Weapons are now more prominent than ever causing a lot of people to opt-out of using their magic and going full defense. If you’re a user that’s going a hybrid build or a glass cannon build it can feel hopeless when going up against the meta. This post will detail how to counter each weapon that you may go up against.
HYBRID WEAPONS - These weapons are meant to be used for melee but have abilities that have range on them. This section includes weapons such as spears, daggers, and the dreaded Oathkeeper.
Daggers/Old Daggers
It’s not as good as the bandits make it out to be. It has very little reach, and its ability is outclassed by many others. The best you can do against people who use daggers is to clash with their daggers, block, or move around a lot; making it difficult for them to land a shot in. Their level cap isn’t very high, so they don’t deal much damage so you can very well decide to trade damage and win that trade.
Double Daggers
These bad boys can do 260 damage to you in an instant if you aren’t careful. Remember that magics win against most weapon clashes so keep an eye out for the animation that occurs when the ability is used and counter it with a blast. If you believe that your magic won’t hit in time use a place sphere explosion, not only will it clash with the daggers if placed properly but you will also get some damage in. If you’re really unconfident about using placed explosions due to their end lag just use sphere self explosion or block in reaction to the daggers.
Spears
Daggers but faster and less damaging. People often use spears in order to punish people that are stunned. Spears can be extremely misleading due to pvp being client sided, resulting in spears looking like they’re going in the opposite direction. Don’t feel safe just because the spear is not headed in your direction, move sporadically, block, or try to punish with a spell (or your own weaponry).
Oathkeeper
This weapon may seem nigh impossible to punish but remember; players do not have exile A.I. More often then not they may use raging storm to answer your blast or blasts. While it does win clashes it does not mean that it will necessarily hit you. It’s best to use your blasts in the air making it much hard for the Oathkeeper user to land any hits on you. Unlike the sunken sword, it’s ability is punishable. From a distance do a 20% placed explosion or explosions, they won’t be able to respond since they are stunned while they are using the ability and if there is enough distance between the two of you, you will be able to dodge the incoming attacks. Now, if you can’t beat em join em; raging storm clashes with itself, answer they raging storm with your own. Even if you have less health no damage will be traded; putting the enemies raging storm on cooldown. Also be very careful, this weapon has long reach and can do 190+ damage if strong enchant
MEELE WEAPONS - These weapons are meant to be used in melee combat and some also have melee abilities. This section will include weapons such as the Old shortsword (why the fuck would anyone ever use that), going down all the way to Vastira. Don’t underestimate how much damage these weapons can do without their ability, half of your health will be deleted through heavy attacks if you aren’t careful so keep on moving and stay in the air.
Old Shortsword/Shortsword
This weapon is incredibly bad, but regardless, here is how to counter it. Keep your distance, this weapon has very little reach and no ability to compensate for it. If a person is attempting to run you down with this weapon just run in the opposite direction and blast them while they are chasing you. They will probably give up on using that weapon and will switch over to a different one.
Clubs
Despite its insane damage, it’s very unlikely that you will run into someone using this weapon. It has no ability to compensate for its lack of range; if you get caught out with this weapon, you will get caught out hard. Do not remain grounded; if you do refrain from using any abilities that stun you for an extended period of time. The enemy will struggle to hit you with this weapon but if they do; you will be in big trouble, so don’t give them the chance.
Great Spin Weapons
This section is in reference to Cutglass, Old Sword, and Greatsword. These weapons are pretty straight forward; more often than not you will be able to tell when your opponent is going to use a great spin. This is due to them usually running at you like a madman. For those that are more sneaky with this ability always keep an eye out for when they switch to a great spin weapon. The great spin stuns its user for a bit allowing you to get in a cheeky double or triple blast resulting in a moderate amount of health being taken away by the opponent. Also do keep in mind that the opponent might try to follow up with a self explosion or try their damn best to hit you with their magic if their magic synergizes with bleed; so do keep an eye for that. Rather than countering with magic, you can block and potentially respond with your own great spin; assess the situation, and take the best course of action.
Vastira
Vastira, despite it’s massive AoE and damage, is very punishable. If you ever find yourself in close-quarter combat with a Vastira user, don’t try to dodge the ability; its hitbox is a sphere, you won’t be able to dodge it by going above it. The range of Vastira’s ability can be deceptive if you are not used to fighting against it. After you block or dodge the ability punish them hard with 20% magic ability. This is not difficult to do since the ability leaves the user stunned for some time. Don’t try to punish during the ability; the blasts will be destroyed by it. A heavy attack on a strong Vastira will do 200+ damage, so beware and avoid letting the opponent get a heavy attack on you.
Sunken Sword
Despite its nerf, this weapon is still extremely good, providing the user with free damage and free mobility. Even when going against an inexperienced player it can still be near impossible to punish its ability, rising tide. The best you can against the sunken sword is to block it then repositioned into an advantageous position (don’t stay directly below them). You can also try to hit them with a blast but this is near impossible due there being little to no endlag on the ability. Very important to keep track of its cooldown so that you can anticipate the next rising tide. While not as flashy when compared to the boss weapons, sunken holds supreme.
RANGED WEAPONS - This category will only include 2 weapons due to there not being many purely projectile-based weapons yet. Despite the two weapons in this section both being bows, they are very different from one another. They do share some similarities
Crossbows
Essentially a better version of spears. Like spears, people that are using this weapon are most likely looking to punish you after you use your magic. Do not underestimate the damage that they do 130+. Getting hit by any one of them can result in a decent portion of your health getting taken. When facing these people always be prepared to block immediately after you use magic (even more so than usual). It is nearly impossible to successfully punish a good crossbow user since the use of a crossbow does not stun its user. What you should look to do instead is utilizing your magic to the fullest after they have taken their shot; crossbows do have a long reload time after all. A much more unreliable method of fighting against people who rely on the crossbow is attempting to clash with their arrows; this may not always work due to pvp being client sided and latency issues.
Bows
These people aren’t looking for your mistakes; they want to make the first move and whittle you down rapidly. Unlike the crossbow predecessor, they reload quickly, at the cost of damage; due to this, they aren’t looking for openings. What they are instead trying to do is constantly keep you under pressure; you have magic energy that you will have to recharge eventually; they don’t have to worry about that. Carefully manage your resources, and always be moving against these players. The damage will pile up, even if the damage seems insignificant to begin with.
OVERALL
While I would write about what to do in a weapon vs weapon situation this post is getting very long. A common theme in countering all these weapons is to block and then respond with your own attack. While last updates meta was much more focused on punishing, making pvp’s nearly turn-based, now you have to focus on blocking much more than before; making a bigger emphasis on reaction and prediction. Also don’t underestimate heavy attacks, they will delete both you and your family Please feel free to correct me, I am a very mediocre pvp’er.