Katana Review

[Dopey Shepard]

Thanks for adding some new stuff, like always

Even in current state with such a prolonged animation so that Blender perk doesn't have that much use for it, it's very good

A tier for me personally, because Pickaxe would probably be better as a safer option

There's definitely a learning curve when it comes down to mastering this melee as it will propel you forward when spamming it means if you are going backwards, it will slow you down. On the other hand, it will increase your speed like crazy if you are just going forward, even without Stamina/Speed Demon perks

The fact it doesn't pushback like Claw is balanced by its damage and multiple hits per cast making On-Hit melee perks very good on it. Anything's better than silly Dagger, that's for sure

[Cazsinned]

Is it just me or was the cooldown like 1-2 secs and now it's 4-5 seconds?

[Dopey Shepard]

Yes, Noise already nerfed it heavily. Now not sure if its even worth using since it has no pushback. The developer is releasing beta updates basically on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day

[MangoEagle]

I use it more for mobility than I do as an actual weapon.

[Limdood]

It excels for mobility.

The damage is acceptable. It does seem to have a pushback now. The cooldown is....rough, but tolerable.

The airtime is less than hammer, but it MOVES you so much better. The hammer launches you up, which is often good, but there are plenty of times where I've died midair using the hammer because it keeps you airborne without getting you horizontally clear.

The katana's animation and "flight time" is also less than the hammer, which isn't great as far as staying airborne for extended periods of time, but it is FANTASTIC in that the animation doesn't outlast the "counts as a dash" invincibility (the moment you hit your melee key for hammer and katana you get the same brief invincibility as when you dash....problem is that the hammer's up, pause, smash down animation far outlasts the invincibility duration, while the katana's quick forward dash doesn't).

All in all, I rank it pretty much on par with the hammer.

The hammer has better airtime, but can cause you to be stuck midair without I frames.

The katana has much better horizontal movement and IMMEDIACY....hit button and BAM you've yeeted yourself. But it lacks the ability to recover from cliff falls.

[Dopey Shepard]

Publicado originalmente por Limdood:

It excels for mobility.

The damage is acceptable. It does seem to have a pushback now. The cooldown is....rough, but tolerable.

The airtime is less than hammer, but it MOVES you so much better. The hammer launches you up, which is often good, but there are plenty of times where I've died midair using the hammer because it keeps you airborne without getting you horizontally clear.

The katana's animation and "flight time" is also less than the hammer, which isn't great as far as staying airborne for extended periods of time, but it is FANTASTIC in that the animation doesn't outlast the "counts as a dash" invincibility (the moment you hit your melee key for hammer and katana you get the same brief invincibility as when you dash....problem is that the hammer's up, pause, smash down animation far outlasts the invincibility duration, while the katana's quick forward dash doesn't).

All in all, I rank it pretty much on par with the hammer.

The hammer has better airtime, but can cause you to be stuck midair without I frames.

The katana has much better horizontal movement and IMMEDIACY....hit button and BAM you've yeeted yourself. But it lacks the ability to recover from cliff falls.

If only cliff falls was the only issue

When you are backing away from enemies you want to use your entire arsenal like weapon+melee+grenade but now you realize you have to be extra careful with melee because it propels you forward even if you are going backwards, slowing your pace, making you more susceptible to get hit. I have to basically do a 180 every time I want to do a melee to back away from enemies but then.... my melee damage misses them

It needs a rework imo, the one that lets you do a spin damage without launching you forward that much. Maybe increase the AOE range of the melee and give it a slight pushback on enemies

We'll see what Noise comes up with later on

[Limdood]

the forward launch is the main beneficial feature imo.

The hammer has* (had....the anvil update seems to have changed it somewhat) a similar feature in the "bounce" after it lands launching you backwards, which meant using it to move FORWARDS was difficult. You could use the hammer, launch yourself in the air, then do a 180 in the air so that the bounce would propel you in the same direction, before spinning again to land. It was awkward, but that's basically the same as the the katana now (spin, use it, spin back).

As it is, the katana right now mostly seems to serve a mobility function in the game while also being an acceptable damage dealer. And it excels at that mobility function.

* it feels like in the anvil update, the reverse direction bounce on the hammer has been replaced with a neutral bounce, which doesn't ruin your forward momentum anymore....but now that I've gotten used to harnessing the old backward bounce, the neutral bounce feels WORSE, like it just floats you in place for a moment which is TERRIBLE in a bullet hell setting. I feel like removing the strong forward launch of the katana would remove the key beneficial feature of the weapon.

Currently for me the katana feels solidly as good as the hammer for what I mainly use melee for....movement and escape. If the forward launch of the katana were replaced with a neutral float, or even no movement at all, it would drop down to a useless never-used-except-to-get-weapon-rank F-tier like the claw and dagger. If it doesn't help me move, it doesn't help me.

