Axe, sword or mace? An updated weapons short guide for martial arts in The Elder Scrolls Online2/7/2021 In the past, I wrote a post on two-handed axes, maces and swords. However, the game has moved forward and this guide needed an update. In this short guide, I will answer the question: do I need to equip an axe, sword or mace? In my previous post, I only focussed on two-handed weapons. In this short guide, I want to focus on martial weapons in general. More specifically, I will focus on two-handed weapons and dual wielding. I will cover bows and one-hand and shield in seperate guides. This guide was written for ESO v7.0.5 - Blackwood & Update 30. Weapon types Two-handed weapons and one-handed weapons (of which you equip two; i.e. dual wielding) are seperated in three distinct weapon types: axes (battle axes), swords (greatswords) and maces (mauls). The odd one in the room is the dagger, which is only avialable as a one-handed weapon. Each of these weapon types have their own unique effects. Axes and battle axes Axes used to apply bleeding damage to enemies. Now, axes increase critical damage done. Each axe increases your critical damage done by 4%. Since you can equip two axes, you can increase your critical damage done by 8% in total when you are dual wielding. The battle axe is the two-handed variant of the axe. This heavy weapon also used to apply bleeding damage to enemies. In the current version of the game, battle axes increase your critical damage done by 12%. As such, axes and battle axes are perfect for builds that focus on critical damage done. It is common practice in Player versus Environment (PvE) arenas to focus on high critical damage done to achieve a high damage per second (DPS). Hence, axes and battle axes are a great choice for PvE content. Critical damage done also plays a role in Player versus Player (PvP) arenas such as Battlegrounds and Cyrodiil. Stamina Nightblades who attack from the shadows (using Dark Cloak) are guaranteed to critically strike their unaware enemies. Furthermore, Magicka Nightblades, more specifically: bomblades, benefit a lot from the increased burst from critically striking their enemies. Hence, a bonus to their critical damage done is very beneficial to Nightblades in PvP. Increased critical damage done is even more beneficial for Nightblades when you consider their Assassination skill line passives. The Pressure Points passive increases critical ratings by 438 (increasing weapon and spell critical chance values) for each Assassin ability slottted. Hemorrhage furter increases critical damage done by 10% and gives access to the class unique Minor Savarage, increasing critical ratings by another 1314. Templars also benefit from increased critical damage bonuses because they get an extra class specific bonus to critical damage done (+12%) in the Aedric Spear passive Piercing Spear. Furthermore, Sorcerers benefit from their class specific bonus to increased critical strike chance from the Exploitation passive. Lastly, Wardens have a unique bonus to critical damage done against Chilled enemies. Glacial Presence increases the damage done to Chilled enemies by 10%. The increased critical damage done can also be stacked with other critical damage done bonuses. The Khajiit race, for exampel, has a critical damage done bonus of 12% (Feline Ambush passive). The Shadow mundus stone also increases critical damage done by 11%, which can by increased up to 17% by wearing gear with the Divines trait. With a focus on critical damage, increasing critical strike chance can also be beneficial. Hence, The Thief mundus stone may also be a good choice, which increases critical strike rating by 1333, and by 2167 when 7 Divines armor pieces are equiped. It may also be worth investing in gear that complements critical damage done. For example, gear that increases critical strike chance such as Mother's Sorrow set or Toothrow set. Or sets that increase critical damage done even further such as Archer's Mind set or Gryphon's Ferocity set. Or Mechanical Acuity set, which guarantees 100% critical striking for 5 seconds. Swords and Greatswords In the past, swords and greatswords increased the damage done by a certain percentage. In the current version of the game, however, this was changed to increased weapon and spell damage. As such, for dual wielding, each sword increase weapon and spell damage by 142. Equiping a two-handed greatsword increases your weapon and spell damage by 284. Due to the chances to proc (programmed random occurrence) sets, swords and greatswords play an important role. In general, all proc sets that deal direct damage to enemies scale from weapon and/or spell damage. As such, any bonus to weapon/spell damage is beneficial to increase the damage done by these proc sets. Equiping one or two swords (dual wielding) or a greatsword can therefore be the best choice when you want to get the full potential of damaging proc sets. Achieving a high weapon and/or spell damage is very popular in PvP arena's because it increases the potential of proc sets and increases damage and healing done from casting abilities. The idea behind this is pretty straight forward: You want to kill your enemy before they can kill you, or at least be able to recover from an enemy's attack. Since most people either go with a Stamina build or a Magicka build, it is common to either have high weapon damage or spell damage respectively. Some classes can achieve higher values more easily than others but, in general, it is not hard to achieve high values on any class. For example, the Dragonknight can cast an Earthen Heart ability to gain Minor Brutality (+10% weapon damage) from the Mountains Blessing passive, which is a unique class bonus that can only be accessed by Dragonknights or by means of Brutality Draining poisons. Templars also have a unique bonus to gain spell