Weaponsmithing Useless Now that I have an LI?

[IncognitoViking]

Last night, I acquired my first legendary weapon. It is obviously far better than anything I've had thus far. So my question is: is Weaponsmithing skill now useless for me, since no weapon I craft will hold a candle to a Legendary weapon?

And for a little background info, I'm a Captain wielding a Halberd, so making an off-hand weapon isn't a possibility.

Thanks for everyone's help!

[Amrundir]

Why not craft your own legendary weapon?

It's time to visit the weaponsmith's guild in Thorins Hall.

[IncognitoViking]

I was not aware that I could craft LIs. I thought they were only drops...

[Lordthebruce]

Last night, I acquired my first legendary weapon. It is obviously far better than anything I've had thus far. So my question is: is Weaponsmithing skill now useless for me, since no weapon I craft will hold a candle to a Legendary weapon?

And for a little background info, I'm a Captain wielding a Halberd, so making an off-hand weapon isn't a possibility.

Thanks for everyone's help!

In addition to crafting your own LI weapons...including first and second age for your self...champs, burgs, hunters, beornings all dual wield and will want off hand weapons. Also, burgs and beornings dont have a ranged attack...ie. bow...but they can throw axes and daggers...made by weaponsmiths. AND last but not least...weaponsmiths are able to craft the Physical Mastery essences which are quite the rage at lvl cap.

Sadly, I wish I had a weaponsmith toon.

[GarethB]

I was not aware that I could craft LIs. I thought they were only drops...

LI crafting starts at Supreme level, and you need to be at Kindred rep level with the guild you are in. You can then buy LI recipes from NPC's in your guild. You only need to buy an LI recipe once and can use the recipe as many times as you want. The only guild that does not have any LI recipes is Cooking.

Different guilds are responsible for different LI's.
Weaponsmith makes metal melee weapons such as daggers, axes, swords, and maces.
Woodworker makes wood weapons like clubs, spears, javelins, bows/crossbows and staves.
Scholar makes Minstrel songbooks and LM lore books.
Tailor makes Burg tools, RK bags and warsteed bridles.
Jeweller makes Champ runes and RK stones.
Metalsmith makes Captain emblems and Guard belts.

Player crafted LI's are only for specific player exp levels, 60, 65, 75, 85, 95 and 100. You need to buy new recipes from the guild for each of these exp levels. You cannot craft a level 80 LI, there are no LI recipes for that level, only the exp levels I've already stated have recipes.

Player crafted LI's cannot be critted when they are made, and the crafter has no control over which legacies the LI will have. Crafted LI's have the same randomised chances for legacies as mob-dropped LI's.
You do not need to unlock any gold anvils in your craft to make LI's. You only need to reach the appropriate crafting tier AND have kindred rep with your guild for that tier (every tier of crafting has it's own independent reputation tiers).

So why bother to craft LI's when you are tripping over them in mob loot drops? From level 51 - 60 there is a small chance that a "Second Age" LI will drop as loot instead of a Third Age LI.
Second Age LI's have better dps than Third Age LI's, and earn more legacy points than Third Age LI's so you can rank up it's legacies to a higher level.
First Age LI's are a step above Second Age LI's. They have the highest dps rating and earn the most legacy points.

Above level 60, crafting Second and First Age LI's is the most common way to get an LI better than Third Age. There are a few ways to barter for a Second Age LI's from NPC's but these barterable Second Age LI's are for specific exp levels. There are also some barterable First Age LI's as well, but only for a few specific exp levels.

Crafted LI's also need some special crafting ingredients. Some of these ingredients can be gathered from the landscape (ore nodes, wood nodes and from craft farming) or bartered for in any skirmish camp for marks and seals. Third Age LI's need the fewest special ingredients. Second Age LI's need a "Symbol of Celebrimbor" as an extra required ingredient. These can be bartered, some epic quest books give them as a reward and they can drop from loot boxes, raid loot and Big Battle rewards. First Age LI's need a "Symbol of the Elder King" as a required ingredient. These can also be bartered, drop from a lootbox or from a raid/Big battle reward.

All of these special ingredients can be traded/sold on the AH. Crafted Second and First Age LI's can also be traded and sold on the AH. If you have enough gold burning a hole in your wallet and you don't want to grind for the tokens needed to barter for the symbols, then you can get them by spending some gold. if you're on a low population server, it might take a lot of gold to buy the symbols or crafted LI's.

You cannot by the symbols from the LOTRO store, the store doesn't have them (I checked),

And as a final note, there are a few more ways to get Third Age LI's apart from loot drops or crafting. Third Age LI's can be bought from the LOTRO store using TP's and some NPC factions in the game will barter faction tokens for Third Age LI"s. Relic Masters can "meld" Third Age LI's (Melding tab when you are using a relic master NPC). You will need "relic shards" by refining LI relics into shards at a Relic Master NPC. Low tier relics only give a small number of shards, high tier relics give more shards per relic. Melded LI's are only available for specific exp levels, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95 and 100. A relic master cannot meld a level 67 LI, only the exp levels I've mentioned are available from a Relic Master, and only Third Age LI's can be melded. Also for classes that have a lot of different LI weapons to choose from like Captains, Champs and Guards, only a limited variety of LI weapons can be melded.

[IncognitoViking]

Thanks everyone for your help! Looks like I have some rep emblems to make...

[HaleElven]

In addition to what's already mentioned, although not particularly useful to your Captain, you can still craft Caltrops/Marbles for Burglars and Shield-spikes for Guardians and Wardens.

[onor]

Nice write-up Gareth.

[-CasualGamer-]

2022 edition eg can weaponsmiths still craft LIs?

[KM3161]

2022 edition eg can weaponsmiths still craft LIs?

Yes they can.

some things to consider though-

you must already have the recipes as they can no longer be obtained.
3rd age and 2nd age LIs can be crafted with ingredient packs or materials.
1st age LIs can only be crafted with materials.
1st age level 100 LIs can still be bartered for from Roving Threats vendor instead of crafted.
some of the materials needed to craft can no longer be obtained. Use what you have or you can get from someone else or AH.
Any new crafted/bartered LIs can only be used for cosmetic purposes.

[-CasualGamer-]

Any new crafted/bartered LIs can only be used for cosmetic purposes.

That's not much use. No role in the new system?

Seems like weaponsmith is doubly useless now. And I thought I was being clever picking Historian for my LM 12 years ago.

[HunterGreen]

There's a few non-LI secondary weapons and weapon support things that they make, but it's pretty anemic.

Then again, quite a few other crafts also lost a lot of their purpose (but not quite as much) with this change, too.