Does it make sense to develop more than 2 weapon skills?

Caroloces · April 2015

I have a DK Tank as one of my alts who is currently at VR3. From the get-go I had him with sword & shield and destruction staff (this was before I understood the functions of a tank). After reading a bit about tank builds, I was thinking that a resto staff might be a good option for self-heals. Now that I'm pretty close to maxing out abilities & passives for sword & shield and destro staff, I thought that it might be fun to cultivate the resto abilities. The only thing that concerns me is that I don't want to spread myself too thin. I'd like to put more into the undaunted line and this alt also does alchemy & provisioning. Currently working on Cadwell's Silver so I know there's plenty of skyshards left to go . . .
Anway, thoughts?

Stannum · April 2015

If you want to play different roles and playstyles it really make sense.
I have several weapon skilllines on 50 with my top characters.

michael_bimson · April 2015

It is advisable to level up all of your weapon skill lines to level 50 - that doesn't mean you should max out each individual passive and active ability for it though!

My advice is to play around with all of them until you have a good idea what you want to do and how you want to do it. You may prefer one weapon skill line for AoE and another for single target. The real choice is still whether to stack stamina or magicka.

Erock25 · April 2015

Leveling through quests and PVE is very easy with just one skill bar. What I do is have my strongest set up on skill bar 1 and a weapon and skills I want to level on skill bar 2. Whenever I turn in a quest I make sure to switch to skill bar 2. Very easy way to get to the veteran ranks with basically every weapon at least in the 40s.

Cuyler · April 2015

Eventually there is enough skill points to level and unlock whatever you like. If you feel you need resto, which as a tank you definitely do, then do some more skyshard hunting and complete all the dungeon/group challenges to get more skill points.

Rune_Relic · April 2015

Everyone feels comfortable with different styles of play and different skills.
So its not compulsory...but I do find some content easier depending on what weapon set I have loaded.
So its useful and optional.....how it should be

Jar_Ek · April 2015

Yes. Level up any and all weapon skills you like and any alternate morphs as well. Use the respec ability at the shrine in your main city. This way you can test and play alternative styles to see if you like then and also to stop from getting bored with one spec.

Dagoth_Rac · April 2015

Just equip a resto staff with the Training trait on it before you turn in quests. You don't even need to put any skill points into the resto staff (or any weapon) line, just have the weapon equipped. It will level up faster if you have a bar full of resto staff skills, but it will still level up nicely just from having the weapon equipped. Same goes for armor. Just look for pieces of every weight with the Training trait on it. They will drop randomly from mobs. Equip them when you turn in quests. You can get every weapon and armor to 50 without spending a single skill point. And then it will be there waiting for you if you ever change things up. I was a Light Armor magicka tank for most of the game. That got nerfed hard in Update 6, so I quickly switched to 2H + Bow stamina DPS. Or I could have easily switched to a Heavy Armor stamina tank, but I was getting a little tired of tanking.

tl;dr = Get everything you can to 50, just to give yourself options if you get tired of your build or a game/balance change messes with your build.

Caroloces · April 2015

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

Just equip a resto staff with the Training trait on it before you turn in quests. You don't even need to put any skill points into the resto staff (or any weapon) line, just have the weapon equipped. It will level up faster if you have a bar full of resto staff skills, but it will still level up nicely just from having the weapon equipped. Same goes for armor. Just look for pieces of every weight with the Training trait on it. They will drop randomly from mobs. Equip them when you turn in quests. You can get every weapon and armor to 50 without spending a single skill point. And then it will be there waiting for you if you ever change things up. I was a Light Armor magicka tank for most of the game. That got nerfed hard in Update 6, so I quickly switched to 2H + Bow stamina DPS. Or I could have easily switched to a Heavy Armor stamina tank, but I was getting a little tired of tanking.

tl;dr = Get everything you can to 50, just to give yourself options if you get tired of your build or a game/balance change messes with your build.

Wow! Reading this was like having a light turned on in my head. Thanks so much, and thanks to all for suggestions. I was so much into the mindset of having to put skill points into a weapon line in order to make it viable, that the obvious point of putting a training trait on a resto staff eluded me. But of course you still need to put some skill points into at least 1 resto staff ability, correct? Otherwise, you would be using the resto as a light and heavy attack weapon.
I'm looking forward to experimenting with this and seeing how effective the training trait really is. My templar alt is into woodworking so he'll be able to fashion something.

Nestor · April 2015

If your just leveling the staff, you need no skills on the bar, just the weapon equipped when you turn in the quest. Yes, you will level faster with other staff skills on the bar.

Another thing to note, and I can't remember specifically on Weapons, is the Training trait gives a much bigger boost than it used to. If you improve the staff to say Blue, or even Purple, it will give you a huge boost. So, make a L4 staff, improve it to Purple with the Training Trait and equip that when turning in quests. Obviously, if you using the weapon, make it near your character level.

Caroloces · April 2015

Another thing to note, and I can't remember specifically on Weapons, is the Training trait gives a much bigger boost than it used to. If you improve the staff to say Blue, or even Purple, it will give you a huge boost. So, make a L4 staff, improve it to Purple with the Training Trait and equip that when turning in quests. Obviously, if you using the weapon, make it near your character level.

Awesome! Thanks, Nestor. Are you still grinding in Coldharbor?

Kartalin · April 2015

It's not absolutely necessary but it gives you a lot of flexibility if you decide to change your build. I've maxed 2H, DW, Bow, Resto, and Destro, and have 1H+S at 40 or so (never been much of a fan of tank playstyle). I've also maxed all three armor types. I didn't do them all at once, it did require multiple respecs to achieve this. It's not like I set out to max all these things out either...it's just that I found myself wanting to try out a lot of different builds that required me to learn a whole lot of different things. So it's not necessary but it's a good thing to have.

Jules · April 2015

I agree with everyone here. There will be instances when you may need resto off bar (if you're more of an off tank and need a role when you're not tanking.) Idk about the self heals with the resto as a tank... I prefer to use igneous shield/GDB (or coagulating) but that's just me.

Regardless, DK's are a great class. You may want to be a tank in PVE but you may want to be 2h or Destro or bow in PVP. Just level them all up, one skill from each tree on a bar and flip to that bar when completing quests.

Edit: and don't worry about the skill points. Once you complete all zones and quests you'll have more than enough to have multiple weapon and crafting lines.