All chain weapons have the same weapon special, rev it up to deliver huge single target damage while also stunning them (Chain swords don’t stun ogryns), and on paper this sounds really good when used against elites, if it wasn’t for the fact that:
you are always surrounded by 20 other elites who will without fail kill you if you don’t dodge out of the animation, resulting in the loss of the remaining damage of your attack.
many weapons can deal more damage in the time that it takes you to rev up and land an attack, without the need to be stationary.
My suggested solutions:
Greatly increase the damage of chain weapons’ special attacks.
The damage is good, but it should be increased, a better reward for a huge risk (standing still), also note that chain weapons always have worse than average normal attack stats, due to their special, so their special should be much more deadly.
dodging does not break the attack if you are holding the attack button, instead, you will execute a dodge that keeps you close to the enemy.
This will allow for some maneuverability while still taking a risk by being close to the enemy.
I see the Evis. quite a bit - though I think a lot of people many have dropped it for the Relic Blade, which seems much like a Evis, but better.
The Ax may be in a Ok-ish place. Those who use it seem to appreciate what it offers, but there sure aren’t many of them.
The Assault Chainsword strikes me in special need of aid. For an iconic WH weapon it’s pretty uninspiring.
I’d like it if it could “bite” Elite armor, for some bleed or extra damage (or brittleness?) Maybe as a Blessing, since a lot of the discontent with the Ax seems to involve the quick bite behavior.
I’d also like to see a Stagger enhancing Blessing added, or replacing one of the three Cleave Blessings. The AC’s Stagger is already pretty high - it’d be good to have the option of leaning into it.
I like all the suggestions, but that’d be great.
It can be a nicely cinematic moment, standing still in the midst the carnage, sawing a Bulwark in two. But it’s also nice to stay alive.
This is a REALLY specific ask, but the Mk XII Chainaxe needs a third Light Attack. Specifically, it needs to be the Stab that is also its Push Attack. This Stab being accessible in both its Light Attack Chain and its Push Attack would help it out A LOT in my opinion.
I’d say add bleed to regular and more bleed to special without need for blessings, it’s really makes no sense that serrated blades don’t cause bleed on their own.
About p.2, what if i need dodge really far away? Seems doubtful.
I’m an eviscerator enjoyer and always keep it in my normal weapon rotation. I agree that both its revved attack and normal attacks feel underwhelming. The revved attack reward does not usually justify the risk in dense hordes of enemies.
Back in patch 13, the Bloodletter blessing on eviscerator was significantly nerfed to give a much smaller amount of bleed stacks. I think buffing the Bloodletter blessing, and/or adding some inherent bleed mechanic to the chain weapons, would go a long way in making these weapons more fun and more unique. Adding some form of rending would be cool too.
It is that locked animation of cleave that makes me avoid it. Once contact made you cannot cancel it and exposed to attack from sides/behind for 2 secs.
But I still see that same bug. i.e. a player locks chain animation to mutie, mutie carries on it’s merry way whilst you’re chaining air after it’s gone, then it dies of heart attack 20m away once your chain animation finishes at original location.
Being stuck in an animation during the special attacks of them and the Blaze Swords seems dumb to me. Elites, you want to use this on have 1 shot capability, so if there’s more than one you don’t get to use it, so you never really get to use it.
I have to power up the weapon, then get stuck in an animation to not 1shot an enemy.
Someone else either shoots or light attacks 4 of the same enemy to death in the same time. idgi
Enemies die to light attacks while you’re chaining them
Vulnerable to attack
Less awareness, as you can’t turn the camera
Slow charge up and use
Doesn’t kill the enemy anyway, and if it does, it takes longer than other weapons
Those weapons usually don’t have any upsides outside of that damage
Can get caught on other enemies
Weird janky animations if stuff dies or outranges
Can’t cleave, despite literally being designed to cleave, you get stuck on one tiny guy who’s smaller than the weapon itself
Lower Dodge Range and Count and Stamina counts means setting up the negative damage is way harder than it needs to be
Also the 1H Chainaxes feel stuck in the mud while attacking- noticed a lot of weapons feel like this, despite Dueling Swords and Daggers being in the game, which let you fly across the map at 100mph while in an attack.
