Hey yall, after seeing the recent weapon adjustments I got to say I got pretty hyped and seeing how some long-requested changes were made, I decided to provide some ideas of my own, as well as the community's. Not expecting something to happen really, however seeing that some feedback has been addressed by the team in the near past, I thought it was going to be worth a shot. I primarily want to be a little realistic with a lot of the stuff I generally encourage to be changed, however if something you see here particularly terrifies you (for better or worse) do make sure to mention it below!
Without further a-do, I'll start with...
Sealed Swords
The projectile speed changes were welcome and Gran Faust's charge time required is finally like any other sword at last, this will make it so a lot of enemies won't be able to react immediately after they get flinched by the charged attack's initial hit which makes the weapons more efficient! There are still some things to be done to really spice up these weapons, as they are still slow and clunky to use for not much better reward. The weapons leave you vulnerable for much longer, force you to play slower while not delivering the devastating impact they should be, resulting in them being very much outclassed by their other counterparts such as Combuster/Voltedge/Glacius (vs Divine Avenger) and Acheron/Obsidian Edge (Gran Faust). There is simply no scenario where you'd rather bring Sealed Swords (Divine Avenger/Gran Faust), as Brandishes are simply that much better! Especially with Dread Venom Striker being converted to Normal/Shadow/Poison, our Shadow Sealed Sword loses even more value!
To address some of the problems (which are the same as the ones posted in Round 1 Feedback), Sealed Swords should have their base attack increased slightly and their charged attack to deal higher damage. For Gran Faust in particular, its self Curse is still extremely damning and way too punishing for what is essentially a worse Acheron/Obsidian Edge, which should be addressed by making its Curse unique, reducing base Curse duration to 10s instead of 30s, doubling its charged attack damage, increasing its base attack to compensate for the Curse Penalty the weapon has and increase the chances of inflicting Curse to enemies with Basic Attacks. This should keep the Sword's identity while making the reward be higher for the risk you take, as well as making the punishment for taking such risk a little less cruel.
Spurs
Or rather Turbillion, is a very curious case as the weapon never truly had a unique identity. The projectile almost never comes in use thanks to how slow and weak it is (outside of hitting occasional switches) which concludes with most people using it as if it's just a faster Calibur, excluding Calibur's charged attack, which is really a shame. On top of all that this weapon has no variants of itself with different damage types!
Which for me is more of a request to add more variants of Turbillion (primarily a Normal/Elemental or Normal/Shadow variant, each having a Status). But there are some changes the weapon line requires to make it shine and give it an identity it requires. This is a frequent suggestion made by the community so I'll lean on it a little more, which is Spur's theming around vortex effects. To start off the projectile's speed needs to be increased, making it more reliable to land within its already restricted range as well as increase its damage moderately in order to encourage its use. As for the charged attack, change its charged attack's projectile to remain stationary upon reaching its destination (maximum range), instead slowly pulling enemies close to it and dealing strong damage every 0.5 seconds over time for a total of 1.5 seconds within 3x3 tile range. When the timer finishes, the projectile explodes, dealing AoE damage and knocking enemies outwards slightly. This is quite familiar to a bunch of weapons you are familiar with such as the Electron Vortex, however its short duration makes it so you cannot combo it like the Electron Vortex (in order to retain Electron Vortex's own identity) and makes it better for AoE damage (plus potential Status) from long range instead. If you hit an enemy with the initial slash, the knockback should be enough to send them into the charged attack's vortex effect, which will allow the charged attack to deal its full damage. This should make the Spur lines a little more versatile and a little more unique.
Caliburs
Caliburs are characterized primarily by their unique charged attack that hits in a 360 degree angle and sends enemies flying. The Calibur itself, is a very iconic weapon in Spiral Knights and to some its known as a generalist Sword that works in most scenarios. Unfortunately... the weapon has been left behind and has gathered up a lot of dust since its introduction, as its tremendous knockback works against its favor and its impact is not powerful enough to warrant ever bringing it along. Cold Iron Vanquisher suffers from a similar problem and on top of that, doesn't do anything different compared to Leviathan Blade, as it deals less damage thanks to its Damage VS Undead: High (which is inferior since Family Damage Bonuses do not stack with Universal/Class Damage Bonuses that are more prevalent).
To address this issue, the charged attack's damage should be increased for all Calibur-type weapons, their range slightly increased and their knockback should only occur on the 3rd hit instead of all hits, ensuring you get all 3 hits with more ease and making the weapon's performance more consistent. As for Cold Iron Vanquisher, its damage type should be changed to Normal/Elemental with Good chance to inflict Strong Freeze on the charged attack to distinguish itself from Leviathan Blade, as well as have its family damage bonus removed. This will make the weapon powerful against Undead/Constructs and its Freeze on charged attack will allow someone to chain back to back its charged attacks when it occurs.
Amputator
Known as the Normal damage type Brandish it has a unique property to flinch enemies with the charged attack's AoE strikes, something that no other Brandish in the game can do. It's rather unique, most people who use Brandishes such as Acheron, Obsidian Edge, Combuster, Glacius or Voltedge do not typically expect the AoE attacks to flinch enemies. However it suffers from a feature which has left a decade in the past, which is its Family Bonus. This results in it dealing less damage overall while failing to even specialize against the family it has a hypothetical advantage against which are Jellies.
To tackle this problem, the simple solution would be to remove the Damage VS Jelly: High and compensate with additional base attack. This will simply make the Sword stronger than before without it attempting to specialize against a super-specific enemy type (which it should) on top of keeping its identity as the "Normal damage Brandish".
Flourishes
I know I made a point before about them already, however I want to address Flourishes once more with the recent Weapon Adjustment Round on the horizon. Currently, post-preview Wild Hunting Blade outperforms Flourishes by a long shot to the point where the competition is not even remotely close. Wild Hunting Blade is simply miles stronger, as it mows down enemies like no tomorrow.
For Flourishes, their actions should be quickened across the board. The recovery should be cut by a few frames for their third Basic Attack and their Charged Attack. Start-up should be decently reduced on Charged Attack and its charge time required should be changed so its equal to Dread Venom Striker's. Knockback on first Basic Attack should be halved to allow easier follow-ups. Piercing damage should be greatly increased so it is not outdamaged by Swords such as Acheron within Tier 3. Hitbox on second, third Basic Attacks should be extended horizontally to allow the weapons to reach enemies without relying on Auto-Target's inconsistent targetting. This will make the Flourishes worthy of their title as a fast Sword and while not able to dish out the same damage-per-second as Wild Hunting Blade they will serve as a safer, more reliable option to use in order to engage enemies with.
Fang Of Vog
Probably one of the most unique weapons in the game, Fang of Vog (FoV) is a weapon which has a Basic Attack similar to a Calibur/Brandish but is slower and can inflict Strong Fire with its Charged Attack and its Basic Attacks. Its Charged Attack is near identical to a Calibur too, as it performs a 360 degree spin and hits up to four times unlike three of Calibur while having the potential chance to set your character on Fire. Its potential is incredible... unfortunately a majority of the time it's preferable not to bring it with you as its self-Fire (much like Gran Faust's self Curse) can be a massive liability for the one using it. On top of that, it's safer to bring a Combuster as it has near-identical offensive performance, while also with the benefit of not setting you on Strong Fire.
Much like Gran Faust, the reward should be raised for the risk you are taking. Increase the damage dealt by the Charged Attack by 100%, doing so will make it a more reliable option for dealing extreme amounts of damage in a quick burst, ensuring the wielder takes down most enemies with a single Charge Attack. Additionally, its increased damage will make its bursts more reliable in parties and reach damage thresholds it could not before.