Final Flourish and Flourish Family

Summary: This sword of stabbing's charge attack completely destroys packs of wolvers and gremlins.

On charged attacks, the flourish line of swords pierces through monsters weak or neutral to piercing damage. Packs of wolvers and gremlins are dealt nearly double the damage of regular attacks and are often killed before the charged attack is finished. Since the wolvers and gremlins are killed with such style and efficacy before the charged attack completes, it makes the coup de grace stroke rather flaccid. This would seem imbalanced but since the charge plunges my character to such a far distance, perhaps spikes, brambles and monsters of the Construct family will be the balancing factor in halting my rampage?

What is specifically noticeable is that the charge attack from any 4* variant of the flourish line can out parse a level 10 Leviathan's charged attack on monsters weak or neutral to piercing.

Heavy Swords

Summary: First swing after a charge attack suffers a delay and does not allow second swing to happen.

All other sword types either allow the player to do the back half of a combo out of a charge attack or make the player wait and then allow for a full normal combo. The Heavy (2-hit) Swords suffer an unusually large frame where after the charge attack only a single swing is possible. This is a problem as it takes longer to wait for the swing to finish that it does to normally trigger the second swing, or the player has to just wait and it leaves an unusually large time span (relative to battling in SK) where the player cannot attack.

Something like skipping to the second swing out of combo like many of the 3-hit swords would make this much better. At least then you have a chance to knock enemies farther away to protect yourself during the delay period.

I agree with the above poster that CIV is generally inferior to Leviathan; however, there is already a swordplay difference between them, namely, that CIV's charge attack has less knockback than Leviathan's. I'd actually propose *widening* this gap, to make CIV's charge much easier to land multiple hits with than Leviathan's. Ideally, the first hit of the CIV's charge should do reduced/no knockback, to guarantee being able to do 2 hits to anything standing next to you when you start the charge attack. Meanwhile, the second hit of the Leviathan's charge should do additional knockback, so that you can only do 3 hits against stationary enemies and enemies backed up against walls (specifically, lumbers should not be hit 3 times with Leviathan's charge).

It should 1-shot phantoms on any tier! That would be a great bonus to the sword.

And maybe extend it's undead bonus to be "Very High" vs anything that is cursed in addition to vs undead.

This would give the sword 2 additional Utilities. 1 CIV could be the ultimate support for a party in the graveyard, and the sword could have a place in parties with Fausts. Would also be a good Jelly King weapon assuming you have curse vials.

Anyhow, just wanting to give an outside the box suggestion to improving the sword. I'd like to see an improvement to it that doesn't simply homogenize it to be more like other swords.

I'm not sure I fully follow what you mean here (partly because I've only used heavy swords from the beginning - with exception to a Calibur that I used for 1 run).

With the Troika line (speaking mostly from the Khorovod), there is a noticeable delay after the charge attack (the overhead swing that shoots you forward), but it has massive knockback that SHOULD keep you safe anyway! With the Avenger/Faust, there is also noticeable range in front of you, and it hops you back.

My whole time with heavy swords has been mostly about timing and spacing.

Not sure if it was meant or not, but a nice trick I found / brought in from another game is shield-cancelling some of the end-delay from the first swing by holding shield during/after the slash. It's especially useful with the Khorovod with its low attack speed, and also ends the Faust/Avenger charge attack end-lag significantly earlier.

If anything, it feels like Heavy Swords kind of fizzle out, other than Divine Avenger/Gran Faust, since the Troika line ends at 4* (for now, anyway. Rumors I hear of a 5*?). Actually, yeah - I know Heavy Swords are supposed to sacrifice speed for power, number of swings for width of range, but it feels really weird to see fast swords striking only 20-30 off of my heavy swords at insane speeds/number of swings. That dps felt pretty borked.

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Gell:
I don't know about you, but I rarely see Khorovod's stun effect from normal swings.
edit: In fact, I thought it LOST the stun effect from normal swings altogether and only stuns via charge attack.

