Hello everyone,

For starters I'd like to say:
 -DVS: Dread Venom Striker http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Dread_Venom_Striker
 -WHB: Wild Hunting Blade http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Wild_Hunting_Blade
 -Didn't want to necro a thread on this topic.
 -Felt that it was better to have a focus thread on this, than comment in one of the many threads focusing on a ton of nerfs/buffs.
 -Don't understand why BALANCING hasn't occured of existing weapons (cutters, and other weapons alike), and   believe that balancing should be focused   on instead of new content (excluding the UI, that needs immediate attention).
 -A lot of the info of this topic was brought to my attention due to LD play. I do however SOLELY use the cutter lines, because they're SO much fun   in   PvE :3
 -My notes are points made within posts that I felt were important

Good reads on topic:

Interruption on Charge: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/52824
    -Notes:
    Why they "shouldn't"(sarcasm) get buffs: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/78373#comment-686937
    -Notes:
     I tried doing some of these, and quickly realized that whatever shock-inflicting weapon I used, I was better off just using that. Pulsar: Range,Shock, and knockback. V. Tempest: Unless a gunner comes at me in LD, I can just keep spamming and have better results (unless monster/enemy has resistance). Shock Brandish: Faster damage output (due to having less swings for full damage), and charge is good.The list goes on, and honestly it made me feel that if I was going to NEED other weapons for ONE weapon to be DECENT, it's a waste of my weapon slot. 

Quick suggestions from other threads that I think are worth considering or viewing: 

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/72166 
    -Notes:
     "Cutter/Striker/HB/WHB/VS/DVS:
        1: Remove all knockback on "ghost" swings.
        2: Increase damage per swing.
        3: Reduce knock back on the first 4 swings of the combo, increase knockback on 5th swing" -Nineball Seraph

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/67998
    -Notes:
     "Cutter Line Buffs"
        1: Comment 20 Tsubasa-No-Me
            • Include interruption on ghost swings
            • Have DVS leave a poison cloud behind ghost swings
            • Don't give WHB strong stun, as Suda deserves that. Maybe "[Good] Chance of Moderate Stun" instead
        2: Comment 17 by Xxpapaya (Papaya)
            • Assasins want to be able to kill targets quickly, and efficiently (living after process of a charge/ combo). Cutters are supposed to be assasin weapons, but they somewhat fail right now.
        3: Comment 21 by Kimahsonite
            • Fair or even Slight Chance of Causing Moderate Stun [to WHB] would be acceptable (as this is applied to 10 swings, and maybe boosted for charge)
        4: Comment 25 by Tsubasa-No-Me (Tsu)
            • Clouds are small, don't last long, and move in direction of swing (behind and backward of attacker)
        5: Comment 28 by Arctifice
            • MOST CRUCIAL BUFF IS HAVING THE GHOST ATTACKS HIT THEIR TARGETS! Since they miss so often, DPS often suffers.

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/53120?page=4#comment-534411
    -Notes:
        -Wolvers:
          • Aren't Fast
          • Attacks aren't difficult to avoid- thus rendering the semi-useless
          • Alphas get predictable similarily to how predictable normal wolvers are
          • The wolvers are resistant to knock from guns, and have the ability to dodge gun-shots (excluding valiance/magnus shots)
          • Swords are made to be extremely effective against them 
        -Proposed Solution:
          • Change/Add-to their inherant defense against bullets (their dodging abality), to be more focused towards swords
          • Specific to T4+ 
          
     Amazingly well put together wolver buff by Luguiru that would make the new stun-based WHB VERY MUCH worth having
     WHY HASN'T THIS BEEN IMPLEMENTED!?!?

Support that it's commonly agreed that the DVS/WHB are currently useless in comparison to other swords (so they need attention):
            Links                        Comments of Relevancy

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/76782 :  Original Post SAME AS MY BASE THOUGHT
    

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/73195 :  1, 4, and 5 
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/74155 :  2, 5, and 7        
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/64032 :  1, 5, 9, 11, and 15 (lols) 
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/36485 :  2, 12, generally entire thread just points theoriginal poster in direction OTHER than cutter
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/67998 :  1, 2, 11, 15/17, 18, 28
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/55382 :    Original Post based on general veiw of normal damage weapons
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/62486 :  5 (Paragraphs 5&6)
    
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/53120?page=4#comment-534411 : Supporting the fact that Wolvers need a buff

Questions to OOO:
    Why put so much effort into making the aesthetic appeal of the WHB and not make it useful after releasing the flourish line?
    Were the Flourish lines intended to replace the cutter lines?
    Is there any intention on rebalancing the cutter lines?

Inspiration toward buffs/nerfs in general:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e31OSVZF77w

My views/notes:

    The overall play-style of the cutters is what many enjoy. It keeps things interesting by moving you extremely quickly, and somewhat "dance" through your enemies. Hense, I don't believe replacing them is the     answer (as flourish lines have sort of done through speed/piercing abilities). Cutters deal normal damage, which is good in PvE (not accounting for it's actual low Damage Per Second/DPS), as you don't do less damage to any 1 monster type. On the other hand, in LD, this normal damage is almost negated by all defense equips. Generally speaking,the way to make up for weapons like these is with status infliction, and specifically to the cutter lines, along with a slight damage buff.
    
    Although piercing swords do destroy beasts through damage, they don't necessarily provide tactical decisions (tactical as far as SK goes). So I'll say that I don't believe making the Wild Hunting Blade (WHB) a pure     piercing weapon. Instead, it would be interesting if it would have a status that was anti-beast. I do not want to suggest an elemental damage, as then it may quickly make the cutter lines OP, and the WHB less of a beast-focused weapon.

