Cutlass combat, in every form, isn't very good. It says a lot when the newest and the best pirates use the cutlass in more or less the same way; Walk forward and swing. Now, the better player has an upper hand in bunny hopping and knowing how big the cutlass' hitbox actually is, but beyond that they are more or less equal. The cutlass revolves around the stunlock. Whoever hits first usually wins. When you first hit a pirate, you'll stun them. Hit them 3 times, and they'll be thrown around, disorienting them for 2 more hits. It's hard to recover from getting hit first, thanks to a more secretive change to combat.
Rare increased stunlock. A lot. When the weapon changes before anniversary were released, stunlock was turned up to 11, likely in an attempt to shrink the skill gap just before all the new players joined with anniversary. You can no longer escape a stunlock with a block hop the way you used to. They kept this secret, as it would have upset the existing playerbase.
Beyond being a cheap way for newer players to get some dopamine, stunlock is terrible for higher skill combat. It devolves the cutlass into 'who can swing first!?' You can block, but you are still stunlocked in doing so, until your opponent walks past your block and starts damaging you again.
Better Cutlass Combat:
Firstly, no more stunlock. You damage your opponents, but you don't freeze them out of playing.
Second, no 3 swing maximum. Swing as much as you like.
Thirdly, parry. When your opponent swings, you have their swinging frame plus or minus 5 frames to parry on Xbox, and 8 frames on PC. (This may need balancing) When you parry your opponent, they are stunned for 1 second, enough to get 3 swings in. When you parry and miss, you are stunned for just as long. This is not enough time to react, which is delibrate. Parrying should be about predicting your opponent and the mind game, as opposed to reflex.
(Edit) Fourthly, blunderbuss should do 40 damage at point blank and it's knockback should be increased. This way, it becomes a valuable finisher and spacer, as opposed to the skill destroying one hit machine it is now. Without this change, the Blunderbuss will continue to ruin cutlass comabt.
