Melee 3.0 - Javlok Amalgam Mod - Blocking et al.

[EnvoyOne]

I hate posting stuff in the forums because it just gets buried and I never have any idea if anyone really sees it, but [de]kickbot is probably annoyed that I keep bothering him on twitter and I respect that, so now that the pre-amble is out of the way here's what I sent him.

"I have a few questions about the new Amalgam Javlok mod and it's interactions with:

1-Saryns Toxic Lash (seems to make the damage crazy) 1a- If the toxin damage from Saryn's Toxic Lash is working as intended, do the bane mods on my melee weapon apply to the reflected damage? The status procs?

2- Guardian Derision & Electromagnetic Plating (I don't think they do anything since there is no manual blocking with a primary weapon equipped (which is super stupid (I know that's probably not something you're in charge of, I'm just salty))).

3- Reflex Guard & Reflection (Do they even interact at all? It doesn't seem like they do but it's hard to test)."

At this point I also added @[DE]Steve in on the twitter discussion because testing all of those things and not being able to find definitive answers had me thinking a lot about the new melee system and it's place within the game.

"I want you to know that players should be able to block as long as they have a melee weapon equipped, and also that I support removing Maiming Strike or changing it to something else, like normal crit and not flat crit. Thank you."

So at this point the discussion opens up about the melee system and it's place in modern Warframe.

Any discussion about the melee absolutely has to start with [Maiming Strike] and the plague that it has wrought by introducing a DS (dominant strategy) into Warframe.

In my opinion anything that introduces a DS into a game is not just bad -- it's the worst thing for a video game, and while I'd never play a PvP game with a DS, Warframe has many options that are more fun and interesting (which deserves a whole research paper in itself) that has prevented it from penetrating all situations somewhat making it a "minor DS" if you will, but a DS is a DS and should be dealt with immediately.

No matter the weapon, no matter the build, no matter the situation without a [Maiming Strike] equipped on your melee weapon - you're simply losing out.

So there are many plans of attack to eradicate this, I'll give some examples:

1. Make the crit normal crit instead of flat crit. No other mod gives flat crit. To my knowledge only the kavat buff and Harrow buff can do that - those are fine - a mod is not.
2. Make the drain cost actually cost what it's worth: 15 or 16 in my 'rough-and-without-access-to-the-internal-code-or-design-philosophy' calculation. At present [Maiming Strike] costs 7 - far too low.
3. Remove the Mod entirely. This is not something that I think [DE] would do, but in this case I feel it's justified, especially with the looming promise of full melee 3.0. If they do remove it they could replace it with:

• Nothing. (My personal recommendation)
• Just add it to all melee weapons. (Least complaints from community)
• Something else - like just increasing the base crit on all melee weapons by a little bit. (Decent compensation, but people will still complain)

      4. Make it only equable on the melee weapons that the Acolytes use. (I like this option due to it's thematically appropriate resonance)

So I know that this stat can also be applied to [Riven] mods, and for 18 drain and likely tons of re-rolling, to me, at present, this is acceptable. Rivens are supposed to be "game breaking" and their exclusivity by definition makes them not a DS, since they are for only one weapon at a time, and only for the person holding the [Riven].

 

So blocking. What in the world is up with the current blocking system? Does Warframe even need a blocking system? What about channeling? What about channeling-while-blocking-in-order-to-damage-reflect? The phrase "feature-creep" comes to mind. I'm a big fan of the philosophy "a work is not completed when you have added all that you can, a work is complete when there is nothing left that you can remove."

Does anyone even use the blocking mods? Will they once melee 3.0 is fully released? If the new Wukong melee is how it's going to be for all weapons as he is the "test" I have several issues - the most important is that it seems worse than current 2.99997 - for blocking anyway.

My biggest issue with current blocking is that it's not under player control if you also have a ranged weapon equipped - if you're going to remove it from player control -- just remove it.

There are lots of super weird and dumb interactions that need fixing as it currently stands, for example: If I have a melee weapon equipped and I jump near a shock eximus enemy I "aim-glide" automatically since for some reason blocking and aim-gliding are still tied together. Aim-glide, block, and iron-sights/zoom are all on the same function, not to mention that you also have to use that same button to modify melee combos (a whole other problem that needs attention). It's too much, at some point you have to remove some function from that single input.  I know this problem stems from also needing everything to work on consoles, because as a PC player I still have a myriad of unused buttons to which all of these things could be mapped.

