So far if its not just me that noticed this but when it comes to lockdown doesn't every 3 star player use a flourish, sealed sword, or rocket hammer? In 5 star terms isn't the Gran faust the most punishing weapon of all the weapons next to the warmaster hammer? In clockworks isn't the crest of almimire the most prased shield for vana grinding? I guess in quick terms what I'm getting at is that there isn't really a middle ground once you have these weapons. Lets also not forget that wolvers should be practically extinct by this point from how many players use and abuse the wolver line because a good chunk wana wack players and enemies with a piece of metal.

My solution to this idea is to implement a new system that will upgrade and balance this annoying houdini balancing act. It will divide the description into 2 catagories PvE and PvP the PvE stats will determine how the weapon does in the clockworks and the PvP stats will determine how the weapon does on players. The new system would include a reduction and increase on damage delt to specific players.

sword damage
Normal damage weapons that are lighter will do fast and progressive damage through the amount of hits the player has done on enemies that are PvP starting from weak damage and gradually getting stronger and stronger until the last hit delivered will be the most devastating if the hits connect. The weapons will have a 80% chase of being countered and canceled depending on its speed (making asi varients both good and bad for the player)
All fast weapons will be given asi low at 4 star and a choice to buff the attack with a counter balance of that weapon meaning you can't get asi very high with a damage bonus very high as well it will instead give you asi very high for damage bonus decrease very high, light weapons will also give players the ability to walk faster depending on how fast the weapon originally is.

Medium set weapons will do average damage but will be slower, and have a 70-50% chance of being canceled depending on its speed, and the hits must be connected to recieve a damage bonus on the next hit just like the lighter weapons. Each ending hit from a medium weapon if its a combo will have a 30% chance of causing a mild status attack of the original status it inflicts (combustors, glacius, voltedge you get the deal)
Medium set weapons will be given a chance to increase damage speed both for the weapon and character making the character have regular stats as they do now. The use of medium set weapons will be an all around weapon for hybrid style characters.

Heavy weapons will be the most devastating but also the most vulnerable. having a 10-15% chance of being canceled and countered, the damage will be able to pass through multiple enemies and will have a larger area spread pending on the weapon (sealed sword lines will be medium ranged but faster while troika lines will have the max range but slowest of the weapons.) With the heavy line it does not matter if the hits connect to receive that extra damage but instead will do more damage the second swing. Charge attacks can be canceled if the player gets hit 5 or more times during their charge attack.
Heavy weapons will be given strong power but will slow down the character on how fast they really are giving them movement speed decrease depending on their original speed type for strong and powerful weapons.

Armor protection

The armor in the game is very abundant but the players select either gunslinger, wolver, bomber or the cloak line for good reasons and thats that these armors provide great support on their specific style. In reply to this armor must be balanced as well. It should have the ability to both protect the player and give them an extra chance at receiving and dealing damage prior to their style depending on its armor type.

~Wolver line~
The wolver line should stay with sword damage and speed but it must also give you a non benefit. Players using bombs or guns with a wolver line should be given ASD for guns and CTA (charge time addition) for bombs pending on its armor type. Shadow and piercing wolver coats would give the opposite of DBI (damage bonus increase) for guns while elemental coats will give CTA and ASI(attack speed increase) for both guns and bombs. Thus detering trolaris spammers. The wolver line should also be more resistant towards sword based attacks and more weaker towards guns and they can not be knocked back by bomb explosions. Wolver lines should also be more resistant towards sword attacks from constructs and gremlen twackers. But more weak towards projectiles.

~Gunning line~
Gun lines are balanced similarly but they must be given their respective owes. Gun lines should give players higher resistance towards guns but they take more damage from bombs then they would swords. Gun lines should be given MSI (movement speed increase) due to lighter weapons, but must be given lesser resistance towards damage in general due to its MSI. Gunner lines are also more resistant towards fiend projectile attacks in clockworks but massively weaker towards mecha knights and lumbers.

