Are Zaws supposed to be meta?

[Damocles]

With Update/Hotfix 23.10.2 Zaw variants of Heavy Blades and Hammers have been buffed from 2m to 3m at base reach. There polearms are and have always been 4m reach. Now the polearm reach of 4m is fine, which is in line with normal polearms, but the normal heavy blade and hammer reach is only 2m. Why did they not buff the normal heavy blade and hammer ranges? Was this an oversight or an intentional incentive to use zaws over normal melee weapons?

[LSG501]

To be fair most of the zaw weapons end up longer than the non zaw weapons of the same class. 

[shut]

39 minutes ago, Descent-of-Damocles said:

There polearms are and have always been 4m reach.

This has never been the case. At least, not up until this morning-- I'll have to test them out again since the hitboxes changed.

Zaw polearms have always had somewhat odd, inconsistent hitboxes compared to regular polearms (making accurate measurements impossible), but their range has always been roughly ~6m with Primed Reach on (i.e. somewhere near "standard" polearms like Tonbo and Sydon, but significantly shorter than "long" polearms like OrthosP and Guandao). Bringing them anywhere near 10m requires a riven.

 

At least, that was the case until this morning.
My polearm zaw this morning (Update 23.10.0) seemed to have wonky hitboxes that could reach a lot longer than usual-- reaching around 11m with Primed Reach + a 112% Range riven. I haven't played 23.10.1 or 23.10.2, though, so I don't know what the hitboxes are like right now.
(I really hope that they're finally as "clean" and reliable as non-Zaw polearm hitboxes... but that's probably just a pipe dream.)

Edited October 12, 2018 by SortaRandom

[Damocles]

25 minutes ago, SortaRandom said:

This has never been the case. At least, not up until this morning-- I'll have to test them out again since the hitboxes changed.

Zaw polearms have always had somewhat odd, inconsistent hitboxes compared to regular polearms (making accurate measurements impossible), but their range has always been roughly ~6m with Primed Reach on (i.e. somewhere near "standard" polearms like Tonbo and Sydon, but significantly shorter than "long" polearms like OrthosP and Guandao). Bringing them anywhere near 10m requires a riven.

 

At least, that was the case until this morning.
My polearm zaw this morning (Update 23.10.0) seemed to have wonky hitboxes that could reach a lot longer than usual-- reaching around 11m with Primed Reach + a 112% Range riven. I haven't played 23.10.1 or 23.10.2, though, so I don't know what the hitboxes are like right now.
(I really hope that they're finally as "clean" and reliable as non-Zaw polearm hitboxes... but that's probably just a pipe dream.)

I'm not aware of the zaws having a bugged extended reach. That aside, we should have a disclosed number on the weapon stats. I'm tired of using a scanner and meleeing the walls to see how long something is.

[shut]

14 minutes ago, Descent-of-Damocles said:

I'm not aware of the zaws having a bugged extended reach. That aside, we should have a disclosed number on the weapon stats. I'm tired of using a scanner and meleeing the walls to see how long something is.

The bugged zaw reach is something I noticed while testing their ranges out last year (and trying it out again every few months since then, only to see zero change). If you're doing a standard quick-melee swing at a simply-shaped target like a Roller, then there are certain angles where the zaw's quick melee swings will reach farther than usual, and there are other angles where the quick-melee swings will reach shorter than usual. And this is really finicky-- a difference of, like, 5 degrees can be the difference between having a reach of ~9m and having a reach of ~6m, even if you're looking at the target almost dead-on.
(At least, this was the case until this morning. I'll have to do more testing now that they tweaked the hitboxes.)

Non-zaw polearms have never had this problem. The standard quick melee swing has the same range no matter what, reaching (with PR equipped) ~5.5m for most polearms, ~8.1m for "long" polearms, ~4.2m for "short" polearms (i.e. Lesion) and Staves and such. As long as you're facing your target, shifting your aim off by ~5 degrees isn't going to change this.

Edited October 12, 2018 by SortaRandom