Suggestion: Polearm skill line

Lynx7386

Obviously new skill lines are in the works (with dark brotherhood and thieves guild confirmed already), and they may take some time to get into the game, but as one of 'those people' who complained to no extent on the beta/unofficial forums about not having polearms or spears in this game, I thought I'd throw the suggestion out for a future update.

In past TES games, we've seen spears (morrowind), but no polearms short of mods/addons. Spears in morrowind were one handed - however, I'm of the opinion that they would not work well in this game as one-handed weapons. Currently the animation sets for dual wield and one handed + shield give the same animation regardless of the type of weapon you're using (whether it be daggers, swords, maces, or axes, you swing the same way every time). Spears would require a new set of animations, and additional coding to allow the game to determine that you need the new animation because of your weapon type. Additionally, to allow spears as one handed weapons means you'd have to be able to use them with both a shield/1h line as well as the dual wield line, and honestly dual wielding spears would look ridiculous (or even having a spear combined with any other one handed weapon, which again would require even more specialized animations to be designed).

That said, the best option is to add them as a two-handed weapon type with it's own skill tree and animations (and unique qualities to set the weapon type apart from the mauls/battleaxes/greatswords of the 2h skill line). Here's my suggestion for the skill line, and it's abilities as I'd like to see them:



Animations:
Polearm Light attacks should all be quick jabs/stabs using the sharp end of the weapon.
Polearm Heavy attacks should all be broad but graceful sweeping strikes, not unlike the 2h attack animations (but with a different grip on the weapon and arc of travel, of course).

Weapon Range:
I'm not positive, but I believe that all melee weapons currently have a 5 meter range on both light and heavy attacks (it seems like the 2h heavy attack may be 7, though that could be a lag factor). When it comes to activated abilities for the weapon types, most dual wield and 1h+shield abilities have a 5 meter range (with one 7 meter for each), and most 2h abilities have a 7 meter range (with one 5 meter execute).

Since pole weapons are designed to out-reach other conventional melee weapons to give the user a slight range advantage, I'd suggest a 9 or 10 meter range on all basic light and heavy attacks.


Active Skills

Level 2
1) Spinning Strike
A sweeping attack that strikes all nearby enemies.
Radius: 10 meters
Cast Time: Instant
Morph 1: Double Strike
Increases the number of hits on all nearby enemies to 2, dealing additional damage.
Morph 2: Rending Strike
Reduces the armor and spell resistance on each target hit for 10 seconds.

Level 4
2) Run Through
A piercing attack on a single target that deals heavy damage.
Range: 10 meters
Cast Time: Instant
Morph 1: Skewer
Causes target to bleed for additional damage over time.
Morph 2: Shieldbreaker
Deals additional damage and stuns if target is blocking.

Level 14
3) Javelin
Throw your weapon at the target.
Range: 10-28 meters
Cast Time: 0.5 seconds
Morph 1: Rope Dart
Activating the ability a second time after throwing pulls the target back to you.
Morph 2: Impaling Throw
Knocks down and immobilizes the target for 2 seconds.

Level 20
4) Behead
A powerful downward strike. Deals 300% additional damage against low-health targets.
Radius: 7 meters
Cast Time: Instant
Morph 1: Guillotine
Increases damage dealt against low-health targets up to 500%
Morph 2: Headsman
While slotted, your polearm abilities deal 15% additional damage to targets under 25% health.

Level 38
5) Trident
For 20 seconds, your light attacks will hit two additional targets within 10 meters in front of you.
Cast Time: Instant
Morph 1: Phalanx
Increases the number of enemies hit by your light attacks by 2 for the duration (total of 5 targets hit per attack)
Morph 2: Sweeping Strikes
Your heavy attacks will also hit two additional targets for the duration.



Passive Skills

Level 5
Piercing attacks
(with polearm equipped)
Increases armor penetration by 5/10%

Level 10
Lethality
(with polearm equipped)
Increases your critical strike damage by 5/10%

Level 17
Deflection
(with polearm equipped)
Increases block mitigation and reduces blocking cost by 15/30%

Level 30
Reach
(with Polearm equipped)
Reduces stamina cost of polearm feats by 15/30% against enemies further than 7 meters away.

Level 41
Formation Fighting
(with Polearm equipped)
Increases weapon damage, armor, spell resistance, and movement speed by 3/6% while an ally is within 10 meters.

Spiritreaver_ESO

Love it. All of it.

I'd respec skill points at the drop of a hat if ZOS announced a Spear skill line thae had even of what you have thrown out here.

Dovahkin

You've put some thought into it. My AoC tank was a polearm user, was good fun

Lynx7386

Bump

lajnus86b16_ESO

this is basicly how all skill lines should look, yes this look a bit overpowered but the reason is that all others lines are so wierd and badly designed/design flaws.

fixing them would make this not overpowered.