I loved using the DSS a long time ago. In today's era of the game, it feels a bit lackluster in its gimmick. But I feel it could be much more than what it is.
The idea is to give it a form-switch function much like Incarnon weapons, with a few tweaks to play into its Heavy Blade + Dual Swords hybrid gimmick as well as a good incentive to perform the form-switch. Also, to be flexible enough to accommodate several potential builds and play styles instead of having a one-build-to-rule-them-all scenario.
Firstly, the Stances.
In order to accommodate a Stance mod for both Dual Sword mode an Heavy Blade mode, it'd need one Stance slot for each form. This means you could have 80 Mod capacity when giving the slots matching polarities and a Catalyst.
Next up, the form-switch.
Thanks to newer melee weapons having overrides for Heavy Attacks and certain combo strings, this brings me to the form-switch function itself. It would involve two different Heavy Attacks with a prerequisite of at least 2X Combo Counter for both of them (at no Counter, you perform regular Heavies appropriate to the weapon class).
As for the actual Switch-attacks:
Heavy Blade: Rip both handles apart, releasing a medium-range radial explosion that deals Radiation damage
Dual Swords: Fuse both handles together and perform a powerful forward slash, releasing a long-range swordwave that deals Radiation damage.
You could opt for a pure Light or Corrupt Charge Heavy build, both are valid choices. But I'm meaning to have the theoretical weapon incentivise a combo count chance + Heavy attack build for maximum burst damage.
Lastly, the pros and cons of the 2 forms.
Heavy Blade:
Pros: 100% follow-through, higher range, status chance and damage
Cons: Lower attack speed and crit stats
Dual Swords:
Pros: Higher attack speed, blocking angle and crit stats
Cons: Lower range, Follow-through damage and status chance
Now I understand that this might be a very code-heavy weapon to design and implement, but how often does a weapon arrive bug-free anyway? :D
Lemme know your thoughts on this concept. Cheers.