How overpowered are swords?

[🎀Hara🎀]

i mean they seem way too strong to the point where i had am purposely avoiding taking perks that buff them otherwise they kill too fast and ruin the fun.

meanwhile other weapons are so under powered that i need to take all of their perks to make them worth using at all.

for example if i want to hunt deer with a bow, i need to take all of the bow perks that boost damage, AS WELL as using only the strongest arrows and bows, or to use other skills and make poisons. all of this is not optional and is absolutely necessary if you want the bow to be usable.

only then will the bow be useful.

axes and heavy weapons are a straight downgrade from swords, sure it has blunt damage to be better against armor but it means nothing since swords seem to destroy armored opponents anyway, the only way to make them even worth using over swords is if you ignore all of the sword perks so that they are kind of on the same level

[Dansoprazole]

Very

[Tenchuu Khan]

Afaic all weapons are kinda useless compared to Longswords.

I mean, it even tells you in the combat tutorial that you are fked with any other weapon, despite Master Strikes not being such a big deal anymore.

Just on my 4th run and will try to skill up the other weapon types as well.


I think one of the biggest issues is that you can only slash now and can't stab anything but the bottom.
I mean, using a warhammer in a tournament and stabbing someone in the face with it was a sure win in KCD1. Also worked with swords of course but not as good.

[hyperlyne]

I mean, they're definitely the strongest weapon class in the game, but the other weapons are still good and useful.

I'm able to 1-shot deer with a 200 power crossbow, 115 power bolt, and ~20 levels of marksmanship. I can 2 shot a typical bandit with the same loadout.

With my Mace, I can 1-shot headshot a good chunk of armored opponents using a ~120 power mace and ~25 levels in heavy weapons.

Axes are... admittedly meh. Their balance of slashing and blunt means they're not good at either.

And Polearms are just kinda bad. They definitely have their uses with their range, damage, and stamina efficiency, but they just don't compare. Still, I've had fun with them.

[🎀Hara🎀]

even without master strikes, feints are the most powerful attack and with anything but a sword your options are just more limited for where to attack.

sword have an advantage over all other weapon types purely based on the number of attack directions you have.

and then they have master strikes on top of that.

it would be so bad if they were still strong but had their anti-armor ability massively nerfed so that you were at least forced to use the dedicated anti-armor weaponry. or maybe add halfswording techniques to the grappling as a way to defeat armor with swords

[Gustuv Wynd]

The weapons pretty much follow the same pattern as the first game. The only thing is that swords get the master strike and blunt weapons don't. This makes swords more defensive if you can get the master strike in which with a bit of practice is pretty easy. Though so many enemies wear heavy armor that blunt weapons are still a close second...perhaps an argument could be made that they are even ahead of swords yet. Though any enemy that would go down with one hit from my ram hammer would go down in two from a sword...and with the master stike those two hits might be easier to make.

Axes are still weak maces and poor swords. I see no reason to use them outside of role playing.

Pole arms are a lot better than the first game, but their reach is about the same as a long sword, but without any of the perks. There is just no good reason to use them yet either.

[🎀Hara🎀]

Originally posted by hyperlyne:

I mean, they're definitely the strongest weapon class in the game, but the other weapons are still good and useful.

I'm able to 1-shot deer with a 200 power crossbow, 115 power bolt, and ~20 levels of marksmanship. I can 2 shot a typical bandit with the same loadout.

With my Mace, I can 1-shot headshot a good chunk of armored opponents using a ~120 power mace and ~25 levels in heavy weapons.

Axes are... admittedly meh. Their balance of slashing and blunt means they're not good at either.

And Polearms are just kinda bad. They definitely have their uses with their range, damage, and stamina efficiency, but they just don't compare. Still, I've had fun with them.

the problem is you need to plan a build around other weapons to make them usable, but with a sword they are just amazing right from the start.

axes seem the most screwed by this. swords are acting how axes should be, just a lot stronger. axes should be the all round weapon, with swords being the main weapon against unarmored enemies, and maces/warhammers being the dedicated anti armor weapon.

polearms i think, are just not great because they are designed for formation combat, you can kind of use it like that in big battles, to attack through a group of your allies without hitting them which is nice.

[🟦💀🟦]

Short swords + shields are OP. They have fast attack animations allowing you combo a lot easier than the other weapon types. The shield is optional IMO, but if you mess up some perfect blocks its better to have one than none.