But if we take a step back, what purpose does blocking serve in modern Warframe anyway? Damage mitigation while you charge an enemy while wielding a melee weapon, and in the case of the Electromagnetic Shielding and Guardian Derision mods, damage mitigation for team mates. That's it. It's completely pointless - especially when everyone is just [Maiming Strike] macro-ing around anyway.

Here's some ideas:

1. Remove it entirely
2. Give the "blocking damage mitigation" to players while they are simply wielding a melee weapon without needing to "block."
3. Give it a new keybinding, "reload" comes to mind as you wont need to reload while not holding a gun.
4. Give players an option! In the form of a little switch on each melee weapon over by where the arcanes are, that says "right click is block on/off" so that players can choose if they want the quick-swap to ranged or the block on a per-weapon basis. This is my personal favorite option.

I really want to get into the "Jedi-like damage reflection" aspect of this, but seeing as [DE] has stated that they completely want to rework the "channeling" system (something I agree with) I simply don't have enough information on it to comment. 

Thanks for reading.

[[DE]Glen]

You can probably suss out the interaction of the Bane mods with Toxic Lash in the Simulacrum.

[SkyDragon7]

You can reflect by aiming at enemies with your melee equipped.

Also maiming strike isnt that toptier. it helps a lot and is REALLY stromg but its not a mod every weapon uses and you still have to properly equip your weapons for maiming to do anything. Red crits with low damage/procs does not do all that much. For example on weapons not using it, most greatswords just use the spin stance which does not take maiming into consideration. Condition Overload is also super strong on most melees, and lets not forget covert lethality. 

 

Asking to nerf any of those is just asking the community to flip the heck out. Melee weapons are fine as is atm, and the Synth mods work really well with melee 2.9 whatever.

 

My personal combo is CO Gram Prime. Insane slash procs and quick time to kill. 

Other is Atterax with maiming strike for trash mobs and weaker areas.

[CaptainMinty]

The main problem with melee right now is the obscene damage everything else does. Going deep and deciding to forcibly run down enemies who wield laser weaponry with naught but a really big metal stick and arms of legendary strength should be rewarding and devastating. But going melee is no more damaging than popping a headshot on the enemy. The problem that melee has is that it is utterly, dull.

Stances typically have one good combo, and that combo gets spammed due to it being more effective at hitting hard and keeping the counter up. The counter itself is simply a flat damage boost, which is boring and forgetful. The only reason the counter is paid any attention is to make sure it's still counting and that damage multiplier is still there. The combo counter needs to be more interactive.

CO, maiming, and covert lethality are virtually useless short of pushing things to insanity. I have personally used a silva and aegis prime with corrosive blast status build with healing return, and that has handled sortie level content without fail, against all factions. Melee is plenty powerful, even without those powerhouses of mods. 

Blocking is interesting. Mitigating a percentage of damage for merely having a melee equipped while looking in the direction of enemies is nice. It became automatic, which made the mechanic much better. (IMO) The mods for it though need to be reworked entirely. I can't suggest anything, I haven't thought about blocking much.

Melee right now is a very, basic system. Swing big stick things die. I guess the root of my problem is that melee is just wonky looking and doesn't have much personality to it. It needs more to it, melee abilities unique to the weapon type. Hammers maybe having a melee attack that annihilates an enemy's armor. I don't know, something more. The only consideration I put into melee is whether or not I want to meme and bring my prova vandal or whip the money out of people with the sechura lecta. Other than that I just toss one on for how it looks on my frame. 

[chaotea]

On 2019-06-29 at 6:39 AM, JaxMess said:

Make the crit normal crit instead of flat crit. No other mod gives flat crit. To my knowledge only the kavat buff and Harrow buff can do that - those are fine - a mod is not.

Actually, i'd say that the kavat buff is just as bad, as you loose out if your not using the kavat.

Still, I bought maiming strike recently to try it out, and while it is a good mod, I cant say its a must have. It only helps with one or two weapons, the rest benifit more from non-slide attacks. Redeemer Prime is one example.

Any weapon without decent range is also not worth using maiming strike (ive been trying a few out).

I'd say that maiming strike is worth keeping as is if only because, like rivens, they breath new life into unused weapons.