I don't feel I actually ever really saw the effect much in the first place using Troika/Kamarin.

Striker Family

I stopped using the Striker before I evolved it into either Hunting or Venom because I realized that, for all its "speed," it's actually a very dangerous weapon to use... for the wielder, that is.

1) The double-swing is a split-second between swings that makes it that much harder to shield on time, especially when you are finishing the combo. If it was aesthetic and not actual, it would be great, but that pause between strikes it just too much of a vulnerability.

2) The Charge is useless. Absolutely useless. Completely useless. Even against enemies against a wall or holding still, it takes too long to do its damage and leaves you completely open to attack in all other directions. The Leviathan and CIV blade charges are better than this in every way.

Fang of Vog
Summary: Inferior to almost all alternatives despite difficulty to obtain.

The fang of vog is currently a much much slower calibur with a modified hunting blade skin and a charge ability which, while powerful, sets the user on fire as much as 70% of the time (granted I have a low sample size but I honestly didn't want to actually spend my play time theory-crafting what you devs could just look up) and deals significant amounts of damage to its wielder as well as prevents him from charging any weapon for the duration. The medium sword series is my favorite due to their polyvalence and attractive characteristics such as the fast recovery speed of the second hit and the huge knockback interrupt of the charge but as of now, both of these facets of the fang of vog is much inferior and as what many feel is the position of flagship of the lord vanaduke rewards, it's incredibly underwhelming to the point I never bothered to even heat it and considered cutting my loss by NPC vendoring it for the 30k crowns. In fact, it's common knowledge that anyone could get a much more reliable, safe and overall better weapon without ever setting foot into the firestorm citadel.

Here's how I think the sword could be fixed: make it as fast as the calibur series, scale up the damage so it's on par with the leviathan blade but with an elemental component and reduce the chance of fire down to the same level as the faust/gran faust and the damage of the dot so that the real penalty is the fire prevents you from charging again for its duration. This would fit the same type of penalty as the faust and make using the charge attack much more of a understandable choice to make when playing during critical segments of the game, as opposed to one I would never make.

I'll agree with Elegies that the Winmillion is a VERY highly underrated weapon. I've been using the Spur line exclusively now for several weeks. I leveled my Calibur to Ascended, used a Cutter for a couple of days, leveled a Brandish to Complete, and ran with a Troika a couple of levels as well. I can tell you the Spur/Arc Razor/Winmillion suits my style of play much better than any of the other swords I've tried. It falls between the Calibur/Brandish and Cutter in usability. Not as fast as the Cutter. Doesn't hit as hard as the Calibur. What it does though, is hits hard enough to interrupt a monsters attack, while attacking fast enough to get you through a group of several enemies. I find this very useful in Danger Rooms, Deconstructed Zones, and Arenas. It takes a while to learn some control, as the forward momentum of the heavier (than a cutter) blade pulls you quite some distance with each swing. Using the Winmillion against Devilites, you'll also find yourself missing them quite a bit if you don't carefully control when you start attacking them, since they try to dodge the "bullet" the sword fires with each swing.

What I've had the most success with was crafting a Spur with UV speed increase medium, pairing that with a Swiftstrike Buckler, and then Leveling the sword up to a Winmilion (making that two Winmillions I've created now). It's phenomenal speed and knock back power means individual enemies can't usually get in a strike. I can also carve through a tight pack of monsters and target silkwings, menders, and bombers.

What this sword doesn't do well, and I think what does balance it, is have a powerful charged attack. You can't use its charged attack to OHKO turrets, lumbers, or other big tough monsters. The Winmillion is much more of a "kiting" weapon. Letting you pick and choose your opportunities to isolate an enemy and strike quickly, before moving away and starting another attack run. You won't be able to easily stand your ground and pummel your enemy. That's why I feel its important for a person using a Spur line blade to be comfortable using a fairly powerful gun, so you can fire a few rounds to soften up your target first, then quickly change to your sword to finish.

