One tends to expect a lot from something billed as "legendary", and legendary weapons don't quite live up to their illustrious moniker. The name suggests a Bentley, and what you get is a Honda - solid, useful, a good investment - but nothing to get excited about.

Legendary weapons can be summed up in just two words: elemental damage. If you've played another MMORPG, you've probably seen them: fire swords, acid axes, and so forth, with which you can do a different type of damage - either in lieu of or in addition to - than a regular sword, axe, or staff would do. DAoC has had items that look like they should do this kind of damage (the weapons usually referred to as glowies), but which don't, for some time. (Odd thing to note: weapons that look like they should do elemental damage still don't, while weapons that do elemental damage don't look it.) Essentially, a Legendary Weapon is just a normal one with a convoluted recipe and a damage type that is not slashing, piercing, or crushing.

Legendary Weapons can do heat, cold, matter, or spirit damage (there should really be an energy version, to round out the usual elemental damages - fire, ice, acid, lightning - in addition to spirit... but c'est la vie). They are created using and have the same speed as exceptional legendary weapons, leaving the Flex Reaver with two choices: a 3.6 SPD whip or a 3.9 SPD flail. They also have 8% to two resists, 28 con, and a DD/debuff proc of the same damage type as the weapon.

The possible advantages of such weapons are obvious, really. A Flexible Reaver can have up to 6 different damage types (cold, heat, spirit, matter, slash, crush) - and regardless of what you're fighting (with the notable exception of enemy players), it's almost certain to be vulnerable to at least one of those damage types. Teaming with a caster who uses the same damage type as you weapon allows you to increase his damage via the debuff portion of the proc.

There are disadvantages to the weapons, as well. Firstly, you cannot customize the bonuses on the weapon. You get only what Mythic gave them. Second, the proc is fairly weak (it does about the same damage as the level 50 Lifetap proc, in general) - certainly weaker than those on player-crafted weapons. It would be another matter if the resistance debuff caused your attacks with the weapon to do more damage - but somehow it doesn't, at least in PvE (and in RvR, players generally have resistance buffs that raise their resistances to non-melee damage types more than the debuff will decrease them). The weapons are fairly slow - the faster version for Flex users is only 3.6. Finally, there is no guarantee of quality when making one. Even if the exceptional weapon used is MP quality, the Legendary Weapon may be anywhere from 94-100 (though it works the other way around, as well - you can use a 94% exceptional weapon and end up with a MP legendary weapon). Because the rare drop component of the Legendary Weapon recipe is fairly rare, as well as due to the cost of having an exceptional weapon in the recipe, having a WCer make more until you get a decent quality is prohibitively expensive for most.

Should you get a Legendary Weapon of your own? There are situations where you obviously should and obviously shouldn't, of course...

You should get a Legendary Weapon if...

• You have the money to spare and plan to spend a lot of your last few levels fighting the same type of mob, and that mob has a vulnerability to one of the damage types (such as undead and spirit)
• If you often team with a mage that uses matter, spirit, heat, or cold damage
• You're going to be doing a lot of PvE once you hit 50
• You're rich and have the money to spare

You probably shouldn't get a Legendary Weapon if...

• You're more into RvR (or PvP) than PvE
• You're strapped for cash
• The mobs you typically fight aren't weak to any of the damage types available
• You have an Artifact or rare drop weapon that is a key part of your item template