Edit: (I apologize, this is yet again way too long, don’t feel bad if you don’t wanna read it… I don’t know if I would x.x)
Genuinely asking for advice here btw.
I love Duellist, I’ve used it on so many builds, stacked it with Martyrdom etc. for crushers, hammers, everything and it’s just such a fantastic talent for anything that does crits or weakspots! And with zellies basically everything can do crits anyway. As you said it would pair so well with many of the knive’s blessings.
So why doesn’t it work out that way in practice, at least for me?
See, I’d had a long break from knives and really only got back to them idk 3-4 months ago. And when I did, I didn’t even consider something like Lacerate. After all why would you use a blessing that’s never going to proc if you play right? Knives are a crit/weakspot weapon through and through! So all I did was everything else: Flesh Tearer, Mercy Killer, Riposte & Uncanny, etc. And yet it was never enough, it was always too weak, always something lacking. If I specced to take down oggies it sucked against horde, or vice versa, Flesh Tearer was never consistent enough no matter how high the crit. And by the time I got the bleed up whatever I was hitting was dead already.
So I had this realization that the problem - at least my problem - was that consistency and how the knives absolutely need those crits & headshots. IF I got weakspots & crits, it would die and fast. If I didn’t, I might as well just tickle them with a brush. And between how the enemies animate, raise their hands or turn a shoulder where the head should’ve been, get knocked around by teammates etc. I can’t guarantee headshots with a high enough consistency. Against few enemies at a time yes, but not when things got big and messy. For most weapons this was never a problem, their base dmg is high enough to do real dmg even if you don’t always get the head. But not knives.
So 2 months ago or so I tried Lacerate & Flesh Tearer. The idea was simple: If every single strike is guaranteed to stack bleed (and capping it as fast as possible), or hit a head, or both, then that low base dmg and consistency wouldn’t be a problem any more. And I hoped that even missing out on those other blessings would be made up for by those bleeds, resulting in overall similar or higher DPS. Outside of crushers ofc.
And it worked exactly like I hoped. And now I just can’t go back, and see no point in anything else. I don’t care of the monster has its back on me, if the reaper or those 5 flak trash/specials cover their heads with an arm, if the horde is spread over the ground & crouching & standing and I have to aim at their knees to cleave them all at once. It doesn’t matter. Either way I’m doing so much dmg they’ll die. And if I really need to focus something down fast a simple push-attack+light or push-attack spam combo will drop it down anyway. Crushers are rare and few enough that the few extra hits compared to if I had Uncanny isn’t gonna be the thing that kills me anyway.
And I wonder if it’s the blessings being too good, or more likely me just being so bad I can’t tap the heads like I should.
Anyway, that’s one question: Is it me, or is it the blessings? I’m not saying bleed is better for every single thing. I’m saying it seems like overall it’s the best by far, and the few weaknesses it leaves you with are something you can (and likely will) easily live with.
Another question: Does anyone know where knife VI would be better than III? Excluding Haymaker ofc. I’ve mapped the full movesets on both tried them in plenty of missions, and in theory VI should be better at cleaving thanks to its first 2 heavies. But it never works that way in practice. A bleed knife III can do what the VI heavies do faster and easier with basic light spam, and III has far better heavies and push-attacks for the stronger mobs. Am I missing something?
Not gonna change that tho.
). And since no more Flesh Tearer, I switched the +5% crit perks for something else like flak / carapace.
