Your journey in The Elder Scrolls Online involves a crucial decision: selecting the right weapon for your character. With six distinct weapon types, each accompanied by its unique skill lines such as Destruction Staff, Restoration Staff, Two Hander, Dual Wield, One Hand and Shield, and Bow, the choices can be overwhelming.
This guide aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the strengths and weaknesses of each weapon type. By making a well-informed choice at the beginning, you can avoid unnecessary regrinding in the future.
Let’s get right into it!
1. Destruction Staff
The Destruction Staff stands out as the top recommendation for novice players in ESO, offering a versatile range of applications and user-friendly mechanics. Let’s delve into the benefits and considerations for players opting to build a magicka-based or ranged character, emphasizing the Destruction Staff’s pivotal role in early gameplay.
Advantages of the Destruction Staff
These are the clear advantages of using the destruction staff:
Magicka Restoration on Heavy Attacks
The Destruction Staff excels at replenishing magicka through heavy attacks, ensuring sustained casting of abilities that heavily rely on this resource.
Potent Ranged Skills
Featuring an array of powerful ranged skills, the Destruction Staff allows players to inflict damage from a safe distance. This includes single-target (ST), area-of-effect (AOE), and damage-over-time (DOT) options.
Notable Skills and Morphs
Let’s take a look at the skills and morphs:
Force Shock
A fundamental single-target DPS skill with versatile morphs, offering options for interrupting enemy casting, stunning, or dealing increased damage to multiple foes with status effects.
Elemental Blockade
Combining consistent damage with utility, Elemental Blockade serves as an excellent skill for triggering weapon glyph effects, resulting in significant buffs or debuffs based on the glyph type.
Elemental Drain
While lacking direct damage, Elemental Drain enhances overall damage output by debuffing enemy armor and improving resource sustain.
Impulse and Elemental Rage
Ideal for AOE carnage, skills like Impulse act as a bread-and-butter AOE damage spell, while Elemental Rage, the Destruction Staff’s ultimate skill, efficiently deals damage over time to large groups of enemies.
2. Two-Hander
In the hierarchy of recommended weapons, the Two-Handed weapon closely shadows the Destruction Staff, offering remarkable options for solo gameplay right from the onset. Notable for its array of skills that encompass damage shields, healing, and gap closers, the Two-Handed weapon ensures survival while unleashing potent attacks upon adversaries.
Balanced Utility and Advantages
The Two-Hander proves its mettle as both a primary and secondary weapon in ESO, showcasing an enviable equilibrium in balance and utility. Skills like Rally contribute to sustaining and healing, while the Brawler skill grants access to a formidable damage shield, elevating your survival chances.
On the offensive front, Stampede facilitates rapid closing of distances between you and an enemy, while Reverse Slice inflicts bonus damage against adversaries with low health.
Versatility in Action
With a Two-Hander skill catering to nearly every conceivable need in your build, this weapon emerges as a perfect choice for both primary and secondary options, and in some cases, even both. However, it’s crucial to bear in mind that to fully capitalize on most Two-Hander abilities, melee range engagement is required, introducing an element of risk versus reward into the gameplay dynamics.
3. Dual Wield
As a robust third option for ESO newcomers, Dual Wielding stands out as a formidable choice, offering commendable DPS along with opportunities to customize through skill morphs, introducing additional healing and utility options.
Stamina-Based Self-Healing
Dual Wield excels as an ideal option for Stamina-based builds, emphasizing an early focus on self-healing. The Blood Craze and Bloodthirst skills/morphs are particularly noteworthy, essential for their bleed effects that simultaneously provide healing and damage. These skills prove invaluable for sustaining life, whether engaging in solo or group content.
Group Synergy with AOE Skills
In group scenarios, Dual Wield shines as an excellent choice for builds aiming to swiftly dispatch packs of enemies using AOE skills like Whirling Blades or Steel Tornado. This synergy is especially potent when paired with AOE-focused classes such as the Warden or Necromancer.
4. Bow
The bow emerges as a stalwart support weapon in ESO, characterized by its proficiency in providing utility rather than serving as a primary damage-dealing option. Despite being more challenging to wield as the main source of damage, the bow’s repertoire features abilities geared towards inflicting damage over time. Notably, many bow skills also impart status effects like poison or defile, positioning the weapon as a viable choice for utility or status effect-focused builds.
Stamina-Based Versatility
Functioning as a stamina-based weapon and the sole ranged option in its category, the bow offers versatility for stamina-based builds, granting the flexibility of ranged combat on the back bar. However, relying solely on the bow as the primary weapon from the outset may prove challenging and sluggish for most players.
Specialized Niche
While somewhat niche, an essential aspect of the bow is its proficiency in dealing with Werewolves in PvP. The mentioned poison abilities make the bow one of the most effective methods for Werewolf elimination, especially when complemented by a well-coordinated team of primary damage dealers.
5. One Hand and Shield
Operating and scaling exclusively off Stamina, the One Hand and Shield Skill line carves a niche path, recommended for a specific type of player embarking on their journey in ESO. For those aspiring to don the role of a tank, the combination of a one-handed weapon with a shield is the gateway to realizing that dream.
Tank’s Playground
The One Hand and Shield excels in facilitating the tanking playstyle, providing essential tools for managing threats and bolstering team survivability. The “sword and board” dynamic offers strategic advantages, making it a reliable choice for those focused on tanking roles in both PvE and PvP scenarios.
6. Restoration Staff
Concluding our list of weapon types, the Restoration Staff stands as the sole other Magicka-based option. True to its name, this staff is a beacon for players who aspire to immerse themselves in the art of healing. However, due to its singular focus on healing, it takes its place at the bottom of the list for starting weapons.
Healing Prowess
Designed for players seeking to heal extensively, the Restoration Staff proves fantastic in fulfilling that role. Its skill line is dedicated to mending wounds and supporting allies, making it an indispensable tool for dedicated healers in group content.
Limitations in Solo and Low-Level Gameplay
However, when starting solo at a low level, the Restoration Staff falls short in dealing functional damage, hindering progression through the game, or efficiently clearing groups of low-level minions. The staff’s damage capabilities are confined to basic and heavy attacks, with the only damage-dealing skill, Force Siphon, being unlocked later.
If you want to buy Elder Scrolls Online Gold, then you should check out U7BUY. It is a cheap and reliable source.
Conclusion
Choosing the right weapon in The Elder Scrolls Online is pivotal for your character’s success. Whether unleashing destruction with the Destruction Staff, mastering the art of healing with the Restoration Staff, or excelling in solo play with a Two-Handed weapon, each choice brings distinct advantages. Consider your preferred playstyle and desired role to make the most of your ESO adventure.