Edited July 1, 2019 by chaotea

[EnvoyOne]

To be clear, my problem with [Maiming Strike] is not that it's "too powerful" it is that it's boring and trivializes the entire melee system by introducing a build strategy "that just always works by repeating the same input" a "just mash 'A'" if it were a bad fighting game, for example - a Dominant Strategy. Just because I can make a cool build with some unique weapon, why would I when all I have to do is slide attack? I personally have stopped using [Maiming Strike] in my builds just to not be so bored, but even then I hate feeling like I'm missing my potential by not having it and using a spin attack macro. 

 

@[DE]Glen

I wrote this post after about 6-7 hours in the simulacrum of testing, and I don't think I was clear enough:

I don't think the damage reflection is working as intended with this setup.

I don't want to commit to a build before I know if it's working as intended, nor do I want to commit to a build before I know if blocking and channeling are going to dramatically change with the new melee system.

Can a Dev or someone with code access verify whether or not [Toxic Lash] is interacting with reflected damage as intended?

Will I be able to manually block with a Primary weapon euipped in melee 3.0?

I know I'll have to wait for these answers, so until I know more about it, I was trying to spark a conversation about blocking. But one never blocks when a [Maiming Strike] build is used and so on and so forth. 

[EnvoyOne]

4 minutes ago, chaotea said:

Actually, i'd say that the kavat buff is just as bad, as you loose out if your not using the kavat.

Still, I bought maiming strike recently to try it out, and while it is a good mod, I cant say its a must have. It only helps with one or two weapons, the rest benifit more from non-slide attacks. Redeemer Prime is one example.

The Kavat buff is not under player control, is pseudo-random and far from 100% uptime. All things which make it fine in my opinion. 

[chaotea]

3 minutes ago, JaxMess said:

To be clear, my problem with [Maiming Strike] is not that it's "too powerful" it is that it's boring and trivializes the entire melee

Ive started using it, and I dont find it boring. I used to wonder why people did it, and it did seem boaring, but now ive got it i do find it quite fun. Ive never bothered paying any attention to the combo counter until now either, which I am finding very interesting.

 

4 minutes ago, JaxMess said:

introducing a build strategy "that just always works by repeating the same input" a "just mash 'A'" if it were a bad fighting game,

Which is what ive been doing up until now, just mashing quick melee, because combos dont really add anything. Hopefull the new system will change things, but I've found maiming strike to be a more involving build than most standard melee weapons. The exeption of course is redeemer, though this weapon itself does much the same. Its charge attack is so much better than everything else it can do, so i just use that.

 

7 minutes ago, JaxMess said:

Just because I can make a cool build with some unique weapon, why would I when all I have to do is slide attack? I personally have stopped using [Maiming Strike] in my builds just to not be so bored, but even then I hate feeling like I'm missing my potential by not having it and using a spin attack macro. 

TBH, even with maiming stike in my build, i use it as a back against the wall weapon. I still use my main guns most of the time.

 

Still, I can see your point, but I'd argue that rather than taking the good parts out of maiming strike, why not look at a way of spreading that fun out. What if it gave a short buff on a slide attack that gave the same buff, but would work for any attack. At least then those who want to slide can slide, and everyone else can combo. It would make the mod more viable on weapons with low range too.

[EnvoyOne]

4 minutes ago, chaotea said:

 I can see your point, but I'd argue that rather than taking the good parts out of maiming strike, why not look at a way of spreading that fun out.

This is my point and my intention by mentioning it, but my thesis for this post is about blocking and how pointless it is. No one with a [Maiming Strike] equipped blocks, no one is going to make a hybrid [Maiming Strike] /blocking build (which is a shame), and everyone that uses melee has a [Maiming Strike] equipped, at least at top teir play, anyhow. 

At present, the current saturation and overwhelming use of [Maiming Strike] + slide macro is reminiscent of the old Tonkor - and they nerfed the balls off of it, and the game was much better for it. 

The further argument is that if no one is using blocking (which I can't really tell, but it seems completely ignored) just get rid of it, or change it to a different mechanism. When coptering was discovered, they just gave it to everyone universally in the form of movement 2.0 which greatly improved their game. I'd argue that this situation is the same for the current state of blocking within the greater melee system. Not being able to manually block in a game where the melee is such an integral system had better have a good reason beyond just "well then you can't shoot your gun as quickly," because then it feels like "the guns are more important, so they get priority," and I know that's not [DE]'s intent. 

[EnvoyOne]

This reminds me, since you must have a Primary weapon equipped in order to utilize the build I'm talking about, is there some way that we can leave Channeling toggled "on" after swapping to a primary and back to melee? I guess I still don't know what the new "rage-mode-like-channeling" will be like, but it's something I'd like to see. 

