind of a genius idea from ZOS. It subtly encourages even the most casual of players to add a light attack into their gameplay flow.

Yeah, they probably won't do it at the correct frequency to be considered proper weaving, but it will still lead to a sizeable improvement to damage and ult generation for those players on the bottom of the skill floor, and a smoother transition if they ever decide to learn how to weave.

meekmiko

Leave light attack weaving alone.

Munkfist

I love the weaving mechanics. I don't think players with physical limitations should expect the same results as someone without, that's just how it is. My better half has severe tendonitis, so we've set up builds that cater to that and everyone just accepts that her dps will be slightly lower, but not even close to detrimental to any group activities.

The Velothi necklace is in many meta setups, negating a lot of the dps from light attacks, minimizing the need for perfect weaving.

There are plenty of options that keep dps competitive with or without the need to rehash the light attack weaving argument.

Cooperharley

I think light attack weaving now is something that defines ESO combat. The combat can feel a little floaty, sure, but I'm hoping that changes a bit with updated animations and textures and adds a feeling of weight! The new DK dragonfire breath does that for me a bit.

There are alternatives if you don't want to use it. Velothi ur Mage's amulet is a mythic that nullifies your light attack damage in favor of other types of damage, so you can use that if you don't enjoy it. You could also do a heavy attack build, which many with disabilities find to be more satisfying & pleasant. All of that to say, just because you alone or a very small minority don't like something doesn't mean it should be taken away.

I'm not a fan of Tales of Tribute, but many love it and even play the game for that purpose. Having it taken away would be silly.

Soarora

I enjoy light attack weaving and I honestly have never had the problem of combat feeling twitchy because of it. I’m not the best weaver, I most certainly am just spamming my light attack button while I do my rotation, except for my spammable which I can usually weave correctly. There’s already the option of using velothi or a heavy attack build. I still stand by my opinion that a 2-bar heavy attack build should be viable alongside weaving builds and I think Rakkhat was a perfect addition for that.

Not to mention, ZOS /already/ reduced the importance of weaving on doing high damage, I think it was part of U35.

One could also heal or tank. Healers should weave but don’t have to unless that’s their only source of proccing enchants. Tanks definitely don’t have to weave, but sometimes I think holding block hurts me more than weaving does.

Gabriel_H

Desiato wrote: »

So it is completely intentional that animations can be preempted. The pace of combat is not dictated by the speed of the animations but rather the cooldowns or what players call the gcd.

Your point is undercut by weaving only working in one-direction. That's because LA is subject to the GCD, but skills are not when the preceeding skill (which a LA is) is a LA.

That said, removing weaving at this stage would cause a massive backlash. DDs pride themselves on their ability to weave, it is in itself a skill and can seperate a great DD from a middle of the road DD.

Desiato

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Desiato wrote: »

So it is completely intentional that animations can be preempted. The pace of combat is not dictated by the speed of the animations but rather the cooldowns or what players call the gcd.

Your point is undercut by weaving only working in one-direction. That's because LA is subject to the GCD, but skills are not when the preceeding skill (which a LA is) is a LA.

That said, removing weaving at this stage would cause a massive backlash. DDs pride themselves on their ability to weave, it is in itself a skill and can seperate a great DD from a middle of the road DD.

That's not true. LA and abilities have a separate cooldown and can preempt each other.

Gabriel_H

Desiato wrote: »

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Desiato wrote: »

So it is completely intentional that animations can be preempted. The pace of combat is not dictated by the speed of the animations but rather the cooldowns or what players call the gcd.

Your point is undercut by weaving only working in one-direction. That's because LA is subject to the GCD, but skills are not when the preceeding skill (which a LA is) is a LA.

That said, removing weaving at this stage would cause a massive backlash. DDs pride themselves on their ability to weave, it is in itself a skill and can seperate a great DD from a middle of the road DD.

That's not true. LA and abilities have a separate cooldown and can preempt each other.

They can't. Only LA -> Skill works, not Skill -> LA.

Go cast a skill then immediately LA - it won't happen.

If you LA 600ms after the skill press (and press nothing else) then LA will be queued to fire at the 1s mark when the GCD is up - just like with all skills.

Edit: Tiredness

Desiato

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Desiato wrote: »

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Desiato wrote: »

So it is completely intentional that animations can be preempted. The pace of combat is not dictated by the speed of the animations but rather the cooldowns or what players call the gcd.

