Twilight Huntsman

Having spent enough time working on Mordor dailies, I've been able to acquire some of the latest crafted armor recipes. By all rights, I should have had them sooner, but if you know me I'm a much of a housing nut as I am a cosmetic blogger. I've lavishly spent the majority of my Silver Signets of the Thandrim on housing decorations in recent months and have been able to create a Mordor-themed house. Usually, it's the other way around, but I had enough outfits lined up that I could afford a change of pace, take a temporary respite from outfitting, and focus on the visual weapons guide.


That respite, unfortunately, wasn't much a of a respite after all. Mom had fallen and broken her ankle, which forced me to take a semi-hiatus from LOTRO until mid-May. I still logged in to screenshot a few weapons and at least say hello to my kinship, but I wasn't able to do much else while caring for her. Naturally, Stronghold of the North had just released just before her accident. I've been desperately trying to play catch up, focusing on content, while my blog quickly burned through everything I'd scheduled. I've gotten to a point where I've been able to shift my focus here again.

Legion of Thrang - Master of Shadow and Flame

You may have guessed it, based upon the title, that this outfit was inspired by Thrang, one of the major bosses from the Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu. That particular fight was isolated from the level 50 raid, made scalable, and was introduced as a temporary stand-alone instance for the duration of the Summer Festival this year. From the rewards, either by lucky drop or by spending ten vault tokens, you could collect your own two-handed Thrang's Sword, which features a tip that glows red-hot as if it were pulled from a forge. Whenever you land a blow with it, it sparks wildly, casting embers into the air. Also, the sword leaves behind a small stream of embers so long as it's visibly equipped.

Although this outfit doesn't feature the two-handed sword, it does showcase the one-handed version and Thrang's Bow, which can be acquired from the Armory of Thrang box at any time. This box is found, rarely, in Gorgoroth Lootboxes or at the Keeper of Mysteries vendor in Mordor for 900 Ashes of Enchantment. Eleven other selectable weapons can also be found in that box.

Martial Weapons Master

Orange. When have I ever made an orange outfit? I've only done it once for a seasonal harvest outfit. Otherwise, it's been a color I've avoided. But why did I decide to use it again? I've been obsessed with the Winged Blade, is one of the few purely cosmetic greatswords found in LOTRO. I've had trouble incorporating into an already existing outfit. Nothing seemed to work. Instead, I used my High Elf Captain--as I've been doing lately--to make an outfit that revolved around the sword, using the colors and designs in the hilt, pommel, and guard as a base.

Great Axe Skins Collection

I'll admit that I've never gone out of my way to collect great axes (or greataxes, for an alternative spelling--but LOTRO uses the two word alternative). Almost all of my characters in LOTRO use setups revolving around sword and board, dual wielding, and the occasional halberd or great sword. As such, my collection is very limited and sits under a layer of dust in storage. With the aid of the plugin ItemTreasury, I scanned the database to see if I'd missed anything worthwhile...and I did. I discovered some very beautiful or unique skins that aren't accessible, which I've included at the very end. Similar to my post on great swords regarding one-handed swords, several great axes share appearances with one-handed axes, just on a larger scale.

A special note--Beornings have a slightly reduced pool of LIs than other classes. I don't know the reasons why, but it might be due to their late introduction to game. This applies especially to Second Age and First Age weaponry that drops on the landscape or in instances, even though they can cosmetically use them. However, the crafted and bartered LIs remain unaffected. This just means you'll need to do some extra farming for certain ones.

As usual, I'll share what I've collected here. If you see a skin here that's obtainable elsewhere, please let me know in the comments.

 Forged Steel Headsman's Axe of Combat - Output of the Forged Steel Headsman's Axe recipe

Simple Fashion - Dresses Pt. 2

Finally, I've gotten back to my Simple Fashion theme! It's only taken three and a half years. I've hinted it a couple of times between this blog, Facebook, and Twitter since last year, but I wasn't sure if I'd ever actively make any headway. "Simple Fashion," for those seeing this tag/theme for the first time, means precisely that. Three or four, max, pieces were used in each of these outfits. Also, these particular entries have served a secondary purpose in the past--which I hope will continue to hold true--and that's to revitalize cosmetics often forgotten, underutilized, or overlooked.

To see the work I've previously completed under this theme, click on the Simple Fashion tag at the bottom of the post or simply (no pun intended) click here.

Head: Fancy Plumed Hat (Ashenslades green, LOTRO Store)
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Eorlingas (Default, Rise of Isengard Heroic or Legendary edition pre-order bonus)
Chest: Farmer's Fancy Dress (Shire peach, Farmers Faire token reward)