Weapon of Choice Options

[Lord Revan]

After years of gaming and reading up on the subject, I'm curious what y'all think on the subject of fantasy's staple weapons. I encourage you to leave a brief explanation as to what your weapon of choice is. Feel free to mention something I have missed in the poll.

*The swords of Europe tend to have a straight, double-edged blade and a cruciform outline (exceptions like the saber and cutlass exist). Eastern Swords are characterized by curved, single-edged blades optimized for slashing (scimitars, katanas, ect). I am by no means a technical expert in either class, so this definition is nothing more than a cursory way to distinguish one type from the other.

**A better definition for blunt is a hafted weapon. Both axes and various bludgeons are wielded in a similar manner although axes have a cutting edge. For simplisity's sake, they are all classified as blunt weapons.

This post has been edited by Lord Revan: Feb 13 2011, 12:06 AM

[Captain Hammer]

Personal favorite? Tough to say. My characters generally carry multiple weapon types on them at any given time. I favor the western sword over the eastern, with the one-hander over the two-hander in most situations, but not all, for the ability to also use a shield. I enjoy having the mace handy (particularly a flanged mace) or a war-axe for dealing with those annoying heavy-armor types (said annoyance does not apply to me).

Here's how I generally play, though. I'll let the board feed me suggestions about how it works out as far as weapon preferences.

If it's a heavy-armored opponent, I typically go shield and mace.

If it's a light-armored opponent, I use the shortsword's speed with the shield.

If it's an unarmored monster with reach (Xivilai, Ogres), bust out the longsword with shield for the distance and speed balance.

If I have the drop, coupled with distance, on an enemy, I default to sniping.

If I'm facing off against an archer, from an inferior position, I summon and send in mooks of ghosts/zombies/skeletons/scamps to draw off the attention. Then I re-position. Proceed according to appropriate strategy.

For enemies best dealt with using spells, I close to melee and commence spamming on-touch spells. Spell stacking frequently employed.

For enemies where magic is less useful than poison (Xivilai and Ogres again, also the upper level Dremora and those pesky Altmer Marauder Battlemages), I'll poison an appropriate weapon with the appropriate poison effect (shock, silence, paralysis, and damage magicka are my favorites).

If I know I can absolutely afford it, I get into a fist-fight with my enemy. It's unbelievable fun to kill a rat with a single punch. Or a deer.