        Examples:

         -Fire, Shock, Curse: If it's made to cause any of these relatively often, then people will spam, and any monster weak to these elements will be obliterated. In LD this could easily be spammed for it's ability (due to many quick slashes, give many chances to cause it), and then the only way to make it okay would be to have some debuff quality to the sword (overall making it overly complex for what it was intended to be).

         -Freeze, Sleep: After frozen or lullibied, the combo would have to be stopped. In both scenarios, contining the combo wouldn't take advantage of the situation. If frozen in PvE waiting until the freeze breaks brings on completed damage, but at the cost DPS which is against what a buff would be asking for (in this case at least). In LD, freezing someone only gives a chance to deal an extreme amount of damage with a heavy weapon. Sleep, would bring forth the same situation as LD for Freeze (minus the extra damage), to take advantage of the situation, it would be best to switch to a heavy weapon and deal out a large chunk of damage. Some would even argue at this point, why not just use the heavy weapon (as generally PvE allows this without too many issues) to dish out HUGE DPS. In LD, it would make even more sense to use a larger sword as striker's boost allows quicker movement to somewhat compensate (although not totally fixing the slowness).

         -Poison, Stun: Poison is for the DVS. Stun... well why not? At this point stun seems like the most well qualified for the job. It's not a huge damage output itself, it is (according to bells in GWW) anti-beast, and it could actually fix the lack of use the WHB has in LD.

    So, Stun does seem the most appropriate to me, both for the fact that we don't want spam-brandishes, or worthless cryotech-like swords 
    (breaks it's own freeze).

    I HAD ORIGINALLY WRITTEN A PARAGRAPH ON BEASTS, BUT ACCIDENTALLY COPIED OVER MY CLIPBOARD AS I TRIED MOVING IT
    Attempt #2 at said Beast Paragraph:

    Some of you might ask, "Why the need for a beast weapon? They're easy enough to kill in any tier that you don't really need a specific weapon for them". I mentioned earlier in this post of another thread created by     Luguiru of a buff that could be implemented to fix the beast family (to a certain degree at least). In     general, I just feel they need attention and a slight buff in difficulty. I think that the Lone-Wolf Boost that was explained Luguiru's thread is pretty awesome. It was also specifically addressed that a lot of this buff would happen T4+ (I think in general just referring to late-T3). I agree that the buff in that thread would be a bit much in T1, but in the case of that the tracking they had before didn't seem to be TOO difficult. I think it added a necessary element to the game. Since the WHB is a late-game weapon (5*), it wouldn't really make sense to buff it for the sake of T1, but nonetheless I think introducing the beast family, as a worthy adversary early on in-game, would give people reason to pursue an anti-beast weapon. So an overall buff for this weapon, would be supported if beasts also recieved a buff. Maybe in T2 the Lone-Wolf Boost would implemented with 5% instead of 10% for T3. The chromalisks should at the least recieve better tracking skills, and I'm not sure, but did their abilities to take away vita-pods get taken away? If so, that may be a good idea to bring back as well (to amplify the danger of confrontation with them).

    Now for suggestions on the charges, and attacks themselves. Most of my agreements, opinions, and ideas come from the "interesting reads" section.

        • It seams pretty well known that first fix of this weapon is having ghost swings (including wolver bites) to become more accurate in hitting their targets. Missing targets happens all too often and thus dropping the already low damage of these weapons.

        • General increase in the damage dealt by the weapon. I think that thelack of interruption by the 3rd swing (excluding heavy swords) asks for a higher damage output. In relation to late-T2, and T3 use, lacking interruption at that point leaves a person open to recieve damage from the monster they're attacking. Of course some monsters have different timings of attack and would finish their attack on the time of the average 3rd swing, so it would barely be stopped by swords that interrupt on timing of 3rd swings. Since one doesn't normally want to take damage, the average 
          10-swing combo of the cutter lines gets interrupted to block, or to move in an avoidance of  damage- thus dropping the DPS much lower than that of an average sword with interruption. A boost in damage dealt per swing may make up to some degree of the true dps this sword has.

        • Fix knockback so that it doesn't move enemies out of range for the following swing. It's been suggested to reduce the knockback on the first 4 swings of the combo, and increase the knockback on the 5th swing (pushing enemies somewhat safely away before they do damage to the player).

        • Possibly add poison clouds to the Dread Venom Striker that are slightly smaller than, or equal to those of T2 Jade Greavers (See Wiki http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Jade_Greaver#Jade_Greaver).These clouds will follow the arc of the original ghost swing (allthe way behind the player).

              This is a MAYBE because poison clouds would GUARENTEE poison (POSSIBLY OP)
            Possible Solutions:
                - Only the the third swing releases the cloud
            NOTE: If poison is added to ALL swings, weapon will be OP as opposing enemy will constantly be unable to heal, and will have the debuffs of poison (http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Poison) so long as the player continuously attacks. Not to mention if interruption is added in to the equation, the combo will continue forever = broken weapon lol.

Also something needs to be done to the charge. I originally thought that maybe having just one slice (like a finisher assassin) move would be more accurate and useful, but damage wise it would end up doing enormous damage. Maybe if they keep the charge they have right now, make it so that you can change direction of each swing (similar to the last swing being redirected if you move your mouse). I'd like suggestions on these, as those that I've seen so far, don't follow nicely with current SK style.