The throwing knives are a very unique weapon in sea of thieves. they can function as a ranged projectile or melee weapon, and are notorious for being able to destroy PvE threats with extreme efficiency. however, they struggle in many PvP scenarios.
Frankly, there are just too many counters to the knives. Just to name a few
- both the light stab and ranged attack can be blocked by the sword
- Heavy stab has wind up time similar to sword lunge, but no mobility or knockback capability.
- Wind up time for ranged attack leaves user wide open to attacks from firearms.
Now, those things are not necessary bad. Any armory weapon in sea of thieves have benefits and drawbacks unique to them.
however, the way the knives are currently makes upfront confrontations against pirates with other weapons difficult, and stealth play with the weapon is, in my opinion, not rewarded adequately.
I have come up with two main ideas to make the knives more viable in PvP combat.
Idea 1: parrying basic sword attacks
In real world history, there was a technique used by knife fighters to stop an opponent's sword mid swing using a skillful knife strike. I believe making the light stab attack double as a parry for basic sword slashes would be a very good addition, perhaps even stunning the opposing sword user. of course, this would be difficult to pull of as a light stab must be made moments before the sword's impact, so this would be a difficult move like that requires a lot of skill.
Idea 2: Backstab bonus
The backstab is a classic technique from gaming history- from halo's assassinations, to the blade of woe in elder scrolls, to the notorious dagger in Cod. I believe a 22% damage increase backstab bonus for heavy attacks that hit your opponent's back would be a great addition, without the guarantee of a one hit kill like the original blunderbuss.
(For PVE enemies, this could work differently as 2X a damage multiplier applied to unaware enemies hit in the back.)
To constitute these changes, I think it would be fair for the ammo count to be reduced to 4.
I know some people may not like the changes I would make, so I'm wondering how others would go about buffing the throwing knives? and who knows, maybe someone has an amazing idea to fix the double barrel flintlock as well?
