Melee weapons - Giving class-wide defining features

[Colyeses]

I've been thinking about this ever since the Gunsen were introduced. I really enjoy the idea of fans being used as weapons, as it comes with a certain elegance that I adore. However, when I saw the Gunsen in action, I actually initially thought that they were claws. This is mostly because, well... They're largely indistinguishable from claws. That is a bit of a disappointment, because we got a melee class rework earlier this year that did a really amazing job of setting it apart from other melee weapons.

I'm referring to the glaives and their dual wielding.

This got me thinking on what I think would be a rather drastic, but also really healthy change in design when it comes to melee weapons. And that is that every class of melee weapon should have its own 'unique' trait. There's a few that already (Sort of) have one.

Gunblades can be fired. Glaives have dual wield and throwing. Single daggers have OHKO finishers (With the right mod). Sparring weapons can force finishers with charge attacks. 

Even outside of raw mechanical ones, everyone is familiar with polearms having excessive range and Blade and Whip type weapons having extremely wide swing arcs. Even more subtle ones like the increased block efficiency of Sword and Shield.

So I suggest that we try and find ways to make -every- melee class have a unique trait, to set them apart from one another in gameplay and make them more befitting of unique styles. Let's start with the ones we have...

Swords - 

Dual Swords - 

Daggers - Finishers are OHKOs

Dual Daggers - Can be thrown. Uses pistol ammo.

Machete - + Attack speed when missing health

Fists - + Attack speed

Sparring - Charge attacks perform finishers

Sword and Shield - + Block efficiency

Polearm - + Range

Staff - Charge attacks disarm enemies.

Glaive - Can be thrown. Can be dual wielded.

Whip - Channelled charge attacks terrify enemies nearby for a short duration

Heavy Blade - + Damage when missing health

Hammer - Channelled charge attacks turn enemies into flying bombs

Nikana - + Crit chance when missing health

Claws - Finishers and charge attacks restore health

Scythe - Headshots are OHKOs.

Tonfa - 

Gunblade - Can be fired.

Nunchaku - + Damage, scaling with combo multiplier

Blade-whip - + Swing arc

Splitblades - Press Alt-fire to swap between dual swords and sword

Rapier - Charge attacks become lunges. Lunges create weak spots on enemies

Warfan - 50% chance to deflect incoming projectiles while attacking.

 

Outside of that, there's a few more things that can be done. There can be weapons with massively improved channelling effects. There can be weapons that restore energy with charge attack kills and finishers. There can be weapons that release shockwaves, or blind enemies, or get enflamed when reaching a high combo. 

I'm not quite sure what to do with the weapons that still have open spots in the list above, but if you have suggestions, let me know! And let me know what you think of the idea!

[Azamagon]

I'd like to help with this! I'd like to add a few other general things too, which melee could need to stand out:

General melee changes:
-- Channeling now drains energy over time, rather than per strike. Suggested to be 3 energy / second.
-- Channeling also adds a flat +3 meter reach, visualized by energy extending from the weapon(s) (lightsabre-esque!). Yes, this aids shorter weapons more than it aids longrange weapons, but that's intended (as shortranged weapons are the most in need of help)
-- Channelblocking drains more energy (5 energy / second) while under attack.
-- Blocking now blocks all damage (100% DR), but now has a blocktimer (a la wallclinging), streamlined to be 4 seconds. This blocktimer is drained while blocking and under attack, but the blocktimer is only paused if you are holding block but you are not under attack. After a brief moment of not blocking (say, half a second), it will regenerate the blocktimer rather rapidly (say, half the blocktimer's time is needed to regenerate to full; So, to regen 4 seconds of blocktimer you need to wait 2 seconds. If you only wait 1,5 seconds, it will only regenerate 3 seconds of blocktimer etc).
-- Channelblocking now pauses this blocktimer (giving you time), while also reflecting all damage back at enemies, ampified by X%.
-- Blocking now opens meleeing enemies up to finishers at all times, while channelblocking a meleeattack causes a moderately sized energywave which opens enemies up to finishers in an AoE!
-- Parry mod now increases the blocktimer's duration.
-- All stealth-finishers knock enemies down (only frontal finishers do currently. Stealthfinishers leaving enemies standing looks really dumb in a LOT of cases, considering it often tosses the enemy to the ground etc...).
-- Chargeattacks are now allowed in quickmelee for ALL weapons.
-- Wall-attacks now home in on the enemy nearest to your reticle, and has massively increased range.
-- Slide-attacks causes a stacking and refreshing debuff on you, lasting 3 seconds (a stack is gained wether you hit something or not). This debuff reduces the damage of your next slide-attack by 10% per stack (has a cap ofc). The stacks fade one by one when timer is over, rather than losing the whole stack at once. Further, each contacting non-sliding melee attack instantly removes one stack of this debuff as well.
Added to prevent slide-attack spam + to promote varying with your other attacks in between.

Now for my version of the list (some are "defining" traits, some are just general upgrades to lackluster moves). Note that I have changed quite a few of your suggestions:

Swords - Lower non-blocking channeling energy drainrate (2,5 per second). Chargeattacks are rather fast, and procs slash and impact.

Dual Swords - Lower non-blocking channeling energy drainrate (2,5 per second). Chargeattacks are rather fast, and procs slash and impact.

Machete - Gains the Fervor-mechanic: Every crit, statusproc or every second spent Channeling grants 1 Fervor stack. Fervor increases attackspeed by X%. Stacks up to 3 times. (Basicly, innate weaker Berserker, but with multiple unique ways to trigger it)
Finishers made more fitting (since many of the weapons aren't meant for stabbing):
* Groundfinisher is a similar low-swiping move like Staves have (As the current stab just wouldn't do ANY damage with most of the weapons in this category)
* Stealth-finisher does a very empowered overhead chop (with doublehanded grip) to the victim's head, then kicks the enemy in the back to knock them over.
* Front-finisher kicks the inside of the leg of the victim, making them kneel, the kneeling-process then interrupted by an upward strike with the weapon to the victim's head.