Edited July 1, 2019 by JaxMess
Punctuation

[chaotea]

4 hours ago, JaxMess said:

No one with a [Maiming Strike] equipped blocks, no one is going to make a hybrid [Maiming Strike] /blocking build (which is a shame).....

... reminiscent of the old Tonkor - and they nerfed the balls off of it, and the game was much better for it....

The further argument is that if no one is using blocking (which I can't really tell, but it seems completely ignored) just get rid of it, or change it to a different mechanism. When coptering was discovered, they just gave it to everyone universally in the form of movement 2.0 which greatly improved their game. I'd argue that this situation is the same for the current state of blocking within the greater melee system. Not being able to manually block in a game where the melee is such an integral system had better have a good reason beyond just "well then you can't shoot your gun as quickly," because then it feels like "the guns are more important, so they get priority," and I know that's not [DE]'s intent. 

As part of my current 'Get a riven for a weapon, revisit that weapon' project, im running an Ack and Brunt build. Thanks to my riven having +100% crit on slide, ive been running maiming strike on it, but also the new amalgum mod on the Javlock for the massive relected damage. I understand this is very neiche though. I found that before the melee quick swap update, unless people were running sword alone builds, no one really bothered blocking. The new update with its auto block is great, but i do feel that weapons with specific block mechanics like sheilds require a dedicated block button.

 

With the Tonkor, I feel they went about it the wrong way. Everyone was using the tonkor because of it not self damaging, which made it more fun. Adding self damage made the launcher less viable than say the penta. In that case I would have removed self damage enirely from launchers, as its not a trait that gells well with the madness that is warframe gameplay. Especially now we have the insta death arbirations.

 

My feel on the new system is the oposite. I feel that melee has been highlighted as a much more important feature now. the fact that its so quick to switch between melee and gun, quicker even than switching to the side arm, means that melee becomes just as important. However I dont think blocking has ever really been important as a mechanic, unless your running a dedicated build. Only now that its automattic have I even found it worth considering when modding.

 

I do think you've highlighted some good points, though I dont think that any of the easy fixes are going to work out. My one take away would be that I agree that there should be a 'block' button, but that auto blocking is also a great feature.

Maybe change the 'quick swap' so that pressing the fire button in melee guards in the direction your aiming, while aiming switches back to gun mode. Thats still quick swapping, but you get abit more controle.

[EnvoyOne]

42 minutes ago, chaotea said:

With the Tonkor, I feel they went about it the wrong way. Everyone was using the tonkor because of it not self damaging, which made it more fun. Adding self damage made the launcher less viable than say the penta. In that case I would have removed self damage enirely from launchers, as its not a trait that gells well with the madness that is warframe gameplay. Especially now we have the insta death arbirations

Nobody used the Tonkor because of the little bounce, they used it because it was so extremely broken that it completely trivialized any challenge, ruining everyone's game experience. Keep in mind that they changed the Tonkor due to community complaints. Also, they drastically reduced it's critical chance. The Tonkor is finally balanced and fits it's use case as a high-damage single-shot grenade launcher. I completely agree with the changes the Dev's made to it. Now there's something to be said of removing self-damage entirely, as it doesn't really fit with current Warframe, but that's not really what I'm here to talk about in this thread.

42 minutes ago, chaotea said:

I do think you've highlighted some good points, though I dont think that any of the easy fixes are going to work out. My one take away would be that I agree that there should be a 'block' button, but that auto blocking is also a great feature.

Maybe change the 'quick swap' so that pressing the fire button in melee guards in the direction your aiming, while aiming switches back to gun mode. Thats still quick swapping, but you get abit more controle.

Yeah, I don't particularly think any of my fixes would get put in game, I just try to make sure I always have suggestions along with my complaints in hope that they inspire the right people.

So we agree - there needs to be a dedicated block button - it's a fundamental part of a "melee experience."

Funny you say that quick swap should be on "zoom/iron-sights" I was just about to write another suggestion about how it the quick swap should be on "hip-fire" since it makes more sense to fire instantly from the hip, that way block could use it's old default keybinding, too. But honestly I don't care how they do it.

42 minutes ago, chaotea said:

Only now that its automattic have I even found it worth considering when modding.