damage. Templars have access to Minor Sorcery (+10% spell damage) from the Illuminate passive. Sorcerers benefit from weapon and spell damage for each Storm Calling ability they have slotted due to the Expert Mage passive, increasing weapon and spell damage by 2% for each Storm Calling ability slotted. The Warrior mundus stone increases weapon damage and spell damage by 238 and with 7 Divines armor pieces, weapon damage and spell damage is increased by 389. Furthermore, the Orc race has a passive bonus to weapon damage with the Swift passive. High Elves receive a bonus to spell damage with the Elemental Talent passive. You can also stack more weapon damage by equiping Fighter's Guild abilities. The Slayer passive increases weapon damage by 3% for each Fighter's Guild ability slotted. Gear that complements a high weapon and/or spell damage include but are not limited to Hunding's Rage set, Rattlecage set, Burning Spellweave set, Briarheart set, Warrior's Fury set, Voidcaller set, and Clever Alchemist set. Maces and Mauls Maces and Mauls are blunt weapons but in ESO they offer armor penetration (not to be confused with physical or spell penetration). Armor penetration reduces both physical and spell resistance of a target. For dual wielding, each mace increases your armor penetration by 1650. As such, you can achieve 3300 armor penetration from dual wielding maces. Equiping a two-handed mace (also known as a maul) gives you 3300 armor penetration. Armor penetration is a mechanic in which you ignore your target's armor values (physical and spell resistance) but exclusively to your own benefit. In contrast, applying the Breach or Fracture debuff reduces your target's armor values (physical and spell resistance), which also means that your allies benefit from these debuffs. Maces and mauls allow you to ignore your target's resistance levels. I will illustrate this using a very simplified example. Suppose your target has 33100 resistance (which is approx. 50% mitigation), and you have no armor penetration. When you hit that target for 5000 damage, you will actually deal 5000 * (1 - .5) = 2500 damage. Now suppose you have 3300 armor penetration from dual wielding maces or equiping a maul. In that case you ignore 3300 armor of your target. Hence, for you, your target's resistance level is 33100 - 3300 = 29800 (which is approx. 45% mitigation). As such, the damage you deal to that target will be 5000 * (1 - .45) = 2750. As you can see, the damage when dual wielding maces or equiping a two-handed maul deals approx. 250 more damage to the target. Your damage increases with armor penetration. However, if your armor penetration exceeds the amount of resistance of your target, any armor penetration left is a waste. For example, if your armor penetration is 40000 (6900 higher than your target's 33100 resistance), this additional 6900 armor penetration has no extra benefits. Hence, it is useless to have an armor penetration that is higher than your target's resistance levels. Armor penetration is both useful in PvE arenas and PvP arenas. First, bosses and mobs have their own resistance levels. Hence, having armor penetration will increase your DPS in dungeons, trials, and overland content. In PvP, enemy players also have their own resistance levels, however, these values differ for each person. Every player has a base value for resistance but any additional resistance comes from a combination of equiped armor, (proc) set items, potions, etc. It is important to note that armor penetration does not ignore critical resistance levels, which is a unique resistance value that mitigates critical damage. As such, equiping axes or a maul on a so-called 'crit build' is, to some extend, useless. The best race for stacking penetration is the Woodelf. The Woodelves get physical and spell penetration from the Hunter's Eye passive. The best mundus stone is The Lover, which increases Physical and Spell Penetration by 2744 and increases Physical and Spell Penetration by 4489 with 7 Divines armor pieces. Set items that give more armor penetration are, for example, Spinner's Garments set, Spriggan's Thorns set, and Balorgh monster helm set. Daggers (dual wield)
Daggers are only beneficial when dual wielding. Each dagger increases your Critical Chance rating by 812. As such, daggers fall into a similar focus as axes and battle axes: they benefit builds that focus on dealing critical damage. In contrast to axes and battle axes, daggers do not increase critical damage done but increase the probability of dealing critical damage. For example, if you have a critical strike chance of 50%, there is a 50% probability that your damaging hit will critically strike. This does not mean that 50% of your damage is guaranteed to critically strike. It means that for every individual hit, there is a .5 probability to critically strike (as if you do a coin toss for every hit). In turn, this means that it is possible that when you deal 100 damaging hits, only 45% critically strike (even if you have 50% critical strike chance). On the other hand, this can also mean that 65% of your 100 hits critically strike. However, on average, after hundreds of hits, your hits will approach an average of 50% critical strikes. Which classes, races, set items, and mundus stone you can use to increase critical strike chance, have already been covered under the axes and battle axes section.
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Either by massive bleeding, blunt force or sliced into pieces. The two-handed weapons offer strong and reliable burst damage. But what makes the two-handed weapon excel? Is it better to run an axe, mace or sword? How to get maximum potential out of these weapons? And what morphs should I go for? Critical rush or stampede? Dizzying swing or wrecking blow?
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