[Dopey Shepard]

Yes, the mobility function of katana is so good, I'm not sure if it's gonna make it to the next major update in current state. Will be tweaked/nerfed most likely.

Also, how can we have another melee weapon with a multi-hit function that is just so useful compared to dagger which sucks in like every aspect, that just won't get buffed? How long did we have dagger in this current state for? Feels like eternity. I even tried using it just to create some space for the 4th (now 5th) melee. Nah, it just sucks. Literally unusable. Such limited range only means you gotta build range increase on it and even then with 100/200% increase it will not feel like it's doing that much on a Loop island with gazillion of enemies around you

It's not even a competition to compare the two

I personally rank hammer higher than katana for sure because of the airtime it gives. It's very easy to cheese it with Blender, and airtime, by default, is a safer state to be in than on the ground

Pickaxe is still my favorite. It just does everything, including the air. You can literally use it to get to certain hidden chests on certain islands where you can't possible get there without hammer/pickaxe/grappling hook

[MangoEagle]

Publicado originalmente por Dopey Shepard:

Yes, the mobility function of katana is so good, I'm not sure if it's gonna make it to the next major update in current state. Will be tweaked/nerfed most likely.

Also, how can we have another melee weapon with a multi-hit function that is just so useful compared to dagger which sucks in like every aspect, that just won't get buffed? How long did we have dagger in this current state for? Feels like eternity. I even tried using it just to create some space for the 4th (now 5th) melee. Nah, it just sucks. Literally unusable. Such limited range only means you gotta build range increase on it and even then with 100/200% increase it will not feel like it's doing that much on a Loop island with gazillion of enemies around you

It's not even a competition to compare the two

I personally rank hammer higher than katana for sure because of the airtime it gives. It's very easy to cheese it with Blender, and airtime, by default, is a safer state to be in than on the ground

Pickaxe is still my favorite. It just does everything, including the air. You can literally use it to get to certain hidden chests on certain islands where you can't possible get there without hammer/pickaxe/grappling hook

Dagger used to be really good with the element melee mods, but with the recent update that build was entirely gutted and I just don't understand why its main benefit was removed.

[Dopey Shepard]

It's not just recently though, it was in Variety major updates too. The thing is just unusable unless you play on difficulties where you can afford to get hit all the time and you can just use Dagger for fun.

I sometimes do enjoy the multi-hit element stuff I apply to big targets like elites but it's just not worth it, given very limited range and the fact I have to get up super close to them to do anything

[Krinkle]

??? i don't see no katana. my slot machine won't dump out new weapons anymore, i'm just getting random mods.

[Dopey Shepard]

you need to opt into beta version ^^

[Casurin]

the movement is a bit strange as it can actively slow you down when you are already moving very fast.
Also it would be nice if the movement was in the direction you are looking at - including vertical.

[MangoEagle]

Publicado originalmente por Casurin:

the movement is a bit strange as it can actively slow you down when you are already moving very fast.
Also it would be nice if the movement was in the direction you are looking at - including vertical.

It is based on the direction you are looking in. The katana flings you forward this will only slow you down if you are moving backwards and use it as it counters your current velocity.

[Mami The Beer Baron]

Publicado originalmente por Dopey Shepard:

Thanks for adding some new stuff, like always

Even in current state with such a prolonged animation so that Blender perk doesn't have that much use for it, it's very good

A tier for me personally, because Pickaxe would probably be better as a safer option

There's definitely a learning curve when it comes down to mastering this melee as it will propel you forward when spamming it means if you are going backwards, it will slow you down. On the other hand, it will increase your speed like crazy if you are just going forward, even without Stamina/Speed Demon perks

The fact it doesn't pushback like Claw is balanced by its damage and multiple hits per cast making On-Hit melee perks very good on it. Anything's better than silly Dagger, that's for sure

new melee? ooh!
now i just hope the ak-47 gets into the game in the future

[Dopey Shepard]

Publicado originalmente por Casurin:

the movement is a bit strange as it can actively slow you down when you are already moving very fast.
Also it would be nice if the movement was in the direction you are looking at - including vertical.

it would be amazing if I could have the same momentum with katana while walking backwards, instead of it slowing me down trying to propel me forward every single time

I think it should be movement-based. So like if you are clearly looking forward but moving back, it should move you backwards

new melee? ooh!
now i just hope the ak-47 gets into the game in the future

tbh I personally want a minigun prototype, some kind of Thompson Submachine Gun or something. 100 ammo magazine, lower spread than minigun, reduced firerate. As we have it right now, only Minigun really benefits from a plethora of weapon mods like Mag Shot/Escalating Shot/Accelerating Shot/Wind up - the list goes on. It shouldn't only be working flawlessly on 1 gun. Other guns don't get the benefit because right from the get go they don't even have 100 ammo to fully benefit from lvl 1 Mag Shot, for instance, and why would you be building Big Mag perks when you can instead focus on reducing reloading time?

This game still needs a lot of polishing