This is so backwards from my experience, that's so funny.  So have you encountered the same annoying problems that I have where the enemy chooses when you "aim-glide" due to the auto block blocking damage auras or just being shot at when you're just trying to do a normal jump? What about times when you actually don't want to block at all as you'd rather just take the damage like with Revenant or Chroma?

Edited July 1, 2019 by JaxMess

[chaotea]

29 minutes ago, JaxMess said:

Funny you say that quick swap should be on "zoom/iron-sights" I was just about to write another suggestion about how it the quick swap should be on "hip-fire" since it makes more sense to fire instantly from the hip, that way block could use it's old default keybinding, too. But honestly I don't care how they do it.

I would have thought this, but as im still getting used to the new scheme, the other day i killed myself trying to chanel while using a penta. So for weopns like this and some of those low ammo pool weapons, you'd want to switch back but not imediatly fire.

32 minutes ago, JaxMess said:

So have you encountered the same annoying problems that I have where the enemy chooses when you "aim-glide" due to the auto block blocking damage auras

When i aim glide, i seem to switch back to my primary, so ive not seen this.

33 minutes ago, JaxMess said:

What about times when you actually don't want to block at all as you'd rather just take the damage like with Revenant or Chroma?

I'd use my non-melee weapon. Its not like its too much hassle to swap now. Still, its an interesting point of how auto block works with Rage. Maybe the implimentation of a block button, and a toggle in the options for auto block?

[EnvoyOne]

31 minutes ago, chaotea said:

When i aim glide, i seem to switch back to my primary, so ive not seen this.

You misunderstand, if you wield melee, channel, then jump - if you take any damage in the air, you will aim glide even if you've never pushed the input for aim-glide. I'll make a video.

33 minutes ago, chaotea said:

I'd use my non-melee weapon. Its not like its too much hassle to swap now. Still, its an interesting point of how auto block works with Rage. Maybe the implimentation of a block button, and a toggle in the options for auto block?

Not much a role-player then, Dragons don't use guns! But ultimately this is what I want, a toggle "on/off" for quick-swap on right-click per melee weapon, it'd be a huge task I bet, but it's a non-trivial issue to solve and the answer probably is "just let the players pick what they want."

[EnvoyOne]

Video Test 1: 

Video Test 1 - Stuff that I forgot:

 

[EnvoyOne]

So after watching back these videos a few times I think I finally landed on exactly what I was trying to get across and it turns out I had two points, I just didn't know it:

1. Whatever function makes you "aim-glide" should never swap you out of your current weapon.
2. A player should always have the option to block or aim-down-sights regardless of weapon type combinations equipped.

Perhaps this means I would like "aim-glide" to be decoupled both from block and sights, but for me this particular problem would be solved to only have the "quick swap" function to be on left-click only, or best yet as I've mentioned previously, have an option somewhere to pick a preference. Thank you!

[(XBOX)COA Altair]

Maiming strike is only degenerate on weapons with a lot of range.  You aren't or at least shouldn't be equipping it on weapons that have only a couple of meters of range at best like nikanas, swords, or almost any weapon that isn't a whip/has lots of range like the atterax.  If you're going to take up beef with a mod for melee it should be either covert lethality for being the ultimate cheese in this game as you can kill any enemy with it that you can perform a finisher on + a frame that makes finishers easy (ivara sleep arrow, ash teleport, anything that can put stuff to sleep really) or condition overload as condition overload is multiplicative damage at the end of damage calculation/you deal 10K with a strike without it?  Okay, you're dealing 6K more if you have just 1 status proc on them and it's incredibly easy to rack up status effects quickly when using melee as virtually all stances have guaranteed status procs built into them.  

Right now guardian derision is garbage unless you have just a melee weapon equipped.  Damn shame because I really want to use guardian derision with the javlok augment with some frames.  It's such an easy fix too, just make it so left trigger blocks instead of switching back to primary/secondary if you really want to switch back use the right trigger to fire the weapon to bring it out instantly.  Or at least give us that option in the options menu of the game.  

[Danjal777]

Maiming strike needs to change.  I don't care how mad people get, it breaks the game.  It is coptering all over again.  The best way in my opinion is to do the same thing you did to Telos Boltace, put a cooldown on it, even one second would put where it belongs.  The idea with slide attacks was to close the distance and slam into enemies, with MS it is literally the only action people do, which looks really really REALLY stupid.  Space ninjas?  Pfft, Spiky Dreidels is more like it.  Think about how many new players want to see the masters at work and imagine the epic skills involved of being MR 20+...then they see spin to win in action, its shameful.

