whoneedsnamestbh
Retinazer
There are two weapons in the game with the ability to parry attacks, Brand of the Inferno and Sargeant United Shield. However, the parry mechanic feels underwhelming and like a lot of wasted potential. So, why not do something with the idea and completely expand the parry system?
Here’s myrisky idea for a parry expansion.
The goal here is to make parries more usable without being abusable, and act as a universal melee mechanic that both helps non-facetank melee be more competitive offensively and adds more combat depth. Many of these mechanics are inspired by the Dead Cells parry system.
So, let’s get started.
One of the problems with the parry mechanics is how limited they are. You can’t parry projectiles (as far as I’m aware), and the parry window is very strict, limiting their use. Of course, making them easy to pull off would also make it abusable, so I had to take that into account as well.
The Striking Moment buff is mechanically strange, and pentupling damage if you can only do it on one attack every 5 seconds makes it preform very differently on the different weapons it will be added to. I also took messing with this buff as an opportunity to help limit abuse.
Of course, what good is making parries good if you’re not using them most of the time? As such, here’s the cornerpiece of this mechanic: an accessory tree.
Of course, having parries on everything has a few items it clashes with.
There we are, a full game expansion and mechanical overhaul to an underused and neglected mechanic. There was a lot of possible abuse to take into account when making this, so if there are any oversights I missed or if you have any balance related suggestions, let me know.
Here’s my
The goal here is to make parries more usable without being abusable, and act as a universal melee mechanic that both helps non-facetank melee be more competitive offensively and adds more combat depth. Many of these mechanics are inspired by the Dead Cells parry system.
So, let’s get started.
PARRY MECHANICS
One of the problems with the parry mechanics is how limited they are. You can’t parry projectiles (as far as I’m aware), and the parry window is very strict, limiting their use. Of course, making them easy to pull off would also make it abusable, so I had to take that into account as well.
-Parries are now less strict, with an additional 8 frames after right clicking in which they can parry.
-Parries are no longer limited to contact damage (if they already were). Projectile attacks can be parried, which destroys the projectile. There are still limitations on what you can parry: large or area denial attacks such as deathrays, the Everlasting Rainbow, Sharknados and Cthulhunados, and the Sun Dance cannot be parried, just as some examples.
-Parries now have a 5 second cooldown. Because of the above changes making parries a reliable way to avoid damage, they need this countermeasure so you cannot spam right clicks to avoid all damage. Instead, you would use them strategically and by choice to boost your damage.
-The mechanic where you hold up the shield to increase defense by 20% was removed. Even though it lets you do funny things like take almost no damage from Duke Fishron, practically it isn’t useful at all and very hard to fit into an overhauled mechanic like this. If I’m being honest, I don’t like getting rid of this, so if anyone has any suggestions to improve it, I’ll consider adding them.
-Parries are no longer limited to contact damage (if they already were). Projectile attacks can be parried, which destroys the projectile. There are still limitations on what you can parry: large or area denial attacks such as deathrays, the Everlasting Rainbow, Sharknados and Cthulhunados, and the Sun Dance cannot be parried, just as some examples.
-Parries now have a 5 second cooldown. Because of the above changes making parries a reliable way to avoid damage, they need this countermeasure so you cannot spam right clicks to avoid all damage. Instead, you would use them strategically and by choice to boost your damage.
-The mechanic where you hold up the shield to increase defense by 20% was removed. Even though it lets you do funny things like take almost no damage from Duke Fishron, practically it isn’t useful at all and very hard to fit into an overhauled mechanic like this. If I’m being honest, I don’t like getting rid of this, so if anyone has any suggestions to improve it, I’ll consider adding them.
STRIKING MOMENT
The Striking Moment buff is mechanically strange, and pentupling damage if you can only do it on one attack every 5 seconds makes it preform very differently on the different weapons it will be added to. I also took messing with this buff as an opportunity to help limit abuse.
-Striking Moment no longer wears off on the first melee hit after activating it, instead lasting its entire duration, but the melee damage boost was reduced to 25%.
-Striking Moment will be cancelled if you take damage. This way, it’s not abusable in facetank builds which don’t need a buff and where timing the parry is easy anyway. This will also make parries reward well play instead of trying to sloppily parry everything that comes your way.
-Striking Moment will be cancelled if you take damage. This way, it’s not abusable in facetank builds which don’t need a buff and where timing the parry is easy anyway. This will also make parries reward well play instead of trying to sloppily parry everything that comes your way.
ITEMS
Of course, what good is making parries good if you’re not using them most of the time? As such, here’s the cornerpiece of this mechanic: an accessory tree.
-A new accessory: Striking Shield. Grants 3 defense and the ability to parry attacks with a right click when holding melee weapons. Striking Shield is found in Gold Chests, with Extractinator moved to the secondary pool.
-Striking Shield can craft with Shark Tooth Necklace to create Predator Shield, adding 5 defense ignorance *for melee only* to the accessory.
-Predator Shield can be combined with Avenger Emblem to make The Reaper’s Shield, which also increases melee damage by 15% (remember, the parry tree does use an additional slot).
-Striking Shield can craft with Shark Tooth Necklace to create Predator Shield, adding 5 defense ignorance *for melee only* to the accessory.
-Predator Shield can be combined with Avenger Emblem to make The Reaper’s Shield, which also increases melee damage by 15% (remember, the parry tree does use an additional slot).
Of course, having parries on everything has a few items it clashes with.
-If the player has an accessory that allows parries equipped and parries with Sargeant United Shield, it gets 2x benefit from Striking Moment. This boost cannot be carried over to other weapons
-Brand of the Inferno now also releases a wide explosion with 3.5x the damage of the sword upon potential parry. This is raised to 5x and is given increased range with a parry accessory.
-Sky Dragon’s Fury’s attacks were merged into one. Not only do they not have a reason to be separate and just render you more vulnerable separate, but its main attack using right click would have clashed with adding parries to it.
-Brand of the Inferno now also releases a wide explosion with 3.5x the damage of the sword upon potential parry. This is raised to 5x and is given increased range with a parry accessory.
-Sky Dragon’s Fury’s attacks were merged into one. Not only do they not have a reason to be separate and just render you more vulnerable separate, but its main attack using right click would have clashed with adding parries to it.
There we are, a full game expansion and mechanical overhaul to an underused and neglected mechanic. There was a lot of possible abuse to take into account when making this, so if there are any oversights I missed or if you have any balance related suggestions, let me know.
