So the idea is pretty simple - weapons like the knife, heavy sword, ogryn cleaver etc. bounce off carapace, and I don’t think they should any more. I also think these weapons should get a small buff to innate carapace damage. Here’s why:
When the game first started, it was much slower, and there were fewer carapace enemies, so it made sense to have a backup method of dealing with them, or relying on teammates to do it for you. Now that the game is much faster, and we have far far more numerous carapace enemies, this mechanic has become a source of frustration for much of the community, as the sheer volume and frequency of carapace enemies makes any build without significant rending, brittle or other ways of adding anti armor capability to these weapons feel abysmal and straight not fun to play.
The second reason is that as horde density has increased at similar rates, having your weapon bounce off these enemies feels like it unintentionally nerfs your ability to even clear hordes. This is especially evident when playing a weapon like the zealot’s greatsword, where you go from feeling like you’re hitting things with a wet pool noodle to cleaving through mixed hordes effortlessly. It’s not just the damage increase that makes it feel that way, it’s that your weapon stops bouncing off everything.
The third reason is build diversity. Recent tree changes have made many builds viable again, and I know a lot of people are loving it. I’m seeing a range of diverse builds, and realising that a lot of stuff that just wasn’t viable before now is again. One way to improve that is to make it so that with many of the currently existing builds, old weapons become viable again. It’s a net win for the game and community to have a larger freedom of choice when it comes to equipping your characters, as it diversifies player experience, allows for more player freedom, and changes in the meta to all keep people playing, and make the game more fun and accessible.
