Guild Wars 2

Hey guys!

I know a number of people have probably already suggested fist weapons as a new weapon idea in various threads, but I wanted to create a thread that proposes the idea of the weapon itself, while also proposing an idea for a unique weapon mechanic that revolves around fist weapons.

What role would fist weapons fill?

Fist weapons would have fast attacks and animations and an emphasis on evasion and mobility. Unlike daggers, which now cleave, fist weapons will only hit one target on their auto attack. Some of their other skills can cleave though.

They’d also have a new, unique weapon mechanic that makes them stand out from other melee weapons, and that is…

New weapon mechanic: Combo Chains.

This idea was inspired by the combo field and finisher effects we already have in game. All fist weapon skills would fall under three unique categories that can make up combo chain effects and would get specific bonuses depending on what part of a chain they are used in.

The chain effects are categorized as follows:

Combo Starter:

These are opening skills, and are used at the beginning of a chain effect. When a Combo Starter is used on an enemy, it applies a brief debuff that shows that the enemy is now open to “Chain Skills”. It’s up to the player to capitalize on this brief window as much as possible.

Chain Skill:

These skills generally follow a “Combo Starter”, and when they are successfully used on an enemy with a “Combo Starter” debuff already applied to them, they apply bonus effects and replace the “Combo Starter” debuff with a “Combo Chain” debuff.

Combo Finisher:

Combo Finishers are skills that are generally used at the end of a combo chain. They inflict high damage and gain special bonuses if used on an enemy that has a “Combo Chain” debuff.

An example of what a fist weapon skill set could look like (all skill names are just placeholders):

1) Auto attack chain

Auto Attack Chain 1: Jab (Combo Starter) – Hit an enemy with a fast jab.
Auto attack chain 2: Right hook (Chain Skill) – Follow up with a heavy right hook. Applies weakness on enemies with “Combo Starter” debuff.
Auto attack chain 3: Uppercut (Combo Finisher) – Finish with a high damage uppercut. Deals 50% extra damage to targets with “Chain Skill” debuff.

2) Swallow Strike (Combo Starter) | 900 range (gap closer) | 15 second cooldown – Deliver a flying kick to your enemy, stunning them for 1 second.

3) Tempest Fist (Chain skill) | melee range | 8 second cooldown – Deliver a flurry of rapid blows to a target, dealing high damage. Grants 1 second of evasion if you hit an enemy with the “Combo Starter” debuff.

4) Roundhouse Kick (Chain skill) | Melee range | 180 Degree Cleaving | 15 second cooldown – Hit enemies in an area with a sweeping aerial kick that deals moderate damage. Knocks down enemies with the “Combo Starter” debuff.

• 4 chain) Whirlwind kick (Combo Finisher) | Can be used during Roundhouse kick by pushing 4 again before the skill finishes, but increases the cooldown by 50% | Melee Range | 360 degree cleaving | Whirl Finisher – Deliver multiple aerial spinning kicks, dealing damage in an area. Deals 30% extra damage and applies bleeding to enemies with the “Chain Skill” debuff.

5) Rising Dragon (Combo Finisher) | Melee Range | 360 degree cleaving | 20 second cooldown | Blast Finisher – Deliver a powerful rising uppercut, dealing damage in an area. Launches foes and applies 3 stacks of burning if used on enemies with a “Chain Skill” debuff.

How skills can be combo-ed.

If you take the example of the skills I showed above, there are many ways to combo them into each other. Rather than just being stuck in one type of damage rotation, the existence of multiple Starter, Chain and Finisher skills allows for variations on damage rotations depending on the circumstances, or what skills are on cooldown.

For example, a player could open up with a Swallow Strike (Combo Starter) follow up with a Roundhouse Kick (Chain Skill) and then finish with a whirlwind kick (Combo Finisher).

Or, if they want, they can follow up with the first two attacks of the auto attack chain (which are Combo Starters and Chain Skills respectively) and then finish with a Rising Dragon (Combo Finisher). Likewise, they can just use the first attack in the auto chain as a starter, follow up with a Tempest Fist (Chain Skill) and then use a Rising Dragon (Combo Finisher). There are a lot of options.

Of course, you can use chain skills or finishers outside of a combo chain if you want to get off a quick hit, but they just won’t apply their bonus effects if they aren’t used in the correct order in a Combo Chain.

I thought this was a really cool type of weapon mechanic that’s very different from anything else we have right now. Whether it’s just implemented in an elite specialization, or is a weapon wide mechanic for all classes that get fist weapons is up to the Devs to decide, but I do think it gives a new gameplay style for players who would enjoy chaining together combos.