Crafted Staves Gallery Available

I couldn't wait any longer - I had to see what the full collection of crafted staves looked like - and now you can too by visiting the Woodworker: Crafted Staves page.

A good staff is a lore-master's best friend - after her pet of course! Fortunately, woodworkers can turn wooden sticks into some beautiful works of art. My favourite is the Scout's Staff; it might look familiar from my profile picture ...

Level 56: Scout's Staff

Close up of the details

Myndariel's favourite staff

Unfortunately, after level 65 there are only legendary lore-master staves that can be crafted. They're beautiful too, but we'll have to wait to see them when I do the legendary lore-master weapons article.

1H Axes Gallery Available

Following quick on the heels of the 1H swords gallery, the 1H axes gallery is now available to view on the Weaponsmith: Crafted 1H Axes page.

None of my characters normally wield an axe, but there were several axes I liked, particularly the double-sided axes such as the Heavy Iron Axe and the Elven-steel Axe. I can definitely see a dwarf guardian swinging it side-to-side through a crowd of clamouring goblins. Also useful for chopping wood for a campfire - and showing off your battle prowess to your comrades while drinking ale and singing loudly and badly - another favourite past-time of dwarves.

Heavy Iron Axe

Elven-steel Axe

Amongst the other axes, the Thain's Axe, Westfold Axe and the Axe of the Mark are quite detailed and interesting. The Axe of the Rider and Wildermore Axe are also unique.

Thain's Axe

Westfold Axe

Axe of the Mark

Oh, and there was also one that was unbelievably ugly ... the Sellsword's Axe. It reminds me of someone doing the sign of the horns, but with a blade along one edge. Maybe the weapon was supposed to be particularly good at warding against the evil eye (Eye of Sauron) and killing his minions? It does Westernesse damage, which is strong against The Dead, Unseen and Gaunt Men. Coincidence? Probably not.

Sellsword's Axe

1H Swords Gallery Available

The first crafted weapons gallery is here! I've started with one-handed swords which you can view on the Weaponsmith: Crafted 1H Swords page.

I found that the swords blades are, in general, fairly simple designs but there are some interesting hilts. Unfortunately, you don't really see them unless you're up close to the character and they have drawn their sword - in which case you better hope they don't intend to use it against you!

Some of the swords that stood out to me as more interesting include the Elven-steel Sword which was narrow with a delicate cross-guard and the Sword of the Mark which had a more bronze-coloured blade than most, while the Wildermore and Fangorn swords had some of the nicest hilts.

Elven-steel Sword	Sword of the Mark
Wildermore Sword	Fangorn Sword

I haven't included the crafted legendary weapons as I think I'll cover them separately, maybe by class rather than by weapon type. For the legendary weapon galleries I'd probably also include the dropped and vendor legendaries so that they're all together.

What have I got myself into? For someone who is not an artist I see a lot of galleries in the future!

Crafted Weapons Gallery Coming Soon

Return of the Lore-master

Hi. I took a break from LOTRO after the release of Central and Eastern Gondor. Mostly I felt disappointed with the quality of the releases. However, after some time away I started to miss Middle Earth. My interest was also piqued when they announced the imbued legendary items and cosmetic weapons. So I'm gradually getting back into the game again, especially since the Farmer's Faire (my favourite holiday event).

Cosmetic Weapons and Gallery Coming Soon

I know I kept a couple of staves that I got as quest rewards while levelling Myndariel because they looked cool but I'm sure there's a lot more nice looking weapons out there and since I like crafting I'm going to focus on crafted weapons and showcase them in a gallery like I've done with armour, to make it easier to find good looking swords, daggers, axes, bows, spears, staves and shields ... did I forget anything? Probably. In any case, my craftsmen will dust off their tools and get to work very soon in the crafting hall of Bree.