Your point is undercut by weaving only working in one-direction. That's because LA is subject to the GCD, but skills are not when the preceeding skill (which a LA is) is a LA.

That said, removing weaving at this stage would cause a massive backlash. DDs pride themselves on their ability to weave, it is in itself a skill and can seperate a great DD from a middle of the road DD.

That's not true. LA and abilities have a separate cooldown and can preempt each other.

They can't. Only LA -> Skill works, not Skill -> LA.

Go cast a skill then immediately LA - it won't happen.

If you LA 600ms after the skill press (and press nothing else) then LA will be queued to fire at the 1s mark when the GCD is up - just like with all skills.

Edit: Tiredness

I just logged in to test this and yes, light and heavy attack animations can be preempted by an ability casts, roll dodge, block and bar swaps.

They made a change many years ago to allow the follow-through of animations to a limited degree after they were cancelled -- which actually didn't improve anything and is what sometimes makes the system feel clunky.

SummersetCitizen

I personally enjoy HA builds, which make weaving easier. I can still pull very good damage.

As long as we can keep other options like HA builds viable and enjoyable, I wouldn’t want to upset those who enjoy LA weaving. Much like the original Templar jabs whose unnecessary change seemed to be disliked by many.

Gabriel_H

Desiato wrote: »

ged in to test this and yes, light and heavy attack animations can be preempted by an ability casts, roll dodge, block and bar swaps.

You just described light attack weaving. Or to put it another way:

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Your point is undercut by weaving only working in one-direction. That's because LA is subject to the GCD, but skills are not when the preceeding skill (which a LA is) is a LA.

The same is not true in reverse. You cannot cast a skill and cancel it's animation by light attacking - hence it's one-directional. If you cast a skill first you cannot light attack for 1s - because LA is also a skill and it is subject to the GCD.

Pepegrillos

Weaving and floatyness are the two main aspects of ESO's combat that people outside of the game tend to single out when they say the game's combat is trash. ESO is well-known for having the worst combat of all the major MMORPGs (just do a quick search outside of the ESO-sphere). The problem is that we have a very vocal group that absolutely loves weaving, and a lot of people that might not love it, but at least tolerates it.

I'm not sure if they'll do something about it. All I know is weaving and an aging population don't go well together.

Desiato

Gabriel_H wrote: »

The same is not true in reverse. You cannot cast a skill and cancel it's animation by light attacking - hence it's one-directional. If you cast a skill first you cannot light attack for 1s - because LA is also a skill and it is subject to the GCD.

It depends on the length of the animation. If a portion of the animation is longer than the gcd, it will be cancelled with a light attack under normal circumstances. One such ability is unnerving bone yard as can be observed just slightly with the clenching hand. But most animations complete within the gcd. Abilities aren't affected by the LA cooldown but LAs are affected by the ability cooldown.

In testing today. I realized that the recent animation changes broke some things in regards to this. Last spring while testing some things, I know for a fact I could block cancel blockade at a certain point in the animation and that is not currently working for me tonight -- at least on PTS. Perhaps the recent animation changes factor into this.

Northwold

To be honest I'd like to see it gone. It isn't just hard for people with arthritis etc, such movements *cause* problems with your hands. Long, long ago, some sports games used to use wiggling joysticks left and right as fast as you could as the means of control. I find weaving about as silly.

Gabriel_H

Desiato wrote: »

Gabriel_H wrote: »

The same is not true in reverse. You cannot cast a skill and cancel it's animation by light attacking - hence it's one-directional. If you cast a skill first you cannot light attack for 1s - because LA is also a skill and it is subject to the GCD.

It depends on the length of the animation. If a portion of the animation is longer than the gcd, it will be cancelled with a light attack under normal circumstances. One such ability is unnerving bone yard as can be observed just slightly with the clenching hand. But most animations complete within the gcd. Abilities aren't affected by the LA cooldown but LAs are affected by the ability cooldown.

In testing today. I realized that the recent animation changes broke some things in regards to this. Last spring while testing some things, I know for a fact I could block cancel blockade at a certain point in the animation and that is not currently working for me tonight -- at least on PTS. Perhaps the recent animation changes factor into this.

There may be a few sklills for which that is true, but we were discussing the GCD, were we not? Which brings me back to this:

Desiato wrote: »

That's not true. LA and abilities have a separate cooldown and can preempt each other.

