Fangel! Why would you want such a thing?
For starters, the acheron is far too damaging for what it is. Adding stun can reduce the damage output to that of the other brandish lines (because status), and even open a pathway for a normal-damage 5* brandish.
Stun would only be applied on the charge, and we could add stun stars that hop out from the acheron's charge blasts. Or instead it could have a lingering mist like a griever drops for a slight uniqueness to the other brandishes.
Then the Obsidian edge would be the Nightblade of choice. In fact I think a LVL 10 Silent Nightblade does barely less damage than a LVL 10 Obsidian edge.
While I would love to see Acheron balanced I think a lot of players will feel ripped off at the new end of the line.
Rather than change just this one nightblade make it so that all have stun status (like the rest of the brandish lines have their status show at 3 stars).
But almost all slimes are highly resistant to stun. I'm all for more stun weapons, but would prefer them to be elemental or piercing.
See: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkB_kx1fvrxadEp4V1NyVWZ3b2R...
So we have the Acheron again ?
OOO wanted to buff it so that it isn't useless compared to the Obsidian Edge because it deals no status, but guess what ? only the CHARGE does the status effect, so the normal attacks don't need a buff.
I think a nerf of the normal attacks(back to the original damage) would work better. Stun is a bit unfitting(I know that greavers do stun, but it's something that is more used with piercing weapons(like curse and poison are used with shadow damage)).
But almost all slimes are highly resistant to stun.
Yet Gremlins have no strengths or weaknesses to the status. We have a fire piercing sword(which fiends are highly resistant to), so why not a stun shadow sword?
Rather than change just this one nightblade make it so that all have stun status (like the rest of the brandish lines have their status show at 3 stars).
Sure, by all means. Right now, the only thing the lower tier shadow brandishes have over their elemental cousins is the fact that they do shadow damage. Adding a status to those shouldn't alter the balance, I would think. We could prove me wrong in a testing server otherwise.
I think a nerf of the normal attacks(back to the original damage) would work better.
By all mean, yes. Not knowing how the damage system works, I'm going to take a stab at its inner workings and say that the normal-attack damage values are just percentages of the charge attack's values. If that is the case, then we would have to change the charge, such as by adding stun to it. Otherwise, a simple value change would be better.
Well yes, we have a fire+piercing sword, and it's considered one of the worst swords in the game right up there with winmillion. To make acheron stun would make it useless compared to obsidian edge, as obsidian edge deals poison, a status that is strong against gremlins and some slimes. Poison is also arguably better than stun in general for this sort of sword, given that it can shut down healers when applied to many mobs, and increase damage. I'd really rather we avoid having weapons that outclass other weapons directly.
Stun would allow you to charge prep easy and make chasing Low HP gremlins easy. Poison is another route you can take for different defensive reasons (heal block, attack cut by 50%, defense cut by 10%).
IDK. I'd rather have a weapon that is almost certainly better against all of the monsters it can be better against than one that occupies a tiny niche. Sort of like flamberg. Flamberg is GREAT at killing icy zombies when you're fighting fiends. I mean, acheron with stun wouldn't be the worst thing, but then neither is flamberg. Flamberg's damage is OK, its just always going to be worse than if you were using the better alternative.
Besides, giving it stun and making it like the other brandishes would only cover up how damaging the sword is compared to other weapons, as things like combuster and edge would still exist to actually function properly. No?
... But I still stand by this idea.
A stun acheron might not be necessarily ideal, but we have plenty of other weapons that exist that are in the same boat. The gran faust can stay as a heavy sword, and the acheron can join its brandish cousins in the status sector, rather than being more effective at fighting beasts than a piercing sword.
Also keep in mind that this is a brandish we're talking about. No matter what status we potentially can add to it, it will still completely obliterate enemies that are caught up in the charge attack. We also don't have a source of stun from any shadow weapon (at least I think.... We have the other damage types covered), so this might be a nice way to add it in and make the acheron more in line with its crafting line.
Seems like a much more sensible buff to me, considering all the other brandishes inflict status effects. That, or add fire, since we STILL don't have a shadow-fire sword.
Why not simply remove the Brandish charge from the Nightblade/Acheron and replace it with something different?
I think that if we are to see a shadow/stun weapon, that there should be stun weak gremlins/slimes introduced to be killed by it. That would be a far greater thing than just kind of shoving stun in there.
But really the issue with this is far deeper. There is nothing inherently wrong about a weapon being slightly stronger but lacking status effects. That's natural. That acheron is somehow broken but that combuster, glacius, obsidian edge are not is silly.
@Fangel
Actually, wolvers are weak to stun. Acheron would somehow become better at slaying beasts.
I am actually all for that idea of balancing in that regard. And I would like a normal-damage 5* brandish as well.