Summary: Khorovod is (in comparison to other heavy swords its level) underpowered.

In terms of T2 (where it's probably more likely to be used), it deals about the same raw damage as Faust/Avenger (+- 10) without bonuses. Its only saving point aside from neutrality is that charge attack is useful situationally (long reach and chance to deal damage with its randomly-spawning rocks).

Its second swing has horrid delay and is easily interrupted/punished - and even after hitting some monsters with it, either there are more behind them that don't get hit (they get a free hit on you), or they are heavy and don't get knocked back to a safe area. Of course, an experienced heavy swordsman will probably make use of shield cancel first-hits, but really, at some points, only the faust/avenger are worth trying a second hit with.

An attack speed boost would be an acceptable boost, but I can understand why it might be slower than the "rare and special" Faust/Avenger series, since it's not a special item, by any means.

But the main thing that bothers me is this: Why does the Khorovod lose its chance to cause stun with normal hits when its predecessors have it?. Earlier, someone brought up something like Khorovod causing stun with uncharged hits - I call BS on that. I'd be fine if it had a good chance to stun things and kept its current stats, because at least there'd be a chance that even if I attack slow, I can inflict that same 'status' to a monster, and it'd at least be consistent with the rest of its line.

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And minor quip about Gran Faust:
Its charge time is 4 seconds at level 10, compared to everything else being 2 second charges.

I almost never get to use it anymore, so my silvermail/seraphic gear feels so useless after upgrading.

Wild Hunting Blade:

Summary: The bite attack almost never hits and it is underpowered when compared with the Dread Venom Striker

Ok, so I was told that it was a balancing issue in regards to the second hits of the WHB or other Cutter lines. It is believed that if these weapons hit with their second swing all of the time then they would be overpowered. I disagree. In the case of the WHB as was told by Espeonage, the bonus damage to beasts does not compare to the chance of poison the DVS gets, especially since a DVS can get a UV damage to beasts.

I propose that in the case of the WHB the bite always hits and does full damage with it.

Quiiliitiila

Unlike many other posters here, I don't think it's important for all swords to have powerful charge attacks. Charge attacks on some weapons can be great while on others they are a mere novelty. Variety is good and "run away, charge, turn, unleash" shouldn't be a useful playstyle for all swords. I think the variety we have now is good.

I personally think the vile striker and dread venom striker are fine as they are, although a slight (5%?) power increase or a slight increase to the chance of causing poison for the dread venom wouldn't be terrible to put a little more difference between the two.

Flourish Line Swords in Tier 1

Summary: The Flourish (2*) does more damage in tier 1 than the Fierce Flamberge (4*).

This isn't a huge problem, because either weapon is strong enough to quickly slice up tier 1 enemies, but it's a bit jarring when a 4* weapon is weaker than the 2* weapon from which it was made. Honestly it feels like the flourish does too much damage in tier 1, so rather than upping the output of the Fierce Flamberge, I'd nerf the Flourish on shallow levels. I'll have to test these side-by-side in tier 2 to see if the damage differential is reasonable there.

Spur Line

Problem: Projectile from charge attack will not fire if you shield cancel, move, or do basically anything after charging.

Pretty straight forward, but quite unfortunate.

Summary: The damage on Divine Avenger/Gran Faust is too high making a damage bonus on monster's weakness to piercing worthless.

I have gathered the Divine Avenger, the Final Flourish and the Gran Faust to play with the monster's weaknesses. While playing with these swords, i noticed my Flourish doing less damage than my Divine Avenger/Gran Faust in some situations. I know, that the Flourish is faster, but the Divine Avenger might be able to kill off the same monster in less hits, which should take about the same time(excluding the time considering the monster family and switching weapons while eventually walking and shielding). The Divine Avenger/Gran Faust is a good sword for pretty much all situations(including fiends and beasts, which can be dealt with, without much trouble compared to the flourish), the Flourish is only good in rare situations(where the DA/GF is still a good alternative). Therefore, it is a waste of money, effort and time to get the Flourish, when you can go for the Divine Avenger/Gran Faust. The Gran Faust's curse can also be considered too powerful making it deadly in any situation and being a good alternative for the already overpowered DA. That leaves the Flourish without value again.

