User:Raine Valen/Musings/s4 Balance I

=Weapons=

Counter Sword

 * Removed forward motion on light attacks.
 * This is a defensive weapon. It should not be used for advancing on foes.
 * Reduced Heavy Attack damage to 30 (non-critical). Reduced Heavy Attack knockback effect to 50%.  Heavy attacks now cause knockdown.
 * The Counter Sword's heavy attack was probably the most broken thing about the weapon. The CS was designed to be defensive, but has an attack faster than the Storm Bat's that knocks foes just as far and one-shots people on criticals.  Oh, and it has a huge AoE.  Yeah, that was balanced.
 * Reduced damage on jump attack to 35 (non-critical). Jump attacks now cause knockdown.
 * While adding knockdown may seem like a buff on the surface, it is a direct nerf to the typical "CS Spammer"; adding knock down makes followup with further CS attacks difficult.
 * Replaced stun on guard with knockback. Decreased guard deactivation time to 50%.
 * Instead of incapacitating an attacker completely, this now, y'know, blocks attacks. In exchange, the guard can now be dropped faster to allow the user to take advantage of opportunities created with the temporary deflection.

Plasma Sword

 * Added forward motion to heavy attack.
 * While the Counter Sword never needed this offensive function, it was a function that had a place in s4 league. As such, it has been added to the Plasma Sword, the defining offensive melee weapon.
 * Increased attack speed of light attack to 150%.
 * For an offensive weapon, the Plasma Sword always had relatively weak light attacks. While the damage remains unchanged, the increased attack speed should allow PS users to get in more hits with it.
 * Decreased height of dash attack. Increased range of dash attack.  Reduced startup time of dash attack to 70%.  Dash attack can now be used while airborne.
 * While it was possible to jump over dash attacks in the past, doing so resulted in damage for the player who had "dodged" the attack; this never should have been the case, and has been remedied. The dash attack now moves further and faster, which should help in the competition that has existed between this weapon and guns in the past.  Lastly, the dash attack is now an aerial attack as well, similar to that of the CS (though, obviously, closer to the traditional ground-based PS dash).
 * Increased damage of jump attack to 40 (max, non-critical). Now deals damage to area directly below impact.  Now causes knockdown to foes immediately in range.
 * On a weapon designed for offense, the PS's jump attack was never very offensive, and more based on utility. To change this into more of an offense-based attack, the damage has been increased and the stun in the immediate area has been replaced with a knockdown (though the stun is technically still applied, it ends with the knockdown).  The jump attack was also bugged in that it would not affect targets directly below the impact; if you used this  and landed it on a foe's head, nothing would happen to them.  That has been fixed with this change.

Storm Bat

 * Added knockback effect to spin attack.
 * Instead of doing massive damage, this attack now knocks targets back, which fits the theme of the weapon.
 * Increased attack speed of light attack.
 * The light attack on storm bats was unnecessarily slow, and so has been sped up slightly.

Hand Gun

 * Increased magazine to 30 rounds. Increased accuracy to 100%.  Increased refire interval.
 * This is now an accurate, fast-shooting weapon designed to be used by those who dodge frequently. With dodging between attacks, the refire rate becomes a non-issue.

Revolver

 * No changes.

Submachine Gun

 * No changes.

Heavy Machine Gun

 * No changes.

Semi-Rifle

 * Removed additional critical chance.
 * Guns critical with headshots; this is no longer an exception.

Gauss Rifle

 * Added zoom function. Increased magazine to 40 rounds.  Increased startup time.  Increased accuracy.  Removed burst accuracy decrease.
 * This is now a long-range, heavy brother to the Semi. The higher damage and greater accuracy should make this a viable alternative.

Smash Rifle

 * No changes.

Rail Gun

 * Decreased damage to 90 (maximum, non-critical).
 * No longer one-shots anyone with any shot. It takes a headshot for the instant kill; 90 damage and knockdown is still great otherwise.

Cannonade

 * Increased damage 50 (maximum, non-critical). AoE increased to 200%.  Removed zoom function.
 * Fully-charged shots now destroy obstructions (like Block) in one shot, though they still deal relatively little damage to players. The tiny AoE has been doubled.  And lastly, cannon sniping was SO.  GAY.  To remedy this, the zoom has been removed.

Mind Shock

 * Changed critical condition to "hits through an obstruction".
 * Training people to death with Mind Shock was just silly. To move its usage back to what it was intended for, this no longer criticals when used mindlessly.

Mind Energy

 * Changed critical condition to "ally is below 60% health".
 * Heals people who need it faster.

Sentry Gun

 * Removed knockback effect. Decreased magazine to 2.  Increased maximum number of active units to 2.  Stock now replenishes when sentry guns expire.

Senty Nell

 * Increased magazine to 10. Increased maximum number of active units to 10.  Senty Nells are now destroyed when triggered.  Stock now replenishes when senty nell units are destroyed.
 * These now function as one-shot mines.