Reply To: New DLC; fixes of current content wishlist

[kem]

As for weapons balancing, forgot to mention:
1) underperforming warbrands (poor armor damage vs single target, completely overshadowed by the greatsword or even crypt cleaver. I’d go for 90%-100% armor damage base in comparison to 75% as of now). Buff crypt cleaver (base hp damage) and rhampaia accordingly (final armor damage, at 120%-130% it is still inferior to 2h Axe or Hammer as dedicated armor opener, but usefull as armor shaving tool) .
2) Xbows in general, as warbow is flat out better endgame weapon than a Heavy Xbow. Xbows do less armor damage than a double tap warbow and cannot penetrate orc plate to deal an injury as they do to humans. There is simply no use for Xbow type weapon lategame, in comparison to a bow:
Xbow armor damage is always inferior to bow armor damage (1 shot vs 2 shots)
Xbow penetration is countered by heavy plate (orc) or outright ignored (ancient dead) or seldom used (knight type enemy is a rare sight, hedge knight immune to injuries) .
Imho something needs to be done.
There are 2 ways: flat armor damage or penetration.
I find penetration a more interestinng gameplay wise.
Something that makes it usabele vs orcs< good (but not OP) vs humans and useless vs undead (their speccialty).
In armor penetration deparment we can make lategame Xbow usefull by enabling consistent orc maiming.
To enable that something like hard cap on CurrnetArmorLeft in damage calculation for armor pearsing could be implemented.
Something like CurrentArmorValue <=150 and in combination with buff to armor pearsing to 80% (60%+20%) on heavy crossbow, makes it average armor penetration of 33 (60 avg damage, 48 AP at 80%, minus 15 AP at 15 capped for Xbows, leads to 33 damage). That exact damage is to inflict an injury to an 200HP orc with CripleStrikes perk. Better gear will do consistent injuries, headshots with good gear will do heavy injuries.
Arbalesters still won’t oneshot bros at 50 avg headshot damage, but will do heavy penetration damage as well as overseers, making them even more of a threat. Overseer may be OP (No Impailer buff, to keep it on current level) as he comes with missle aid to finish off crippled targets.
3) Slight buff to 2h hammers in form of guaranteed base HP damage to allow injuries on 1st strike. 2 ways:
As on 1h hammers. (33 base HP damage, good for smite, maybe OP for shatter)
or use of new Xbow mechanic to cap AP deduction. +5 base damage and +5% AP combined with Max 15 AP deduction leads to average of 29 HP shatter damage. Addition of berserk, mashrooms or Famed2hHammer will lead to consistent injuries to orcs with cripple strikes. That will rival efficiency of GreatSword at armored horde management by providing effective alternative (Harder to setup/more benefit vs ease of use/lower benefit of GS).
Better AP Damage (5 base + 5% AP) value will make 2h hammer more consistent at 1 shot-Smiting ancient dead, which is a welcome alternative to dumb AOE of GS.