LOTRO Legendary Weapons In-Depth Guide

Legendary Weapons in The Lord of the Rings Online are not throwaway gear. These items grow with your character, changing through reforging, traceries, and runes so they stay relevant from Moria to endgame.

How Legendary Weapons work

A Legendary Weapon is tied to your level and reforged as you progress. Instead of replacing it, you upgrade it with traceries, runes, and reforging, shaping the weapon into something built for your class and role.

How to get your first Legendary Weapon

Your first Legendary Weapon comes from the Volume II, Book 1 story at level 50, though you can complete it as early as 45. After reaching Moria, you unlock Gobeth Teithian in Rivendell, where Ancient Script is used to barter more legendary gear, traceries, and runes.

Ancient Script is the core currency for this system. It is earned from disenchanting traceries, appraising old legendary items, running the reward track, or completing quests. There is a hard cap of 10,000, so you need to spend it regularly before you waste gains.

Reforging, when and why

Reforging is done every few levels at a Forge-master or Town Services. This process raises the item’s level, increases base damage or healing, and unlocks new tracery slots over time.

There is no reason to delay reforging once you hit the range. Early or late within the same bracket gives the same result, so you can keep your weapon at peak strength without waiting.

Traceries explained

Traceries are the custom parts of a Legendary Weapon. They come in four types, and each fills a different role in shaping your stats and skills.

Heraldric traceries boost core stats like Might, Agility, or Will along with a secondary stat. Word of Power traceries add big role-based effects for offense, defense, or healing, but only one can be slotted at a time. Word of Mastery traceries are class-specific and enhance named skills while adding secondary stats, also Unique Use. Word of Craft traceries are straightforward stat boosters, and some carry set bonuses when stacked.

Traceries are found as drops, quest rewards, or barter purchases. Higher quality versions require Shattered or Cracked traceries as trade-ins, which you can earn through quests, lootboxes, or appraisal.

Enhancement Runes and item levels

Enhancement Runes raise the item level of a tracery slot. This increases the stats tied to that slot, but it does not affect skill bonuses on Mastery or Power traceries.

Runes scale by rarity, adding between one and four levels per use. Since slot levels remain even if you replace the tracery, you can freely swap traceries without losing upgrades.

Replacing traceries as you level

Each tracery has a set minimum and maximum level. When you pass the cap, the bonuses stop applying, so you must replace it with a higher tier tracery.

Unsocketing can be done with Mithril Coins or a Reclamation Scroll if you want to keep the old tracery. Since they are bound to account, older traceries can be handed down to alts who still fit the level range.

Appraising old Legendary Items

Old legendary weapons from before Update 30.3 can be appraised once. This converts them into Ancient Script, Enhancement Runes, and Shattered or Cracked traceries for barter.

You can still equip an appraised item, but it cannot progress further. To avoid conflicts when equipping new items, remove all old legendary gear or you will see the Traceries Barred warning.

Class equip rules at a glance

Each class can equip two Legendary Items at once, but not all in the same way. Most use a Legendary Weapon plus a Legendary Class Item.

Hunters pair a Legendary Bow or Crossbow with a melee weapon, while Wardens use a melee weapon and a Legendary Javelin. Dual wielding two Legendary melee weapons is not possible even for dual wield classes.

Ancient Script and barter planning

Managing Ancient Script well is key to upgrading smoothly. Always spend before hitting the cap, since only appraisal lets you go beyond it.

Your first priority should be the Heraldric tracery for your main stat. After that, pick a Word of Power that matches your role, then use Mastery and Craft slots to round out your build.

Running instances at your level band increases your chance for rare tracery drops. The reward track is also a consistent source of Tracery Tokens and higher tier runes.

Final Blurb

Legendary Weapons are meant to last, not be replaced. Keep reforging them, swap in new traceries as you level, and feed them Enhancement Runes to keep their stats sharp. If you plan upgrades carefully, your weapon will carry you from Moria through the latest expansion without ever becoming obsolete.