I know this will probably be an unpopular take, but at the same time, why would they remove an unique weapon mechanic, in favour of another existing one? (Yes I know the parry will be a thrust and not a slash like Dclaw, still point stands)
If the issue is it being too OP, it could EASILY be nerfed in many ways to prevent abuse, in fact I’ll name them all, in which if all is done, it’ll be fine
Hitting an enemy with the special stagger consumes stamina (Literally what Billhook does in VT2), and make it unable to perform said special attack if the user doesn’t have enough stamina
Make it unable to stagger enemies charging an overhead
Make it unable to stagger Ogryns and Unyielding enemies
Make it unable to stagger other Elites/Specials UNLESS it’s a headshot
I’m not complaining about the damage/finesse nerfs for the thrust attack, those are perfectly deserved, but I don’t really like removing what makes this weapon unique (and in my opinion) fun
It being a good anti-rager and anti-gunner melee is absolutely fantastic and what I love most, please don’t just remove it when it could be made harder and riskier to use
Though, if the parry follow-up in terms of damage ends up being the same as the unnerfed thrust, wouldn’t your suggestion actually be an even bigger nerf to the weapon?
However, I’d personally advocate for a more balanced approach - let’s have both! Make one of the marks preserve the thrust special, but implement your suggested changes into it.
No, because the stagger special is for stagger ofc. Parry would probably mean it loses this
Even if it was a “bigger nerf”, I’d still prefeer this because it keps the identity of the weapon and the gameplan to rush gunners, and to precisely prevent ragers from being a threat if done correctly
And lastly you can’t parry bullets from gunners
Could work, the post did say that MK5 was gonna be the one with the most powerful parry, so I’d be okay if MK5 was the parry one (It is the most defensive one after all)
That would leave MK2 in a weird position, should MK2 take the parry or the stagger special?
Aren’t Ragers specifically countered by parry? Although parry wouldn’t help against gunners, for sure.
I’m not entirely sure, but we could look at it from two standpoints:
First - the mark that has better single-target damage gets the stagger-based special, while the one with worse single-target damage gets the parry to compensate.
Second - the more single-target focused mark gets the parry to emphasize its role in anti-elite sniping, and the one that doesn’t gets the stagger thrust to make it better for general use.
The number of marks assigned to each category is honestly irrelevant.
I don’t think these other weapons have these high stagger values as DS special does, that’s what makes me feel it’s more “unique” for the DS, whereas for the other weapons it’s just used to chain combos (things that DS doesn’t really have)
why would they remove an unique weapon mechanic, in favour of another existing one?
special staggers are probably the most common melee special in the game, mk1 shovel has them, tac axe has them, combat axe has them, ogryn cleavers have them, mk3 ogryn shovel has them, combat blades have them, and technically clubs and pickaxes have them
if anything, its probably the LEAST unique melee weapon mechanic
I am not a fan of the parry.
I am not sure it was needed to add that to all the other changes. On the other hand, the current special is a little too good.
Maybe they should have made the animation lasts longer to not be able to spam it. Don’t know… But I see your concern.
Oh boy am I looking forward to the parry - I really like it on the catachans and it will be even stronger!!??. That is such a huge buff to the Duelling Swords that I believe they will become even more popular