Essentially, you can no longer use sword dash immediately right after a 3-hit combo. You actually have to wait a moment before using sword dash. I tried to do this a few times while stun-locking an Ashen Guardian and I couldn't. So I kept testing it and yeah. No matter how hard I try, I just couldn't do it instantly anymore after a combo... So now it's just spam 3-hit combos until Skeletons are dead and maybe use sword dash sometimes if you group them up for a large AOE hit...
I know this nerf isn't a massive deal but it's just frustrating... Intended or not, seeing the garbage tier weapon in PvP get ANY nerfs just makes me very sad, and yes. I consider the sword to be garbage tier right now in PvP combat. It's meta for skeleton combat though due to stun-lock, which I'm fine with the sword's usage in PvE. However, I would love to stop switching out my sword for a Blunder or EoR whenever I see a player ship just to have a high chance of winning since the sword is so awful...
I think the sword being so awful for PvP does hurt the game a lot and honestly, I've come to the decision that overall, the guns are alright. Maybe remove one pellet from the Blunder but give it a fixed spread and increase it's accuracy overall but beyond that? I don't mind the two-shot to kill system. I'm actually very use to this system due to Team Fortress 2, for the most part, uses this system as well where most weapons are single projectile and your chance of winning is base on well you can dodge a shot while also having good aim yourself... But anyways, I'm rambling on here. I'm here to talk about the sword.
The reason for the ramble is that quick ToK in player to player combat is fine. It's the actual ship combat that should be slow since it should take time to sink an enemy ship... And this is the core problem of the sword. It takes 5 swings with the sword to kill a player, and there is a little cooldown shortly after the first 3-hit combo which gives a chance for the enemy player to easily react, plus with guns just destroying swords... Owch.
So, I think for the best way to make swords viable in PvP and decrease double gunning dramatically is to buff the TTK with swords. This means some minor speed buffs, mostly just the time it takes to switch to your sword (it seems to be slower this patch than usual too, but I might be just seeing things) while also fixing the problem with not being able to use sword dash as much after a 3-hit combo attempt, but those are very minor quality of life changes... The big ones I'll just list -
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Increased damage on the 3-hit combo to 30%, 30%, 40%. Keep everything else the same (including doing no damage if blocked). This allows the sword to actually have a reasonable TTK to match the same as the pistol and Blunder. Obviously don't bring any stun mechanics back in PvP as having a chance to get out of this combo should still be a thing.
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Increase the damage on the sword dash up to 70% but can be blocked to reduce it's damage down to 35%. The numbers here picked is very specific reason. The sword dash is high risk but does the same damage as a pistol shot... So it's not worth it. Making it on par with an EoR's damage allows it to become a really strong finishing move in combat, especially if you at least got one slice into the enemy. However, let blocking reduce it's damage by half, which is you haven't notice... Means that if they got hit twice but blocked your 3rd hit and then your sword dash, they won't die and can quickly heal up while you're on cooldown (or punishing you). Sword dash should stay as a risky move but the reward from successfully using it needs to be up'd essentially.
And that's about it really. Increase the TTK and reliability of the sword so that it can be used for PvP combat. This will also make killing skeletons a lot less grindy and annoying too... Overall, an improved combat experience as the sword should be viable. Maybe not meta but at least viable and worth using instead of something you throw into the garbage can the moment you see a player ship in favor for another gun...
Combine this with my idea for the Blunder and I think the overall balance between these four weapons will be good. We might need to see more changes but I think we should focus heavily on buffing the sword ASAP while tweaking the Blunder a tiny bit...
Anyways, what ye' mateys think? Did you also notice this strange silent nerf on the sword in the new patch?