Are you now willing to accept that is not the case? And it is as I explained earlier, being LA does not trigger the GCD but it subject to it. i.e. you cannot cast a skill and then immediately light attack.

Faulgor

The DK and 2H animation rework shows they can actually deliver, so I hope they overhaul light and heavy attacks for all weapons as well.

Rungar

weaving was the worst game limiting mistake they ever made. They should of gotten rid of it ten years ago. Too late now. Eso is well known and avoided for it.

Renato90085

Light attack Weaving is unimportant in last 2-3year

Sadras

I can't stand it, I think it should have been patched out many years ago, but better late than never if they decided to tackle it now at last. It's janky, it looks stupid, it's unintuitive, it's obviously a bug and an embarrassment to keep in the game for so long, and accessibility-wise, with age and increasing tendency for wrist complications I ignore it in favour of the Arcanist beam.

GloatingSwine

Pepegrillos wrote: »

Weaving and floatyness are the two main aspects of ESO's combat that people outside of the game tend to single out when they say the game's combat is trash. ESO is well-known for having the worst combat of all the major MMORPGs (just do a quick search outside of the ESO-sphere). The problem is that we have a very vocal group that absolutely loves weaving, and a lot of people that might not love it, but at least tolerates it.

I'm not sure if they'll do something about it. All I know is weaving and an aging population don't go well together.

ESO's "Floatiness" can't be fixed. It's a consequence of being able to attack and move at the same time. Because you can attack and move at the same time, no attack can deliver the sensation of shifting the weight of the character into the attack or locking them into recovery frames. Either of those things would mean that the motion of the character was being controlled by the attack not the player, forcing motion into the plane of the attack or pausing it for recovery.

And those are how games deliver the sensation of "weight" in attacks. (If you want to know more, go on YouTube and look for New Frame Plus and their series about the animation of Monster Hunter, the weighty attacks game.)

And you can't change that without ripping the entire animation system out of the game and building a new one from the ground up because all the skeletons and articulation and rigging are designed to work with independent upper and lower body that can attack and move together (and probably ditching first person mode).

They also can't that or "weaving" without rebalancing and rebuilding literally everything on every class, weapon, guild, and world skill line, because if every attack animation has to complete every time, every single weapon and ability has to be rebalanced to account for the different lengths of animation now present, and the damage of a basic attack has to be competitive with a skill activation that could have consumed the same time-unit as its animation.

Suddwrath

Light attack weaving is dumb and one of the worst aspects of ESO’s combat. On a similar note, heavy attacks are confusing from a series perspective…HA to RESTORE resources, really? It should have been the reverse. Light attacks should have been resource recoverer (not weaving, just light attacks) while heavy attacks were a resource spending option for DPS. Bad decisions were made when designing the combat and then ZOS just stuck with them.

xylena

Desiato wrote: »

I love LA weaving in ESO combat. Contrary to your description, I think it is incredibly fluid.

So it is completely intentional that animations can be preempted.

Same, and we "animation cancel" in the real world all the time. A baseball player can check his swing to avoid a strike call, or abort his pitching windup to pick off a baserunner. Imagine the physical world if we literally couldn't stop or change movements once we began them.

robpr

Weaving defines ESO combat. There are ways to work around it if you don't like it (Fatecarver, Velothi, HA builds, new DK's "Flamecarver"), but please do not remove last crumb of player skill learning curve left in the game.

New players complain about floatiness - the animations are still floaty even without cancelling them. And most of them will leave anyways because of overworld difficulty allows to kill enemies naked with just clicking LAs.
its a limiting factor for disabled players - I have arthritis myself and got around it just mapping the keys more comfortably on the keyboard and I use vertical mouse. I still feel pain after longer sessions. But at the same time Fatecarver and HA exists and you can definitely tailor a build for yourself with minimal clicking and stay competitive.

And I don't believe its "vocal minority" that defends it, but the other way around, its the players that wants to get rid of it because they don't want to engage with it.

M0ntie

Your first sentence talks about evolving the game and moving forward - and the the whole post is abot not letting go to the past. It has been about a decade since ZoS said that LA weaving is part of the game and you still can't accept it??? There is Oakensoul and a whole class (Arcanist) that make LA weaving non-essential so just MOVE ON.
If people put the time and effort into learning to LA weave they should have a small benefit of a little more damage/healing.
For me, LA weaving is just second nature. The slow pace of the arc beaming puts me to sleep, and oakensoul puts me to sleep faster.
But there are multiple options there if you don't want to LA weave. Move on.