Dual Axes - All non-sword Dual "Swords" (like Dual Kamas, Dual Ichor etc) become their own category, utilizing "choppy" attacks and sweeps, and has no stabs in its combos (unlike real Dual Swords, which could now have more stabby finishers etc due to this category-split). Chargeattacks causes a multihitting and impact-proccing whirlwind strike.
Further, gains the Fervor-mechanic: Every crit, statusproc or every second spent Channeling grants 1 Fervor stack. Fervor increases attackspeed by X%. Stacks up to 3 times. (Basicly, innate weaker Berserker, but with multiple unique ways to trigger it)
Note: This category is basicly Dual Machetes, if you think about it...

Daggers - Finishers are OHKOs. Covert Lethality still grants flat damage, but the other half now increases finisher SPEED by X% (since the OHKO is innate).

Dual Daggers - Can be thrown with chargeattacks, which causes guaranteed impact-procs. Uses limitted but regenerative ammo, but thrown daggers can also be picked up early (think of the Spearguns, but with multiple weapons), so using the throw at melee range means the attack instantly has its "ammo" replenished.
Wall-attacks, if managing to lock on to a nearby enemy, causes you to throw a dagger at the enemy, while also lunging yourself at that enemy at the same time. If no enemy is nearby, you only do the lunge.

Fists - Ground finishers deals damage in an AoE (small shockwaves). Channeling increases this AoE much further and makes the damage much more lethal.
Slideattacks now perform a widehitting backhand with the free right hand during the spin, prior to the lefthanded uppercut, and the uppercut knocks enemies down. Chargeattacks are now MUCH faster, with guaranteed knockdown (already knocks down, I think).

Sparring - Ground finishers deals damage in an AoE (small shockwaves). Channeling increases this AoE much further and makes the damage much more lethal.
Charge attacks is now a roundhouse kick with mild ragdolling (like it used to be in Melee 1.0). Slideattack is now instead a wide legsweeping kick, knocking down all enemies struck.

Sword and Shield - Blocktimer of 6 seconds, and regenerates the blocktimer 50% quicker (so, you only need to wait 2 seconds to regain 6 seconds of blocktimer!). Chargeattacks instead are powerful shieldslams, knocking down and slightly knocking back struck enemies (similar to how Grineer Shield Lancers do).

Whip - Charge attack is now a 360 degree lash-attack, which also stuns enemies (like the stun caused by Miasma/Chaos).

Polearm - Charge attack is now a more quickly charged, longrange triple-stab/thrust. The thrusts guarantee to proc puncture. Blocking has a chance to reflect ranged attacks back at the enemy.
(Sidenote: Serro could become a Scythe or Staff instead? It just doesn't fit as a Polearm at all. Likewise, Lesion fits better as a Staff, imo, but it is not nearly as cringe-inducing as the Serro is)

Staff - Charge attacks impact-procs and disarm enemies (a la Titania's Spellbind, not a la Loki's Radial Disarm). Blocking has a chance to reflect ranged attacks back at the enemy.

Glaive - Can be thrown. Can be dual wielded. Can be recalled midflight by pressing the melee-attack (rather than needing channeling for that). Channel/Power Throw-explosions no longer do selfharm. Channeling before charging allows you to lock on to targets while charging, causing the Glaive to bounce between the locked on enemies.

Heavy Blade - Each hit has a X% chance to gain an additional melee combo point.

Hammer - Innate Shattering Impact (permanently destroys a small amount of enemy armor AND SHIELDS on every hit)

Nikana - Boosted damage and attackspeed on first unsheathing attack (unsheathing attack, iaido-style). Chargeattacks procs slash and impact.

Claws - Chargeattacks open enemies to finishers (Considering how the chargeattacks seem to jab with the claws violently and the finisherattacks are "jab n grab", this niche seemed far more fitting than it does on Sparring).

Scythe - Tiny amounts of innate lifesteal, at least on finishers. Finishers visually improved to be more fitting (and gruesome):
* Groundfinisher is a similar low-swiping move like Staves have, with guaranteed slash-proc. (As the current stabbing with the front end just wouldn't do ANY damage)
* Stealth-finisher puts the blade in front of the victim's neck (or jabs it INTO the neck... ouch?), then pulls backwards (Decapitates, if it kills. If no kill, it knocks the target down, as all stealthfinishers should).
* Front-finisher jabs in the blade into the side of the victim's torso, then pulls backwards (If it kills, the body is split in half, horizontally).

Tonfa - Successful slideattacks boost attackspeed for all other melee attacks, all other successful melee attacks boost slideattack damage (to encourage to vary your attacks back and forth).

Gunblade - Can be fired.

Nunchaku - Channeling grants an additonal +3 meter range (for a total of +6 meters)

Blade-whip - Has its crowdcontrolling, slash-proccing and very longrange chargeattack (now available from quickmelee too!). Also, is probably the longest-reaching melee type in the game (I think its whip-attacks reaches further than regular whips and Orthos Prime)

Splitblades - Press Alt-fire to swap between dual swords and heavy sword (+Allows modding with 2 stance mods, second one not adding modpoints)

Rapier - Charge attacks (the lunge) create weak spots on enemies, as well as causing a puncture- and slash-proc.

Warfan - 50% chance to deflect incoming projectiles while attacking.

Edited December 25, 2017 by Azamagon