Buff that Weapon!

I think we're all pretty well aware of weapon enchants. The stuff you pay someone to do and put your weapon in the "Do Not Trade" portion of a trade window. They add a permanent (until overwritten) effect to your weapon. What we all sometimes overlook is other weapon buffs that can be applied.

First off, the folks most familiar with the sorts of weapon buffs I'm speaking of are rogues. Ever since level 20 (or was it 22?) rogues have been able to apply poison to their weapons. And lord do those poisons come in a wide variety of types - instant, deadly, anesthetic, crippling, mind numbing, and wound. All for different purposes.

Shamans are also quite familiar with weapon buffs in the form of spells (and eventually totems). Each shaman weapon buff also does a wide variety of things.

But that's not all. No way.

Next we get into weapon buffs produced by various tradeskills.

• Alchemy produces some oils that go on weapons, like [Frost Oil], [Oil of Immolation], or [Shadow Oil].
  
• Enchanting can make both Mana Oils (for mana regeneration) and Wizard Oil (for spell damage). The earliest versions of these oils are available at under 100 enchanting.
  
• Blacksmiths make both weight stones (for blunt weapons) and sharpening stones (for edged weapons).

Now, if you're not one of these professions, it's not a big deal if you're not leveling with these things on your weapons, I'm not going to come hunt you down. But there's no reason to NOT use them if you do have the skills. Especially since weapon buffs like this persist through death. However, if you're doing raids or are an appropriate level twink, you really need to have this stuff on your weapon. I mean, you need every bit of oomph you can pump out, right?

Rogues, at least, may want to consider swapping out poisons for stones in the event you're fighting a lot of nature based enemies or a lot of elementals. Many nature based mobs are immune to poisons, and I think every elemental is. So, when you're heading to Dire Maul or Zul'Gurub, consider stocking up on stones instead.