~Bomber line~
Bombers should have the ability to be swift in decision timing their bombs correctly but yet what do they do? They spam like crazy hoping to get a hit and its both annoying for swords and guns to reach them if you have 2 bombers defending. The solution? Make them weaker towards swords and more likely to get inflicted with status effects. There should also be a MSD for them because look at that armor they look like walking tanks! MSD with a weak spot of being more damage prone on swords should give a good balance for them. guns should give regular damage as usual but bombers should be better resistant towards blast damage from enemy bombs and gremlin explosives but are more weaker towards status effects and projectiles.
The bomber line should have the same atributes as the sword and gun line making it harder to wield a sword and instead of giving guns slower asi make them less accurate with a 3 degree accuracy rate.

~Cloak line~
Cloaks are awesome lookin making you feel like the true support style or the badass of the team. But the only one that almost everyone goes for is the chaos cowl...this needs to stop. A good recomendation, make the cloak line have MSI, but give lower health. Players using the cloak line will give neutral benefits for hybrid style users but will be less resistant in general players will be a power house with damage and if their loadouts have more of a specific item that item will be given DBD and ASD to level out the other weapons. Cloak lines should stay neutral on all weapon types and will increase in damage with the more weapon types you have. They are also extremely weak against bombs.

~Skelly line~
Walking around with this I always loved the 2 star version because it looks so cute. But theres a problem. Its missing something, something that could make it worth getting. The skelly line is just a line to look like a evil warlord with the benefits of a "shadow protection" the solution? Make new armor types that all include shadow protection, piercing protection, and give them movement speed decrease for damage bonus increase on swords. They should be weaker towards guns, but stronger against swords. Unlike the wolver line though they can be pushed back by bombs but their blast resistance is slightly higher. Their armor should be slightly stronger then usual making them ideal for defense situations but not ideal for hybrid styles. They have no asi, asd, dbi or dbd variants for bombs.

~Jelly line~
Jelly lines should be average speed, higher health and less prone to status effects but more prone towards explosives and elemental attacks. They should have CTR on all weapons, and ASI but will have DBD on swords, guns and bombs. More selections to make these items more diverse and atributive. They should also be less prone to get pinged by recons.

~angelic line~
Angelic lines should be higher health but weaker in defense. Their abilities should be directed towards shadow types as they are now but should also be given more attack damage on elemental types as well. Also the weaker their health is the stronger their attack damage output will be.

~Dragon line~
Dragon line should be very similar to angelic line but their damage output should be stronger when they have max health and lesser when they have less health.

~krogmo line~
Krogmo lines should without a doubt be another alternative for recons. They should be quick at attacking on all weapons, but should have a strong resistance towards pings in lockdown. Their armor should be well attributed for hybrid styles but there should be 2 things they can not do in lockdown. They shouldn't be able to ping enemies, and when they appear and disappear they should have a delay. Their armor resistance should be high but their health should be lower.

~Plate line~
Wearing the plate line you should no doubt feel like a guardian. Your armor is granted high on normal damage, and you have a ton of health. But the moment you go into lockdown you're a damage test dummy for all the wolvers. The solution for both lockdown and clockworks is simple. Give them higher defense, higher health, slower speed, slower attack speed, and a high hitting attack power depending on the speed of their weapons. Heavy swords should be less stronger but lighter swords should be easier to manage and stronger. Guns should have an accuracy ratio of 5, and bombs should have CTR. Their shields should be support style like the guardian shield and they should have a shield attribute that makes their shields recharge faster, and shield bash stronger. The shield you use for the plate line will determine its defense style, and range making it purely ideal for supporting and aiding a team durring lockdown and in the clockworks. Again this is a hybrid style designed for support only it has no weapon cons like the cloak line.

Shields

Shields are next in line to weapons when it comes to staying alive. But why should shields be kept out of this balance? A good solution would be to weigh the shields. The heavier the shield is, the more protection it should have but the slower the player should be. Take the ancient plate shield. That shield is a wall for crying out loud, and is described as super heavy. Why should a small character carry it around like its a wrist watch? Larger shields ment for heavy defense should slow down the character and certain shields should give guardian style atributes. Plate shields should have larger radii that can help the team out in cost for high defense and protection. But medium set shields should give the player the ability to shield and have normal atributes like no speed increase and decrease. Smaller shields should give movement speed increase and an additional attack speed increase as well in cost for defense. This should balance the shields out as well.