Good evening. It is not "the next week" in most time zones yet, but I figured that I shouldn't stall on this idea if I have the time to write it.
Today's post will be about Brandishes, about NERFING Brandishes specifically, downplaying the actual nerf, and explaining how I think this is a net positive actually.
Why they need to be nerfed.
Before I begin, I want to make my position clear:
I will be bashing this weapon type a lot, as I firmly believe that Brandishes in their current state are a hate crime on game design, as they have a VERY LOW skill entry level, enabled by their:
- Long range, almost catching up with a handgun.
- The area coverage of a bomb.
- A level of pushback that shrugs off any enemy that isn't a Trojan or a boss monster.
- STRONG status effects wide on display, something that neither single-target nor area-control weapons can usually show for.
- And an endlag animation so short, it may as well not even exist, making missed, poorly planned, or erratically used charge attacks almost unpunished.
Second thing I wanna make clear: I am not a nerf guy, I do not want any nerfs besides just this sword type. Brandishes are the only weapon type I have my issues with, they've set an unhealthy standard that charged attacks must be nearly impossible to miss, no risk and all reward. I'd even argue that if you step back and look at this game's roster of weapons from a far view, everything else seems actually somewhat balanced and mostly viable, with just these swords being the standout/competition that the rest cannot keep up with: Caliburs? Fine. Troikas? Fine. Blast Bombs? Fine. Autoguns? Mostly fine, but nowhere near as catastrophic as this sword type.
How I want them to be nerfed.
For this chapter, I want to split all brandishes into 2 defined categories: the status Brandishes, and the statusless Brandishes.
- Status Brandishes speak for themselves: they're Combuster, Glacius, Voltedge, and Obsidian Edge.
- StatusLESS Brandishes include Acheron and Amputator, the two that don't fall into the former category.
My plan for nerfing Brandishes is to reduce the knockback of all status-oriented Brandishes to the point where enemies struggle to travel a full chain from start to end, and to reduce the damage of Acheron down to its status Brandish counterparts.
What good does this bring to the game?
I believe that by giving defined weaknesses, both the status Brandishes AND Acheron will also gain defined use-cases: status Brandishes, without the damage caused by chain knockback, would still be able to reliably inflict their status effects over a large area, making them out to be more of "support" weapons, or a mixture of a melee weapon and a Haze bomb, a Haze Bomb that deals some damage on the side? Either way, it would be a healthier mixture that doesn't make these swords a crowd killing juggernaut.
Acheron and Amputator would still retain their traditional Brandish-like gameplay, my only problem with Acheron is that its base damage is objectively way overtuned, considering how easily it outdamages Gran Faust, a dedicated HEAVY weapon of Shadow damage.
What is the end result of this? How much will this affect the Brandish roster at large?
This chapter is mostly to cover the after-effects of these nerfs, as I believe that balance-wise, they yield more positive outcomes than negative:
- For Glacius and Voltedge, this could be considered an indirect buff, as these two swords are largely viewed as inferior to their counterparts, due to Freeze and Shock status completely cancelling out their knockback, preventing most of the damage from being dealt. With a knockback nerf being applied to all Brandishes simultaneously, this knockback negation will be viewed as less of an immediate downside.
- For Obsidian Edge and Acheron, this would put an end to their cutthroat competition:
- Obsidian Edge, without excessive knockback, would mainly be focused on spreading Poison while still dealing damage on the side.
- Acheron, keeping its knockback, would still be used for dealing direct Shadow damage using the chain knockback.
And I was there too! -Amputator
Throughout this thread, readers may have noticed I barely brought up Amputator. That is because, for all its downsides and shortcomings, I sincerely believe that Amputator is the only actually balanced Brandish, an unsung hero of game design. When you look at all of its strong sides, such as long range, good area coverage, consistent knockback and very lightweight attack animations, the low damage suddenly begins to make a lot more sense, all things considered. In my honest opinion, Amputator should be left completely intact, it needs no changes, and it is just chilling in the roster.
Thank you for your attention.
Although I disagree with most of this, I'm just gonna focus on a few aspects for now that I think are worth noting:
Brandish supremacy (besides acheron) has largely been tied to FSC being THE level to farm. If you remove FSC from the equation, a lot fewer brandishes would be in use during standard gameplay.
Your actual solution should be to make brandishes less viable for farming crowns. Introduce levels where multiple different families spawn (not just undead), and you can't vortex + brandish spam your way through a level. In a given random arcade run currently, your brandish would only really be viable in a select few levels. Even then, with the new buffs we've gotten to other things, you could make an argument for triglav/suda + vortex being superior...
Acheron has already taken a hit with the DVS buffs, but still remains strong in PvP. I don't see any reason to nerf it when other weapons/alternatives have been scaled up around it.