Back up weapons assistance

nebula3832 · July 2023

Hi everyone
Can anyone share some knowledge into weapon applications as dont understand how it works.
I know that you can equip main weapon and off hand weapon for your backyard but what is the backup weapon used for and how do you use your back up weapon?
Would really appreciate some information 🙂

Danikat · July 2023

It's a quick way to swap between different weapons.

For example a healer doing normal dungeons probably doesn't need to be healing all the time because their group won't take a lot of damage. So they have a restoration staff as their main weapon and then something else - maybe double daggers or a destruction staff - as a backup weapon to swap to so they can do more damage when the group doesn't need healing.

If they didn't have two weapon sets (and 2 skill bars) they'd have to wait until they were out of combat and then manually swap everything over. Because they do have 2 weapon sets and 2 skill bars they just need to push 1 button to swap, and can even do it in the middle of a fight.

That's especially useful in that situation - maybe the group is doing well so the healer has swapped to a damage-focused weapon, then suddenly a boss appears and starts doing a lot of damage - they need to quickly switch back to their restoration staff to keep everyone alive.

Other common ways to use it are to swap between different damage types - ranged and melee or weapons with different enchantments. Or just to have 10 skills available instead of 5.

fizl101 · July 2023

Main hand and off hand is for using 2 weapons at once, the dual wield skill line. That would be on one bar with your existing skills. At level 15 you get the ability to bar swap, which allows you to put another weapon on your back bar and different skills as well. To bar swap on playstation is left on the d-pad, not sure what the keybinding is on pc

Ilsabet · July 2023

You can think of it as a main weapon and a backup weapon, but essentially having two bars simply allows you to have access to two different weapons (or even two of the same type of weapon, like having bows on both bars). It also allows you to slot more skills than you would be able to use if you only had one bar. But you have to swap between bars depending on which specific weapon and skills you want to use.

To use my stamina nightblade as an example, I have a bow on one bar and a two-handed weapon (a greatsword) on the other bar. My bow bar has skills that I can use at range, and my greatsword bar has skills that I use up close in melee. Another example might be a healer who has a restoration staff on one bar with primarily healing skills, and a destruction staff on the other bar for damage skills and buffs or debuffs.

One restriction to keep in mind is that weapon-specific skills have to be placed on a bar that has that weapon equipped. If I put a bow skill like Snipe on my greatsword bar, I wouldn't be able to use it. Skills from other sources, like class skills or guild line skills, can be placed on your bars wherever you want them.

Hopefully that's the kind of info you were looking for.

nebula3832 · July 2023

Thank you llsabet/fiz101 for reply much appreciated im mainly confused about the back up weapon slot what its for and how to use it

nebula3832 · July 2023

Owesome danikat for your reply didn't know you could do that...thank you for information 🙂

fred4 · July 2023

Let me add some more advanced considerations:

In PvP a typical layout is to have an offensive and defensive bar. You use skills on your offensive (front / main) bar to attack, and skills on your defensive (back) bar to defend.
Offensive weapons include DW, 2H, flame staff, lightning staff, bow.
Defensive weapons include 1H+S, ice staff, resto staff, bow, Blackrose DW or Vateshran 2H special weapons. 1H+S / ice staff grants you lower block cost and higher block mitigation. A resto staff grants you extra healing options. Dodge rolling with a bow grants you speed. Blackrose dual-wield arena weapons grant you a defensive + offensive buff. The Vateshran 2H grants you a damage proc that can carry over to the other bar. You might also front bar those arena weapons.
As a PvE DD, running an Infused back bar weapon and ground AOE skill is standard. You put a weapon / spell damage enchant on the weapon. With Infused trait that equals +452 weapon and spell damage. As long as a monster stands in your ground AOE, that +452 weapon / spell damage is procced with 100% uptime, even while you are on your main bar. Ground AOE skills include Unstable Wall, Endless Hail, Stampede and (not a ground AOE but similar effect) Blade Cloak.
As a PvE tank, running an Infused ice staff with a Crusher enchant on the back bar is standard, as Elemental Blockade adds about 2K penetration, the possibility of Brittle debuff, and a ranged shield for group members. The ice staff also gives you the block mitigation and cost reduction you want as a tank. (Your front bar is typically 1H+S).

nebula3832 · July 2023

Thank you fred4 much appreciated your help🙂

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Back up weapons assistance

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