I am not referring to any of the charge attacks, because i think, they're all pretty powerful, balanced and useful on all 3 swords mentioned above(except for the Gran Faust of course, that 1 is only powerful, not useful).

Summary: There are many good swords, but there is a lot of crap to filter through, and prior to the wiki - which is still incomplete in many cases, money and time are lost upgrading weapons. Players love the Faust and the DA, which are arguably the most balanced weapons in the game, however every weapon should be as desired as any other. Nerfing should be unnecessary. --By an engineer that taught classes on product development and has experience in beta testing. There is a lot to take in, but I pride myself on being thorough.

Piercing - The alternate physical attack side of every sword. You can either have normal attack or pierce, and pierce seems very underused even against the monsters it specializes against. Solution: Do not terminate weapon/projectile hit box upon collision with target. Make piercing attacks seem to actually have the ability to pierce.

Damage Stack - Currently, according to the wiki and from play experience, damage versus a specific monster type, or with a particular weapon class, or with any of the UV's stacks to 6 (Maximum!) The stack really should only be limited by the amount of energy a player wants to devote to a particular stat. However, the amount that can be attached, via UV or whatever should be limited to six. If I want to be a Jelly Killing machine, players should be allowed the ability to have a helm, armor, shield, and sword/gun/bomb that all have Maximum Jelly killing power. 24 seems more like a maximum than 6.

Now onto the swords.

Cold Iron Vanquisher/Wild Hunting Blade/Cautery Blade/etc. - These weapons all should be highly desired, as they are in general tougher to make then their counterparts and require more rare materials. Unfortunately, their damage pales against their counterparts and they do less damage then a non-specialized alternate damage blade. (ie Cautery Vs. Nightblade or CIV vs Combuster or Wild Hunting Vs. Barbarous Thorn). Solution: Increase their specialized damage to minimum of +15% and a their normal damage -3% instead of the current +5% and -15%.

Cutter Series 5* (Wild Hunting and Dread Venom) - Both blades are really fast, but have poor range and damage; their charge attacks are useless and their abilities are paled by many other 5* swords. In reality these are like 4.5* swords. Solution: Wild Hunting(See above, then buff it vs Dread Venom) Dread Venom - Increase poison from ~2.5% to 7% (that's "fair chance" isn't it?), it will bring the chance of successful poison to roughly 55% per 10-hit combo -- Instead of the <25% chance right now. Also increase damage by at least X1.5 preferably X2.0 or increase the attack area. The charge attacks for both swords really need to be a swing/projectile -- maybe like Barbarous blade, or pretty much anything other than what they are right now.

Cautery Blade - Clearly this sword is unfinished, as the alchemy path is still partial. Solution: Make the damage comparable to the rest of the brandish lines. On charge attack, have pillars of salt erupt from the ground, heavily damaging everything, and especially slimes. The 5* of this sword could be something fun like "Gabriel" the angel that went to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

Sudaruska and Triglav - They reportedly do less damage than leviathan, and especially less than the DA/GF (the most balanced and well loved swords). Also, the Triglav only has ~5% chance of freeze? Solution: Utilize those fancy ground effects that come up to do more damage. For the triglav either increase frequency of freeze in exchange for duration -- 10% (fair) chance to moderate freeze would be a welcome exchange; or, leave the slight chance of strong freeze and include slight chance of strong stun.

Since I'm not getting paid to do this, I'll let someone else analyze the guns and bombs. Seriously an in-house analyst is needed for this job.

Oh BTW, Sealed Sword is by far one of the most fun swords, it's a shame that it doesn't have it's own neutral alchemy line, like idk, Chaos Sword. There is something wonderful about that roulette charge attack.
Also, the elemental brandish lines are also a blast.