Blocking is important, but you can't block when you want to.  I find it especially irksome when you introduce the Javlok Amalgum mod, which suggest a whole new way to play the game. Sadly it falls flat on its face because the mechanics are so convoluted, you can't actually switch between blocking and shooting without some serious finger gymnastics.  The real fix for this is to decide which weapons you can aim and block with at the same time.  A Sword and Shield could block when paired with a one pistol or a speargun.  

This will solve the issue with aiming and blocking for these combos only.  You will need to find an actual solution to the problem at some point, unfortunately, you are out of buttons on a controller.  What would I do?  I would make holding the melee button a block and timing a melee hit against attacks a damage reflection.  Put the heavy hit you are thinking about on the reload button when melee is out...boom.  You could further diversify how weapon classes work by completely changing a how a weapon blocks.  For example, a Glaive could levitate in front of you and spin as long as you hold the melee button, you throw it with reload.  The heavy blades could offer substantial damage reduction but degrades and slows you're blocking advance the more hits you take eventually breaking your guard and staggering you. This could make it really great against things like Bombards, but less effective against withering fire from a Supra.  Dual Swords and Dual Daggers could work the opposite way, they offer the ability to maintain a solid defense against rapid fire weapons, negating entirely the amount of base damage they do (300 IPS damage Dual Swords negates 300 damage per shot) but any damage over that amount will break your guard and stagger you.  This is just spitballing here, but there are loads of creative options that just aren't explored.  What is a Sword and Shield was able to provide total cover if stationary and actually acts as cover for players behind them?  Paired with the ability to shoot over the top of the shield with a pistol or speargun, you might see a lot more use out of these things.

In summary, i agree totally with the OP.

[chaotea]

15 hours ago, JaxMess said:

 But ultimately this is what I want, a toggle "on/off" for quick-swap on right-click per melee weapon,

I dont think we'd get a per weapon option. Its likely to be an either - or situation.

[EnvoyOne]

17 hours ago, (XB1)COA Altair said:

Maiming strike is only degenerate on weapons with a lot of range.  You aren't or at least shouldn't be equipping it on weapons that have only a couple of meters of range at best like nikanas, swords, or almost any weapon that isn't a whip/has lots of range like the atterax.  If you're going to take up beef with a mod for melee it should be either covert lethality for being the ultimate cheese in this game as you can kill any enemy with it that you can perform a finisher on + a frame that makes finishers easy (ivara sleep arrow, ash teleport, anything that can put stuff to sleep really) or condition overload as condition overload is multiplicative damage at the end of damage calculation/you deal 10K with a strike without it?  Okay, you're dealing 6K more if you have just 1 status proc on them and it's incredibly easy to rack up status effects quickly when using melee as virtually all stances have guaranteed status procs built into them.  

Right now guardian derision is garbage unless you have just a melee weapon equipped.  Damn shame because I really want to use guardian derision with the javlok augment with some frames.  It's such an easy fix too, just make it so left trigger blocks instead of switching back to primary/secondary if you really want to switch back use the right trigger to fire the weapon to bring it out instantly.  Or at least give us that option in the options menu of the game.  

In the first paragraph, you've missed my point entirely.  In the second, you nail it on the head.

I'm going to make a post about [Maiming Strike] since people still don't seem to understand my point.

[(XBOX)COA Altair]

7 hours ago, JaxMess said:

In the first paragraph, you've missed my point entirely.  In the second, you nail it on the head.

I'm going to make a post about [Maiming Strike] since people still don't seem to understand my point.

You claim in your post that any melee weapon without maiming strike in the build is losing out, which is downright false and I provided examples in my paragraph of things that you should NEVER use maiming strike on (swords, rapiers, dual swords, nikanas, anything without a high base range.)  Is maiming strike a dumb mod?  Absolutely.  Is it 'slap it on every melee weapon in the game' good?  No.  If you want a mod that's stupid powerful and goes on virtually all melee weapons in the game the mod you're looking for is blood rush as it is what helps you scale if you aren't using condition overload/covert lethality.  Yes, I'm aware that blood rush is a nuts combo with maiming strike making your crit chance scale to ridiculous levels, but that doesn't mean anything if you can't hit your target with a slide attack successfully.  

[EnvoyOne]

Here's a link to the forum post about my thoughts on [Maiming Strike]. 

This thread is about the Javlok amalgam mod and blocking.