Stopped using them because of how boring they made combat. Decided to fight with polearms since it felt more fun to use.

[makbthemf]

They're not at all - it's a bad weapon in the game. Mace kills any opponent in 2-3 hits, and poleaxe in 1-2 without playing Mineswapper to make a master strike.

Areas where swords are the best choice are quite limited:
1) Duels with high-level NPC in the main quests.
2) Combat with high-level NPC generated by random encounter. (just pull out your sword if NPC blocks your primary weapon constantly).
3) Ordalia with fraud noble (if he's a nobleman at all) in quest "Ill Repute" - the game makes you fight with fake rules, he and his corrupt judge stated. (Don't forget to kill the fake nobleman, his servant, and the corrupt judge after - so they could not fraud any other person).
4) Any combat with unarmored or linen armored opponent - swords would kill them in 1-2 strikes just as maces ot poleaxes, but waste less stamina.

[Baron01]

Swords have two major advantages in KCD2, 1) master strike capability and 2) improved effectiveness against plate armor compared to KCD1.
There is also the fact that you can craft tier 4 version of many swords yourself and there is limited option when it comes to heavy weapons (axes only).

Ultimately, sword, especially short swords, are the most versatile weapon in the game that is capable of all the tricks, have high damage, can deal with all types of armor and weight less than other alternatives. Other weapons work fine 1 vs 1 but when it comes to encounters against multiple enemies nothing can beat swords and their ability to quickly dispose enemies via Master Strike technique that can not be blocked or perfect blocked.

Can you play, and succeed in, the game using other weapons? Sure, you absolutely can. You just place additional challenge by using inferior weapon type. Opting for heavy weapons, you restrict yourself to only 3 attack directions, have to rely on feints to land hits and do not have quick way of disposing enemies in form of Master Strike.

I currently have a weapon load-out that includes Sir Valentine's sword (short sword), Captain's mace (heavy weapon) and a bow. I was using the mace from time to time earlier but lately I just do not bother too often as the sword can make short work of any enemies.

[Tenchuu Khan]

Originally posted by Baron01:

Swords have two major advantages in KCD2, 1) master strike capability and 2) improved effectiveness against plate armor compared to KCD1.

That's the crux though, blunt damage like with a mace isn't much important when you can kill anyone in plate armour with slashing damage.

In KCD1 it totally made sense to use a mace against plated enemies, if you used a somewhat mid-game sword you had to bash down the armour first, now it's just.... well

[LazyConfy]

Unbelievably overpowered. Anything above level 15 with swords and strength you can just do 4 master strikes to down full plated high level enemies, at level 22+ you can clean whole camps especially after you get the Radzig sword. You have to go out of your way to use other weapons or avoid master strikes to have any sense of immersion like in KCD1.

[Baron01]

Originally posted by Tenchuu Khan:

That's the crux though, blunt damage like with a mace isn't much important when you can kill anyone in plate armour with slashing damage.

In KCD1 it totally made sense to use a mace against plated enemies, if you used a somewhat mid-game sword you had to bash down the armour first, now it's just.... well

I absolutely agree and that is why I made that point. Anyone who tries to argue that swords in KCD2 are not overpowered or by extension make claim that heavy weapons are good simply ignores how things were in KCD1. You absolutely wanted to use blunt weapon in the original when you fought against armored enemies since sword was very inefficient. You could overpower armored enemies at late game when you were very high level.

This is shame as this simply relegates heavy weapons to nice to have options that is completely unnecessary in KCD2.

[SkaldedDawg]

I have a good suggestion on how to fix this for each and every one of these, but I'm not going to be a ♥♥♥♥.

(don't use swords) - Okay, That was crappy

[echoes222]

swords shoiuld be nerfed against heavily armorued enemies, yep. It should be like in a first game - you fight walking can? you need can opener (blunt), or you will have to hit your enemy multiple times.

[Whiplash27]

Originally posted by echoes222:

swords shoiuld be nerfed against heavily armorued enemies, yep. It should be like in a first game - you fight walking can? you need can opener (blunt), or you will have to hit your enemy multiple times.

Probably, although it's kind of silly to think of anyone walking around in full plate unless they're intending to go into battle. The only time you'd expect such a thing is for ceremonial purposes. I doubt someone would want to be walking from city to city wearing full plate even though we all do it in this game and so do various enemies in random locations in the wilderness or along roads as well. The idea of the full plated warrior strolling through town would have probably been unrealistic.