Suggestion: Remove the animation as it’s not needed.
Make enemies cower when you charge up the weapon. This makes up for all of the mobility and Stamina, and space to use it issues, and gives it a new niche.
I like the idea of ripping chunks off as you go. Just a little bleeding or rending (or the more team-oriented brittleness?) could add some interesting interactions without directly buffing the damage/TTK - if FS is shying away from the idea of huge buffs. (Though they seem to love 'em!)
My only qualms would be that bleeding might reward crit-build Zealots too much, and the game’s already got a heck of a lot of armor-destruction.
OTOH, come the Jubilee, maybe wholesale range-applied anti-armor and Uncanny Strike will be nerfed, and running up to a Crusher to spend a moment sawing at its breastplate will be appealing.
About p.2, what if i need dodge really far away? Seems doubtful.
I mentioned that if you dodge while holding the attack button you will stick, you can just let go of the attack button to dodge as far as the weapon allows.
I think that chain weapons should work the same way as relic blade or power sword. Special attack should activate the chain for extra damage and cleave but the weapon could be used normally. So maybe have an overheat system like with the relic blade or 2-3 attacks with more power after activation.
It is. I’m disappointed, because the mk2 eviscerator has the best moveset out of all two-handed melee weapons in my opinion, but the relic blade just works better and works faster.
Yeah… The chain weapons seem outdated as f*** in 2025, and I’m ready to bet that any new chain weapons will function similar to the Relic Blades. Maybe they could be activated longer but that mode would have some sort of drawback, like less cleave or less stagger, with greatly improved armor penetration and damage.
That would solve the main problem of chain weapons, which is the terrible Carapace penetration of (most) normal attacks. Chain swords in particular are just useless at taking on Crushers.
Make revved attack last something like 2/3rds of the time they do now (if it lasts 3 seconds now, it should be 2 seconds instead).
Make the revved attack suppress all enemies but monstrosities and unyielding, within 3 meters for the duration of the revved attack on first strike (apply a debuff on all enemies within 3 meters on the initial hit). This debuff should stack with diminishing returns. On 2nd application, it lasts half as long (suppressed enemies become active half-way through the rev). On 3rd application it lasts half of half as long (0.25 of the duration of the revved attack).
The 4th revved attack should have no effect on surrounding enemies already debuffed (they have stopped being scared of the chainweapon). This is to prevent queing up revved attacks to keep surrounding enemies stunned indefinitely.
Further enhancement to chainweapon revved attacks:
Reduce the effectiveness of armor on the bodypart hit with revved attacks (sawing intensely into a piece of armor creates a large hole in it).
Chain weapon crits and gore:
Make chain weapon critical strikes apply a small but stacking bleed dot on enemies that are wearing flak armor or below (this shouldn’t be a blessing but a default weapon effect).
Make chain weapon crits produce LOTS of gore on the ground that slows both players and enemies (similar to how BON slime slows players), but without giving corruption or health damage.
Alternatively, revved chain weapon attacks can produce a frontal cone of blood spray that debuffs enemies caught in it with a slowing debuff (again similar to BON slowing debuff from frontal vomit cone attack). Doesn’t have to be particularly long range. Short, perhaps 3-5 meters or so. Make enemy size affect the range of the blood cone. Multiple applications slows more, up to a maximum of 3, say.
These would all make chain weapon revved attacks way more worth it and chain weapons more interesting without giving them massive damage bonuses.
I’m undecided on this but lore-wise Ragers should be less affected by blood and gore related debuffs. Slowed half as much, more resistant to becoming suppressed, or the duration lasts shorter or whatever. There could even be a mission special modifier that buffs ragers that get showered in blood. Probably wouldn’t make for good gameplay though as it would disensentivize chain weapon usage.
The only thing chain swords are good for is killing hordes, and you say, “don’t use in hordes?” Lol… The only other minor good thing is bringing void shields on Scab Captains down.
the whole being stuck on special attacks is an anachronism that is a huge hindrance in modern darktide if this garbage alone got removed it would already be soooo much better even without number tuning