Warhawke_80

Pepegrillos wrote: »

Weaving and floatyness are the two main aspects of ESO's combat that people outside of the game tend to single out when they say the game's combat is trash. ESO is well-known for having the worst combat of all the major MMORPGs (just do a quick search outside of the ESO-sphere). The problem is that we have a very vocal group that absolutely loves weaving, and a lot of people that might not love it, but at least tolerates it.

I'm not sure if they'll do something about it. All I know is weaving and an aging population don't go well together.

Very True..I come from a very large guild and it's like the number three complaint surrounding the game at large...I feel that sooner or later enough people will complan and they will be forced into action

SummersetCitizen

Warhawke_80 wrote: »

Pepegrillos wrote: »

Weaving and floatyness are the two main aspects of ESO's combat that people outside of the game tend to single out when they say the game's combat is trash. ESO is well-known for having the worst combat of all the major MMORPGs (just do a quick search outside of the ESO-sphere). The problem is that we have a very vocal group that absolutely loves weaving, and a lot of people that might not love it, but at least tolerates it.

I'm not sure if they'll do something about it. All I know is weaving and an aging population don't go well together.

Very True..I come from a very large guild and it's like the number three complaint surrounding the game at large...I feel that sooner or later enough people will complan and they will be forced into action

Interesting point I hadn’t considered.

I do think our community’s average age gets older each year as fewer young people seem to enjoy this genre.

Changes, with this in mind, could be positive if we really do plan to be around 10 more years as we all continue aging.

Coopersnow

Arguing against light attacks because they are a barrier to entry makes no sense.
You do not even compete at the highest end, every piece of content is clearable with the worst of the worst build.
So saying that there is a barrier to enter is not true.
If the actual argument is oh i want world records but wtihout any effort put in. Yea and i want to be Lebron James(Please) but it aint happening.
Eso combat is literally the only thing any endgame person plays the game at all.
LA weaving affects no other aspect of the game outside of litreally record pushing/scorepushing. Matter of fact bring back old bashweaving aswell since again it literally does not affect any other aspect of the game.
And even in scorepushing you would be quite surprised by what just beam/velothi can do.
So litearlly nothing in this argument makes anysense.

Gabriel_H

SummersetCitizen wrote: »

Interesting point I hadn’t considered.

I do think our community’s average age gets older each year as fewer young people seem to enjoy this genre.

Changes, with this in mind, could be positive if we really do plan to be around 10 more years as we all continue aging.

Average age of MMO players is around 30. Aroun 60% are 25 - 44 (hardly old), and around 25% are under 25. This is in keeping with general population demographics.

So there is nothing to indicate that younger gamers are playing MMOs less, merely that population wise they are outnumbered by a generally aging population.

If 80% of MMO players were currently in their 60s, then yeah maybe age-related conditions could impact but that isn't the case.

Warhawke_80

Coopersnow wrote: »

Arguing against light attacks because they are a barrier to entry makes no sense.
You do not even compete at the highest end, every piece of content is clearable with the worst of the worst build.
So saying that there is a barrier to enter is not true.
If the actual argument is oh i want world records but wtihout any effort put in. Yea and i want to be Lebron James(Please) but it aint happening.
Eso combat is literally the only thing any endgame person plays the game at all.
LA weaving affects no other aspect of the game outside of litreally record pushing/scorepushing. Matter of fact bring back old bashweaving aswell since again it literally does not affect any other aspect of the game.
And even in scorepushing you would be quite surprised by what just beam/velothi can do.
So litearlly nothing in this argument makes anysense.

Hey, fair points—ESO's super forgiving....

But weaving gates more than leaderboards: consistent trials, pugs, mid-score pushes demand 100k+ parses (weaving = 20-30% DPS). Miss it, you're dead weight or benched—not fun group vibes.

Physically brutal too—hand pain, arthritis from endless clicking forces healer/tank switches or quitting raids.
Bash weaving? Axed for clunkiness; light weaving's the same twitchy mess. Beam/Velothi skips most LAs (nice!), but needs some for procs/ults, caps lower on boards—not competitive.

ESO endgame's combat core, but weaving excludes folks. 2026 refreshes/animations? Perfect for synergies making DPS accessible sans grind, skill ceiling intact....and looking at where the game is going overall the changes actually do make sense when you think about it.